DIGITAL transformation specialist AND Digital was set up to help businesses build their technology faster. While this is happening, the companies tech experts work alongside their clients’ in-house teams to teach them digital skills. The firm recently secured an £11 million investment from BGF and with this funding, the first Scottish office in Edinburgh was launched, which is run by Dave Livesey. The firm has plans to recruit between 80-100 tech roles in the city in the next 18-months.
Name: Dave Livesey
Position: Club Executive for Edinburgh
WHAT’S THE BUSINESS CALLED?
AND Digital
WHERE IS IT BASED?
Edinburgh
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WHY WAS THE BUSINESS SET UP?
THE business was set up to address a problem that our founder saw in the market. The traditional way of consultancies is you set up a widget but that doesn’t show the capabilities of companies. We are collaborative. We help build a product but we also help the team so they can build it better next time. There are 13,000 unfulfilled digital jobs per year in Scotland.
Before working at AND, I co-founded a business in New Zealand when G-suite (Gmail and Google Calendar) became a thing and I also worked at a bank in New Zealand - I wondered if IT should be this hard.
It has been really easy for us to adapt to coronavirus. We are a fairly progressive tech company so all systems are online.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
THE company is separated into “clubs” – I’m club executive for Edinburgh. Each club has a maximum of 80 to 100 people. Each club is autonomous but is backed by the resources of a bigger company. Our club is Somerville, named after scientist Mary Somerville who was a pioneer in a whole load of ways. We’ve got a strong team of women. In our senior leadership team two out of the three staff are women which it totally different to other technology companies I’ve worked for. It’s a really nice environment to work in.
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Customers love it. A lot of suppliers in the market just want bums on seats and money for people. It’s really refreshing and a new way of looking at things – we add value to their processes. We have a learning credits system so we do training with clients to help get their skills up to scratch. We’re not interested in the traditional model.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT TO COMPETING BUSINESSES?
WE don’t do the transactional model where you deliver the product and leave. We help customers build their skills. It means the number of clients is always quite small. We generally care individually about each customer. We can still work as an SME with the support of a big business. Lots of companies feel put out if you divert all attention to the next big customer so we spend all our time on a few companies.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
WE opened a clubhouse in St Andrew’s Square in Edinburgh on March 10.
We had just employed the first group of team members (we call them ANDis) and two weeks later we went into lockdown.
A few of them have not met each other outside of video conferences.
There is a mental health challenge in trying to support people from a video call.
We’ve had mixed reactions from staff. The first couple of weeks we thought it wouldn’t last long. Lots of them are new to the company so are upbeat and positive anyway.
We have been very lucky in the people we have recruited – we have a total of 36 staff now – as they have all been brilliant.
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WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
THE people and variety. We’ve got an incredible team and there are lots of different challenges every day.
IS SCOTLAND A GOOD PLACE TO RUN THIS KIND OF BUSINESS?
IT’S an exciting place for technology businesses. There is every type of business you can think of here. We try to keep a mix of different size clients. There are lots of companies looking for help we can provide.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS?
I’D like Somerville itself to be a successful club. We have a big goal around growth for AND and hopefully we will see other sister clubs in Scotland.
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