Welcom Software develops bespoke eCommerce and other IT solutions in partnership with proprietary software platform vendors, including Microsoft and Oracle. The organisation works across a range of sectors including: retail, finance and supply chain and has well-known clients such as New Look, Radley Singer & Friedlander, Land of Leather and Farrow & Ball. Welcom Software was founded in Harrogate, North Yorkshire in 1978 by Barry Welch. The company is now managed by Barry’s son Nigel and the business trades as a limited company owned by a limited liability partnership, in which some employees have an interest.

The business was successfully re-recognised in 2000 but experienced a problem when its Investor in People re-recognition application failed in 2003. This set back prompted the management team to take a fresh, in-depth look at the organisation of the business, with an emphasis on their people management systems and working environment. The management team quickly recognised that some of its people management systems needed refreshing as this had the potential to add significant value to the company’s products and services.

In order to regain its Investors in People status, Welcom’s management team realised it needed to prepare an action plan for the business which delivered the people-focused outcomes outlined by Investors in People. Investors in People was used as the key tool to radically change the business’s culture, working environment and ultimately to drive the business forward. As Welcom proudly state on their website:"Employees need the right knowledge, skills and motivation to work efficiently. Investors in People provides the framework to achieve this."

According to John Barrow, Welcom’s People and Culture Manager, the number one benefit of re-engagement with Investors in People has been the new and highly positive business culture that now permeates the whole organisation. "Everyone now recognises that with the cost of technology falling and customer expectations rising, it is going to be the organisation’s people who will make the difference." Furthermore, he states: "Happy staff strive for excellence and are eager to learn and develop. They are more efficient, more productive and deliver better

results. Investors in People has helped us to create a culture that really values and supports our most important assets" The company believes that Investors in People has also played an important part in helping it also played an important part in helping it significantly increase both its sales and profitability.

Sales in the last financial year, for example, rose by almost 15% and Welcom’s 2007 profit target was exceeded by over 40%, despite strong competition in the software marketplace.

Data presented in Table 1 provides further empirical evidence of the impact Welcom cite Investors in People has had on the company’s performance. As can be seen, Welcom’s sickness absence rate in the last year was only around a third of that found across the Computing Industry as a whole and their labour turnover rate was also five percent lower than the sector average.