Management Update Week 10
Positive reactions to Underlined acquisition
Now that news of Underlined’s acquisition has become widely known, we note that reactions have been very positive. This applies both to the market and internally. For instance, Jorgen received numerous congratulations from the industry.
Enthusiasm and healthy concerns
Jorgen signals that a wave of consolidation is going on in the current market anyway. “On top of that, the neighbour’s land only comes up for sale once. You can’t always plan that. This plays a role as well in this case. Internally, this acquisition also falls well because Underlined’s activities fit nicely with ours and can enrich them. Our researchers in particular are enthusiastic. Of course, there is a healthy concern internally whether this isn’t all a lot at once. It is, and some colleagues will be waiting to see what happens. This is why we are appointing an experienced programme manager who will realise the integration of the various companies quickly and, above all, carefully.”
Proudly staying connected
“Full integration, also administratively and in terms of location, is part of our single brand strategy”, says Jorgen. “This reduces the emotional blockages that always occur during a takeover and which we fully understand. It is then in everyone’s interest to deal with this properly and promote a smooth integration. In terms of culture, this always takes longer, which is why we are now also setting up a culture programme. With this, we are building a healthy culture so that we remain proudly attached to our new organisation.”
Practical benefits
The brand names Underlined and ROCX’R will remain for the CX platform, but with the addition by MarketResponse. This is in line with the product portfolio in the field of data tooling and research software. “You also have to look at the acquisition from the perspective of changing customer needs,” says Jorgen. “They increasingly demand data-driven and automated services. Besides this strategic advantage, the takeover provides practical benefits. For instance, it allows us to fill a lot of vacancies at once.”
Business Update on 16 March
During the Business Update on 16 March, we will elaborate on our strategy and recent acquisitions. Of course, there will also be an opportunity to ask questions.
You can read more about the new employer branding and value proposition process elsewhere in this Update.
We are building a healthy organisational culture
We are in the process of merging several organisations into one club. This is new for us, and also for our clients and the labour market. To remain proud and connected with our new organisation, as well as to bind new talent to us, we are going to build a healthy organisational culture with a strong employer brand.
The MarketResponse Feeling
That is why we are starting an employer branding and value proposition process. We do this together with you, our employees. After all, nobody recognises and understands our organisational culture better. We carry out this trajectory with the external agency Hugo Strategy. Part of the traject is the set-up of project team The MarketResponse Feeling, in which colleagues further develop the positioning and employer story. This is based on questions such as what is actually the desired culture and what makes working at MarketResponse special. A number of colleagues have now been invited to this. The external agency also holds confidential one-to-one interviews with colleagues. This first phase of the process provides input for further structure and plan development and the recruitment process.
Results come naturally when we have fun together
Everyone experiences it from time to time. You work hard on a project and you and your colleagues put in extra hours. And then it still doesn’t produce a profitable project. Thus, our employee survey will undoubtedly reveal that certain teams and departments experience a high workload.
Room to do nice things
To get a good picture of all this, we set up a management dashboard. This provides insight into how projects are going and whether we are getting anything out of them. Or why hard work does not always deliver the intended results. According to Hilde, manager Finance & Control, the dashboard will contribute to a fun company, with time for training and for an outing. “If we all have fun, the results will come naturally. Then your efforts pay off in every way and we will have the space to do those fun things.”
Seeing and understanding what we spend time on
Therefore it is important to see and understand where we spend our time. “The dashboard shows this through KPIs. We can see, for example, whether it is better to charge for day parts instead of hours. Or we establish that we are discounting some customers too much. The business efficiency that this brings gives room for pleasure. Then the occasional extra hour of work doesn’t matter. This all matters now that we have different generations in house with different expectations. And because we are integrating companies in terms of processes, customers and colleagues. With insights from the dashboard, we turn efficiency into lower workload.”
Vrijmibo becomes DoMiBo XL
Sponsoring the vrijmibo is not really a success, due to the limited number of colleagues present on Fridays. Therefore, from now on – by popular demand – we will sponsor the DoMiBo XL. This takes place every last Thursday of the month in the Brasserie, including opportunities for singing and dancing led by a DJ.