AT THE HEART OF Holstein UK
The Journal will now include a snapshot of what’s going on within Holstein UK and in the first of these Charlotte Rose, active General Manager, gives a breakdown of what’s been happening recently
ife has been rather hectic to say that least at Scotsbridge House of late. From staff re-structuring, launching a new strategy and products, to planning and preparation for UK Dairy Day and of course, The Journal has come under new editorial management, so there’s been plenty to occupy us with recently.
L
Having been brought on board last winter to advise the Society and recommend a strategy for the future, it has certainly been an interesting and testing time. But, working closely with the trustees and key Holstein UK personnel, I am delighted to say that we have stabilised the Society and have a plan in place to develop Holstein UK, CIS and CDI into powerful businesses fit for the future needs of the membership and our customers. Reshaping a business the size and nature of Holstein UK is never an easy task and there have been challenging times on all fronts. Having set out a strategy - based on eight key performance indicators - with the board in the early part of this year, the team have focussed on stabilising the business and outsourcing key operations. We have sought to identify the best ways of servicing the membership in the future, ensuring our focus remains on the members and the cows, as without either of these, neither the Society nor its subsidiaries would exist. It is clear to me that in an industry of constant change Holstein UK, CIS and CDI have much to offer dairy farmers and as a Society and a business. Our challenge now is to widely communicate this to the membership and work collaboratively with the industry to ensure sustainability in the future.
I am proud to say that collaboratively we have more than 500 years worth of service at Holstein UK and its subsidiaries, however, for some, change isn’t comfortable and as a result we have lost a handful of team members. However, with change comes opportunity and recent departures have enabled us to ensure more expert advices and support to our members.
Looking ahead we have a number of new and exciting developments around the corner, most importantly our teams are working collaboratively. Holstein UK is working with CIS as opposed to separately and special thanks have to be given to Sue Cope, executive director of CIS, who has been instrumental to the success of the changes being implemented and ensuring Dairy Day was an outright success.
Between Holstein UK, CIS and CDI we have more services and data to support our members and industry than anyone else and we launched three brand new products at UK Dairy Day. I do feel our membership isn’t fully aware of all the services we offer, so if you weren’t at UK Dairy Day, then hopefully you will find our service summary on pages 114 and 115 useful.
In addition we have a brand new fresh marketing campaign and new journal partners who will be regularly asking our members what they want to see and how we can offer a better service.
On top of that we are in discussions with many industry partners to deliver collaborative projects to better support our members and we are launching a new payment plan late Autumn to help our members spread the cost of their fees. On a business front our cash flow has stabilised and revenue to date is up 9% on last year, with costs forecast to reduce by 10% for the second half of the year. As I’m sure you’ll agree the inaugural UK Dairy Day was an outstanding success and a lot of effort was put in by many people to making it the exceptional event it was. The event also saw the re-launch of Holstein UK and its subsidiaries, with a more focussed outlook from an invigorated team, including the staff and trustees. I look forward to working with both you the membership and Holstein UK’s dedicated staff to continue to develop the Society and the services it can offer you, the membership. I’d also like to thank every single member of the team for their hard work. We have exciting times ahead!
8 THE JOURNAL OCTOBER 2014
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