Monthly Archives: January 2020

News

Star winners of new Platinum status announced in annual Feefo 2020 Trusted Service awards

The White Company, Notonthehighstreet and Zurich Insurance are among the elite set of brands to attain the new and highly-coveted Platinum status in the annual Trusted Service awards created by Feefo, the reviews and customer insights technology company.

The new Platinum tier is for companies that achieve the outstanding feat of winning a Feefo Gold award three years in succession. Feefo’s customers prize the awards so highly they wanted a new category to recognise the highest level of achievement over a period longer than a year, which is why the new Platinum category has been created. The Trusted Service awards have been a runaway success since their inception, gaining more participants and greater prestige each year

Other brands scooping the new Platinum award this year include: Cargiant; Royal London; Donald Russell; Iceland; Mint Velvet, Hiscox, Iceland, AXA, Travelzoo and Walt Disney Travel Co.

Trusted Service Awards are only given to those businesses that use Feefo to collect genuine reviews and insights. Each must meet the required high standard, based on the number of reviews collected, and their average rating. The awards are a unique reflection of commitment to customer experience, relying purely on verified interactions with real customers.

Kate Parkinson, Head of Digital Customer Experience at The White Company, said:

“We’re thrilled to receive this Feefo Platinum Service Award recognising our commitment to customer service. Delivering the highest standards of customer service is core to our business and to developing life-long relationships with our customers. This award will give further reassurance to our customers that they can rely on first class customer service whenever they choose to shop with us.”

Samantha Owen, Communications and Relationship Manager at Zurich Insurance said

“Customer feedback is hugely important to us. Not only does it highlight what we’re doing well, it also helps us identify areas where we can improve. We are extremely proud to have received the Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award: it absolutely demonstrates our commitment to excellent customer service.”

Julia Bindley, Partner and Operations Director, at notonthehighstreet said of its new Platinum status,

“This award recognises the importance that we at notonthehighstreet, and the 5,000 small businesses who sell through us, place on providing a truly thoughtful customer experience. We’re delighted to have had our commitment to our customers recognised.”

Rob McFarlane, Director of Sales and Business Development, at mail order butchery firm Donald Russell, added:

“We value this Platinum award extremely highly because it is based on genuine reviews posted by our customers and we are always striving to improve our customer experience through their insights.”

To qualify for an award, a business must have collected at least 50 reviews rated between 4.0 and 4.4 between January 1st 2019 and December 31st 2019. The coveted Gold award requires a Feefo service rating of at least 4.5, with this year’s winners including:

Whistles
Mazda
Vauxhall
Plumbase
AA Car Insurance
AA Home Insurance
French Connection
Moss Bros

“The Trusted Service awards have always been about recognising companies that provide genuinely outstanding customer experience,” said Matt West, CEO at Feefo.

“This year we are very excited to award our new Platinum accolade to companies hitting the highest standard over three years – a tough ask by any standard.

All award-winners have worked very hard to earn the trust and approval of the most insightful judges out there – real customers. We’re looking forward to working closely with them over the next 12 months to help drive growth within their business even further.”

Feefo provides businesses with the tools to collect real, purchase-verified reviews and insights. Working with over 3,500 clients, Feefo ensures that all feedback is authentic by matching it to a legitimate transaction, in order to increase consumer confidence and enable businesses to make smarter business decisions from fast access to real customer insights.

News, Technology

AUTTO upgrades automation platform to turn Excel spreadsheets into automated databases

AUTTO, the simplified automation provider, has today announced that it has expanded the capabilities of its automation platform to give users a quicker and easier way to build and manage data tables. AUTTO added the new functionality following customer demand – extending the use of the platform from the creation of individual workflows to allow the rapid development of bespoke automated systems. The functionality is available now to new and existing customers.

AUTTO users can now create automated workflows using up to 18 different capabilities or ‘actions’- such as emails, forms and E-Sign. The new addition of data tables enables users to move beyond creating individual workflows to creating interconnecting workflows that update in real-time. Instead of using traditional, static spreadsheet platforms in insolation, users can build and manage data sets within AUTTO. Whenever the data table is updated, AUTTO automatically updates the data set across a user’s workflows in real-time, facilitating a more systematic and complete approach to workflow automation.

