June 2023

We are thrilled to announce that Retail Assist has been shortlisted for the esteemed Service Desk Institute Awards 2023. We have been shortlisted in two categories: 'Managed Service Provider of the Year' and 'Best Service Desk Customer Experience'.

The Service Desk Institute Awards are highly regarded in the industry and represent the pinnacle of excellence in IT service management. Being shortlisted for these prestigious awards is a testament to Retail Assist's unwavering commitment to providing exceptional IT solutions and delivering outstanding customer experiences.

The 'Managed Service Provider of the Year' category recognises Retail Assist's expertise, industry-leading practices, and ability to deliver exceptional value to our customer base. Our dedication to excellence, continuous innovation, and customer-centric approach have set us apart from the crowd.

In the 'Best Service Desk Customer Experience' category, our commitment to providing an exceptional customer journey shines through with the help of our Customer Assurance team. Our dedicated service desk professionals ensure timely resolution of issues, personalised support, and proactive communication, resulting in highly satisfied clients who rely on us as their trusted IT partner.

The finalists of the Service Desk Institute Awards 2023 will be announced following virtual presentations on 17^th July 2023.

The news follows as Retail Assist are finalists for the Retail Systems Awards 2023 in the category of ‘Omnichannel Technology Vendor of the Year’, with the awards ceremony taking place this Thursday 29th June at The Hilton, London.

To learn more about Retail Assist's comprehensive range of IT managed services, take a look here.

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We’re delighted to announce that Retail Assist is a finalist for the Retail Systems Awards 2022 for ‘Omnichannel Technology Vendor of the Year’.

With strong competition, Retail Assist has made the impressive Retail Systems Awards finalists shortlist, alongside seven other IT services and solutions providers. Finalists for ‘Omnichannel Technology Vendor of the Year’ are recognised for implementing innovative technology that has led to an improvement in the overall efficiency of a retailer’s omnichannel operations. You can view the full shortlist here.

Retail Assist entered this category to showcase the successful implementation of Merret Pro, our omnichannel supply chain solution, and supporting applications MTI and OMIO Tablet for one of our customers. The implementation of Merret Pro provided a huge step change for the retailer, giving them a true omnichannel trading approach to their sales and stock management.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the deployment of Merret Pro, this shortlisting is a testament to everyone’s hard work and efforts!

The news follows an impressive run for Retail Assist, who were also winners of ‘IT Service Provider of the Year' at the itSMF Professional Service Management Awards 2021.

We look forward to the awards ceremony which takes place 22^nd June 2022 at Waldorf Hilton, London.

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We usually love an excuse for a party, but this week we got a chance to celebrate the success of our team through two virtual events!

The SDI’s IT Service & Support Awards 2020

We were delighted to be announced as a finalist for the Service Desk Institute’s IT Service & Support Awards 2020 for Best Managed Service Provider, in the “Large” category.

These annual awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of the brilliant teams and people working in the IT service and support industry, with Retail Assist winning “Best CX (Customer Experience) 2019” at last year’s awards.

This year’s awards were streamed across the globe by almost 800 people from across the industry, with keynote speakers including Formula 1's Service Management Lead, Monika Jurkiewicz, and ITV's Head of Technology, Tim Guilder.

As part of being a finalist in this category, we were asked to put together a fun video to be shown as part of the awards evening. You can watch our entry for “RA-Watch” below!

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

Women in Tech Excellence Awards

After winning the ‘Empowering Potential Leader’ at the East Midlands Leadership Awards last year, this year our Head of Systems Support, Tina Hand, was a finalist for ‘IT Leader of the Year’ at the national Women in Tech Excellence Awards.

After receiving over 800 nominations, the awards celebrated and recognised female colleagues within their businesses, recognising top performing women from across the technology sector.

Watched by over 1,700 people, the awards celebrated the achievements of the finalists and we are very proud of Tina talents, hard work and capabilities that she shows within our business every day.

And a Third…?

This month, it was also announced that we are finalists for yet another national award! Retail Technology Innovation Hub’s Innovation Awards look to celebrate the best in the retail industry, so we were delighted to be announced as a finalist for Technology Vendor of the Year (UK) for our product information management solution, OMIO PIM.

