MultiMinds Goes UK - a chat with Iain Murphy

Iain: "I have followed the evolution of MultiMinds right from the start. Over the 20+ years, I’ve had the chance to gain a lot of valuable experience in the sector: I previously worked for WebTrends from the late 90s through to the early noughties, focusing on web analytics and aggregated data sets."

Siegert: "In my first job, I was trained to become an expert in Webtrends. In this perspective, Iain was the one who trained me. We first met each other some twenty years ago, and since then, we have always kept in touch professionally. When it comes to data analytics, we share the same mindset, passion and determination."

Iain: "After WebTrends, I went on to set up my own consulting agency called SPIWEB, before finally landing at Tealium. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the opportunity to be now working alongside some of the biggest and brightest individuals in the data space, as the Managing Director of the new UK branch of MultiMinds!"

Siegert: "We have always worked for clients from every corner of the world, from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv. MultiMinds’ 7^th anniversary was the moment when Philippe, myself and our management team decided it was time to think about our international expansion. Together with Deloitte, we put together a new 5-year growth plan, which included evaluating the potential of a number of countries close to Belgium. We’ve always had great connections in the UK, so it seemed like the perfect place to start."

Iain: "Actually, Siegert and Philippe had been talking about MultiMinds going international for a few years. It sounded very exciting, but I was in the vendor space at the time. But given our professional interests being closely aligned in the data analytics space, it was always interesting to discuss and share experiences, especially as technology evolved and customer needs became more focused to help drive better decisions, both online and offline."

"Compared to the past, today there are many more vendors in the market. But I believe we’ve now reached an inflexion point: it is very easy for customers to get confused, because all the vendors across web analytics, personalization, customer data platforms and the likes claim to offer the same product capabilities and features. Together, Philippe, Siegert and I have over 60 years of industry experience. We want MultiMinds UK to continue the same level of trust and professionalism enjoyed by our existing customers, of a trusted partner and advisor, sharing our experience and knowledge to help our customers better appreciate and understand the real and true value of different vendors aligned with their requirements, and thus be able to pick the optimum solution for not only their immediate, but also their longer term business challenges and needs."

Iain: "Many of the customers and prospects we speak to, have offices in the UK – many of them, have their company headquarters here and this is where some of those buying decisions are made for those with a more global presence. If we want to build new and deeper relationships, the UK is one of the strategic markets to have a physical presence in."

Iain: "We’ve secured a spot in Arlington Business Park, right in the heart of the ‘British Silicon Valley’, just outside of Reading. The location couldn’t be better: it’s on one of the major motorways out to the west of London, just south of Oxford and north of Portsmouth and Southampton. The talent pool of candidates we are looking to hire over the next 6 to 12 months will either live in London and commute out, or will live in and around the Reading area itself. Anyone and everyone who has built a career in and has ambitions in Technology and IT, live here. So in terms of location our new office really ticks all the boxes."

Iain: "I've been appointed and trusted to establish and grow the brand for MultiMinds in the UK. It’s a real honor. Thanks to the experience acquired from my own company nearly 20 years ago and with Tealium in the past 10 years, which I actually joined when we were only a few employees in EMEA, I am fully across all the ins and outs and associated challenges of running a start-up. I will be working closely with the marketing team in Belgium to help get the message out about our presence in the UK, identify key technology partners, build, develop and nurture relationships, and ensure long term customer success."

Philippe: "As the office grows over time, so new challenges will arise. I believe our main challenge will be to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. MultiMinds has always been focused on generating value for our customers and demonstrating our competence in order to drive success. But now it’s time for us to up our game and start playing in a higher league."

Iain: "Although I’m the first hire for MultiMinds in the UK, I already have an excellent team behind me – the existing MultiMinds team, that is – based across the region. That’s one of the biggest differences compared to the other companies I’ve started and built from the ground in the past - I'm starting from a ready to go team."

"Of course I’m also very much focused on the UK team I need to build, to ensure that we can become self-sufficient in the future. In the beginning, we’ll mainly be leveraging the skills of the Subject Matter Experts across the team, but over time, we want to bring more talent in-house. For now, we need to concentrate on bringing in hybrid roles, as every startup fully knows. But as we start to grow, we’ll be hiring additional staff to focus on certain key areas based on their strengths, as well as the business and customer requirements."

Siegert: "It’s important to emphasize that we’ll always talk about MultiMinds as one entity. We are not going to become two separate branches. In time, Iain will start working for other clients outside the UK as well. But we’ll always be one team, serving customers all over the world."

Iain: "Today, we’re focused on helping our customers understand the real value to their business of the many solutions on the market and helping them provide better experiences to their customers by unlocking and activating data to achieve its true potential. Besides customers who are just getting started, there are also those who are looking for the next big thing, and we have the experience to help them out. There are so many opportunities in the innovation space, waiting to be explored and evaluated!"

Philippe: "Iain and the team will immediately get involved with DIAL, our Data Innovation and Acceleration Lab, which is led by Nico. In addition to the UK expansion, rolling-out DIAL is also part of our growth plan, so that’s definitely something to look forward to."

Iain: "In the short term, we’ll be focusing on establishing our presence and expanding our footprint. Servicing existing and new customers whilst also discovering and building relationships with key strategic partners whom will support us with growth whilst simultaneously becoming more involved with the various challenges surrounding multi vertical businesses within the UK market. In the longer term, we will be looking to build a centre of excellence, somewhere customers and partners can be confident of our abilities through a highly demonstrable and results proven track record with our existing customers. At the moment we have several ongoing conversations with exciting key brands. We also have some strategic and unique ‘blue sky’ approaches which are different to the norm and will be very attractive to customers, prospects and future potential candidates to join our UK team. From there we’ll continue to evolve, learn and move on whilst we continually adapt and develop based around our customer challenges and needs. I’m excited to be onboard and to start delivering on the many goals we’ve already set and helping our customers across the region achieve even greater value on their investments."

Siegert: "And let’s not forget branding. We want to be sure that we’re a known brand, both in the UK and internationally."