Moneypenny has announced that it is further extending its services in the US with the acquisition of Sunshine Communications Services.
Sunshine is an award-winning provider of bilingual (English and Spanish) call management solutions to businesses of all sizes, ensuring they run smoothly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Based in Florida and founded in 1975 by the Gross family, the company is dedicated to representing clients’ business in providing customised services across a variety of industries.
Moneypenny's US operation is HQ'd in Atlanta and the company employs over 1,000 people globally, delivering virtual receptionist and phone answering services, live chat, switchboard, fully outsourced customer service teams and a host of AI and technology-enabled services handling over 20 million calls and chats annually for thousands of businesses, from sole traders to multi-national corporations.
The company has ambitious growth plans, and this acquisition will take the US business to a third of the Moneypenny Group turnover. Demand for its services is growing at a significant rate as businesses continue to look at ways to improve how they interact with their customers, by blending technology solutions with highly skilled personal assistants to maximise operational efficiencies.
News
26/03/2024
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Moneypenny announce US acquisition, Sunshine Communications
We’re delighted to announce our partnership with homeless charity Glass Door. Based in London, Glass Door provides night shelters for anyone who needs them during the coldest months of the year (Nov – April), offering a safe place to sleep and a nutritious meal, across the London boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth - including the only women’s shelter in London.
Their shelters are open to all and not only provide a refuge, but also a route out of homelessness with the Glass Door casework service operating year-round, including having caseworkers at each shelter. The caseworkers get to know each individual “guest” and create a tailored plan to help them on their journey out of homelessness. They provide dedicated one-to-one support – liaising with other organisations to secure accommodation, help open a bank account, access healthcare or receive benefits (amongst other things).
Homelessness is a growing problem, especially in London - between October & December last year, 4,389 people were seen sleeping rough (up 23% on the previous year) - and we are looking forward to working with Glass Door over the coming months to raise funds for this essential cause.
You can find out more about Glass Door and how they’ve helped hundreds of individuals receive one-to-one support, move into permanent housing and much more by visiting their website: https://www.glassdoor.org.uk/
News
20/03/2024
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Glass Door, ECI’s new charity partner
The Internet of Things (IoT) has come a long way since its first use case in the 80s when students at Carnegie Mellon University used IoT to check stock in a Coke vending machine. Now, 25 years after the term was coined by Kevin Aston while he was at P&G, there are predicted to be 17bn connected devices this year (double that of 2019) and nearly 30bn by 2030.
But what does the future hold? ECI partner, Paul McCreadie, looks at a few examples of trends and scenarios poised to impact our lives.
The evolution of medicine
IoT is revolutionising healthcare. By offering remote monitoring, early disease detection, and personalised treatments, the global IoT healthcare value is expected to reach $960bn in 2030, up from $280bn in 2021. Smart devices tracking health vitals, sending data to healthcare professionals, enabling proactive interventions and precision care are going to be a critical development in managing an ageing population. Singapore is leading the field having digitised their healthcare system to tackle the challenges created with 47% of the population due to be over 65 by 2050.
Connected cities
Urbanisation is booming. With 68% of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050, smart cities are emerging as a powerful solution for environmental sustainability to keep pace. In NYC travel time has been reduced by 10% through using sensors, smart signalling and pass readers. In Europe, Amsterdam is way ahead of the game with 170 connected initiatives to drive its carbon-neutral status and helping the city achieve a near 100% recycling rate. With the vast majority of cities only in the early stages of connectivity, it's expected that the global city market size will reach $827bn next year.
Vehicle-to-vehicle communication
It’s no surprise that self-driving cars and connected vehicles promise to transform transportation. Unlike humans, vehicles don’t fall asleep, get distracted or frustrated so the impact (excuse the pun) of vehicles monitoring hazards and the direction / speed of traffic to prevent accidents, optimising traffic flow and reducing congestion is huge.
But it might not all be good news. BMW recently announced customers could pay a monthly fee to unlock heated seats and Mercedes are offering an online subscription service that will enable some vehicles to accelerate faster!
