Monthly Archives: January 2022

News

Supply Chain Disruption – Taking Stock – BCS Announces Findings From Latest Datacentre Survey

An optimistic sector with record levels of respondents (98%) seeing demand either maintained or increasing was an encouraging finding from The Winter Report 2021/22,  which is undertaken by independent research house IX Consulting and commissioned by BCS, (Business Critical Solutions) the specialist services provider to the digital infrastructure industry. It captures the views of over 3000 senior datacentre professionals across Europe, including owners, operators, developers, consultants and end users.

However, despite these findings – the highest levels of confidence since the survey began 14 years ago – there are real concerns within the industry about how to deliver this capacity against a backdrop of a shortage of key skills and the ongoing disruption in the supply chain. In fact 91% of respondents had experienced some issues over the past 12 months.  Disruptions were felt the hardest amongst our build professionals, with 69% of developer/investor respondents and 62% of design engineering and construction respondents reporting that in 2021 they had experienced significant supply chain volatility.

James Hart, CEO at BCS, said: “These well documented supply problems have led to delayed deliveries and higher prices. They are widespread and there is a general reduction in the supply and the reliability of supply visible in our sectors.  There are massive dislocations in the container market, shipping routes, ports, air cargo, trucking lines, railways and even warehouses. The result is shortages of key manufacturing components, order backlogs, delivery delays and a spike in transportation costs and consumer prices.

“Covid 19 has not only exacerbated these issues but has also brought about a shift in how we look at current supply chains.  Certainly, more companies and governments are reviewing their supply chains for critical items, with a mind towards security of supply as well as cost. Our expectation and recent experience is that supply chains are already shortening as a response to Covid, either via reshoring, or as companies try to diversify their sources of supply. We at BCS are helping clients through this process and have mapped supply chains associated with the deployment of data centres.”

To download The Winter Report 21/22 in full please click here: https://www.bcs.uk.com/winter-report-2021-supply-chain-disruption-taking-stock/

 

 

News

The Data Gap – CMO’s Lack Data Capabilities Required to Meet Growth Targets

UK C-suite and CMO executives agree that data and analytics are vital to business growth yet lack the capabilities required to achieve their targets, according to Realise UNLIMITED research. 

The research, which surveyed over 80 C-suite execs with annual sales of at least £30 million, found over four-fifths of respondents (81.5%) agree data and analytics are crucial to growing their business. However, execs admitted they weren’t sure what good data and analytics looked like and remained at least two years away from achieving best-in-class capabilities. 

 

Data’s role in business growth 

The execs largely agreed their data and analytics functions were helping them to achieve their business targets. The research found that respondents’ data and analytics functions were helping their business achieve growth (85.1%), enable better business decision-making (86.4%) and drive tangible value (86.4%). 

The executives were also optimistic about their organisation’s use of data and analytics. For example, 95% believe they work with high-quality data and 88.9% think their data systems are integrated, scalable, functional and stable. While 86.4% believe their data and analytics function has improved significantly in the last five years and utilises advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. 

However, only around one-quarter of the respondents (25.9%) strongly believed their data and analytics capability was ahead of other companies in their sector. While only 28.4% strongly agreed their organisation has a data-driven culture. 

 

Data capabilities restrict businesses’ growth targets 

Despite claiming data was crucial to their targets, many businesses don’t have the processes in place to achieve their goals. Around one in three execs (34.6%) strongly agreed that they know what best-in-class data and analytics looks like. While less than half of the respondents (46%) strongly agreed that their business has a clear data strategy in place. 

Furthermore, nearly four-fifths of execs (79.2%) believe it will take between two to five years for their organisation to achieve best-in-class data and analytics. And 7% of respondents claimed it would take longer than five years. 

Execs’ most significant challenge to maximising the value of their data and analytics is a lack of training (33.3% of respondents). That was closely followed by a lack of budget (32.1%), lacking awareness of what data can do (28.4%), and struggling to recruit and retain specialist staff (24.7%). Other issues raised include a lack of investment in analytics and insight (23.5%), data teams lacking business understanding (23.5%), poor internal communication (21%), data teams not working closely enough with business teams (17.3%) and having siloed data (17.3%). 

