Bull hails business transformation after betting on staff

Services firm claims to have changed from being a product-led to a people-led organisation

Bull has claimed its new staff-centric set-up has transformed the firm and created a more switched-on workforce as it sets out its three-year growth plan.

Under its UK chief executive Andrew Carr, who joined at the end of 2012, the services firm underwent Project Pamplona – an initiative designed to find staff with the highest potential and train them up for future leadership roles.

On top of the management-training scheme, Bull aimed to engage its wider workforce by helping them to understand how important their role is within the organisation.

"Everyone at Bull understands what their one per cent contributes to our success," Carr said.

"[Before] some said they sit on the services desk, for example, and don't understand how they contribute to overall success. But now, we ensure managers unlock each individual so they understand their contribution. It's turned us from a product business to a people-led business."

He added that the workforce now is much more engaged and focused thanks to the initiatives and that it forms part of the firm's three-year plan, alongside investment in a range of key tech trends.

Over the next few years, Bull will focus on cloud and managed services, high-performance computing, traditional integration and big data, he said – something which has prompted a new partnership with the University of Warwick.

The university will work alongside Bull in a partnership designed to help customers get insights from their increasing amounts of data – something Carr said is driven by the boom in everyday items connecting to the internet.

"There are a number of academic PhD students who are data scientists who can unlock the value of customer data," Carr said. "It will enable customers to convert the Internet of Things trend into... meaningful information which can give them a competitive advantage."