Review: Prolific North Tech Award Winners’ roundtable – Talent, challenges and AI

Attendees:

• Chaired by David Prior, Editor of Prolific North
• Josh Whiteley, Head of Commercial, Bruntwood SciTech
• Michael Collier, Head of Technical Operations, Connex One
• Olivia Wright, Enterprise Solutions Consultant, Connex One
• Dominic Smith, Director, Tribus Digital
• Dominic Howe, Client Services Director, Bolser
• Peter Richards, Head of Product, Zuto
• Matt Hunt, Chief Performance Officer, Apadmi
• Rob Bellingham, Commercial Director, Netsells
• Jonathan Moran, Director, Better Placed

Following freshly brewed coffee, pastries and networking with incredible views overlooking Manchester from Base’s roof terrace, the event kicked off with a welcome from David Prior (Prolific North) who congratulated attendees and introduced Josh Whiteley (Bruntwood SciTech).

After welcoming attendees to Base and explaining how it will support up to 200 tech and life science businesses, Whiteley (Bruntwood SciTech) said there are also further exciting plans set to be announced for new innovation district ID Manchester: “We’re going to see that grow in the city over the next 10 years. We’ll be creating a new district that the tech sector can call home.”

Prior kicked off the discussion by asking attendees how a tech business can plan when the future is uncertain and how Covid and the economic crisis has impacted their businesses.

Jonathan Moran (Better Placed), said from a recruiters perspective immersed in the tech sector, there were worries about the outlook going into this year fuelled by “doom and gloom” from the media. Despite this, the job flow has been as “high as it’s ever been”, with start-ups through to scale-ups still hiring. Although there has been uncertainty in the market, there are now more passive job seekers and it isn’t quite as gloomy as predicted.

Rob Bellingham (Netsells) added there’s no accident about the growth of the tech sector. At Netsells, the company has been reasonably isolated from economic pressures, able to tap into a big market and hire the best talent. Although it’s not the same as the great resignation post-Covid, one of the big challenges facing the sector is not just hiring, it’s retaining talented staff.  

Dominic Smith (Tribus Digital) said the digital consultancy has experienced exponential growth post Covid after dipping into construction marketing. Initially starting out with four people, post Covid the company has expanded to 40 staff thanks to a booming construction market. He added Tribus Digital has been putting plans in place for strategic growth so it is “organic as opposed to rushed”. 

Sharing a similar story, Peter Richards (Zuto) said Covid along with putting new platforms and tech in place has helped to accelerate the car finance marketplace’s success. Fuelled by a rising demand for cars, “‘we took the opportunity to focus in and improve our product rapidly at a time when our customers needed us the most,” he explained.

Olivia Wright (Connex One) agreed, adding that Covid accelerated a need for cloud-based technology, especially when predominantly contact centre businesses reverted to remote working. 

With a rising demand for Connex One’s system, the company has grown globally and has opened additional offices across Miami, Australia and Europe, as well as series C funding to grow its headcount rapidly. 

Attracting and retaining talent

Matt Hunt (Apadmi) said the pandemic changed the company’s approach to hiring. Following Covid and looking at patterns of where the talent is, Apadmi opened up an office in Scotland which serves as a talent hub and through an acquisition in the Netherlands, it has helped the business to grow there too and share talent between offices. 

He added that Apadmi “goes where the talent is”, and has repurposed how the company uses its office space, whether it’s for events, co-working or collaboration instead. Offering flexibility around working can be attractive to talent.

“It’s really competitive out there, the businesses that are doing well at the moment are those that can offer flexibility,” added Moran (Better Placed). Some pools of tech talent only want to work remotely, but some just want flexibility around working hours or days in the office. Tech companies are not just competing against each other for talent in the North, it’s now against businesses in London that can pay “significantly higher salaries”.

Dominic Howe (Bolser) said it’s not just about competitive salaries. With tech talent such as software engineers, they want to be excited about the projects they’re working on with opportunities to grow, not just the standard benefits that every tech company offers.

Smith (Tribus Digital) agreed. He said he’s also noticed an “explosion” in salaries over the last three to four years. Often the demands are so high, even if there might be a candidate he’d be keen to hire, it could result in disparity within the existing team who have more experience. 

