Corporate Vision issue 4 2018

Issue 4 2018

From Humble Beginnings to International Recognition

A Leader Who Ensures You Keep on Smiling How to Succeed Sandler Systems Inc.

Wenko Wenselaar Gmbh & Co Kg

Dania Salha Quaglio started her career from the bottom of the production ladder, and worked her way up to become the Most Instrumental Woman in Media Production 2018 - Dubai. Currently working at Joy Films, which over time has become one of the leading Production houses in the Middle East, Dania provides us an insight into the success of the company, as well as her own accomplishments.

BioLingus

Editor’s Note

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Welcome to issue four of Corporate Vision Magazine, keeping you up to date with the latest news and inventive features from across the globe.

In recent news, Corporate Essentials announced on the 4th April 2018, that they have acquired Brooklyn-based full-service caterer, Martin + Fitch. The acquisition will expand the company’s offerings which currently feature coffee services, healthy snacks, beverages, and more workplace staples, to now include premium fresh food solutions.

Gracing the cover of this month’s issue, Dania Salha Quaglio, who initially began her career from the bottom of the production ladder, and worked her way up to become the Most Instrumental Woman in Media Production 2018 – Dubai.

Currently working at Joy Films, which over time has become one of the leading Production houses in the Middle East, Dania provides us an insight into the success of the company, as well as her own accomplishments.

In this month’s issue, we discover more about Ghost Systems, Inc. which was established in January 2014, establishing its worldwide headquarters and NOC/SIC in Nevada, USA to support the Financial Services & Banking; Legal; Healthcare/ Pharma; Critical Infrastructure & Energy; Mid-Market Enterprise and The Internet of Things (IoT) markets. Recently, we sat down with the innovative company’s CEO, Don Ritzman who revealed to us the secrets behind the firm’s exceptional success.

Also in this month’s edition, Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership conducting the practice in a diverse range of locations, such as France, Italy, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, and as affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan. Recently, the firm announced that Todd Carpenter had joined the firm as a corporate partner in the Emerging Companies Practice, based in San Francisco. We take a closer look at how Carpenter places a strong focus on high-growth, private companies and venture investors in the technology and life sciences sectors.

Lastly, established in 2001, Paradigm Staffing helps companies and agencies build winning public relations, communications and marketing teams throughout North America. Over the years, the firm has become a leader in the communications recruitment industry. We speak to Jolie Downs who gives us an insight into the success of the company.

Here at Corporate Vision Magazine, we hope that you enjoy reading this month’s edition and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Jessica Daykin, Editor Phone: +44 (0) 203 725 6842 Email: j.daykin@aiglobalmedialtd.com Website: www.cv-magazine.com AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them.

The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions.

Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility.

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Contents

4. News 6.

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A Leader Who Ensures You Keep on Smiling

10. From Humble Beginnings to International Recognition 12. Timely, Practical and Cost-Effective Legal Advice 13. Bank on its Integrity 14. Bridging Talent and Opportunity 16. Employer of Choice 17. Take Your Pick from the Buffet of Services 18. A Leading Manufacturer of e-liquids for Electronic Cigarettes in Europe.

20. Living up to an Excellent Reputation 22. The Perfect Consult: Developing Solutions Which Meet Regulatory Requirements 23. Maintaining Control and Visibility from any Place in the World 24. Creating an Environment for the Future 26. Possessing a Passion for the Industry 27. Integrity and Tailored Solutions 28. Innovation at the Heart of the Bio-Industry 30. Taking an Initiative and Seizing the Moment 32. Mapping the Route to Media Success 33. You Name it, They’ve Got it 34. Statistically Successful 35. Making the Daily Life Liveable Again 36. Better Ideas, Every Day 37. Large Enough to Deliver – Small Enough to Care 38. Unbeatable Technical Support 39. Transforming the way Commodities Trading Companies do Business 40. History of Innovation 41. Meet Your Perfect Partner 42. The Employee Engagement and Development Specialists 44. Going Greener with Green Motion 45. Millennials twice as likely as their parents to suffer from stress 46. Sandler - How to Succeed 48. Creating a Positive Impact 50. 10 Tips for Keeping Loyal Customers on Side 52. Leaders need to be better ‘followers’ 54. Small Business Minister says Carillion must act as the catalyst for change CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018 3

NEWS

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Corporate Essentials Acquires Leading New York City Specialty Catering Company NYC’s office refreshment leader adds full service catering through acquisition of caterer to New York’s elite.

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NEWS

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Leading Emerging Companies Partner Joins Latham & Watkins in Bay Area Corporate Essentials’ mission is to make work better; fuelling company culture and allowing employees to ‘work happy.’ Founded as an office coffee service in 1996, the company has long been considered the premier office refreshment service, fuelling the culture of many top companies through custom office refreshment programs

“We’re going to be doing something with the Martin + Fitch brand that we know offices are looking for,” said Kleinman. “We speak with the people making the food decisions in offices everyday - we have a really good feel of what our clients want.”

On the 4th April, Corporate Essentials announced that they have acquired Brooklyn-based full-service caterer, Martin + Fitch.

Corporate Essentials has also added Martin + Fitch co-founder Maura Martin as their executive chef. Martin has cooked for four of the last five US Presidents as well as providing catering services for the likes of Elie Tahari, Stephen Colbert, Tory Burch, The Tribeca Film Festival and more.

The acquisition will expand the company’s offerings which currently feature coffee services, healthy snacks, beverages, and more workplace staples, to now include premium fresh food solutions.

“Joining the Corporate Essentials team gives us the opportunity to do something truly unique,” said Martin. “I think it’s easy to underestimate the importance of a quality food program when it comes to workplace culture.”

“Acquiring Martin + Fitch marks the start of the most-exciting time in our company’s 20-plus-year history,” said Judson Kleinman, Corporate Essentials President and CEO. “Being able to offer full-service catering to New York City and New Jersey offices takes what we currently do to a whole new level.”

With company culture a new focus, providing one or more free, on-site meals on a daily basis has become normal among companies competing for top talent in their respective industries.

Under the Martin + Fitch brand, Corporate Essentials will offer a full range of options with the goal of appealing to every office.

Whether an office is looking to supply food for an occasional workplace party, a regular Friday happy hour or daily grab-and-go lunches, the refreshment solution leader will be able to deliver.

Corporate Essentials is currently in the process of testing its catering programs with a select group of long-time customers with plans of a wider launch scheduled for some time around the 1st July 2018.

“We did not make this move to simply add catering as another service we offer,” said Kleinman.

“We did this to disrupt food service in the workplace.”

Todd Carpenter strengthens practice in key market for high-growth technology companies.

Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in France, Italy, Singapore, and the United Kingdom and as affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan.

The firm are pleased to announce that Todd Carpenter has joined the firm as a corporate partner in the Emerging Companies Practice, based in San Francisco. Carpenter focuses on high-growth, private companies and venture investors in the technology and life sciences sectors.

Carpenter further deepens Latham’s emerging company capabilities in the Bay Area, particularly in the software/internet space. He has advised numerous private and public companies at various stages of development in sophisticated corporate transactions including public offerings, venture financings, and M&A transactions. Also, he counsels clients on corporate governance work as well as day-to-day matters.

Kirt Switzer, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in San Francisco, said: “A prominent practitioner, Todd has substantial experience and an excellent reputation in the market. Todd’s knowledge of the technology and life sciences sectors will be of great value to our clients, and a wonderful complement to our expanding Emerging Companies Practice in the Bay Area.”

“Our ability to help companies navigate every growth stage has earned us a position at the top-tier of firms in the geographical centres of entrepreneurship,” added Ora Fisher, Co-Chair of Latham & Watkins. “Todd enhances our capabilities in the Bay Area so we can continue to expand our services to the visionaries who’ve made this region a hotbed for innovation.”

Carpenter concluded: “More and more, we’re seeing emerging companies focused on scaling their influence and operations globally. As such, they need legal advisors who understand the various challenges and opportunities international expansion can generate. I am thrilled to be a part of a first-class team with that type of international understanding and exceptional ability to serve emerging companies at every stage. I look forward to supporting clients’ growth ambitions by leveraging the power of Latham’s global platform.”

Carpenter joins from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in San Francisco where he has practiced since 2000. Carpenter received his bachelor’s degree from Denison University in 1995 and his J.D. degree from The George Washington University Law School in 2000.

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A Leader Who Ensures You Keep on Smiling Dania Salha Quaglio started her career from the bottom of the production ladder, and worked her way up to become the Most Instrumental Woman in Media Production 2018 - Dubai. Currently working at Joy Films, which over time has become one of the leading Production houses in the Middle East, Dania provides us an insight into the success of the company, as well as her own accomplishments.

Dania Salha Quaglio gives us an insight into the success of Joy Films, as she features in Corporate Vision as the Most Instrumental Woman in Media Production 2018 – Dubai. Joy Films has become one of the leading Production houses in the Middle East, with connections to different clients from the local and international markets.

“Firstly, I feel really proud to have seen Joy Films evolving into what it has become today.

Secondly, it has been a hub for many talented producers, directors and craftsmen, and it is always great to collaborate with the best craftsmen in the local and international markets. All the awards we have won and the acclaim we have received, is a tribute to their dedication as well.”

Discussing her role as executive producer, Dania has had to deal with a lot of people, meaning she must be aware of how personalities gel together to create the best result. Dania elaborates on what challenges she has faced since taking the position.

“As an executive producer, you deal with a lot of people and you need to be aware of how personalities gel together for the favour of our work. One of the main challenges was to find the right people to create a team that cares, and keeps the standards of our work at a very high level. It is crucial to find the right people you can delegate to because in my case, I sometimes find myself having to be in two different film sets in the same time.”

When undertaking a new project, Dania is keen to emphasise how important long-term relationships with clients are to the firm. Being honest with clients and letting them know exactly what is going on is something the team strongly believe in.

“Importantly, when approaching a new project, I always stress on being honest with clients.

As I have mentioned before, transparency is key as it allows a way for trust. In this industry, clients and production houses spend most of their days corresponding, so it is important to have a good communication level and build that from a very early stage. As much as the client is demanding on us, I also feel I have to be demanding for

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them to ensure that they are not side-tracked away from the best product possible.”

Providing us with an overview of the industry in the Middle East currently, Dania mentions that the region is a wonderful location to film in, and is quickly emerging as the place to be in regard to filming.

“The Middle East in general is a great location to film in. As you are aware, many big films were shot in the Middle East throughout history whether international or local films. This region has become a major hub for filmmaking and with the emerging talent, great locations, professional crews and up to date equipment and approaches - there is no reason for great work not to come out of this region.”

In her time as executive producer, Dania has been able to develop her leadership skills, and she alludes to her leadership style, describing how she works hard to get the best out of her clients.

“Leadership is something that is earned and not given. For

me personally, there are years of hard work and dedication which has gone into my craft.

Leading by example is what gained me my team’s trust to keep improving, which in return helps me to carry out my responsibilities as an executive producer.

“My responsibilities vary from dealing with clients, suppliers and ensuring project consistency to managing my team. Not to mention, all the financial aspects which are connected to this job.

“As a leader, I believe I need to know how to do everything from photocopying to budgeting, in order to be able to explain clearly to employees everything from organisational goals to specific tasks.”

Allowing employees to have their say and giving them the freedom to be innovative and creative, serves the production company well. Dania explains how she pushes her clients to the limit, but the reward is justified as they excel and maximise their potential in their roles.

“Essentially, regarding my staff, I listen to them, to their thoughts, and I learn from them and they

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learn from me. However, I must admit, when I see things going in the wrong direction, things have to go my way in order to avoid jeopardising any project.

I motivate them by pushing their limits, allowing them to do what they think they cannot do, as a result they will feel their improvement and achievements.

Also, I delegate to each member of the team what they have to do on each project, and I give them my feedback since I feel responsible for their success and failure. Lastly, I take the blame when something does not go correctly.”

enough to not abuse this trust. I know myself as a very demanding leader, pushing my team to the limits of their passion to see them grow, as well as constantly learning from their mistakes and individual journeys to empower the collective.”

Despite forming a close bond with many of her staff, Dania still feels it important that a line is drawn between the two. She notes that the team are aware that she is the leader, and are keen to respect her authority as well as her responsibilities.

“Integrity, passion and a winning mentality are vital assets. I have to maintain the integrity of my craft and not think of the profit rather than the best result possible. This integrity leads to my honesty, I speak my mind when I am not happy with a product or an idea, many people are shocked by it, but then what’s the point of saying anything but the truth!”

“As a leader, I find it quite challenging sometimes to keep the fine lines of friendship and leading my team intact.

However, luckily my team has made it easier on me in that sense, where they are aware of their responsibilities towards me and each other on both the professional and personal front.

I always look at the character of the person, interviewing them rather than the successes they have achieved – as good potential, leads to great things, in comparison to a finalised product which tends to come with less flexibility and adaptability.

“Furthermore, our industry is very demanding, with many people sacrificing and compromising on their personal lives for the sake of the team’s success.

Since we are all on the same boat, I find it very important to appreciate this and be flexible with the team as much as possible, so they can create the best environment that suits their productivity and creativity.

As a collective, we do not believe in strict time and place policies. As I have previously mentioned, establishing trust with my employees is key to us constantly evolving, however, the staff needs to be responsible

Having gone into detail in regard to her leadership style, Dania further discusses the attributes she believes make her a wellrenowned, respected, and successful leader. She refers to the key values which she sticks to in order to keep up her success.

Living by her ethos, Dania encourages others to never be afraid to fail, as she always wants others to grasp the next opportunity to learn and grow, but most importantly to remain humble. The future looks very exciting for Joy Films, and Dania predicts bright times ahead for Joy Films. She concludes by discussing the team’s vision, and what her own future holds in the times.

“Ultimately, the vision is to expand our platform to producing feature films and make our own self-produced films. As for me, I will be fetching for opportunities to direct TV commercials and fulfil the artist inside of me.”

Company: Joy Films Contact: Dania Quaglio Address: Dubai Studio City, Block 4, Office 505-506, Dubai, UAE Phone: 00 97155 966 6603 Website: www.joyfilmsme.com

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From Humble Beginnings to International Recognition Delta Point, Inc. is a consulting firm which specializes in partnering with companies who face daunting challenges such as launching new products and brands, facing fierce competition, or declining market share. Founded by Jerry Acuff, who is recognized in CV Magazine as the Most Influential CEO of the Year in the 2018 Corporate Excellence Awards, Jerry shares what he believes are the reasons behind his and Delta Point’s success.

It all started with one man and one idea— how to implement change and make it stick. Since its inception, Delta Point has extended its reach across the customer experience spectrum, focusing on Selling Excellence, Strategic Positioning, Sales Messaging, Building Business Relationships, Sales Training, Coaching Selling Excellence, and Training and Leadership Development.

Jerry founded Delta Point after a successful career as an award-winning sales representative, district sales manager and ultimately, Vice President/General Manager of the primary care component of a major pharmaceutical company.

Throughout his career, Jerry recognized that despite the best efforts of leadership, often the success of any strategic initiative was based on what happened when the sales representative,

marketing person, or medical science liaison engaged the customer.

Delta Point specializes in significantly improving the impact of the customer conversation— starting with why that customer would want to listen to the company’s representative.

First, they must effectively set the stage for a meaningful conversation by gaining attention or interest. Then, by choosing the correct words and asking questions, they can get the customer to think differently than they are currently thinking—thus making it far more likely that they’ll act differently.

Delta Point has mastered the art of communicating effectively with customers by following a recognized process that has worked successfully with their clients, including more than 15 brands with sales in excess of $1 billion each. Utilizing this process, their clients have

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made significant inroads: after partnering with Delta Point, one customer increased their market share from 18% to 52% in just nine months. Another company that was launching a new product exceeded their first-year forecast by $130 million.

Jerry is quick to emphasize that it is not the consultant alone who produces these excellent results. By partnering with key stakeholders, the consultant can identify those small changes that create a big impact on the bottom line.

“For every customized Delta Point project, we conduct a thorough discovery process to enable us to gain a true understanding of what the client wants as well as the challenges and strengths that currently exist.

We optimize our 30 employees and two office locations to create a team that will work with the client from discovery through implementation and execution.”

