6th January 2011: Touchstone makes call on next stage of its growth

A telemarking firm is on target to triple the size of its workforce and double turnover in the New Year after landing a string of contracts with corporate giants in its first 12 months in business.

Touchstone Leads, based in Shildon, County Durham, was launched almost a year ago by Kevin Ireson who decided to go it alone after spending over a decade working as head of sales at a large UK corporation.

The company was set up to generate key appointments for companies with potential clients that could help boost their sales.

It operates from the unique standpoint that it only bills clients for leads that meet their criteria - a factor which has proved popular with a number of heavyweight UK businesses.

In its first year the company has already won contracts with financial groups HSBC and Santander and northern legal giant Ward Hadaway, amongst other large firms.

The company currently employs five members of staff, but plans to take this up to 15 next year as it moves into larger premises to facilitate its expansion.

Meanwhile, annual turnover at the fast-growing firm is expected to climb from £250,000 this year to £500,000 by the end of 2011, reaching £800,000 in its third year in business.

Mr Ireson said: "One of the biggest frustrations I had in my former role as a head of new business sales was in finding a telemarketing company that was willing to back itself and only get paid on results so I needed to buck the trend.

"We specialise in making appointments that are guaranteed to meet client requirements and help get them in front of the right businesses.

"In the next five years I hope to become a large employer in the North East that is focused on helping businesses grow their sales and deliver results that will give an instant return."

Touchstone is a business-to-business telemarketing company which specialises in qualified appointment making with a combined 20 years of experience in the field within its workforce.

For more information go to http://www.touchstoneleads.co.uk

17th December 2010: Orange Bus Moves Up A Gear

North East-based creative digital firm Orange Bus has taken on a commercial director as the fast-growing business embarks on its most aggressive growth plans to-date.

Graham Thrower - who has extensive experience of growing businesses, raising finance, and strategic and advisory work - has joined Orange Bus to help the company hit ambitious growth targets of between £3-5million in the next two years.

Orange Bus - originally named after co-director Julian Leighton's VW camper van - has doubled in size year-on-year since its formation in 2006 and now, having recruited eight staff in the last 12 months, has a 21-strong workforce. Last year's turnover reached £800,000, this year it is tipped to be in excess of £1.5m.

The company, which recently expanded from its infamous windmill office to bigger Quayside premises in Newcastle's Generator Studios, has an enviable client list including global names such as Sage, Barclays, Tommi Tippee and Eaga, and most recently, international media, publishing and education company Pearson.

Managing director, Mr Leighton, believes one of the key reasons Orange Bus is winning such prestigious projects is its specialism in user experience: "We are transformational for our clients through the strength of our creative input, strategic insights and user-focused delivery.

"We continue to believe that there is an opportunity in being outstanding - we set out to be a front runner in this area and have invested heavily in a top-end technical team, which has undoubtedly paid off. This, coupled with our ability to create great looking websites and integrate them with any complex third-party system such as financials and logistics, is setting us apart in the marketplace."

The company is getting all the right attention, last month it was awarded the accolade of North East Agency of the Year at its industry's MiAwards 2010 and has spent this year as Digital Agency of the Year, according to its trade magazine The Drum.

In November last year Chris Rhodes, who has vast experience in technology, media and internet markets including the development and launch of Talk Talk's "Free Broadband" service in the UK, joined Orange Bus as non-executive director.

Mr Leighton said: "Although it's been a challenging year, Orange Bus has enjoyed its most significant period of growth and it's never been a case of will we be able to grow, but more how will we manage the growth
"Having Chris involved meant we became a lot more strategic about the business and it forced us into a world of intensive planning," he said. "We have consequently spent considerable time investing in the best core development team and are now ready to move up to the next gear.
"Graham has extensive experience of marketing to multi-nationals and giving strategic guidance on how to structure rapid growth. We are confident that with his proven track record of adding value through differentiation and the breadth of his finance knowledge, he's the right person to help us navigate our way through and upwards."

Mr Thrower has gathered extensive global experience in the finance sector with the likes of Citigroup and Societe Generale, and has chaired a national music development agency through an unprecedented period of growth.