Security, privacy and customer trust
As our world becomes increasingly connected, concerns about data security and privacy are rising, with KPMG research showing 86% of people see data privacy is a growing concern. Hackers are getting smarter (32% of UK businesses experienced a cyber attack last year), and the sheer volume of data collected means greater security is needed. With consumers’ willingness to share data directly dependent on how much they trust an organisation, robust security measures, transparent data practices, and a commitment to user privacy will be essential.
Monetising data
Connecting devices is just the first step. The smart money lies in harnessing the data they generate. Open banking in the UK is a good case in point. After a good start in the UK, it’s lost momentum due to inconsistent performance, limited protection and lack of brand awareness, meaning the promised revolution has failed to materialise.
This is where the convergence of AI, generative AI and machine learning will create real IoT value. Imagine a healthcare specialist able to recommend medical interventions, prescribe drugs or provide a tailored recovery programme based on real-time information collected from a number of devices. Capitalising on the monetary value of this type of scenario is why we’ll see IoT continue to mushroom.
The last word
The future of IoT is exciting. The explosion of data, evolving technologies, and ever-present security threats will undoubtedly shape its trajectory. One thing is certain though, whatever we predict now is unlikely to be what happens in the next 25 years. Though hopefully we won’t have to pay additional fees to drive faster, and on warmer seats, in our self-drive cars!
Insights
19/03/2024
Paul McCreadie
Read Time: Min
25 years of the Internet of Things: What’s next?
In our final conversation with Welsh rugby and British Lions star, Jamie Roberts, he discusses some of the key elements that create great teamwork at the elite level of sport- all of which are highly transferable and relevant to management teams in business scenarios.
Keep it simple, focus, focus, focus
I always really admired Shaun Edwards when he was the Welsh defence coach. He had an incredible way of simplifying what is quite a complex game, and I think that’s hugely important when focusing a team’s performance and driving optimum output.
Mid-week, before say an England game, he’d pull out this shoddy bit of paper from his pocket with three bullet points on it, and it would just be (for example) 1. Line speed, 2. Make sure you work hard around the corners and number up correctly, and 3. Watch their kick / chip chase. That was it.
He’d obviously done hours and hours of analysis, combing footage and reviewing the opposition, but he knew that in the heat of the battle, in the 70th minute, you can’t remember ten things. You can’t have loads of stuff on your mind. You need to anchor down on two or three things, so you remember what’s core, what’s important. I believe that focus is key when steering any team to success. As a leader, you need to do your homework, distil everything down to the few core elements and communicate those clearly and frequently.
Getting clarity on roles
One phrase I used to hear all the time was ‘you have to enjoy this’, and it would really frustrate me when people said it before a game. Because you shouldn’t have to try and enjoy something, you either do or you don’t. What creates great teamwork is building an environment that everyone automatically enjoys.
In my experience, this is where clarity of roles plays an important part in any team. I was always asking questions, so I specifically understood my role and, when I was defence captain, always challenged other team members to make sure they knew theirs as well. I also encouraged and expected to be challenged as it helps reinforce clarity. My advice is to have those little conversations to make sure everyone has complete clarity of their role and what’s expected of them. Then you’re creating an environment where there’s no ambiguity helping the team enjoy what they’re doing.
Adaptability & fitting in
I remember when I first trained with Cambridge University, straight after playing South Africa in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final. Looking back, I loved Cambridge, really loved the people, teammates and the experience, it was great. It was obviously very different to a professional environment; people arrived late for training (because they had lectures), wore mismatched kit (from their colleges) and the standards in training were a world apart from what I’d experienced just a few weeks prior. It was the complete opposite of what I was used to.
And you know, the standards you walk past are the ones you’re willing to accept, so, feeling somewhat frustrated, I went on the offensive to try and motivate them and I remember vividly the team Captain approached me after training one evening asking me politely to ‘tone it down a bit’ - fair play to him. It was simply an ask to approach my messaging a bit differently - a challenge to adapt better to those around me. I often felt the same frustration during my time at Racing Metro in Paris where the French are much more laissez-faire in their approach and certainly different to what I was accustomed to.
