Starting in 1983 as a home-based business in Scotland, AFD began life providing office and computer equipment and maintaining charity databases – especially their mailing lists. This naturally progressed into the supply of both computer systems and computer training to the charity sector in 1985. AFD MailCode (since renamed MailSaver), a solution that sorts mailing data to achieve maximum discounts on postage, was launched in 1988. Having built up considerable expertise in addressing, AFD Postcode (which offered street level address entry and validation) was launched in late 1994, and in 1995 AFD Software Ltd was incorporated to focus on the new aspect of the AFD business. Costing a fraction of comparable products, AFD Postcode brought rapid addressing within reach of smaller organisations – and, even more importantly, allowed it to be closely integrated into a wide range of everyday applications that used addresses.

Following rapid expansion (still in the house where AFD began), the business needed a new base from which to expand and grow, so relocated to Ramsey in the Isle of Man in 1997. That growth and development have continued, always paralleled by investment in high-quality infrastructure, including new buildings purchased in 1998 and again in 2005. More recently, 2015 saw the move to the current head office, situated at the 25-acre Mountain View Innovation Centre located just outside Ramsey, owned and developed by the AFD Group.

Today, AFD Software serves some of the UK’s largest (and smallest) organisations across every sector with a host of solutions that validate Name, Address, Email, Phone and Bank data within business-critical systems and applications.

If you add up the collective Address Management experience in the AFD team it is well north of 400 years. What is it about AFD that makes the team want to stay? Peter Denton, Research and Development Team; 22 years at AFD:

“I believe there are a number of reasons for AFD’s continued growth and retention of customers. We understand addresses and have built quality products which serve customers well. We have a team that build strong relationships with customers. We provide support which often goes above and beyond to assist customers in their own environments. We have committed staff across all areas of the business from developing and testing products to selling, supporting, administrating, and maintaining the cash-flow that any business needs to survive.”

Helen Torr, Administration Team; 22 years at AFD:

“Being here as long as I have, I have watched the company grow and evolve into the success it is today. In the early days we only sold standard, out-of-the-box products but now we also offer more bespoke, tailor-made solutions and all of our staff are specialists within their own departments when delivering these solutions to our customers. We have a fantastic working environment with great on-site facilities.”

Are you interested in joining our team? Click here!

Thousands of organisations for many years have relied on the Postcode People at AFD Software as their partners in address and data quality, including many household names and high profile institutions and brands. AFD’s address management and data validation solutions allow organisations to better serve their customers, donors, patients, students, clients, members or other contacts with speed, accuracy, a truly professional image and quality customer experience.

In an age of instability, where loyalty and reliability have become a rarity, the Postcode People at AFD have demonstrated that long-term business relationships are built on fully understanding the pains relevant to each of our customers and continuing to solve them year after year.

Staff retention is hugely important in delivering the highest levels of customer service. Many of the Postcode People at AFD have been in conversation with the same customers for more than 10 years, some more than 15 years!

Our best-in-class solutions support millions of data requests each month with unparalleled levels of resilience and connectivity. Significant investments in infrastructure at The AFD Group HQ, Mountain View Innovation Centre (MVIC) ensure that we are always able to serve our customers with innovative products and excellent technical support.

Access to two data centres with additional failover capabilities builds in resilience and allows our services to run without interruption, essential for our customers requirement to always have access to fast, accurate data validation solutions.

Five separate high bandwidth internet connections across two major telecommunications suppliers, in addition to two 4G cellular telephone aerials on site ensure resilient internet connectivity at MVIC.

Power provision is equally well secured with the largest solar array in the Isle of Man combined with Tesla Powerpacks, and two separate connections to the National Grid, which are linked to the on-site sub-station and transformer gear.

Our three-phase 128 kW self-start emergency generator has enough fuel to run for a week and protects our power supply through a dedicated control room – with separate feeds to the data centre, as well as to all points of the site.

In short, we have invested in the present and future of AFD Software and applied as much redundancy fail-safes as feasibly possible to keep all systems operational, at all times.