“We find a phased approach often works best. We start by identifying and then interviewing the key stakeholders, including select customers, medical science liaisons, top sales leaders and excellent sales people. We ensure that we talk to and engage each person who could be involved with the product including marketing, training and medical teams as well as key thought leaders.”

“Multiple consultants are involved in this interview process, each following the same interview guide individualized for the role of the person being interviewed.

This enables us to shorten the discovery process and leverage the knowledge and perspective of each consultant to formulate our customized solutions.”

“The next step is to present our insights, findings, and recommendations to the decision makers. In most cases, the clients choose to engage us to

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From Humble Beginnings to International Recognition

train the appropriate personnel on how to “move the needle” and execute our plan. This emphasis on providing the steps and training necessary to successfully implement change is what distinguishes us from other consulting firms.”

“We have learned that other firms will tell you what to do, but they will not stay with you and show you exactly how to sell more of your product. From what our clients tell us, we are the only sales/marketing company that will partner with you through training, implementation and execution to ensure that sales increase.”

Jerry credits the executives, consultants and support staff at Delta Point with the reason why he is so confident in his firm’s ability to provide excellent services and products. The people who work at Delta Point share a love of lifelong learning and striving for excellence.

“Our consultants who work directly with the customers know more about Life Sciences selling and marketing than almost anyone you could meet. They have risen through the ranks and built on the knowledge and knowhow gleaned from their roles in different organizations, providing a breadth of perspectives. 90% of our consultants have been sales representatives, first line sales managers, and worked in headquarters in training, marketing and the executive office, including VP of Sales.

With a team like that you should expect great results. Three of the top ten Pharma companies in the world have hired us to work on 45 different products between them. They keep hiring us because we deliver great results.”

“One of the differentiators that makes Delta Point successful is that we train sales managers how to teach and coach selling in the field in real time. In most companies, a top ranked sales person is promoted to the role of sales manager.

But being successful in sales requires a different skill set and

perspective than being a great sales manager. Once sales people become managers, they are rarely taught anything about selling or how to coach selling. To fill this unmet need, Delta Point has developed a 2 1/2 day workshop that can be supplemented by virtual training to transform sales managers into excellent sales coaches.”

“Another area that we focus on is building business relationships— because business success is often based on relationships. We provide training on how to build valuable business relationships, using our proprietary 3-step process that teaches how to build connections with practically anyone—especially those you don’t naturally connect with.”

Endeavouring to establish Delta Point as the market leader in this industry is a major aim of Jerry’s.

He explains the techniques and methods they use to stay ahead of emerging developments which are arising throughout the industry.

“In order to stay cutting edge, we conduct periodic surveys to learn about the unmet needs of our customers. In addition, we have our own panel of healthcare executives we engage for their insights and expertise. Perhaps more importantly, we collectively conduct over 100 field rides a year and talk to approximately 1,000 people in all segments of healthcare. This breadth of knowledge keeps us quite well informed.”

“Essentially, our quest for excellence combined with our focus on learning and evolving

led to the development of several important offerings. Recognizing that individuals don’t have a lot of time to devote to learning and that attention spans continue to get shorter, we developed JerryAcuffVT, a virtual training platform. 95% of the lessons are five minutes or less. The four topics target the skills and knowledge necessary for success: Goal Setting; Building Valuable Business Relationships; Selling Excellence without being Pushy and Aggressive; and Coaching Selling in the Field in Real Time. Essentially, we endeavoured to capture the key concepts about these four subjects while focusing on the practical, providing ideas and applications using real-world situations.”

“Another offering we are excited about is called Coaching Catalyst. When survey data revealed that sales representatives do not go to their managers for selling advice, we looked to fill that need. We created a process to teach sales managers how to develop their coaching and selling skills so they are proficient to coach selling when they are in the field, in real time. Other programs we recently developed help organizations evaluate their sales force’s selling expertise and how to optimize co-pays, which tend to be poorly communicated to customers yet represent a large expense.”

Looking ahead, this is clearly an exciting time for Jerry and the team at Delta Point. There are developments and changes arising everyday within the industry, and Jerry is keen to

keep his team focused in cutting edge learning and technologies.

He feels quite strongly that they are poised to help other companies who are ready to learn and benefit from the expertise that has made Delta Point clients so successful.

“Lastly, we are really working on increasing awareness of Delta Point, Inc. within our industry, especially with those organizations we have not had the privilege to partner with.

Although 90% of our business comes from repeat customers, there are many Life Sciences organizations who might benefit from our expertise in those situations when they can’t afford to fail such as launching products or selling products in highly competitive arenas where improving execution really matters.”

“Ultimately, it seems clear that our industry will continue to undergo major changes. We expect more consolidation and a far greater focus on targeted diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and rare diseases. These changes will still demand execution excellence to succeed—and we are well positioned to help organizations meet their goals.”

Company: Delta Point Contact: Jerry Acuff Address: 12196 East Sand Hills Road, Scottsdale, Arizona, 85255, USA Phone: 001 480-296-9972 Website: www.deltapoint.com

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Timely, Practical and Cost-Effective Legal Advice Sue Barker Charities Law is a boutique law firm, based in Wellington, New Zealand, specialising in charities law and public tax law. We profile the firm and its Director, Sue Barker, as we look to find out more about the company named in Corporate Vision’s Corporate Excellence Awards as the Most Outstanding Boutique Law Firm in 2018 for its work in Charities Law. Sue Barker Charities Law is a boutique law firm specialising in Charities Law, Public Tax Law including tax disputes and litigation, Advocacy, Legal writing, drafting and editing and Commercial Law. The firm prides itself on providing legal excellence, through timely, practical, and cost-effective advice to all of its clients.

Crucial to the success of the firm. Director Sue Barker leads from the front, and her impressive knowledge and skillset is highlighted by her regular contributions of articles on charities law issues, as well as presenting them. As such, Sue was an invited speaker for the University of Melbourne Law School Masters course ‘Charity Law for the 21st Century’ and the University of Otago Charity Law paper.

Other previous experience that Sue boasts includes being a co-author of the text, The Law and Practice of Charities in New Zealand, and a contributor to Regulating Charities: The

Inside Story. Furthermore, Sue also contributed a chapter to Corporate Governance – a practical handbook, 2nd edition (Wolters Kluwer, 2016).

As well as running Sue Barker Charities Law, Sue is also a director of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, and a member of the Sector User Group convened

by Charities Services Nga Ratonga Kaupapa Atawhai, and is regularly approached by media for comment on various charities law issues.

In 2016, Sue was made an Honorary National Life Member of the National Council of Women of New Zealand Incorporated, for her work assisting the Council to regain their registered charitable status.

Ultimately, Sue’s experience and knowledge is a key reason for the success of Sue Barker Charities Law, as she is able to share her skillset and information with her team in order to help others and deliver the best service possible to clients.

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Company: Sue Barker Charities Law Contact: Sue Barker Address: PO Box 3065, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Phone: +64 (0) 21 790 953 Website: www.charitieslaw.co

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Bank on its Integrity Situated in Sierra Leone, Rokel Commercial Bank (RCB) is a dedicated, experienced and ambitious bank which features in the Corporate Excellence Awards as the Most Outstanding Commercial Bank within Sierra Leone in 2018.

Established in 1917 as Barclays Bank, RCB works with a vision of creating opportunities for both clients and partners. The Bank currently has 308 members of staff and is being headed by the 4th Sierra Leonean Managing Director and CEO, Dr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin. Equipped to provide the relevant answers to all members of staff, the bank has a management team of 41 Senior Members of staff. There is an Oversight Committee that performs the role of the Board; it meets regularly to advise on policy matters and approve limits/expenditure outside Managements discretion.

The firm’s mission falls in line with its ethos of providing banking and related financial services in a manner which looks to go far and beyond customer expectations. Throughout the bank, the team builds strong, lasting and satisfying relationships with customers, employees, shareholders and the communities in which the bank operates.

Well-renowned throughout the industry, RCB is famous for its innovation in terms of the products and services that it offers. Across all its branches, the firm provides real time banking services which are supported by VSAT Connectivity and the concept of banking with the bank is manifested throughout all its impressive network of branches.

At Rokel, people are not only doing business, but they can take comfort in Banking on integrity.

Crucial to the success of RCB is the banks unrivalled customer service, with managers available at all times, whether it be for a query or a discussion, and they serve as a focal point in providing excellent services at all times.

Rokel Commercial Bank’s senior management team comprises professionals with extensive experience in the financial services industry, and is capable of providing all forms of banking support services.

Taking on responsibility, the Directors are accountable for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company, and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with International Accounting Standards and the requirements of the Companies Act 2009.

They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company, and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Within Sierra Leone, RCB is the dominant bank in the market place providing about 25% of all banking business in the country.

Financially, the firm currently hold in excess of 155,000 accounts with a yearly growth of 10%.

Interestingly, in terms of its origins, ‘Rokel’ is the name of the longest river in Sierra Leone that

empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

This depicts the greatness of the Bank as a gateway to Banking in Sierra Leone.It thus follows that Rokel River by virtue of its prominence in the country and the bank because of its geographical spread, the Bank has been referred to as the Gateway to Banking in Sierra Leone.

Additionally, it is worth knowing that Rokel Bank is the only bank in Sierra Leone that reassuringly conveys to the public that integrity is the underlying philosophy for all its operations, and this is a key factor in helping it to stand out as the best possible option for clients, businesses and partners. It is displayed prominently on all of the Bank’s promotional materials.

This is evident in the growth of the Bank, the Bank’s customer base and work force and has

maintained a steady growth over the years.

Ultimately, RCB sets out its vision, mission and overall targets, and the staff throughout the firm work exceptionally hard to deliver on its promises and enhance the bank’s already sterling reputation. Adaptable and versatile, RCB believes in going the extra mile to surpass client expectations.

Contact: Millicent Cole, Head Corporate Affairs and Customer Services Address: 25/27 Siaka Stevens Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone, PO BOX 12, Sierra Leone Phone: 0023222222501 Website: www.rokelbank.sl

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Bridging Talent and Opportunity Paradigm Staffing has become a leader in the communications recruitment industry.

We speak to Jolie Downs who gives us an insight into the success of the company.

Established in 2001, Paradigm Staffing helps companies and agencies build winning public relations, communications and marketing teams throughout North America. The company is a search and placement firm filling communications, PR, marketing and social media roles at all levels. Jolie talks us through the clientele that the team work with, going into detail about how the expertise amongst staff is crucial to the success of the firm.

“Typically, our clients include Fortune 500 companies, exciting start-up ventures and innovative agencies across all industries.

We are discipline specific, and we have a far reaching, extensive network of professional communicators, marketers and PR experts allowing us to quickly identify top talent for our client positions. Paradigm Staffing is recognised for our ability to quickly complete challenging, specialised assignments due to our extensive experience in our industry niches.”

Differentiating the company apart from its competitors is the team’s ability to gain the trust of partners and build long-term relationships with clients. Boasting a wide range of experience and an impressive skillset, Jolie comments on how Paradigm Staffing become unofficial

business partners of clients, not just aid them with recruiting.

“Excitingly, we still work with companies who hired us our first year in business. We come to understand our clients company and culture allowing us to identify not only the best talent, but talent with the personalities that would fit best with our client’s office environment. When you work with Paradigm, we present you with a handful of qualified candidates who can get the job done, your only responsibility is figuring out who you would prefer to work with day in and day out. We manage the entire hiring process, making it a seamless task for the hiring manager to deal with.”

“Furthermore, being versatile in our offerings, results in our clients coming to us not only for recruiting help but for industry knowledge and insight, compensation evaluation, assistance with differentiation and HR trends as well. Our specialised expertise allows us to provide our clients with direct localised industry feedback for their specific needs. We keep our finger on the pulse of what the industry is saying about our clients and their various competitors.

“Plus, we work closely with the leading talent, working to understand what aspects they love and those they could do

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Jolie Downs, Partner

Lindsay Olson, Partner

without. We work diligently to pair the right opportunity with the candidate’s strengths and desires. Our candidates know we have their best interest at heart and come to us for advice not only for the job seeking process, but also for help in current roles, for making difficult decisions, in dealing with transitions and overall career insight.”

“Here at Paradigm Staffing, our focus is on building lasting relationships with clients and candidates so that we can have a solid understanding of that company or person’s mindset.

We understand it is critical that we make the best connections.

It is imperative that you are surrounded with the right people in an opportunity that suits everyone’s needs.”

Committed to becoming the best in the industry, staff work exceptionally hard to stay ahead of modern trends in the market, thoroughly researching all aspects of the market so they can provide the best advice and service to clients. Jolie explains how the company beliefs influence the way the team works.

Key to a successful business is a strong and happy working environment, something Jolie and the team at Paradigm Staffing clearly believe in. She explains how the goal for every individual process with each client is to help them thrive in a positive working environment, as well as outlining the company values.

g

Bridging Talent and Opportunity

“Finding the right fit for your organization can be a challenge. Often the best employees are found working with your competitors. Paradigm Staffing recruits the strongest talent to make your hiring decisions quick, easy and successful.”

“Paradigm Staffing is here to help our client companies build those cohesive teams that help lead to a positive work environment, thereby contributing to overall success. We help the individual communications professional find that position that fills their needs and feels like home.

We have seen how the right match can help everything

fall into place on both the personal and professional side, leading to accomplishment and advancement. This is our goal with every client and candidate we work with.

“Essentially, we believe that you spend way too much time at work not to be happy.

We believe that the work

environment should be a positive place to be.

Also, we believe it’s the people that make a company successful.”

Ultimately, Jolie and the team at Paradigm Staffing are well aware of what is required to be successful in the recruitment industry.

Placing the client first, the team look to be flexible and adapt to the many different requirements of various candidates and clients, all of which helps them to attract the best business.

Contact: Jolie Downs Address: Santa Cruz, CA, USA Phone: 001 925 754 4159 Website: www.paradigmstaffing.com

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Employer of Choice An IT recruitment company with a remarkable difference, Corecom Consulting, has been shortlisted for a whopping ten awards in just 12 months. The Leeds-headquartered IT recruitment company, which was established by Managing Director, Jonathan Sanderson, in 2008, has achieved unprecedented growth and success. Recently, we invited Jonathan to reveal more to us about this unique company.

Amongst Corecom Consulting’s achievements include award shortlists for the leadership and entrepreneurship displayed by the company’s Managing Director, Jonathan Sanderson, as well as for innovation, corporate social responsibility and pioneering marketing and social media activities.

The company is leading the way in client nurture and candidate attraction, publishing exclusive digital resources, including podcast interviews with IT industry experts, white papers covering pertinent and effective technology and recruitment advice and punchy video job adverts. The company also featured in the latest Yorkshire Post Top 250 Companies in Yorkshire last September. Speaking of the success, Jonathan begins by informing us of the firm’s accomplishments: “Our performance to date has been achieved through organic business growth, a recruitment marketing focus, community partnerships, investment in people and our unconventional approach to recruitment.”

Corecom Consulting welcomed its first female director, Gemma Robinson, to its Board of Directors last year. It expanded into North West England in January, appointing Julie Mombielova to head up the Manchester-based division. Further national and

international expansion is planned over the course of the next three years, as Jonathan added: “Our focus for the next three years, is to continue to advance in the recruitment of technical specialists with broader skill sets in line with the rapid pace of change in digital and technology.

“Along with our plans for expansion, we will continue our commitment to transforming society, the sector and enabling communities to keep abreast of the latest opportunities, tools and technologies.”

Corecom Consulting’s community contributions include delivering free lectures and workshops to raise graduate employment prospects at local universities, including working with the University of Leeds’ Widening Participation Team this year in order to raise the employability prospects of underrepresented groups.

Hosting networking events and resources across the full technology spectrum, Corecom Consulting has enabled business innovation, increased the number of women in tech roles, raised graduate prospects in the region and upskilled underrepresented community groups.

The company hosted the second annual free networking event for Women in Technology, WITBoss, in June. This was in support of the national WISE initiative; a campaign for gender balance

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in science, technology and engineering. It also hosts an annual free networking event aimed at improving the employability prospects of university students across Yorkshire; GradBoss. This event has attracted students from all West Yorkshire universities. The objective is to introduce prospective local employers to students who are due to graduate soon and are looking for technology careers.

Corecom Consulting’s charitable contributions include delivering IT training sessions and CV writing workshops at Emmaus Leeds; a local charity that provides a home and meaningful work to formerly homeless people (Companions).