“For too long, organisations have been struggling with disparate processes – managing their business on excel spreadsheets, e-mail and ‘cut and paste’ with all the limitations that involves,” said Ian Gosling, CEO and founder of AUTTO.

“The ability to create and manage live data tables within the AUTTO platform is a game changer for our users – providing a more complete solution that extends the power of automation through organisations.”

As automation is shaping up to be one of 2020’s key trends, AUTTO continues to invest in the development of its platform, regularly adding new actions and functionality based on customer feedback and general market trends. However, many SME organisations have yet to embark on their automation journey with a recent report placing the SME adoption rate of automation at a mere 4% in contrast to a 28% adoption rate for enterprises.

“The SME market is already using automation in its marketing and accounting functions, however, automation’s capabilities extend far beyond this,” continued Gosling.

“What we expect for 2020 is a greater understanding of the need to weave automation into the fabric of business. Our work with customers through our AUTTO-mation consultations has shown time and time again that automation saves time, money and reduces the stress involved in managing day-to-day operations.”

Appointments, News

ASL appoints Chief Financial Officer

ASL Group, leading managed-office services supplier, is strengthening its senior management team with the appointment of Duncan Forsyth as it chief financial officer.

Duncan, previously the Group Managing Director at Westcoast, an established IT logistics and services business, brings with him experience of being part of a team that has taken a company from a £35 million-pound turnover to a £3 billion-pound turnover. During his time at Westcoast he developed extensive relationships across the technology industry.

Duncan Forsyth said,

“As a supplier to ASL, I’ve observed the senior management team’s approach, and success. I can see the opportunity for ASL to further expand its great position as one of the leading independent managed service providers in the UK.”

Mark Garius, Managing Director of ASL commented on the appointment,

“We’ve acquired three businesses in the last 12 months as well as securing investment from Primary, and we are keen to continue to grow ASL. It’s important for us to maintain our high level of operations and service and the appointment of a new chief financial officer enables us to do this.

“Duncan’s cross technology and business experience will help support the existing team and open new product and service propositions for our customers. I am looking forward to working with Duncan and utilising his expertise and relationships to help to continue to grow the business both organically and through further acquisitions”

ASL Group made its thirteenth business acquisition at the end of 2019 and has expanded its reach beyond providing managed print services (MPS) to embrace unified communications, software, IT, Commercial and Industrial Print solutions for its 6,000 national customers.

AI, Marketing, PR and SEO, Technology

New AI-driven ad detection feature to provide one of a kind insights into competitor ad spend

Visual-AI company, LogoGrab, has launched a new ad detection feature that can accurately identify and provide specialised intelligence on visual media. The new offering will enable ad and media monitoring companies to provide greater analysis of national and geographically targeted ad campaigns. It will provide leading businesses with insights into competitor ad spend through near real-time intelligence, meaning companies can adapt their advertising strategies faster than ever before.

LogoGrab revealed the new feature following recent research which revealed 40% of brands planned to increase their competitive intelligence budget. The new feature will provide accurate analysis and insights on competitor advertising activities using the company’s Adaptive Learning Engine (A.L.E.), that can scan millions of images and videos to identify brand usage.

The company has become a trusted source for brand and advertising intelligence by industry leaders including, Brandwatch, Veritone, Synthesio, and RCS Media Monitors. It also offers solutions to help with brand protection, authentication, and monitoring through Visual-AI.

Today’s announcement includes significant developments in ad detection that enable LogoGrab to offer other key features, including:

  • Ad format detection: This allows key details to be shared with ad monitoring companies in terms of format and dimensions of the ads, and are able to classify ads as banners, skyscrapers, etc.
  • Ad content detection: This enables LogoGrab to categorize the selected ad against 11,000 labels. This shares specifics on what main category that ad is for, and in-depth details such as gender, age, animals and a wide array of objects present in the ad.
  • Logo detection: Critically, the new feature is able to detect an ad whether the ad has a visible logo or not. However, where a logo is present LogoGrab is then able to identify which company/brand the ad relates to.

