The UK has always been associated with innovation and artistic talent, but that doesn't mean there's a shortage of skills and experience in other fields.

The UK workforce has people of all disciplines in both old and new industries.

Recruiting for a Global Move

Internet services company, IntelliSpace, was keen to take advantage of this human resource when they entered the UK market.

Instead of bringing over a little bit of the USA and planting it in the centre of London, the company chose to recruit locally for all its staff and to change the way it worked to suit the new location.

How do UK markets measure up?

IntelliSpace had great success in the USA during the dot com boom and wanted to replicate that success in the UK – where many of its finance industry clients had moved.

“The UK offered great potential because our clients here needed internet solutions, so we came over in 2000 and we were up and running by 2001,” says Brooks Wallace, the UK Managing Director.

Will I have trouble recruiting skilled staff?

Although the cost of living in London is higher than in most American cities, Wallace says the UK offered many advantages.

Chief among them was the skills of the sales force that he put into place.

“We had no problem in finding skilled technical sales people, if anything they were in abundance.”

He adds, “it’s thanks to the sales people that we’ve grown into a profitable company.”

Does a US company with UK staff work?

In just four years, Wallace and his team have built the UK operation up from nothing into a profitable company.

Last year, IntelliSpace showed an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) profit – and a real profit this year.

“That alone was worth coming over for,” says Wallace.

UK Sales margins compare favourably

IntelliSpace equips buildings with high-speed Internet connections and then supports the connections 24/7.

Once equipped, they’re rented out to tenants, which is where the sales team comes in.

The US arm of the company has 115 staff whereas London has just 15, yet last year London contributed 30 per cent of the firm’s US$24 million turnover.

“Typically in the US, our margins are 24 per cent, but in the UK it’s more like 41 per cent,” says Wallace.

“If they had those sort of margins, everyone would like to set up in the UK.”

What about staff turnover rates?

“In the US, sales employee turnover is quite high but in the UK we have a low turnover: We still have five out of seven of the original sales team members.”

“It’s down to the benefits and disciplinary procedures and, because of things like the NHS, employees are much less likely to move. In the US, if there’s a hiccup in sales or they have two bad months, then the sales people will leave”

Is there life outside London?

Wallace says that IntelliSpace is looking to expand within the UK as “the UK is the best growth area for the company”. They are currently looking at offices in Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham.

Finally, although Brooks Wallace was born in the USA, he now boasts dual US/UK citizenship and is proud to call himself an Englishman.