 

Who should be responsible for managing data? 

The research found that more than one in three businesses doesn’t currently have one board member primarily responsible for all data and analytics capabilities. Of those that do, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) remain primarily accountable. 

Nearly three in five organisations (59.1%) leave data capabilities to their CEO, compared to just 9.1% delegating responsibility to a Chief Data Officer. While a handful of businesses put their Chief Information Officer, Chief Marketing Officer or Chief Technology Officer (all 6.8%) in charge of managing data and analytics. 

 

Stephen Welch, Managing Director at Realise UNLIMITED said: “Our research highlights that while UK businesses are aware that data is critical to achieving their targets, they often lack the capability to truly harness the information they have. Collecting and storing vast amounts of data is all well and good, but businesses must look to solutions that help them truly understand their data.  

“For example, while the majority of respondents believe they have high-quality data and strong data systems, three-quarters of them also believe their competitors have better capabilities. That means they’re inevitably struggling to attract and retain customers and losing them to competitors. Therefore, organisations need to prioritise technologies that help them gain insight into their data and help them to establish a data-driven culture.”

News

Absoft Completes Collaborative SAP-to-Azure Migration with Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

When Barnsley Council first opened a bid in order to migrate their SAP landscape to the cloud, the tenders received did not offer an economically viable outcome. However, a non-negotiable deadline (the sale of its current premises and an outdated on-premise functionality) meant that a solution was required sooner rather than later. 

The Council initially issued a brief for a one-provider solution to migrate and run its SAP environment in the cloud. The tender requested that the critical run aspect of the scope covered the multi-year provision of the cloud infrastructure on which to run SAP, plus associated technical managed services to manage and maintain the SAP landscape. 

Independent SAP consultancy and Microsoft Gold Partner, Absoft had anticipated the likely problems the Council would face with tender responses early on. Following the completion of the procurement process, Absoft reached out to the Council and, building upon a relationship established during the tender process, suggested various solutions. 

The Solution Co-Development 

The key components of the original brief lay at the heart of the problem and therefore at the heart of a solution that Absoft proposed. Any solution had to address three facets: the provider landscape; the migration to the cloud project and subsequent running of the cloud-based SAP systems. Additionally, affordability was critical. 

Provider Landscape 

Absoft became increasingly aware of the capabilities of the Council’s in-house technical team and after further discussions, the option crystallised for the in-house technical team to assume responsibility for running the SAP landscape. 

Absoft confirmed the feasibility of this and suggested that, depending on the selected infrastructure provider, Absoft – or another specialist partner – could provide support where additional help may be required. This joint decision to utilise the internal team significantly reduced the project scope and required budget. The team at Absoft pointed out that there were a number of potential advantages to MS Azure as cloud infrastructure provider, including but not limited to:

  • Microsoft Azure offers public sector discounts for direct customers; 
  • Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council was already using Azure for other parts of its landscape; 
  • Part of the project to migrate SAP into Azure would involve the implementation of Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute. ExpressRoute extends organisations’ on-premises networks into the Microsoft Cloud establishing connections to Microsoft Cloud services such as Microsoft365. Absoft pointed out that this would be a significant accelerator and cost reduction driver in-terms of Barnsley Council’s declared future ambitions; 
  • Absoft also highlighted areas where Barnsley Council could optimise their licence estate with the assistance of Microsoft, including taking advantage of Azure Hybrid Benefit to significantly reduce the costs of running workloads in the cloud. 

Having investigated the advantages, with the help of Absoft and its Microsoft Azure account manager, the Council concluded that Azure was the preferred cloud infrastructure for SAP. As a result, Barnsley Council could now re-focus on the procurement of a partner to assist with the evermore impending migration project and its non-negotiable deadline, creating a revised bid with Azure as the preferred cloud infrastructure. 

