About Corporate Events
Scottish Equitable is a long-standing customer of the Nuqleus performance measurement software and services from XTAQ.
Nuqleus is widely used throughout the award–winning financial services provider. Scottish Equitable is part of one of the largest listed insurance companies in the world, the AEGON Group.
Among the departments using Nuqleus in innovative ways is Corporate Events and Conferences.
The department, headed by John Dymond, is a Group Function of Aegon UK, providing services to all parts of the group.
The Challenge
Organising corporate events is a very skilled specialist activity, particularly for a high profile company like Scottish Equitable.
“What people see on the day is the result of months of hard work. It may look smooth and effortless on the surface,” John Dymond explains, “but it’s like a swan swimming elegantly on water, underneath it’s paddling furiously.”
John first came across Nuqleus while struggling to allocate the team’s costs across the group, informally and manually. While this did provide an overview of the level of use made of the Corporate Events team’s services, it was far from ideal. As John Dymond says, “Five years ago we were being pulled from pillar to post. We had no idea where our time was being spent. We were able to charge for direct costs, such as overtime, travel and accommodation expenses, but it was less easy to charge for every bit of time spent on that event, mainly because we couldn’t see where our time was being spent.”
As his team went through the customary changes facing many such organisations John found that they were having to run more events with fewer people. “That’s when it became vital to for us to make sure we are really optimising our resources.” John explains, “Not least, because it helps us set people’s expectations correctly. We needed an accurate picture of the time it takes to organise and host an event, as well as the actual workload we have at any particular time.”
The Solution
Nuqleus was being used elsewhere within Scottish Equitable. John realised that the performance measurement capabilities of this intelligent approach could provide the data he required.
Nuqleus has since become a key component of the team’s process. All laptops and desktops used by the team have Nuqleus, and because a certain amount of time is spent away from the office, Nuqleus on hand-held devices ensures that every activity is properly recorded. “As soon as you log in,” explains John, “Nuqleus pops up. It’s embedded into our working day and as integrated as it could be.”
 Nuqleus gives us the true picture of our workload and processes. The reports show graphically where time is actually being spent – in the end Nuqleus helps us plan and work  better.
|
Nuqleus is currently being used to log and measure every activity undertaken by the team to provide a year’s worth of historical data. “Using the data we’ve been gathering, we will be able to plan our activity level and resource requirements for future years.” John adds, “I find it fascinating. The graphical reports give us an immediate picture of the true, recognised, retrospective picture. We can prove where time and effort is being spent.”
The data so far collected is showing some interesting trends, which in turn are leading to some modifications in the way the team does business. “The percentage of time spent on administration was higher than I would have thought,” admits John, “but with Nuqleus we can break that subject down and show the true administration as opposed to marketing administration activities. This helps us to allocate activities and time more effectively.” Nuqleus integrates with the team’s IBM Lotus Notes applications to provide key information.
As John Dymond says, “Nuqleus is used and accepted throughout the team. We’re slightly different from the other departments using it in that we’re not a processing department. We use it in our dealings with people – suppliers, external and internal customers and our own staff.”
Adding Value
The primary value of the data that Nuqleus is providing for the Corporate Events team is the ability to allocate resources to planned events.
As John explains, “More and more people want to run motivational type events for the IFAs who take our products to market. We can take their request and map what Nuqleus has shown us is required for that type of event against the skills, experience and availability that we have.” For a team that works on 174 sales events a year this type of informed control is essential, especially as many activities demand that the team works months ahead – booking venues for example.
Some of the events, like the major race that Scottish Equitable has sponsored at York Races for the last 21 years, roll forward year-on-year. These provide ‘markers’ within the team’s calendar. Planning the precise workload surrounding such events enables the team to demonstrate their resource requirements for the year as well as establishing best practices for organising smooth-running and successful hospitality events.
A final word from John Dymond;
“Corporate events are important to the company, to boost awareness and generate great working relationships. They are also highly visible, so we cannot afford for things to go wrong or to be missed. Nuqleus gives us the true picture of our workload and processes. The reports show graphically where time is actually being spent – in the end Nuqleus helps us plan and work better.”
|
Related Links
Client List