One of Wales’ leading outsourced services specialists, Smart Solutions, has been awarded £100,000 by the Welsh Government to invest in its IT infrastructure to support the continued growth of the business.
The two-year project, which is supported by the Wales Economic Growth Fund, will see the development of a new front-end recruitment system, creating eight jobs and safeguarding an additional eight jobs at Smart Solutions, which is based at Langstone Business Park, Newport.
The system will streamline a number of current processes including payroll and recruitment processing, allowing staff to spend more time developing relationships with existing and potential customers of Smart.
The front-end recruitment system will enable Smart Solutions to have a bespoke customer relationship management system to support forward mobilisation planning, host up-to-date candidate information and design and share job advertisements with external partners.
Economy Minister Edwina Hart said: “The Economic Growth Fund was set up to support companies’ growth plans, to help them expand, increase their competitiveness, invest in new equipment and create jobs.
“It is always good news to hear that it is making a real difference to companies and I am delighted it is supporting Smart Solutions’ on-going expansion plans.”
Nathan Bowles, chief executive of Smart Solutions, said: “Smart Solutions has experienced rapid growth since the company started in 2007. We’ve seen the number of employees at Smart grow from two to 152 in just six years and, as we continue to expand, we need the right systems in place to ensure that staff are able to carry out their jobs effectively and efficiently.
“Thanks to the support from the Welsh Government, we will be able to develop a new interface that will better support the changing demands of the business. The UK recruitment sector is thriving and, in order to keep up with the ever-changing sector, new ways of working need to be implemented.
“Business confidence is definitely on the up, and as Welsh businesses emerge from the recession, they are beginning to feel more comfortable in taking on more staff once again to take advantage of the upward curve. Our sophisticated new system will enable us to service this increasing demand for labour, helping our clients and the flexible staff we have working for us.”
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) reported that the UK recruitment sector had a turnover of £25 billion in 2010/11 and predicted that by 2015 the sector would have grown to more than £30 billion.
The Wales Economic Growth Fund is a non-repayable grant available to businesses in Wales to help support projects that will stimulate growth and create and safeguard employment. It provides funding for projects that will have an economic benefit for Wales.
Smart Solutions was established in 2007 and has become one of Wales’ most successful emerging brands, receiving a Welsh “FAST GROWTH 50” award four times, the only business in Wales to do so.