issue no.1 / 2020 / launch edition woodward · when i got asked to interview paul bashir for the...

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Sir Clive Woodward TALKS RESILIENCE

“We are operating in a highly uncertain period. The challenges we’re facing today areunprecedented and we find ourselves in scenarios that we could never have predicted.”

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

I N T R O D U C T I O NGAVIN GLEAVE

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C O N T R I B U T O R S

L E A D E R S H I PSIR CLIVE WOODWARD

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L E A D E R P R O F I L ECLARE McKEEVE, CEO; TLNT HOLDINGS

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L E A D E R P R O F I L EPAUL BASHIR, CEO EUROPE; HARRISON STREET

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T E C H N O L O G YGILES CLAYTON-JONES, FOUNDER; BARD LONDON

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W O M E N I N B U S I N E S STRACEY McEACHRAN; LONDON CHAIR, WOMEN IN SOCIAL HOUSING

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B U I L D T O R E N TIAIN MURRAY; L IV CONSULT, DIRECTOR BTR CONSULTANCY (EUROPE)

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T H O U G H T L E A D E R S H I PALUN JAMES; MD, 53NG

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T H O U G H T L E A D E R S H I PGAVIN GLEAVE; CEO, F3GROUP

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P U R P O S EDAVID BUTLER; CMO, F3GROUP

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S P E C I A L R E P O R TJAMES BUTLER; HEAD OF PUBLIC SECTOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, F3GROUP

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S H A R P S H O O T E R SJAMES KEYWORTH; HEAD OF SYSTEMS & PERFORMANCE, fu3e.dig i ta l

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SUMMER2020

Welcome to the launch issue of maniF3sto, analytical IQ from the F3GROUP.

As a development management consultancy that works across the industry powered by the leading edge technology of fu3e.digital our first issue looks at general issues affecting all of us.

These are summed up by no one more eloquent in the world of business leadership than England’s Rugby World Cup winning coach, Sir Clive Woodward, who writes on resilience, to the market leading views of Harrison Street’s newly appointed European CEO, Paul Bashir, Clare McKeeve, Chief Execu-tive Officer at TLNT Holdings SA (Talenthouse, Ello, & Zooppa) and the valuable insights of women in our industry through Women in Social Housing Chair, Tracey McEachran. Iain Murray, Director of LIV Consulting, writes a brilliant piece on just why need to Build, Build, Build to Rent and former Head of Brand at McLaren and founder of Bard, London, Giles Clayton-Jones, matches that with an insight on the Fusion of Business and Technology while maniF3sto editor, David Butler, writes about the point of Purpose, an area of expertise that has seen him work with market leaders around the world. Alun James, an authority in the media industry and a former Managing Director of Four Communications, follows on from Sir Clive’s theme of resilience with his thoughts on righting the corporate ship in the current storm. We also reveal through our own “Pain Report” some of the big issues facing the public private sector and there’s an interview with our own James Keyworth on his motivation about technol-ogy as he helps create our fu3e.digital platform.

We are an organisation led by innovation and quality. Through fu3e.digital, whose new ad campaign we break here in our pages, we set out to design, develop and deliver solutions to challenges through our industry leading “single pane of glass” dashboard that not only gives real-time updates analysing millions of pieces of information, but also works to predict prospective outcomes and give our clients a unique insight.

That’s also been the motivation for our launch of maniF3sto... analytical IQ… at your fingertips.

Enjoy the read!

Introduction

CEO F3GROUP St James’s Gavin Gleave

m a n i F 3 s t o L A U N C H E D I T I O N 2 0 2 0

>> TRACEY McEACHRAN

WHO: London chair of WISH helping clients develop high performance teams.

WHAT: Talks why the future of women in property is more than wishful thinking.

>

PAUL BASHIR

WHO: Harrison Street, Chief Executive Officer of Europe, one of the world’s leading in-vestment management firms.

WHAT: In conversation with F3GROUP CCO Rob Hen-derson.

> ALUN JAMES

WHO: Managing Director of 53NG, a strategic communi-cations consultancy.

WHAT: Talks about navigat-ing new waters - steering the corporate ship.

>> CLARE McKEEVE

WHO: Chief Executive Of-ficer at TLNT Holdings SA (Talenthouse, Ello, & Zoop-pa), the world’s largest cre-ative community.

WHAT: Talks to maniF3sto about how technology is har-nessing the creative human spirit.

GILES CLAYTON-JONES

WHO: Partner at Bard Lon-don, a strategic communica-tions agency.

WHAT: Talks about the fusion of technology and business; shaping the world we live in.

>

GAVIN GLEAVE

WHO: Chief Executive Officer of F3GROUP, one of UK’s leading development and capital management consul-tancies.

WHAT: Talks new world, new thinking.

>

IAIN MURRAY

WHO: LIV Consult, Director BTR consultancy (Europe)

WHAT: Talks why we need to build, build, build to rent.

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SIR CLIVE WOODWARD

WHO: Sir Clive Woodward, Rugby World Cup winning coach and leading business motivator.

WHAT: Speaks building resil-ience and leading in a time of crisis.

EDITOR - DAVID BUTLER of F3GROUPCREATIVE DIRECTOR - JUSTIN BISHOP of F3GROUPSPECIAL REPORT - JAMES BUTLER of F3GROUP

Contributors


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WELCOME

By Sir Clive Woodward, Rugby World Cup winning coach and leading business motivator.

BUILDING RESILIENCE AND LEADING IN TIMES OF CRISIS

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Leaders play a crucial role in uncertain times — and how they behave in this period could be the thing that makes or breaks your company. But embedding new skills, behaviours and mindsets from a distance is a challenge. And in our current market conditions, it is an urgent one.

So, I wanted to share a few bits of advice on how to lead and build resilience through this current crisis based on a combi-nation of my own experience, and some examples from Hive Learning’s Resilience Works programme — a digital toolkit for surviving and thriving in uncertain times.

1. Learn from every setback

I don’t think anything that I have ever dealt with in sport and business can be compared to what we are currently facing. This is much more serious than rugby.

However, every setback I have ever experienced I always see as a potential learning opportunity. I never lose, I either win or I learn.

From a sporting point of view, one of the biggest setbacks I faced was losing in the quarter finals of the RWC in 1999. For several weeks the pressure to sack the coach was intense — luckily I was backed by the team and the board, and was de-termined to do things differently going forward.

When you have a setback the most important thing the leader must do is make sure their team realises it is only a setback. To build a winning team you first have to learn how to build on your successes, when you have them, and how to minimise the damage to self confidence and momentum when things go wrong – and in this current climate, many things will go wrong.

You need your leaders to be able to Think Correctly Under Pres-sure (I call this T-CUP). This doesn’t come naturally to everyone but it is something you can teach.

