What makes a start-up successful? It’s always the people. People behind the technology, the processes and the relationships make it all possible.
So, to celebrate our fantastic team, we've launched our first ever ICS.AI employee awards. Congratulations to all of our nominees and winners. We asked the winners what working in the sector has taught them…
Best Newcomer:
Mark Watson – Head of Projects
"Always have one key sentence in which to introduce what your company does. Making complexity simple enables delivery. We, for example, provide cutting edge AI solutions to address your business problems."
Top Sales Performers:
Craig McArdell – Account Director
"Always focus on outcomes. In tech, client relationships are based on trust. It’s not about selling something; it’s about guiding the customer to what will solve their problem in the best way and in the long run!"
Max Waterhouse – AI Account Executive
"Never give up. Technology changes, but so does people’s understanding of it. Our job is often to keep educating the market, giving examples of why, for instance, building an AI assistant in house is not a good idea. If you keep the conversation going, the tables will turn."
Technical Innovator of the Year:
Mark Hirst- Principal Architect
"You will get better. I remember nerve-wracking demos, notes in hand, that ended up crashing. I also remember excellent presentations, but what’s the most important with how dynamic this sector is, is that you learn by doing.
Non-Technical Innovator of the Year:
Zarko Joveljic – Cloud Solutions Manager
"One of the key things is improving interpersonal skills by working with people across functions. We are truly a single team and all departments are working towards the same goal but most importantly, we are all helping each other drive the overall success of the company."
Most Valued Player:
Paulo Lemos – Development Manager
"The complexities of the relationship between tech and humans. Technology will never get exhausted, but even the most complex AI still needs humans to point it in the right direction, improving the user experience, accessibility, and making it ethically SMART."
Outstanding Achievements in a Support Function:
Jo Rudrum – Finance Manager
"Always think about how the product impacts your customers. With technology, it is really inspiring to see how we can improve the quality of people's lives."
Kat Reid – HR Manager
"Transparency is so important. Make sure all the visions come together and communicate them openly across departments. This way, you can have a strong foundation as a company, focusing on behaviours, values and growth, not only numbers."
Above and Beyond – Greatest Team Player:
Susanna Hatcher – Accounts Assistant
"You are capable! I find the innovative atmosphere and a collaborative “all-hands-on-deck” way of working in a start-up are very motivational. I’ve learnt a lot and felt extremely supported in this team."
This Was Your Year – Most Improved:
Andy Barrett – Application Developer
"You will never stop learning. Using Bot Framework and the AI/Language Modelling functionality from Microsoft let us build some really cool features for our clients. I love how we are able to always find new ways of utilising these powerful tools".
Unsung Hero:
Shubhangi Goyal – Data Analyst
"Our AI assistants teach us a lot about people’s behaviour. We monitor bots’ performances, and the way people engage with it, and this helps us understand end-users a lot better. With this detailed perspective, we can deliver solutions that solve more problems more rapidly."
Trevor Jones – Senior Application Developer
"Working in tech is always pushing the limit of what’s possible. While working on our AI language model I realised how great it would be to reverse-engineer a client's website… Scanning it for relevant content, we could review it and use it to expand our models over time. It’s these types of questions that push us to keep improving our technology."
Congratulations to all the winners! It was great to come together as a hybrid remote workforce and celebrate our successes. It's recognising that we are all on a journey, learning from each other that makes us the thriving company that we are. Here's to a fantastic FY23!
Want to see our AI in action? Book a demo!
Want to join the team? Take a look at our career opportunities
ICS.AI are the UK's market leader in conversational AI solutions across the public sector. Based in Hampshire, we have customers across central and local governments, higher education and healthcare. As a Microsoft Gold Partner we have delivered channel shift and digital transformation with our proprietary SMART range of AI products.
