Tag: #telecoms

Several images of headsets corded and cordless for a blog post Several images of headsets corded and cordless for a blog post Several images of headsets corded and cordless for a blog post

Unravelling the Business Headset Minefield

Written by Laura Swatton on 27 September 2024. Posted in Blog.

With remote working and a massive move ‘to the cloud’ for business telephony, the business headset market has boomed. Market trends indicate a growing preference for wireless and Bluetooth-enabled business headsets, along with the integration of AI and voice recognition technology. The business headset market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% from 2024 to 2031 (1). It could be argued that handsets are just so ‘yesterday’ as companies look for flexibility, convenience, and savings, which headsets now deliver.

With advancements in sound quality, noise cancellation, and wireless connectivity, investing in high-quality headsets has become essential for the modern hybrid work environment, whether in-office or remote.

When buying business headsets there are so many factors to consider before investing. You go cheap from the likes of Amazon, you may end up buying again, you buy quality headsets and there is a larger initial outlay, so the question is, is paying more worth it?

For a business owner looking to purchase the best headsets for a large or small business, buying cheap headsets might seem cost-effective at first but it can lead to problems that outweigh the initial savings further down the line.

One of the primary issues is that these headsets often come from unreliable or less reputable sources, which means they might be equipped with outdated software or firmware. This can lead to compatibility issues with modern devices, poor audio quality, frequent disconnections, or other technical glitches that disrupt your workflow. Entry-level headsets are typically manufactured by lesser-known brands, so may find it difficult to contact customer support if issues arise. In many cases, the companies behind these headsets either lack the resources to offer comprehensive support or simply do not prioritise it. Additionally, cheap headsets often don’t receive regular software updates, which are essential for maintaining compatibility with evolving technology and ensuring that any bugs or security vulnerabilities are patched.

To help you make a decision, we have created a checklist of points to consider…

1. Comfort and Ergonomics

Adjustable Headbands: Choose a model where the headband can be adjusted for different head sizes.
Cushioning: Opt for well-padded ear cups and headbands for all-day wear.
Weight: Consider lightweight models for enhanced comfort.

2. Sound Quality

Microphone: Look for noise-cancelling microphones that provide clear audio transmission.
Speaker Quality: Ensure the headset delivers a crisp and clear sound.

3. Noise Cancellation

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): For noisy environments ANC can help reduce background noise.
Passive Noise Cancellation: Well-padded ear cups can help block out external sounds.

4. Connectivity

Wired vs. Wireless: Decide if you need the flexibility of wireless or the reliability of wired connections.
Bluetooth: Check if Bluetooth connectivity is required for compatibility with multiple devices.
USB: Consider USB headsets for easy plug-and-play functionality.
Compatibility: Ensure compatibility with existing devices (PCs, Macs, smartphones).

5. Durability and Build Quality

Materials: Choose a headset made from durable materials that can withstand daily use.
Warranty: Check for a good warranty period to protect against defects. Here at Evoke Telecom we offer a 12-month warranty on most headsets and even 2 years on some of our recommended brands.

6. Microphone Features

Boom Arm: A flexible boom arm can help position the microphone in the ideal spot.
Mute Functionality: A quick mute function can be useful during calls.

7. Controls and Features

Controls: For adjusting volume and muting without touching the computer.
Multi-Device Pairing: Useful if employees switch between different devices.
Voice Assistants: Integration with voice assistants like Siri or Google Assistant.

8. Battery Life (for Wireless Headsets)

Talk Time: Ensure the battery life meets the daily usage requirements.
Charging Time: Consider how long it takes to fully charge the headset.

9. Ease of Use

Setup Process: Choose headsets that are easy to set up and use.
User Manual: Use a supplier that offers clear instructions for setup and troubleshooting.

10. Cost and budget:

Price Range: Determine your budget per headset.

11. Brand and Reviews

Reputation: Choose reputable brands known for quality.
User Reviews: Check reviews and ratings from other users for insights into the performance and reliability of both the headset brand and the provider.

“Evoke regularly reviews its solutions’ portfolio to ensure that customers access the best quality and value.” – James Clarke, CEO of JPL Telecom

12. Additional Considerations

Compliance: Ensure headsets comply with any relevant health and safety regulations.
After-Sales Support: Be aware of the availability of customer support and the process for troubleshooting and replacements. If you have worked with Evoke Telecom before, you’ll know that we pride ourselves on our customer service, so no need to worry about this one!