For example, Hive Learning – the peer learning platform that I founded in 2013 — have developed a toolkit designed to help people build resilience in themselves and their teams, lead from a distance, and solve problems fast. It focuses on giving people really practical actions they can put into practice immediately.

One practical way to get your people in the mindset of solving problems quickly is to get your people thinking about multiple pressured scenarios you might encounter and thinking about how they would respond.

The more you do this over time, the more comfortable your team will get responding to pressured situations. We are likely in this current crisis for a while yet, so make sure you dedicate time each week to scenario planning to get your team comfort-able with responding to and pivoting with change.

‘‘I NEVER LOSE, I EITHER WIN OR I LEARN.

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“We are operating in a highly uncertain period. The challenges we’re facing today are unprecedented and we find ourselves in scenarios that we could never have predicted.”

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“Your team will be more resilient and move faster if they solve problems together - swap, challenges and ideas to find solutions quickly.”

“To build gritty teams, as a leader you need to be both high challenge and high support.”

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2. Be collaborative and share knowledge quickly

I have a principle I use called Teamship. Teamship is about the team discussing things, sharing ideas and being open. When you have a small team, you can often create that by meeting regularly and being together.

Building connections between yourself, your team, and your peers has never been more important now we’re all dispersed.

Given we are operating in a digital world, there are ways tech-nology can help you scale teamship across your whole com-pany.

Your team will be more resilient and move faster if they solve problems together - swap, challenges and ideas to find solu-tions quickly. It’s really important you give an opportunity to give everyone a voice across the ranks – from the 18-year-old ap-prentice who’s just come straight from school, right across to the CEO.

Hive Learning works with a FTSE100 client called Halma to provide them with one central platform that enables their teams to immediately share thoughts and ideas while getting instant feedback on what everyone else is thinking. From their peer learning networks, they’ve come up with entirely new business models, increased productivity and reported record profit-growth and been able to communicate core business info at speed during Covid-19.

Our success through this crisis will ultimately be determined by the way in which we communicate, collaborate and support each other and our customers. So give your people a way of collaborating together to solve problems faster from their homes and across borders in a way that’s immediate and scalable.

3. Offer high support, but don’t forget about offer-ing high challenge

We are operating in a challenging and uncertain period. People are anxious and unsettled and will constantly seek certainty. Apart from their obvious concerns about health and family, they will also be worried about the implications of this pandemic on their job and income. So it’s essential that you offer your teams a high level of support in this time.

In the excellent book Grit by Dr Angela Duckwork, she makes the argument that to build gritty teams, as a leader you need to be both high challenge and high support.

The balance of support and challenge that we bring to our teams is critical to leaders. Our current conditions naturally pro-vide a level of high challenge - we need to lead with empathy but also remember to manage performance when required - helping people improve and navigate the crisis together.

As a Chelsea season ticket holder I’m a big fan of Jose Mour-inho. For his first few years at the club, Jose was the master of the high challenge and high support environment and this was backed up by the success of the team. But by the end of his

time I think the balance was wrong. The level of challenge was still high but the level of support was too low. Too much chal-lenge with low support can be stressful for everybody and leads to inconsistent results.

But you can go too far the other way as well. Too much sup-port without challenge is often more comfortable for people, but issues are not dealt with directly, and people are never chal-lenged to improve constantly.

High performing teams should allow a time and a place for con-flict and radical candor. As long as everybody walks out of the team room holding hands. That’s more important than ever at this time.

4. Model the behaviour you want to see in your team

People look to leaders being involved to clear the way for them to be open. They want to know what you’re thinking, that it’s okay to share and be vulnerable. Technology can help you make that very visible and help your people feel like they’re part of something very special.

Be visible, be approachable and keep open lines of communi-cation. Be positive when listening to concerns – you may have to spend a lot of time repeating the same messages but the more time you spend building trust and sharing with your team, the more likely they are to do their best work.

In summary

With our leaders facing unprecedented times of crisis, embed-ding critical leadership behaviours from a distance has never been more important.

Leading effectively in these uncertain times means taking noth-ing for granted and empowering your team to move as quickly as they can while keeping their best interests at heart.

The world is going to have to learn how to operate differently and this may be a good opportunity for us all to think about how we might use this break to end some old behaviours and to start some new ones.

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FEATURING CLARE McKEEVEOF TLNT HOLDINGS SA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

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HOUSING TALENT Clare McKeeve, CEO of Talenthouse, the world’s

largest hub for creatives, talks to maniF3sto about how technology is harnessing the creative human spirit...

www.talenthouse.com

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“It’s about talent and quality of work and that’s massively empower-ing. It’s the ultimate meritocracy in content creation and only through technology could we be able to deliver this.”

The writer’s challenge, having spent an hour with the brilliant Clare McKeeve, is how to condense that hour into a linear feature that can fit into a limited space. It’s no surprise then that the University of Glasgow law graduate come Chartered Accountant fellow, banker, investor, private equity doyenne and media board director should now be CEO of the world’s largest online community of creatives.

The other challenge is how to give justice to someone who rarely speaks publicly, a mother and stepmother of six with a blue riband corporate career and an entrepreneurial flair that is now, quite literal-ly, harnessing the collective human creative spirit. And it’s only 9am on a Monday…

TLNT Holdings, which owns Talent House, Ello and Zooppa, is building the go-to hubs for four million designers, graphic artists and digital fundis from Venice Beach to remote villages in India. The con-cept is anything but linear. It’s organic. Evolving. Fizzing.

“I’m a process engineer at heart,” explained McKeeve, “I jumped into technology on behalf of a shareholder and now I oversee the largest creative department in the world.”

That department, which offers out and delivers creative genius for clients as impressive and diversified as the UN and Warner Brothers to Huawei and Microsoft, extends across 195 countries; connecting talent to projects with growing opportunities to mentor, educate and teach entrepreneurial skills to a global creative community previous-ly restricted by location and background.

“Our team of 35 can reach over four million,” added McKeeve,“with one million of them being purely creative. Their work has been used by Porsche, Nike, Procter and Gamble and the UN’s COVID cam-paign.

“Essentially we have democratised the whole creative industry. It now no longer matters where you live, where you were born, who you know.

“It’s about talent and quality of work and that’s massively empower-ing. It’s the ultimate meritocracy in content creation and only through technology could we be able to deliver this.”

In a corporate career that started at UBS Warburg and KPMG then moved via Objectivity Partnership to Macquarie Group, where she finished as an MD, Clare embarked on an entrepreneurial life that included a luxury brand portfolio, Luxcite, and as Founding Partner of Aletheia Partners was nominated by eFinancial News twice: once for Deal of the Year and then again for German Private Equity Fund of the Year with Enterprise Value for investments made by the firm exceeding €2 billion.

