Two boutique executive search firms discuss moving to a cloud-based CRM platform to help manage growth. They were looking for a system that reduced administrative burden through features like seamless LinkedIn integration and mobile access. While data migration was a main concern, working with an expert partner helped ensure a smooth transition. The new platform has increased productivity and cut costs.

1. Two boutique firms in Strategic and Executive Hiring discuss the rationale and
impact of moving to a cloud-based platform.
Key findings:
Smaller executive search firms are increasingly benefitting from technology to help manage
client and candidate relationships
The transition to a new system requires a trusted partner to help with data migration
Ease of use, with intuitive functionality, promotes user adoption for a rapid ROI
Cultural change must play its part to ensure using digital capability becomes a habit
The seamless integration with internal systems boosts productivity.
To set the scene, can you tell us a little about your business?
Andy Symes @ GlobalCity Resources:
We’re a specialist recruitment agency with a team of 3 people who focus on contract and permanent
resources in the Oracle and PeopleSoft markets. So, for example, when a new Oracle or PeopleSoft
implementation or upgrade takes place, we find the specialist skilled resources the client need to successfully
deliver each project on time and within budget, whether it’s in house or working on client site. It’s a
competitive market with a number of big players. In branching out on our own as a small, niche agency we
moved away from the ‘big company’ culture to push a small firm ethos built on strong customer
relationships.
Tom Bailey @ Bailey & French:
We have two lines of business – recruitment and consulting – and are currently a team of 13. Our recruitment
service specialises in placing Risk Management, Legal, Technology and Strategy professionals across industry,
consulting and financial markets. The roles we recruit for typically have a technical/specialist focus or are
leadership positions. Our consulting arm focuses on performance management across all industries, using a
‘strengths’ focus informed by positive psychology – we echo this in our recruitment processes, setting us
apart from traditional recruitment service providers.
Andy Symes
Business Manager
GlobalCity Resources
Tom Bailey
Managing Director
Bailey & French

2. How important is technology in supporting your growth ambitions?
Andy Symes @ GlobalCity Resources:
We view technology as a vital business enabler, from our online presence, to our database of clients and
candidates. As an important business asset, our technology platform needs to have broad-ranging
functionality and should enable us to compete in the digital world. We’d been using the same system for a
number of years but realised it was no longer meeting our growth ambitions. We were recommended
Invenias as an alternative and have been using the platform since October 2015.
What was the rationale behind moving to a cloud-based system?
Andy Symes @ GlobalCity Resources:
User accessibility is important in terms of our technology and our move to the Invenias cloud-based platform
has made this easier than ever. We’d previously been server based but can now access everything we need in
the cloud, so we’re not wedded to where we work – and it’s fully integrated with Microsoft Office, which is
technology everyone is familiar with.
What were you hoping to achieve by moving to a new system?
Tom Bailey @ Bailey & French:
One of the issues with recruitment is that consultants are not keen on admin. It’s a fact! But admin is hugely
valuable in building up your latent knowledge of clients, candidates and the industries you serve. The
development of LinkedIn has been so big, but it’s become a passive tool and you have to actively manage
and track all the contacts in it, adding to the administrative burden.
A CRM system that is utilised properly is hugely useful and is where technology enables more efficiency, but
it’s up to the user to develop the right habits so that you get the most out of such technology. With the
move to the new system we hope to achieve an improved admin capability that enhances, rather than
detracts from our core operations.
I’ve used a lot of CRM systems over the years and heard about Invenias from a former colleague. Its
integration with Outlook is important in terms of reducing the need for excessive admin: our previous system
wasn’t integrated with email and this seemed fundamentally wrong.
What were you looking for in your choice of technology platform?
Andy Symes @ GlobalCity Resources:
A key criterion was a platform that would cut the amount of admin we needed to do. Why? As Tom points
out earlier, admin isn’t a strong point in our business sector. We are essentially sales people with a focus on
our customers, not on the admin required to manage all the different layers of information and contact. Thus
the ability to integrate the Invenias database with our LinkedIn contacts was a big draw. We were able to
download 2,500 LinkedIn contacts automatically, drastically reducing the time spent on admin.
Invenias is also highly intuitive with all the tools in the right place. For example, we can simply click on a tab
to Skype a client or candidate, whereas previously we had to cut and paste a phone number before we could
use Skype. So again, we’re saving time and effort. The Connections Tab is another useful tool that we use a
lot. When we add a candidate to LinkedIn from automatically identifies and links us with similar candidates
and projects. This is the type of functionality that makes a big difference to how we work.