This is as well as assisting with clothes sorting, furniture collections, painting and upholstering at their shop.

These initiatives have been recognised and congratulated in person by Stuart Andrew, MP – House of Commons: “It was inspiring to learn of the partnership between Corecom Consulting and Emmaus Leeds. It’s clearly of great value to Emmaus in helping the people they support get the skills that they need to help improve their life chances.”

The company’s Managing Director, Jonathan Sanderson, will be speaking at the House of Commons in April in support and of the Moonlight Trust; a charity whose mission is to fight poverty and oppression in some of the

world’s poorest countries, delivering humanitarian aid around the world.

The bold leadership, creativity and innovative thinking displayed by Jonathan, has positioned Corecom Consulting as the ‘employer of choice’ ahead of longer established recruitment businesses in order to attract new business, new candidates and new employees.

Jonathan has shown a commitment to addressing the growing level of skills shortages in technology and to his employees, who are encouraged to take at least one day out of company time to volunteer in the community.

Corecom Consulting’s revolutionary approach has enabled the company to compete with national and global players in the market with longstanding clients including Jet2.com, Link Asset Services, Engie Power and Computershare.

It is really encouraging to see an unconventional recruitment company who is contributing to transforming society, the sector, as well as enabling communities to keep abreast of the latest opportunities, tools and technologies.

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Take Your Pick from the Buffet of Services N&A Abogados y Notarios is a company dedicated to offering effective legal advice to its clients. We profile the company as we aim to find out more about CV’s Most Outstanding Attorney in Employment Law in Costa Rica in the Corporate Excellence Awards.

N&A Abogados y Notarios is a legal firm in Costa Rica which does not limit itself to providing legal services, but focuses on delivering and providing unrivalled customer service amongst the industry. More than just legal services, staff are committed to providing high quality, personalised legal advice that meets the needs of those who honour it by choosing the team as their attorneys and legal advisors. The company works with the belief that its clients deserve the best and most efficient service possible.

Boasting an exceptional team of professionals brimming with ambition, dedication to providing an unrivalled service to clients, the team works under the highest standards of efficiency, speed, honesty and loyalty to customers.

Throughout the company, the team does not limit itself to just producing effective and consistent results, but provides outstanding legal services which enables it to build long-term relationships.

A crucial aspect of the firm’s success has been its ability to gain clients’ trust through a reliable and effective service, and clients alike have begun to consider N&A Abogados y Notarios as business partners and allies.

Operating within the ever evolving legal industry, N&A Abogados y

Notarios has to be ready to adapt for any potential developments which may arise on a daily basis.

Subsequently, the firm focuses on providing preventive legal advice in areas including labour law, intellectual property, corporate and commercial law, as well as real estate transactions and immigration law, as well as also possessing extensive experience in the handling of litigation cases and alternative dispute resolution.

Furthermore, the team also possesses the capacity employ litigation lawyers and specialists in negotiation and alternative dispute resolution, whose experience allows the company to handle cases efficiently, but also anticipate and prevent different situations that could arise during a business or transaction.

Significantly, the firm’s goal is always to provide clients with prompt, satisfactory and effective legal solutions in an assortment of services, including; Corporate, Migration, Intellectual Property, Labour Law, and many other services.

Regarding its offerings in the corporate sector, part of the success of their operations lies precisely in the legal advice that they receive, and that it is correct and adjusted to what the client needs.

The company’s goal is to work alongside clients to assist them in

the implementation of their corporate structure, and adjust it accordingly to each individual client.

Fundamentally, the company’s immigration services specialists provide clients with the necessary assistance to work, settle, retire, invest or start a business in Costa Rica. Whether a work permit is needed, or a residency or a visa, or a client needs to complete any application or immigration process, the firm’s specialists go the extra mile to assist them.

Crucially, the team at N&A Abogados y Notarios are well aware of the value and importance that intellectual property has today. The improper use or exploitation of a mark or distinctive sign, a literary or artistic work, or a commercial name, can cause serious damage and loss to its owners, as well as the loss of prestige of what they have dedicated so much effort to.

As a result, adequate, timely and effective protection of trademarks, trade names, copyright and, in general, everything that is a product of the human intellect is necessary.

The team go above and beyond, utilising their expertise in order to provide the best solution available to clients.

Another aspect in which the firm has seen an incredible amount of success, is its specialist services within Labour law. Constantly working hard to achieve greater

efficiency, the firm helps client implement a preventive labour practice, through which an employer is able to enforce his rights within the framework of legality and respecting the rights of workers.

In this way, it is possible to achieve greater efficiency, as well as to control and prevent important economic losses. Throughout the office, N&A Abogados y Notarios has a team of lawyers specialised in labor law, with extensive experience in the handling of litigation and Alternative Resolution of labor disputes. This experience allows us the team to identify risks effectively and provide prompt, practical and effective solutions, and as a result, getting the desired outcome for both sides.

Ultimately, it is clear that the team at N&A Abogados y Notarios are able to produce excellent results, alongside providing exceptional customer service, leading to the company being well-placed to build on its success and establish itself as a leader within the industry.

Company: N&A Abogados y Notarios Contact: Rogelio Navas Address: Sabana Norte, Avenida Las Américas, Condominio Torres del Parque, 3er piso, oficina 303, Costa Rica Phone: 0050640002333 Website: www.costarica-law.com

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A Leading Manufacturer of e-liquids for Electronic Cigarettes in Europe.

ELDA Ltd is a company that has been successfully operating for more than 30 years. Dario Marenic explains what attributes the firm possesses which contribute to its ongoing success.

Since 2008, ELDA has been active in selling electronic cigarettes and manufacturing e-liquids. The company has been developing rapidly, keeping pace with the fast rise of the e-cigarette industry, and has grown in a short amount of time from a small family company into one of the leaders in the world market.

Typically, the firm works with wholesalers and retailers, and they enjoy working with the team at ELDA, as they assured that they will receive liquids according to their recipes, brand names and design of packaging. Also, ELDA can ensure its clients complete laboratory analyses for e-liquids and electronic cigarettes.

When undertaking a new project, the ELDA team takes certain steps in order to ensure its clients receive the best possible outcome. Dario talks us through his selection process and comments that each individual process is unique.

“Describing what steps we take when approaching a new client, I will introduce you into the selection

process of our e-liquids. Market demands become so much complex and sometimes we need to make more than 50 formulas to hit just the right one. Our team of experts every day needs to do extensive testing. After the establishment of the new recipes, our chemical engineers need to make the samples that sometimes must ripe for 30 days. After the ripening process, these samples are carried out to the multiple testing and only the best of them will be chosen.”

the company until it is completely planned and researched.”

A crucial aspect in differentiating the firm apart from its competitors is Dario and the team’s willingness to adapt, invest and make wise choices. He explains how being brave and choosing the right technology is a significant part of the firm’s success.

Operating with a clear vision in mind, Dario outlines what steps the team takes to ensure it will achieve its overall mission. He emphasises that in order for the product to be released, it has to be considered to be the best product available at the time, and they are the standards that the team sets itself.

“Essentially, I think that the main thing which differentiates us from others is that we are always ready to invest in new models of doing the business, like new technology. Most of other companies maybe do not have enough time, money or willing for making the market researches and to investing in new models of business. However, for us, it is of the crucial importance because we know that each good investment will return at least double to us.”

“The mission of our company is always the same, as we want to produce the best product on the whole market, alongside offering only the highest quality products and services. In order to achieve this, detailed procedures are undertaken in all other areas of our business. Nothing goes out from

Working within the competitive manufacturing industry, ELDA is importantly able to employ certain techniques which enable it to be successful. Dario comments on the fact that the innovative methods which the team come up with, are major contributors to the success of the company.

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“At this moment, the market competition is very strong but the key to success is innovation.

Business partners and customers are always searching for better and more quality products, as well as excellent customer service, and ultimately clients will choose the company which can offer it all. Our strategy is to always offer innovative products of the highest quality, and I always try to do my best and be at least one step ahead of others. I am always thinking about the next big thing and where we can improve.”

With this in mind, Dario explains the firm’s approach to hiring staff, and explains how the company attracts the very best talent to work for them. Dario states that the team has motivated, dedicated and ambitious individuals, all of whom have interviewed well, and ELDA was incredibly lucky to find them straight away.

“Until now, we were very lucky on the interviews for the jobs because we could choose highly motivated and educated individuals who are looking for a new knowledge and continuously improvement.

With such kind of people, it is

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A Leading Manufacturer of e-liquids for Electronic Cigarettes in Europe.

possible to achieve great business results. We are always trying to provide our staff all necessary resources, so that they can do their working commitments without any difficulties.”

Looking to the future, Dario is clearly excited about what is to come, and he signs off by commenting on the firm’s future plans of investing in new facilities and achieving the overall goal of success.

“Moving forwards, our plans are to invest in new technology and new production facilities. This is the plan that we always fulfil and after that we set the scale on the higher level.

Our goal is to predict the way that the market will be developing and every moment be at least one step ahead of our competitors, in order to offer our business partners and end customers the most innovative products of the highest quality.”

Contact: Dario Marenic Address: Zrinskih 62, Nova Gradiska, 35400, Croatia Phone: 38535361361 Website: www.elda.hr

CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018 19

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Living up to an Excellent Reputation Jumeirah Zabeel Saray is a five-star luxurious resort that is managed by Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts; an entity of Dubai Holding. We invited Mona AlHebsi, the Director of Human Resources in Jumeirah Zabeel Saray to tell us more about the hospitality industry in UAE and her reaction after being named Hospitality HR Director of the Year 2018 – UAE in CV Magazine’s Business Woman Elite cycle 2018.

Located in the United Arab Emirates, the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray is inspired by the imperial and vibrant synthesis of Ottoman architecture and art, and is nestled on the quiet, pristine West Crescent of Dubai’s iconic Palm Jumeirah.

With stunning views of the Arabian Gulf and Dubai’s skyline, the resort boasts 379 elegant guest rooms, 26 lavish suites, and 38 Royal Residences. The resort also comprises of a 59-metre infinity pool, a private beach, as well as exquisite culinary offerings in its award-winning restaurants and The MusicHall. Most importantly, the multi-award-winning Talise Ottoman Spa, is home to 42 treatment rooms, snow rooms and other iconic facilities.

Commenting on her auspicious win. Mona kicks off the discussion by explaining how it feels to have been named as CV’s Hospitality HR Director of the Year 2018 within the UAE, stating what a delight it is for her work to be recognised.

“Being named as HR Director of the year 2018 is fantastic, and I

am honoured to win yet another accolade. I feel humbled to receive this award that recognises my valuable contributions in the hospitality industry and HR profession.”

Recalling her entry to the hospitality industry in 2005, a time, when it was not common for UAE Nationals, especially women, to consider working in hotels as a viable career option, Mona explains how she was fascinated by the details she was exposed to.

“Over a decade ago, I started my first job with the iconic Burj Al Arab Jumeirah and was fascinated by the great learning opportunities I was exposed to from the beginning.

My career journey to get to where I am today has not been easy, but definitely worth the effort.”

Furthermore, Mona believes that she is currently reaping the rewards of her initial decision of venturing into such non-conventional industry when everyone else around her was opposing it.

“Currently, we live in very exciting times; as there are many opportunities within the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality sector in

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the UAE. This sector alone makes up as much as 25% of Dubai’s economy.”

Jumeirah Group is a major local operator of luxury hotels in the UAE and expanding globally with an impressive pace. The most recent addition to Jumeirah’s portfolio was the stunning Jumeirah Royal Saray in Bahrain that was inaugurated on the 28th February 2018.

The hotel business is very competitive in this part of the world due to large scale investments, creative concepts and additional hotel rooms supplied into the market quite aggressively. Mona describes what she believes hotels need to do in order to keep on top of the ever evolving developments throughout the industry.

“For hotels to stay ahead of the curve, they need to focus on delivering exceptional experiences to their guests influenced

Living up to an Excellent Reputation

by knowing their individual preferences.”

Thoughtful and Generous services.”

what they do, your excellent results will speak for themselves.

In terms of providing the best service possible to guests, Mona emphasises the importance of establishing a positive organisational culture underpinned by strong employment branding initiatives to attract the best talent.

On another note, Mona urges hoteliers to take advantage of the extensive opportunities available to them to have a successful yet meaningful career throughout their working life.

“Today, I am a multi-award-winning Emirati hotelier, I have worked for reputed companies throughout my career in hospitality and therefore, I am well positioned in the industry”.

“You can have the most astonishing landmark, but if your employees are not spot on in anticipating guests’ needs and surpassing their expectations, then you are not fulfilling your true calling as a hotel company.”

“Jumeirah Group prides itself being ‘Your Place to Shine.’ This is how we attract top talents across the industry to work in our hotels, so that we can live our brand promise that is ‘Delivering Imaginative and Exhilarating experiences in Culturally Connected environments that are offering

“To succeed in the industry, I believe you should never wait for things to happen, you should be proactive and become the person who makes things happen, this is how you will stand out in a competitive marketplace.”

In her concluding comments, Mona accredits her success to good intentions and clarity of purpose, talking about having good intentions and making a considered effort to help others.

“If you are well intentioned and continuously thinking about helping others around you to also excel at

Moving forwards, Mona is currently preparing to release her first book titled, ‘Beat the Odds’ in which she talks about her hospitality career journey, sharing effective tips and tools to other hoteliers that will enable them to enjoy a successful career in the hospitality industry.

Contact: Mona AlHebsi Address: West Crescent, The Palm Jumeirah, PO Box 27722 Dubai, United Arab Emirates Telephone: +971 4 453 0000 Visit us at: www.jumeirah.com

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The Perfect Consult: Developing Solutions Which Meet Regulatory Requirements FMConsult is an independent regulatory, product development, and operational and investment risk consultancy. The firm is committed to assisting clients in aligning financial services processes with regulatory requirements. We profile the highly regarded company as we aim to find out about the expert services that the team offers in order to provide excellence to clients.

Boasting an international reputation, FMConsult is headquartered in London with additional offices in Ireland and the USA, along with associates in Italy.

Possessing a wealth of experience, the team has made it its mission to provide solutions to clients so that they can continually meet regulatory requirements.

Featuring in CV’s Corporate Excellence Awards 2018 as the Leading Expert in Asset Management within the UK, the company provides risk and compliance solutions which enable senior management of financial services firms to demonstrate that both they and their firm are currently aligned with regulatory requirements, and will continue to be so.

Typically, the company deals with a vast array of clients within the wholesale firms and funds industry, but the team also possess the capacity and experience to assist retail and market infrastructure companies. Just some of the work that FMConsult has done for its clients includes Corporate Authorisation, Compliance Outsourcing and Interim Resources, as well as conducting due diligence and expert witness assignments. Furthermore, the team also has exceeded client expectations in areas such as Fund establishment and authorisation, along with Consumer Credit and Compliance Monitoring and indepth investigations.

Group Managing Director Dallas J McGillivray is an experienced international regulatory and business manager. Dallas is the previous Global Head of

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Compliance and Operational Risk at a major global asset management company for all business outside of the Americas, having 30 years of compliance experience within the UK and globally covering both retail and institutional areas. Adding to his excellent track record, Dallas also has an impressive skillset after spending over eight years with Coopers & Lybrand across four different countries, covering audit, accounting services, insolvency and regulation. Essentially, Dallas is a specialist in providing corporate governance and operational risk services to asset management and investment companies.

Ultimately, the future looks bright for FMConsult, and with the firm looking to capitalise on its ongoing success by exploring future expansion options, there are no significant barriers in the

way of FMConsult achieving its overall mission of helping its clients keep up and adapt accordingly to the ever changing regulations throughout the industry.

Contact: Dallas McGillivray Address: 2nd Floor, 10 Arthur Street, London, EC4R 9AY, UK Phone: 020 7220 9073 Website: www.fmconsult.co.uk

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Maintaining Control and Visibility from any Place in the World Up Pharma offers market entry services and market expansion services to pharmaceutical manufacturers who want to enter the Mexican market. We profile the firm along with CCO of Up Pharma, Gabriela Baez Curiel as we look to find out more about what makes the company tick.

Headquartered in Mexico, Up Pharma is committed to helping companies that pursue penetrating the Mexican Market without establishing a local operation. The team aims to conquer its overall mission by employing competent personnel and certified service vendorpartners network, which will result in a replicable and scale economy platform accelerating learning curve for each new client-partner.