Scott Thompson, Editor and Founder of Retail Technology Innovation Hub, said: “The coronavirus outbreak has shown just how resilient and fast moving the retail industry can be. This is reflected in the shortlist for Technology Vendor of the Year (UK), featuring agile, innovative tech ventures who have performed strongly in challenging times. We were inundated with entries and it was a challenge deciding which ones should make the cut and which would miss out. We were really impressed with the standard of entries, so to make the shortlist is no mean feat.”

The winners are announced later this month… watch this space!

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We’re so thrilled to announce that Tina Hand, our Head of Systems Support, has been confirmed as a finalist at the national Women in Tech Excellence Awards. Run by Computing, the fourth annual Women in Tech Excellence Awards will take place virtually.

Last year, Tina won the ‘Empowering Potential Leader’ at the East Midlands Leadership Awards and this she’s listed as a finalist for ‘IT Leader of the Year’. In less than three years that she’s worked here, she’s re-developed our Help Desk structure to create new roles, which allowed for better progression opportunities, and also implemented a pay progression scheme for the Help Desk team, whilst constantly driving and achieving consistently high SLAs for our customers.

Tina said: “I’m so pleased to be a finalist for the Women in Tech Excellence Awards. As anyone who’s worked with me will know, I’m not keen on talking about myself so it’s amazing to be nominated by the Retail Assist team. Whilst my role is focused on strategy and service delivery, culture is so important to me and I had a very clear vision in how I wanted our Help Desk culture to be for the people working on it. My people are my main motivation and I like to ensure that my team are supported, developed and encouraged to grow, especially whilst we’re all currently working from home. I’d like to thank everyone for all of their support and will keep my fingers crossed for the 1st December!”

After receiving over 800 nominations, the Women in Tech Excellence judges put together a shortlist of the top performers in the tech industry. Joining Tina as finalists include representatives from companies such as Arsenal Football Club and HSBC, with the winners being announced on Tuesday 1st December at a virtual ceremony.

Dan Smith, our CEO, said: “We’ve always said that our team is our greatest asset and we’re immensely proud not only of the work that Tina delivers every day, but also that she has been recognised nationally for her talent as an IT leader. Tina is passionate, focused and always calm under pressure: she’s a complete asset to our company and to our customers, and she’s already a winner in our eyes.”

A statement from the Women in Tech Excellence Awards said: “Although we are facing huge challenges in our personal and professional lives as we cope with the impact of Covid-19, Computing is committed to continuing to champion greater diversity in the technology industry for the long term. Our Women in Tech Excellence Awards (formerly Women in IT Excellence Awards) are important as they recognise top-performing women from across the technology space and provide inspiration for younger women looking to build a career in our industry. Now in its fourth year, we have taken the decision to rename the awards to bring them closer to our hugely successful Women in Tech Festival, which last year brought hundreds of people together to discuss diversity, celebrate success and network with the best and brightest minds in the industry.”

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2019 has certainly not been without its events: a general election, Brexit (almost!), the first sub two-hour marathon, another royal baby and England nearly winning another rugby world cup have all captured just some of the headlines this year.

So, as we all reach the end of this year – and this decade – it gives us a chance to reflect on the year we’ve also had and a few of our own headlines.

Thank you for all of your support over the last year. From us all here at Retail Assist, we’d like to wish you all a wonderful, successful and prosperous 2020. Happy new year!

January

We kicked off the year by attending the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Big Show. Held in New York City, Alex Broxson, Head of Marketing, and Anna Murphy, Communications Lead, represented Retail Assist at the show, vlogging live from the show floor. Read their blogs from Day 1 and Day 2, and also to watch their videos from Day 1 and Day 2.

February

In February, we were very excited to welcome Smythson to our growing list of customers. Read more about how we support Smythson here.

March

March held some very exciting news for us as we won ‘Best Service Desk CX (Customer Experience’ and were finalists for ‘Best Managed Service Provider 2019’ at the IT Service & Support Awards, hosted by SDI. Click here to read our overview of the evening and for a few more photos, including our Greatest Showman-inspired finalist video!

April

This month saw the launch of our video mini-series, talking to smaller retailers and seeing how they approach providing the best customer experience, including 200 Degrees, Bird & Blend Tea Co. and Doughnotts.

May

In May, we visited RBTE to network, walk the show floor and to record our highlights from the show. But that wasn’t all… we also won the ‘Sales and Marketing 2019’ award at the Nottingham Post Business Awards!

June

On 16^th June 2019, we turned 20! With celebrations both in our offices and also at our client drinks event in London, we welcomed in our next decade. Read our round-up here.

