DELL SMALL BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS EMEA DAY @ DELL
April 26-27, 2010
Dell Inc. hosted the European Country winners for the 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Award in Bracknell, UK on Monday April 26 and Tuesday April 27. During the two days, the four country winners representing UK, France, Germany and Spain were involved in a number of sessions designed to enhance best practice and grow their business. Selected press from across Europe attended the event, gaining a fascinating insight into the key challenges faced by small businesses and how they are using technology to overcome them.
You can see photos from the event on Dell’s Flickr page and we’ll also be producing a number of short vlogs from the event to be posted on our various digitalsites such as Direct2Dell, Facebook and YouTube. We also created a hashtag on Twitter for the event #dayatdell, with many press, attendees and speakers tweeting live. To date we’ve seen a Twitter reach of 170,000–which is fantastic.
Presentations included; - Global Trends from Dell Small Business Excellence Award Finalists 2009 by Ayman El Tarabishy, Executive Director, International Council for Small Business (ICSB)
- How To Use Effective Marketing to Promote Your Small Business: Best Practice by Simon Hall, Head of Marketing, Medium Business, UK & Ireland, Dell
- Talent Management: People planning for growth by Gene Johnson, Senior Manager, EMEA Field Services Talent Management, Dell
- How Green Is Your Company? – The Increasing Importance of Being Green by Juliet Davenport, CEO, Good Energy (UK Take Your Own Path Hero) and Vic Smith, Senior Strategic Technologist, Dell
- Speed Mentoring: Judges help address top business challenges (submitted by CEOs) by Dr David Smallbone, Incoming President, International Council for Small Business (ICSB), Aongus Hegarty, Vice President, EMEA SMB, Dell and Professor Ted Fuller, Head of Business, Lincoln Business School
- Social Media Best Practice by Kerry Bridge, Head of Digital Media Communications, EMEA, Dell and Neville Hobson, Head of Social Media Europe, WCG, and leading European social media commentator
Feedback from the winners has been overwhelmingly positive and it was clear they found the event extremely useful and beneficial to their business. “We want to say a huge thank you for the past two days with you at Dell. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time, and learnt a huge amount. It was truly amazing to meet Michael Dell; as someone who has done it all before to such massive success, it was wonderful to hear his advice. We also really enjoyed the other great sessions on key topics from the Dell team, in particular on social media and nurturing a high performing team. Meeting the other country winners was also a highlight - and we can see some great partnerships in the making! We are truly appreciative of this award and look forward to working with you more.” David Hathiramani & Warren Bennett, co-founders and Directors of A Suit That Fits.com (UK)
“It was great to be at Dell with the Dell people! We found the Day at Dell an extremely valuable training/lesson, as the information was hands-on and proven by Dell in daily work. It results in a lot of homework to improve our company to grow and thrive. We found (again!) Dell to respect SMBs and the importance of listening. Please go on with this good path.” Detlev Homilius, founder and CEO of SRS Management (Germany)
[On talking directly to Michael in the Q&A session]“One of the reasons we chose Dell as our partner ahead of your competitors was the passion people at Dell had. This set you apart.”
Erick Cloix, founder and CEO of Implanet (France)
“We were really impressed by all the people we met at Day at Dell and probably won’t attend such a high level meeting with gurus like this ever again!” Eduard Tarrats & Agnes vilaro Bellvehi, S.A.V. Vilaro (Spain)
ABOUT OUR WINNERS
About A Suit That Fits.com – UK A Suit That Fits.com was founded in 2006 by Warren Bennett and David Hathiramani. Using unique web technology, A Suit That Fits.com gives customers the flexibility to design and completely customise their individually hand-tailored suit, shirt, or overcoat at an affordable ‘off-the-peg’ price, with suits starting at £150. Warren Bennett always had a passion for suits, which became more than an interest after a high quality fine woollen suit was made for him whilst doing voluntary work in Nepal in 2005. On his return to the UK, he met up with old schoolfriend David Hathiramini, who like Warren had a keen eye for fine suits. Together, they decided to combine their engineering and software backgrounds to simplify and improve tailoring. And it’s from here that A Suit That Fits.com was born. Employees – 30. www.asuitthatfits.com *In December 2009, A Suit That Fits.com were announced as the Winner of the Dell 2009 Global Small Business Excellence Award.*
About Implanet – France Implanet is a Bordeaux-based provider of modern healthcare solutions founded in April 2008. Theydesign and manufacture high quality ‘Gold Standard’ implants to the various surgical markets, including the orthopedic market, at low prices thanks to an innovative model of direct sales and an automated and optimised logistics chain. Their innovation is based on the implementation of a RFID (radio-frequency identification) system called the Implanet Smart System. This system helps to ensure the traceability of Implantable Medical Devices (IMD), which can be traced from the Implanet store to the moment they are implanted in the patient’s body. This service enables automatic and secure archiving of traceability patient data throughout their entire period of storage. This system not only enables healthcare companies to make important savings, but alsoenables staff to improve their productivity by removing repetitive administrative tasks so they can spend more time with patients. Implanet’s innovative solutions are contributing to society’s urgent need to reduce healthcare costs. Employees – 43.
www.implanet.com
About SRS Management – Germany SRS Management is a system house for mobile company solutions andprovides ‘SRS PaperDynamicx’- a software program for the digitalization of handwritten notes and form entries. Their core product aims to help optimize business processes concerning handwritten data entry.The company’s solutions support business processes by making information directly utilizable for all IT systems.They deliver solutions for financing, manufacturing, public health, trade, logistics and real estate. Employees – 13.
www.srs-management.de
About S.A.V. Vilaró – Spain S.A.V. Vilaró is a family-run business founded in 1970 by Manel Vilaró i Coll and based in a small town in Barcelona. The company began as a locksmith's shop and over the years has evolved into one of the country’s most innovative companies specialising in the design, re-engineering and manufacture of niche metallic parts for markets such as architecture, sculpture and furniture-design – where clients typically only require low volume production at affordable prices. S.A.V. Vilaró implemented new technologies such as an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system and a 3D design platform that helped offer clients more accurate designs in a short space of time, reducing their budget by removing the need for expensive testing and allowing for approval in the production phase. Customers were also able to monitor their project in real-time, including video monitoring when necessary. The company is now regarded as one of the most innovative within the entire sector. Employees – 19.
www.savvilaro.com
About ACR di Udine – Italy Founded in 1994 ACR specialises in the design and manufacture of tailor-made theatrical stage machines and equipment for traditional opera theatres and large cruise ships. The manufacture of theatrical machinery is a very ancient form of manufacturing in Italy, which dates back to the Renaissance. Today ACR carries out numerous production orders for major theatres in Milan, Trieste and Bolzano, as well as for theatres on large cruise ships such as the ‘Grand Princess’ and ‘Carnival’. Their innovation relies on the customisation of each product through continuous attention to the needs of actors, directors, set designers and perfect synchronization of all the different elements. Technology has been a key factor, allowing them to remain in constant contact with their customers to share real-time information, which is crucial to every project. Advanced engineering software systems, structural calculation and 3D software solutions are the heart of the company. Employees – 30.
www.acr.it |