Essentially, Up Pharma works towards offering pharmaceutical companies commercial solutions to penetrate and develop the Mexican market with the brand owner maintaining strategic control, reducing investment and minimising risk. The team at Up Pharma believe that the key to its success is its ability to lead from the front in terms of designing winning commercial strategies, and best in class execution with standard processes, while

allowing for speed to market, efficiency and sustainability.

Operating within the ever evolving healthcare industry, Up Pharma must work hard to stay ahead of any advances which are arising across the industry. Within the sector, health challenges are evolving towards chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer, as Mexico is moving toward becoming a developed country with an aging population. Subsequently, this explains the relevant growth of biologic medical products, forcing Up Pharma’s clients to adapt their portfolio to this trend.

Dominik Bacher, CCO

Enabling the company to live up to its excellent reputation, Up Pharma boasts a team full of experience, with the firm only hiring specialists who possess at least ten years of experience and extensive knowledge in specific areas.

as the team continues to produce outstanding results as well as unrivalled customer service across the sector. A crucial aspect of the team’s ability to satisfy clients and exceed their expectations is the innovative solutions which are devised by the team, and these solutions help to increase the commercial efficiency of clients in Mexico.

Moving forwards, Up Pharma would like to strengthen its longstanding relationships with clients

Overall, Up Pharma would have conquered its mission if the global pharmaceutical industry

Gabriela Báez, Commercial Director recognises the company as the preferred alliance partner for the successful, efficient and sustainable entry to, and development of the Mexican market.

Company: UP PHARMA SA DE CV Contact: Gabriela Baez Curiel Address: Insurgentes Sur 670 piso 6, Col. Del Valle, CP 03100, CDMX, Mexico Phone: +52 55 36 40 20 00 Website: www.uppharma.com

CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018 23

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Creating an Environment for the Future Ecodek is featuring as the Recognised Leader for Composite Decking Manufacturing within the UK in Corporate Vision’s Best in Business awards. We profile the forward-thinking company to learn more about its products and its aims for the future.

Established in 2002, Ecodek is the UK’s market leader in Wood Polymer Composite decking materials, and is subsequently a leading manufacturer in composite decking and cladding.

As the UK’s market leader in WPC decking materials, the firm manufactured over one million linear metres of decking in 2017, consuming 3600 tonnes of recycled wood and plastic. An aspect which has contributed greatly to its success, Ecodek manufactures an innovative board system made entirely from ethically sourced hardwood waste and recycled high density polyethylene.

Boasting an impressive background in the research and development of its products, Ecodek invests heavily in its laboratory and facilities, with the team continuously striving to develop more recycled composite content for its products. In order to help facilitate this, Ecodek is part of EU Research programs which help create new materials and helps develop new technology and production methods. One of the most significant of these EU Research and Innovation

programmes as a whole is Horizon 2020.

With nearly €70 billion of funding available, Horizon 2020 will support projects that have the potential to create real impact and growth for Europe and tackle major European issues. The project is a Europe 2020 initiative aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness which has the political backing of Europe’s leaders and the Members of the European Parliament.

Importantly, Ecodek is very proud to be part of three Horizon 2020 funded projects, namely FISSAC, GelClad and SmartPlant.

Working together with several institutions, including European Universities, Ecodek is working towards developing bio-composite materials which can be used towards the manufacturing of building products.

Upholding its sterling reputation, the company has achieved ‘carbon negative’ status to produce its composite decking system. A life-cycle assessment programme, undertaken by the BioComposites Centre of Bangor University, considered production of the decking on a cradle to

24 CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018

South Bank Tower©

g Creating an Environment for the Future

factory gate basis, accounting for all significant materials, transport, energy use and packaging inputs. Results showed that production of ecodek® actually had a net effect of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere rather than adding to it – hence carbon negative - a huge achievement in modern manufacturing and one that clearly illustrates the company’s environmental credentials.

This important achievement, believed to be a first for a UK based polymer company, and follows years of painstaking development of its design, manufacturing and distribution processes.

As suppliers to the Construction Sector, the company’s main aim is delivering excellent supply solutions. Its USPs includes bespoke lengths, a quick response to customer demand and solid technical advice. The Ecodek Technical Team possess a direct input with architects and specifiers who need support and solutions to problems.

Placing a firm emphasis on putting the client first, Ecodek is the market choice for high end residential developments in London where many apartments feature a balcony. ecodek® materials can be found across much of the redevelopment zones in London, such as Greenwich Peninsula, Elephant and Castle, Nine Elms and Fulham Wharf.

Embedded in the company culture is a determination to help the environment, and the team work hard to produce materials that are environmentally friendly by tailoring its products to suit each individual project, the team also guarantee that waste is kept to a minimum on site.

Additionally, any material that is redundant on site can be bought back by Ecodek to be ground up and fed straight back into new material as ecodek® is 100% recyclable. The material requires only very minimum maintenance and no staining, so no risk of dripping through to balconies below, plus nothing the

Photo credit: Neil Kenyon, Arki Magazine leach onto rendered walls, as is common with timber balconies.

Profiling some of its most successful projects, ecodek® was specified for the roof terrace at the luxurious redevelopment of Southbank Tower. Situated in the vibrant heart of London’s South Bank, it epitomises high-end residential and office spaces in the city. As a prime residential development, it comprises 173 luxury apartments and 11 additional storeys, was developed by CIT and designed in collaboration with Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates,

with landscaping by Frosts Landscape Construction Ltd. The successful project features a roof terrace garden at the top of the tower, designed to a very modern and high-end specification, and the materials chosen needed to be in keeping with this. ecodek® blends in beautifully with hardwood furniture, aluminium, stainless steel and glass structures.

Overall, there is widespread optimism amongst the team at Ecodek that it will continue to be the market leader in WPC manufacturing, and with the

company continuing to deliver unrivalled customer service alongside its outstanding products, there is no limit to the firm’s success. Moving forward, to achieve its mission, the team will continue to use R&D to drive innovation.

Contact: Felicity Hodgkinson Address: Unit 13, Abenbury Way, Wrexham Industrial Estate, Wrexham, LL13 9UZ, UK Phone: 01978 667 841 Website: www.ecodek.co.uk

CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018 25

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Possessing a Passion for the Industry For over 20 years, Hitit has been an Airline and Travel IT Solutions provider to the industry players who need change. We profile the firm as we look to explain what attributes the firm possess which are seeing it achieve monumental success.

Founded in 1994, Hitit is a provider of new generation airline, airport and travel industry software products and services which support the most complicated and demanding needs of fast growing industry players. Hitit is connected to the air travel industry via its IT solutions brand - Crane. The company’s Crane solutions are focused on the changing trends of the air travel industry by offering modern, fast, cost efficient and smart solutions. Hitit currently serves 25 airline companies and travel clients with 65 million yearly passengers.

Boasting a reputation as one of the top Passenger Service System providers in Europe, Hitit can stand out from the crowd thanks to its user and cost-effective solutions, which are also beneficial to management teams. Alongside the company’s easy-to-use solutions, it also offers efficient distribution capabilities, flexible hosting services and service-oriented architecture, all of which contribute to differentiating the company from its competitors.

Operating with a mission of providing solution-oriented, brilliant, trustworthy and creative services alongside its solutions, the firm has set out a clear vision which is to lead by example and show the way for others to follow within the sustainability in travel technology market.

As a result of its exemplary service, Hitit is well on its way to its aim of being considered one of the top three airlines IT providers in the world. Focusing on the area of IT in the increasingly changing environment has seen the team adapt accordingly and come up with innovative solutions which have seen the company redefine some of its products.

Also, it should be noted that Hitit is the main company behind Crane Frequent Flyer (FF), one of the first purpose-built loyalty solutions for aviation. Under Hitit’s guidance, Crane FF has grown to be the most widely used airline loyalty system across the world, before being successfully auctioned off in 2012.

Ultimately, in terms of what the future holds for Hitit, there is widespread optimism amongst the company that it will conquer its dream and firmly establish itself as the leader in the industry.

Establishing a network of accomplished partners is an aim of Hitit, and this is a vision that the whole team is working together to achieve.

Company: Hitit Computer Services Address: Resitpasa Mah. Katar Cad.No: 4/1 Ari Teknokent 2 Ic Kapi, Maslak, Istanbul, 601 34469, Turkey Phone: 0090 212 276 15 00 Website: www.hititcs.com / www.crane.aero

26 CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018

Nur GOKMAN, Hitit CEO - Most Influential Female CEO 2018 – Technology

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Integrity and Tailored Solutions CK Recruitment is a recruitment agency with a difference. They’ve set out to under complicate recruitment and put people first. They’ve thrown pressure tactics and the hard sell out the window, and have trusted in the philosophy that if you treat people well, business will boom.

And boom it has, in just a few short years since the firms’ establishment in 2014. The business has grown from a team of three to 13 full-time employees, 230 weekly causals, two office locations, 50 major clients and $9 million in annual turnover.

CK Recruitment provides truly tailored recruitment solutions, throughout Metropolitan Sydney, NSW and beyond. They provide labour hire, temporary and permanent recruitment as well as HR consultancy services for both government and private clients, and are preferred supplier on a number of procurement panels.

After years of working together in recruitment, business founders and formidable team, Cassie Greenland and Kylie Hayes decided they’d had enough of the traditional world of recruitment. The non-stop pressure to meet unrealistic targets saw them endlessly hassling clients at the bequest of management.

They decided there must be a better way of helping businesses with recruitment. So, amongst the very late stages of pregnancy, the usual ruckus of motherhood with young children, dogged determination, and an acute sense of business savviness, they set up CK Recruitment. With people, integrity and tailored solutions being at the very heart of their offering.

Kylie says “Within recruitment, many of our competitors have set rigid processes, procedures and structured fee schedules. We work closely with each of our clients and individually tailor our service to meet their needs. We offer a fee arrangement that works within their

budget and allow early transition of a CK employee onto their payroll without penalty. We don’t just do this for the client, we work hard to ensure candidate satisfaction and wellbeing. We choose to support the long-term placement of a valued employee over charging an exit fee which could potentially deter the client from hiring them.”

Whilst the business has established definitive growth targets, these are not translated to unrealistic KPI’s for staff. Rather, staff are encouraged to partner with clients to understand their needs, budget and industry so that they can tailor recruitment solutions. By meeting only their true needs, there is no on-selling, and no pressure to meet internal sales targets. This environment grants the team the space they need to develop trusted relationships.

Cassie says “we aim to establish long lasting partnerships with our clients, where we function as almost a third arm of their business.

We get to know our clients well and learn about how they operate and what they need from us. From our clients’ point of view, it’s an incredible efficient and effective way of operating as we intuitively know their needs. Provided we act with integrity at all times, we can be confident that our clients’ will return to us time and again.”

Whilst client and candidate satisfaction are a huge motivator

behind CK’s philosophy, both Kylie and Cassie know it all starts much closer to home. For them, their team is their biggest asset.

Their people centric culture has become one of the drawcards that attracts and retains their talented staff. Pressuring clients to meet sales targets doesn’t sit well with most people. Kylie and Cassie left previous employment for this reason and have worked hard to build a sustainable business without the hard sell. They’ve proven, if you listen to your clients and meet their needs, they’ll come back. And what’s more, they’ll recommend the business to others.

Beyond this, they recognised that recruitment is female dominated.

So rather than loose a huge proportion of industry talent to the vortex of motherhood, they support mums in the workplace.

With five young children between the duo, they both model and support flexible work practices to achieve work life balance. By doing this, they’ve created opportunities for mums to sustainably balance motherhood with the esteem and fulfilment that a meaningful and rewarding career endears.

Whilst the multimillion dollar turnover of the business attests to their success, their achievements have also been recognised on a number of levels. In 2017 they won the Campbelltown Local Business Award and were awarded

runner up of the Smart50 Awards showcasing Australia’s fastest growing SME’s. They’ve also just been announced as a finalist in the Australian Small Business Champion Award. Their staff also love their approach. Employee Kathryn Alcroft says “I love that the support I receive from Management and the flexibility to work from home. Also, I love their honest and open recruitment approach, it isn’t about making sure you hit crazy KPI’s if the candidate market isn’t as strong, they value Candidates time and isn’t about the ‘numbers’ you bring but the quality. That we get back to the core of what we do, finding the right candidate for the right company.”

Following their early success, and positive feedback from clients, they are more determined than ever to keep “under complicating” recruitment and put people first.

By 2020, they aim to increase their annual turnover to $14million and are also implementing a range of strategies to position themselves as a major competitor that is nationally recognised within the recruitment industry. In doing so, they are hoping to make some serious headway into changing the complicated face of the recruitment industry.

Contact: Cassie Greenland or Kylie Hayes Phone: 02 4602 0442 – Head Office Visit us www.ckrecruitment.com.au

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Innovation at the Heart of the Bio-Industry MIP Diagnostics Ltd, a spin-out of the University of Leicester, is commercialising a unique technology platform – Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (nanoMIPs) - that will transform life science research. We profile the company and get a quote from Dr Adrian Kinkaid, CEO, to find out more.

Founded in 2015, MIP Diagnostics is well on the way to achieving its mission of addressing the industry call for a viable antibody alternative by developing nanoMIPs, sometimes referred to as ‘plastic antibodies.’ NanoMIPs are indeed made of plastic and can perform many of the functions of antibodies, but with none of the disadvantages.

NanoMIPs are nano-structured polymer particles typically containing a single binding site for their target molecule. Like antibodies they have high affinity and selectivity for their target molecule and have application in diagnostics, sensing, assays, detection, separation and purification. However, unlike antibodies, nanoMIPs are chemically synthesised and are robust and stable under extreme physical and chemical conditions.

This means that nanoMIPs can be used in conditions where antibodies cannot: for example, as environmental sensors or even in an organic solvent.

Clients are working with MIP Diagnostics in a range of application areas, from virus identification to diagnostic kits

and bioanalysis, and including applications in the petrochemical industry that would be far beyond the scope of antibodies.

The Company’s technology is protected by a strong IP portfolio and is unique in the market in being applicable to a broad range of molecular targets, further enhancing its diversity of application. The R&D team has significant expertise in developing nanoMIPs and is also well-versed in how the nanoMIPs are applied.

Gaining an understanding of client’s needs is essential when translating innovative research into a commercial product, and this understanding has contributed greatly to the company’s success.

A proactive mindset and cando culture also prevail in the Commercial team, which is led by senior managers with decades of experience in the life science industry.

Excitingly, the company has attracted a significant second round of investment to support further growth and plans to move to new R&D facilities in 2018 and to double head count, recruiting additional experienced R&D and commercial staff to grow its business.

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This growth is driven by Dr Adrian Kinkaid, CEO, an experienced and visionary bio-industry executive who is aware from his work in the antibody industry of the commercial potential for MIP Diagnostics. There is widespread optimism throughout the company that there is a bright future ahead, as Adrian explains.

“2018 will be an exciting year for the industry and especially so for

MIP Diagnostics as we continue to bring our novel technology to our customers around the world.”

Company: MIP Diagnostics Ltd Contact: Adrian Kinkaid Address: Fielding Johnson Building, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK Website: www.mip-dx.com

1802CV03

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Your great idea...

...deserves great protection

computer HW and SW

We are building the bridges

nanotech & Quantum Computing

Artificial Intelligence IP protection

automotive, autonomous driving, robotics

aerospace & defense

IP management is more than drafting applications and representing before patent office.

It requires competency and most of all TRUST. This is what we believe in!

IP

Life Tech

Spies & Behrndt

Patent Attorneys PartG mbB

Munich, Germany

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Taking an Initiative and Seizing the Moment Dr. Nabarun Ghose, DBA, MIJ, BA is a tenured full professor of marketing and international business with permanent graduate faculty status at University of Findlay, Ohio, USA. He has won several awards for teaching excellence, research, and program development. We profile Dr. Ghose, and the work that he does at the University, as he features in the 2018 Corporate Excellence Awards, being selected for Academic Excellence in Marketing from USA. Utilising his experience and impressive knowledge, Dr. Ghose provides business consultation through Global Competency Initiatives for market assessment, market entry strategies, and strategic alliances to businesses of all sizes. Dr. Ghose explains what he aims to achieve through his work, and what the benefits are of Global Competency Initiatives.