July

At Retail Assist, we pride ourselves with the positive relationships that we build with our customers and we were thrilled to announce the contract extension with our customer, Hobbycraft.

August

Over the summer, we enjoyed having YouTube blogger, Lydia Violeta, as a welcome addition to our marketing team. As a placement student, she produced videos for us, including ‘A Day in the Life’ as an insight into what it’s like to work in our Nottingham head office and Help Desk.

September

In September, we attended the E-Commerce Expo, held at London’s Olympia. We also enjoyed a guest blog from Nelson Blackley, Retail Research Associate at the Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, and published our latest Gen Z research.

October

Even more awards success! This time it was the turn of Tina Hand, Head of Systems Support, who won the Empowering Potential award at the East Midlands Leadership Awards 2019, along with Andréa Williams, Marketing Officer, winning NTU’s Placement Student of the Year 2019. Well done, Tina and Andréa!

November

Another new client! We were delighted to welcome cosmetics giant, Morphe, to our client list. To read more about the support that we’re providing for Morphe, click here.

December

We were incredibly humbled to visit Emmanuel House, a wonderful service that provides care to homeless and vulnerable adults in Nottingham. Sponsoring all the lunches for that day, our CEO, Dan Smith, visited the centre along with Alex and Anna, to hear more about the various facilities that are on offer. We’re also proud to announce that we’ll be funding the 1^st January at the centre, with more details to follow soon…

Want to enter the next decade with award-winning IT support to your retail or hospitality business? Click here to get in touch or email info@retail-assist.co.uk to find out more.

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We think very highly of our staff and services, so it’s always great when that’s recognised by those outside of our organization, too!

This year has been fantastic for awards success. Having won ‘Best CX (Customer Experience) 2019’ at the SDI’s IT Service & Support Awards and also the ‘Sales and Marketing’ award at the Nottingham Post Business Awards, we were also finalists for four other awards and categories across the business. However, never ones to rest on our laurels, the hard work and dedication of our team has officially been recognised again.

Tina Hand – ‘Empowering Potential Leader’, East Midlands Leadership Awards

Head of Systems Support, Tina Hand, was recognised at the East Midlands Leadership Awards, winning ‘Empowering Potential Leader’. Held on 6^th November 2019, the awards, run by TheBusinessDesk.com, applauded business talent from a variety of sectors across the East Midlands.

Since joining in February 2018, Tina has redeveloped the Help Desk structure to create new roles, which allows for better progression opportunities for our staff, which also gives a smoother and more responsive experience for the customer. Along with this, she has also made a variety of changes across the systems and processes used amongst the Help Desk, always with the customer and her staff in mind.

Nominated by her Help Desk colleagues, one person said: “She always has time for us, no matter how busy she is. Tina always has some incredible advice and has a very calming effect on everyone around her. If I think about empowering leaders, I couldn’t think of anyone else who would be more suitable for the award than Tina.”

Well done, Tina!

Andi Williams – ‘NTU Placement Student of the Year Award’, Nottingham Trent University Placement Employer and Student Awards

Our Marketing Officer, Andi Williams, first joined Retail Assist on her placement year whilst studying Marketing at Nottingham Trent University. Quickly impressing her marketing colleagues with her ambition, maturity and drive, Andi showed a fantastic aptitude for marketing and knowledge of the retail and hospitality sectors.

She was nominated for the award by Alex Broxson, Head of Marketing. Alex said: “She has the maturity and business acumen of someone far beyond her years: you actually forget she is still a student!  We’ve been so impressed by her that she is also working for us on a part-time basis whilst she finishes her degree.”

Although the calibre of nominations for the award was extremely high, Andi was granted the ‘Placement Student of the Year’ award after beating stiff competition across her peer group.

Congratulations, Andi!

‘Services Company of the Year’, BCS UK IT Awards

Held on Wednesday 13^th November at Battersea Evolution, the BCS UK IT Awards celebrates success across the IT industry.

After an award application followed by a presentation in Manchester, we were delighted to be placed as finalists in the ‘Services Company of the Year’ category. Having won the category in 2017 and also placing as finalist in 2018, we were thrilled to once again be recognised for excellence across the whole IT sector.

Congratulations to the winners and to the other finalists!

Want to join our award-winning team? Click here for an insight into what it’s like to work with us and here to see our vacancies.

