A Leicester businessman is spearheading a new kind of proactive recruitment consultancy

A Leicester businessman is spearheading a new kind of proactive recruitment consultancy
Andrew Sparrow

A Leicester businessman is spearheading a new kind of proactive recruitment consultancy – championing digital transformation strategy which spots trends and reveals unmet customer needs via ‘disruptive’ technologies.

Andrew Sparrow from Market Harborough is the new partner at Birmingham-based Haig & Co which has supplemented its more traditional Finance & Accounting with the two dynamic divisions of Cyber Security and Enterprise Applications (Industry4.0), as businesses increasingly have to operate both offensively and defensively to stay current and future proof.

Andrew (who is fast becoming a world-renowned IT and Fourth Industrial Revolution recruitment specialist) heads up both new sectors and his appointment has catapulted Haig & Co into the realms of 4IR, the Internet of Things (IOT), Big Data, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication – which all involve the very latest skill sets and unavoidably shape modern business processes.

Sparrow explains: “I value the rarest and off-the-wall technology and business process skills because they can disrupt the very best of what’s currently on offer. Via our deep networks we’re looking to create a community of global talent for the UK market that successfully blends the latest engineering, technical and IT skills in one person, because this new breed creates the true Digital Culture that underpins modern organisational change.

 “To adapt, survive and flourish (and businesses certainly have no choice) you need people who understand future business processes, new best practices and the IT applications to support this shift – and whilst bosses might have an idea where the talent resides, knowing, approaching and attracting them is where we come in. In the UK, manufacturing is the Industry 4.0 backbone, especially in the Midlands and the North, and we’ve been able to demonstrate – even on 50-year-old 3rd Industrial Revolution machinery – via expertly fitted sensors and actuators how amassing comparable data can revamp and revitalise a traditional business.

“Consumers are being bombarded with new smart products at a micro level, but enterprise applications at the strategic and macro level, i.e. the future planning of smart factories and the integration and digital networking of processes, are sadly lacking. It’s a time of differentiate or die and the shop floor needs to see a constant flow of IOT and IT working in tandem, securely analysed and processed via The Cloud – plus integrated with enterprise resource planning (ERP), product lifestyle management (PLM), manufacturing execution systems (MES) and supply chain management (SCM) solutions – and converted into the all-important Big Data intelligence that drives new business models and service offers and crucially uncovers efficiencies across virtually every part of the value chain.

“Success now depends on a company’s ability to radically shift work practices and culture and we pride ourselves on locating the very best business thought leaders, change managers and technical enablers of these innovatory and ever-developing technologies.”

A Leicester businessman is spearheading a new kind of proactive recruitment consultancy
Senior Haig & Co Team. Andrew Sparrow, Damian Navas and Greg Morrall.

Greg Morrall, director and co-founder of Haig & Co, says: “Andrew is an unconventional breath of fresh air, who personifies the principles of best practice, and it’s an ideal fit for both parties. Rather than just run the desks with little autonomy, he has his own standalone business operating under the Haig & Co brand umbrella. It’s similar to how real estate specialisms work in the US, but quite rare in traditional recruitment models over here. 

“He’s quickly established us in the Cyber Security field for SMEs at both niche/senior and interim/project levels, but prefers offence to defence and is now shaking things up within the new data and enterprise application economy that drives Industry4.0 and technology change across large enterprise and manufacturing SMEs.”  

Fellow director and co-founder Damian Navas adds: “It makes perfect sense, because his previous experience includes running the SAP (ERP) desk for James Caan’s executive head-hunter company Alexander Mann Solutions and developing his own SAP-focused business that employed 300 people in eight offices across the world with revenue of $50 million. 

“We all demand ethical and honest business relationships too – and this is about legacy rather than currency building, because we know and understand long-term success and prosperity is about investment in cutting edge skills and embracing the Digital Culture now.”

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