“Essentially, the mission of Global Competency Initiatives is to provide synergistic winwin solutions to all partners worldwide. To deliver towards this mission, we assess markets for potential and risk using a combination of financial and behavioural economic approaches. Then, we determine the best market entry strategy and design strategic alliances for optimal sustainable competitive advantages. On request, we identify significant potential partners to deliver maximum return on investment.”

Attributing his international marketing expertise to a strong

educational background, Dr. Ghose acknowledged his Doctor of Business Administration from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, USA, Master of International Journalism from Baylor University, Texas, USA, and Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Madras Christian College, India, where he was valedictoriangold medalist. During that education, Dr. Ghose proposed the incorporation of consumer sentiment in market assessment in 1987, a paper that got rejected for four years, before it won the Richard D. Irwin Distinguished Paper in Marketing Award in 1992. The runner-up was his other paper on Organizational Purpose, Host Country Ideology, Market Entry Strategies and Strategic Alliances. Dr. Ghose’s Doctoral Dissertation in 1993 is perhaps the first known empirical study that simultaneously tested the relationship between 2017 Nobel Prize for Economics Winner Dr. Richard Thaler’s concepts of “irrationality” and “nudges” in economic decisionmaking. For his work, Dr. Ghose received the Hind Rattan – Jewel

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of India Award 2018 and the Glory of India Award 2018.

Dr. Ghose developed Business Focused Programs for trade and academic delegations to India. Significant parts of the highly successful program were replicated by leading academic institutions, including Harvard, Dartmouth, Northwestern and others in 2012. In recognition, Dr. Ghose was awarded Academic Institution Marketing Specialist of the Year 2017 – Midwest USA by CV Magazine.

Additionally, Dr. Ghose was very actively involved and highly successful in leading international organisations, developing model business focused study abroad programmes, and delivering international educational collaborations between universities of various nations.

He has won several international awards for leadership of organisations focused on global cross-cultural collaborations.

Making the most of Global Competency Initiatives, Dr. Ghose works with a wide range

of people on an assortment of projects, and he comments on what steps he takes to ensure that the desired outcome is reached on both sides.

“The client receives personal attention as well as both frontstage and backstage cultural insights of the consumer and business markets in USA, India, and like-minded nations.

Global Competency Initiatives focuses on Stakeholder Welfare Maximisation to ascertain sustainable business growth.

There is a very high level of emphasis placed on personal networking and relationship building with sustainable growth of synergistic alliances.”

Providing us with a brief overview of the industry, Dr. Ghose explains that never before have outside influences had such an impact on his work.

“National, international, and global business are symbiotic worldwide. Never before in history have organisations been so affected and influenced by developments elsewhere.

g Taking an Initiative and Seizing the Moment

A holistic approach involving macro factors is indispensable to strategic business success.”

As such, it is vital that Dr. Ghose employs certain techniques in order to stay ahead of emerging developments that may have an effect on his work. He goes into more detail about these methods, citing the ability to monitor trends as a key factor in this success.

“Imperative to ensure our work continues to be successful, we stay abreast of developments worldwide in real or almost real time to identify patterns and significant changes. This is achieved through continuous monitoring and consultation with significant experts in specific

fields. Attention is paid to both primary and secondary sources of information. Multiple scenarios are envisaged in order to prepare for any of them, offshoots of them, or any combination of them.”

developments in a variety of macro factors worldwide, respect for all viewpoints, attention to outliers, and immediate call to action. People who subscribe to all of the above are our best productive team players.”

Regarding the internal culture of associates involved with Global Competency Initiatives, Dr. Ghose emphasises that team cohesion is crucial, and a real sign of success is when everybody is pulling together the work towards the same mission.

Clearly excited about the future of Global Competency Initiatives, Dr. Ghose signs off by outlining the future plans for his work, as well as describing the developments which he foresees, and how the firm will adapt around this.

“The internal culture of all associates involved with Global Competency Initiatives is continuous monitoring of

“Moving forward, the future of Global Competency Initiatives is highly promising. Our service charges are independent of our competition. The results

are extremely well worth the investment.

With rapid globalisation, standard strategies do not provide optimally maximised returns and sustainability. This requires continuous free-thinking that results in novel solutions to be competitive leaders.”

Company: University of Findlay Contact: Professor Dr. Nabarun Ghose Address: 1000 N. Main St., Findlay, Ohio, 45840, USA Phone: 001 800 472 9502 Emails: ghose@findlay.edu, globalcompetencyinitiatives@ gmail.com

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Mapping the Route to Media Success Routes 4 Media is a leading digital marketing and advertising agency, based in London.

We spoke to Founder & Managing Director, Ben Keighley as we aim to find out more about the innovative techniques that the agency uses to produce fantastic results.

Founded in 2012, with the goal of providing results-driven social media marketing to SMEs, Routes 4 Media has quickly grown into a team of 20+, providing a range of digital marketing and advertising services to ambitious businesses and household names around the world. The core services that the team provide, include social media marketing/advertising, search engine optimisation, Google AdWords, email marketing, as well as other areas of digital marketing.

Alongside its ability to deliver results which improve the business of the company, the team also provides exceptional customer service to clients. This is particularly evident when the company undertakes a new project, and Ben mentions what methods are used in order to ensure the client receives the best possible outcome.

“When starting with a new client, we follow a step by step process, which we have fine-tuned over the years, and which always leads to the best possible outcome. We start off with an initial call or meeting, involving the key stakeholders, to identify the objectives and any problems that need solving. Our strategy team then gets to work on creating a strategy geared towards the client’s goals. This is a process which needs involvement from the client, and then a final sign off before any marketing activity starts.

Once signed off, we will set about implementing the strategy, regularly reviewing progress against set KPIs, adjusting the plans based on data collected and of course on-going communication with the client, throughout the entire process.”

Placing a firm emphasis on putting the client first, Ben explains that Route 4 Media’s mission is to always add value to its client’s business. It is this vision, along with the team’s experience which helps the agency to really stand out from its competitors, something Ben is keen to point out.

“Here at Routes 4 Media, our mission, always, is to add value to our client’s businesses. This usually means driving sales and generating new business, but it can also mean, being involved in our client’s strategic decision making. We love to make a real tangible positive impact on our client’s businesses and lives, as this is what drives us.”

“Ensuring we are able to deliver real results, have a very agile experienced team in place and provide excellent value for money, on rolling monthly contracts. What’s not to love? Seriously though, with all the noise that you get within the marketing world, we aim to cut through that, by just delivering for our clients.”

Operating within this competitive and ever evolving industry, Ben

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stresses the importance of staying on top of any developments and adapting accordingly, in order to establish the company as a leader within the industry.

“The digital marketing and advertising industries change daily on a global basis. Staying on top of these changes, and making them benefit our clients has been a key to our success. A large amount of what we do, is within social media advertising, so even a small change in policy from one of the social networks, has a real impact on a business which utilises these channels. So, it is important that we are aware of these changes, and capitalise on them, for our clients.

“Recruitment and new team member onboarding is an important part of this, and the processes that we have in place mean that any new team members are bought into our goal of providing value to our clients, from an early stage.

Subsequently, I believe that a combination of things allows us to attract the very best talent. Our mission and values are certainly the first. People like to work for a company with a great mission and a long-term vision that excites them, and I believe that we do this.”

Regarding what the future holds for Routes 4 Media, Ben tells us excitedly about a recent project that the team has just launched, as well as hinting at future expansion in terms of the company’s client

base. With the agency heading in the right direction, Ben believes that his team can help any ambitious business to continue to grow their business.

“Ultimately, we plan on continuing to grow our client base globally and provide our clients with results and excellent service. Also, we have just launched JaveLinks. com, a SaaS product. Javelinks is a smart link creator that allows marketers to retarget any URL, create intermission pages, and popup overlays on any website.

Clients can share content that engages visitors and strategically place call-to-actions in a location that will get more visibility and more website traffic. It is free to try, so check it out!”

Contact: Ben Keighley Address: The Dock, Tobacco Dock Tobacco Quay, Wapping Lane, London, E1W 2SF, UK Phone: 020 8720 6992 Website: www.Routes4Media.com

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You Name it, They’ve Got it Globe POS is an RSPA Certified Reseller of technology solutions, dedicated to supporting a wide range of clients across the corporate landscape. We invited President of Globe POS, Paul Leduc to give us further details about the firm’s success, on the back of being named Corporate Vision’s Most Outstanding POS Technology System 2018 within Canada.

Established in 1970, Globe POS operates with an aim to provide clients with the best possible solutions.

However, the company is not just content with producing fantastic results, but also wants to deliver an impeccable service. Paul was delighted when the opportunity arrived for him to take over the business, and he has continued to realise his vision of leading the company towards a brighter future.

one of the most amazing cloudbased marketing tools and most recently, Bizimply: an engagement platform for scheduling and time keeping across many locations, Pointy; an ingenious way that helps local retailers be found online easily and much more.”

We still take the time to meet current and prospective clients in person. And the fact I used to operate a grocery store, helps me understand what challenges they face. Therefore, when I lay out a plan I have my own experiences and mistakes in mind.”

Placing an emphasis on putting the client first, Paul has a big vision for the firm, explaining what steps he and his team will take in order to achieve this.

“When the chance came for me to take over the business nine years ago, I knew that I would be building up the business on a solid foundation and be able to add even more products and services to better serve my customers. Our clientele is primarily made up of small to mid-sized businesses, small chains and franchise operations, in the retail and hospitality industries.

“Here at Globe POS, our mission has always been the same and that is to offer solid solutions that can fully meet our clients’ needs.

Being a small enterprise gives us a flexibility that a bigger company might not enjoy. Our team is made up of very dedicated people, whose only goal is to ensure that our customers receive the most effective and professional service possible.”

Regarding the internal culture within Globe POS, Paul tells us how he ensures that all staff are best equipped to provide the best possible service to clients. Aiding the company in its ability to deliver fantastic customer service, the team works hard to attract the very best talent in the industry to the company.

“Even though our products and services mainly concentrate on computerised point of sale systems, we offer every other accessory and peripheral that a store or restaurant might need to operate. We only partner up with the very best solution providers like HP and Toshiba for POS systems, Synq; for EAS gates; Geovision; for state of the art cameras; Logivision as a comprehensive and easy to use software solution, GoZone WiFi;

Differentiating itself from its competitors, Globe POS is able to adopt a personal touch when delivering a service. Taking an individual and unique approach to each client, Paul believes that this is a crucial aspect of the firm’s success, particularly in this technological age.

“While everyone is pushing internet sales and orders, we still have very traditional ways of interacting with our customers.

excitedly predicts what the future holds for the company as it looks to build on its successful start to 2018.

“Honestly, I am very lucky to have a very dedicated, hands-on set of individuals that share my own beliefs. They all bring with them many years of experience and every person specialises in a couple of areas, thus ensuring that our clients are getting support from the very best. As a company, we believe in investing a lot of time and resources in training our employees to ensure that everyone is current with today’s ever-changing technologies.”

“This year has started out really well for us and we expect a pretty exciting year ahead. Our calendar is already quite full, with many Global Pet Foods locations, independent grocery locations and a few more retail locations coming up. Some distinguished names will be added to our growing portfolio family, and over the next few years, our intention is to keep growing in the retail market and expanding into hospitality. Right now, the ratio of sales in hospitality is below 10%, but we hope that by 2021 this will have grown to around 50%.”

Continuing to add well-renowned names to Globe POS’ already impressive portfolio, there is widespread optimism amongst the company that it will continue to exceed client expectations. In his concluding comments, Paul

Contact: Paul Leduc Address: 294 Walker Drive, Unit 12, Brampton ON, L6T 4Z2 Phone: (866) 446-2954 Website: www.globepos.ca

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Statistically Successful Founded in 2010, Sports 1 Marketing is a global sports and entertainment marketing agency whose founders leverage over $20 billion in relationship capital and over 38 years of business experience, bringing athletes, celebrities and businesses together to make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun. A spokesperson for the firm provided us with an overview of the company.

Having identified a gap in the market, GB Recruitment was formed in 2016 to satisfy a demand for successfully placing high quality technical candidates in to major businesses in the UK. As a streamlined, automated, compliant and efficient business, vital revenue is being re-injected back into the business ensuring continuous growth and stability to ensure GB Recruitment can grow and prosper in line with the vibrant industry they operate in.

Placements within the IT sector make up 33% of all UK placements, a trend that continues to show growth in an industry that GB recruitment are very much engrained in.

GB Recruitment is managed

by IT industry experts whose approach to an ever evolving digital world ensures they not only follow market trends but help set them. As experts in the field they are able to have a positive impact on their clients.

Consultants at GB Recruitment, are given the best technology to allow them to move quickly when a candidate request comes in, with some at interview stage within the first day. A stat that is maintained due some of the most advanced mobile CRM systems on the market and consultants who work tirelessly to deliver.

GB Recruitment invests heavily in training, development and technology. New recruits are put through a three month technical

training programming ensuring that recruits speak the language their clients speak and fully understand requirements as they come through. Both clients and candidates feel a greater confidence in entrusting GB recruitment as their approach demonstrates a clear technical knowledge giving them greater credibility then that of GB Recruitment’s competitors.

Warren Moon, President

David Meltzer, CEO

Scott Carter, Executive VP

Derek Shaw, COO

that make up a large part of our company ethos. At GB Recruitment, we work very closely with our candidates, ensuring that they are as satisfied with the service they receive from us as our clients are. We are confident that our client and candidate experience is one of the strongest in the industry.

“As we continue with our growth plans and continue to recruit, train and retain top talent for our business, our focus is clearly on becoming one of the most efficient, knowledgeable, networked IT recruitment companies in the country.”

They work with companies who are looking to expand and grow their teams on either an ad-hoc basis, or as a long-term partnership and advise and consult on the best method suited to each client, with the end goal always being what is right for their client’s business and what is right for the candidate.

GB Recruitment works with their clients to create job descriptions, establish exactly who they are looking for, and advise on the expected salaries and benefits their ideal candidates would expect. They help their clients to think outside the box to create a work environment that rivals their competitors, creating an environment that candidates will relish the opportunity to work in.

GB Recruitment recognises that companies must invest heavily on employee engagement schemes, thus ensuring that when clients recruit their top talent, they retain them.

Glen Halliwell of GB Recruitment said “It’s not just our team of diligent recruiters, but also our client and candidate guarantee,

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“We take all aspects of the recruitment process seriously, having owner managers ensures we understand the urgency to get this process right the first time, on time, every time. Getting it wrong for our clients and candidates is not an option, we aim for a 100% success rate.

Contact: David Meltzer Address: 9900 Research Drive, Irvine, California, 92618, USA Phone: 19493366380 Web Address: www.sports1marketing.com

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Making the Daily Life Liveable Again BioLingus is a Swiss biotech company spearheading the development of oral (sublingual) delivery of peptides and proteins. We spoke to Yves Decadt as we look to further explore the secrets behind the company’s ongoing success.

Headquartered in Switzerland, BioLingus operates with a long-term mission of being one of the very best companies in the world for non-invasive delivery of peptides, proteins and vaccines, ‘beyond convenience.’ This mission helps to form the company’s business strategy, which is to develop as a ‘platform company’, in order to extract as much value as possible from the broad-based technology.

Furthermore, staff all work together towards achieving this mission and this will lead to the company being able to complete its long-term goal of becoming a midsize European Biotech company, which is leading the way in non-invasive delivery of biologicals. Yves comments on why reaching this goal is important to the team at BioLingus.

“In due course, we want to become a fully integrated company, including manufacturing and commercialisation of our products in selected countries and regions.

In a few years from now, we might do a (partial) IPO.” Providing us with a brief overview of the company, Yves explains what particular areas the firm focuses on, before going on to explains what methods and techniques are used in order to ensure patients receive the best possible outcome from its products.

“Here at BioLingus, our technology is derived from applied bioengineering, resulting in novel biomimetic materials. The company

focuses the development of its own products on treatment of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and inflammatory diseases. BioLingus’ main office is in Switzerland, and we have a satellite company in Hong Kong and Australia.

“Internally, we all work together, and our medium-term goal is to develop as a Swiss based and independent European Biotech company, by developing several cutting-edge products based on our proprietary Technology Platform.