The Successful Bid

Absoft’s success in this bid was attributed to the following key differentiators: 

  • Functional consulting capabilities allowed Absoft’s team to augment the Council’s scare business resources; 
  • Successful track record in migrating 17 SAP landscapes into the cloud – including cloud migrations from local authority “on premise” to the Azure Cloud; 
  • Absoft’s public sector credentials as a provider of SAP services and support into multiple local authorities; 
  • The combined Azure and SAP expertise and capabilities of Absoft meant no third party was required; 
  • As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Absoft works together with Microsoft to meet the client’s best interests and provide the best solution, not just overhead; 
  • A collaborative approach, as demonstrated during the solution co-development, and Absoft’s proposal to ensure knowledge transfer for cloud support and filling documentation gaps around the SAP solution and interfaces; 
  • Absoft’s Azure infrastructure design fitted the Council’s functional needs, as Absoft did not propose a “lift-and-shift” to move a suboptimal solution to Azure. The final design included removal of unrequired UI components and an enhanced technical architecture for the remaining components; 
  • To protect the deadline, Absoft split the proposed project into two phases, de-risking the first critical phase; 
  • Last but not least, the bid was affordable and well within the nominated budget.

The Migration Project

Upon agreement of contract, the work commenced in March 2021. Shortly after this date, the initial project timeline was significantly reduced to a period of just 12 weeks. 

A technically-challenging project, operating systems were different between the Production, Test and Development instances, with a total 128 interfaces to test. Risks represented by out-of-date business data and confusion generated from orphaned solutions was significant. 

Furthermore, the deadline of twelve weeks was hugely aggressive – but immutable. Many late nights, early mornings and hours over multiple weekends were required to get the job done.

“I just wanted to take the time to say a HUGE thank you from the Barnsley SAP Team – you well and truly deserve it. “We are in awe of the Absoft team – having an appreciation of the task that you’ve achieved, it’s still hard to believe how easy you made the transition look. “You have done an exceptional job in keeping us all on the straight and narrow; we work with so many IT suppliers and I must say that working with Absoft has been an absolute pleasure.” Head of ICT, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

The Result

The migration work was achieved within an unprecedented timeframe. The SAP and Azure skillsets of Absoft and its expertise in the UK public sector were instrumental in making sure this project was successfully completed, on-time, and within budget. 

Based on Absoft’s expert understanding of the available technology options, the company was able to provide a cost-effective approach to the migration, taking into account maintenance dates, software versions, and future-proofing the environment. 

Through the enablement of the internal team, Absoft saved the client in the region of £125,000 in ongoing operational support fees for a Council under huge budgetary pressure. 

Appointments, News

Totalmobile Gains Olympian Boost to Leadership Team

Steve Turner OLY appointed as Chief Operating Officer and Ray Rees as Head of Sales, as Totalmobile strengthens its business strategy to get closer to its core markets

Totalmobile, a leading Field Service Management Software (FSM) company, has introduced Steve Turner as Chief Operating Officer. Turner brings over thirty years of experience in the technology sector to this role, with a focus on software development. Most recently, he has been employed as COO at the ITRS Group, and previously with SAP UK and IBS Software. Turner also competed for Great Britain in rowing, taking part in the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Turner’s new role will have him overseeing a team of 280, broken down in three areas of consideration: development, customer experience​,​ and product management. He will play a pivotal role in Totalmobile’s new business strategy, which has already seen the appointment of three new sector​-aligned Managing Directors last quarter, who Turner will also oversee. The purpose of this new strategy is to provide more specialised and vertically differentiated products and services, ultimately creating a greater experience and delivering more value to every end-user.

Speaking on his role, Turner said, “The three cornerstones of my career have always been technology, software, and leadership. My aim at Totalmobile is to not only bolster its reputation in the field service management sector, but to help inspire my colleagues’ personal and professional development. As I start my new job, my key focus will be to gain a deep, specialised understanding of the environment Totalmobile operates in, so I can mould my role to better address the challenges facing Totalmobile’s customers and end-users”.

