11 minute read
Danske Bank Helps Wilsons Auctions
Danske Bank Helps Wilsons Auctions Hammer Home Its Advantage
There are many examples from the world of business which prove that often you only need to make a small change to have a big impact.
On the surface, Danske Bank’s creation of a digital solution that lets business customers view all of their accounts and payments across multiple banks in one place, might seem like a welcome but relatively small addition to its online banking offering.
Through its business banking platform ‘District’, businesses can now get a full overview of their finances and gain a single point of entry to their accounts and transactions, including those with other banks, without needing to switch between different banking platforms. But for the more than 60 local businesses in Northern Ireland who are now using the account aggregation function, the seemingly small change is making a meaningful difference.
One of those customers is Co Antrimbased Wilsons Auctions. The family-owned business has grown from a single auction site in Northern Ireland to the largest independent auction company in the UK and Ireland, with 19 sites across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and an annual ‘hammer total’ in excess of £400m. Wilsons Auctions has enjoyed a period of significant growth in the last six years, buying businesses in Newcastle,
Karen Kennedy, Senior Cash Manager, Danske Bank; Paul Clarkin, Wilsons Auctions, and David Thompson, Danske Bank.
Maidstone, Newport and Oxford that presented opportunities to improve sales and profit margins by improving auction facilities, providing better IT systems and using the Group’s marketing expertise to create a buzz around the sales. The Group has invested £8.5m since 2017 in land acquisitions and site improvements, above the cost of the original business purchases.
The size of Wilsons’ geographical coverage and a management structure that enables the company to take decisions quickly have allowed it to target larger customers and win business in a range of new markets, notably winning government and police contracts. However, the diversity of the business also creates complexity which Danske Bank’s platform has helped simplify, says Finance Director Paul Clarkin.
“At Wilsons Auctions we operate bank accounts with a number of UK banks but Danske Bank is our lead bank. Using the new feature within Danske’s online banking platform has simplified the Group’s ability to process customer payments. We can now see all incoming payments in one handy location which improves our workflow and frees up time for other tasks,” says Paul.
“We have experienced a wide range of online banking platforms as we acquired businesses but we have always quickly migrated new acquisitions to District because of its ease of use. Its interface is intuitive to use and minimises the hassle involved in receiving funds or paying vendors and suppliers,” he adds.
“Rather than logging into half a dozen banks each day our staff can now view all transactions through a single Danske Bank screen. This is a time-saving tool for our staff, particularly the credit control team. We don’t have to repeatedly log into each bank during the day to see payments coming in from buyers. It looks like a modest change, but it has had a big impact.”
Giving customers this snapshot of bank balances on a live basis, so they don’t have to deal with passwords, fobs and multi-factor authentication for every bank, is based on open banking, which connects banks, third parties and technical providers – enabling them to simply and securely exchange data to their customers’ benefit.
David Thompson, head of Digital Channels at Danske Bank UK, said Danske Bank is proud to be the first UK bank to create a digital solution that lets business customers view accounts from multiple banks this way.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to bank with us and make how they manage their day-to-day business easier,” he says.
“That means continually investing in innovative new digital features to improve the customer experience. We’re delighted with the feedback so far. Customers have told us they are saving time because they have all the information they need on one screen, which helps them make business decisions based on a full overview of their finances.”
Presenting new innovations to customers, like the new District function, is seen by Danske Bank as being complementary to the relationship it builds with customers like Wilsons through spending time understanding their business and long-term strategy.
Paul Clarkin says Danske has provided excellent support for its acquisition mission since 2016 and responded well to the timescales attached to its project plans with equally quick decision making on funding to support its own investments.
During the pandemic, Wilsons refocused its business and moved to online-only auctions in the space of only a few months – removing geography from many buying decisions so that customers based in Newcastle, for example, are no longer restricted to buying cars that they see in the auction ring in Newcastle. To help online sales flourish, the company has also built a strong appraisal system for vehicles that buyers can depend on.
Market shortages in the new car sector have created an extraordinary rise in used car prices – with some cars coming back to auction a year or two after being sold achieving the same sales price as the first time. Understandably, there has been an increased interest from private buyers who are looking for value.
“The outlook is positive for Wilsons Auctions. Our hybrid offering will always differentiate us from new entrants to the market who have little or no physical presence but we understand and are planning for a changed auction process,” says Paul Clarkin.
“We will build on our expertise to create a market-leading online offering backed by staff who understand our vendors, buyers and product. We expect that technological change will define the market over the next few years.”
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BOC Gases Celebrate 100 Year Milestone
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It was way back in January 1920 when the board of the then British Oxygen Co began enquiries re possible sites for a new works in Belfast. By June 1920 a strategic site in the Harland & Wolff complex had been selected and assigned. Currently operating from Prince Regent Road (since the 1950’s) BOC Gases have been proudly serving the community ever since. An event to celebrate the milestone was recently held in Drawing Room No. 1 in the Titanic Hotel. Previously owned by Harland & Wolff who were one of BOC’s first customers in Belfast!
