tvbma roundtable 59
The Business Magazine and the sponsors of the Thames Valley Business Magazine Awards – NatWest, Pitmans, James Cowper Kreston, Hays, Grundon Waste Management, Redwood Technologies, ActionCOACH, Taylor Made Computer Solutions – invited several 2015 winners and finalists to gather at the Madejski Stadium, Reading to share ...
The secrets, attributes and concerns of winners
Participants
Robin Barnes: Regional director, NatWest
Satbir Dhillon: Co-founder and finance director, FISco
Owen George: Tender manager, Grundon Waste Management
John Hutchinson: Managing partner, Pitmans
Rob Pickering: Business coach, ActionCOACH
Alan Poole: Partner, James Cowper Kreston
Leonard Sim: Founding director, Accesso Technology Group
Alex Smith: Regional head of marketing, Redwood Technologies
Sarah Stevenson: Director, Hays
Lined up to debate: our roundtable team Journalist John Burbedge reports the roundtable highlights
What is your winning ingredient?
Retiring this year, Leonard Sim of queuing system innovator Accesso (TVBMA winner Best Use of Technology) contributed a wealth of experience. “The winning formula has changed. Today you need to be ready to react and adapt to change, be prepared to ride ‘horses for courses’. We have certainly been three different companies down the years.”
He mentioned the determination to ‘hang on’ post 9/11 and during the 2008 recession, plus brave boardroom decision-making, and the innovative use of lease financing and a profit-sharing business model within his theme park supporting business.
Satbir Dhillon of facilities management (FM) procurement specialist FISco (TVBMA SME of the Year) admitted to ‘adapting to the customers requirements and learning on the job’ and avoiding cashflow concerns to keep the business alive in FISco’s early days. Having the right management team during troubled times for the FM sector, enabled FISco to
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2016
deliver what it promised, “enabled us to shine, put in new system technologies, and then cope with our growth of £5-6 million turnover every year.
“It is about being agile, able to adapt to change, utilising best practice, developing our software technology, and importantly bringing talent into an industry that doesn’t have an established career path, then showing them how to work in our business.”
Scott Witchalls of Peter Brett Associates (TVBMA finalist Business of the Year) explained how PBA had grown and diversified its structural engineering and design services over its 50-plus years to meet client demand. It now provides a full service offering from site acquisition planning and due diligence to full design delivery of finished building or infrastructure.
PBA has around 800 staff but competes with global corporates of 20,000 -30,000 employees, said Witchalls. “Whereas bigger companies tend to have a silo approach, we make sure our teams understand the process from beginning to end, which allows us to
Alex Tatham: Managing director, Westcoast
John Wilcox: Finance director and acting CEO, Thames Valley Air Ambulance
Scott Witchalls: Partner, Peter Brett Associates
David Murray: Managing director and publisher of The Business Magazine, chaired the discussion
Robin Barnes
offer added-value through de-risking the whole delivery process.”
Continued overleaf ...
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