Now, having spent the last six years being heavily involved with economic regeneration, issues of access to finance and the commercial creative sector in the north of England, he is set to apply that knowledge as commercial director at Orange Bus: "There is a real market opportunity out there for dynamic, creative businesses like Orange Bus," he said. "Many of the essential characteristics are in place such as great delivery, a differentiated customer proposition and a strong client list.

"What is also compelling for me personally is that both Julian and co-director Mike Parker have realised that life becomes infinitely more complex as you grow to £3m or £5m turnover and beyond - financial and strategic issues require more planning and structured solutions. Multi-nationals want strategic partners that will care for and leverage their brand, not peripheral suppliers. We have a number of initiatives and plans to be rolled out during 2011 and I look forward to working with the Orange Bus team in what promises to be a transformational time."

17th December 2010: Sam Steps Up To People Role At Tech Firm

Technology solutions company ITPS has appointed Sam Hepple to the newly-created role of human resources manager, as it aims to create new jobs and take staff numbers to over the 100 mark.

Newcastle-born Sam joins the company after a six-year spell as senior HR adviser at Jackel International. Her background also spans employee relations and training and development positions with organisations including the former Reg Vardy motor group, and Metro Centre guarding company St James' Security.

Her new role will see her take responsibility for reviewing ITPS's existing HR strategy and strengthening its activities in areas such as recruitment, retention and training. The new post is based on Sam working three full days, with her hours spread over the week in order to fit in with the needs of her young family.

Sam is relishing the demands of her new job: "Opportunities such as this one, which combines a senior level strategic role with family friendly hours rarely come along so I was delighted when the directors offered me the job.

"This is a completely new role for ITPS, which makes it a very exciting career step for me. My brief is to build on the excellent work that has already been done, and make sure we have a solid HR framework in place that supports our existing people and the projected rise in staff numbers as the business grows."

ITPS managing director Garry Sheriff added: "We currently have 85 staff and a turnover of more than £10m, which we felt was a logical point at which to create a dedicated HR role within the senior management team.

"As well as having the right professional qualifications and experience, Sam is a great fit in terms of personality and is already proving her worth.

"We deliberately based the new role around flexible working hours. Many of us have young families ourselves so we are well aware of the logistics involved in balancing work and home and achieving the healthy work-life balance that we all aspire to."

15th December 2010: First Time Buyer Snaps Up Nectar

A Gateshead based firm of IT experts has expanded its business by purchasing an IT Support company with hardware expertise.

Transcendit, which has offices in Team Valley, has bought Durham's Nectar Electronics in a move to provide fully integrated IT services to the region's business community, while expanding operations into the south of the region.

The company, which celebrated its tenth birthday in September by raising £2,500 for Newcastle Hospitals' Children's Heart Unit Fund, will now be able to provide tailor made software and hardware solutions from under the same roof.

Adam Kuznesof, Transcendit Director, explained: "Buying Nectar Electronics broadens our offer and makes us more competitive. It enables us to provide clients with the complete bespoke package. This means that our clients receive joined up personal service at a lower price than the big household names provide.

"Hardware engineering is a dying art, many engineers end up working for the global corporations and the majority of companies just call up Dell or Hewlett Packard, because they're not aware of the alternative. By purchasing Nectar we have added four exceptional people to our 13-stong staff to give the north east business community a real alternative choice."

Tom Tinsley, Transcendit Director, said: "We've never done anything like this before, we're normally quite conservative and we've been growing organically. However, Nectar Electronics was such an attractive proposition - a successful business with good turnover and profit. There's also a synergy between the services we provide to a similar client base, so it made perfect sense."

Transcendit worked closely with Crutes legal firm and accountants Ryecroft Glenton to ensure the deal went smoothly.

Tom added: "Crutes and Ryecroft Glenton did a great job of setting us on the right road towards making this a reality. As we've never purchased a company before, we needed all the advice we could get and the peace of mind that buys. First and foremost, you need to know that what you're buying is everything that it seems to be. Crutes made sure that the business had been run properly. They were really approachable and good value for money."

Anne Spetch, Partner at Crutes, added: "It's clear that the personal approach is very important to the way that TranscendIT do business and it's an approach that we hold dear. Crutes provides a responsive bespoke service which is all about the client, backed up by a strong track record in corporate and commercial law.