So you have to quickly learn that you often can’t fight it. To be an effective team leader (and player) you need to respect those feelings and adapt accordingly – in this example, I wasn’t going to change the way people approach their rugby at an established club, regardless of my perspective. The moment I embraced that contrast, it became a really beneficial learning tool as I allowed myself to reflect differently on past experiences and challenge my own traditional methods of thinking. I don’t think that applies just to sports teams, I think adaptability and mental flexibility are key to any team dynamic.
Creating a framework
As I’ve mentioned before, rugby teams are made up of all sorts of different people, who have different backgrounds, motivations and personality types. To manage this, the best leaders I’ve worked with set the ground rules and create a loose framework that has to be adhered to. The framework (in rugby) often defines the social boundaries – behaviour, curfews, alcohol etc - that everyone has to operate within.
Leaders had the discretion to stretch those frameworks for certain individuals where necessary, but there has to be that framework. There’s no right way or wrong way, because remember at the end of the day, the result is all that matters. But there have to be non-negotiables and if a player doesn’t adhere, they have to face certain consequences, otherwise, the framework falls apart and the discipline of the team does too.
In my experience, frameworks that were co-created (often without coaches' involvement) are the ones that worked best, as opposed to operating under a dictatorship. When everyone’s involved in setting the rules they’re more likely to respect them.
Insights
12/03/2024
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The building blocks for great teamwork: Insights from British Lion, Jamie Roberts
To celebrate this year's International Women's Day, we asked some of ECI's team which women inspired them when they were younger and helped them achieve their life's goals and ambitions. From teachers to baronesses and authors to grandmothers and a Nobel Prize winner, their female inspiration came from lots of different places.
Skyler ver Bruggen & GG
A woman with two degrees by her early 20s, a BAFTA-winning director, journalist, and co-founder of an established PR firm – my inspiration growing up was my grandmother ‘GG’. GG showed me that it was possible to ‘break the glass ceiling’ before that term was coined. But while her ambition may have inspired me, GG’s sage advice and friendship are what have mattered, and continue to matter most as I navigate the twists and turns of life.
Mia Smith & Esther Duflo
One of the women I found inspiring while I was at university was Esther Duflo, the developmental economist who was the youngest, and only second woman, to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
Her work centres on finding practical, results-driven (as opposed to ideology-driven) answers to world poverty and inequality. Her two most famous publications "Poor Economics" and "Good Economics for Hard Times" (for which she won the Nobel Prize) are astounding in terms of breadth of coverage and simplicity of argument. She can distil complicated issues that feel utterly insurmountable to their core parts and uses practical tests / time spent in communities most severely impacted to inform her work.
Beyond having found her work very interesting to read, I think she's taught me the importance of the bigger picture. We are all part of a wider community and it's important to consider how our views / actions impact those around us. It's important to get away from our personal politics (particularly in such a polarising time!) and consider how we might help to build a fairer, more sustainable world.
Suzanne Pike & the Bronte sisters
Growing up, I found the Bronte sisters inspiring. As the eldest of four girls, I really related to, and admired, the way the Bronte sisters united to support one another and succeed.
I loved reading Jane Eyre and I remember a teacher at school telling me about the sisters' incredible tenacity and perseverance, which didn’t falter even when their self-published volume of poems flopped.
They became even more determined to succeed in the face of countless knockbacks before their publications were widely accepted as masterpieces. At a time when writing was still viewed as a predominantly male domain, their talent and drive led them to become successful, published authors. Their works are also Protofeminist, focusing on female independence themes in an age when women weren’t independent, and had little, if any, voice.
Lesley Davies & Miss Kerr
As a child of the 80’s, I was surrounded by big hair, bad fashion and electronic music – so it’s no wonder that my photo looks like it was inspired by the women of Bananarama!
I was very lucky to be exposed to a number of strong, female influences in my formative years; at close hand, was the very personal influence of Miss Kerr, the Headteacher at my all-girls school (teachers did not have first names in the 80’s!)
She was dedicated to the concept of world citizenship, firmly believing that education had the power to breed understanding, widen perspectives and make better citizens of us all.
Against the run of play in 80’s Northern Ireland, she delivered doggedly on her vision, creating eye-opening opportunities for pupils to experience different world cultures and views. She gained an OBE for her achievements, which she used only to demonstrate to her pupils, that all things are possible.
At a young age she inspired in me the power of leading with purpose and the great value to be gained from seeing other perspectives. She was a positive role-model of what can be achieved, against the odds, when you engage people behind a single purpose. Her lasting influence on me as a leader, was to strive to make room for different perspectives and views to be heard.
Is she still a role model today? Very much so in spirit; whilst she is no longer with us, her presence as a strong female educator in my formative years, meant I saw no (gender) limits to setting and pursuing my own goals.
Brenda Fernandez & Baroness Doreen Miller
My inspiration is my former boss, the late Doreen Miller, Baroness Miller of Hendon.
I was 17 when I left school with no work experience and found Doreen’s "Why not" philosophy a great motivator. She gained a law degree from LSE and was an incredible entrepreneur, founding the highly successful cosmetics business, Universal Beauty Club. Doreen was also an active politician serving as a Government Whip for three years and a front-bench spokesperson in the Lords. During that time, she actively encouraged women into politics and supported their careers.
I’ll always remember and remain incredibly grateful to Doreen for spending time with me, encouraging me, and motivating me in every aspect of my life.
Her philosophy; “Wearing make-up is not what makes us women beautiful, it is being mindful, kind, and generous and helping others” will always stick with me and it’s why she’s been a great role model.
Insights
07/03/2024
Read Time: Min
International Women’s Day
In our second episode chatting to Phill Robinson, founder of Boardwave, the European network for the software industry, we discuss any career challenges he's had to overcome and what it's taught him about leadership.
Listen to Episode 5.1:
Available on Apple Podcasts:
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Transcript:
Fiona: In the second episode, chatting with software leader Phill Robinson, I ask him if there are any challenges in his career he's had to overcome, and what it's taught him about leadership.
Phill: I guess, you know, I had a diagnosis of Parkinson's in 2017. I had literally been offered a job which would require me to move to the Netherlands to run a company called Exact, also private equity-backed. And I'd agreed to the job, I'd signed the paperwork, in fact they'd let the previous CEO go, and literally the day that happened was the day I got the diagnosis.
And so I'm sitting in the UK and thinking, oh, you know, maybe I can't do this job, right? This is quite a serious thing. It's a chronic disease… What am I going to do? I felt morally obligated to go in a sense, because I'd told them I would, and they'd let the person go that was leading the business. At the same time, I'm thinking well, you know, I may just not be capable of doing it. So I took advice from the consultant, and he said well, actually, there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't do this for quite a few years to come.
So I think my perception of Parkinson's was much like other people's, which is whilst it's a chronic disease, it makes you unable to do your job or less able to do your job, and that's not the case at all. So I still went to the Netherlands, and I had a great time, and I worked there for four years, and again, we took that business and we sold it to KKR for four times the money for the investor that had it before. So it was a great outcome for them. The company had changed its strategy, and grown significantly, and I'm still on the board today. But eventually, when I'd been there for four years, and we sold it, I told the new investor I was probably not the guy for them for the very long term, and that's when we made a transition to a new CEO, which would be my previous COO who got promoted. So we transitioned him, I moved to the board, and I came back to the UK.
Fiona: And I know that you were on the board of Cure Parkinson's following that diagnosis in 2017 as well, and you've talked publicly about kind of changing the perception of the disease.
Phill: Yeah.
Fiona: Is that partly because when you had that diagnosis, your immediate reaction was, oh, I'd best stop doing anything, and actually that wasn't the case? And actually, having gone through that, you realised that's the same realisation most people have when they might get that diagnosis?
Phill: Yeah, I think that's… Well, I don't think people necessarily realise it immediately. It's a dark tunnel that you arrive into when you get a diagnosis like that. But actually, you learn to live with the disease, and it's not the way you think it might be. So I think a lot of people's perception of this disease is it's a disease for old people that shake a lot. And it is that, but there's also a suite of 30 other symptoms which are going to affect you. It's a life-altering disease. It's going to affect you in many different ways, and shaking is just one. I don't shake, but I've got a suite of other things that are wrong.
