In 2015 FilePro implemented a five-year national growth strategy to ensure longevity and continued delivery of high service and value to our clients.
We’re now coming up to half way through this strategy, and I have hijacked this month’s newsletter in order to provide you with an overview of the company’s direction and commitment to our existing and future clients.
Here is a summary of the major initiatives and what that means for you.
Succession
As we’ve discussed previously, every business must have a succession strategy with a five-year horizon. FilePro is no exception.
In January 2017, we merged FilePro and Steler Office Solutions (our WA business) to expand (and some would say reduce the average age of FilePro’s executive directors). This has been a smooth and successful transition with Todd Keeler and Lasse Stenersen adapting well to their broader management roles.
Our team
Growth requires a strong, united team with the right skills and attitudes to build on our client-first culture. We are very excited to have found some incredible new talent keen to join our existing team, including:
- A State Manager for Western Australia – to build relationships with existing and new clients.
- Two new programmers – to accelerate our product revamp.
- Two new National Resource Centre (NRC) staff – providing client support
- A Training and Client relations officer for NSW/ACT – to support the significant growth we have experienced in these regions over the last 18 months.
We are well progressed in our recruitment process and it is anticipated to be completed by May.
Development
Version 18.1 is about to be released and It will be the last update that employs our current style.
In 2018, you will start to see the roll out of new screens employing our long overdue facelift and interface upgrade.
Client feedback system
Our pride in our client relationships is huge. But as we grow, it is difficult to maintain the level of contact we have been able to deliver in the past.
Health checks have served us well, but the physical aspect of client visits comes at the cost of more regular contact with all of our clients.
For example, how many of our clients know about, understand the benefit of, and use the new features that we deliver?
We are investing in a client feedback system to build relationships with a wider group of our clients. We want to hear from you and your teams – to learn about what’s working and what isn’t. The aim of this is for us to respond in the moment, not weeks or months later.
With the help of CXINLAW, this is a comprehensive program of client contact (as an adjunct to the direct interactions you have with our Sales, Development and NRC teams) to diagnose hot spots, gaps and strengths of our relationships, systems and processes as seen through your eyes.
The initial phase of this programme will be rolled out over the next 6 months and we are seeking your participation, with feedback from staff across your practice, that will help shape the strategies and plans for FilePro as we move forward.
Expansion & IT Infrastructure
Given our ambitions, we relocated to larger offices in Western Australia last year – expanding our physical capacity by 200%.
At the same time, a full overhaul of our own IT infrastructure ensured that our staff had the latest technology for development and support.
During 2018, this process continues with the introduction of new telephone systems and upgrades to internal, support logging systems to ensure that we “don’t miss anything”, and “get it right”
Training Video Library
In response to client feedback, we have already commenced the production of a training video library.
We still hold the belief that, at implementation, personal training as an introduction to FilePro is essential to the successful outcome of transition and change.
We recognise, however, that the induction of your new staff and the release of new features can be better served with short training videos.
Summary
We preach best practice, but sometimes we overlook our own process and procedures with communication being one of them.
This will be the first of what will become regular updates that will hopefully keep you informed of our progress and provide transparency around the strategy and direction of FilePro.
David Keeler
CEO