INTERVIEW “We’ve been living and breathing this not because that’s


what others are starting to do, we’ve been doing this for a long time so we’re able to see the benefits this ethos has not just on our culture but also on business growth. “Last year we were proud winners of the Employee Engagement Awards for UK and Europe and this year we were again named among the top 15 companies in the UK to work for by The Sunday Times’ annual awards. A big part of that success is that we’ve always embraced diversity and inclusion. “It’s about giving everyone, regardless of background


and who they are – in fact, celebrating who they are - the space and flexibility to be able to thrive and not be held back by anything. “Everyone has a voice, because this has been part of our


ethos for years. You can see it clearly paying dividends now. Our workforce is diverse, we have a lot of women in leadership roles across the business for example – it’s hugely important. “We don’t want to mould people into what is perceived


as an ideal employee and team member, it’s about letting them be who they are, embracing their unique set of values, giving them the right tools and backing and then letting them go and thrive. It’s about giving the right people the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their background.” It’s an approach that has continued to pay dividends to


Cooper Parry, which recently added another highly-sought after award to its ever-expanding trophy cabinet. The firm won the 2019 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business


Central Global Partner of the Year award. It was honoured among a global field of top Microsoft


partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of the Cloud-based Dynamics 365 business management solution.


‘The way Microsoft described us was ‘a north star’ that people can look at in terms of best practice and aim in that direction’


Cooper Parry IT was chosen as the winner from a set of


more than 2,900 entrants from 115 countries worldwide. Victoria continued: “The recent award win was incredible. “There were nearly 3,000 entries, so to win out of that


many, from all around the world, is unbelievable. “When you think about ‘number ones’ in the world for


something, Lewis Hamilton, for example, as the number one for Formula One, we are seen as the Lewis Hamilton of what we do with regards to business applications and that’s difficult to get your head around. “We’re global number one – there are businesses in the


US doing this, in Australia doing this, businesses in Mexico, China, all doing the same thing, yet we’ve been named as number one, as the best and that means the world to us.” Victoria puts the success down to the ‘Cooper Parry


way’, which tears up the traditional IT rulebook and disrupts the market. “We knew that what we were doing was quite ground-


breaking and we knew that to win the award what we were doing had to be transformational from a business point of view,” she said. “Microsoft don’t just give the award for, for example, the


most amount of sales. The award winners are those that are pushing boundaries and transforming the industry. “From that perspective, we knew that we were at the


upper end of that and were one of the few in the world doing what we were doing, but we had no idea that we could possibly win. “It was amazing, to wake up to the email saying we had


won meant an awful lot to all of us. “The award ceremony itself in Las Vegas was incredible.


It was great to go there and participate in it – there were 60,000 people in the audience, lots of connections to make at the highest level of Microsoft and fellow businesses and so many tangible benefits. “Right from the Monday morning when we were there sitting in a winners seating area to the end – it was


48 business network September 2019


incredible to see our hard work celebrated by so many people in such a prestigious and grand setting. “We were also invited to luncheons, events and we were


networking with all sorts of people you wouldn’t usually get to meet – it felt like meeting celebrities! “However, winning the award was down to the fact that I


have an amazing team that are free to be themselves and to push and come up with ideas, push boundaries. “That’s how you keep the innovation going, by having


this culture and giving everyone a voice. “When you look at other Microsoft IT partners – of which


we are one of 60,000 or so around the world – you get the feeling that they do look at our brand, look at our marketing material and the innovation within the company and I suspect they do strive to take some of that on board and translate it to their own businesses. “The way Microsoft described us was ‘a north star’ that


people can look at in terms of best practice and aim in that direction, which is obviously enormously satisfying for us and a great validation of what we are doing as a business.” You get the feeling that Cooper Parry is not a business for


resting on its laurels and has already set its sights on building on this success and pushing the envelope even further. So, what does the future hold? Victoria continued: “Our culture shift was a fairly quick


one, especially after the recession, and that was when we took the conscious decision to stop and restart. “Everyone had a bit of a tough ride during that period but


we took it as an opportunity to change and we had some fast changes at that point but it’s certainly a constantly evolving process, it’s never finished and forever continuing. “Culturally we’re not about settling for the status quo, it’s


all about pushing our own boundaries and helping our clients push their own boundaries. It’s really important that we keep looking to take that next step and not to rest on our laurels and carry on doing what we’ve always done – we need to keep transforming and be ground-breaking in everything that we do and all the solutions we offer clients. “In the future we’ll continue to keep striving, the


innovation will never stop, we want to constantly push and challenge what we are doing and be the best in everything that we do. The fact is that if you stop somebody will catch you up and overtake you. We want to continue to be seen, as Microsoft put it, as that ‘north star’ and at the centre of that will be a commitment to a diverse, inclusive, valued and fully-engaged workforce which are and always will be at the heart of everything we do and achieve.”


Victoria (right) receives the 2019 MIcrosoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Global Partner of the Year award from Gavriella Shuster, Corporate VP, One Commercial Partner Organisation


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