People's perception of it I think is completely outdated, and actually, people fear when they get this diagnosis, that they're going to be prejudiced against. They fear that perhaps they'll get passed over for promotion, or they'll basically be asked to leave, because the perception is they can't do their job because they're going to shake, and be maybe less mentally able than they used to be, and that's not necessarily the case. So I think that the part of the problem is with the people who receive that diagnosis, they've got to change their own perception of what they can do. But then, generally, people in business need to understand that people with chronic diseases, not just Parkinson's, any chronic disease are just as capable as other people in the workforce of doing their job.
Actually, we run a whole campaign around this in the Netherlands, around chronic diseases, because we talk about gender diversity, and we talk about ethnicity, and we talk about different sorts of equity and equality. Well, this is another one, you know, sort of around disease and chronic disease. Because there's a group of hidden people in most workforces that come to work with something that's wrong with them, and we don't necessarily know what it is, but they are more than capable of doing their job. And they should be able to bring that to work and tell you they've got Parkinson's, or they've got something else wrong with them, and not be prejudiced against. So yeah, we've run a campaign in the Netherlands for two years, and we really changed the perception there, and we're trying to do the same in the UK at the moment.
Fiona: I think people are better now at talking about mental health, but probably there's still a fear when it comes to talking kind of to your employers about, you know, other elements of health, like you say, with illnesses and disease.
Phill: I think having taken the plunge and moved to the Netherlands, I didn't tell anybody for two years. I was really worried that people would think I was less able to do my job. But at the end of two years, we had sold the business, I told the new investor what had happened to me, and why I couldn't be their long-term answer, and they were very understanding. Which was a huge relief, actually, and we helped work with them for another year-and-a-half, two years in a transition. But I didn't tell any of the employees, or the management team either. So I was coming to work every day with a secret, and that's quite a burden, to do that every day. It's very difficult.
Fiona: Yeah.
Phill: So after telling the investors, and we had told the company, I thought, well, I have to tell my management team, and I have to tell the employees. And so I basically made this little video which is an explainer to explain what this disease is, because actually, it's not what you think it is. And I was terrified of doing this, and terrified of telling them. We did it at a Town Hall meeting with like, 2,000 people, and there was just a huge round of applause after it happened.
And the thing that I learned, which I think is a hugely valuable lesson, which hopefully people don't have to get Parkinson's to learn it, is that vulnerability and authenticity is a really powerful and important tool that a CEO can use. Because I had always though, you know, that CEOs need to be…not invincible, but almost, always right, guiding the company, the leader, and infallible, I don't know, almost untouchable, actually. And that's part of the challenge of being that person and persona, which is that people don't feel they can match up to you because you're trying to be invincible. And actually, I became quite vulnerable, and I had to therefore be very authentic about how I felt, and what I was doing, and was going on with me internally and at home with people at work.
And it was the best two years of my career because suddenly, I could communicate with and have a relationship with anybody in the company, from any level, without the fear of recrimination from them or from me. And we had a great time, and I think it really helped build the relationships across the different teams, at different levels in the company. It's actually direct anyway, but now it was clear that you could be authentic in the company, and you could tell people what's going on with you, whether you were gay, whether you were straight, whether you were…you know, whatever was going on with you, and mentally, whether it was neurodiversity, or Parkinson's, or what have you, and it was okay.
And so for me I learnt the power of, in terms of relationship with other people, of just being really honest about what's going on, because that gives you this authenticity, and this trust and truth that perhaps if you're trying to be the superhero CEO, you don't have that. You sort of become a little bit untouchable.
Fiona: There's a real strength in vulnerability, and lots of lessons all CEOs can learn from how to truly be open, and lead with authenticity in business. Phill mentioned his experience there in the Netherlands. In the next episode, we discuss his experience working in different regions, and his top advice for companies looking to scale overseas.
Podcast
07/03/2024
Fiona Moore
Read Time: Min
Building Successful Businesses podcast: Phill Robinson, Ep2
Welsh rugby legend, Jamie Roberts, has experienced the highs of winning and the lows of losing at the elite level of sport. The margins can be very small, but to swing the balance in your favour, Jamie discusses the importance of understanding an individual's motivations, the difference between losing and failing, and what leaders can learn from his experience.