In summer 2020 we doubled the capacity of our solar installation at the AFD Group HQ, Mountain View Innovation Centre (MVIC).  By additionally investing in three Tesla Powerpacks later in the year (making this the Isle of Man’s biggest solar array and battery storage installation), to store the energy we generate, we became completely self-sufficient in clean, green energy for twenty-four hours a day for around six months of the year. Between April and September each year, the solar panels run MVIC by day, at the same time as charging our Tesla Powerpacks so that we can still utilise the energy when the sun goes down. From October through to March, on average 33% of the required power is carbon emission-free (more in a sunnier winter and spring!).

Since the panels went live, AFD has saved over 210 tonnes of CO₂, which is the equivalent of 6,287 trees planted. (This is in addition to the more than 4000 physical trees that have already been planted around Mountain View!)

As well as having the largest solar electricity generator and energy storage system on the Isle of Man, AFD’s staff electric car scheme brings green motoring to over a third of the Isle of Man team. An average petrol or diesel car will produce 411 grams of CO₂ per mile, so AFD’s electric fleet is saving 39 tonnes of CO₂ per year!

In addition to the green energy initiatives, environmental waste is kept to a minimum by utilising technology. Electronic accounting minimises paper use 

The AFD Group’s objectives include:

2. To demonstrate excellence through honesty, integrity and quality in our products, services and the way we do business.

The Postcode People at AFD always seek to ensure that our customers are provided with products that are genuinely helpful to their business needs. Rare in our field, we provide clear product license pricing and offer monthly payment options especially to help smaller businesses.

We minimise environmental waste by utilising technology. Electronic accounting minimises paper use and fast electronic software distribution is used by most of our customers. Where CDs are required they are manufactured to order and our waste-stream is minimised by extensive recycling –including the office tea-bags!

The integrity of our license audit trail is commended by Royal Mail. AFD always pays its suppliers, licenses or taxes on time or early.

3. To provide high quality employment and learning opportunities for our staff and help them to grow in skills and as people.

AFD encourages its people to grow both within the organisation and through external learning by the funding of courses and time off for learning. Long-standing members of the team are encouraged to spend a few months in a different department if they wish to, which has provided new insights and innovation, invaluable to the receiving department and resulting in a refreshed and more rounded member of staff.  AFD invests in young people by providing proper work experience, apprenticeships and, in suitable cases, student sponsorship. All AFD employees are paid above the National Living Wage.

4. To contribute directly and indirectly to the quality and well-being of the society in which we live.

AFD staff are active in helping communities achieve the very best. For example Senior staff are engaged with government in a variety of ways at a national and local level. We help ensure the National education IT strategy is smart and achievable to the benefit of thousands of young people. Staff are also encouraged to enrich their local community through applying their skills in a voluntary capacity – AFD may provide company facilities to support charity and community ventures.

5. To generate profits, and to use them creatively in the relief of suffering, the improvement of society and furtherance of the Christian gospel.

A core motivation for profit is to make life better for others. The lives of thousands of people have been enriched and empowered through carefully-channelled funds regularly in excess of £1M per annum. View the charities we supported in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 find out how our donations help them.

Annually since 1998, every member of staff at AFD has been invited to nominate a charity to receive a donation on their behalf from AFD. Staff and director nominated donations to hundreds of charities over the last seven years have exceeded £10.5 million, sending vital funds to support the lives of those who need it most.

The AFD business is founded on objectives which recognise its role in society – local, national and international – and takes an active role at all levels. In just one initiative, at the end of each year in November or December, AFD holds its Annual Charity Event which celebrates staff-nominated donations to a range of charities, with each annual event typically celebrating AFD donations in excess of £1M per annum. During 2023, AFD’s donations have enabled international development and relief projects, supported child education at home and abroad, facilitated protection of the environment, and delivered key investments for organisations fighting modern slavery and child exploitation.  The fight against suicide, the respect and value of every human being has been a key driver of many charities – whilst International Development and relief is always a major feature.