13. On-the-go employees

Protection: For employees who need to transport the headset from office to home, can they do this without damaging the headset?

14. Timescale

How quickly do you need delivery of your order?

Here at Evoke Telecom we offer the full works from corded, cordless, computer, and USB headsets, to call centre headsets. We have a range of top-tier and entry-level options available to our customers. We are able to provide brands that span across the industry but our most popular ranges come from the big 3, for example:-

We work with the big 3 and our most popular options:

Jabra
Poly
Sennheiser/EPOS

We also offer good value mid-range brands such as:-

Agent
JPL

How Artificial Intelligence is Reshaping the Telecom Industry

Written by Laura Swatton on 6 June 2024. Posted in Blog.

Today, the UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) market is worth more than £16.8 billion1 and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Keeping up with the ever-changing world of AI is certainly a challenge, so we wanted to take you on a deep dive into how AI is making a big splash and transforming everything from network maintenance to customer service in the world of telecommunications.

To grasp just how important AI is in today’s world, let’s start with some fun facts about AI’s growth and adoption in the UK from Forbes:

The UK AI market is already worth nearly £17 billion, according to the US International Trade Administration, and is expected to grow to over £800 billion by 2035.¹
The number of UK AI companies has increased by over 600% over the last 10 years.²
Around one in six UK organisations, totalling 432,000, have embraced at least one AI technology – according to government research.³
68% of large companies, 33% of medium-sized companies, and 15% of small companies have incorporated at least one AI technology.³

Now let’s explore the AI landscape…

Unlocking Valuable Insights

AI is like having a crystal ball for data. It’s constantly analysing huge amounts of customer data to provide insights into behaviours and preferences, helping telecoms tailor their services to what customers really want and need.

As a really simple but practical example, AI can transcribe your calls from their call recording file. It can then take this transcription and cut it down to a simple ‘synopsis’ of that call, which can easily be stored in your customer file or on your CRM. It can then apply some clever algorithms and generate a sentiment analysis for that call. It happens instantly and seamlessly in the background and is available for your teams to access and assess at any time.

Keeping Networks Running Smoothly

AI is a clever thing, with its AI-driven network optimisation. With predictive maintenance, AI’s algorithms can analyse vast amounts of data from network equipment to predict failures and anticipate maintenance needs, reducing downtime and improving reliability. With its traffic management capabilities, AI helps to manage network traffic efficiently by predicting peak times and optimising resource allocation to prevent congestion.

Customer Service Gets a Boost

In today’s fast-paced world, nobody likes being put on hold when seeking customer service. So just how crucial is high-quality customer service?

In 2024, 88% of customers think customer service is more important than ever.³
In 2024, 64% of customers said no matter how much they enjoy the product, if the company doesn’t provide good customer service, they will find another company to do business with.³

Thanks to friendly AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, your customers can get help 24/7 without any wait time. These bots can handle countless enquiries and troubleshoot issues, leaving your customer service agents to tackle more complex queries. And it doesn’t stop there – with Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms, AI dives into your data to offer personalised recommendations, making your customers’ experience feel tailor-made.

Fighting Fraud and Upping Security

Security is a big deal, and unfortunately, no one is exempt, even the big players get targeted. AT&T experienced a data breach⁴ earlier this year alongside T-Mobile in January and May 2024⁵. The good news is that AI is on the good side, the winners’ team. It’s like having a watchdog that never sleeps, constantly scanning for unusual activities that could mean fraud. By spotting these red flags in real time, AI helps keep your data safe. It works to identify potential security threats before they become a problem, helping your network, business, and customers stay secure.

Cutting Costs and Boosting Revenue

AI isn’t just about tech – it’s also great for business. By automating processes and optimising operations, AI can significantly reduce your costs, making everything more efficient.

Driving Innovation

The future of telecom is incredibly exciting with AI in the mix. AI is transforming the industry by boosting efficiency, enhancing customer service, securing networks, and driving innovation. It’s helping telecom companies stay competitive in a fast-paced market. With AI projected to grow to £801.6 billion by 2035, it’s clear that AI is here to stay—and we’re fully onboard. Are you interested in how AI can benefit your business? We’d be happy to help, simply contact us today!