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Design for Oracle

Campaign

° Oracle, in partnership with Zenith Optimedia, called on Talenthouse to amplify their media partnership with Computer Weekly, and generate a variety of interesting editorial assists

° Talenthouse engaged the global creative community to design the front cover of the Cloud Edition of the Business 20/20 report series

Results

° The campaign generated over 250 inventive submissions that visualised how cloud based computing radically transformed businesses and the way people work

° Several pieces were featured in Computer Weekly and across Oracle’s channels

Work by #TalenthouseArtist (from

left to right), this page: Eduardo Chaves USA

Demet Bahcivan Turkey Angel Pardo Spain

Romain Monbertrand France

Previous page: Mario Bosko UK

Sofia Uribe Correa Colombia

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As MD of Eaton Gate Capital for the past eighteen years she has been a private capital advisor to large private clients with projects including capital raising advice on large luxury retail developments, financial services and asset management for sovereign clients. Projects to date for the Group have exceeded €9 billion with geographic coverage ranging from the US, Europe, Middle East and Australia. One of these featured the Louvre development in Abu Dhabi. Like I said, blue riband.

“I’m very privileged.” She explained. “Firstly, I have happy kids, that’s the most im-portant thing. My ethos has always been to work bloody hard and be kind.

“To me, it’s about finding what you love and then finding ways of making money out of it. For Talenthouse, creatives don’t get into the industry to pay the bills, they do it out of passion for what they do. So for us it’s how do you build that enterprisation of talent, plugging into the passion economy and finding what you really love.”

For a self-declared process manager from a corporate career that psychometri-cally tested their employees we’re moving into visionary territory. A vision that now sees Talenthouse globally partnered with Snapchat and exploring vertical banking through the platform.

“Technology is phenomenal but it has to work and be useable.” She adds. “It needs a human layer over the top as it’s about telling a story. How do you create that story? You can’t just burp words on a page. A page needs crafting, then you automate, learn and aggregate.

“Technology speeds things up and there’s the powerful sustainability angle; you don’t need to be on planes anymore. It’s incredibly democratising.”

On which note in September McKeeve will be launching Club House in partnership with the Design and Technology Association allowing brands to pitch briefs and partner with schools. The impacts of this are limitless for the creative industry, not only unlocking the potential of budding creatives whose works are largely restricted to art class walls but also getting across the hearts and minds of the next genera-tion. A generation who brand owners really have no clue about.

And all this from a woman with six children and half a dozen jobs. “I got on with it,” she explained. “I work hard and I made my own opportunities, which can be challenging when you’re a working mum.

“I really believe that women excel. We’re efficient, we’re organised and we talk less and listen more. I really think we need to forgive ourselves if we’re working too and sometimes can’t fit it all in.

“Don’t dwell. Get on with it. Keep moving forward.”

I’m listening....

“Technology speeds things up and there’s the powerful sustaina-bility angle; you don’t need to be on planes anymore. It’s incredibly democratising.”

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When I got asked to interview Paul Bashir for the launch of maniF3sto, I wanted to call the story “For-mer Flanker Flying with Harrison Street”, but the editor wouldn’t let me. Not one to ever be bridled, I get to say it here. Because let’s face it, he is.

“I loved my experience as President and at Round Hill Capital,” he says as we head to the first tee.(He’s very good at golf too, I’m yet to find an Achilles heel...)

“It was a big decision for me to leave Round Hill, I loved everything about the firm, but the Harrison Street opportunity is one that comes around once in a lifetime - so that was something I just couldn’t pass on. Harrison Street is a wonderful business and we have ambitious growth plans in Europe powered by a market leading team and excellent best of breed partners.”

A great platform is like calling Paul’s first drive average - 300 yards, straight at the pin. Harrison Street is a leading investment management firm exclusively focused on alternative real assets. Headquarted in Chicago with an office in London, the firm has more than 160 employees and approximately $27.3 billion in assets under management. Clients of the firm include a global institutional investor base domiciled in North America, Europe and Asia.

Paul is now CEO of the European business. A natural progression, obviously, for a former back-row forward with Newcastle Rugby. Which isn’t to take away from the B.A. in Accounting and Financial Analysis from Newcastle and ACA qualification or that while at Round Hill Capital, he managed a busi-ness with an $8+ billion portfolio as well as a team of 260 people across 15 offices in 14 countries. He has overseen investment and development projects, regulatory approvals, complex re-financings and capital raises in multiple European locations across a wide array of real estate asset sectors including retail, commercial, residential and student housing.

And now he’s sinking a birdie putt on the first. Some days you really can have it all.

“Harrison Street came into Europe in 2014/15,” he explains, “the initial drive into Europe was through student accommodation where we are market leaders in the US - so Europe was a natural stepping stone for this investment thesis. Students will continue to be central to our business in Europe but we have already started to expand our platform here into life sciences, healthcare and alternative residen-tial sectors such as build to rent and co-living.


OUR SUCCESS IS DRIVEN BY THE SELECTION AND SUPPORT OF OUR PARTNERS ‘‘ A

CUT ABOVE

Paul Bashir joined Harrison Street in 2020 and is a member of the firm’s Manage-ment Committee. As Chief Executive Officer of Europe, Paul leads the expansion of Harrison Street European strategies and he is also responsible for overseeing and growing the firm’s team of professionals across the U.K. and Europe. Has over 20 years of experience in private equity real estate, operations and corporate finance. www.harrisonst.com

FEATURING PAUL BASHIROF HARRISON STREET, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF EUROPE

Paul Bashir, CEO of Europe at Harrison Street, takes to the golf course with F3GROUP CCO Rob Henderson.

“It was a big decision for me to leave Round Hill, I loved everything about the firm, but the Harrison Street opportunity is one that comes around once in a lifetime.”

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“Our business is centered on creating strong partnerships with best of breed local operators in our target sectors and we are proud to have some of the best partnerships in Europe.”

Harrison Street’s investment strategy in Europe, led by Bashir, will also be looking to expand deeper into Central Europe and to expand to the Nordics, with a continued focus on expanding their network of operating partnerships.

“Our success is driven by the selection and support of our part-ners and we have some of the best in class partnerships to build our strategies, models and execution with,” he continued.

“Our partnership philosophy extends both sides of the Atlantic and is core to our business principles and performance.”

Which is firmly backed up when one reads the raft of interviews given by the firm’s Founder and CEO, Chris Merrill in Chicago. Best in class partners, innovative strategy, outstanding perfor-mance returns.

But what of Covid? I ask, hoping to distract an obviously very expensive back-swing.