Alongside Turner’s appointment, Totalmobile has also announced that Ray Rees has been hired as Head of Sales. Prior to this appointment, Rees worked for five and half years with BMC Software, starting as an Enterprise Account Manager and finishing his time there as Area Director. Throughout his career, Rees has been a hugely impressive performer in developing sales teams for delivering exceptional growth and even received a CEO Winner Circle award in 2018, which recognised Rees as a top UK performer in his field. In his new role at Totalmobile, Rees will manage a team of thirty-one sales associates split across Totalmobile’s key vertical sectors.

The appointments of Turner and Rees are the result of continuous ambitious growth at Totalmobile. Jim Darragh, CEO at Totalmobile explained, “2022 marks a new era for us. Totalmobile is creating a focused business model that looks to create an environment that encourages our team to acquire deep vertical knowledge and skills to support our customers. This will allow us to provide better service to our customers and deliver huge value. Turner and Rees will play a key role in this new age at Totalmobile. Their extensive experience, proven success and great track records make them an excellent fit for Totalmobile’s continued growth. With their new ideas and proven ways of operating in a high growth high-value environment, and the backing of the entire Totalmobile team, we will be able to deliver the next phase of growth for our company”.

News

Global Indian Podcast Launches New Series on The History of Indianness

Global Indian Series, a leading content platform sharing stories and insights into the lives of people of Indian origin has launched a new series as part of their Global Indian Podcast. The new series, discussing the often-forgotten history of Indianness, promises to be a series like no other, with new episodes releasing weekly.

Despite having a population of 1.3 billion and over 40 million people of Indian origin across the globe, the history of ethnic minorities and diaspora communities are often neglected in mainstream media. This new series will plunge deep into these stories and shed light on the migration of communities and how it reshapes our ideas of national borders and identity. It is also the first time in history where global names are coming together on an extraordinarily immersive series.

The immersive Global Indian platform has continually asked readers the fundamental questions that make up our perception of identity, unpicking uncomfortable questions that challenge perceptions of religious history, perceived sense of national identity through skin colour and other physical attributes. At a time when identity and borders have become more fractured than ever, Global Indian Series will unpick the meaning of belonging.

Podcast episodes are hosted by Rajan Nazran, Chief Explorer of Global Indian Series who has spent the past 15 years travelling across over 58 countries to build a living encyclopaedia of the human experience. In the new series, Rajan will share thought-provoking discussions on topics as broad as the lost tribes of the Roma community, and the movements that brought modern day faith to India. No stone will be left unturned in discovering the remarkable movements of Indian people that have reshaped the subcontinent – and the world.

In the first episode of the series, Rajan is joined by Alex Beeching, Head of Content for Global Indian Series, for an in depth and unfiltered discussion on the linguistic, ethnic, cultural, and religious ties that bind Iran to India.

Speaking on the new series, Rajan Nazran said, “I’m thrilled to be releasing this new series as part of the Global Indian Podcast. It will be a unique series that beautifully engages and asks pertinent questions around the ideas of nationalism, identity, and politics which will bring new meaning to our own definitions of national borders.”

He continues, “Ever since I became fascinated with the concept of identity, I’ve been travelling the globe to discover the realities of the human experience, and this new series will be an extension of everything I learnt during my travels. I am delighted that many renowned global figures from Heads of state through to celebrities have lent their voices to support to this series”

The new series is available to listen on the Global Indian Series website, or on all major podcast listening platforms.

To listen to the first episode, visit: https://globalindianseries.com/history-of-indianness-iran-deep-dive-into-religion/

To find out more about the work that Global Indian Series has been doing for people of Indian origin, visit htt://globalindianseries.com/ps

 

About

The Global Indian Series is an immersive platform that provides original and exclusive content based on the lives of people of Indian origin. Through informative and educational content, the platform is helping to connect a global community and spearhead national and international conversations.

The platform has quickly become an international movement, with support from heads of state, key political figures, leading business personalities, key cultural and religious influencers, actors, and activists from across the world.