Identifying individual motivations and tailoring the feedback
In the course of my career, I’ve played at eight clubs, in different countries and for the Barbarians, Wales and the Lions. When you move clubs or switch to international duties, you experience different styles of play and management. For example, at Harlequins, you play the Harlequins way – they want to play fast and they want to run with the ball. Whereas with Wales, it was much more industrious and risk-averse. It really tested me. But while the styles may have differed, coaches always developed an understanding of individual's unique motivations – it was a consistent and critical approach to understand what made them tick.
I remember sometimes times I’d arrive at training after a decent individual performance at the weekend - maybe I’d scored a try or even won Man of the Match. I’d be standing seven feet tall, and secretly hoping I'd feature heavily in the game review. Perhaps a little boost to the ego. Often I’d get nothing, nada! Conversely, some players who maybe hadn’t played as well, would feature heavily for the good things they did. I remember Shaun Edwards telling me later in my career that the coaching team would often refrain from praising me in front of the group. They felt I performed better when I had a point to prove. They never wanted me in my comfort zone.
It really motivated me, and they did it because the coaches understood players' different personality types. Regardless of skills, regardless of the game plan, it’s about motivating individual people. Identifying what triggers individual players to perform at their best, to give that extra 5 or 10% - because ultimately, that’s all that matters and is the difference between winning and losing. Getting the last yard of 'discretionary effort' is what really distinguishes great management.
The same thing happened after the 2009 Lions tour. I was player of the tournament, the series made me as a player, I got more media attention, more sponsorship – I was on cloud nine. But in one of the first training sessions of the following 6 Nations, Warren Gatland called me out in front of all the lads and said “Jamie, just want to make sure this week you’re going to focus on being a rugby player, not trying to be famous” It was awkward. I went bright red and the lads had a field day.
In retrospect, Gats was thinking: “How do I motivate this guy now, week in, week out, when he’s clearly been right at the top of his game? How do I get him to feel like he’s still got a point to prove?” Critically he knew me inside out and what made me tick (as he did with every other member of his squad). As a result, he knew exactly what he had to do to keep me motivated and at the top of my game. It really worked, it really got me fired up.
There’s a big difference between failing and losing
In 2012 Wales won the Grand Slam, it was amazing. Then we lost the next eight games on the bounce and we went from being the best Welsh team to the worst in the space of a few months.
But the margin between winning and losing is so small in test rugby, as it can be in winning the next deal, so it’s key that you have a defined process and stick to it. If you do, the tide will turn and you’ll be rewarded for all your hard work. There are so many external factors that influence the outcome – in rugby: the ref, how you slept the night before, how you trained, what you ate, but if you streamline your preparation and drive consistency in it, then you can have real trust that the process will deliver a performance you can be proud of.
That’s key, because there’s a big difference between failing and losing; I talk about this a lot in presentations to big organisations. Losing is being fully prepared, and sticking to your process in preparation, in training, in fitness, in motivation, in the game. Then the luck of the bounce, or a finely judged decision, or even a better opposition means you didn’t fail. You lost.
If you didn’t train well, you didn’t prepare, didn’t stick to the process, you haven’t put yourself in the best position to win (or sometimes even compete). That’s failure, and that’s unacceptable. So, think when you’re not winning, is it because you’re failing? If you’re losing, trust the process. Go back to it. Trust your team, trust your game plan and soon the tide will turn.
Critically, the earlier you identify the difference between whether you are failing or you are losing, the earlier you’ll become better prepared and much more likely to swing the balance in your favour next time round.
Join us again soon for more insights from Jamie. Next time we’ll be discussing teamwork.
Insights
04/03/2024
Read Time: Min
Motivation and preparation: secrets of a British Lion
In the latest edition of our valuing digital marketplace videos, Isa Maidan discusses demand side resilience, and the key factors you can use to demonstrate the resilience of your marketplace.
How a business responds to the ups and downs of the broader economy can affect its valuation, and Isa highlights the critical elements private equity firms place the most emphasis on, including:
- Cyclicality of the end market
- Frequency of purchase
- Retention rates
- Scale