February 2012

The Recruitment Agency Expo 2012 at London Olympia was a buzzing, lively event from the opening at 10am on Valentine’s Day to the close at 5pm on Wednesday 15th February. TVision Technology and Cirrus Nova shared a stand promoting their new integrated front and back end software solution for recruitment agencies built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform.

That it was half term did not seem to affect the numbers at the exhibition. The audience ranged from recruitment consultants looking to brush up their skills and knowledge in the training sessions and seminars; to new business owners looking for advice on their fledgling start up; to directors looking for ideas on how to continue growth and support of successful businesses. And of course, networkers and exhibitors keen to promote their services to the industry.

In recent years it has seemed that the age of industry exhibitions and trade shows was coming to an end and it is true that many that have struggled on are but shadows of their former selves; smaller venues, simple stands, cheap and cheerful merchandising and decreasing footfall. It has not been uncommon for exhibitors to out-number visitors, leading to a feeding frenzy of excitement whenever the unfortunate potential prospect braves walking past the stands. Rec Expo was either very different or marks a change in attitude back to popularity of such events.

Rec Expo achieved a great balance of informative sessions with the trade stands and so perhaps that is the secret of success. Social media is an area that is strategically vital to many recruitment agencies and the LinkedIn photo stand in particular proved very popular. Most visitors were mixing physical networking with on-line; pulling out smart phones and connecting with new contacts almost as soon as the real handshake had finished. Rec Expo proved that as interested as we are in leveraging the virtual world to extend our networks, physical interaction is still as important to the human experience.

“We promote technology as an enabler to give people mobility and flexibility,” commented Jeremy Norton of Cirrus Nova. “Severing the chains to a desk means more human interaction at events like these and it was good to see many visitors fired up with new ideas.”

Exhibitors were kept busy throughout the two days with visitors keen to understand how the services on offer would assist their agency’s growth plans. TVision stood alongside their partner, Cirrus Nova, on stand 106. The prominent banner “100% Cloud Software” proved a major draw. Recruitment agencies are probably keener than any other industry to investigate Cloud-based CRM solutions. This is largely because recruitment agency start-ups need sophisticated candidate management systems from day one but as start-ups don’t have big IT budgets or teams to manage an implementation; therefore, the rental model of hosted software (cloud or SAAS, depending on your jargon preference) fits budget and operational needs.

“Economists are adamant that recovery will come from the small business grass roots so it’s great to see so many new and fledgling businesses, particularly in the labour market,” explained Nicki Stewart, TVision Technology. “The success of Rec Expo suggests a refreshing optimism.”

TVision Technology is a Microsoft Gold Partner based in Walton on Thames and focusses exclusively on developing, implementing and supporting Dynamics NAV for customers within the UK. TVision has developed two vertical solutions, Agency Time for the recruitment industry and the Wine System for the drinks distribution industry.