Don’t shoot the Messenger! – Blackberry dismisses the next generation at its peril…

The News from RIM chief Thorsten Heins that they will refocus on the corporate market may make sense if they want to reassure investors that they can pull out of their profits nosedive, but dumping Messenger to get there would be a courageous strategy.

Indeed I am one of the masses – albeit maybe in the third wave – which deserted Blackberry for an iPhone, but some things I still miss about my old device.

But maybe my generation are not as important as we might like to think. My 14 year old daughter loves her Blackberry and actually moved the opposite way from an iPhone, when we renewed our phones together in the Vodafone shop a year ago.

Sixth-formers, CV’s and Facebook – scary truths but still, opportunities abound for ‘creative promotion’

Europa’s work with Bucks students uncovers some fascinating facts…

It’s almost trendy to write off our school leavers as ‘unfit for purpose’ when it’s already tough enough for them to find a job these days. The recent work done by Europa in conjunction with schools in Buckinghamshire does indicate that there is certainly scope for improvement, but it’s not necessarily the students who ‘must try harder’. In the areas where students might need to apply more effort if they are to a) succeed in interviews and b) satisfy the needs of employers, there are areas where employers and teachers must make more effort as well.

Europa wins Mayor’s Award from Portsmouth City Council

IBM marketing agency wins unexpected tribute for ensuring that yes indeed there was room at the Inn!…. with an unexpected Christmas treat for local homeless.

On February 16th Mayor of Portsmouth Cheryl Buggy bestowed upon Europa her very first ‘Your City Thanks You” Award for outstanding services to the community.

MD Alan Haley and IBM Account Director Steve Connolly were delighted – if a little surprised – to attend an award ceremony at Portsmouth City Hall to receive this recognition.

Managing the Invisible Sales Force: Part 1 – Our journey to here

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible”
– Jonathan Swift

Eighteen years ago when we founded this business, we worked on a vision which holds to this day: employ the best people, regardless of where they are based.

That was ambitious then. I had a dial-up internet connection which sometimes worked. Some of my colleagues even had one too!

We did need to meet up quite a lot then – on client sites; at my place; in some Marriott reception – but that was OK, petrol was cheaper.

I have to say, when it came to the ‘telemarketing’ element of our business – where clients were starting recognise the benefit of having an experienced IT sales developer on the phone rather than a student – they still struggled to come to terms with the fact we didn’t have a call centre for them to walk around and inspect our ranks. We definitely lost business because of that in those days – the leap of faith from the old model to a new more flexible, more dynamic, more skilled solution was just too far for some to take.

Now look where we all are….

We have over fifty people largely working from remote offices – not just from their homes, but maybe one of our satellite sites (more about these mini-centres of excellence in the next blog); or increasingly from client sites.

When the snows hit us last year, and people couldn’t get out of their own driveways, our research and sales activity was hardly interrupted. Sure we had the challenge of making contact with targets who themselves failed to get into work, but we were in the main still fully functional.

When fuel prices hit the roof our employees’ commute budgets were largely unaffected. Their commute was largely a couple of flights of stairs.

When the ecology movement started to matter, we found that we were ‘greener than almost everyone’ before we knew what green represented!

The Human Factor

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Hello regular readers and welcome new ones! We’ve had a few changes around here that I would like to share, however the objective of this blog will not change. It’s still about discussing the positive things that have worked for us right through the recession and still work for us now. So what has changed? Firstly, we are embracing the spirit of social media and opening it up to everyone. No secrets – just a willingness to share ideas with you.

Another thing that has changed dramatically for us is our turnover. May was our best month (ever) in 17 years, an achievement trumped quickly by June’s performance. Growth will increase again this year as it did last, but at a faster rate. I’d like to think it’s not all down to luck, and is a result of the philosophies we have been banging on about in this series for the last couple of years.

My job has also changed. Nobody asked me if I wanted to change, but it sort of crept up on me. In fact I’m not the only one affected. Changing circumstances have forced a few of us here to learn new skills in one key area, and quickly.

Accreditations and Training Strategy pays dividends

We have always placed great stead in delivering the highest level of talent we can in our front line people and to keep abreast of growth we have had to accelerate our programme of training and cross-training in many key IT solutions areas – with the help of our clients as well of course.

New Summer Arrivals at Europa

The last couple of months have seen the need for us to expand our team once again, with several new starters…