28 January 2019
What businesses forget, as told by teacher-turned-global CEO
Alaina Ferretti
Brand and Marketing Manager
“The business today that can capture the best of humanity will be the successful business of the future.”
The room stirred with enthusiasm as the speaker continued. “It isn’t always the business that captures the best of digital. If you can capture both, you will be phenomenally successful as individuals. So my test to you is, how good is your humanity? How good are you as a companion?”
This exact question has been a focal point for our company as we have grown. This growth lead to our rebranding, announced at our 5th anniversary event, where we were privileged to have Moore Stephens’ CEO Anton Colella as the keynote speaker. Colella shared his journey from challenging beginnings to global CEO with us, an unbelievable success story with unexpected twists. That success and those twists however, have all been moved by the same current. Throughout his speech, Colella reminded us of the importance of being caring: caring genuinely for your family, your community, your coworkers, your clients.
“We live in a very interesting world today as businesses and societies, it’s moving so fast and changing so rapidly. We are losing as much as we're gaining."
Colella continued, "People say these are great days of scientific development and medical research, but we're as unhealthy today in some ways as we were 100 years ago. Digital is changing our lives. ...But the challenge for you to work with clients in digital technology, trying to provide digital solutions for them: you are working in an area which is impacting this change.”
This loss that can counter the gains made by digital evolution is prevalent today. Measurements of productivity and efficiency don’t often factor in positive social interaction, human contact, and personal satisfaction. As guides of digital transformation, we take responsibility in making sure that we’re helping to create a world that we actually want to live in. Optimised not only for the bottom line, but for the people who make the business succeed.
Another result that we see is that the rapid change which brings new technology and opportunity can also bring confusion. This is one of the main pain points we aim to solve for our clients.
“Part of the challenge today for clients is that we're providing so much data for businesses. Businesses have more data than they know what to do with. We’re data rich, and intelligence poor. The biggest service that we can provide to clients today is to give them peace of mind.”
There are so many new developments every year, changing business sectors and markets--and changing customers’ expectations. Companies often aren’t sure how to best take advantage of the opportunities, and how to protect themselves from losing the part that makes us human. Colella talked about creating workplaces of care.
“Develop your humanity. You will have their business for life because they want you as their companion. [Clients] want people to walk with them in the journey of their business who will tell them the truth, but they do it because they care about them. So there may be a digital revolution, the world may be changing very fast, but we are going to learn to love. We’re going to rediscover in a brand new way, a level of humanity that is transformational in our businesses.
This message really resonated with us that night. These values have been important to us as we went through the redefining process leading up to the event that day. We practice putting people first, not only our team, but our clients’ as well.
Our rebrand was heavily motivated by the desire to better reflect who we are and how we work. We realized that the services we have been offering our clients aren’t simply one-off fixes, but comprehensive, lasting solutions. In concrete terms, we had grown from a digital specialty staffing agency, to a guide through the shifting maze of our clients’ digital evolution.
Colella recognised the need for this kind of service. “Part of the challenge today for clients is that we're providing so much data for businesses. Businesses have more data than they know what to do with. We’re data rich, and intelligence poor. The biggest service that we can provide to clients today is to give them peace of mind.”
Hearing such an inspiring figure like Anton Colella focus on the human side of business reinforces our company’s values as we continue to navigate the maze of change. He introduced our brand as well as we ever could, and reminded us of the importance of our work. We will carry his message with us as we continue to grow.
“I like this business because I like these people. There’s a heartbeat here. Their heart is good, and that’s a good starting place today. ...This is the message of a business that can transform the sector. It can transform the world.”