"Purchasing a company can be costly. At Crutes, we don't want to add to that expense so we offer our clients big hitting lawyers without the big price tag."

Tim Mallon, Partner at Ryecroft Glenton, said: "We were delighted to assist in the financial aspects of the transaction. The TranscendIT team identified an opportunity to expand their business and pursued their first acquisition with great enthusiasm. We were able to guide them through the due diligence process and advise on structuring and other financial matters. It is good to see a business looking to grow their business in these difficult times."

Adam added: "We're very excited with our new purchase and we're looking forward to bringing new people on board and meeting new clients."

The purchase of Nectar Electronics sees TranscendIT grow to 17 members of staff. When the company launched ten years ago it employed five people.

Customer engagement and insight in the digital age

When Explain and Better first sat round a table at Seaham Hall in March 2009, the brief was simple; find a way of harnessing the dynamic growing power of digital media with the customer insight provided by market research.

The two companies had been brought together through a long standing relationship between Steven Bell, a board director of The Entrepreneurs Forum and David Shiel, managing director of Explain, a relationship that stretched back over 25 years when they both worked in the supermarket industry.

Better have almost thirty years experience within the team and have won numerous awards for their work within the digital and social media sectors, working with some of the biggest organisations in the public sector as well as blue chip private sector organisations in sectors such as renewable energy, arts and culture, retail, tourism and service.

Explain, with nearly twenty years customer insight experience and outstanding skills in the field of customer, stakeholder and employee engagement has built long term partnerships with leading service organisations across social housing providers, utilities, building societies, the NHS and the public sector; businesses with millions of customers.

The growth of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, along with blogging, has made companies take notice of the way customers and brands interact online. These platforms are now becoming an established part of their communication strategy, however the level of interaction through social media doesn't tap into the power of communities.

The partnership between Explain and Better has created a completely different way of capturing customer insight and putting them at the heart of brand innovation through engagement and co-creation. The new digital platform allows brands to engage with their customers in a private social community and over the long term discover customer insight that directly influences product & service design, marketing strategy and valuable feedback.

Members are recruited into the communities where they can then engage in a two way exchange of information with the brand and other members of the community, responding to topics and suggesting topics for future debate. But the really powerful bit is the collaboration that takes place one to one and and in focus group exchanges, polls, questionnaires that is constantly monitored by Explain research software, which overlaps with the digital platform. The outcomes represent real time insight in to the likes, dislikes and preferences of every customer, wherever they may be. The model can analyse responses by demographic, geographic or any single profile variable and the timeframe is immediate. It is the ultimate customer insight and co-creation model.

Traditional research has many challenges and the set up costs and inevitable delays while fieldwork is planned means that a project can take several weeks to deliver. A key means of gathering quantitative data is CATI (computer aided telephone interviews) but some members of the public consider them intrusive whereas digital feedback is provided in the comfort of their home at a time they find convenient.

The response has been overwhelming with many companies telling us this is exactly what they have been waiting for. A real time means of customer engagement that uses social media in a private community of customers with in-built research which can feed into product and process development.

David Shiel, managing director of Explain commented;

‘In the current climate, companies tell us they want better information without increasing budgets so it would seem the timing is right. Digital media is now well established and such a powerful method of interaction that companies must embrace the opportunity for dialogue that is corporate, not just social.

Having the confidence to let the consumer openly comment and choose who they want to buy from or use, puts the power squarely in their hands and says that the provider wants their business and will taken notice of what they say. The role of Explain is to monitor the online conversation within the community, interpret the findings and help companies improve what they make or do.

The new product will provide a completely new revenue stream for both companies from January 2011 and the product has application across all sectors provided the business talks to a large volume of customers.

We are already building 3 communities which will launch in spring 2011 for Northumbrian water, CE-Electric and Scottish Power Energy Networks and are at the second stage with 10 clients, including a leading motor manufacturer, a national member organisation and several social housing providers. The new product will provide a completely new revenue stream for both companies from January 2011 and the product has application across all sectors provided the business talks to a large volume of customers.