Sources:

UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Statistics And Trends In 2024. May 2024, Forbes.
AI and the future of telecoms, April 2024, Business Reporter.
Bad Customer Service Could Cost More Than $3.7 Trillion, March 2024, Forbes.
AT&T data breach: Millions of customers caught up in major dark web leak, March 2024, BBC.
High Profile Company Breaches, March 2024, Electric.

Evoke Telecom Omnichat Evoke Telecom Omnichat

Supercharge your WhatsApp for Business with OmniChat

Written by Laura Swatton on 17 April 2024. Posted in Blog.

First, there was WhatsApp, a chat app service officially launched in November 2009 (1). It has skyrocketed to become the world’s most popular messaging platform, with over 2 billion monthly users (2); and every day more than 100 billion messages are sent on WhatsApp, talk about impressive (2).

WhatsApp for Business empowers businesses to build relationships and elevate customer service through direct, real-time online communication. With its diverse multimedia capabilities, businesses can effortlessly share texts, images, videos, and documents; whether it’s for product demonstrations, marketing, order confirmations, or delivery updates.

Now, let’s dive into OmniChat—a buzzword that’s making waves for all the right reasons. This one isn’t just noise; this one will help to keep your business from being left behind. So, when we mention “OmniChat” alongside “WhatsApp for Business”, we’re essentially talking about integrating WhatsApp into an omnichannel communication strategy—fully API-driven and no mobile number required. This approach acknowledges the changing preferences of customers to interact with businesses in the same way they communicate with family and friends.

With an Omnichat approach, your customer conversations across WhatsApp for Business, and your other communication channels such as email, SMS, and social media all funnel into one central unified platform. This means your customers can chat live with an agent or get automated responses from a chatbot, and, thanks to clever routing courtesy of Omnichat, enquiries are automatically directed to the right team member, giving your customer a great experience. Customer communications can come back to just one user – or even to a whole team be it sales, service, customer care, success, quality & compliance ~ you decide.

When a team member is on their well-deserved holiday or not at their desk, by using the out-of-office setting your team can redirect enquiries to colleagues or a designated team, or even the whole team, ensuring no lead slips through the cracks.

There are so many features to talk about that we could easily get carried away and turn this blog post into a dissertation so we’ll keep it simple with WhatsApp for Business API: Omnichat key features…

Business Profile: Set up a profile with all your important information like what you do, how to reach you, and your website.
Messaging Tools: Use quick replies, and labels or let the system do the talking with automated messages.
Integrations Galore: Easily integrates your preferred apps and technology stack into a unified hub.
Chatbots on Duty: Let the bots handle customer questions or qualify leads.
Team Access Made Easy: Everyone can jump into the conversation from one login, keeping everyone in the know.
Click to Chat: Make chatting with your team easy for your website visitors with just one click.
Dig into the Data: Get fancy with analysis and reporting to see what’s working and what’s not.
Bulk Contacts: Import all your contacts from your CRM or mailing list to send out promotions or updates.
Stay in the Loop: Tag contacts for mass notifications and marketing blasts.
Template Message Manager: Create templates to keep your messages consistent and add that personal touch.
Never miss a call: By adding within a message the ‘best number to call should you wish to talk to us’ we can move these calls across to your telephony platform, providing professional business routing, call recording, and those all-important business analytics.
Stay organised: You may be wondering how your team would handle all the countless messages flooding in, without getting in a muddle, they’ve thought of this too, with organisational tools such as labels and folders.
GDPR: OmniChat delivers a fully managed, GDPR-compliant, and centralised WhatsApp business messaging solution allowing you to safely and securely message customers within WhatsApp.

So, welcome to the realm of OmniChat and our trusted ally, WhatsApp for Business—a dynamic duo poised to help elevate your business goals while connecting with customers on their preferred platforms. So whether you’re a small business nurturing customer relationships or a large enterprise scaling your operations you can explore the possibilities of Omnichat for WhatsApp for Business by contacting our super-friendly team. So give us a call at 01590 278278 call our free-of-charge sales line at 0800 8403688 or drop us a line at hello@evoketelecom.com.

A simple telecoms hack to help your marketing budget!

Written by Laura Swatton on 5 March 2021. Posted in Blog, Uncategorized.

As businesses look to grow their customer base as we all emerge from lockdown, telecoms could be the answer that provides that critical insight into how well your marketing spend is performing.

Generating new business enquiries

With 45% of businesses reporting turnover below what is normally expected, business growth and recovery is high on the agenda for post lockdown Britain.

