SO, WHAT'S CHANGED IN FIVE YEARS?

This blog celebrates five years of blogging. I want to thank all my readers for their support and emails, questions, comments - and of course the occasional correction! For those of you that don’t know me well, I live between Manhattan, US and Manchester, UK. The first blog I ever wrote was in fact from our Wall Street office five years ago that you can see reproduced below.

“Our offices are on Wall Street, and though I have visited many times, I still find the area so awesome (to use an American expression). Wall Street is amazingly narrow, but being there, surrounded by the banks and the New York Stock Exchange, and the smart suited bankers walking fast and purposefully, mingling in with the crowd and all the sightseers, taking photographs, I cannot help feeling a rush of excitement.As I walk through the lobby of 48 Wall Street, I casually pass my keycard over the security light, allowing me into a great building. On the 11th floor I am welcomed by our Reception staff. The welcome is like a long lost relative has arrived, and it is the same every day (still hating myself for loving all this).Then to our office, which is filled with a talented and enthusiastic team. No more talented and enthusiastic than staff in our offices in other countries, but they are more outgoing and are very articulate when asked about their work.During this difficult economic downturn, it is exciting for us that companies are continuing to use our language services more than ever. It is ironic that many of the banks we work for, and they include many of the largest, are more keen in these difficult times to communicate with their stakeholders worldwide. Long may it continue.I have to say that on leaving the office for the day, I was struck by two young guys who I spoke to and asked what they did before they walked up and down the street carrying billboards, advertising “We Buy Gold”. I was so impressed when the guy said: “The mighty may have fallen, but we ain’t finished yet!”

So, what’s changed over those five years? Well, I’ve lost a further 10 pounds, my hair is darker and thicker than ever and my feelings of admiration for New York have ever increased. The business has grown 10 times with the help of our San Francisco office that opened two years ago. When I first wrote this, it was in the middle of the terrible recession and the collapse of many banking jobs. A real downbeat feel of the place was felt by all. We moved two and a half years ago just around the corner, to the top floor of the New York stock exchange. How cool is that?! The atmosphere here is now “can-do” and things are getting better, much better. Jobs are still hard to find, but many bankers have adapted to new jobs and roles. Business confidence is higher than ever. I have to say it is wonderful writing this blog five years later, after only having mentioned in last week’s blog that October was our best month ever for the US business. Again, as we reach our half financial-year mark, we are exceeding last year’s figures for the whole group.

So what else is different? Over the last five years we have invested heavily in developing our Technology for one. Strictly between you and me, the technology, the investment in a Continuous Improvement team and the introduction of new processes will create a revolution over the next 12 months.  Watch this space!

It will be interesting to predict what thebigword-world will look like in the next five years. I’m suggesting that we will be at least three times the size and whilst the Technology piece will always be an important part, the role of our linguists and project managers will also change. I look forward to sharing these advances with you as we go on our journey.

Have a great weekend and thanks for all your support over the past five years.

Larry