Commenting on the launch of the new visual ad detection feature, CEO and Co-Founder of LogoGrab, Luca Boschin, said:

“We are delighted to launch our new top-class ad detection feature as a key addition to the LogoGrab Visual-AI suite. With this innovation it is possible to achieve a higher level of accuracy and analysis on all forms and formats of ads than ever before. Our Visual-AI allows all of the data to be analyzed and categorized, providing ad monitoring customers with an accurate and thorough overview of competitor advertising activity. This will enable companies to deliver never-before-possible critical intelligence to their customers and will reshape the entire visual advertising industry.”

Appointments, News

Greg Sterling joins Uberall as VP market insights

Uberall, the digital platform delivering ‘Near Me’ Brand Experiences for customers, today announced that Greg Sterling will become the company’s first VP of market insights. Sterling brings 20 years of experience as an analyst, writer, and researcher focused on digital and location-based media and marketing.

In this new role, Sterling will provide his expertise, insights and support to multiple internal teams and will lead research and content initiatives within Uberall. They will include leveraging Uberall’s unique data and insights to help benefit the company’s enterprise customer base, channel partners and resellers (e.g., SEO, digital marketing agencies, and more), as well as the broader market. Sterling will also be speaking at and programming events.

“I’m thrilled to join the exciting Uberall team,” said Sterling. “There’s still a considerable amount of work to do to educate and help brands and marketers to deliver effective ‘near me’ experiences to their customers; and Uberall is doing some great and innovative things to meet those needs.”

Sterling is one of the leading analysts and speakers on location marketing, location intelligence and the SMB marketplace, with an extensive background in digital strategy, research, content development, and event programming. He has been a contributor to Search Engine Land since 2006.

Before joining Uberall, Sterling was the VP of strategy & insights at LSA, where he helped accelerate the organisation’s transformation from traditional media trade group to leading digital marketing association for location-based marketers.

“Greg has been a leader in the location marketing space for two decades,” said Norman Rohr, SVP of marketing at Uberall. “We believe that his expertise and knowledge will help Uberall as we continue to grow, win business, and serve our customers around the world, and in North America in particular.”

For more information about Uberall, visit: https://uberall.com/.

Benefits, HR News, Recruitment

Employers missing out by not communicating employee benefits before recruitment, new research from GRiD

Only 22% of employers communicate their employee benefits offering before day one of employment, such as in an offer letter; and only 18% communicate the offering before recruitment, for instance in a job advertisement, shows research from GRiD.

When a remuneration package is a visible differentiator and often a reason for choosing to work for a company, GRiD says that many companies are missing a trick by not promoting them more prominently to potential hires and new starters. This is particularly relevant during the popular job-search month of January and extremely pertinent given that, from April 2020, employers must give employees access to a written statement of various particulars of their employment on day 1 of employment or before.

Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD, said:

“Employee benefits demonstrate a company cares for its staff, wants to protect them and has taken the trouble to find ways to support them – plenty of reasons for wanting to work for a company. There’s little point in having them if staff don’t know they exist, and they’re certainly not working as hard as they could be for a company if they’re not being promoted as a reason to join.’

Promoting employee benefits at the earliest opportunity is good business practice, and can help ongoing communications to have more impact. Yet many employers are still not doing as much as they could be when it comes to communicating benefits, even once staff have joined.

How employers communicate their employee benefits to staff:
 31% in a staff welcome pack
 28% via email
 25% in a staff handbook
 22% before day one of employment/in offer letter
 19% on staff noticeboard
 18% before recruitment, eg in job advertisements
 17% via company intranet
 11% at staff benefit fairs
 11% total reward statements
 11% post to employees’ home addresses
 10% via benefit platform/via apps

Investing in employee benefits can be intensive in terms of resource, cost and time, but that can all be wasted if staff don’t know about them. Designing an appropriate style and utilising a mixture of approaches to best fit each employers’ specific needs should be considered, both before and after recruitment.

