It’s been a year of ups and downs for the business community in Northern Ireland. Speaking on the year past, and her 25-year career in the public sector prior to setting up 3EN, COO Alison Cree talks about doing business in 2020 and making 3EN a great place to work.
You don’t need me to tell you that 2020 has been a tricky year. We’ve all felt the effects of COVID-19 in our businesses, be it through monetary loss, furloughing staff, or noticing an impact on the mental health of our teams. I’m grateful to say, that whilst it hasn’t always been easy, the 3EN Group has managed to not only keep afloat, but reset for success since the nationwide lockdown was announced in March.
3EN is one of the world’s leading Oracle NetSuite Enterprise Resource Management Solutions Partners, with operations and clients across Europe and the US. We provide cloud technology that helps businesses to drive growth through improving efficiency. I started the business in 2011 with my husband, Dale, and together we have been cultivating the culture of our company to reflect that people are our greatest asset.
Before 3EN, I spent 25 years working in a private-sector job that eventually left me disillusioned. Since then, and especially throughout the pandemic, it has been a priority of 3EN to measure our success through the output of a positive attitude, behavior, and culture amongst our team. It is my view that in whatever sector you work, success in your business is ultimately shown through a happy, thriving team. You cannot drive sales, encourage productivity, or develop innovation within your business without first serving the personal and professional needs of your team.
How did I get here?
One Wednesday morning in the ‘80s, after a few failed attempts to kickstart a career in travel and tourism, I took a trip to the local job centre in search of a fulfilling career opportunity. By the following Monday, I had a job with a Local Government Pension Scheme that was looking for an office junior. The role required me to file paperwork, answer the phone, and look after clients.
I worked my way up through the organisation as the years went by, working in pension administration, then payroll, and finally ending up as part of the pensions development team. A career that started out as filing and administration when I was 17 evolved into working more closely with computer software and online processing. I’m a very practical person who loves to problem solve, but I never expected to end up working full time with computer software.
I loved my job for many, many years, but eventually, the bureaucracy and restrictions of the public sector began to get to me. As a single mother, I found it increasingly difficult to balance my ever-growing workload with the demands of childcare and the needs of my family. I was becoming increasingly anxious, and as the expectations of the job changed and new rules were implemented across the company, I began to feel disposable and undervalued. There was no opportunity for flexibility or rest without a significant battle with leadership, and what was once a very enjoyable, fulfilling job was becoming a hard graft.
Welcome, 3EN
I met Dale in the midst of my worries about work. When the opportunity came up to join him on a venture into the world of business consultancy, I decided that the time was right for a career change. I needed a break, Dale needed support, and the business that we now know as the 3EN Group began. A chance encounter with the CEO of Oracle NetSuite when helping with a consultancy job in Germany led us into the world of cloud computing, and we haven’t looked back.
When the business outgrew what we could handle as I pair, I made it my personal mission to ensure that all who became part of 3EN felt fully supported and appreciated. I never want anyone to feel as anxious or restricted at 3EN as I had in my previous role. Even before COVID-19, we made sure to offer a range of opportunities for flexible working that included flexi-time and the opportunity to work from home whenever necessary. I want to ensure that all members of the 3EN team are valued through all stages of their time with us. I see it as not only a professional responsibility, but a personal one – if our team is not thriving, then neither is 3EN.
Enter COVID-19
I recognise that my past anxiety translates into the lives of many workers in 2020. Stresses and pressures in the workplace have been intensified to an unimaginable degree. The sheer weight of responsibility on staff to juggle work with home schooling, increased feelings of isolation, or a deteriorating mental health and wellbeing is unsurprisingly taking its toll
I want to encourage business leaders in Northern Ireland that there are things we can do to help our teams (and ourselves) navigate this ongoing uncertainty and drive success as we do. Like many workplaces, we have upped our communication, doubled up on team members for ongoing projects so that individuals are supported, and offered even further flexibility with working hours. We’ve hosted team quizzes, given allowances for the purchase of home-working equipment, and made known to staff that their fears or anxieties about returning to the workplace at some point in the future will be met with compassion and understanding.
One of the most significant changes we have made to 3EN during COVID-19 is the introduction of Oracle NetSuite’s SuitePeople HR tool to our systems. SuitePeople HR is a people asset management solution that provides a holistic approach to documenting project progress, adding to skills lists, and giving kudos to team members. Not only have we seen communication developing horizontally between team members as a result of this implementation, but have noticed that due to the increased visibility of the personal skills of our team members, individuals are becoming involved in tasks across the company that usually fall outside of the day-to-day requirements of their job. SuitePeople HR is undoubtedly bolstering the collaborative communication approach we work hard to achieve within the company and is already increasing the overall productivity and efficiency of the team. When people feel valued, they do their best work, and we are continually striving to put tools in place that facilitate our efforts.
What next for 3EN?
It is difficult to say what the next few months will look like for businesses in Northern Ireland. My only hope is that as a leader at 3EN I can support the development of my team – both personally and professionally – as we figure out what the ‘new normal’ looks like for each of us. 3EN has seen success during COVID-19, but I acknowledge that other businesses have not been quite so fortunate. As we seek to help each other along, I truly believe that armed with the knowledge that people are our greatest asset, we can come out the other side of 2020 changed, perhaps tentative, but stronger than we entered it.
Alison Cree is COO at 3EN, one of the world’s leading Oracle NetSuite Enterprise Resource Management Solutions Partners, with operations across Europe and the US. Its cloud technology helps businesses to drive growth through improving efficiency with seamless integration between NetSuite and other software platforms.
