CM December DECEMBER 2018

CICMQ
Teamwork at the heart
Equinix
EQUINIX connects the world’s
leading businesses to their
customers, employees and
partners inside the world's most
connected data centres.
More than 7,000 employees work in some
44 markets across five continents, and
have achieved 62 consecutive quarters of
revenue growth. In August 2018 quarterly
revenues had increased 18 percent year-onyear
to $1.262 billion.
“By involving the team to fully participate
and project manage the accreditation
journey, our people are more engaged
and learn new skills along the way,” says
Nick Williams MCICM, Senior Manager
(EMEA), Credit and Collections Equinix.
“The team members were able to give
“AS part of the development of the
apprentices in our credit academy,
we decided that they should take
responsibility for organising the reaccreditation,”
says Phil Rice FCICM, Head
of Credit, Aggregate Industries. “This was
a challenge because they had never done
anything like this before, but we felt it was
good experience and essential as part of
their development. They also went on to
present their experience at a CICMQ best
practice event.”
The company has a full-time
complement of 34 in the credit services
team that handle inbound payments,
their input based around their practical
experience of our operations and that
makes the processes more robust and fit for
purpose.
“I experienced how proud each individual
feels to be part of the process leading up
to the accreditation, and the jubilation it
brings when you are successful. It was my
target to gain the accreditation within two
years of joining Equinix and I am pleased to
say we did it within 16 months.”
Pam Thomas FCICM, CICMQ Assessor,
said in her report: “Good controls
and policies together with strong
communication continue to be a key
activity in the department. This ensures
that disputes and queries are kept to a
minimum and overdue debt is reduced.”
Apprentices lead the charge
Aggregate Industries
allocation, credit risk, cash collection and
legal. A number are undertaking Level 3
and Level 5 CICM qualifications, and each
has to complete 18 hours CPD each year and
attend an industry conference or workshop.
They also actively participate in CICMQ
workshops and exchange staff with other
CICMQ accredited companies so they can
gain experience and share best practice.
“There have been a significant number
of major developments in the team
since Aggregate Industries completed
its first QICM/CICMQ Accreditation in
2010,” says Chris Sanders FCICM, Head of
Accreditation – CICMQ.
The Right Energy
GAZPROM Energy, the award-winning
supplier backed by one of the world’s
largest energy companies, has achieved
CICMQ accreditation following an
impressive assessment performance
in which it delivered an extremely
detailed and high-level evidence file,
accompanied by support from key
stakeholders within the business.
Sharon Noland MCICM, Credit Risk
Manager at Gazprom Energy, says that
education and future training is crucial
to the organisation: “The company
culture places a lot of emphasis on
people, development and recognition,
which has been very successful and
something we will look to continue.”
Gazprom Energy has 350 employees
operating across three countries,
supplying over 30,000 industrial and
commercial customers across the UK.
Their parent company, Gazprom, are
responsible for 13 percent of global gas
production.
Injection of Quality
PIONEERS in the development of blood
glucose monitoring systems, Roche
Diabetes Care, excelled in a number
of areas during CICMQ accreditation,
including outstanding training and
development plans for staff.
Roche Diabetes Care, part of the
Roche group, was created in 2014 for
the import, market and distribution of
diabetes care equipment, associated
consumables and value adding services
to the UK and Irish healthcare markets.
It employs over 150 people across the
UK and Ireland, and last year reported a
turnover circa £79 million.
Christelle Madie, FCICM(Grad), MSc
Credit Solutions Manager at Roche
Diabetes Care says: “Our aim is to keep
the bar high and continually improve;
the opportunity to access a wider bank
of knowledge through the Best Practice
network is a key advantage of CICMQ.
There is also a keen and growing
interest within the team to embark
on CICM training courses and attend
professional forums.”
The Recognised Standard / www.cicm.com / December 2018 / PAGE 22