Included in this booklet are case studies from a selection of Invenias customers from around the world. These search firms operate in a variety of different areas and upgraded to Invenias from different legacy software. Read on to find out more about the positive impact Invenias has had on their businesses, and those of their clients.
1-2. 3-4. 5-6. 7-8. 9-10.
RP International Daubenspeck and Associates Sheffield Haworth Highfield Human Solutions Allen Austin
11-12. 13-14.
McCracken Executive Search Inc. Norman Broadbent
www.invenias.com
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Cloud-based allows recruitm x Founded in in 1998 and
headquartered in London
x Regional hubs covering
EMEA, APAC and the Americas
x Clients and candidates in
over 100 countries
x Specialising in Telecoms.
Digital, Technology and Legal
x Handle many cross-
border search assignments using understanding of different countries and cultures.
RP International’s CEO talks about having the right technology to work while anywhere in the world. Providing global recruitment solutions is nothing new for RP International who have been specialists within the telecoms and technology space since 1998. Maintaining a lean business model with a team of just 80 specialist consultants located across six international hubs, they service a widespread client base in over 100 countries. Intuitive to use and quick to implement Supplying technology experts to lead IT transformation projects the world over, RP International had specific requirements when it came to implementing their own transformation project. Most importantly they needed an intuitive cloud-based operating system that was mobile friendly. What they got when they chose Invenias was a system that is, in the words of their CEO Stuart Wilson: “Slicker, user-friendly and intuitive.” Wilson explains: “The problem is that most of the systems that have been around for a long time are adapted from outdated technology with little innovation, they’re just the same thing rehashed - based on the same systems that were written 20 years ago. Invenias set themselves apart because the technology is all brand new – they are a true cloud-based system.” An important factor in RP International’s choice to go with Invenias was the sheer ease of use – something which made the switchover painless. “With a similar interface to Outlook, Consultants have needed minimal training and are finding the system far better than any they have used previously,” Wilson says. Having started to work with Invenias in July 2013, RP International had fully implemented the system across all international hubs within six months and are already reaping the rewards – their consultants are able to work more efficiently, perform more complex searches and utilise their existing database more productively than ever before.
Stuart Wilson CEO
On-the-go RP International maintains a 24/7 operation across a global infrastructure and offices spanning Europe, the Middle East and Asia, where they provide flexible recruitment solutions to their global customer base. “If you’re servicing an international footprint and your salesforce are internationally mobile, Invenias is cutting edge. “At RP International we encourage face to face interaction with customers wherever possible, which presents some challenges when our customer base is so widespread, so we’re always traveling, always on the road.
www.rpint.com
“One of the main advantages of using Invenias is that it is so incredibly easy to use when you’re on-the-go. You type an email, go on to a client visit or access a CV, everything is there on your laptop – you don’t even have to be connected.
d technology ment on-the-go “If you’re on a plane you can work for five, six, seven hours and it all populates straight back to the database as soon as you connect to Wi-Fi. Nothing else we saw worked like that. It enables you to hold on to that information and get it down in the fastest possible time. If you have to get back to your desk and do it there, your phone’s rung and you’ve already moved onto something else.” Supporting a strategy of diversification into new sectors Specialists within the international telecoms sector, the recruiter has traditionally worked in partnership with telecoms providers, operators and technology companies. RP International’s diverse client base ranges from start-ups through to MNCs and now includes international banks, Magic Circle law firms and some of the world’s major airlines. As technology becomes increasingly fundamental to every industry they will continue to branch out into new sectors such as Fashion, Retail, Energy, Government, Security and Utilities. Diversifying from a narrow industry focus to such a broad mix of clients requiring similar key skills was both a strategic decision and natural progression. “It was vital we had a system in place that would support this shift in the market place, during the transference of sought-after skills from telecoms into other industries,” says Wilson. David Grundy, CEO of Invenias comments: “Invenias is delighted that RP International have chosen the Invenias executive search and recruitment software platform to underpin its global operations. We have invested heavily in the development of unique technology that ensures our SaaS platform provides consistent and fast performance for companies wherever they need to operate. We’re looking forward to supporting the continued global growth at RP International in the years ahead.” This article is taken from HR Grapevine | May 2014
“It is so incredibly easy to use when you’re on the go... everything is there on your laptop – you don’t even have to be connected.”
x Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
x Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
x Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
x Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com
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Intuitive Search Softwar Consultants to x Executive search services
Chicago-based Ken Daubenspeck says technology should work around search team needs, not the other way around.
x Based in Chicago
Ken Daubenspeck has been a fixture in the Chicago executive search market for more than 30 years, and his firm, Daubenspeck And Associates, Ltd., is part of the IMD International Search Group and a member firm of the AESC.
x Founded in 1982 by Ken
Daubenspeck
on a regional, national and international level
x AESC member firm x Member of the IMD
International Search Group
x Industries include:
financial services, energy, human resources, information technology, manufacturing, professional services, finance and accounting
Daubenspeck has built a reputation for bringing a unique brand of retained recruitment to clients across all industries and leadership functions. “We’re particularly grounded in the psychology of the search and the human elements involved for clients and candidates,” he says. “Our philosophy of executive search is that each of these human elements have to align in order to make the search a success and the recruited executive a success in his or her new enterprise.” Daubenspeck says access to information has leveled the playing field for firms that engage with clients in multiple industries, enabling generalists to compete more consistently with specialized retained firms. Rather than focus too much on any one industry space, Daubenspeck shares, his team would rather engage more deeply with clients to uncover all the issues that might impact the assignment or a recruited executive’s performance in a new role. “We get to the right candidates, they call us back, and they come to trust us so we can help them decide on the opportunity,” he says. The human dynamics are so critical they require the most focus, says Daubenspeck. It is precisely because of the firm’s intense focus on the human variables related to each new search assignment that Daubenspeck and his team of search professionals gained an appreciation for how their process could be impacted by the software used to manage candidates and clients alike.
Ken Daubenspeck President & Founder
www.daubenspeck.com
Daubenspeck says his firm struggled for too long with a search software platform that required its users to think and behave differently in order to make good use of its features. The system his firm used for several years proved especially rigid. It was cumbersome to use and not responsive. What’s more, it was also very expensive to manage, particularly when modifications were needed. It was not unusual to spend thousands on relatively small changes the firm felt would make material improvements to its operating systems. “We actually lost a recruiter because we required their use of a search software system that didn’t make it easy to input and manage data. It caused that person’s work day to be far more stressful and less productive than it needed to be,” Daubenspeck says. “I know several other search firms with the same system but they just don’t use it because it requires conformity to the developer’s assumptions and process rather than any synchronicity with how we conduct searches.”
re from Invenias enables o take the Lead So Daubenspeck’s firm was essentially left without a reliable software system for nearly five months. It reverted to using Excel and private files on team members’ personal computers. Flash-forward to today, and Daubenspeck says he’s had no formal training with Invenias. The beauty of it, he says, is that Invenias is so intuitive and supportive of search consultants’ current work routines, formal training hasn’t been necessary. “Seldom do you find a software product that is everything it is marketed to be. Invenias is one of those rare software providers who have created a true solution. Rather than requiring the consultant to be a slave to the system, Invenias is an intuitive product that enables us to do our job better,” Daubenspeck shares. “Invenias is very intuitive to use,” he says. “It mirrors how an executive search firm thinks and how the process works. The difference with Invenias is that it works around our information capture and management needs, not the other way around.”
“Rather than requiring the consultant to be a slave to the system, Invenias is an intuitive product that enables us to do our job better.”
Daubenspeck, whose team went live with Invenias in October 2013, says he and his team have gained a whole new appreciation for how simplicity and an intuitive user interface actually invites use by researchers and consultants – thereby paving the way for improved productivity, communication and collaboration across the firm. “Invenias has really stabilized our process. Our people have it open all the time because it synchs with what people are doing and what they’re doing with data,” Daubenspeck says. “It’s simple to use and fully integrated within Microsoft Outlook, and because it’s also integrated with the web, we don’t have to leave Invenias while we’re working, so you have the continuity and seamless experience you’re looking for when you want to keep your focus on clients and assignments – whether you’re in the office or working from a mobile device on the go. I would recommend Invenias to anyone without reservation.”
x Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
x Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
x Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
x Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com
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Invenias Solution allow Search for Talent x Founded in London in
1993
x 10 international offices in
global financial centres
x 120 professionals across
Europe, USA & Asia Pacific
x AESC member firm x Ranked number 1 for UK
specialist firms 2012/2013 by Executive Grapevine
x Focus on the global
financial services industry across all sectors
Sheffield Haworth talk about implementing the right technology to support a growing international business Sheffield Haworth is a leading global executive search, interim management and human capital advisory company. The firm focuses on the global financial services industry across all sectors and is ranked by Executive Grapevine in the UK as number one for specialist executive search firms for 2012/2013. With more than 120 professionals across ten international offices, Sheffield Haworth is a truly international company operating in all the major financial centres in Europe, the USA and Asia Pacific. As such, the key requirement for its technology platform is to allow consultants access to reliable, consistent data in real time, wherever they are based in the world. Sheffield Haworth felt their existing recruitment database no longer supported their global business and aggressive growth plan. They found that users were frustrated by the lack of technological development and were looking for a platform that supported the way that they wanted to work, whether it be in the office or on the move.
Having carried out a comprehensive review of the software currently on the market, Sheffield Haworth concluded that Invenias was their preferred solution, meeting the specific criteria they had set.
JJacquii Hancock H k
Group Chief Administrative Officer
“We were looking for a cloud-based solution, we’d had nearly 20 years of using legacy software and with that you get an inevitable decline in usefulness as your hardware gets older and then needs to be replaced – something that isn’t an issue with a cloud-based system,” says Richard Watson, Group IT Director. But it wasn’t just the cloud-based nature of Invenias that has convinced Watson. “The big selling point for Invenias is the way that it sits within Outlook,” he continued. “Everything else that we looked at was either browser- based or worked as a separate app or program. Invenias is a very natural work flow because what do you do when you first switch on your PC in the morning? You open up Outlook and check your email and as part of that, with Invenias, your database opens automatically so it’s just a more simplified work flow and a more natural way of working.” Furthermore, Sheffield Haworth found that even though the software works straight out of the box, Invenias was flexible enough to allow them to tailor the software to reflect the way that they work.
Richard i h d Watson Group IT Director
www.sheffieldhaworth.com
“We selected Invenias not only because of the quality of their product, but because they are constantly looking to innovate and adapt, meaning that we can be confident that we will have the best technology underpinning our business both now and in the future,” said Jacqui Hancock, Group Chief Administrative Officer.
ws Sheffield Haworth to Across the World “An example of this was responding to our requirement to support a large International workforce with a platform that offered fast and consistent performance across the world through the development of their Global Synchronisation Technology. This allows Invenias to run synchronised copies of our database in cloud data centres across America, Europe and Hong Kong, providing our users with a responsive and shared platform wherever they are working which allows us to operate as a truly global team. “ Watson commented: “It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you get a quick connection to their data centre and you also get live data from your colleagues ten time zones away.” This fits in with Sheffield Haworth’s aim of shaping the future of the search industry by investing in a mobile, cloud-based solution. “Our consultants need access to consistent, accurate data. With Invenias, they can now be confident that our data is synchronised in real time across the globe, and that it is always accessible from their desktop or mobile device,” said Watson. A key benefit of implementing the system has been the ease of use and quick rate of adoption across the firm. “The initial feedback is that the users are enjoying the experience and finding, certainly the tracking of email and therefore the search process a lot easier,” said Hancock.
All of this has met with the approval of Mike Hammond, the Group’s Managing Director. He said: “Our extensive client base in the financial services industry continues to strive to employ the best talent, both regionally and globally. “In order to increase our international reach across key geographic markets, we require the best technology available in the marketplace to facilitate our strategic growth plans. We look forward to Invenias providing the technology platform to further that growth.” This article is taken from HR Grapevine | June 2014
“It doesn’t matter where you are in the world or what device you are working on, you always get a quick connection to their data centre.”
x Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
x Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
x Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
x Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com
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Invenias offers Reduced Costs an x Founded in 1983 x Ownership acquired by
Sherilyn Shackell in 2001
x Executive search and talent
management services on a global scale
Sherilyn Shackell hesitated when she first considered switching to a new search software provider. Now she sees reduced overheads, better productivity…and regrets not making the leap sooner.
x Based in the United
When you’re a long-standing, legacy client of an executive search software system, says Sherilyn Shackell, CEO of Highfield Human Solutions, you tend to be willing to pilot a large number of upgrades and development features aimed at better aligning technology with people.
x AESC Member Firm
Yet, over time, and over the course of multiple system changes, patches and technical work-arounds, she recalls, it’s easy for a firm to amass a rather large number of candidate and client records and a sense of being beholden to the legacy system, even as using it becomes more burdensome to the researchers and consultants it’s supposed to serve.
Kingdom, with global reach through membership of IMD International Search Group
x Practice focus is on
Consumer, Technology and Service Sectors
“We had our old system for so long that there was such a huge amount of legacy data on there,” Shackell recalls. “It almost became too scary a proposition to make a change. We conjured a lot of reasons why we’d face lots of headaches from migrating it all to a new software platform.” So that’s why Shackell hesitated when her Personal Assistant (PA) first approached her about Invenias, despite the fact that the firm’s legacy software had become a real problem rather than a solution. “Our previous software system was so over-engineered that it was causing us more problems because it had been adapted over and over and over again for decades,” Shackell recalls. Faced with the reality that her firm’s software was becoming an obstacle, and pressed ever more diligently by her PA, who had begun using Invenias for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with great effect to support Shackell’s other business concern, The Marketing Academy, she at last relented.
Sherilyn Sh il Shackell Sh k ll CEO
www.highfielduk.co.uk
“My PA, who is very heavily involved in our search firm, loved it. She was canvassing to move Highfield over to Invenias, and in the end, I just gave in,” Shackell says with a grin. The result? “It’s been brilliant,” Shackell says. “Invenias is transformational. Because of its ease of use, we were immediately able to redeploy our internal resources. The net outcome was that we were able to save one full-time head in research and one in administration and apply their skills to other tasks.” Shackell says she was surprised to learn that an executive search software platform could have such an impact – not only on the search process and how her team works – but also on her firm’s bottom line.
s a Pathway to nd Higher Profits “Invenias is money saving from an administration basis. The reporting is much more intuitive, much quicker. The integration with web applications is huge. The researchers would say the most transformational impact has been the ease of pulling information from other sources,” Shackell observes. “Another benefit is that the time it takes us to execute an assignment has sped up by 20-25 percent,” she adds. “That’s not just measured in research time, but also in our search consultants’ time because they can communicate more quickly and update our records to report on conversations more easily.” What’s more, she adds: “We found Invenias so intuitive that the learning curve was really fast – the new way of doing things – we were able to use it within a day because of the intuitive nature of the system. My fear was that we’d have months of pain making the change. I can look back and with the marvellous clarity of hindsight recognize that I sat on the fence too long and that cost me a lot of money.” Looking back, Shackell says, she recalls making a really radical decision that, at the time, seemed daunting, but with the benefit of hindsight, was a natural extension of her commitment to sign with Invenias.
“Invenias directly links to profitability. It has certainly improved the profitability of our firm.”
“We simply chose not to migrate our old data. That data had grown so old because our consultants weren’t updating it with our previous software, so 95 percent of it was just dead,” Shackell recalls. “So we kept the data on the legacy system’s server for a year, but we learned it wasn’t touched in about eight months, so we left it entirely.” “We do no manual input now because everything is just done automatically through the integration with Outlook, so there’s no duplication of anything – that was not the case with our previous search software,” Shackell says.
The Highfield CEO says she and her team have a much better view about the impact the right technology and user interface can have on team performance and business results. “Invenias directly links to profitability. It has certainly improved the profitability of our firm. I hesitated for two and a half years. The only regret I have is not making that decision years sooner than I did. I’d have had two and a half years’ of higher profits. Invenias pays for itself in spades.”
Shackell adds: “The biggest competitor Invenias has is apathy. If Invenias is head to head with any other system, the product will speak for itself. But it’s the inaction – that’s where I was – that will cost search firm owners if they’re not willing to try something new, something they’ll quickly learn is much better.”
