London, United Kingdom: 23rd May 2022 – Netcompany, the international IT services company, has been awarded the Social Value Quality Mark® Level 2 standard for its commitment towards social value in the UK.
The Social Value Quality Mark® is one of the most rigorously tested standards of its kind. To achieve the Level 2 award, Netcompany was required to provide evidence of the positive impact of its social interventions and the social value strategy which underpins them, while also undergoing a rigorous audit process which resulted in the Company achieving 81% compliance.
Netcompany’s social value approach is enabled by a robust strategy which aims to improve societal mobility, create opportunities for underrepresented groups in IT, and foster environmental sustainability. By achieving the Level 2 standard, Netcompany’s strategy is validated, and the Company has joined a distinguished group of purpose-driven organisations that are leaders in enabling social value.
Commenting on this achievement, Richard Davies, UK Country Managing Partner at Netcompany says: “This journey is a big commitment, and we are already on track to achieve Level 3 by April 2023 and Level 4 by 2024. As a company, we deliver on society critical projects and by digitising these public services we can help underserved communities. Whether this is through giving a young person the skills they need to get into the job market or supporting digital inclusion by ‘levelling up’ through access to tech, we pride ourselves on building a better environment and better lives for all.”
Additionally, Richard Dickins, MD of the Social Value Quality Mark CIC, commends Netcompany for “its genuine desire to learn, grow, and embed social value as a culture across all its teams and locations across the UK.
As a responsible corporate citizen, Netcompany understands the importance of embedding social and local value creation throughout its operations. The Company is already looking beyond its Level 2 recognition, and is further building its social value themes, as part of a journey to achieving Social Value Quality Mark® Level 3 accreditation in 2023. For more information, please visit netcompany.com/en-GB/UK-Social-Value-Strategy.
Visionary Product Leader Joins G-P to Drive Innovation and Product Strategy to Meet and Exceed Customer Demand
Globalization Partners, the leading Global Employment Platform™ that simplifies remote team building by making it fast and easy for companies to hire anyone, anywhere, within minutes, today announced the appointment of Nat (Rajesh) Natarajan as its new Chief Product and Strategy Officer.
As a key member of the leadership team, Natarajan will report to Globalization Partners’ President, Bob Cahill, driving G-P’s innovation strategy, product vision, and roadmap and will play an essential role as G-P continues to build innovative world-class products to meet rapidly growing customer demand.
A highly accomplished, operational growth executive, Natarajan has over 27 years of experience leading global technology and engineering organisations. With a strong focus on customer experience, Natarajan most recently served as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Product and Technology at RingCentral, where he led a global team of over 3,500 people, guided innovation for remote work and set the product strategy for the future of the company.
“The appointment of Nat underlines our commitment to innovation and technology that enables the global remote workforce of the future,” said Bob Cahill, President, Globalization Partners. “He is an innovator and strategist and under his leadership, our global employment cloud-based software platform will continue to lead the market, and enable us to meet the ever-evolving needs of customers around the world.”
Prior to RingCentral, Natarajan led the product and engineering organisation at Ancestry as Chief Product and Technology Officer. With a global team of over 1,000 people, he helped transform their product portfolio and business. He previously pioneered mobile-first experiences as Senior Vice President and Chief Product and Technology Officer at TurboTax and Vice President of Platform Engineering and Operations at PayPal. He was also one of the early members on the team that founded Travelocity.com.
“I have followed the success of Globalization Partners in recent years and have been hugely impressed by their transformational impact on business worldwide,” said Nat Natarajan, Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Globalization Partners. “I am delighted to be joining a company that combines a focus on innovation with a strong and supportive culture. There is tremendous potential to build on what’s already been accomplished, and I look forward to leading our growing team.”
Globalization Partners’ Global Employment Platform provides unmatched technology and support that enables customers to hire talent anywhere they find it, quickly, securely, and easily. As the world’s largest and most established fully compliant employment platform, G-P has seen surging demand for its solution, with approximately $1 billion in Annual Recurring Revenue.
For many businesses, Christmas needs to be the most wonderful time of the year. It plays a key role in their survival from one year to the next. The most obvious example of this is the potential for sales. A less obvious example is the potential for building relationships that will last all year round. To provide further insight, Adele Thomas, Owner of Distinctive Confectionery shares her expertise for how your business can take corporate Christmas gifting to the next level.
The significance of corporate gifting
There are lots of reasons why corporate gifting matters a lot in the modern world. Most of these, however, revolve around the fact that people like to see companies giving back. This is likely to be especially true in the wake of COVID19.
