Thinc: The IT partner for fast growth scale-ups

According to the ScaleUp Institute, scale-ups are on average more productive, innovative and create more high-quality jobs than other start-up businesses. While the UK economy has expanded by just 9% since 2013, the number of scale-up companies has increased 35%.

Employing around 3.4 million people and achieving a turnover of £1.3 trillion in 2018, a 34 per cent increase on 2016; almost all growth in private sector employment has come from UK businesses scaling up.

What does scaling up mean?

Scaling a business means setting the stage to enable and support growth in your company. It means having the ability to grow without being hampered. It requires planning, often some funding and the right systems, staff, processes, technology and partners.

We’re proud to see so many of our clients achieving and sustaining high levels of growth, despite the current economic climate.

Thinc Director, Dominic Ball –

“Scale-up businesses realise they have the potential to grow, whether it’s to increase sales, venture into new markets with new products or extend their reach internationally. We have a great balance of clients with ambitions and plans for the future – we are happy to partner with them on this journey. 

“Scalability is a mindset that’s all about having the systems and people in place to make your growth as seamless as possible. Achieving growth and sustaining it for the long term relies heavily on having the right people in place with the capacity to do and deliver more. We are creating intelligent companies by helping business leaders realise and understand how to enable their people to do more. The software partners we work with are designed to help our clients progress forwards and analyse potential business opportunities to make vital decisions to facilitate successful growth.”

Working with some well-established and promising brands across many different sectors including, cosmetics, skincare, health care and home furnishings, experts at Thinc have extensive knowledge and expertise in supporting growing businesses by providing the right technology to empower business growth.

Here are some tips on things to consider as you prepare to scale-up:

1. Evaluate and plan

Planning and strategising future business opportunities will involve taking a hard look inside your business to see if you are ready for growth. Begin by identifying the key performance indicators needed to track how your business performance has improved in recent years. Use this data to project forecasts and set ambitions for your business going forwards.

If your business systems are integrated or use a single platform such as SAP Business One or Sage 200, you can easily run reports and forecasts to help you understand almost every aspect of your business.

2. Invest in the right technology

Rapidly growing businesses have one thing in common. They have the right IT infrastructure in place to support their growth plans. The right technology will make it much easier and less expensive to scale.

Systems integration is a prime area for improvement in most businesses. Few SMEs run using a single system. Instead they run multiple systems, which can create silos.  This can quickly turn into information, communication and management problems as your company grows.

An integrated, unified platform designed for high growth from the ouset will create huge economies of scale. Automation will often be a key benefit, helping you run your business at lower cost and more efficiently by minimizing manual work.

To better understand the potential silos in your organisation, review your CRM, marketing automation, sales management, inventory, manufacturing, accounting, HR, shipping and other technology systems to see if they are integrated. If not, consider getting some expert advice on integrating your systems.

3. Unlock the brilliance in your people

Empowering the talent in your company will be a key move in unlocking your growth potential. This goes beyond looking at the composition of your existing workforce and roles. Look for the untapped potential, highlight repetitive, low-skilled tasks that if automated could free people to add greater value, and to help you grow. As you scale, your people can scale with you – growth needn’t involve layering in more people, or more cost.

Use industry benchmarks to help you determine a rule of thumb for how many staff would be required to serve your growing customer base. Discover what other scale-ups are doing, how they support, structure and inspire their people.

4. Identify areas to outsource

Outsourcing, rather than hiring, can be a smart move whilst you scale. Begin by considering which areas of your business will have the greatest overall impact on everything else. Prioritise these areas, and find an experienced, reliable partner who can help immediately whilst also adding value long-term. The extra knowledge and guidance can help you quickly unlock growth potential with greater flexibility around costs.

5. Spot barriers to growth

A key part of developing your strategy for growth involves considering the possible barriers to scaling up. Be honest and pragmatic here, and seek outside help if necessary.

Whether it’s down to a lack of funding, dominant competitors, weak cash flow, sales and marketing support or IT infrastructure – being able to identify your weaknesses will help you navigate successfully around them.