4Com

How GE Capital increased productivity and promoted best practice at 4Com through Access GE.

Faster, Richer, Smarter

4Com, a B2B telecoms reseller, was previously receiving financial backing from four different sources. This was costing both serious time and money. 4Com decided that it made sense to consolidate this funding in 2011, and invited a number of potential partners to make their proposals. GE Capital was the clear choice. They offered a genuine knowledge of - and passion for - the business, expertise in telecommunications and a strong relationship between the two companies was instantly cemented.

4Com were also set to benefit enormously from the introduction of Access GE, a powerful programme that links business people to industry thought-leaders, experts and a wealth of content from some 400 GE Experts.

Access GE opens up a rich library of expert knowledge and advice, leadership events, forum debates and online communities. Content that cannot be found anywhere else. One part of Access GE is an exclusive web portal. This has helped 4Com to become connected to insight beyond finance and from a myriad of sectors such as jet engine manufacture and life saving medical equipment.

GE Capital are more than money

Armed with a partner that understood the business and access to a unique platform of knowledge, 4Com significantly reduced the hours that were previously wasted through admin and process and halted the haemorrhaging of money that had inevitably taken place with multiple funding sources.

From an operational perspective, 4Com now only needed to propose their business plans to one company, not four. They agreed a risk-sharing stance on marginal customers and the average time to process an order was now half a day, compared with two weeks previously.

Not only have there been operational enhancements, but cash flow has greatly improved, with 4Com banking well over a million pounds more now than they were a year earlier – and this cash is being re-invested into product innovation, helping to put them ahead of the competition.

As a direct result of all these positive changes from partnering with GE Capital, productivity levels at 4Com quickly hit an all-time high.

More than Money

However, it wasn’t just the new and improved funding situation which breathed fresh life into 4Com. The company’s charismatic Chairman, Daron Hutt, is renowned for being an “obsessive researcher”. He devotes at least two hours every day to learning – on pretty much any subject matter – but with a particularly keen interest in leadership, psychology, business strategy and emerging technologies. It is therefore of little surprise that Daron is a huge advocate of Access GE, which has not only introduced him to various experts across the GE network but has also provided him with a rich library of white papers, exclusive research and reports, statistics, active debates and best practice.

Daron says that Access GE has made making new key contacts a breeze. As he puts it, there’s no longer a feeling of ‘cold calling’ when picking up the phone to some of the country’s most illustrious business people. He has personally met with senior members of the CBI and various MPs, as a result of engaging with the Access GE offering. Daron has also made great use of the content, particularly that covering staff development, recruitment and company culture at 4Com, after reading expert articles on these topics.