3. Tom Bailey @ Bailey & French:
We’d moved offices and were actively looking to replace our system, using the relocation as an opportunity
to start afresh and move to a predominantly cloud-based set-up. We simply weren’t using our old system to
its full potential and, as a cloud platform, Invenias was a logical choice for us. The integration with LinkedIn
was key. We’d previously relied on Excel spreadsheets and data stored in people’s heads, but now this is all in
one place and is measureable.
As a boutique search firm, how important is the support you get from your technology vendors in
terms of staying on top of technology developments?
Andy Symes @ GlobalCity Resources:
Technology is changing so fast and you have to constantly update things, such as your website and ways of
engaging with clients and candidates. And we know that digital engagement is only going to get more
important in terms of how we work – and how our clients and candidates expect us to work.
Yes, it can be difficult to stay on top of things, but technology is an enabler as well as a challenge. For
example, we’re able to access our Invenias database in the cloud via our mobile devices, which means we can
work freely and remotely, wherever we are. We also automatically get regular updates from Invenias, so we
don’t have to think about whether we’ve got the latest software, because it’s all done for us. That’s an
important asset for a smaller search firm like us.
Tom Bailey @ Bailey & French:
We have an external IT firm supporting us but it is essentially down to me to keep abreast of the latest
technology trends. So it is really helpful to have regular updates automatically provided by Invenias at no
additional cost because it frees me up to focus on other aspects of the business.
What are the main concerns for a smaller sized company when choosing to replace their existing
technology platform with one that supports long-term growth?
Andy Symes @ GlobalCity Resources:
I’d say the main concern would be similar to that of ours when we first thought about moving to a new
platform: the challenge of migrating our data. We work in a niche area, searching for and managing
candidates with unique and highly sought-after skills. The thought of losing our candidate database and
having to start again sends shivers down my spine. That’s why a partner with proven migration expertise is so
important.
We can’t operate without our database, so we were impressed at how quickly Invenias moved our data from
our old system to Invenias. We worked with the Invenias Migrations team to ensure the migration went
smoothly. It was so straightforward that we felt we only needed to maintain our old system for a couple of
weeks as back up before switching entirely to Invenias.
Tom Bailey @ Bailey & French
The biggest challenge I’d cite is not so much the technology itself, but the culture: it’s important to make
using new technology a habit to yield its full potential. That’s why it’s essential that any system is intuitive
and easy to use.

4. Can you define the value that your investment in technology brings to your business?
Andy Symes @ GlobalCity Resources:
We’re already seeing the benefit of a cloud platform from an internal perspective with the removal of our
server. This has cut our IT support costs, but that’s not the only area of cost saving. Because Skype is
integrated in Invenias, we’re not using business phone lines and have seen a reduction in our monthly call
costs of between 50% and 60%. This quickly adds up for a small company, especially in our case because we
make frequent calls to the Middle East and throughout Europe as we help to resource major Oracle and
PeopleSoft projects.
Tom Bailey @ Bailey & French
The integration with LinkedIn is fundamental in terms of what we do. In fact, it was one of the factors in our
decision to invest in Invenias. Other systems on the market had some element of integration with LinkedIn,
but only Invenias could do it properly. This integration dramatically reduces the legwork of transferring data
between LinkedIn and our Invenias search database.
Just by shaving off a small percentage of admin time helps to improve our efficiency and we are still learning
how to get the most out of the Invenias system so that it’s more than just a contact database. For example, I
am integrating it with all that I’m doing, including search work and using the Invenias Client Portal to
communicate with key clients.
To watch a brief overview video of the power of Invenias please click here, or for more information
about Invenias, please visit the website www.invenias.com.
For more information about Global City: www.globalcityresources.com or Bailey & French:
www.baileyandfrench.com
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