Global Indian Series originated from the ideas of Rajan Nazran, an explorer and content producer who has spent the past decade travelling to over 58 countries to piece together the stories of people of Indian origin.

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Nexer Digital celebrates its positive impact following record sales year

Nexer Digital, the human-centred digital design agency, is celebrating a year of positive impact in a range of sectors after experiencing a record-breaking year of growth in which the company turned over £6.9 million, a 68% increase on the previous year.

Through working with its clients on the research, design and development of products and services, in the past 12 months, the UX expert has helped millions of people to access vital mental health support and care, feel secure in their financial planning and feel safe and supported in their homes.

In addition, the work of Nexer Digital’s teams has supported teachers with relationship and sex education for students with ranging educational needs, created new health pathways for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), dementia and Parkinson’s, and allowed scientists to translate patient safety information for Covid submissions.

Driving the firm’s success is a significant growth in the delivery of user research, service design and related UX services in the UK public sector, including sizeable contracts with the Department for Education and Nest Pensions, with work in the sector increasing by more than 50% from last year.

New opportunities to support clients in the health sector, from life sciences research to medical device and product innovation to the design of inclusive care services have also contributed to the agency’s rapid growth, with projects delivered to clients including AstraZeneca, Health Innovation Manchester, NeuroResponse and ConvaTec Group.

 

Hilary Stephenson, managing director at Nexer Digital, said: “Our successes over the past year have paved the way to several exciting new opportunities, as well as allowing us to further expand our brilliant delivery team. An uptake in demand for capability in content strategy and service design has led to an exciting influx of talent in these areas. Our overall design group now includes specialist teams in user research, content design, interaction design, service design and product management, and this has been one of the most noteworthy changes of the year.”

The Nexer Digital team expanded by 64% from 55 employees in 2020 to 90 at the end of 2021. Within another 12 months, this is expected to grow again to more than 110 people as we head towards our 15th anniversary in May.

The firm is currently recruiting user researchers, service designers, interactions designers, content designers and software developers. The roles are UK-based and Nexer Digital has demonstrated throughout the pandemic that it can effectively support remote and hybrid working, as well as flexible approaches to job sharing and working hours.

 

Hilary continued: “Our commitment to diversity and inclusion continues to be a key focus in 2022. This means extending our current networks to reach more diverse talent, putting in place capability development plans and starting a mentoring programme to support people in the earlier stages of their careers. We have also been working on becoming a Disability Confident employer over the past year, and these plans will be accelerated in the coming months.”

Over the next 12 months, the business hopes to continue to extend its work with culture and heritage clients, which is a growing sector, and to connect and build new networks within the tech industry.

Summer 2022 will also see the return of Camp Digital, which was unable to go ahead for two years due to Covid, and the team can’t wait to bring it back as a new hybrid event.

To find out more about Nexer Digital and keep up to date with upcoming news and events, visit https://www.nexerdigital.com/ and follow @Nexer_Digital on Twitter and Instagram.

News, Technology

Get To Know Your Customer Day: How technology can enhance customer experience

Customers are undeniably the most important part of any business – without customers, the business simply would not exist. At the start of a new year, Get To Know Your Customer Day is a crucial reminder to reflect on how your organisation is interacting with its customers. 

 

The value of customers

Before implementing any strategies to improve customer experience, it is vital that everyone within an organisation understands the values of their customers and why good customer service is vital. 

“When it comes to the customer experience – whether it be for property maintenance, or for public utilities such as water or gas – customers don’t want to be waiting days or weeks for something that needs to be fixed urgently,” notes David Webb, Managing Director of Property and Facilities Management at Totalmobile. “But while mobile workers are often still coping with backlogs created by the pandemic putting a lot of work on pause, combined with smaller teams to comply with social distancing, organisations need to ensure that they are supporting customers as best as possible.” 

Sharon Eilon, Chief Customer Officer at Aqua Security explains that “customers are the lifeline of the company, [and] accelerating customers towards their success targets is core to mutual success. The Customer Office and specifically customer success and customer support are typically the ones getting direct feedback from users and serve the advocates on behalf of the customers.”