Michael Collier (Connex One) echoed this, core salaries have gone up and the world is now a smaller place. Companies from London can now grab talent from across the UK and when it comes to recruiting and the rising demands from candidates. Although the bubble has not burst it’s “definitely delating”. Creating excitement about the product or tech you have is key when it comes to attracting talent.

Moran (Better Placed) said he’s seen examples of candidates choosing a tech company based on career progression and the goals of the company, not just salary. “If the tech is interesting, you can still hire the right people.”

Richards (Zuto) said introducing a six-month internal programme to train people about engineering and nurturing junior talent to “help them blossom” has worked really well for the business. One challenge has been recruiting senior staff across engineering and product teams.

Hunt (Apadmi) said investing in the company’s HR and people team, along with its aptly named Apadmi Academy, has been beneficial. The original cohort of people who joined the business stayed and the vision is to recreate that and train staff through graduate recruitment days. The right talent isn’t always about who is the best, it’s also about a candidate’s approach, exciting projects, career development and a great culture.

Peter (Zuto) agreed about culture, adding that staff were a bit nervous about coming back into the office but it has become really valuable to have open sessions and demos to create excitement amongst the team. Staff have really enjoyed getting together, even if it’s just for breakfast or pizzas. 

Whiteley (Bruntwood SciTech) said hosting events and bringing a group of businesses together “really promotes community engagement”. Based at Circle Square, Disney host events every few months with people travelling as far as London or Glasgow just to see what the company is up to now and to learn from them.

Howe (Bolser) said building a culture with people that work well together is vital and it isn’t always about skill-sets. 

For both Collier (Connex One) and Wright (Connex One), the people that have stayed with the business are those that have friendship groups. Although the company makes time to have fun whether it’s games or cinema nights, there needs to be a balance where staff can spend time together in work too.

Opportunities and AI

Prior pointed to recent stats released by the DCMS, where Manchester tech companies raised a record £532m of funding in 2022. He asked attendees what the current opportunities and challenges are across the North.

Howe (Bolser) said there’s a nervousness in the market driven by global tech cuts and said there will be a ripple effect.  

Smith (Tribus Digital) laughed that a challenge in Leeds is that Sky Bet, Channel 4 and HMRC all code in the same language. He agreed that global tech cuts will have an impact on the industry but that there are many opportunities with data to create insightful decisions.

Bellingham (Netsells) said a few years ago, pitches were all about innovation and future growth but now it seems to be about stability and opportunities in how a business can keep going in a scalable and effective way. 

Hunt (Apadmi) said some clients are still recovering from the impact of Covid or budgets if funding is needed from the government. Apadmi has been able to pivot the type of services it offers clients which has led to opportunities, there’s still a need for technology even with global job cuts. 

Prior asked about the potential of AI and where it might be going.  

Bellingham (Netsells) said people that are nervous about AI, probably understand the least about it. Equally, the people who are most excited about it don’t understand it either. Describing it as more of an aide in a writing room, it will be a tool to get to a better solution rather than replacing jobs. 

Hunt (Apadmi) and Smith (Tribus Digital) agreed, adding that it’s another tool in the toolbox. There is a need to be aware of it and figure out how it can become a competitive opportunity.

Similarly Howe (Bolser) said there is a big opportunity with AI. If a project stalls or there isn’t the right amount of staff to tackle it, this tech will help. For Wright (Connex One) it has become a huge selling point, AI can help businesses become more strategic with customer journeys whether it’s through AI on live chats or speech analytics to help contact centres become more advanced.

Richards (Zuto) agreed. AI has become a really big opportunity to triage enquiries as more customers embrace communication online, whether that’s through text, email or chatbots. Although personal interaction is important, tech can offer a faster response across every channel.

Wright (Connex One) said with the rise of online shopping and the next generation of digital savvy customers used to instant gratification, businesses have to keep up with that business demand. Collier (Connex One) added working with a large online fashion retailer, 62% of traffic is through WhatsApp for returning items.

Howe (Bolser) wrapped up the discussion, adding that AI gives you an opportunity to compete but you have to put the time and effort into understanding how it can leverage your business.