“Understandably our partners have been very focused on shor-ing up their business and protecting cashflow,” he explains.

“The sectors in which we tend to invest have residents and these need to be cared for, so there is a very strong focus on providing a safe and secure environment for residents as well as protecting the underlying cashflow of those businesses in these uncertain times.

“The capital markets in Europe literally paused for several months. Business stopped while people were uncertain about the market response and the world was reacting to an ever changing environment on a daily basis. It was a completely unprecedented time. Covid does not seem to be going away unfortunately. It looks like we will have to live with it for a long time, so we need to figure out how we can get back to a more normal working environment as quickly and as safely as possi-ble. We, along with everyone else, are trying to figure out how best to do this!”

STRONG PARTNERSHIPS

“Central London in the long term will not change.”

Sensible words, as I’ve come to expect from a man whose decisions have helped shape that normal in our sector.

“We are fortunate to be investing in sectors where there are strong underlying fundamentals – sectors such as healthcare, student, life sciences and rental accommodation.” He continues.

“Why? Because there are compelling macro-strategies and structural supply and demand imbalances across those sectors. I expect Q3 and Q4 to be very busy as activity picks up and people return to work.”

So how is Europe dealing with Covid? I ask.

“The consensus of expert opinion is that Europe will emerge out of the crisis in a better state and quicker than the US. Within Europe there are also markets that will be more attractive than others too. Investor activity for example is up in Ireland, the Nordics and Germany. All markets which we are heavily focused on.”

Moving our discussion closer to home and Central London’s permanent sense of being stuck in a Sunday these days, Bashir is equally Bullish.

“Central London in the long term will not change. It will remain the epicentre of business and life in the UK but what we will see is certain trends created by the current environment remaining and changing how we do things. It will be interesting to see how these trends evolve and which ones lead to permanent shifts in consumer habits. One thing is for certain – Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of technology across our lives – which can only be a good thing.

“People still need places to sleep however, no matter how much technology they consume. The type of accommodation that people want may change however, but they will still need somewhere to sleep. We have seen trends of people wanting accommodation with more in-house amenities and outside space. They will want to be able to work remotely but not necessarily from the confines of their 35sqm studio apartment. Remote working facilities in residential buildings I think will become common place and increasingly sought after. People, I believe, will start to become much more interactive with the buildings where they live.”

And then of course there are our discussions around the fu3e.digital platform, partly my excuse for 18 holes on the golf course.

“I said fu3e.digital was a game-changer when I was Round Hill Capital,” he adds. Another hole up.

“And I’m saying it too at Harrison Street. For an investor to instantly know their position through one dashboard, with clarity and absolute up to the second accuracy mitigates our risk and allows us to deploy our funds quickly and with qualification. Like I said, we only work with best in class partners. It’s a game-changer.”

Delighted as ever to share time with a real force in our industry, sadly mine didn’t over the 18 - not a great day for me over the remote, fairwayed office.

Exciting times all round though. Speaking of which…. ours awaits in the 19th hole and a definite expected improvement on my backswing…..

“Our partnership philosophy extends both sides of the Atlantic and is core to our business principles and performance.”

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Whilst the entire building was designed to create a reaction in those lucky enough to visit it, McLaren’s greatest achievement was not a fancy looking building, nor was it pro-ducing some of the world’s leading technol-ogy breakthroughs. Where McLaren - under the eagle-eyed direction of the genius Ron Dennis - got it right, was that technolo-gy wasn’t the goal, it was the servant, the force-multiplier if you like. The real goal was simple, to win.

I have been privileged to see at very close range some of the world’s leading technol-ogy companies and my experience tells me that all too often the relationship between technology and business isn’t about human advantage, it is about technology for technol-ogy’s sake, and that’s where the trouble lies.

How do you create the perfect fusion be-tween technology and business? How do you manage technological breakthroughs to ensure they deliver for us and aren’t the goal in their own right? The answer lies in an obvious truth. If there is a customer need and your technology meets it, you have a winning formula. If you create the technology and then attempt to retrofit it to the customer need, by definition it won’t fit perfectly, and the rubbing will cause pain in the long run.

A few years ago, I started a communica-tions firm with some colleagues with the clear and simple aim of putting the cus-tomer at the heart of what we do. As we had a financial services bent, and due to my experience working in Israel in the past, it wasn’t very long until we started working for several blockchain derived cryptocurrency firms. Blockchain for me is the very essence of a technology that hasn’t yet found its human purpose, it is a solution desperately looking for a need, and to date failing to find it. This is the very heart of the technology and business debate. When Facebook was founded, I am sure no one knew that it was going to be more powerful than governments and hold the balance of democracy in its hands.

Technology has the ability to do great good, to create great wealth and make our lives unquestionably better. But it also has the ability to confuse, to create solutions to problems that don’t exist and become the very reason for being. Business has been conducted for thousands of years and successful businesses have always used the latest technology to change the game and gain an advantage. But the really clever businesses, those that win races, harness technology rather than worship it.

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I will never forget the first time I entered the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC). Having parked my car, I walked through a long, perfectly white, underground corridor that took me to a lift and then to the reception in the very heart of this cathedral to innovation. This journey was deliberate and designed to clear your mind, to focus you on the experience of entering one of the UK’s greatest technology companies. I did this same act for nearly five years and the process never got stale.

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Photographer: Andrew Hoskins.

FEATURING GILES CLAYTON-JONESPARTNER OF BARD LONDON

Giles, a graduate of London University, began his profession-al life in the British Army, and then joined several large multi-nationals, including Ford Motor Company, BMW, and Rolls-Royce, undertaking senior in-house marketing and PR roles. After working as Head of Brand for McLaren Automotive, he formed Bard London a specialist communications consultancy. www.bard-london.com

Giles Clayton-Jones, former Head of McLaren’s global brand and founding partner of Bard London, reflects on how business and technology is innovating our future.

BUSINESS;SHAPING THE

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Tracey has a wealth of experience working across a diverse range of roles and sectors. She is also on the board

of Directors for Women in Social Housing (WISH). The network for women from all parts of the housing sector.

www.wishgb.co.uk/our-regions/london

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THE FUTURE OF WOMEN IN PROPERTY IS MORE THAN

WISHFUL THINKING

“WISH embraces the female mindset.”

FEATURING TRACEY McEACHRANLONDON CHAIR OF WISH

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I envisaged that my interview with Tracey McEachran, London Chair of Women in Social Housing, (WISH), would lead us into the labyrinth of the public sector, instead we end up discuss-ing shadow selves and Jungian visualisation. Which is no great surprise given her day job at Curious Minds Consulting is that of someone dedicated to building high performing teams and individuals, via a sojourn as an artist.

