About

Black Marble was founded in 1997 by Robert Hogg, Richard Fennell and Andy Haynes, to provide high end quality software development to companies in the North of England. Their reputation for a clear and direct approach to solving complex business problems provided a strong foundation for the new company.

Drawing on their skills as highly experienced multi-disciplinary consultants, Black Marble successfully delivered solution after solution in areas as diverse as telephony, interactive exhibitions, insurance, legal and mobile solutions.

Black Marble continued to grow in size year on year, and after a number of years developing and producing with Java and Microsoft-based systems, came to the conclusion that the Microsoft development and delivery platform met and exceeded the needs of our customer base. Black Marble joined Microsoft Partner Programme in 2000, excelling in .NET and C# development.

By 2004, Black Marble was a Gold Certified Partner and began running a series of Microsoft-supported Seminars, which have grown in size and reputation, leading to our staff being regularly asked to speak on the developer circuit in the UK as well as at International Conferences, such as Microsoft TechEd. The topics covered range from general development, SharePoint, BizTalk, mobile development, security, testing, quality and teamwork.

In addition, Black Marble is regularly called upon to provide mentoring to developers, and work closely with the academic computing world. In 2003, Microsoft invited Robert and Richard to present on .NET to the academic community, and in 2004 Black Marble participated in the “AI in Computing” course at the University of Bradford. Since 2006, Robert has taken part in a series of Security Tours around Northern Universities with Ed Gibson, former Chief Security Advisor to Microsoft UK. In 2007, Robert mentored a UK team from the University of Hull in the Imagine Cup, resulting in them winning the UK leg and taking part in the finals in Korea. His work with Universities resulted in him receiving an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Hull in 2009.

Whilst continuing to support the Imagine Cup in the North East, encouraging more young people to pursue a career in computing, Black Marble has also been one of the sponsors of DDD North since its inception in 2011, and was responsible for the return of the original DDD to Reading in 2016.

Black Marble’s skills flourished with the continued growth of the team, and as well as a team of Microsoft Certified Professionals, we have 3 MVPs (Microsoft Valued Professionals), an ALM Ranger, a Microsoft Regional Director, as well as Prince II Practitioners, Scrum Masters, Chartered Engineers, Certified IT Professionals, and 2 Fellows of the British Computer Society.

In April 2022, Black Marble celebrated its 25th Anniversary.