Most companies should have four groups of people on their Christmas gifting list. These are (potential) customers, employees, suppliers and charities. In the case of the first three groups, Christmas gifting is about showing your appreciation for what they do for you directly. In the case of charities, it’s about showing your appreciation for what they do more generally.
From a financial perspective, appropriate Christmas gifts can be justified by the overall benefits they bring. Gifts to (potential) customers help to increase brand awareness and get the brand more exposure. All appropriate gifts help to promote feelings of loyalty and engagement. This means that corporate Christmas gifting tends to have a very high return on investment.
It is, however, vital that companies gift appropriately. This essentially means choosing a gift that is in proportion to the relationship as well as the company budget. If in doubt, err on the side of going small. Well-chosen small gifts are often much appreciated. Over-gifting can be embarrassing for the recipient and in some cases may look like an attempt at bribery.
Timing your gifting
Gifts to (potential) customers and suppliers are generally best timed for the start of the festive season. Basically, this makes sure that your gift has a chance to be properly noticed (and appreciated) before the festive season really gets into full swing and everybody gets ridiculously busy.
Gifts to charities are also best given early. Many charities are massively busy over the festive season, especially now. Getting your donation to them early will often help them to make the best use of it. Also, charities that tend to be quiet over the festive season will tend to close down the way many offices do.
Gifts to employees can, in principle, be given at any point during the festive season. With that said, there’s a lot to be said for being early here too, particularly if you’re using remote/hybrid workers. You’ll need to post gifts to remote workers so it’s advisable to get them on their way before the Christmas rush starts.
With hybrid and on-site workers, you need to allow for the fact that a lot of people are likely to want time off at Christmas and New Year. Parents are highly likely to want (or need) time off to look after their children over the school holidays. Again, therefore, it’s generally advisable to do your gifting in the early part of December.
Choosing the right gifts
Corporate gifting essentially follows the same principles as regular gifting. You want one or more gifts that the recipient will appreciate and which you feel comfortable giving. The big difference of course is that corporate gifting usually requires you to select gifts a lot of people would be happy to receive. You may also want them branded and/or personalized in some way.
On the face of it, that’s a pretty big ask. Fortunately, there are a lot of gifts that will tick all boxes very nicely. The best corporate gifts (like the best private gifts) either deliver a great experience or are highly practical (or both). They are also increasingly likely to be sustainable.
Delivering an experience
Treat food is a traditional Christmas gift both in the corporate world and in the private one. It’s maintained its popularity for several, excellent reasons. Treat food delivers a great experience. It’s almost guaranteed to be used. Once it’s finished, usually, the packaging can be recycled and/or reused.
Advent calendars are a classic at Christmas and there’s a lot to be said for them. From a marketing perspective, their headline attraction is that they get attention all month. From a practical perspective, they are easy to store, wrap and post. In fact, you may not even bother wrapping them. In a sense, advent calendars are their own packaging.
Chocolate is the most widely-used filling for advent calendars. These days there are now plenty of fair-trade and/or organic options available at budget-friendly prices. Many of these also come in sustainable packaging such as recycled and recyclable cardboard. Choosing these is a great way to highlight your corporate responsibility and sustainability credentials. These are increasingly important to people of all ages.
Choosing practical gifts
If you’re going for practical gifts then it’s often best to stick with ones that are intended to be used up. Food is probably still the most obvious choice here. Stationery is another. If you’re going for a gift you want the user to keep over the long term, then it’s advisable to think very carefully.
In reality, most people already have plenty of the standard corporate gifts like mugs, keyrings and stress balls. You could try looking at items people often need a lot of, for example, tote bags. Alternatively, you could look at items people often lose such as portable cutlery.
Highlighting sustainability
Customers are increasingly not just expecting but demanding that companies take sustainability seriously. Probably the most obvious example of this is the way companies are now actively rolling back their use of plastic packaging. In some instances, regulation is a factor in their decision. The regulation itself, however, is often driven by consumer/voter pressure.
It’s therefore highly preferable if your corporate Christmas gifts have some form of active sustainability credentials. These might include fair-trade accreditation, being organic and/or using recycled/recyclable material. At a minimum, be careful what gifts you choose and what packaging you use. For example, glossy Christmas paper tends to be non-recyclable due to the plastic content.