It is also not surprising really, given the view by many women that they are not to be treated as a minority (they aren’t, statis-tically there are more women than men) but as part of a whole. Our discussion therefore wasn’t all about women’s issues, but about the whole. That in itself is seismic. A beleaguered male approach would be to bemoan his problems. Aquarius Rising is about seeing across the whole landscape. Another tick on my assumption that sooner than later, women are going to step in and sort out our masculine mess.

Through her training at Curious Minds, Tracey “helps people get a better lens on themselves” and this too seems to be a major part of WiSH, which she describes as being “a place where women can safely come together to build their network, to seek advice on building their career, build their personal brand, un-derstand and build their purpose and think about what they want their legacies to be.”

Again, I’m agog, as when men meet in groups the personal brands discussed tend to be on their wrists and the legacies debated are usually those of their football teams. Over-simplis-tic maybe, but you get my point.

While Tracey acknowledges there is a very real discrepancy in the property industry where there are certainly less women in high posts than men – as indeed the same for ethnic minori-ties and those from the disabled (hateful word) community she doesn’t finger point in any of the usual places.

“Female role models”, she notes, “are a lot less visible than male; conference platforms are dominated by men, yes, but also men are much better at doing things for each other.”

WiSH embraces the more female mind-set of doing the training, “Men talk about skills and maybe swap training for role models whereas women focus on doing the training,” she adds.

“Men give themselves a tick, women really value formal training where perhaps, society gives them a tick. Men somehow al-ready have the badge.”

The “badge” Tracey refers to is not only in property and is per-haps losing its lustre. One need only look at how female led governments such as Germany and New Zealand fare against male led governments such as the UK and the USA in dealing with Covid, or as Tracey sums it up, “Where women educate themselves, in a property world that is still very much about who you know, men are still caught up in the fake it till you make it.”

More women are taking the lead in public sector. More wom-en are setting up and running successful property companies. Women are also more focused on getting qualified.

Time for the fake it till you make it approach to sharpen its pencil…

“Men give themselves a tick, women really value formal training where perhaps, society gives them a tick. Men somehow already have the badge.”

Tracey McEachran, London Chair of Women in Social Housing (WISH) and founder of Curious Minds Consulting, talks to maniF3sto.


BY IAIN MURRAYOF LIV CONSULT, DIRECTOR BTR CONSULTANCY (EUROPE)

Certainty is by its own definition the thing that differentiates between good and bad in most things, but in the Property Investment world it quite literally has a value. When the RICS introduced the Material Uncertainty Clause right at the start of the Pandemic it caused a ripple right across the investment market. Basically, it threw MUC at all the Project Valuations in play looking for funding. The consequence was a collective pressing of the Pause button. Money stopped flowing!

In the subsequent months something unpredictable happened in the Multifamily (US terminology) and Build to Rent (European terminology) sector. People paid their rents. They did not just pay them, they paid their arrears, and they extended their leas-es. Okay, the latter was probably a necessity given you could not go and visit a prospective property to rent. However, the rest was borne out from a basic need for “certainty” in what was the world’s most uncertain time. People need a place to live, and they paid their rent to ensure that was not something else they had to worry about.

LIV Consult parent company Cortland and the UK manage-ment business LIV Group reported that they collected near nor-mal levels of rent in March, April, May, June and July and given the scale of this collection in the US in particular (58,349 units), it proved that Multifamily/BTR is a resilient Asset Class. Couple this with a high number of positives from a customer care per-spective of living in a professionally managed ‘community’ (not the focus of this article) and investors are beginning to press Play again and projects are moving forward.

Investors in any sector love certainty and where they encounter uncertainty they add ‘risk pricing’ to account for it. Where this

risk price becomes problematic is when it tips a viable project into the unviable bucket bringing the Sword of Damocles down on Developer’s heads.

The good news for the Build to Rent Sector in Europe, particu-larly in the UK and Ireland, was that RICS lifted the MU Clause from both BTR and Logistics, or as the industry has christened this “Beds and Sheds”. I was in discussion with a well-known National Family Owned Contractor (who also Invests) and they told me that their new Business Plan was focussed on, Beds and Sheds! Not just ‘any’ beds I hasten to add, but BTR beds. If you have a residential for sale project to fund, you might want to scratch off the ‘sale’ and replace it with ‘rent’. If it says ‘hotel’ then hopefully you have a Plan B.

The consequence of all of this is not the opening of the flood gates for inward investment into BTR, but more of a re-focus-sing of funding towards it. In the months preceding C19 we saw a significant increase in the interest of American Institutional and Private Capital into the UK and Ireland market because the market was young and the metrics were positive. If anything, some of these metrics have moved towards BTR during the pandemic.

Iain is director of specialist consultancy arm, LIV Consult, with an unrivalled Facilities Management and Lifecycle pedigree.www.liv-group.co.uk

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“This is NOT a Capital Cost driven Project, it is an Income Generating, Yield Driven, IRR Specific Investment Product.”

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In other words, it is not about the inconvenient speedbump that is the erection of the bricks and mortar, but instead it is about the income that it generates when it is open, full, and stable. This is where an Operator led consultant (LIV Consult) and an experienced Devel-opment Manager (F3) adds value to the delivered project.

Here are the ingredients to the BTR recipe:

• Operationally driven

o Design

o BTR Apartment Design including design for sharing

o Specification from a Whole Life Cost perspective (Lifecycle)

o Best-in-class Amenities (Resident Lounge, Gym, Roof Terrace and more)

o PropTech

o The Fastest Broadband on the Planet

o Back of House Provision

• “Resident First-Living”

o Outstanding Customer Experiences

o Dedicated on-site people who love what they do

o A Customer App

The outcome of this thinking being driven in at the earliest possible stage of the project is the procurement of a project that has the lowest possible blend of Capital Cost, Operation-al Cost and Lifecycle Cost over say 30 years. An Institutional Investor, Private Equity Funder, Hedge Fund or REIT will look at this Investment Rate of Return (IRR) and if it delivers “cer-tainty”, then they will invest.

If you then add a best in class Customer Experience driven management platform (LIV Group/Cortland) then you have happy customers (you might have called then tenants be-fore) who love where they live and pay their rent.

What is not to love!

The BTR metrics are:

• Supportive Socio-economic and Demographic data, particularly among the 20+ to 45 age group, although not limited to

• A positive Rental Projection Model with the prospect of Rental Growth

• Good Transport links to Employment

• Employment with income that can demonstrate Affordability

• Demonstrable demand for rental in the location

• Comparable Rents to build BTR rents onto

• Supportive Planning Regime for BTR

• Detailed Operational Cost Model showing the appropriate Net Operating Income (NOI)

• A Lifecycle Model (ideally up to 30 Years)

We have a track record of delivering a BTR Investor Appraisal Reports which have all these met-rics and a detailed analysis within it, which is used by Investors to build their own Financial Model and support the approval of the funding.

