ADVERTORIAL
PRE-LOCKDOWN PLANS PAY OFF Making minimal changes to the business model and being prepared before the COVID-19 lockdown has helped Utility Alliance continue to perform well during the pandemic – and hit its revised targets A Sheffield-based energy consultancy has continued to perform well throughout the COVID-19 pandemic after opting to make minimal changes to its business model during the crisis. While many businesses opted to pull down the shutters when lockdown was announced in March, Utility Alliance had taken note of the speculation about the impact the virus could have pre-lockdown and those plans were quickly put into place as soon as the Government advice was issued. The company, which is based on Bold Street and also has a headquarters in Hartlepool and an additional office in Newcastle, is predominantly a B2B specialist with the vast majority of its 400-strong workforce working through a database of outbound calls. An emergency plan was put in place to allow a mixture of sales and support staff to work from home, and the company was delighted to hit its revised target at the end of the first full month in lockdown. Daniel Potter MD of Utility
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Alliance Yorkshire, said: “These are unprecedented times for everyone, but the fact we have continued to perform well as a business is testament to the plans we put in place before lockdown. “The business model has remained the same, there haven’t been any dramatic changes to the way we operate other than the fact we are contacting a large proportion of customers – both new and existing – while they themselves are working from home. “We are a target-driven operation, and while that figure was reduced to a realistic level to take into account the change in working condition we are delighted with the performance over the last few weeks. “Like everyone else, we look forward to the day when we can all return to the office and get back to normal everyday life. But in the meantime, we will continue to try and generate new business as well as looking after our existing staff.” Utility Alliance trades and monitors energy with a unique approach to flexible contracts.
What we have found is business owners we speak to are using this period of uncertainty to take a closer look at their energy spend and consumption.
Specialist monitoring tools help to reduce energy waste and also increase awareness of energy responsibility for businesses of all sizes. Daniel added: “What we have found is business owners we speak to are using this period of uncertainty to take a closer look at their energy spend and consumption. “They have more time away from the day-to-day running of their company and if we can make a change to their bottom line for when we come out of this lockdown then it can only be a positive.”
For more information about Utility Alliance, visit www.utility-alliance.com or call 0114 478 0956.
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