However, despite many predictions and speculations, we are not crystal clear yet as to what ‘the new normal’ will really look like? How far will our businesses need to adapt and change in line with new consumer habits or changing market demands?

It is a fine balance between reinvigorating your market opportunities to drive that essential increase in sales and investing your marketing budget in the right areas to achieve the best return.

When you do make the decisions on how and where to invest your valuable time and money, how do you then measure success?

Do you currently have a way of identifying where a new inbound lead was generated from? Was it from an advert in a local magazine? An industry article? A radio ad? A social media post? A blog? Or even from a visit to your website?

There are many complex and often costly systems on the market that provide analytics and management information that can be used to predict success strategies. But these come at a price and greater the cost of the analysis, the more leads you must generate to cover your spend, right?

This is where we share our super simple telecoms hack of the month, ‘the inbound telephone number’.

Where did those enquiries come from?

Evoke Telecom can help you with your campaigns analysis by providing dedicated inbound telephone numbers. This can be per campaign, per medium, or even per publication.

As a result, our customers can easily see where their leads are being generated and how many prospective new customers are being attracted!

The inbound bill and associated analysis provides insightful key metrics such as:-

How quickly each campaign generated a response
How many total responses were generated
Identification of calling trends – most popular time of day/day of week
Whether prospects called from a landline or a mobile telephone
Average call length per campaign

Inbound numbers are a cost effective yet powerful solution that enables businesses to identify how successful a campaign has been. Also, how best to shape future campaigns using the valuable data and insight collected.

How can I find out more?

Would you like to know more about how inbound telephone numbers can drive that key critical insight and make your marketing spend go further? If so, then please talk to a member of our helpful team at Evoke Telecom for a no obligation discussion. You can contact us by email at hello@evoketelecom.com or why not pick up the phone and call our free of charge sales line on 0800 840 3688 . We can’t wait to help you.

Pictures courtesy of Andrea Piacquadio and Ivan Samkov (Pexel)

Business Lock-Down Checklist ~ Managing Incoming Calls.

Written by matt on 31 March 2020. Posted in Blog.

Keeping your Business Connected – Incoming Calls.

In a new series of blogs on keeping your business connected during the lock-down period – today we look at managing your incoming calls.

As a country we are now moving into week two of the nationwide lock-down. To help, we thought we would put together a simple checklist of hints and tips on managing incoming calls from your employees, customers, suppliers or even parents.

So, what are the options for getting your customer calls to your teams at their homes.

1. Diverting your telephone lines. You can easily have a divert put onto your telephone lines. Theses will re-route your incoming calls to a single designated landline or mobile number.
2. Diverting calls from your phone system. You can have a divert programmed onto your telephone system for incoming calls. These can be diverted by telephone number or DDI. They can be routed to a single landline or mobile number per each company telephone number that you have. You can also have a divert programmed by extension or individual desk phone. This will require engineering time and remote access to your phone system.
3. Putting a message on your phone system. You can have a message put onto your telephone system. There are some professional recording companies that can do a super job of this for you should you wish. This will require engineering time and remote access to your phone system.
4. Diverting calls to multiple mobile telephones. If you are a SIP user this will give you some additional options. Some SIP providers are able to put a cloud solution ‘in front’ of your SIP lines (our Gamma Product is called SIP trunk call manager). This will enable you to divert incoming calls to a series or mobile telephones or landlines, all at once or in a chosen hunt sequence. If you would like to manage your call routing yourself you can do this via your own user portal. These do need engineering set up but are wonderfully flexible once in place.
5. Enabling your teams to receive incoming calls whilst at home. A simple solution to this conundrum is via mobile telephones. We for example are able to provide temporary 30 day mobile SIM cards on O2, EE and Vodafone. These SIM’s come with unlimited calls and text messages and are being offered at very supportive prices. It’s our way of helping companies the length and breadth of the UK as we all work through this current situation. If needed we also provide great value Samsung or other brand Android OS handsets.

This is the first in what will be series of helpful blogs – so do keep your eyes peeled for our next post.

If you need any help at all with any of the above – or indeed anything else then please do not hesitate to contact us. We can be contacted either by phone on 01509 278278 or by email at hello@evoketelecom.local or you can find us on twitter @evoke_telecom.

~ Stay Safe, Stay Home and please do Stay Well ~ the team at Evoke Telecom

As Coronavirus escalates we ask, do you have the technology to enable all your employees to work from home if they need to?

