H1 reflections and a look ahead to even more success for Ciphr

Welcome back to my blog. Whether you’re holidaying here in the UK, venturing abroad, or holding down the fort in the office, summer is a great time to take stock of this year’s achievements so far – and look ahead to the remainder of 2024.

Ciphr has had a cracking start to the year. As a company, we’ve achieved a huge amount in the first seven months of this year. From product improvements (with more to come later on), to reworking internal processes and overhauling our brand identity, there has been a huge amount of work behind-the-scenes that is beginning to pay dividends. I’m also delighted that our people team, led by Claire Williams , have achieved CIPD People Development Partner (PDP) status – reflecting our commitment to excellence in all things HR.

We’ve welcomed on board 45 new customers, too. They’ll be reaping the benefits of a new approach to implementation project management – pioneered by our head of professional services, Courtney Thompson-Ayerst Assoc CIPD , and her team.

Ciphr has also acquired Shape Payroll – a cutting-edge, API-first payroll software company. The Shape technology is incredible: all payroll calculations are run automatically whenever you make a change to the payroll, meaning your system is always up to date. This also means that the reports you see before closing your pay run are the same as after the pay run is made. This creates several exciting opportunities for us. But I can’t say anything more on that front for now, so watch this space.?

Our acquisition of Shape is an important step on our journey to becoming one of the UK’s top technology companies. One that not only serves its core market – UK-based, medium-sized organisations – but also is the provider of choice for companies based overseas looking to expand into Europe and the UK.

Integrating a smaller company into a larger, parent one is a big transition for founders, in particular. Alex Bartlett , founder of Shape, for example, is used to answering every support call and ticket himself. Now we’re helping him share his knowledge with our experienced payroll and customer care advisers, so Alex can invest more of his energy into developing the Shape product even further, and helping the business scale.

There are cultural changes, too. We met in July for our annual summer conference – with more than 200 Ciphr staff in the same place for the first time in 12 months. For any founder of a small, owner-managed business, acquisition is a significant transition. It’s my job as CEO to make our acquisitions feel embraced by the wider Ciphr family, while also encouraging and helping them to keep hold of the things that make them special.

Another initiative that’s energised our people is our Self-Care Fridays. In the Spring, we gifted every employee an extra day off per month to recharge and rejuvenate themselves. And because everyone gets the same Friday off per month (barring those staff who are on hand to answer customer queries), there’s no need to wade through piles of emails or chat messages when you get back on Monday. It’s been hugely popular, so we’re looking at how we can extend this beyond the trial period, while bearing in mind that some teams have found it challenging to fit this day into their schedules.

What’s in store for H2? Product is going to be our big focus. We’re expecting to roll out an updated, unified sign-in module across our products, as well as an improved, uniform user experience (UX) across our product suite. And there’s even more to come! But that’s a conversation for H2...

Did you meet your H1 goals? What are your aspirations for the rest of 2024? Let’s discuss in the comments.