DLMDD, the specialist sonic branding agency, today announces the appointment of Aurelia Havet as Senior Account Director, bringing over 20 years’ experience in global music strategy and brand partnerships to the business as it embarks on its next phase of growth.
Aurelia has spent the last 20 years collaborating with many of the world’s leading musicians and artists, including David Guetta, Jax Jones, Metronomy, Iggy Pop, Bob Sinclar, Ed Sheeran, Novelist, The Libertines, PJ Harvey, Placebo, Supergrass, Maya Jama, Beverley Knight and Joss Stone, to name a few.
Her experience in sonic branding includes the design of HSBC’s first ever global sound identity in collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre and saw its implementation across 66 markets through all touchpoints from advertising to social, experiential, call centres and branches.
Aurelia’s appointment follows last month’s announcement of world-renowned musician and artist Anil Sebastian, co-founder of the legendary London Contemporary Voices, as DLMDD’s Creative Director.
Max De Lucia, Co-founder and Client Director of DLMDD, comments:
“Aurelia’s experience speaks for itself, with extensive knowledge and connections across the music industry and having led the creation of HSBC’s first global audio brand. We are delighted she is joining DLMDD as we enter a new growth chapter, working with more vibrant and innovative brands to help them find their identity in a world now dominated by sound.”
Aurelia Havet, Senior Account Director at DLMDD, comments:
“DLMDD is the global agency at the forefront of sonic branding innovation. I am really excited to join this visionary team of experts who push the creative boundaries of music branding to design the sonic brands of tomorrow.”
MTC Marketing Research Solutions is one of the first ten recipients of the Recruiter Accreditation Scheme (RAS) for qualitative research developed by Market Research Society (MRS) and Association of Qualitative Researchers (AQR), to recognise the knowledge, skills and competence of professional recruiters – individuals and companies.
MRS and AQR have honoured the company after the Managing Director, Cecilia Patterson, MA, DipMRS, CMRS, participated in the scheme and achieved an overall distinction in the assessment. Ras is for companies and individuals who undertake research recruitment as part of a wider research role and those that commission qualitative research. The AQR and MRS plan is that every research company involved with research participants and those interested in the role of qualitative recruitment must consider the RAS accreditation.
In commending her professional associations’ efforts, particularly in making sure that the industry as a whole adheres to Data Protection Act 2019 and the General Data Protection and Regulation (GDPR), Cecilia Patterson said: “We are in the knowledge sector and adhering to these principles is best practice and key for the survival of research providers considering primary research work depends on the goodwill of research participants who need to be respected and protected by all working in the research field.”
The RAS accreditation award recognises the range of professional understanding of the qualitative researchers, particularly project management, principles and concepts of research, the role of research recruitment, legal and ethical requirements which underpin research.
Cecilia Patterson is the founder of the research, insights, intelligence, analysis, consultancy at MTC Marketing Research Solutions, an MRS Company Partner. Should you wish to extend this discussion to how she may help your organisation as a commissioner of research visit https://tinyurl.com/ya52wopu
Research published today has identified the current payments dilemma UK businesses are facing. Businesses are caught between the need to reduce operational costs in harsh economic conditions, while continuing to meet rising customer expectation. The research also reveals that the hidden costs of payment process will have an exponentially greater impact on the wider business if left untreated.
A major new independent study of 200 payments decision makers in employment and payroll services, travel, traditional and digital banking and lending and fintech businesses across the UK has revealed the challenges faced when it comes to payment strategy in 2020, which adds to the impact and cost of the COVID-19 crisis.
The research, commissioned by Modulr and carried out by research agency LoudHouse and thinktank TechPros, explores the rising costs of the payment process and its hidden impact on the wider business, and benefits from the commentary of professionals invited to speak on the subject of the research (see below).
UK businesses are spending an average of £1.5m a year in costs attached to payments and, as the UK enters the worst recession on record, this is money they cannot afford to lose to unnecessarily inefficient processes. The payments process now represents a huge 12% of a business’s total operational expenditure, with two-thirds (64%) of all businesses expecting the cost of payment processing to increase over the next two years.
67% believe the way they process, and service payments has a direct impact on their customer experience. In fact, 62% of respondents believe the hidden costs of poor payments outweighs the hard costs. This indicates that a poor payments strategy is no longer something business leaders can ignore as it now has a far greater and unseen impact on wider business mechanics.
The top three hidden costs attached to inefficient payment processes was ‘impact on customer experience/satisfaction’ (38%), ‘influence on relationships with other teams and departments (35%) and ‘impact on competitor differentiation’ (31%).