Written by matt on 28 February 2020. Posted in Blog, Schools.

Microsoft and Chevron are among 13 of the largest global companies who have asked their employees not to come into the offices and to work remotely, as a precaution against the Coronavirus or COVID-19 to use its scientific name.

This coupled with the inclement weather and unprecedented flooding makes Business Continuity planning and the capability for workers to be able to work remotely a ‘must have’ alternative for any business.

As the COVID-19 virus spreads across other parts of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, major companies like Microsoft, Hitachi and Chevron are asking their workers to work remotely as a measure against the rapidly spreading disease.

What is more we are starting to see school closures, meaning parents will have to stay at home, which in many cases will mean ‘work from home’.

We now see reports on BBC news that schools, colleges and universities could be closed for up to 2 months should “the UK be hit by a global pandemic of Coronavirus”.

If the number of UK cases increase and further precautions are required, such as homeworking and mass self isolation, can your business support this?

The key to effectively preparing for any business continuity scenario is to consider the needs of your workforce and what you will need to do to enable them to carry on working without compromising corporate standards, security protocol and customer experience. A significant part of this planning should focus on your telephony and IT environments as they provide the solutions which enable seamless flexible working. Today, existing technologies offer us increasing possibilities.

Many people think that by reverting to mobiles and logging onto the corporate network via broadband/wi-fi at home will solve the challenge but let’s think about how that could potentially compromise your business.

Mobile telephones – some businesses issue business mobiles to workers and some don’t. For a business mobile phone, if workers need to make outbound calls, they will be displaying their mobile number, not business number. Calls will also not be recorded if this is a usual or mandated requirement for your industry. If workers only have a personal phone, they might not want to use this and again, they will be displaying their personal mobile number to any customers. It will also potentially make it complex for workers to be compensated for call costs as well as the overall impact to customer experience and brand quality.
Telephony – If an office worker relies on a telephone on their desk or on their PC to make/receive calls, how will business quality voice calls be delivered to the worker if they need to work from home?
Home Broadband – whilst effective use of security within your IT network (Session Border Controllers/Firewall rules) can create secure VPN less connectivity into your corporate network. How many of your workers have sufficient broadband at home and has access been tested remotely to ensure there are no SIP ALG or router settings that might prevent access? This can be a common problem and one that can be time consuming and cause unnecessary delay should a homeworking or business continuity situation be unexpectedly declared.
IT Equipment – If office workers normally use a PC within the office with access to various corporate systems/CRM. Can the same secure access be replicated if working on a business or personal laptop? What would the impact be to your business if workers cannot access the systems they need to remotely?

Checklist – what do you need to do to prepare for the worst case scenario?

Use Case 1 – A standard office worker that usually works in the office 100% of the time.

Can they take their laptop/headset home?
Do they have sufficient broadband at home and has remote access been tested?
How will they make/receive telephone calls?
Do their telephone calls need to be recorded?
Do they have a suitable space to work?
What do they need in addition to be able to do their job?

Use Case 2 – An agent/call centre worker that usually works in the office 100% of the time.

As per use case one with additional considerations….
Can all systems and verifications be accessed from home and are there any gaps?
How will log in/log out/breaks/busy periods be monitored and reported on remotely? Do you have the systems and software to do this?
How will the agent ask for help if they need it?

Use Case 3 – A worker that is based partly in the office or home and partly on the road.

How do they currently communicate with colleagues and the corporate office/s?
How will their job/customer relationships be affected if they can’t visit customers for any length of time?
Do they have the ability to provide virtual meetings/quality remote support/video calls with their customers using their mobile device or laptop?
Can you record any virtual/remote meetings to share with a wider audience or ensure any confusion is eliminated further down the line?
Can customers see the presence of your remote based workers and contact them via their method of choice?

Please contact Evoke Telecom Services Ltd for free impartial advice about any of the above topics or areas. Evoke have been working with businesses throughout the UK for the last 6 years to provide simple and effective Business Continuity planning support as well as world class telephony solutions that enable flexible and effective working, no matter what your job role or where you are working from. Our Evoke Business Continuity solutions are compatible with any existing telephony system or contact centre.

Contact the team today on 01509 278278 or hello@evoketelecom.local or simply click here to chat to one of our knowledgeable team now.

