Becoming an Award-Winning Entrepreneur in 2021: Alan Cini and Ben Pace Lehner Co-Founders and Directors of Broadwing Ltd. And Rocksteady Digital Agency Ltd., two fast-growing Maltese companies with an international reach – Explain.
For the second year running, Ben Pace Lehner and Alan Cini have recently been awarded two significant awards at Malta’s Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2021. The prestigious event, organised by Dynamic Events in collaboration with Malta Business Review and supported by the Malta Digital Innovation Authority, is the biggest Business Leadership awards show on the island. Held at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Julian’s on Thursday 16th December, the awards ceremony serves as a tribute to the enterprising visionaries who are creating an impact through their determination and self-belief in building, growing, and expanding businesses fuelled with passion for excellence.
Contributing from a recruitment consultancy perspective we look at insights into what preparations and implementations are made to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.
Walking away with the Digital & IT Entrepreneur of the Year – Sponsored by MDIA, Ben and Alan explain, that while the recruitment process will certainly not become a full-fledge digitalised operation overnight, technical developments in Human Resources are progressing at a rapid pace and adopt aspects of innovation and technology.
As individuals who both have extensive experience in the tech industry and have seen first-hand the efficiencies brought about by investing in technology, migrating to the cloud has contributed more time to improve business operations and launching initiatives in a more strategic and agile fashion.
Asked about the preparation efforts, the partners affirm that when you start considering how to take your recruitment business online, it is easy to see why some people think “going online” is too big a challenge. When maintaining cost obligations, it is common to hear of companies that say they simply cannot afford an upgrade right now.
While early online supporters proclaimed the cloud as the “Holy Grail”, no one really advocated fork-lifting your entire enterprise online over the weekend. Most implementations start with a hybrid approach, moving a single application, like email, and growing from there.
Through a phased approach, Alan and Ben, have built their digital processes every step of the way – from cloud access and storage, firewall configurations, an optimised and high-performance recruitment portal, to synchronising with a world-leading CRM and Application Tracking System used by the global recruitment industry. Additionally, Broadwing’s official internal HR Portal and Knowledgebase is a secured, VPN based intranet that includes all training and marketing material for all employees worldwide.
In the world where the ecosystems are becoming smarter and the environment more conducive for doing business, Alan maintains, “it is very encouraging to have been awarded the Employer Entrepreneur of the Year – a testament of our achievements and accomplishments of local business entrepreneurs, offering our employees a modernised, flexible, and remote work environment.”
“We are proud to have received excellent feedback on our portal and services, having been quoted by top companies in Malta as ‘a refreshing change’ in the recruitment market.”, adds Ben.
The hybrid cloud creates a consistent platform that spans data centres and the cloud, simplifying IT and delivering apps and data to users on virtually any device, anywhere. It gives the Broadwing recruiters control to deliver capabilities that the business demands, and to scale up or down as needed without wasting onsite technology investments.
This gives employees the freedom to make their own schedule and work at their own pace towards business targets, increasing productivity, engagement, loyalty, and overall happiness within the company. All of which set a good foundation for better ideas and a more productive organisation. Now the team can focus on the business rather than travel restrictions and have more time to spend improving operations and launching agile initiatives.
Looking ahead towards the future of the recruitment industry both locally and internationally, the directors stress the importance of remaining innovative. “Technology has impacted the world of work massively over the last 10 years. With an eye on the world after COVID-19, having the right systems in place could be crucial to getting that edge on in recovering and finally growing”, they explain.
People are engaging with technology in ways never seen before, meaning recruitment leaders need to invest in the right technology to keep up. Candidates and clients are agile, tech-savvy, and looking for a great experience.