“Importantly, our ultimate clients are the patients, who will have to take our products. From the start, we try to design and develop our products so that it will be not only effective and safe, but also convenient for the patients to take. After all, that is essential for a drug delivery system.”

“Moreover, our medium-term goal from a pharmaceutical development perspective is to build a small and diverse pipeline of specific products. We want to mitigate risks by having products in the pipeline with different risk/ reward profile.”

It is not only the firm’s mission which inspires staff to do their best for clients, but staff also work exceptionally hard to differentiate BioLingus from its competitors.

Yves refers to what he believes helps the company to stand out in the industry.

“While several of our competitors are focusing on peptides only to develop new products, BioLingus’ unique Technology allows for development of different types of molecules, including; small (hydrophobic) molecules, peptides, cytokines and oral immunotherapies and oral vaccines.”

Although operating with a longterm vision, Yves and his team still possess goals that they want to achieve in the meantime. Yves alludes to what medium term goals the company possesses, both in terms of as a business and from a pharmaceutical development point of view.

Ultimately, Yves is keen to predict what the future holds for BioLingus, as he describes what future plans and projects the team has lined up, and how these are going to affect the company in the times ahead.

“Excitingly, we are working on various types of Social Innovation projects, including developing low-cost products for the third world markets, and our technology allows not only to develop oral products, but at the same time eliminate some key disadvantages of the typically injected products.

“Examples of this include a project with no need for a cold chain due to the high stability of our product, and this is increasingly important in third world countries, and also reducing the risk of infections related to injections and handling of needles, both for patients and care-givers.

Lastly, we want to provide high tech products at a low cost and thus reduce the overall cost of treatment,

something which again would be important for third world countries.”

Essentially, BioLingus wants to broaden access and the availability of its products, which are not always affordable in third world countries. Yves signs off by talking about the firm’s incremental innovation projects, as well as the disruptive innovation projects, which will see his company further establish itself as a leader in the healthcare industry.

“Lastly, the team at BioLingus are looking at introducing oral GLP-1 for the treatment of type I diabetes and pre-diabetes symptoms, as well as the combination of low dose insulin and GLP-1 as a base treatment for type II diabetes.

“Regarding our Disruptive Innovation projects, we are looking to develop an oral immunotherapy product for early onset of type I diabetes in young children. Ultimately, what entices and impresses clients the most is the broad applicability of our technology platform, and this allows us to combine these different types of innovation.

“Moving forward, aside from being a ‘technology innovator’, our strategy also allows a kind of innovation of the typical biotech business model, and can be considered as a ‘Business Model Innovation’ in the biotech world.

Company: BioLingus Contact: Yves Decadt Website: www.biolingus.ch

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Better Ideas, Every Day WENKO is a German family-owned company operating all over the globe, and develops products in the bath, kitchen, laundry and living sectors. We profile the firm and its extensive portfolio as we look to explore the secrets behind its ongoing success.

WENKO conducts its own research and is continuously introducing innovation to the market, meaning it is able to launch approximately 600 new products on an annual basis, and its products are distributed via the B2B business streams in stationary retail business, mailorder business and e-commerce.

Catering to a diverse range of clients, the firm offers a fullservice package to its partners, including, among others, the full range planning of storage racks, assistance at the POS by an own field service and sales agencies, as well as the provision of advertising material to boost retail sales, as well as providing individual support required by the trade.

Differentiating WENKO from its competitors is the fact that it can cater to every client’s needs.

Utilising the expertise within the firm, the team conduct thorough research which enables them to improve and adapt to the relevant developments which are arising on a daily basis.

Internally, staff develop products which incorporate its own research data and innovations, as well as recent trends. The close contact that the firm has with its partners and the lively exchange resulting from this, leads to a further source of ideas

and enables the team to take clients’ demands into account.

Throughout the company, the dedicated, committed and ambitious product management team consciously create in-house developments and designs, enabling the team to develop its own unique design.

Subsequently, if any customers or clients have any queries or issues then they can be resolved quickly by staff.

Furthermore, clients are supported by the company’s merchandising and category management team which

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helps to implement its specially developed shop systems. Due to the close cooperation between partners and companies, in particular the key account managers and field stuff, a steady, beneficial interchange of ideas and information takes place. This is part of the company’s successful liaison.

Ultimately, there looks to be exciting times ahead for the firm, having just opened a new warehouse with the idea being that the company can produce unique and excellent products and designs even quicker and

more efficient in providing supplies. Looking to capitalise on its success, the team identifies logistics and innovation as its core competencies which will push it forwards.

Address: Im Hülsenfeld 10, 40721 Hilden, Germany Tel: +49 2103 573-0 Website: www.wenko.de

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Large Enough to Deliver – Small Enough to Care Toucan Recruitment is an ambitious recruitment firm offering cost-effective, but effective recruitment which would be useful for companies across South Wales. We spoke to Robyn Walters as we find out more about the Best Emerging Recruitment Consultancy in the UK and CV’s Recognised Leaders in Manufacturing Recruitment Services in the UK. Established in 2016, Toucan utilised a gap in the market and now provides a dedicated consultative approach to all of its clients, acting with honesty, integrity and providing a quality recruitment service. The team specialises in permanent recruitment within a huge assortment of industries, including Manufacturing and engineering, contact centre and commercial roles, executive and Accounting and Housing and Property.

Differentiating the firm from its competitors, Robyn explains that a diligent and careful approach to working with clients and finding the right candidate is a key aspect of Toucan’s success, along with the team’s honesty.

“Helping us to attract the best client is our honesty, as I am sure most of our competitors will say that they are honest and transparent which I am sure they are. We pride ourselves on both our honesty and transparency but also our attention to detail and the realistic advice we provide clients. Honesty is the best policy and clients do not appreciate time wasters.

“Adopting a careful approach and only sending out CV’s to clients which have been carefully selected is a key aspect of our business.

We invest our efforts in not only

meeting our clients to find out more about their business and the role(s) they are recruiting for, but also gauging the culture of the business, so we know which of our candidates will be the most suitable for not just the role but the company as well.”

Regarding what the future holds for the firm, Robyn hints at future expansion and talks about working with new clients, leading to widespread optimism throughout the team that there are positive times ahead.

“Ultimately, our expansion plans are daunting but have been meticulously calculated so they are quite achievable. Opening an office in Cardiff will provide us with fantastic access to the capital’s labour market and once this has been established, we will be seeking a presence in Bristol.

“As well as working with clients recruiting for one or two positions, we have won a series of contracts with companies where we are on their preferred supplier lists, and are recruiting for upwards of 750 new roles over the next three years.”

Company: Toucan Recruitment Contact: Robyn Walters Address: 89 Lower Dock Street, Newport, NP10 2AH, UK Phone: 07921 097 079 Website: www.toucanrecruitment.com

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Unbeatable Technical Support Webeye Limited (formerly VDT) supplies high-quality alarm and monitoring equipment to companies and clients operating across the security industry, and its products are backed by unbeatable technical support. We profile the company as we look for a greater insight into its success.

Founded in 2011, Webeye is the inventor of webeyeCMS, which is an award-winning cloud monitoring platform and leading distributor of the wireless Videofied video verification system. The company’s impressive portfolio includes the webeyeSOS personal protection app, along with its assured RAPID residential system, and the innovative webeyeOCULI 3G camera ideal for quick deployment in vulnerable areas.

Having built a sterling reputation across the technology industry, Webeye is also highly renowned for delivering exceptional customer service. Boasting a team full of ambition and experience, dedicated staff provide a well-informed technical support line which is open five days a week and is available throughout the evening to clients, as well as being free of charge.

A particular highlight that the company is particularly proud of is its patented webeyeCMS alarm platform, which, after several years of extensive development, has the potential to redefine the security industry.

This influential product is a versatile cloud-based monitoring solution which enables alarms and video clips to go to keyholders or guarding teams who are physically operating in the field. Additionally, these clips can

L to R: Trevor Lee, Marketing Manager, Gary Frith, Business Development Director and Clive Mason, Managing Director

also to go a central location for monitoring via the web.

Crucial to the success of webeyeCMS is its unique escalation process which ensures that the client is informed if an alarm is triggered.

It is able to deliver a full alarm handling audit trail, and also provide system maintenance reporting.

Excitingly for the company, webeyeCMS is already being used by large guarding companies and monitoring stations across the USA. Also,

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there are plenty of people reaping the benefits due to the massive increase in alarm handling capability and improved accountability levels, which are all provided by the company at an affordable price.

Moving forward, Webeye is looking to capitalise on its recent product and financial success, and the team has identified visual verification as the future direction of the security industry, which is already leading to a much greater reliance on technology to meet the demand. All the profits generated by Webeye are

ploughed back into the research and development to enable the staff to offer the most resilient products and services in the market. Webeye employees operate with the goal of making the life of security professionals easier.

Contact: Gary Frith, Business Development Director.

Phone: 0115 714 9990 Website: www.webeyecms.com

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Transforming the way Commodities Trading Companies do Business Aspect Enterprise Solutions is the leading global provider of multi-commodity trade, market data, risk and operations management solutions (ETRM/CTRM) who delivered Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS) in the cloud. We profile the firm as we look to find out more about the innovative solutions the team delivers.

Established in 1999 and with more than 487 customers in 86 countries, Aspect has one of the fastest growing software solutions with rapid deployment, affordable subscriptions, and immediate ROI for all size companies. Its software supports multiple commodities and includes oil, petroleum products, metals, biofuels, coal and petrochemicals.

and expensive network security systems. This is critical as security of a position keeping system can cost millions.

A forward-thinking company, it is Aspect’s mission to be the ‘go-to’ vendor for multi-commodity trade and risk management software.

Its technology has made the company the leading SaaS cloud software as it has been web-based since its launch and was the first of its kind in the industry. Crucial to the success of the company is the team’s ability to provide a more secure solution, and this is a major advantage to clients. The firm’s cloud computing software has higher reliability and security, and since costs are shared by multiple customers, cloud vendors can afford to purchase more powerful

Aspect’s flagship product AspectCTRM is a full-featured E/CTRM suite for front, middle and back office with support for financial and physical trade activity.

It is available in three editions: Lite, Standard and Enterprise, expanding in functionality according to the needs and budgets of clients.

Another advantage of Aspect’s solutions includes the environmentally friendly nature of its products. Users of cloud software have a much lower carbon footprint, in comparison to their colleagues who are still using older client-server software.

Aspect is the only E/CTRM solutions provider with market data and analytics tools delivered with its trade and risk functions on the same platform, for convenient price uploads to CTRM. These factors are just some of the many

Aspect’s team from its global offices in Singapore, Bengaluru, Houston, New York and London met for its annual strategy sessions in Cyprus. reasons why AspectCTRM clients include the largest in the world, and also start-ups. Catering to the needs of a variety of clients, Aspect solutions are available on desktop, tablets and mobile devices.

Alongside its superior customer service and expert skillset, the firm has also cultivated an exceptional and professional internal culture.

Due to it being the fastest growing CTRM commodity trading and risk

management software company, it has been easier for the firm to attract the best staffing talent.

Contact: Brigette Gebhard Address: 10350 Richmond Avenue Suite 310, Houston, TX 77042 Website: www.aspectenterprise.com Contact Email: moreinfo@aspectenterprise.com

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History of Innovation MultiTech designs, develops and manufactures communications equipment for the industrial internet of things – connecting physical assets to business processes to deliver enhanced value.

Recently, we spoke with Senior Director, Marketing, Sara Brown to find out more about the innovative business.

MultiTech’s commitment to quality and service excellence means you can count on the firm’s products and people to address your needs, while their history of innovation ensures you can stay ahead of the latest technology with a partner who will be there for the life of your solution.

The firm’s business and ongoing strategy relies on their vision and mission, as well as the three core values; Creativity, Performance and People.

MultiTech’s vision is to be the preferred provider for innovative connected technology destined to transform their world. As for their mission, it is to make connected technology easy to adopt and use by focusing on customer needs, developing innovative solutions, outpacing market change, leveraging best-in-class processes, and empowering their team to achieve and grow.

As for the three core values, the firm’s creativity stems from them delivering ground-breaking innovation for more than 40 years.

This requires visionary thinking, a culture of continual learning, inspired invention and a relentless focus on finding new ways to solve real-world problems.

The performance is shown through both the products and the team, who are committed to optimal performance. The team hold themselves accountable for the quality and reliability of the technology they produce, as well as the discipline required to produce it.

Lastly, the people. Collaboration, understanding, mutual respect is central to the firm’s effectiveness, innovation and longevity. As such, the team extends kindness and transparency to everyone who touches or is touched by MultiTech – the customers, partners, suppliers and, most importantly, the team.

When undertaking a new client, Sara explains the process MultiTech takes to ensure all needs of the client are met.

“Product Management decides which projects we want to pursue based on roadmap, potential revenue, market positioning etc.

Once they determine what project we will start, they write a Marketing Requirements Document to get the project started. This kicks off the discussion between engineering/ operations/Project Management on scoping and requirements, as well as what the high level time line looks like. After we have agreed, we move onto risk assessment - to further determine what impacts and possible issues this project will have. Then, we call the project group together into weekly meetings, to create the project site, begin project activities and come up with a timeline.

“For new customers that need lots of development, they follow the new project path. New customers that just need minor customisations to the existing product, go into the onboarding process. Customer Service calls a meeting with engineering & operations, once the onboarding form (requirements document) is filled out. The team then approves (or declines) the project moving forward. If it does

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move forward, it gets a portal case, a product spec and a timeline, then continue on with legal, pricing, production setup, etc.”

When discussing how the firm has changed throughout the years, Sarah reflects on the steps MultiTech has taken to get to where it is today, and how these have affected the company.

“MultiTech was founded back in 1970, and has been connecting the Industrial Internet of Things ever since – as such, there have been a numerous amount of changes. Back then, we used analogue technology to transmit data from machine to machine.

Today, everything is IP based. It is hard to quantify the changes from a time before the Internet itself was broadly used. Probably the biggest factors have been the accelerating pace of technological change, coupled with the miniaturisation of computing power, which together have really changed not just MultiTech’s business and that of our customers, but our very way of life.”

Bringing the interview to a close, Sarah reveals to us the industry trends the firm follows to ensure their success, and how she sees these changes over the next five years.

“Hot topics today include lowpower, wide-area networking (whether it be unlicensed like LoRaWAN or licensed like NB-IoT); security and distributed intelligence.

We’re already commercial with offerings that address these issues, and will continue to evolve our product lines around these areas in the future. Some forward looking things likely to impact the

IoT include blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

These things are already making an impact on the consumer Internet, and we are seeing experimentation in the IoT space around these topics as well.

Overall, I think all three offer real promise and I expect to see us, our partners and, most importantly, our customers leveraging these technologies in really exciting ways in the next five years.”

Looking ahead, Sarah highlights the future aspirations she has for the business, such as problem solving and providing the clients with exceptional services.

“Our biggest aspiration is to continue to provide tangible value for our customers through ongoing innovation, solving the problems they bring to us and those they may not even yet foresee.”

Name: Sara Brown Web Address: www.multitech.com Address: 2205 Woodale Dr., Mounds View, MN 55112 Telephone: +1 919 699 7093

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Meet Your Perfect Partner James Preece is a Dating Expert and Dating Coach, helping professional singles find their perfect partner. We spoke to James Preece as we gain an insight into the work of the Dating Guru.

James has been working in the Dating industry for over 12 years and throughout this time, he has helped 10,000s of single people get dating success. Having worked with many dating companies, online dating sites and matchmakers and appear in the media almost every day, James has gained a reputation in the industry for achieving extensive success.

Lately, James has worked as a spokesman and expert for companies such as Elite Singles, Goust, once and the Asian Single Solution. He tells us about his previous experience and the success he has achieved, as well as commenting on how it feels to be named as CV’s UK’s Leading Dating Expert of the Year.

“Recently, I have worked as a spokesman and expert for companies such as Elite Singles, Gousto, Once and the Asian Single Solution. Furthermore, Also, I have been hired as the Editor in Chief for the UK’s first ever dating magazine #Dating. This has been an ambition of mine since I was a child so it’s wonderful it’s been such a huge success, and it has enabled me to adapt my dating seminars into business and sales workshops. For these, I teach the same skills and show how flirting, body language and rapport can lead to more sales in the workplace. Many firms such as Unilever have hired me a keynote speaker and I’m looking forward to doing more of this over the coming months.

