Andrew
Name
Andrew
Position
Chairman / Non-Executive Director / Board Advisor / Mentor
Location
Midlands
Big Business Experience
Olivetti
Sperry Univac (Unisys)
Small Business Experience
CCL
Summary
Andrew’s career started by qualifying as an Accountant in the Military; upon leaving the Military, Andrew was offered an opportunity to capitalise upon his qualification and joined Olivetti to sell accounting machines, aka first-generation Computers.
Olivetti was renowned as the premier sales training Bootcamp; Andrew enjoyed success with Olivetti being the top salesman in the country, quite an achievement as Olivetti had over 300 salesmen in the UK. This was followed by a move the selling Mainframe computers; however Andrew had a desire to establish his own business; in 1984 he did so, with two ex-Olivetti colleagues focused on sell hardware and software. In 1986 Andrew had the vision to establish an Independent IT Consultancy to sit client-side to assist buyers of MRP/ERP systems; this ultimately became the largest business of its type in the UK
The Consultancy business was primarily focused on SME’s, this being a mixture of established companies and well-funded ‘rising-stars’
The experiences gained over 30 years of working across almost every SIC code; with and a host of different challenges, was the ultimate ‘school of learning.’
How would Andrew describe himself, and how would those who know him describe him?
- First and foremost, a salesman
- Driven by a pioneering spirit
- The developer of business strategies
- Listener, Questioner & Problem solver
- Mentor to like-minded entrepreneurs
- Keen awareness of market drivers and competition
- Enthusiastic & entrepreneurial
Qualifications
- B1, B2 & B3 Cost and Management Accounts, Royal Army Pay Corp, Armed Forces
- Foundation Part 1 & Advanced Part 2 Sales training; Olivetti
- Corporate Account Management, Intermediate & Advanced; Sperry Univac
Key Areas of Expertise
Over three decades, Andrew’s Consultancy delivered over 2500 consulting engagements, some 70% were multiple engagements for the same client. The scope of clients covered 90% of SIC classifications with a focus on SME’s; however, the business did on occasion stray into FTE 250, as well as Government
The Consultancy was focused on Business transformation utilising ERP solutions as an enabling technology
Expertise covered:-
- Understanding business strategies
- Quantifying the process & procedural ‘blocker’ for success
- Reengineering processes through technology
- Solution specification and selection
- Implementation and change management
Experience
Andrew developed a philosophy of ‘values and measures’ which underpinned his business; that philosophy has been subsequently tailored to suit a variety of Chairman/Non-Exec/Mentor engagements. These values were not merely taken from textbooks; Andrew’s company conducted over 2500 Consulting engagements across SME’s, Corporates & Government, covering almost all SIC classifications. Andrew’s philosophy was an amalgam of all he has learned and implemented in the ‘real-world.’
The sequence of these headings may change from engagement to engagement; the focus may be tailored, but as a ‘good-practice’ checklist, it works
- Understand your market and your competitors
- Develop and communicate your business plan
- Innovation & differentiation
- Human capital/attitude strategy
- Sales professionalism and excellent Customer Service
- A marketing plan that creates a ‘Brand’ and generates traffic and ‘leads.’
- Implement Quality standards, Governance, Systems, and Processes that ‘work’
- Operational excellence and efficiency
- Understand the numbers
- Do all the above, as well as possible, and Profitability plus growth will follow