Sapphire Case Study

Case Study Sapphire Systems

Local Schools AI Workshops

Sapphire is our digital operating platform provider to global mid-market and mid-enterprise customers. With over 400 employees across UK, US, Mexico, Argentina, Lebanon, India and the Philippines.

Historically, Sapphire has had a philanthropist approach to business and has been supporting its local community for 10+ years, whether that is by providing afternoon tea for the elderly at the Shard, or organizing dedicated workshops to inspire young kids from less advantageous backgrounds. On a number of occasions, Sapphire has organized for working professionals from a number of sectors to go into schools and talk to kids about what their job entails, giving young ones an opportunity to find out more about the countless opportunities the job market provides. Our own Emily Hickley has participated in one of these workshops and described it as refreshing experience “The kids asked me thoughtful and spontaneous questions that I hadn’t properly ever stopped to think about, for example ‘who is your hero?’” said Emily.

In 2021, Sapphire decided to kick-off a new series of workshops focusing on what they are really good at: Digital Operating Platforms. Encouraged by a highly driven and inspiring Senior Management, the ESG & Responsible Business Team designed and ran a series of workshops aligned to what they do. “The new people that have joined us either through acquisitions or through Horizon’s appointment have brought in fresh ideas and helped us develop this exiting series of workshops aligned to our core business” says Janice Phayre, Head of ESG and Responsible Business at Sapphire.

The workshops targeted 2 group ages: the primary students (aged 8/9) and the secondary students (aged 16/17). The content for both workshops was developed internally by the Sapphire professionals with the help of the schools, to align as much as possible to their curriculum as well as that of our partners at Automation Anywhere (AA). AA is a software company leader in the development of RPA (robotic process automation) software. The collaboration via the workshops strengthened the relationship of Sapphire with its RPA partner AA. During the workshops a number of activities were organized including motivational speeches from Sapphire employees, practical exercised tasks and the introduction of Bots and bot technology.

After the workshop for the secondary school students, AA and Sapphire set up a competition to design a bot and 2 prizes were given to the best ideas (see photo). The feedback collected from the kids and young adults that attended the workshops was extremely positive, no doubt a positive impact was made. “Soo good to work with the children and hear their ideas – do it again!” – one of the Sapphire employees after the workshops ended. A testimony that social initiatives like these don’t only have a positive impact on external stakeholders, but on our own employees, making them feel accomplished and happy for giving back.

“We want to enable young kids to see the opportunities that technology can create for the future of the job market, and embrace new roles, instead of fearing them. We know that automation in the long run will result in certain jobs becoming redundant, but we want to position ourselves at the forefront of this digital transformation and create new jobs in tech.”

Chris Gabriel

Head of Strategy at Sapphire Systems

The Workshops targeted 2 age groups

8/9yrs 16/17yrs