Member Article

Warwickshire companies join forces on national contract

Two Warwickshire companies have completed one of the biggest staff surveys in the UK as part of an ongoing business relationship after meeting at a Chamber of Commerce event.

Rugby-based Webropol and Leamington Spa company XV Insight carried out the employee engagement programme survey for NHS Scotland which saw around 112,000 of its overall staff of 180,000 respond.

Webropol managing director Amy Bassi met Helen Roberts, who runs market research company XV Insight, at a Chamber Trade Expo in 2017 and the two businesses have been working together on projects ever since.

In 2015, Webropol, which has developed its own survey software, began working for NHS Scotland and has been undertaking its employee surveys ever since.

Webropol’s system was used to carry out the survey and provide up-to-the-minute results while XV Insight provided analysis and the full Scottish Government published report on the findings.

Through their growing relationship, the two companies have also collaborated on other national projects including research into student accommodation in London and for the National Museums Liverpool.

Amy said by working together the two businesses are more capable of delivering bigger, national projects than they would be if they worked alone.

She said: “By combining our services, it means we are in a position to pitch for and win major contracts and it’s great that our combined expertise is complementing each other in this way.

“The work with NHS Scotland is our biggest project together to date and it is a testament to this region that two SMEs can work in partnership in this way on a very large and important national contract.”

Helen Roberts, of XV Insight, added: “I went along to the Chamber Trade Expo a couple of years ago as I was looking for a software supplier to work with. I’d just started my business and wanted to work with a local business.

“I met Amy and over the first coffee it soon became apparent that we offered complementary services to clients and by working together we could win more projects and so have become suppliers to one another. It has meant that, between us, we are able to deliver some significant pieces of work for clients around the UK which is great news for us as businesses and for the regional economy.”

Samantha Beard, membership account manager at the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “The Chamber is all about providing connectivity between our members and the work between XV Insight and Webropol is the perfect example of that.

“They have become suppliers to one another and also collaborate on projects, which is a really strong message for other businesses on the value of face-to-face networking.

“The fact is that, despite all of the benefits of modern technology and communications, people still buy from people.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .