In the midst of all this Brexit talk, Hilltop Display Services is doing its bit to help European businesses to be stronger together.
I’m sorry, I’m going to say it: Brexit. Brexit, Brexit, Brexit. It’s probably been a while since you heard anything very positive about our departure from the European Union. Indeed it’s easy to be swept along on a wave of doom about almost anything to do with the European Union and the implications of the UK triggering Article 50 on European trade. But it’s not all tin hats and trench-digging.
“ if you ask us, European business co-operation is stronger than ever”
A key client for Hilltop is heavily involved in European work: 80% of its business last year took place place outside the UK, the majority of which was within the EU. But rather than worrying about what could go wrong if the EU trade deal negotiations with the UK don’t go our way, they are focused on forging stronger links with the network of partners that they work with across the continent.
To this end Hilltop’s Neil Russell-Bates was commissioned to liaise with and draw up Service Level Agreements for all their international partners, to help ensure the commitment of all the suppliers to the high standards the company is expected to provide to its clients. Neil consulted internally on what stakeholders within the business wanted SLAs to achieve, and talked to some of the key partners to gauge what potential issues there might be. Based on those discussions he drew up draft agreements. He then presented the approved agreement to the clients’ clients at a conference and they all signed up within 10 days, more than a month ahead of the target date.
A delighted client asked Neil to do further work on improving the way the client staff communicated and briefed the supply partners, tracking their performance against the SLA. This work is also progressing well with surprisingly good results emerging at a very early stage, as a result of which Neil has been contracted to work on a number of other strategic initiatives.
So if you ask us, European business co-operation is stronger than ever. Just don’t pay too much attention to most of what you’ll read about Brexit in the press and social media…
Neil Russell-Bates, Hilltop Display Services