CEO Monthly Oct

18 CEO MONTHLY / OCTOBER 2017 , Waterstons, an innovative UK business and IT consultancy, has opened its first office in Scotland as it eyes further growth and expansion. Leading UK Business And IT Consultancy Opens Scotland Office Waterstons, which has its UK headquarters in Durham and another office in London, opened the doors to its new office on the M8 corridor between Glasgow and Edinburgh in September of this year. Waterstons Limited was established in 1994 and is a UK-wide Business and IT consultancy with its headquarters in the North East of England and offices in Glasgow and London. It is dedicated to providing IT solutions across a wide range of sectors, including higher education, manufacturing, AEC, energy, transport and logistics, and professional services. Waterstons has been shortlisted in the Gold Employer of the Year (50-249 employees) category at the Investors in People Awards 2017 (to be announced in November) and was also shortlisted as one of the Best Tech Places to Work in the National Technology Awards 2017. The privately-owned company has a strong culture of trust and transparency which extends throughout its highly skilled workforce to clients and suppliers. It empowers employees at all levels to take ownership for their work, leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of excellence for clients and with a clear focus on client outcomes rather than working hours. In return, employees are liberated to work how they want, when they want, to achieve the desired outcome for their clients and colleagues. A range of benefits include: self-directed flexible working hours; the option to work from the most appropriate place; unlimited holidays; and time to learn, develop and innovate through hack days or training and professional development programmes. For more than a decade, Waterstons has worked with a number of high profile clients in Scotland. The firm, which employs 130 people across the UK, has already made three key appointments and is currently in the process of recruiting more employees for its base at Regus Eurocentral, Maxim Park, Motherwell. Ricky Milliken has been appointed Regional Head – Scotland and will be leading the Waterstons team. Sally Edgar has been appointed as Senior Transformation Consultant and Cosmin Argatu has relocated fromWaterstons’ HQ to take up a position as Bespoke Consultant in the new office. It is expected that a further four or five people will be based at the Scotland office initially, but it is hoped that this figure could grow to 30-50 within five years. Waterstons has also partnered with Microsoft to run an education sector event later this month, and the company plans to host/co-host a series of business-focused and sector specific industry events in Scotland in 2018. Ricky has more than 17 years’ experience in IT management, having previously worked at a number of technology companies, including Sx3, Northgate IS and Capita. Ricky, who joined the company four months ago, said: “It’s the company values, capability and ambition of Waterstons that really resonated with me. We have a very efficient and professional business-focused outlook, offering technology as an enabler to maximise real business outcomes and benefits. “We’ve been leading business transformation, solving business problems and helping clients to generate a real return on their technology investment right across the UK for 23 years. The move to open a dedicated office in Scotland demonstrates our commitment to our existing Scottish clients and provides a fantastic opportunity to grow both our business and our team. “With an 80% client retention rate, we’ll be focusing on forging even deeper and wider links with our existing clients, while building upon our expertise in the higher education and manufacturing sector, including food and beverage.” CEO Susan Bell said: “We have been in business for almost a quarter of a century, and these are very exciting times for Waterstons. We’re an ambitious company with a strong desire to use technology to ultimately improve their performance, and we’re hoping to