entrepreneurs 23


Pictures by Angus Thomas


Did you ever doubt you would succeed? When you’ve lost everything you built up over the previous 15 years, you could sit down and cry into your drink or you decide to pick yourself up. I didn’t even think about it, for me it was about what I could do to help customers and start again.


Was there one standout moment when you knew you were on the way?


When customers such as the MOD and Tesco put their trust in us rather than larger and more established businesses, that was a big moment for us.


What have been some of your key achievements?


One is the way we’ve set up separate business areas – a former contact of mine established the


business transformation practice with a view to helping businesses become more efficient and, since last October, he’s signed up 61 new customers, with big names including RBS, Daimler and GSK.


It’s also important to me to reward the good people who have stayed with you on that journey. We have put in place a John Lewis- style partnership model, so everyone from the receptionist to the management team has their own piece of the business.


What has been the secret of your success?


We’ve always tried to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. There are far too many failed IT projects, so we’re working with Oxford University on a joint venture project looking at how businesses can avoid wasting money on expensive IT projects which don’t work. The university is undertaking the world’s largest survey of projects and programmes and is using our proven methodology to look at 140 data points. From there, they will be able to produce reference-based forecasting to detail what a project will cost, how long it will take and other key elements. For us, it’s about continually trying to innovate and this is just one example.


Who inspires you?


I’ve met Sir Richard Branson twice, once when he was serving drinks on board one of his flights and talking about the grass roots of customer service. He said if you are ever in any doubt about something, you should just do it. The proviso was that you should be able to limit the consequences of it not working, otherwise, if you don’t try – you will never know.


What does winning awards mean to you?


Last year, we won Bayer 2014 Business of the Year, which was a real surprise. All the staff got a real lift from the win and for the executive board it was great to get the recognition and


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – OCTOBER 2015


endorsement that you are doing some of the right things. It was a great barometer to see ourselves against other businesses.


How would you describe yourself? Driven and passionate about doing a good job. What does the future hold?


I believe in working with people you know and trust. Martin St Quinton, well-known to many as the founder of Azzurri Communications, has joined our board to support us with our strategy, so that’s very exciting.


Our plan is to grow the business organically over the next five years to £20m and at present we’re tracking within 1% of that, so we know it’s achievable. With Martin’s support there may be some strategic acquisitions, longer term, we want to grow to £100m, and at some future point there may be an IPO.


I fancy running a publicly floated company, but in the meantime, I’d like to be famous for doing a great job.


What do you do on your time off?


My family is really important to me, I have two sons, a daughter and a stepson who I enjoy spending as much time as possible with.


And finally, what’s your last word?


I’ve had significant success in my career but also have experienced how quickly things can go wrong. I went from rags to riches and back again very quickly and so personally, I would like to be able to demonstrate that the success I achieved first time around wasn’t a fluke or a one-off event.


At Prime, we were very focused on an exit and all the trappings that came with it. This time, it’s more about creating a great business that people are proud to work for. If, by doing that, we also leave a legacy for our staff, their families and for the next generation too, then that would be nice.


Details: www.roctechnologies.com www.businessmag.co.uk


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