Different methods of communication will resonate with different employees, so using a mix has maximum impact. Some employees will read a staff welcome pack cover to cover, some will be expert in navigating the benefits pages on their company intranet and for some, benefits are only brought to life when they can talk them through with a professional during a presentation. So utilising as many methods as possible has the best chance of engaging as many staff as possible.

Value for employers

Benefits can only be utilised if employees know they exist and understand what they can offer. And that’s when employers get most value too. Generally with employee benefits, the better the understanding, the better the potential outcome. That starts with communication, and it needs to start early, ideally before recruitment.

As Moxham explains:

‘For instance, with group risk products (employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection, critical illness) during 2018, our industry helped 5,595 employees back to work after a period of sick leave; and there were a total of 75,446 interactions with the additional help and support provided for staff via group risk policies – all funded by the provider. This is a perfect demonstration of the value both the employee and employer get from benefits when they’re understood, and that starts with communication.’

Appointments, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Adverttu Grows Team by 35%

Adverttu, the fast-growing AdTech company redefining out of home advertising, has appointed five new team members. These new starters will support Adverttu’s rapidly expanding client roster of advertising, marketing and media buying agencies, in-house brand managers and marketers, and passionate local business owners and services.

Artjom Jekimtsev, CEO and founder of Adverttu, said:

“We’re building something special. Our people hail from all over the world, creating an inclusive, experienced team who love turning our clients’ creativity into memorable on-car advertising campaigns that turn heads. Having the very best people in the industry ensures our customers receive the best client experience at every possible touchpoint.”

As Adverttu increasingly engages with national brands through their respective ad agency media planner and buyer networks, Katie McIntyre joins as head of Adverttu’s ad agency commercial team. Katie has extensive agency and media experience, and as a native Australian, brings an antipodean flavour to Adverttu’s diverse mix of cultures and nationalities.

Kseniia Kozlova, a talented designer specialising in intuitive UX design, bolsters Adverttu’s team of technical designers. This dedicated group is behind the seamless user experience Adverttu is known for, whether that’s an advertiser interacting with Adverttu’s platform or one of the 10,000+ drivers using Adverttu’s mobile app to earn extra passive income.

Alex Hart joins the company’s commercial sales department. Alex is responsible for accelerating adoption of Adverttu’s hyperlocal offering, an outdoor ad solution empowering micro and SME businesses to reach local audiences via affordable, targeted and eye-catching campaigns.

Enrico Zanatta strengthens Adverttu’s commercial department. As an Operations Project Manager, Enrico is responsible for coordinating the logistics between drivers, commercial fleets and wrapping facilities. He is also working alongside the company’s development and product team to continuously improve internal processes.

Yasaman Jabbari joins the business development team as a business analyst and supports Adverttu’s product teams. Yasi’s strong analytics skills are crucial for meeting the company’s operational requirements, especially as it scales across the UK and globally.

These new hires take the company’s workforce to 19 people across 3 cities. Adverttu recently moved to larger London headquarters to accommodate the demand for its innovative mobility advertising platform, which enables brands to advertise ‘on the road’ across a hyperlocal area, city, regionally or nationally.

News, Property, Wales News

New housing development enhances Penarth’s community

Highlands’ development on Old Barry Road, Penarth is set to generate £30,000 revenue in council tax a year for the local community.

Eight new four or five bedroom properties have been built by highly skilled trades people from all over South Wales using traditional building methods.

This development brings a range of other benefits to the area including new lighting to Old Barry Road which will help address the fly tipping issue that has plagued the area in recent years.

Highlands have also provided a nearly £8,000 boost to the Cogan Leisure Centre and a new 110 m2 bat roost within the development to help preserve the natural environment of the area.

The houses replace a derelict, structurally unsound mansion which could not have been restored as all of the original features had been removed by a previous project decades ago. Nevertheless, the existing mature landscaped boundaries have been maintained which makes the new properties very private and fully respect the privacy of the neighbouring properties.

The houses are conveniently located close to the train station and within walking distance to Penarth Town Centre with its abundance of pubs and restaurants.

