INTERVIEW William Emm - Oak Innovation
“Our staff feel respected, empowered and motivated to provide exceptional
support and grow the business.” William Emm, Chief Growth Officer, Oak Innovation
Shifting Cultures
Oak Innovation have a knack of offering up the right product at the right time. The market has changed and Oak
is looking to prepare for another 30 years of success. In this interview, William Emm, Chief Growth Offi cer at
Oak Innovation, talks about the cultural shift within the business which he believes will ensure future success
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): Why are you making
internal changes right now?
William Emm (WE): We’ve
been testing the water and
have an exciting plan to drive
the business forward. We’re
reshaping the way we do
things internally to prepare
for the introduction of new
products and services, as well as
supporting growth overseas.
ere are three main areas
we want to address. e rst is
our culture (the other two are a
secret at the moment!).
A 30-year-old company
can be a creature of habit that
incentivises individuals to
work in a certain way. You can
get stuck in a very well-worn
rut. So we’ve started with
tangible changes to the o ce
environment.
e layout is now open plan
to encourage collaboration
across teams. We’ve built a
games room to encourage
people to hang out together,
with all the Google-type
modern conveniences like
virtual reality pods, bar games,
a beer fridge, a candy room
etc. We’ve also created a Zen
room, where sta can spend as
much time as they like to just
think – imagine plants and
lava lamps and you’re not far
o ! A wellbeing therapist and
masseuse come once a month,
and we’ve removed xed holiday
allowances.
Amidst the pressures of
modern life, we want our people
to know they’re valued and
supported. It’s good for morale,
helps us attract the right people
and, ultimately, it’s helping us
provide better support to our
channel partners and their
customers.
CBM: With your staff feeling
great, how does that translate
into better products?
WE: e changes we’ve made
make us more agile and better
able to respond to the needs
of our customers. e market
for recording and analytics
remains strong. Looking ahead,
we need to o er di erentiated
products and services that are
relevent to emerging go-to
market models. Our plan also
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involves a greater focus on
industry sectors. In September
we introduced ContactAssist. In
its initial release, ContactAssist
is designed to help primary
healthcare providers to identify
patients over the phone,
automate access to patient
records and capture new contact
information.
CBM: How has the business
responded to the changes?
WE: e atmosphere in the
o ce has been transformed
over recent months. Our sta
feel respected, empowered
and motivated to provide
exceptional support and grow
the business.
Every person in the business
is now responsible for driving
change. Each quarter they have
to come up with, and lead, an
idea to improve an aspect of
the business, be that culture,
process or pro tability.
So far, sta -led initiatives
have simpli ed order
processing and made it easier
for customers to raise tickets
and remain informed about
progress. ey’ve also improved
onboarding and the support
renewal processes. It’s partly
about automation, but without
losing that human touch that
has made Oak so successful
and well-loved in the industry.
With the foundations in place, I
believe we’re ready to accelerate
our growth. 2020 is going to be
a big year for us.
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