sales-i’s CEO and co-founder, Paul Black, has won in the ‘Outside the Box’ category at this year’s Switched on Business Awards.
Paul, an early innovator of the SaaS delivery model, was a popular choice amongst the judging panel to win a category that recognizes business people who have challenged industry accepted practices, used new delivery mechanisms, or have found different routes to market.
At the Business Awards’ glittering gala evening, Paul was announced the ‘Outside the Box’ award winner, a very fitting description for the Coventry-born entrepreneur who sales and customer intelligence service is taking the UK and the US by storm.Paul’s success is no coincidence.
When he co-founded sales-i with business partner Kevin McGirl – they had a very timely idea: to provide busy sales people at high-volume product suppliers with easy, affordable, flexible access to rapid snapshots of customers’ recent buying patterns.But not using the traditional software delivery model.
Jaded by the mainstream software industry, which so often ties customers in to hefty license arrangements, sales-i decided to employ a hosted, pay-as-you-go delivery model. Controversially, this would give businesses access to the very latest tools in a very flexible way, freeing them from the hassle and expense of owning and running the systems themselves
sales-i’s customers describe the decision to subscribe as a ‘no-brainer’, such is the timely value of the functionality they are gaining, and in such an affordable and easy way. The solution allows field sales teams to quickly identify early signs of customer defection to a rival supplier, as well as opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell – gold dust in today’s market.
“It is an honor to win such a prestigious award,” comments Paul. “It is testament to the dedication of the team at sales-i and an unwavering focus on customer service and product delivery that has enabled us to realize our ambition and we are delighted that it is recognized with a Switched On Business award. My sincerest thanks to Angela and the team for putting on a cracking event and to the judging panel for recognizing the innovation behind our proposition.”
