Outsource Digital

Outsource Digital – Part of Outsource UK Ltd. We're committed to bringing you the most interesting headlines and latest industry insight.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Phones 4 U: High Street Assassination?


Last week it was announced that Phones4U went into administration, putting 5,596 jobs at more than 700 outlets at risk, after Vodafone, EE and O2 did not renew their contracts with the company.

Original founder, John Caudwell, described it as an "unprecedented assassination" as he believes the mobile giants may have congregated about ending their contracts with Phones4U. Are they under any obligation to continue trading with Phones 4U though?

However, EE argued that its decision to end its relationship with Phones 4U was strategic, as they look to focus on their own shops and cut out intermediaries. They seemed to of hugely benefitted from the Phones 4U collapse as they have strengthened their position and bought out 58 Phones 4U stores.

Can the middle man survive on the high street now? Being a middle man can be a very profitable role but also highly risk as there is a lack of power. With EE looking to 'cut out intermediaries', will this relate to other retailers such as Carphone Warehouse in the future? This move seems to open up many questions regarding trading in the mobile environment.

While private equity firm BC (that owned Phones 4U) has been criticised for loading the retailer with more than £200m debt. Unfortunately Phones 4U staff will pay the price for this irresponsibility.

In hindsight it seems like a mess, it also shows just how fragile a reputable high retailer is in the 21st century. Could this have a knock on affect to other industries as they look to cut out intermediaries and increase security in a fragile environment? Only time will tell.

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Saturday, September 27, 2014

Outsource UK broadens expertise with acquisition of Chrysalis Digital Recruitment

Outsource UK, one of the country’s largest independent recruitment businesses, has broadened its area of expertise with the acquisition of the Manchester-based digital recruitment consultancy known as Chrysalis Digital Recruitment.

The deal will see the Chrysalis name disappear and the organisation rebranded as Outsource UK. Chris Crawford and Harriet Sanders, the former owners of Creativesrus Ltd (trading as Chrysalis Recruitment) and all of the existing staff at the Manchester consultancy will transfer to Outsource. Crawford will lead what will become Outsource’s new digital division.  

Paul Jameson, MD of Outsource UK said, “This is another great strategic acquisition for us.  The businesses are very complementary and this new digital division will expand our IT expertise and broaden our area of reach.  Chrysalis specialise in recruiting staff for the digital sector so this acquisition complements our IT specialism and provides new opportunities for growth.”

“This is our third acquisition in three years and is another important step in expanding the business and strengthening Outsource’s competitive position.  We plan to continue to grow through strategic acquisitions as well as continuing our period of growth as the economy recovers and the demand for staff increases.”

Chris Crawford said: “I’m really pleased to be joining Outsource UK.  Chrysalis are specialists in an expanding market so becoming part of a much larger group will allow us to develop and to gain more market share.  When I met Paul Jameson and Outsource, it soon became apparent that we have shared ethics and real synergy in how both organisations work.  Like Outsource, Chrysalis was built on a foundation of developing relationships with our clients and focusing on investing in our staff in order to provide a first class quality service.”

Outsource UK Ltd is a national staffing business specialising in the supply of contract and permanent IT and engineering resource to businesses across the UK.  The company now employs 60 people and this year has a projected annual turnover in excess of £40 million. MD Paul Jameson created the business in 1991. It is headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire and has offices in Midlands, Manchester and in London.



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Monday, September 15, 2014

Another month goes by and Facebook release another update. They take the expressions "Staying on top of your game" to another level!

"Why don't you like the adverts?"

This week Facebook announced that it will start asking users for more information after they click to hide an advert. With the new feature, users will be presented with a number of options for why they are hiding the ad, including:

  1. It’s not relevant to me
  2. I keep seeing this
  3. It’s offensive or inappropriate
  4. It’s spam
  5. Something else

The purpose is to try and improve the experience for users, and will also use the information to better target ads to other users on the site.

This may seem a little frustrating for users as its obvious that no one likes adverts! But this will be really beneficial for brands as it increases the effectiveness of targeting ads on the social platform.

Facebook; Power Editor Update

 Facebook plans to roll out a number of updates to its Power Editor this month, which will make it much easier for advertisers to prepare and also preview adverts before launching them.

 Facebook said the following on their planned changes; “In the past, since these ads were anchored to page posts, they were not changeable. With this change, advertisers can now create News Feed ads at scale, preview them during creation, edit them at any time, and bulk import/export them.”

Facebook is also updating its objectives, and will provide a number of new options for advertisers to choose to help Facebook optimize their ad performance.

These options include:

  1. Clicks to Website
  2. Website Conversions
  3. Page post engagement for photos
  4. Video View

These changes should simplify the process greatly for advertisers, particularly first timer users. It also makes it more accessible for people who are daunted by technology, especially when it involves parting with cash.

 Facebook is Sharing King!

A new report from Fractl shows that over 8 in 10 shares on social sites are on Facebook!

Fractl analysed the one million most-shared articles from the first six months of 2014. Collectively, these articles generated more than 2.6 billion shares, and 81.9 percent of these happened on Facebook!

To put this into perspective here's the rankings of the other social sites; Twitter  (8.6 percent), Google+ (4.3 percent), Pinterest (3 percent), and LinkedIn (2.2 percent).

Social sharing has become a crucial part of online marketing and this information should be at the forefront of your mind when creating content. Every post should have a clear goal and be tailored to the social site(s) you (or your followers) plan to share this content on.
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