This suggests there is widespread consensus that getting payment operations right, directly creates performance boosts elsewhere in the business. When asked to estimate as a percentage the business performance boost received if hidden payment inefficiencies were resolved, the average margin for improvement was +14%, with traditional banking the sector most likely (31%) to predict a performance gain greater than +15%.
It also reinforces the critical role infrastructural FinTechs will play in building business efficiency for the next normal. Infrastructural FinTechs, like Modulr, build the ‘tech behind the tech’ that delivers the underlying payments technology for businesses by providing fast, cost effective and efficient alternatives that are accessible and relevant to SMEs and enterprise alike.
The industry reacts to the hidden cost of payments study
(Full commentary can be found in the research)
Sulabh Agarwal, Managing Director and Global Payments Lead at Accenture, comments: “The first reaction when revenue goes down for high fixed cost businesses is that the costs need to come down, to keep the business afloat and keep the cashflow going. The more mature organisations, though, are looking at what has changed with the customers – their buying habits have changed, their needs and requirements have changed. And that clearly has an impact on what can be offered and be made relevant to them.”
Michael Rennie, Chief Digital Officer, Cynergy Bank, comments: “At Cynergy Bank, there is a huge focus on creating efficiencies. Ultimately, if we can invest in creating efficiencies, it not only reduces costs for us but more importantly, allows us to deliver what our customers need, when they need it. This could be providing quicker lending decisions or access to finance, enabling our customers to meet their goals for their businesses.”
Paul Sweetingham, Global Solution Leader: Banking & CX at DXC Technology, comments: “The focus needs to be more on the customer rather than internal operational efficiencies and improvements. Obviously, it’s really important to lower costs. But sometimes I feel there’s a danger in too much internalisation of cost reduction. Optimising process automation, we need to ensure we’ve always got customer needs in mind.”
Janis Legler, Chief Product Officer at bitcoin banking app, Mode, comments:
“If you’re a financial services company, it’s not that easy to just partner with an up-and-coming backend service provider or just start a digital transformation project. If you don’t have the technology at your core, it will be difficult going forward. We work with many merchants and a lot of them tell us about the ‘hidden inefficiencies’. These result from working with incumbent payment players, which has a knock-on effect on other departments such as operations and compliance.”
What’s clear is that by not shedding legacy technology and shoring up operational efficiency, UK businesses are following an increasingly risky strategy, and one which will have an exponentially greater impact on the wider business if left untreated. Particularly when this widespread failure to act concerns the customer experiences that sit at the very heart of a proposition – the payments.
Myles Stephenson, CEO of Modulr comments on the findings: “A poor payment strategy is not just inefficient, it can have a significant and hidden impact on bottom line performance and customer satisfaction. As we enter into one of the worst recessions on record, businesses must plug any holes in their boat to avoid sinking – and for many this includes their payment operations.
“In the face of increasing amounts of digital payments, and a tough economic environment, UK businesses must ensure they have a robust payments strategy if they are to be in the strongest position to move into the next normal with confidence. This strategy needs to place new technology at the centre of how they operate and receive payments, addressing the hidden inefficiencies that can have a big impact on a businesses’ bottom line and commercial performance.”
Award winning social media agency, Born Social, has appointed Will Menko to the role of strategist following a year of continued growth.
As a former integrated account specialist turned strategist, Will joins with a varied skillset and a lateral knowledge of the industry. Before joining Born Social, Will worked as a planner at creative content agency, Digital Natives, where he led on familiar brands like Dermalogica, L’Oreal, and Gü as well as helping the agency to a series of new account wins including Breville, Crockpot and Yankee Candles. Prior to this, he was a senior account manager at adam&eveDDB, where he helped Volkswagen to rebuild trust among consumers following the emissions scandal in 2016.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Will to our growing strategy team,” says Born Social’s Head of Strategy, Essi Nurminen. “His extensive background in creative and strategic thinking, in both big and small agencies, will further bolster the way we approach social-first strategies.”
Commenting on his new role at Born Social, Will Menko, says: “I’m really happy to be joining Born Social at this point in my career. They have a reputation for blending traditional marketing principles with progressive, social-first thinking. It’s not only personally exciting to be a part of that, but it’s also where I feel brands can now be most commercially and culturally impactful. Plus, they couldn’t be a more lovely, ambitious and talented group of people. I’m extremely excited to see what we can do next.”
Business in the News – the latest UK Business news from NTSI