For Education customers, we have a separate suite of award winning ‘safe school’ solutions to address Business Continuity and Lockdown scenarios. Please do contact us for more information on 01509 278278 or schools@evoketelecom.local

David and Susie Wardell David and Susie Wardell

Valentine’s Day article posted about Susie & David

Written by matt on 14 February 2018. Posted in Blog.

A wonderful surprise for Susie & David this Valentine’s Day as an article is published by Informi / aat.

The article was the final installment of a 3 part series, focusing on couples in business.

Here is the article and link to the informi site where the piece was published ~ https://informi.co.uk/articles/we-found-love-perfect-workplace-evoke

Working with your partner is not supposed to be the done thing. It’s bound to ultimately end in both personal and professional disaster, right? This week, to tie in with Valentine’s Day, we’re profiling three businesses who prove that theory wrong. For these couples, mixing business with romance is a match made in heaven.

Today we join David and Susie Wardell. Partners since 2010 and married in 2012, they have two daughters aged 6 and 4. They set up Evoke Telecom, offering business telephone systems and connectivity services in the Leicestershire area, in 2013

How did you meet?

David: We were both senior managers at our respective employers. My large corporate bought Susie’s company. I was tasked with integrating all of the sales teams, which required me to work with Susie as one of the sales leads. Our relationship took off following a heated disagreement at a management meeting. The glass of wine to ‘make up’ helped us to get to know each other and the rest, as they say, is history.

Susie: Our employer was disapproving of intercompany relationships, so we had to keep our romance under wraps. We formally announced ourselves following our wedding!

How did you come to start a business together?

David: Our employer was restructuring whilst Susie was on maternity leave with our second daughter. I had tired of the hamster wheel and decided that this was the time to start our own business. The first thing we did was jump on a plane to the Canary Islands for 6 weeks whilst we set the business website and processes up.

Susie: Following my maternity leave I resigned and joined David to get our fledgling company up and running. We had no investors or bank loans – totally self-funded with just an empty pad and a mobile telephone on day one.

How do you divide each other’s roles and responsibilities?

David: In simple terms – Susie drives Sales and Marketing and I look after finance and operations. In reality, we are wonderfully cross-functional except for HR where Susie makes sure that I focus more on my work and less on her!

How has the business grown in your time together? Have there been any particular milestones?

David: We have enjoyed 80% – 85% YOY growth over the last 4 years. Susie had to leave in 2015 to earn an external salary whilst I grew the business to a level such that we could afford to live without the need for external income. Susie came back January 2017 and we have been flying ever since.

Susie: It was the perfect storm, in that once we had been trading for more than three years the market suddenly opened up and accepted us as a serious going concern. We are now able to sit at tables in much larger organisations and quote for substantial projects.

How do you separate your professional and personal lives? Do you ever feel that you get the balance wrong?

Susie: Until we got our own offices we always struggled to shut the back-bedroom office door. However, since moving we are extremely good at managing our Monday to Friday hours. We chose an office that sits on the route between our home and our daughter’s school. This means that most days we can take and collect our girls together – which we think is the greatest gift of all.

David: We are our own bosses and so can determine our own hours. We have an amazing support team so are able to let go when we need to even when we go away for family holidays. In fairness, Susie is much better than me at switching off, so she polices me if I am putting too much time and thought into Evoke.

How do the highs and lows of business impact on your personal life?

Susie: We are extremely close as a couple and are pretty intuitive, supportive and understanding. When things go well we share the excitement. When things go less well we share the learnings. Never have we ever blamed the other for a negative outcome.

David: I would be lying if I said we do not worry when things are not going how we would wish, but we seem to be very good at spinning to the positive and moving forwards again.

What do you love about working together? And what don’t you like so much?

David: I feel blessed that I can spend so much of my life with the woman I love!

On the rare occasion that we don’t agree I tend to just crack on anyway. It’s worked so far and long may that continue.

What advice would you give to other couples thinking about starting a business together?

Susie: We both agree that you must totally respect each other’s views and opinions, you must love being in each other’s company, and be in no doubt about how tough it is. Don’t fall foul of the maxim ‘when money problems come in the door love flies out the window’…

What’s the biggest priority in your life: your partner or your business?

David: In ‘Corporate Land’ we fully understood that jobs come and go. After getting together we felt determined that nothing would ever come between us.

Susie: Our business is an inextricable vehicle that supports our love and our ability to spend our time with our family whilst providing for them.

Many thanks to the guys at Informi / aat for this wonderful article.