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One win, two trophies and a big night to celebrate! This year, Retail Assist entered the IT Service & Support Awards, hosted by SDI, and we are extremely proud to announce that we not only won Best Service Desk CX (Customer Experience), but were also finalists for Best Small Enterprise Managed Services Provider 2019.

Whilst the night itself was an excellent evening celebrating success within the service desk industry, it had been a robust process consisting of an extensive written application, a presentation and Q&A session with the category judges, then followed by a site visit, complete with another presentation and site tour.

However, we relished the opportunity to wax lyrical about our philosophy surrounding customer service and to celebrate the excellent work that our Helpdesk Call Analysts achieve every day. We explained the ways in which we engage our team to define and build a service desk culture focused on customer excellence whilst delivering exceptional business value, including many examples of where our analysts have gone above and beyond to deliver unique customer service.

However, it wasn’t all presentations and written applications… Another particularly fun part of the process was filming our Helpdesk video. So, without further ado, we present ‘The RA Show’!

Click here to watch the video on YouTube

Held on Tuesday 26th March 2019, the SDI’s annual awards identify the excellence of outstanding service desk teams and individuals from across the globe. Having won Best Managed Service Desk in 2016, Retail Assist was keen to re-enter following a host of innovations to its service desk provision.

Delivering the award for Best Service Desk CX 2019, Tim Ingham, one of the category judges, said: "Customer experience is something that's really close to my heart and I think it has the ability to have a really big impact on the way we deliver support. As a judge, it's really nice to see the kind of programmes in place that will deliver an impact for customers on the local, national and international stage. But, there can only be one winner and that is Retail Assist!"

Along with this, we were delighted to also be a finalist for ‘Best Small Enterprise Managed Service Provider 2019’, which recognises the wealth of services offered across our Managed Services.

Dan Smith, Retail Assist’s CEO, said: “We are extremely proud to have won the Best Service Desk CX award and to be a finalist for Best Small Enterprise Managed Service Provider, gaining both national and international recognition for our work. We pride ourselves on delivering excellence to our customers who include many leading retail and hospitality brands. This is a wonderful achievement that celebrates our team and gives them the recognition their hard work and dedication deserves.”

Thank you to everyone at the SDI for their support and help over the last few months; we had a brilliant night and a fantastic conference. And well done again to the whole Retail Assist team!

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They say that good things come round in threes and this week that’s certainly true for Retail Assist.

This week saw the annual BCS UK IT Awards and the Nottingham Post Women in Business Awards. They were both fantastic evenings and we are delighted that we came away as finalists!

On Wednesday, Kieran Bowden, Head of Business Development (Services) and Tina Hand, Head of Systems Support, travelled to London for the annual BCS UK IT Awards where Retail Assist was a finalist for the Services Company of the Year. Celebrating excellence in the UK technology sector, the awards were a wonderful night to praise and reflect the good practice shown in the industry over the last 12 months.

The next day, two of our members of staff were finalists in the Nottingham Post Women in Business Awards.

Alex Broxson, Head of Marketing, was a finalist in the category of Digital Ambassador after being nominated by her team. Alex was celebrated for her innovative approach to digital marketing and the development of a digital-led strategy, which has seen her vlog from the NRF (National Retail Federation) Big Show exhibition, held annually in New York, and also running Nexpo, a three-day experiential retail tech pop-up store event in Shoreditch, London, which showcased a ‘store of the future’ environment.

Alex said: ‘It feels amazing to be a finalist for this award.  I’m used to writing and submitting award entries on behalf of Retail Assist, so it’s an unusual position to be a finalist for an award myself.  But what meant the most to me was the fact that it was my team who nominated me and put me forward, without my knowledge!

‘To have the support and confidence from your team that they believe you should be recognised for your achievements is fantastic and very humbling.’

The second celebration of the evening came as Apprentice Call Analyst, Chantice Sullivan, was announced as a finalist for Apprentice of the Year. Since starting at Retail Assist just over a year ago, when she was just 16 years old, Chantice has wowed her team leaders with her professionalism and maturity. Chantice was complimented for her drive and her ability to take on the training of new starters, showing great knowledge and understanding of our company.

Chantice said: ‘I was so happy to be a finalist for Apprentice of the Year. Working at Retail Assist has really encouraged my self-confidence and, thanks to working here, I know that I’ll one day have the skills to pursue my dream of owning my own business.’

It was a truly fantastic evening and the end of a busy, but successful week at Retail Assist. Well done to everyone involved!

If you’d like to join our award-winning team, take a look at our careers page here.

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