With 25% of the homes already being sold, LewisEdmunds, Director of Highlands development said:

“As a local resident for 8 years, I have been delighted by the way we have been able to enhance the local environment and community with this development. We have hired many skilled trades people from South Wales and added to the social housing stock of the area.”

He adds:

“The beauty of Old Barry Road is that it’s not a through road, it is very quiet and discreet with no plans of future properties being built and it will stay like that for the foreseeable future.”

Business Investment, Midlands News

Exclusive British watch brand announces record-breaking funding results

Midlands-based timepiece start-up, Hagley West, has announced the record-breaking results of its latest funding round. In January, the British brand secured more than £360,000 in crowdfunding to realise its ambitions of taking effortless style and exceptional design to the global marketplace.

Renowned to be the fastest-ever fully-funded quartz fashion watch business, the company’s December funding round also broke the record for the largest ever crowdfunding raise by a watch manufacturer.

Tim Hayden, CEO of Hagley West Watches, commented:

“When we founded Hagley West, our ambition was simple – to provide discerning customers worldwide with high-quality, eye-catching British timepieces without the unnecessary, over-inflated ‘big brand’ mark-up.

“Our range blends style, functionality and practicality, providing the perfect model for almost every occasion. Undertaking a second round of crowdfunding has enabled us to facilitate ambitious international growth plans and, in the future, will help us to further expand our range with a number of stylish new designs.”

Highly popular among the domestic and international cricketing community, Hagley West has secured backing from some of the world’s best-known players including JP Duminy, Carols Braithwaite and Tino Best. The company, which is co-owned by West Indies legend Chris Gayle, prides itself on these links and is committed to supporting the next generation.

Hayden added:

“With almost 20 first-class county and professional cricketers having invested in the business, we wanted to give something back to the sport. By supporting the grass-roots level, we aim to inspire and support the talented players of tomorrow.”

The Hagley West range is available to order online at www.hagleywest.com. For more information, visit the website or follow the brand’s latest updates on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Appointments, Law, Wales News

Greenaway Scott strengthens Real Estate team.

Specialist law firm Greenaway Scott has announced a series of new recruits into its Real Estate team as it strengthens the team as a result of a successful 2019.

Ceris Clift joins as an Associate having previously worked in the commercial & agricultural property team at Red Kite. Ceris graduated at Cardiff University having also studied German Law whilst in Constance University in the south of Germany. She will spend time working out of the Pembroke Dock and Cardiff offices of Greenaway Scott in her new role and is also a fluent German speaker.

Farah Hussain joins as a Solicitor having previously worked in Foot Anstey and Osborne Clarke. Farah has experience in all aspects of commercial property and also a specific specialism in Islamic Finance matters. She graduated from Swansea University and returned to law following a period successfully running her own Post Office business. She will spend time working out of the Bristol office of Greenaway Scott.

Bryana Daniels joins as a legal executive and will have a supporting role within the Real Estate team. She graduated from Cardiff University and will be based out of the Cardiff office of Greenaway Scott.

The appointments follow a successful period for the Real Estate team at Greenaway Scott, which saw the team shortlisted as legal team of the year at the Cardiff Property Awards in 2019 and the completion of a number of key property transactions in Wales and the South West.

Highlights for the team included advisory roles on the acquisition of Broadlands Hotel near Bourton-On-The-Water, the acquisition of the 16th century Bell Inn in Stroud, advisory work for HSBC and Handelsbanken in Cardiff and Bristol, together with key property due diligence undertaken on numerous large corporate transactions undertaken by Greenaway Scott.

Greenaway Scott is part of the multidiscipline GS Verde Group, which also includes Verde Corporate Finance and patent attorney business Alchemie IP. The integrated advisory work undertaken by the Group is unique in Wales and the growth of the Real Estate team follows a significant investment into the Group by HSBC concluded in 2019.

Matthew Sutton, director at GS Verde Group said

“The expansion of our Real Estate team follows on from its successes in 2019 and the pipeline in hand which shows further growth and demand in 2020. We are delighted to welcome Ceris, Farah and Bryana to Greenaway Scott and I very much look forward to working with them in the future”.