LIV Consult now produces a Z-Score for the Investment Metrics of every single Postcode of BTR interest across the UK and Ireland to identify the places which deliver the most compelling BTR investment metrics.

Best-in-class Amenities (Resident Lounge, Gym, Roof Terrace and more).

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design...meeting your challenges

Powering

fu3e. digital - is a leading edge technology platform that is specifically designed for management; with resource for developing and delivering

strategic and technical solutions.

Managing Director 53NG, a strategic communications consultancy, and formerly UK CEO of Four Communi-cations.www.53ng.co.uk

BY ALUN JAMESOF 53NG

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NAVIGATING NEW WATERS – STEERING THE

CORPORATE SHIP

UK managers are facing a series of navigational challenges as they seek to steer their companies into calmer and richer waters. Brexit head-winds, the tsunami of the global pandemic and the strong currents of diversity, equality and inclusion have left many captains of industry either in the doldrums or in the eye of the storm.

There are rocks and reefs all around: the economic uncertainty of to-day; the corporate mistakes of the past; and the working environment of tomorrow.

Here are five fundamentals to help sail the Seven Seas:

1. Make sure your “ship” is seaworthy

Expectations of the way a company behaves have changed. Your cor-poration is being evaluated by its response to Covid-19 and wider En-vironmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues, notably Black Lives Matter. Responses need to be multi-layered: acknowledging past fail-ings; ensuring that the policies and practices of the current organisation are fair and representative; and putting meaningful corporate citizenship front and centre and not cosmetic platitudes in the annual report.

Underpinning the big ticket items, companies need to reassess corpo-rate resilience and scenario planning; challenge and update risk regis-ters; and revisit issues preparedness and management.

“Make sure your “ship” is seaworthy.”

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FIVE FUNDAMENTALS TO HELP SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS

“Regular soundings with clients, customers, suppliers and employees can help reset True North and ensure that everyone wants to arrive at the same destination.”

2. All aboard and all hands on deck

As Facebook and others will attest, how the corporation behaves is first and foremost judged by its employees. The process of deter-mining corporate values has flipped. No longer are these decided by the few in a boardroom brainstorm and then ‘sold’ internally. Now the company must be the collective conscience of the people who work for it. This is more than a rewrite and must be translated into behaviours and norms, especially as remote working becomes more prevalent. Behavioural change is not one way and manage-ment is under greater scrutiny to behave, empathise and act ac-cordingly.

3. Check the charts and the changing seascape

Looking up and around has never been more important. In an age of disruption, who are the competitors and what are they doing? Technology is changing fast and is creating new markets and great-er efficiencies. The regulatory framework is being overhauled in re-sponse to Brexit and Covid-19. Efficiency, although still important, is being balanced against risk as ‘Just in time’ becomes ‘Just in case’.

In a changing environment some certainty is required. What are the points on the charts that are fixed and around which change can be navigated?

4. Keep an eye on the weather

The medium-term forecast includes the end of the furlough scheme; a seismic Autumn budget; and the pulling together of 2021 budget plans. Those that have stayed close to their clients, stuck with their suppliers and aligned with their audiences will be better able to read the trade winds and shelter from the storm.

The weather will determine whether the corporate priority is survival, revival or repurpose. Maybe now is the time to forego short term profits for longer term market share?

5. Take regular compass readings

In times of uncertainty, it is best to be clear on your destination and to make small and frequent adjustments in direction. Annual trends and comparisons have become meaningless. Clarity com-bined with agility and flexibility encapsulated in a three-month rolling spreadsheet has replaced the Five-Year Plan. Regular soundings with clients, customers, suppliers and employees can help reset True North and ensure that everyone wants to arrive at the same destination.

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develop...smart solutions

fu3e. digital - our leading edge analytical intelligence platform used by professionals, can be employed alongside resource or deployed as a stand-alone SaaS platform providing

teams with transparency at every stage of the development, project or business.

Powering

38 39

‘‘‘‘NEW WORLD,NEW THINKING

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In a recent article by Forbes, the magazine cited that while approximately 70% of companies had digital transformation plans in place, most were not far enough advanced to mitigate the huge disruption caused

by Coronavirus Covid-19.

Furthermore, according to the Harvard Research Review, of the $1.8 trillion spent by companies on technological innovations in 2018, some $900 billion was wasted on schemes that proved ineffective.

Whilst we are seeking to innovate - a driving human condition - it seems we are not always that good at it. Perhaps a case of the busy vs productive argument.

Cataclysmic episodes are often the catalysts for major, positive transition. The Second World War in this country was followed by the birth and evolution of the NHS and an entirely different lens on life. Forbes assert that this current episode will have major future effects in four key areas; telecommuting, food and services, events and the cloud.

For our clients at F3GROUP; global professional services and the property and construction industries, the effects will also be significant.

Professional services that cannot integrate their information, se-curely protect their data and continue to service their customers will fail. Banks, lenders, project managers and manufacturers who cannot transparently and quickly understand their position, in real time, and be aware of the multiple risks and challenges, will see their supply chains frozen or unable to deliver.

In 1918, the Spanish Flu, with its global mortality of 20 million, similarly paralysed whole regions. Populations were bedridden, cities closed - and with no way of personal or collective com-munication that we have today.

Today, due to technology, business can still function and chil-dren can be home-schooled, by their schools, en masse. This would have been unprecedented in its scale even 20 years ago.

As risk managers led by technology, the fusion of these to F3GROUP is obvious. It’s why we have invested and even piv-oted our business to the fu3e.digital management technology platform. A single pane of glass that assimilates tens of thou-sands of documents and millions of pieces of information into a simple, visual, real-time dashboard.

In the New World of post Covid-19 - and New World is not an understatement, new thinking, productive technology, not busy, work creating technology, will be the future difference between resilient businesses and those that are volatile to the next tsu-nami.

Our digitally home-schooled children, logging in to their daily lessons, working out to Joe Wicks and snapchatting each other to stay in touch, will wonder in a few years how things were ever done differently...

Gavin Gleave has over 30 years’ corporate and real estate de-velopment experience and is one of the founders and principal owners of the F3GROUP. With the support of a dedicated and experienced team, Gavin has created one of the UK’s leading private real estate development management consultancies.

BY GAVIN GLEAVEOF F3GROUP, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Whilst we are seeking to innovate - a driving human condition - it seems we are not always that good at it. Perhaps a case of the busy vs productive argument.

New World post Covid-19.


