Member Article

Columbus walks round the world

International consultancy company Columbus is embarking on an ambitious project to virtually walk around the world and visit each one of its global customers without even crossing the border.

Staff at the company are currently a third of the way through a Fitbit® charity challenge which, once completed, will see them walk the equivalent of 24,901 miles around the world by the end of the year, passing through every country it provides business solutions to. Over half of the company’s UK team are recording the steps they are taking during everyday activities; at home, work and leisure, with the aim of walking the equivalent distance of a round-the-world hike.

The challenge has been set as part of an initiative to raise money for The Bone Cancer Research Trust, which is kicking off its awareness week today. The charity has been nominated by colleagues who have been directly affected by the disease in the past. The only catch is that the team have to fit almost 10,000 steps a day in between their normal duties, which includes ERP planning, implementation and customer service. For desk based office people, this is quite a challenge.

Mary Hunter, Managing Director of Columbus explained: “Walking 10,000 steps a day is no easy task when you’re doing your day job, travelling and have a home life to fit in too. But by taking the same approach we apply to every ERP project – being focused, working as a team and supporting each other - we are confident that we can reach our target and walk the distance it would take to visit each one of our international customers in this short space of time.

“We are already starting to see the positive change it is bringing about. Many of our team go for a walk if they need to discuss something, rather than book a meeting room, and lots of us use our lunch breaks to take a walk and refresh too.”

The challenge is reminiscent of the company’s namesake, Christopher Columbus, who became known for venturing into the unknown and discovering America back in 1492. The company was founded upon his principles with the aim of helping manufacturing, distribution, retail and food companies to become high performing businesses through best practice business solutions. Columbus places a large focus on Corporate Social Responsibility, and last year raised over £21,000 for charity, a target it is hoping to beat this time around.

The Fitbit® challenge isn’t the only ambitious project the company has fulfilled this year. In fact, the company’s recent financial figures demonstrate that its consultancy services have earned an increase of 7.5% in overall revenue from the first half of 2014, and the company has recorded a significant improvement in net results of 184%. These impressive figures were released on the Danish stock exchange off the back of a recent industry partnership formed with leading retail brand Omnica, which has seen Columbus further grow its retail offering. More recently, the company acquired Dynamics Anywhere, a leading software vendor of mobility solutions for business applications, which has further strengthened the Columbus portfolio.

Mary Hunter said that completing the Fitbit® challenge would be another great target to reach, which would round off an impressive year of growth.

“At Columbus we are committed to meeting targets, whether that be on time, on budget ERP implementations, delivering business solutions that deliver measurable and significant return on investment, and reaching our objectives as part of our corporate social responsibility.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Columbus .