Equally, taking the time to listen to the customers’ needs and implementing their feedback will enhance customer experience whilst the organisation will reap the benefits. 

Providing customer feedback to the product team leads to new, innovative capabilities,” continues Aqua’s Eilon. “Customer advocacy inside the company is key for both customer and company – while customer achieves value and company continues innovating.”

The feedback can be received directly from the customer or obtained by other methods. Joel Reid, UK&I VP/General Manager at Axway adds: “Recent consumer surveys conducted by Axway show there’s a clear appetite for Open Everything: more than 60% of people globally believe it’s worth allowing companies to access their personal data if it means a better user experience. Securely opening everything while building on heritage infrastructure can help craft the Omni-experience that people have come to expect.”

 

The power of technology

In today’s digital world, there are a number of ways that organisations can enhance the experience they offer to their customers. 

Axway’s Reid champions “the new API-fueled universe of mobile apps, the connected cloud, and distributed workforces – having well-designed APIs and a healthy partner ecosystem are only the beginning. To gain significant success, a seismic culture shift toward creating brilliant customer experiences is needed at every level throughout an organisation, which requires an API strategy based on unique company processes, markets, and plans for business growth.”

“A Distributed Order Management System (OMS) also bolsters the customer experience, as it helps keep all systems and platforms unified,” adds Rob Shaw, SVP Global Sales at Fluent Commerce. “For example, if a customer adds items to their cart on the mobile app, and later finds some more items on the website, will both sets of items show up in their basket? Technology that allows for the recall of every session from your customer via any channel will help improve ease and experience.

“Retailers also need to ensure their systems and platforms are agile yet scalable. This flexibility will help ensure they operate with the best-in-breed industry-standard technologies while achieving the connection and personalisation their customers want and will return for.”

Speaking on customer experience in the public sector, Totalmobile’s Webb explains how companies with mobile workers can improve customer experience “through the implementation of scheduling applications. These solutions not only benefit the workers themselves – helping keep employees up to date in real-time – but they also ensure customers receive visits from workers with the right skills and resources to complete the job at hand, reducing the number of repeat visits needed. This is particularly useful when an emergency job is required, and the application can ensure that changes are made to the schedule with the least disruption to customers with existing appointments.”

 

Get to know your customers

There is no better time than the start of a new year to get to know your customers. Understanding what they want, why they require it, and the best method for them to receive the goods or services, is crucial to providing good customer service. Once these basics have been established, implementing technologies can provide intelligence, automation, and organisation to allow businesses to reap the benefits of excellent customer experience. 

News, North of England, Property

Lincolnshire homebuilder unveils new show homes in Bourne

Homebuyers in Lincolnshire can now secure an appointment to view the newly unveiled show homes at Barratt Homes at Bourne following a recent launch.

The brand new three bedroom Maidstone and four bedroom Alderney and Kingsville style homes have been thoughtfully designed to meet the demands of modern living at the growing community on Len Pick Way.

Showcasing the latest trends in interior design, the new show homes give house hunters the opportunity to gain inspiration for decorating their own properties after moving in.

Jan Ruston, Sales Director at Barratt Homes North Midlands, said: “We are thrilled to have the chance to welcome prospective buyers to view our new show homes in Bourne.

“The Maidstone, Alderney and Kingsville properties each offer something different for first time buyers, growing families and downsizers alike.

“We’d encourage anyone keen to learn more about the properties available to register their interest to book a tour around our new homes with a Sales Adviser, or make use of the virtual tour function online.”

Barratt Homes at Bourne provides homeowners with great access to a thriving market town, with a mixture of shops, bars and restaurants in tow.

Bourne’s prime Lincolnshire location offers excellent road links to the commuter hubs of Peterborough and Stamford, with the A15 and A1 close by.

For homeowners with little ones in mind, there are Ofsted-rated “Outstanding” schooling options in close proximity of the development, with two play parks on site to keep youngsters entertained.