“We found Invenias so intuitive that the learning curve was really fast… we were able to use it within a day because of the intuitive nature of the system.”
x Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
x Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
x Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
x Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com
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Invenias enables stand by their x Founded in 1996 by Rob
Andrews
x Executive search services
on a regional, national and international level
x Based in Houston with
offices across the US, in Europe and Asia
x AESC Member Firm x Practice focus is on: CEO /
Board assignments; business & professional services; consumer; diversity; energy & natural resources; financial services; life sciences & healthcare; non-profit; private equity; technology.
Rob Andrews says his global firm is in the business helping clients build enterprise value. That’s far easier to do when software intuitively supports the search and consulting process and the team leading it. When you’ve spent nearly three full decades in the business of retained executive search, says Rob Andrews, Chairman & CEO of Allen Austin – with retained executive search consultants working from offices in the United States, Europe and Asia – you naturally form opinions based on the experiences of your clients. And if clients’ best interests aren’t being well served, Andrews isn’t the type to stand around and let that happen. It’s that commitment, and a belief that the interests of clients of older, larger and better-known executive search firms weren’t consistently being served that led Andrews to leave one search firm and create his own unique brand of retained executive search and leadership consulting. Andrews’ guiding lights were his beliefs that clients could be served best with a more deliberate search process focused on finding the kind of executive fit that would increase tenure and fast-track exceptional performance in any leadership role. Today, Allen Austin believes it has created one of the most disciplined and most comprehensive search methodologies in the business. This, Andrews says, offers the focus as well as the flexibility to meet clients’ needs and expectations. The results, says this man focused on statistics and performance, can be summed up in just one measure of his firm’s commitment: since the founding of the firm, Andrews says, the firm has never once abandoned an unfinished search assignment.
Rob Andrews
Chairman & CEO
www.allenaustinsearch.com
The firm is obsessed with performance metrics. Andrews is his firm’s own toughest critic, pushing it to connect exceptional leaders with the right roles and into cultures they can excel in over the long-term. It’s a track record, he adds, that has enabled the firm’s growth internationally and also into other executive advisory services, including board services, leadership advisory, and related human capital disciplines. “We’re in the relationship business, not the transaction business,” Andrews says. “Our goal is to leave clients with something sustainable and lasting. And every day, we’re delivering on exactly that promise to our clients, many of whom initially reach us through referral and word of mouth.”
s Allen Austin to Brand Promise Because the firm is steeped in its search process and research methodology, it places a very high value on data, access to information and the ease of use of its software systems to support candidate records and client assignments. If executive search software is clunky, slow or simply not designed with an easy to learn, intuitive user interface, Andrews says, it can take a real toll on productivity and performance within the firm. If left unaddressed, that could begin to show on client deliverables and eventually, relationships. At one time, however, Allen Austin found its research and collaboration capabilities stymied by a candidate and client management software system that just couldn’t keep pace with its evolving needs. Furthermore, it drained valuable time from the firm by forcing consultants and researchers to adapt to the system’s quirks, rather than working around its professionals’ own needs. Because he’s inclined toward action and intervention when needed, Andrews took the lead in his firm’s assessment of Invenias. “We got off to a really speedy start with Invenias,” he says. “It’s intuitive and easy to use, and was quickly adopted by everyone in the firm. We’re very happy with it and are already reaping the rewards, as are our customers.”
“We got off to a really quick start with Invenias. It’s intuitive and easy to use, and we’re very happy with it.”
