Board composition and division of responsibilities continued
What principal decisions have been made and what have we looked at as a Board during 2021/22? continued Principal decisions made during the year continued
Topic
Stakeholder group
Engagement we received
Decision taken and our response
Reference
Colleagues, customers, shareholders
Interacting with colleagues and colleague engagement
During the year we have really worked on our face-to-face interaction with colleagues at all levels across the business and during the year held Board dinners with local colleagues in Cheltenham and Delft, along with meeting senior colleagues at a Board dinner in Manchester. Board members have also attended colleague events throughout the year, e.g. the IWD networking session in Manchester. Julie Chakraverty is now hosting in-person engagement sessions wherever possible. During the year, the Board has had a number of briefings from the public affairs team, which produced its inaugural Public Affairs Impact Report, which the Board also reviewed, in particular the return on investment within stakeholder engagement, requesting that further work be done in this vital area for NCC. The Board also had briefings from the Chief Technical Officer and the Global Head of Research on the risks and opportunities of emerging technologies, all of which will shape future regulatory initiatives globally.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, although the Board continued to hear from colleagues (via the designated Non-Executive Director for colleague engagement) there was felt to be a lack of proper face-to-face engagement with colleagues especially following a global pandemic. A decision was made to rectify this by adding to the Board schedule as much face-to-face colleague engagement as possible. Being a people business, it is important for us to ensure that our colleagues are engaged and motivated and their voice is heard in the boardroom. Having colleagues who are content and feel that NCC is a welcoming place to work is vital to ensure that we can deliver on our promises for our customers, and indeed our shareholders. The Board decided to improve its understanding of this important stakeholder group. The public affairs team was enhanced during the year, recognising the strategic importance of this area for future business growth. In addition, our Head of Public Affairs also takes an instrumental lead in shaping and leading on the Board strategy day, ensuring that there is appropriate linkage between this key stakeholder and the Group’s overall strategy. Ensuring that we seek to appropriately influence regulatory initiatives should ensure we are well placed to take advantage from any regulatory changes which arise and assist our customers to navigate them, allowing us to grow the business for shareholders in terms of revenue, and maintain our dividend. The Board asked that its knowledge of NCC’s products and services and customer base be improved. Following the strategy day held in March 2022, the Board approved the decision to increase investment in our Remediation and Microsoft Sentinel service offerings with the appointments of new Commercial Directors for each proposition. Overall, although the customer voice is being heard in the boardroom it was felt that there were more opportunities to improve this further and the Board would look to meet with customers over the coming year. Hearing the voice of our customers in the boardroom will allow us to further improve our customer offering and should allow us to win both new customers and retain existing ones, allowing us to grow the business for shareholders in terms of revenue, and maintaining our dividend.
Pages 24, 47, 84 and 86.
Our network, shareholders
Shaping future markets and the work of the public affairs team
Pages 20, 23, 27 and 29.
Customers, shareholders
The customer voice and experience within the boardroom
During the year, the Board requested regular updates from the Global Director of Sales and Marketing along with members of his team. The Board asked for more insight into NCC’s customer base and every Board pack now contains a summary of the latest position on customer orders and a list of important accounts. Our new CEO, as part of his induction process and getting to know NCC and its customers, will report back to the Board on customers and what they are thinking and what their needs are.
Pages 30 and 31.
84
NCC Group plc — Annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2022
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