40 41

PURPOSE/’parpas/

I’m sure there’s more than one or two of us who have recently been sitting at home, scratching our heads and wondering what is the point of everything. Where has life’s meaning and purpose gone as we sail the choppy seas of Covid?

David has almost thirty years’ experience working in cor-porate, lifestyle and purpose. He is former CMO to Elle Macpherson, the Honda F1 Racing Team and the Laureus World Sports Awards. He was CMO of the winning bid to brand the OWO Hotel, Whitehall – the most ambitious hotel and real estate project in London and former media manager of the Cape Town Olympic Bid, the 1997 British & Irish Lions team sponsorship, Contributing Editor to GQ Magazine and MD with the Octagon Group.

BY DAVID BUTLEROF F3GROUP

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“Purpose (capital P) is starting to impact the scale of that profit and the behaviour and effectiveness of those who are engaged to create it.”

Many of us may also have found that in the absence of meaning or purpose, life and well-being have taken something of a turn for the worse. Humans suffer without a context of purpose or a sense of meaning.

Extending that rationale into a larger, more organised corporate entity – often the expression of the human collective – should yield no real difference. Corporates and businesses who have lost a sense of themselves, of their meaning or purpose, inher-ently fare worse than those that have them. I’ll quote some facts and figures from some very prestigious sources to support the case. But surely it’s common sense?

The bottom line purpose of companies is just that. The bottom line. Profit. Our capitalist system is designed such that those corporates and businesses that do not generate profit cease to function. The core corporate purpose is profit. But beyond that corporate Purpose (capital P) is starting to impact the scale of that profit and the behaviour and effectiveness of those who are engaged to create it.

We have been circling this for some time. As humans do. Re-in-venting the wheel, possibly, or perhaps just filing its edges in order for it to run smoother as society evolves. Social respon-sibility was all the rage a decade ago. CSR popped up. Some embraced it. Others gave it to the legal director to have in their portfolio. That spoke volumes, that it should be a checklist to stay compliant with rather than an opportunity to embrace em-ployees and famously “make the difference”.

Now all companies have CSR. It seems to me that a company having CSR is as sensible, and necessary, as a man wearing his trousers to work. How can a company NOT be socially respon-sible? That in itself is a win as not much more than a decade ago few were even asking the question.

CSR then very much came to embody environmental practice. Again, how could a company NOT deploy an environmental policy? Well, truth is, most DIDN’T. We have a lot to thank Youtube for now that quietly pouring your toxic ink into a river that feeds a local community can be instantly broadcast to the world.

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So what then of Purpose? Recently, the CEO of Alva Group wrote that the first rule of Purpose is that you don’t talk about Purpose. This was in response to the negative effect of Covid-19. Or in other words, this is not the time to be banging drums. I don’t agree. Covid-19 is having an effect on the landscape and on society. The massive disruption to the old system is showing up its flaws. How did we really all commute hours on overcrowded trains to sit in massive offices when actually we have the technology, and the trust, to work an alternative method?

Nor is it any accident in this time of introspection that we are taking a lateral look at ourselves through movements such as Black Lives Matter and also more fully realising the effects of our own carbon impact on the planet now that carbon has been grounded on runways and in garages.

Society is collectively manifesting its own sense of self, and for many, their purpose.

Corporates have a lead role to play. Mercedes F1 painted its cars black in respect of BLM. Could we imagine anything like that in the time of Malcolm X?? Corporates identifying their Purpose, and ways in which that will impact the world around them and how that is communicated are all going to be major factors in what we see and how we start reacting to brands, products and services. The millennials, with their smart phones, are here.

So now for some of those stats that back all this up. There are hundreds of web pages on Google search. As long as two years ago Ernst and Young, whose mantra is now “Building a better work-ing world”(case proven), opened its Why business must harness the power of purpose report with, “For an increasing number of businesses and their employees, the pursuit of profit is no longer enough” before outlining the six key reasons why corporates need Purpose: 1. The trust deficit (thank the banking crisis), 2. Sustainability (unavoidable and also good for efficiency), 3. Social inequality (can no longer escape that 1% own 50% of the world economy), 4. Rising social media (no escape now folks), 5. Demand for longer term thinking (no longer about short term shareholder but long term value) and 6. Digitization (7 billion people will access mobile broadband by 2021…).

So what is Purpose?.. Purpose is authenticity. More than a mission statement and more than CSR, it is the blend of all of it, to the core of a company and its decisions. Those that have it will be here to stay because it also creates profit. It creates staff who are engaged. It creates a reaction from consumers to engage. And because those who pay it lip service will be found out.

What’s the point?

The point is to have one…

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“For an increasing number of businesses and their employees, the pursuit of profit is no longer enough.”

“Realising the effect of our own carbon impact.”


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deliver... through technology,resource and capital

fu3e. digital - can be used to monitor and report on single projects or whole businesses. It is real-time, transparent reporting giving the ability to make instant,

vital decisions based on up-to-the-minute data and projections.

46 47

SPECIAL REPORT

James has worked with disruptive and innovative Tech / Tech enabled businesses in the Global Real Estate and Legal sectors. He leads F3GROUP public sector business development.

COMPILED BY JAMES BUTLEROF F3GROUP

LP U B

I CS E C T O RH O U S I N GD E V E L O P M E N T

For almost 40 years F3GROUP has worked with our clients, delivering built environment projects across the private and public sectors. As we emerge from unprecedented times with the mantra “Build, Build, Build” ringing out from central government, we have engaged our teams to take a look at the key pain points which commonly frustrate the public sector development cycle and set them against the backdrop of a peri-od of significant change and green shoots opportunity.

New funding and a generational shift in planning policy have been prom-ised and exciting times await our sector. Nonetheless systemic bottle-necks endure and a renewed agility is required to move at pace and emerge stronger than before.


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PA I NPOINTS :

PA I NPOINTS :

Compliance with (PCR2015) adds layers of uncertainty, cost and time:

• National skills shortage around the built environment The public sector struggles to recruit and retain suitably skilled in-house staff. This results in extensive reliance on costly consultants and third-party consultancies, all of which still need to be directed and man-aged through internal governance procedures

• Time Drag caused by short contract consultants which create continuity issues and a lack of buy-in to projects

• Inexperienced or under resourced delivery teams can lead to programme slippage, contract variations and budget overrun

• Management of third parties and risks is still required by internal teams through the governance processes

• Programme Slippage which impacts housing targets and departmental KPIs

• Lack of Funding means that viable and ambitious schemes often fail to gain traction

• Poor Value Returns and Capital Receipts resulting from traditional approaches to the release of excess land

• Loss of Long-Term Revenue Streams resulting from overly opportunistic private sector deal structuring

CHALLENGESFACING PUBLIC SECTOR

Planning Reform 2020

Couple this irony with a complex, slow and often ill-fitting Homes England funding regime and there is little wonder that it takes so long to put a brick on a brick without offloading the family silverware via JVs which present a minefield of questionably opportunistic partnership weightings.

