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Alan Bramwell is chief executive of Clancy Consulting. From this year he is also the first chairman of ACE’s SME Forum. Having seen his own firm grow he is keen to get the voices of others heard, and to help ACE serve them.
“Two thirds of member firms have fewer than ten staff” he explained “and over 90% are technically SMEs. So my job as chair is actually quite a responsibility. I have to represent a very large part of the membership. The diversity among SMEs is amazing.
“It is interesting to consider whether a lot of SMEs are content to be so because that suits their lives and their ways of working. Many simply don’t want to be part of the culture of bigger firms. Others will aspire to grow their business and will see themselves as being on a journey that they know isn’t an easy one.”
Alan Bramwell knows a great deal about that journey. He joined Clancy in 1982 and remembers when it would have been among ACE’s very smallest members. While being small still has its advantages, it also means confronting some difficult issues.
Bramwell told Impact: “When I joined Clancy we were about eight people. Now we have grown to around 160 across nine offices in the UK and with operations overseas. There were growing pains and the challenges change at every stage.
“I remember agonising at board meetings about whether we should recruit a human resources manager or whether we should still do that sort of work ourselves. Then, after a period of trying to use outsourced HR support, when we employed our own HR manager we wondered why on earth we hadn’t done it sooner. It was so much better for us”.
That decision paid off for Clancy but it was one that required a financial commitment that the smallest firms can’t make. The new SME chair is very aware that where a small company can’t take on everything itself, ACE has to be able to step in and help.
“The first time a member of staff announces a pregnancy can be frightening. Larger companies might have an HR professional who knows what to do. They can take charge of that situation and get everything sorted out. SME directors are not experts in HR and often haven’t faced the situation before. So they perhaps find themselves using Google to work out what entitlements there are and what best practice is.
“ACE needs to become a business resource for the very small firms, someone to phone up and ask for information or support when they don’t have the expertise themselves.”
Bramwell believes that the role goes further: “ACE can also be used as a neutral spokesperson for members to tap into. That can only work if members tell ACE what their problems are. Whether that be issues with clients or about a government decision, ACE can help to interrogate the reasoning or speak up on behalf of the member group affected.
“Alternatively, a small firm might have a problem in one part of the country that it thinks is unique. By giving those firms a bigger voice we might find that actually several similar problems exist across the country. That is something we can then try to help address.”
In regards to ACE’s larger members, he is keen to ensure the SME Forum does not unwittingly pit small firms against large. He said: “SMEs are the biggest portion of ACE members and therefore are entitled to have their voices heard. The SME Forum is a chance for those smaller member firms to get more involved in, for example, the regional groups. That would ensure their voice is heard alongside much larger firms instead of in isolation.
“That would be good for everyone as large firms value the SMEs in ACE. They know they often need the expertise of small companies in key areas of work.”
Getting small members involved in more areas of ACE work is something he considers a priority. He has been keen to get involved himself and feels those who engage get the greatest value from their membership.
“I take the philosophy with something like ACE that you get out what you are prepared to put in. We could all just pay our membership fees and sit back doing nothing. But I hope a lot of members rightly feel that along with the benefit to our reputation that membership delivers, the real benefit comes from getting actively involved. I hope the forum can get more members to really take this up.”
Finally, as the SME Forum looks to establish itself, how does its new chairman plan to assert its role?
“It is great that this forum has a voice on the ACE board. We can be a conduit for SME members across the country to get their voices heard at the very top. We will use a number of events up and down the country to ensure that this forum gets out to members across the regions and I hope the members pick up the opportunity the new SME Forum offers”
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