Mark Easby, managing director at Better said;

‘Engaging consumers at every level, be that through social media touch points that generate buzz through to private online communities that provide a catalyst for mass collaboration, innovation in product and service design through co-creation is a game changer for brands.

Better has been heavily involved in social media from the outset and have long championed its inclusion within our clients' communication strategies. We've seen how the space has been developing and see private online communities as a key tool for brands going forward. The conversation has been online for many years and now we're harnessing that power within our private communities to drive loyalty, engagement, innovation and co-creation.

We are all excited about seeing the fruits of an intensive nine months of development during which both companies shared a considerable investment to make this digital platform a reality. It's what the North East business community is built upon and we're proud to be wining national clients and shouting about a product that has been designed, built and privately funded in the North East. We're a young brand agency who understand digital and social media and this is the first of many tools we'll be developing to help brands harness the power of their consumers'

10th December 2010 - Teenage Cancer Trust Christmas Carol Service - 16th December 2010

Teenage Cancer Trust invites Forum members and friends to their Christmas Carol Service taking place St Nicholas' Cathedral on Thursday 16th December.

Tickets are on sale priced at £7.50 each and are available to purchase at Guitar Guitar, 27 Grainger Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5JE or alternatively call Jen Buck on 07507 197 225. The evening will begin at 7.00pm.

All proceeds from the evening will go towards the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit at the Great North Children's Hospital (RVI).

2nd December 2010 - First time buyer opts for hardware expertise to strengthen offer

A Gateshead based firm of IT experts has expanded its business by purchasing an IT Support company with hardware expertise.

Transcendit, which has offices in Team Valley, has bought Durham’s Nectar Electronics in a move to provide fully integrated IT services to the region’s business community, while expanding operations into the south of the region.

The company, which celebrated its tenth birthday in September by raising £2,500 for Newcastle Hospitals’ Children’s Heart Unit Fund, will now be able to provide tailor made software and hardware solutions from under the same roof.

Adam Kuznesof, Transcendit Director, explained: “Buying Nectar Electronics broadens our offer and makes us more competitive. It enables us to provide clients with the complete bespoke package. This means that our clients receive joined up personal service at a lower price than the big household names provide.

“Hardware engineering is a dying art, many engineers end up working for the global corporations and the majority of companies just call up Dell or Hewlett Packard, because they’re not aware of the alternative. By purchasing Nectar we have added four exceptional people to our 13-stong staff to give the north east business community a real alternative choice.”

Tom Tinsley, Transcendit Director, said: “We’ve never done anything like this before, we’re normally quite conservative and we’ve been growing organically. However, Nectar Electronics was such an attractive proposition – a successful business with good turnover and profit. There’s also a synergy between the services we provide to a similar client base, so it made perfect sense.”

Transcendit worked closely with Crutes legal firm and accountants Ryecroft Glenton to ensure the deal went smoothly.

Tom added: “Crutes and Ryecroft Glenton did a great job of setting us on the right road towards making this a reality. As we’ve never purchased a company before, we needed all the advice we could get and the peace of mind that buys. First and foremost, you need to know that what you’re buying is everything that it seems to be. Crutes made sure that the business had been run properly. They were really approachable and good value for money.”

Anne Spetch, Partner at Crutes, added: “It’s clear that the personal approach is very important to the way that TranscendIT do business and it’s an approach that we hold dear. Crutes provides a responsive bespoke service which is all about the client, backed up by a strong track record in corporate and commercial law.

“Purchasing a company can be costly. At Crutes, we don’t want to add to that expense so we offer our clients big hitting lawyers without the big price tag.”

Tim Mallon, Partner at Ryecroft Glenton, said: "We were delighted to assist in the financial aspects of the transaction. The TranscendIT team identified an opportunity to expand their business and pursued their first acquisition with great enthusiasm. We were able to guide them through the due diligence process and advise on structuring and other financial matters. It is good to see a business looking to grow their business in these difficult times."

Adam added: “We’re very excited with our new purchase and we’re looking forward to bringing new people on board and meeting new clients.”

The purchase of Nectar Electronics sees TranscendIT grow to 17 members of staff. When the company launched ten years ago it employed five people.