Looking to the future, Andrews expects that Allen Austin’s commitment to process, to deep relationships with clients, coupled with its improved search software, will help align his team’s resources with better business outcomes for clients who long ago learned that Andrews means what he says and says what he means. x Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
x Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
x Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
x Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com
LONDON | READING | NEW YORK | KUALA LUMPUR | SYDNEY
Linking to Client Busines x Founded in 1997 by Gary
McCracken
x Based in Toronto, Canada x AESC Member Firm x Executive search spanning
Senior Management, Executive & Board talent across all industries
x Work with organisations
of all sizes, from start-ups to mid-sized companies and industry-leading global organizations
Gary McCracken and his team share a simple philosophy. The firm’s focus on quality and process is key, and its performance and potential is directly linked to its clients’ business success. Like all good search consultants, Gary McCracken has an eye for exceptional talent. Whether it’s in engaging world-class candidates for key opportunities with client organizations – or his own – he’s learned that the right talent aligned to the right business outcomes can make all the difference. For today’s Chief Executives, that’s a matter of surrounding themselves with the right team – each leader bringing experience and insight the others may not have, balancing the skills needed to make great things happen at the enterprise level. The same can apparently be said for engaging the talent within a high-end boutique search business, if McCracken’s approach to evaluating potential executive search software for his firm is any indication. The McCracken search team was finding that its contact database for managing its interactions with candidates and clients alike was getting old and slow and there was no technical support for it. “So, the time had come where we knew we needed to make a change,” recalls McCracken Partner Paul Bruner, who previously worked on strategy and information systems projects with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Because of his familiarity with software systems and IT, Bruner was asked to lead the change process, backed by McCracken’s Head of Administration, Lee Davidson.
Gary McCracken Chairman & CEO
Bruner drew on considerable Andersen experience – going into a client company, analyzing its data and information needs, and selecting the best from a variety of customized software providers in the marketplace. He was precisely the person to help McCracken Executive Search navigate the landscape of software providers for the retained executive search business. “When we started our process, it’s was hard to see the differences between systems,” Bruner said. “You look at the marketing, and on the surface, it would appear they all do the same thing,” he added. “But when you took a deeper dive, it was clear to see that some of them could quickly be eliminated because they had a core module to which the software suppliers had added a series of patchwork fixes and workarounds to update the systems to meet current needs.”
www.mccrackensearch.com
“When we found Invenias, it was the integration with Microsoft Outlook that first caught our eyes,” Bruner said. “Invenias sits seamlessly with Outlook. With other software providers, you continually have to flip between what you’re
ss Success with Invenias doing and their own user interface. But with Invenias integrated right into Outlook, our work to manage, create and react to information becomes really effortless.” Bruner continued: “Invenias feels and operates like it’s brand new. It’s cloud-based. The seamless backup to the cloud and the flexibility of the system were really attractive to us. Invenias has proven to be an intuitive, easy-to-use, and flexible system.” What’s more, Bruner and Davidson shared, the pricing of Invenias was very simple and very straightforward – something Bruner hasn’t always seen when evaluating software options. “Invenias treated us as a valued client with transparent pricing, despite the fact that that we wouldn’t qualify as a so-called ‘power user’ of any single technology.” Davidson said the firm’s different users have had very positive but somewhat different interactions with Invenias that have had a very big impact on its productivity. “Our head of research really loves Invenias. She can update candidate records so easily. She can link information from other web sites right into people’s individual files,” Davidson said. “The training was straightforward and overall a very positive experience. Customer support has been excellent and frankly, superior to anything we experienced before.”
She added that she can input more data into Invenias because “It’s a better tool for what I need to do. You can go take a look at that person on the internet, look at the company they’re employed by and send them an email, all right within the Invenias system – all of which is saved and updated immediately.” As for Bruner, one of the firm’s client-facing partners, Invenias has helped create a more efficient information flow across the business. “There’s no question I have better information available to check the status of an assignment and to speak with candidates and clients,” Bruner said. “There’s no doubt Invenias is heads and shoulders above what we had before.”
“Invenias treated us as a valued client with transparent pricing, despite the fact that that we wouldn’t qualify as a so-called ‘power user’ of any single technology.”
x Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
x Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
x Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
x Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com
LONDON | READING | NEW YORK | KUALA LUMPUR | SYDNEY
The Re-branded Recruit as they prepare x Headquartered in the UK
with an extensive international footprint
x Over 30 years experience
of placing people in key positions
x AESC Member Firm x A company committed to
equality: CEO Sue O’Brien awarded an OBE for services to Gender Equality in January 2014
x Practice areas include;
Consumer, Private Equity, Financial Services, Energy & Natural Resources, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Leisure & Travel, Retail, Professional Services, Technology, Media & Telecoms
Norman Broadbent’s CEO talks about turning around the brand, recruiting new people and embracing technology. Today, and for decades, Norman Broadbent has been renowned and respected for the insight offered by its employees. However, five years ago this was not the case. In 2008, as current CEO Sue O’Brien says, the business had lost its way; “it had been shrunk to a core team that was still delivering excellent work for a very minimal number of clients, and therefore should really have been a standalone partnership.” Seeing an opportunity, Garner acquired the company to re-launch it as a PLC. O’Brien says: “The strategy behind acquiring the business was largely around wanting to get a brand that had good recognition at board level, it had a very fond remembrance in the minds of executives that had either been placed by the organisation or had indeed enjoyed some of the insights, skills and advice that the people within the business had delivered in its heyday which would’ve been probably 15 years earlier.” Having got the name, O’Brien and her team went about turning it round, to have it seen, once again, as a contender; “hiring was interesting. There were a number of people in the first year that would never dream of working with us because they felt it was a tired brand. Within a 12-to-24-month period most of those people were saying “can I come and have a coffee?” So the ability to really turn around the brand and create it as a challenger worked exceptionally well, but we are probably just as fussy about who we hire for ourselves as we are about who we help clients hire.” Having put the Norman Broadbent name back on the map and brought in a highly regarded team Sue and the company could focus on the tools they use. And as they started to look for international growth, executive search software provider, Invenias, allowed the company to guarantee all its offices would be kept in the loop, regardless of location.
Sue O’Brien OBE CEO
www.normanbroadbent.com
“One of the things that was important when we started to look at Invenias, as we were going through international growth I wanted a real time system that was cloud based, so if we were going to open in a new location, or if we were going to look at agile working, and home working it would be something that we could look at doing very easily. “That was absolutely key for us because we were going to be working on the same clients, across a number of geographies with a number of offices, if you work in a silo, you don’t need that, we don’t work in silos so we need the real time info, so for Norman Broadbent it was crucial.” “It’s an additional tool we use that gives us an edge, if you look at the US, if we’re in the west coast in LA, if you look at the time difference, I couldn’t have
ter can rely on Invenias e for the future a system that didn’t have a live update, if they’re addressing stuff overnight, when I wake up the next morning and they’re in bed, I could accidentally phone the same candidate about something else if we didn’t have a live system so if you have a global business that operates the way we do you need to have that coverage. O’Brien says as well as helping with the company’s geographical reach, it has also proved to be effective for multiple parts of the business. “The beauty about the Invenias system is you can utilise it for the executive search model where it’s all about the intensity and insight of one individual, but then it can equally be as efficient for Arcus Global Partners (a Norman Broadbent sister company) which is actually about a broad, generic database, of a number of people but similarity of data.” And, perhaps most importantly, Invenias has also allowed the company to be prepared for the future. With a world that is only becoming more reliant on technology, Invenias has helped Norman Broadbent prepare for changes in the market rather than find a solution after a change has occurred.
“As we were going through international growth I wanted a real time system that was cloud based.”
“There are a swathe of board executives that are probably much more technologically savvy than they ever expected to be five or ten years ago. For me, in leading a business you have to anticipate the market. Not react to it.”
“That’s why Invenias, for me, meant anticipating what the market would move to at a point when most others were saying the digital life will never permeate in the executive search world, that’s nonsense.” “I run a business that is in executive search, I need to make sure that I’ve got a digital answer to my business irrespective of a traditional view of what we do for a living.” This article is taken from HR Grapevine | October 2013
x Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
x Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
x Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
x Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com
LONDON | READING | NEW YORK | KUALA LUMPUR | SYDNEY
For more information about Invenias or to book a demonstration of the Invenias solution for executive search and strategic recruitment, please visit
www.invenias.com
Designed for executive
search firms, specialist recruitment companies and enterprise recruitment organizations
Enabling effective delivery
of assignments, stronger relationships with clients and candidates and transformation of the productivity of search operations
Easy to use cloud-based
desktop and mobile applications
Invenias serves thousands
of users in over thirty countries across the globe
www.invenias.com LONDON | READING | NEW YORK | KUALA LUMPUR | SYDNEY