“Additionally, I was delighted to win the at the Corporate Excellence Awards. It is an amazing achievement and I’m incredibly proud of it. Winning this award is a fantastic accolade for me and testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone who supports me in my work.”

Adapting to the ever evolving dating world is something James has focused on ever since he started his work, and he has overseen many developments in his time in the industry. He tells us about the recent technological advances that have started redefining the sector.

“Every day, more and more dating apps, sites and opportunities are appearing. The choice is overwhelming, especially for second time around singles. They have no idea what the best course of action is or how to approach someone they might be interested.

Rejection is such a big fear, and nobody wants to be made to feel stupid when others are watching.

While the digital era has helped to expand our options, it has also made it more difficult. It’s so easy to get a date that many people just aren’t putting in enough effort to make things work. Rather than focus on the person sitting opposite them, they think about other potential matches. The grass might seem greener, but it’s not going to make them happy.”

James is aware that there are many challenges which face both men and women when they are trying to find a date. He talks about

having the ability to overcome these challenges and turn them into opportunities, something he believes is key to the success of finding a potential partner.

“The challenge is knowing the right place to start and what you need to do to make them work. I always teach people that the more you know, the better equipped you’ll be when you want to handle situations you are unsure about. That’s why the work I do as a Dating Expert is so important. I educate people about the best ways to meet, attract and keep a long-term relationship.”

Working with clients on a face to face basis or over the phone has been integral to James’ success, and his client base is continuing to expand, and as such he is growing his team. This is testament to his achievements and he is clearly excited about what the future holds.

“As I grow bigger, I am growing my team. I have many wonderful hosts and actors who help people at my events, workshops and seminars and my mock dates are proving increasingly popular too. This is a great service for anyone who is a little nervous about their dating skills. I match them up with one of actors and they go on a pretend blind date. Afterwards, I send a report telling them everything they did right and what they might have done wrong. It’s a really useful way for me to give feedback to them, but also know which areas I can help them improve upon. My team are also booked to act as wingmen or woman for my clients, and they

go out and help them talk to new people. It’s such a good way to help them build up their confidence.

“Moving forward, I’m shortly going to be launching my own ‘Dating Academy’ with online coaching courses, which will allow me to reach more people all over the world. Excitingly, I have the most rewarding job in the world and I’m looking forward to all the singles I will be working with next.”

Contact: James Preece Address: Suite 8, 46 Manchester St, London, W1U 7LS, UK Phone: 07947 707911 Website: www.jamespreece.com Instagram: @jamespreececoach Twitter: @jamespreeceguru

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The Employee Engagement and Development Specialists Peopletopia focuses on delivering high-quality, impactful and lasting solutions. We profiled the passionate and dedicated team at Peopletopia, before speaking to Clare Portman as we look to find out more about the impressive services that the firm offers.

Established in 2011, the team at Peopletopia hold a longstanding passion for helping workplaces to become great places. The company works with a wide range of organisations, from corporate and SMEs to public sector clients, and the team work hard to understand their employee engagement levels and help them to improve. Clare offers an insight to the services that the team offers, emphasising the importance of meeting and surpassing client expectations.

“Firstly, we spend time getting to know our client. They will help us to understand the problems that they are facing, and the differences that they would like to see in the way that their people behave, perform and deliver. Our clients tend to have identified an area of concern around performance or culture, so we will begin by reviewing these concerns and really getting to the bottom of an issue.

“Secondly, the solutions that the client needs will depend on the issues. Usually, we might put together a programme of improvements, work with the leadership team to make sure that they are sending out the right messages and supporting a positive culture, as well as delivering a range of learning and development solutions to support the required changes.”

Discussing the key challenges that clients typically face within the industry, Clare notes that it is important to pay close attention to detail when trying to work out why some employees may be underperforming.

“There are many reasons why our clients come to us, perhaps their people are underperforming, the culture is not what it could be, or their managers lack the right approach. It’s important that we take the time to understand any underlying causes. It is often the case that there is a disconnect between how the company claims to value their people ‘people are

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our greatest asset’, and what their people really feel. We will work closely with the teams at all levels to help to redress the balance, ensuring that employees are valued and encouraged to give their best.”

Predominantly, Peopletopia works with technology companies, and Clare and the team have noticed a trend in which some people are promoted to managers when they may not suit the role, despite being excellent in their jobs.

“Many of our clients are tech companies, and we have noticed a trend in which some people are promoted for being great, but sometimes promoted into management roles, which they’ve never been trained for. This usually means an upskilling of these new managers through one to one coaching, and development programmes to ensure they are getting the best from their teams.

“Subsequently, we are putting together an exciting new package

specifically for tech companies covering leadership, employee engagement, culture, employee development and executive coaching, all designed to maximise the productivity of the company and ensure employees are as engaged as they can be.”

Testament to the success that both Clare and her business partner Gail have achieved, Peopletopia’s clients enjoy working with them, and Clare notes that the company has sometimes become part of its client’s organisation.

“Crucial to our success, we build up relationships and trust amongst the people to make sure that we deliver the best results. We have the experience of working in and with large organisations, are able to deliver the whole package, but we have remained small enough to adapt to our client needs.”

Above all else, listening is what Clare sees as the most integral aspect of achieving success

g The Employee Engagement and Development Specialists

in the workplace. Equipping managers with the right people skills enables the workforce to thrive, which results in everybody maximising their potential within the technology industry.

“Essentially, we think that in order to thrive, employers really need to learn to listen to their people.

Their people have so much to give, are keen to commit to their organisation and want to be a part of it, rather than just working for it. Although some organisations seem to be moving away from a flexible working approach, we are big fans of it. If you equip your people managers with the right skills and support them in managing in the right way, flexible working enables your people to give their best, whilst you are showing them that they are trusted to do a great job.”

Overall, Gail and Clare know exactly what it takes to help a business reach their desired outcomes. In her concluding comments, Clare is quick to praise the excellent cohesion between both herself and Gail, and believes this is significant to the future of Peopletopia as it moves forwards.

“Lastly, myself and Gail met one another forty years ago, on our first day of primary school, and have been close friends ever since. It could have been a risk to set up our business together seven years ago, but we knew that our relationship meant that we wouldn’t get bogged down by politics or egos. Most of all, we have a deep respect and admiration for one another on both a personal and professional level, we learn from one another every day and are really focused on making Peopletopia successful.

Contact: Clare Portman Location: Bristol and Newbury Phone: 0845 415 4106 Website: www.peopletopia.co.uk

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Going Greener with Green Motion Green Motion is an international car rental company offering customers low CO2 or zero emission vehicles. We find out more about the firm which features as CV’s Best Environmentally Friendly Car Hire Service.

Established in 2007, Green Motion abides by its all-embracing environmental policy, ensuring that the effects on the planet are minimal. Green Motion has gained success by being the only car rental company that is genuinely committed to its environmental ethos; the lowering of CO2 emissions is not simply a project for Green Motion; it is an intrinsic part of Green Motion’s brand, and it is in the company’s DNA. Green Motion is a true ambassador for the green vehicle movement, promoting best practice and persuading its customers to make major behavioural changes when considering their vehicle rental purchases. The Green Motion model is unique as it does not charge a premium to go green, educating customers that they do not have to compromise on cost or comfort to go green.

Growing its reputation, Green Motion have taken the green vehicle hire message overseas with the brand now operating in over 360 locations across 31 countries. Green Motion’s reach is continuing to grow throughout the world and the UK, being considered the true world ambassador for green car rental.

Standing out from its competitors, Green Motion is the only legitimate

offering in the environmental car rental sector with the lowest CO2 fleet in each of the 31 countries it operates in. It also has the largest selection of vehicles which are environmentally focused including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, range extender and full electric – accounting for around 35% of its fleet.

Green Motion prides itself on providing customers with country specific vehicles that offer the lowest CO2 emissions and highest levels of fuel efficiency in their classes. The company is proud to have the greenest vehicle rental fleet in the world.

As well as possessing the greenest vehicle rental fleet in the world, Green Motion has also expanded its Green Heart Donation program which is a compensation service backed

by FONAFIFO (a governmental institution in Costa Rica) throughout its entire global network. This initiative allows Green Motion customers to reduce their CO2 footprint by offsetting the emissions produced while driving one of its vehicles.

The combined efforts of Green Motion and its customers have achieved a position of carbon neutrality which has resulted in the planting of thousands upon thousands of trees along with other ecological initiatives. This

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has been further accredited by Investors in the Environment who have awarded Green Motion International with their top award of ‘green’ accreditation.

the team feel it is inspiring to think that consumers are now taking the environment seriously and making a conscientious choice to rent green.

Looking to the future, Green Motion’s mission to drive emissions down will continue with a focus on introducing the very latest technologies, such as improved full electric and hydrogen vehicles, ultimately delivering the UK’s first and only zero emission fleet.

Ultimately, Green Motion is now in its 11th year of operation and has achieved extraordinary success in creating a completely new sector within the daily rental industry, with many of the firm’s industry partners and competitors starting to introduce their own greener fleets. Green Motion was the market disrupter that started the total change towards greener vehicle rental.

Furthermore, the team has also continued its commitment to the environment by only employing ecological materials and products such as using reusable energy, recycling and cleaning its vehicles with waterless cleaning or steam.

In turn, this allows the company’s locations to save up to 90% of water usage, saving more than 5 million litres per year.

Essentially, the growth of Green Motion is truly phenomenal and

International Car Rental Contact: Kat Elkin Address: Aspen Farm, Sheep Lane, Woburn, Bedfordshire, MK17 9HD, UK Phone: 07545 914 586 Website: www.greenmotion.com

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Millennials twice as likely as their parents to suffer from stress London, 14th March 2018 – Millennials are almost twice as likely to suffer from stress as Baby Boomers, research has revealed.

The Global Benefits Attitudes Study from Willis Towers Watson (WTW), which surveyed 2,824 employees at medium and large private sector companies in the UK, found 61% of Millennials suffer high or above average stress, compared with 33% of Boomers and 50% of Generation X.

compared to 33% of Generation X and 28% of Boomers. “There has been an encouraging growth in awareness around issues of stress and mental health in the workplace, and an increasing number of employers are taking positive action to address these problems,” said Mike Blake, wellbeing lead for Willis Towers Watson.

Millennials have frequently been labelled the most stressed generation and this is further highlighted by the fact 34% say they’ve suffered from severe stress, anxiety or depression in the last two years. This figure drops to 28% among Generation X workers and 20% among Boomers.

“However, the significant variation in stress levels highlights the need for such action, where possible, to be tailored to the requirements of different demographics.

Millennials, for example, face a variety of unique pressures – the immediacy and convenience of modern technology makes it harder to escape work pressures and this generation have been shown to strive for perfectionism more than previous ones.

But there are also encouraging signs, as Millennials are significantly more likely to talk about stress or mental health problems, with 48% saying they would seek support from family, friends or co-workers, compared to 32% of Generation X and 21% of Boomers. More than a quarter (27%) of Millennials would seek support from their manager, compared to 18% of Generation X and 6% of Boomers, and 41% would seek external help – for example, from a medical professional –

“Since the root causes of stress and mental health issues will differ, so too will the support needs. Millennials are happy to talk about their problems, so may respond well to counselling or therapy, but different people will respond to different stimuli, so a best-practice approach to mental health should cover a wide range of initiatives that

might include everything from exercise schemes to treatment from professionals.”

There are further differences in coping strategies, with 64% of Millennials saying they indulge themselves as a way to tackle stress and 54% treating themselves to retail therapy.

These figures drop to 53% and 44% respectively among Generation X, and 33% and 35% among Boomers.

The research also revealed a gender divide, with women appearing to struggle more with stress. Almost three-fifths (58%) of all women surveyed claim to suffer from high or above average stress, and 37% say they’ve suffered from severe stress, anxiety or depression in the last two years. The figures for men are 48% and 24% respectively.

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Sandler - How to Succeed Sandler Systems’ training and coaching provides the tools to create common processes, culture and sales language within its customers’ organisations, by offering programs focused on Prospecting, Social Selling, Enterprise Selling, Customer Service, Sales Management, Selling Into the C-Suite, and Coaching. We profiled the organisation to find out about the services that the company offers.

Revolutionising the coaching sector, Sandler Systems is different from others thanks to its focus on the whole client through an emphasis on behaviours and attitudes in addition to training techniques.

Sandler’s 270 training centres offer programs and reinforcement to its clients, all of which are delivered by full-time certified Sandler trainers in areas all around the world. Plus, Sandler also offers a wide variety of online tools and technology to reinforce the training experience 24/7 and increase its customers’ ROI. Offering a variety of different services, Sandler Online provides on-demand resources for sales teams and business leaders through interactive courses, quizzes and a library of content and multi-media resources.

The system currently houses over 16,000 clients, serving 30+ countries in 21 languages.

Customers and clients can choose from a variety of learning services; including more than a thousand video and audio resources which covers over 35 sales topics. Furthermore, more than 100 hours of premium videos on sales and sales management topics are recorded at the annual sales and leadership summit by the top Sandler trainers from around the world.

Additionally, new Sandler blog posts, newsletters, podcasts, and white-papers are added weekly.

Enticing all types of clients, Executive leaders and managers get access to a Management Library containing resources specifically focused on topics around coaching, managing, hiring, and more.

When undertaking a new project, the team at Sandler undertakes certain methods in order to ensure its clients receive the best possible outcome. The staff and the client must mutually agree upon clearly defined desired outcomes for the project and develop a line of communication with each other so that feedback can be taken on board at all times. Additionally, the team must establish clearly defined benchmarks and timelines and agree upon definitions for accountability.

Contributing to the company’s overwhelming success and achievements, all staff at Sandler work together towards achieving and hitting the same targets. Success guides Sandler in everything it does, from developing effective training programs for Fortune 500 companies, to helping individual sales professionals advance their own careers.

Success is the company’s mission, its promise and brand, whether its measured in increased revenue, billings growth, expansion or

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advancement. It is the goal of clients, both in the current and future, global and local on the street and in the boardroom.

Success is what the creates when we turn declining market share, customer attrition, high turnover and the lack of a common sales process into increased revenue, higher profits, expansion and advancement.

Testament to Sandler’s achievements, success can be documented by thousands of clients who have directly benefitted from Sandler’s training, not just on sales calls and in boardrooms, but at home with family and friends. They can attest that if Sandler’s training is fully implemented, success is the natural outcome.

Ultimately, success is a prize that doesn’t have to fade, and Sandler is the only training methodology that utilises ongoing reinforcement to produce lasting, significant improvement.

Embedded in the company culture, success is why staff get up in the morning. It is what led David Sandler to start the firm 50 years ago, and what has propelled it to become the largest sales, corporate and management training company in the world today.

Boasting a worldwide presence, Sandler is a global organisation with offices in over 30 countries, and therefore the team does not experience a lot of regionalised issues. The industry challenges tend to revolve around

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technology and how to best leverage it for the best ROI. The team enjoy the challenge as it can be a black hole into which money is poured into, but it is always in a state of flux.

It is a constant balancing act for Sandler to keep tools and platforms fresh and relevant, while ensuring the team provides return on the investment of both money and resources to support and maintain them. Piggybacking on that is demographic diversity of audiences across age groups, industries and geographic/cultural boundaries, which results in divergent ways of consuming information. There is no such thing as one-size-fitsall.

Guaranteeing that the organisation is able to stay ahead of developments within the industry, the primary focus of the team is on constantly evaluating the best ways to leverage technology to make training content more accessible, while enhancing and reinforcing facilitated training experiences.

Sandler is constantly expanding its weekly Virtual Training Series on Sales, Sales Management, Coaching and Enterprise Selling topics via live streaming sessions with the organisation’s certified trainers.

Moving into the digital age, all of the company’s core training program client materials have been converted to digital format and can now be accessed via Sandler Online. Going digital allows us to constantly refine and improve our training assets and supporting materials for its clients. In addition to digitising the workbooks themselves, the organisation is constantly supplementing training content with a robust collection of videos (over 300) podcasts, (over 600) blogs and Tools Worksheets (over 125 tools) supporting each training topic.