There are over nine acres of green open spaces and nearly two kilometres of cycle paths at the development for biking enthusiasts and general lovers of the great outdoors, with a nature area also in place.

A mix of three and four bedroom properties are available at Barratt Homes at Bourne, with prices starting from £237,995.

To register an interest in visiting Barratt Homes at Bourne for a show home viewing, call the Barratt Homes sales team on 033 3355 8472 or visit www.barratthomes.co.uk.

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

RAMONA’s rolls out first nationwide poster campaign

RAMONA’s is rolling out its first nationwide, out-of-home advertising campaign, hitting nearly 250 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK on Wednesday 19th January.

The posters aim to put the Mediterranean food brand on the centrepieces of tables across the UK, using the brand’s slogan ‘Made with love’ accompanied by an image of their staple ingredient.  

The drive is accompanied by a full-page ad in the current issue of Sainsbury’s in-store magazine, which offers consumers a 25p off coupon to purchase any of RAMONA’s available houmous and falafel products.

The move comes after RAMONA’s range hit the shelves in over 300 Sainsbury’s stores in November last year, leading to a “very positive” uplift in sales, as claimed by the brand’s head of sales and marketing, Andrew Dobson. 

“A national rollout was the next best step for RAMONA’s after entering Sainsbury’s last year,” he added. “We believe this activity will significantly raise further awareness of the houmous and falafel range available at our stores. Plus, with more and more people signing up to Veganuary each year, we knew there wouldn’t be a more poignant time to utilise this format which inevitably aids the decision-making process before purchasing. By using this platform, we aim to cause an even greater impact on sales. We knew positioning RAMONA’s, at this time, would help consumers transition their meals to become more plant-based and vegan friendly”.

RAMONA’s have spent a six-figure investment on marketing the available product range in the supermarket’s in-store magazine and national poster rollout this month. The decision to invest in this area of marketing was made easier after Sainsbury’s launched 1,900 new products in 2021 and began its mission to open between 25-30 convenience stores per year over the next three years, including 18 ‘Neighbourhood Hub’ convenience stores, according to their annual report and financial statement in 2021.

The push uses RAMONA’s vivid brand colours, featuring images of the available products and popular recipes, all helping to aid consumers with meal and snack inspiration. 

Ramona Hazan, founder of RAMONA’s, said, “Many supermarkets are unleashing new vegan products for Veganuary. We are absolutely thrilled to be the first brand that shoppers will see when they come through the doors at Sainsbury’s this month”.

RAMONA’s will be advertising their range across 250 Sainsbury’s digital six sheets until Tuesday 8th February. The in-store magazine is on sale until Wednesday 2nd February. Coupons can be redeemed until the 28th of February. 

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Fox Agency reports 85% growth in record 10th year

B2B tech marketing specialists, Fox Agency has announced growth of 85% in its latest financial year – increasing turnover from £2.4million to £4.4million within the last 12 months and increasing profit by 264% for the same period.

The integrated agency, which works solely for global B2B tech brands celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2021 and won B2B Agency of the Year at the European Agency Awards.

In addition to growth in turnover and profits, the agency doubled its headcount and won a host of new global tech accounts, including Sony Digital Imaging Europe, Delphi Technologies, Global Switch, Beyond Now, Lionfish, Manx Telecom, and Zenoo.

Fox Agency also expanded remits and signed new long-term contracts with existing global tech clients including Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, BOBST, and BearingPoint.

Nelson McConnell, director of Fox Agency said:

“The last 12 months has seen incredible growth across the agency – proving that our pure B2B tech focus and combination of creativity, digital, and PR and content expertise resonates with global B2B brands.

By increasing the team to now over 50 specialists, we have further developed our experience and capability across the board.”

Looking ahead to 2022, co-founder and director, Al Fox said:

“As we look ahead to 2022 and beyond, our ambitious growth plans will only accelerate – this year will see us expand into new global markets, including the US, and we’re currently recruiting for multiple strategic positions across the agency.”

Fox Agency is seeking to grow turnover by a further 60% in 2022, with a target to reach £10million by 2023.