1. Case Study – eBECS
March 2014
Snapshot – impact of GrowthAccelerator
• An ambitious growth strategy targeting turnover of £100m in five years
which delivered 30% growth last year as well as the Fastest Growing
Company Award from the Business Excellence Forum
A wider leadership team skilled and empowered to drive the company’s
transformation from an owner-run business to a truly commercial
enterprise
A thriving graduate programme with a 30-strong annual intake which is
overcoming a critical skills shortage.
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About
Started in 1999 by Managing Director Kevin Hall and three colleagues,
eBECS designs and delivers Microsoft software solutions enabling
companies to run their business from end to end in a way that improves
performance, cuts inefficiencies, maximises sales and optimises new
opportunities. A leading Microsoft Gold Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) partner, eBECS was named Microsoft Dynamics UK Reseller of
the Year in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and Global ERP Reseller of the Year
in 2013.
The business challenge
As they came to the end of a five year strategy that had delivered steady
progress, eBECS' founders were looking to the future - and seeing
Microsoft start to shift its focus to larger partners. They felt they had to
make a choice: sell or grow. They chose growth but recognised the scale
and speed required would demand less of their entrepreneurial owner/
manager style, which was causing something of a bottleneck, and
greater alignment of the senior team behind a common vision to get
every aspect of the business firing on all cylinders.
Sector: Business software development
No of employees: 250
Location: Chesterfield (headquarters). Offices in London, Swindon, Georgia USA, Jordan and Saudi Arabia
Turnover: £16m (2013)
Growth Manager: Marcus Pearson
Service used: Business Development, Leadership and Management Training
How GrowthAccelerator has helped
Working with Growth Coach Neale Lewis from
October 2012, Kevin set a challenging growth target
and drew up a business plan for 2013 which was all
about devolving responsibility and accountability to
his direct reports and charging them with focusing
exclusively on actions that would, in his words,
‘make the boat go faster’.
This single-minded, workshop-based approach did
indeed make the business go faster. The leadership
team stepped up to the plate with a new confidence
and toolkit and helped to take turnover from £11m to
£16m in 12 months. The company also successfully
tackled two troublesome issues hindering progress,
reinvigorating its original respectful, committed
culture which had been diluted by a series of
acquisitions. They also established a graduate
scheme whose recruits are impressing clients with
their energy and hard work and enabling the
company to expand its offer.
As eBECS embarks on its second year with
GrowthAccelerator, it is focusing on ‘turning the boat
around'. The company is introducing a new level of
agility by driving its new, growth-focused way of
working deep into the business and giving managers
and their teams responsibility for productivity
improvements and business solutions.
’We didn't know it would be possible to grow at
the rate we are now achieving but GrowthAccelerator
has taught us the art of the possible,’ says Kevin.
‘What I love is that it is has the flexibility to allow us
to put together, justify and get funding for a themed
programme of work that means we can take a
holistic approach to gearing up for growth. That is a
far cry from the selection of unconnected courses of
other business support offers.’
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