Recently, Sandler has launched a coaching tool platform called SalesAccountability. It is a web-based activity tracker for monitoring and managing

sales behaviours to support achievement of goals. It functions very much like a fitness tracker for sales activity, with gamification and competitions, and is available for individual sales professionals for selfmonitoring or working with a Sandler trainer, as well as offering a coaching dashboard for business owners and sales leaders to use in coaching their sales teams.

Internally, Sandler is full of dedicate, ambitious and enthusiastic personnel who are all working towards achieving the same mission. The company’s internal culture is a legacy from being founded by a sales person, with boots on the ground in the field.

The staff at the company are fast-paced and constantly searching for what’s next on the horizon to expand its training content and delivery.

Sandler trainers are first and foremost sales people and sales managers, and people who are taught how to train what is the best training methodologies in the world.

Working with staff at Sandler provides a unique, real-world experience that no other training company offers, something which resonates with its clients. It is a requirement that all new Sandler trainers attend an 8-day intensive boot camp style initial training method before they are licensed to sell or deliver its proprietary training methodologies. In addition, the team offers a rigorous 4-level Certification process for both trainers and clients, which incorporates knowledge of the material and processes, as well as demonstrated ability to execute.

Ensuring that all staff are in the best possible position to provide a high-quality service, new hires for Sandler attend onboarding sessions, and are encouraged to attend sales and management training offerings in local training centres, as well as investing in other skills and knowledge experiences which are supported by the company.

With the sales industry constantly evolving, there are plenty of challenges ahead which the team will have to overcome in

order to succeed even more in the company. The ever-widening diversity of demographics in age and culture who have expectations of personalised content delivery and the constant evolution of technology will continue to be challenges in our industry. In terms of technology, staff do not believe in technology for its own sake, instead maintaining that it should always serve the objective of improving effectiveness and/or efficiency.

Looking ahead, Sandler looks to have a bright future ahead of it, and the firm has placed a focus on Vertical Market Penetration, as well as an Alumni Initiative to re-engage with the millions of clients that it has trained over its 50 years of existence. Looking to capitalise on the success of training over 31,000 clients on an annual basis, there are no limits to the success that Sandler can achieve.

Company: Sandler Systems Inc. Address: 300 Red Brook Blvd.

Suite 400, Owings Mills, MD 21117, USA Website: www.sandler.com

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Creating a Positive Impact Ghost Systems, Inc. was organised in January 2014, establishing its worldwide headquarters and NOC/SIC in Nevada, USA to support the Financial Services & Banking; Legal; Healthcare/ Pharma; Critical Infrastructure & Energy; Mid-Market Enterprise and The Internet of Things (IoT) markets. Taking time to tell us more about the innovative company is CEO, Don Ritzman who reveals the secrets behind the firm’s success.

Founded in 2014, Ghost Systems, Inc. established its worldwide headquarters and NOC/SIC in Nevada, USA to support the Financial Services & Banking; Legal; Healthcare/ Pharma; Critical Infrastructure & Energy; Mid-Market Enterprise and The Internet of Things (IoT) markets – the most vulnerable markets for cyber-thefts today.

Ghosts’ SafePlace Ecosystem™ is designed from the ground up to be resilient and “Secure

by Design”. The tightly integrated Ecosystem – secure mesh network coupled with Jibberish™, a secure, flexible and user definable interface, which has been third-party tested and is impenetrable – virtually guarantees network infrastructure and the information that is transported across it is secure.

When installed into an organisation, the SafePlace Ecosystem “Ghostifies™” the network and the company that is connected to it, creating a SafePlace™ in which to safely communicate with customers, partners or entire communities of common interest. This dramatically enhances the data availability, confidentiality,

and integrity while preventing unauthorised access or theft of digital information – whether inflight or at-rest.

a team of highly experienced specialists, using the best-inclass patented technologies that are robust and secure.

Ghost – in cooperation with a dozen bellwether companies – developed industry-specific workflows. Each workflow is easily added to existing enterprise environments, providing an economical way to ensure all information shared and stored is absolutely secure.

There is no other holistic solution available today that employs proprietary technologies to provide such a highly resilient, and secure network & communications ecosystem – Ghost built “The Internet of Trust™.”

“To ensure we succeed in our mission, the company uses six-sigma processes. Where six-sigma doesn’t fit our business processes, we have companydeveloped processes specifically tailored to our business.

Beginning the interview, Don starts by explaining the firm’s overall mission, the steps Ghost Systems, Inc. undertake to ensure the clients receive the best possible outcome, and what differentiates the company from competitors.

“As for what differentiates us from our competitors, staff and technology are Ghosts two primary differentiators. Ghost has a world-class business and technology team including several of the finest developers of cyber security technologies in the world today. These team members include; a co-author of the Orange Book, a distinguished cryptography and identity expert, and the designer of the first-ever distributed OTP. Our technology is unmatched in the world today. SafePlace is a holistic, cyber-security ecosystem, fully

“Here at Ghost Systems, Inc., our mission is to authoritatively develop and maintain a holistic, future-proof cyber security infrastructure – the SafePlace Ecosystem™. The SafePlace Ecosystem™ is built to the very highest modern standards by

48 CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018

“Our key to a successful execution is smart, hardworking people throughout the organisation. With these people in place, Ghost functions like an efficient machine and successfully executes programs that meet our customer’s requirements.

integrated and secure from the ground up to provide the finest cyber-security solution available.

When discussing the industry in his region currently, Don provides us with an overview, going into detail about the challenges and outside influences that are affecting it.

“Security architectures largely grew organically over the past ten years, as organisations addressed a variety of new threats and tactics. This resulted in an army of deployed technologies like firewalls, IDS/ IPS, network proxies, gateways, sandboxes, endpoint suites, etc. Over time, this patchwork

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approach became more difficult to manage and significantly less effective at blocking legitimate threats. Existing cyber-security problems telegraph what’s needed for security in the future.

Specifically, enterprises need a comprehensive solution that offers scalability, protects against both known and unknown threats, automates manual processes, and replaces a patchwork of ineffective tools with an integrated set of security services – in short, they need the Ghost SafePlace Ecosystem.”

Looking ahead to what the future holds for Ghost Systems, Inc., Don reveals what developments he foresees within the industry, and how the firm will adapt around these changes.

“Cybersecurity as a whole, is ever-changing. Cyber-criminals continually invest $billions developing malware. As a result, they are very successful pulling off large cyber-thefts costing billions of dollars in damage and personal losses to hundreds of millions of individuals. This

Creating a Positive Impact

continues to get worse as they gain more knowledge and experience.

“Ghost continually builds cybersecurity solutions capable of preventing their attacks. We invest heavily in R&D, constantly updating cyber-defences using modern techniques and technologies to mitigate cyberattacks. We continually strive to change the fundamental dynamics of the war between cyber-criminals and the good guys, making the Internet, private

or public networks safer places for people and businesses to interact, having a positive impact across the World.”

Contact: Don Ritzman 865 Tahoe Blvd, Suite 214; Incline Village, Nevada 89451, USA Primary Phone: 001 831 459 8199 Web Address: www.ghost-systems.com

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10 Tips for Keeping Loyal Customers on Side Loyal customers are golden but once you’ve found them, how do you keep them? Colin Hay at Puzzel shares his top tips for building and maintaining customer loyalty.

You often hear sales gurus say it’s easier to keep existing customers than to find new ones or they quote the 80/20 rule where 80% of a company’s business comes from 20% of its customer base. However, in a world with social media where negative viral customer comments can threaten an organisation’s good reputation, how do you keep your valued customers happy and prevent them from straying to the competition?

Here we share our top 10 tips for building and maintaining customer loyalty.

1.

2.

on your own company – phone your helpline, initiate a web chat conversation and see for yourself what works and what doesn’t. Is it easy to navigate around your company website to find the information you need quickly? Introducing this ‘outside-in’ approach to viewing your customer’s journey could be a revelation and even a wakeup call to kick-start different ways of working within your contact centre 3.

Remember the customer journey - why do customers contact you in the first place? It is surprising how few organisations actually do this exercise.

Understanding what motivates customers to call, for example by looking out for repeat-contact reasons, will give you the information you need to re-align your customer service strategy and introduce a set of relevant, effective tactics.

Drink your own champagne – check out your customer’s end-to-end experience. Try out some mystery shopping

4.

Don’t ignore the evidence – contact centre agents represent the shop window to your organisation therefore encourage them to speak directly to customers to gain first-hand insight into their needs and aspirations?

Then combine it with speech analytics and silent monitoring to capture the voice of the customer and be sure to follow up on this valuable source of business intelligence. What can you learn from individual customer interactions, good and bad, and what can be done to improve the overall customer experience?

Never underestimate the impact of digital transformation – it’s a fact

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that those in the 18-34 age bracket area, tomorrow’s super-spenders, are more likely to quit a brand through a poor service experience.

What is more, it is this same Millennial generation who turn to social media when they are not happy with 47% of 18-34 year-olds admitting to using social media to complain compared with 12% in the 55+ age group! (i) It’s time to nurture this growing consumer segment who also expect to shop in a mobile, self-serve environment. Take a look at your offering on a smartphone or tablet – is it mobile responsive and are there features that accelerate and enhance the overall experience such as click to call for assistance?

5.

6.

Quality and empowerment - give agents the right tools and authority to handle customers based on their own judgment. Standard interfaces to major CRM applications mean agents have the right information at their fingertips to deliver the quality of service that customers deserve and improve customer loyalty.

Reduce repetition customers find having to repeat themselves one of

the biggest bugbears in contact centres, whatever the communication channel. Keeping repetition to a minimum by enabling an agent to see a customer’s account history, without having to switch between screens, allows them to deal with enquiries effectively and without delay. Maximising cloud-based integration capabilities builds loyalty from an experience of easy interactions.

7.

7. Omni-channel not multichannel – offer customer service via the customer’s channel of choice but make it a seamless experience.

Giving people the same level of service, whatever the channel, is the true meaning of omni-channel and it will turn them into loyal customers.

8.

Make life easy for customers – leverage technology to reduce customer effort. Use IVR to automate routine calls such as bank balance look-ups, payment of utility bills, or purchasing theatre tickets at a time to suit the customer.

Why not publish answers to the most frequently asked questions on your

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10 Tips for Keeping Loyal Customers on Side

company website or provide a Web Chat facility for straightforward enquiries?

9.

Review your social customer service – there’s no getting away from it, social media is here to stay.

Turn this to your advantage by engaging proactively via social media. Create a platform for customers to exchange ideas, feedback and knowledge. This type of social forum will foster a spirit of inclusivity and encourage learning across your customer base. Take it one step further by rewarding ‘super users’ who share valuable intelligence to help the broader community.

10. Make customers feel special – last but not least, all customers like to feel valued. Encourage agents to follow up interactions with personalised calls or emails to make customers feel special. Why not take advantage of routing technology, based on CRM data, to prioritise VIP customers? Both tactics will guarantee increased satisfaction ratings and promote longer-term loyalty.

You might find that you do all things already but why not translate them into a customer service manual, that can be shared with the rest of the organisation to stimulate shared learning and ensure bestpractice procedures? It’s also a good opportunity to assess the underlying technology that underpins your contact centre operation, to boost efficiencies and customer satisfaction and keep those happy customers coming back for more.

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Leaders need to be better ‘followers’ Bosses need to be better at following others if they are to succeed in a management role, say leadership experts.

Politicians and CEOs are too focused on how they are perceived as leaders - rather than actually leading colleagues around them.

‘Followership’ is the new management philosophy which places strong emphasis on following the lead of others who traditionally would be seen as lower down an organisational hierarchy.

Global leadership advisory firm 6 Group evaluated more than 75 corporate transformational changes and interviewed more than 300 senior executives across Europe in two years.

It found that in many cases the best leaders actually took a lead from other colleagues on many issues.

James Beazley, managing director of 6 Group, said: “Everyone talks about leadership but followership is the skill most likely to create success especially in large scale transformation projects. There is limited information or research about the concept of ‘followership’ and what little exists usually centres around the concept of attaining followers.

“In contrast, there is a huge amount of research around the servant leader, the fallible leader, the collaborative leader and authentic leader. The list

goes on. However, all of this still emphasises leader over follower.

“Artificial intelligence is increasingly removing ‘hard’ aspects of leadership such as facts, metrics and analysis. What is increasingly in demand are the ’soft’ aspects of leadership which include visioning, collaborating, enabling, inspiring and motivating.

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“To bring about cultural and transformative change, it is widely known that you need to change people’s mind-sets, which then leads to a change in feelings and emotions which ultimately leads to a change in behaviour.

“We found that the most successful organisations going through change take the approach

of ensuring they have the right team aligned to taking the lead in each key competency.

Followership is the recognition that leaders can’t do it all and there is strong evidence that the best leaders are in fact following others.”

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Subscribe here www.cv-magazine.com CORPORATE VISION / Issue 4 2018 53

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Small Business Minister says Carillion must act as the catalyst for change New ‘Credit Champions’ programme reveals critical importance of best-practice credit management in reducing late payment and increasing cashflow.

The Minister for Small Business says the collapse of Carillion must act as a catalyst to supporting small businesses, and prompt payment is a central part of the solution.

Interviewed exclusively for ‘Credit Champions’, a news and current affairs-style programme created by The Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) and ITN Productions, Andrew Griffiths MP also championed the role of the Prompt Payment Code: “The Code is working well and we can make it even better,” he says. “The Code sets the benchmark and Gold Standard to which companies must adhere.”

The launch of the programme today coincides with an announcement last week from the Chancellor, Philip Hammond MP, of a new consultation into late payment, a call welcomed

by CICM Chief Executive Philip King: “The Code has played an important part in beginning to

change attitudes to late payment, with more than 2,100 signatories to date,” he says, “but there is much more that can be done to promote the benefits of the Code and to strengthen the challenge process.

“Whenever a challenge has been raised we have been successful in finding a resolution. What we need, however, is for the Code to be more widely promoted and supported, and for business organisations to get behind it, and actively encourage their members to raise challenges where appropriate, rather than appearing to undermine its value and purpose through a lack of understanding of its key aim.

“Business organisations are also able to raise challenges on behalf of their members and this too needs to be clearly promoted.”

Mr King and Mr Griffiths both feature in the new programme which explores the critical impact of the credit cycle, and how taking an integrated approach to credit management is helping

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raise industry standards across the globe.

‘Credit Champions’, which was premiered at Credit Week, showcases the principles of the credit management lifecycle, and how it can be applied to manage credit risk. During the programme, a special animation explains how being paid on time can be the difference between success and failure.

There are 5.5 million small businesses in operation across the UK and the management of credit has unparalleled influence on them and their supply chains.

‘Credit Champions’ brings to life why relationship-building between creditors and debtors is so important by illustrating examples of best practice and highlighting solutions to underlying problems. The programme also looks into how poor credit management or lengthy payment terms can have a detrimental impact to not only the business, but the mental health of those involved in the supply chain.

The credit management team can hugely impact the success of a business and ‘Credit Champions’ looks at the training and qualifications on offer from CICM as well as showcasing those who are making best use of the training on offer. The programme reveals how people skills, the ability to understand customers and personal development shine through in those who work in credit management.

Drawing upon ITN’s 60-year heritage and expertise in storytelling, presented by national newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky, the news-style programme combines key interviews, case studies and sponsored stories from American Express, C2FO, Cedar Rose International Services Limited, Darcey Quigley & Co, Dun & Bradstreet, Elevate Credit International Limited, Lovetts, Pay360, Rimilia, TDX Group, The Lending Standards Board, Vision Blue Solutions and Zinc Group.

The full programme can be viewed here: www.cicm.com

g Small Business Minister says Carillion must act as the catalyst for change

Speaking about the programme specifically, Phillip added: “This is a genuinely important and groundbreaking programme that looks to project credit management - and the work of the wider credit industry - into the minds of business owners, leaders and politicians throughout the UK. The organisations and individuals taking part reflect essential roles and experiences within the credit community, helping to drive best-practice and achieve high standards of excellence for all.”

Simon Shelley, Head of Industry News, ITN Productions, concluded: “ITN Productions has been delighted to partner with the Chartered Institute of Credit Management to create ‘Credit Champions’. We hope this programme will help to inform and enlighten viewers of the importance of the credit cycle and the destructive impact of poorly managed credit management. We are extremely pleased with how this programme brings to life the people and new innovations and hope this can be used to share ideas and promote best practice within the sector and wider audience.”

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