In addition to the notable changes to Permitted Development rights in June 2020, on the 6th August 2020 the UK Government also laid out its proposals for sweeping planning reforms in a White Paper titled “Plan-ning for the Future”.

A 12 week Public Consultation focused on new build developments now ensues with plans for legislation into the back end of 2020 subject to consultation responses and available legislative time.

The reforms include:

• scrapping section 106 agreements and replacing them with a new ‘levy’

• designating land according to three categories – growth, renewal and protection

• a greater emphasis on brownfield development – and designated Green Belt will be protected

• stricter rules to ensure every council has a local plan in place

• creating a fast-track system for “beautiful buildings”

• establishing local design guidance for developers

• ensuring that all new homes are developed to net-zero standards

• creating a First Homes scheme, which would offer newly-built homes for sale at a 30% discount for local people, key workers and first-time buyers

Seen widely as a shift to a zonal planning system, certain types of development in these “zones” would be allowed to proceed in line with more specific predetermined criteria, including height and massing, without the need for a formal planning application / permission.

The Government states that the reforms would cut red tape while maintaining building standards and added that local democracy would be “at the heart of the process”.be allowed to proceed in line with more specific predetermined criteria, including height and massing, without the need for a formal planning application / permission.

The Government states that the reforms would cut red tape while maintaining building standards and add-ed that local democracy would be at the heart of the process.

CHALLENGESFACING PUBLIC SECTOR


50 51

As most in the industry will be fully aware, central government has not been shy in committing large sums of money to tackle housing shortages, most notably over the past 5 years. Re-cent initiatives such as the heavily criticised c£7.7bn* “200,000 Starter Homes initiative” have been superseded, it would seem by the new “Build Build Build Initiative” which promises a new £12bn “Affordable Homes Programme” designed to deliver up to 180,000 new affordable homes.

The fact that over 50% of the “new funds” appear to have been recycled out of the 2015 commitment should not detract from the fact that this government appears to be betting the bank on the UK building itself out of the Covid-19 doldrums. One can only hope that access and drawdown issues associated with earlier incarnations of this initiative have been carefully consid-ered and will be properly remedied.

Into battle with a spoon…

Notwithstanding the known statutory and sector pain points, it is important also to acknowledge that so much is expect-ed of public sector bodies against comparatively small teams and budgets. The successive erosion of central government funding for Local Authorities in particular, has served to trim down the agility with which the public sector has been able to assess and approach potential schemes, despite increasingly demanding Central Government housing targets.

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So what comes next and how can public sector bodies take full advantage?

With the announcement of a considerable house build-ing funding initiative accompanied by a planning regula-tion red tape bonfire, an exciting period of opportunity lies ahead for the sector.

Nonetheless the practicalities, the “pain points” faced by the public sector will persist, especially as large building firms recover from recent balance sheet impacts and the industry recovers its feet.

We believe that the smart pathway is to choose an ag-ile and adaptable delivery partner who will work closely with you to deliver a truly end-to-end solution. F3 has the in-house skills and sector wide experience to help public sector clients at every stage of the development cycle, from feasibility to funding and through to project delivery. Where opportunities exist to JV we also have significant investment capital of our own to deploy via F3 Capital.

“Exciting period of opportunity lies ahead for the sector.”

““


54 55

James leads the development and growth of fu3e.digital

SHARPSHOOTERS

James leads the development and growth of fu3e.- our leading edge analytical intelligence platform.

He has a wealth of experience managing the integration and development of IT systems and web applications at an enterprise level.

A recent first-time father, he has also continued his cor-porate career and was recently awarded his Masters of Business Administration (MBA). Achieving a Distinction grade overall.

‘‘TECHNOLOGY IT’S WHO I AM.

Everything is so interwoven with technology nowadays; it is hard not

to be impressed by what is becoming possible

O N E O N O N EW I T H J A M E S K E Y W O R T H

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1. How do you see businesses integrating the adoption of emerging technologies with business strategy?

Many companies are already successfully adopting it, Pfizer being one. They reported saving 30,000 man-hours last year due to the integration of AI throughout the enterprise. As new advancements emerge, they will have an impact on traditional strategic planning activities, such as resource allocation and or-ganisation design.

I would predict that a company’s appetite for risk and level of business unit self-sufficiency will drive strategic decision mak-ing. As emergent technology becomes the new norm it will likely broaden opportunities whilst making existing solutions obsolete. Businesses operating in these markets will need to sustain a level of adaptability and foresight to maintain a com-petitive advantage.

2. How important is technology to business?

The recent Coronavirus crisis has demonstrated the impor-tance of technology to businesses in today’s world. In the UK alone, video calling has risen 62% since the previous quarter. As we all continue to become more connected and proficient in the use of technology, our expectations of the available solu-tions will rise as a result. Any business that operates technology touchpoints, needs to ensure their customers have a positive experience, as this will ultimately impact on any overall per-ceived value.

3. Tell us about fu3e.digital, why is it game-chang-ing?

fu3e.digital is changing the way businesses monitor perfor-mance at both a portfolio and project level. The platform pro-vides businesses with a ‘wide lens’: increasing oversight and transparency across workstreams. fu3e.digital can be inte-grated with existing technology solutions and tailored to oper-ate within established management structures, it is extremely flexible.

As a core product fu3e.digital combines intelligent analytics, automated workflows, real-time dashboards, task manage-

ment and more. It enables stakeholders at all levels to make informed decisions based on current data and projections.

In addition to this, the platform is constantly improving. We continue to work closely with our new and existing customers: to add new functionality, integrations and improving the overall experience.

4. What are some of the most ground-breaking technologies in the market?

There are so many great products and services available in to-day’s market, that are based on recent tech advancements. We can access our favourite applications through serverless hosting (Netflix), experience the real-world through augmented reality (Google Lens/IKEA Place), or simply setup our new de-vice with conversational voice interfaces (Alexa/Cortana).

5. What attracted you to the tech world?

I have always been attracted to the industry; I think it is the pace of everything and the constant evolution of products and services that keeps me interested. Everything is so interwoven with technology nowadays; it is hard not to be impressed by what is becoming possible.

6. How do you keep yourself up-to-date with the latest technology?

There are so many good sources online. The Big Four publish great material on upcoming trends, emerging technology, and industry insights. There are also lots of online tech publications that report on new tech research and innovations - Forbes Tech, CNet, Venture Beat & Wired to name a few - and of


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