1. Ruth Bremner, Austin Campbell, Eric Forsythe, Julie and Gary
Evans, Donna Neill, Paul and Chelsea Kidd, Jackie McLoughlin. 2. Sam Payne and Jim Mercer. 3. Sally Loade, David Maxwell, Tom and Muriel Mathers. 4. Carol Moore, Karen Dempster and Roberta Robinson. 5. Kieran and Louise Hennessy. 6. Derek and Lynda Irvine with Martin and Alison Walsh. 7. Clodagh Ferguson, Andre Maritz, Tommy and Carol Moore. 8. Aaron and Natasha Evans with Adam and Oriane Gray.
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9. Kieran Hennessy with Kyle and Sandra
Russell. 10. Joanne McClelland, Scott Keatley, Eddie
Clarke and Stacy Crowe. 11. Mark King and Suzanne Stephenson. 12. Justine Lennon and Lynda Irvine. 13. Jonathan and Helen Norris. 14. Maureen Thompson, Mark Cummins,
Robert Cummins and Karen Du Bois. 15. Michael and Ruth Fiseko. 16. Peter Doggart with Anita and Shane
Matthews. 17. Kirsty Vaughan, Jacqueline Hickland and
Rachel Lawell.
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SEVEN WAYS TO TAKE MEANINGFUL ACTION ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
By Diversity Mark’s Head of Business Nuala Murphy as published in Business Post Ireland.
If I asked you to name five business buzzwords du jour, I’m willing to bet that diversity and inclusion would make the list. There’s nothing wrong per se with buzzwords – our first contact with a new concept might come that way, helping to disseminate important ideas – but they all too often lack meaning or lose power. We add business buzzwords to our websites, scatter them around the office and sprinkle them liberally throughout our corporate communications – without pausing to ask ourselves whether we actually mean what we say.
If you’ve proclaimed your commitment to inclusion without asking yourself some difficult questions about your unconscious bias, or implemented a diversity training programme without gauging what it’s like for people from under-represented groups to work for you, then there’s a chance you’ve fallen foul of the buzzword bandwagon. And as I’ve said, there are worse crimes. Banging the drum for diversity because it’s hip in the business world is better than not making a sound about it – but shouting into the wind ultimately serves no one. Here’s how to bypass the buzzwords and walk the walk of building a more diverse and inclusive workplace without tokenistic gestures.
Understand the wider context
Gender and diversity aren’t issues that exist in a vacuum. The importance of equal opportunity in the workplace hasn’t drifted onto the business radar by accident. From Me Too to the Black Lives Matter movement, the experiences and sacrifices of people from under-represented groups have helped to shape the narrative that has brought us to this point. Take time to read and listen to those accounts and to amplify those voices that form the wider context of building a more equal society.
Don’t create office housework
Research undertaken in 2019 by McKinsey and LeanIn revealed that while women were stepping up as leaders in the workplace – as well as undertaking the majority of the work when it came to diversity, equity and inclusion – they were also suffering from burnout. Without male allies or champions, the work of advancing diversity and inclusion quickly becomes little more than office housework.
Recognise the legacy of the pandemic
The pandemic encouraged us to re-evaluate our lives so that people no longer just want a job with a big name employer and a good salary – employees place more value on balance, equilibrium and on impact.
Embark on a journey, don’t tick a box
I have had exposure at scale to many different companies at many different sizes, each on a journey with diversity and inclusion with different resources and competing business needs. I’ve seen that if you don’t have a senior level executive championing equality and shaping behaviour and culture, it’s not going to be embedded in the organisation and that means impact is limited. It’s not a tick-box exercise. It’s a journey that needs to be embraced from top to bottom and back again. We see a lot of employee of the month initiatives and photos of companies who are recognising the great work of their employee resource groups – and that is all good. But embedding diversity and inclusion is more than a health and wellbeing webinar, or a monthly celebration. It actually needs to be across the board to be successful.
Make it visible
Gender and diversity need to be championed and sponsored in the board room. Senior executives need to act visibly and noisily, spending time listening, communicating and representing the importance of diversity and inclusion at every level of the business, from resource investment to transparency in decision making.
Measure impact
Efforts to advance diversity must be measured and people need to be held accountable, whether that’s in performance, recruitment, decision making or hires and promotions. Equality is ultimately about ensuring different ways of thinking are represented in the room, whether you are making a product or providing a service.
Ask the hard questions
Inclusion and diversity are ultimately about everyone feeling they can have value and influence and bring their whole selves to work, if they choose to. It’s not just for numbers; it has to effect change. For all organisations with or without HR departments, it’s vital to ask difficult questions about where the organisation is at. Where does it want to go? How is it going to get there. And which behaviours and practices need to stop, what needs to continue and where to start.
