Friday marked the end of an era for Print Image Network Ltd and UK Engage as this was the last working day of Steve Power one of our Co-founders, as he begins his well-deserved retirement after 24 years with the business.
John Foster and Steve formed Print Image Network Limited on 6th June 2000 although they (and Pauline) had worked together at a previous Company for the 10 years prior.
The trio have achieved so much over the last 24 years, from humble beginnings, to the twenty plus team you speak with regularly today.
John provides some insight on the Print Image Network Ltd backstory and how the business has evolved over the years:
"For our first office, we hired a small room in an old Mill in Reddish.
The Mill served its purpose and we gradually expanded; renting more rooms and knocking through as time went by before we bought Image House in Stockport.
We always wanted to get into the more technical side of printing and mailing and developed a few niches over the years and now ….. Time marches on and here we are, one of the leading providers of Electoral Services in the Country.
We have noticed that over the years business methodology has changed considerably. In the beginning we rang people up asked them for an order, placed an order, delivered, and invoiced. Not now … there are so many more compliance and administration duties a business must undertake.
But during all these transitions we have worked together well, taking on different responsibilities as times change.
Different people but we’ve always had the customer and everybody we work with in mind 100% of the time. This common goal of excellence has been key to success. Doing things “right” in my experience, does indeed work well for all concerned. All through these later years this constant desire to be the best has been taken on by everybody who works here; and this support is 100% crucial to everything the Company has achieved.
At the beginning of our Electoral work business, we designed a new style of postal vote pack which won a National award for "Innovation and Creativity".
On the back of this award, we marketed the product and won one initial customer and then more and more. Until after a few years I can still remember the time when we managed to arrange a meeting at one of the largest Councils in the Country. The meeting went well and we won their work … it was then quite a challenge to deliver the requirements.
We are proud to be members of several affiliated organisations not least the AEA and regularly attend their meetings and conferences.
We are regularly consulted by the relevant Government Departments and are proud of our efforts to help deliver democracy.
Whilst being one of the largest providers of printed electoral material we are concurrently one of the leading organisations supplying digital voting methods.
Linked in with this aspect is our work in running AGM processes for clients and helping all sorts of disparate organisations to help deliver their own electoral needs.
As Steve looks forward to enjoying a relaxing G&T on various beaches, he leaves one final message for the team:
"60% of my working life has been spent in this business and I have enjoyed every second of it. 85% of my working life has been alongside my two most valuable colleagues, Pauline and John without whose input and support, Print Image Network would not be what it is today. The greatest percentage of our staff are long serving, and all employees possess that special something that ensures Print Image Network will go on to even bigger and better things in the future. I have enjoyed every minute working alongside all my colleagues, I will miss you but have every faith that you will continue to succeed as individuals and as a team."
“As the saying goes, timing is everything…
Closing in on the second month of my tenure as Finance Director for Print Image Network and UK Engage, I have had the pleasure of witnessing the team here in full action throughout April as they delivered for the Local Council, Mayoral & PCC elections.
No sooner had the votes been counted, and No. 10 make their big announcement for 4th July. Once again, the team is firing on all cylinders.
Despite the short runway to the General Election date, everyone is positive and pro-active. It’s the thing that has impressed me the most about Print Image Network and UK Engage thus far: the passion of the brilliant team here, and their commitment to overcome any challenges to deliver excellence for their customers.
I am thrilled to have joined the Print Image Network and UK Engage team, and fully excited by the outlook of the business. In particular, as the needs for government, membership organisations and businesses to adapt alongside the enhancement of technology to better engage their members, the opportunity for us to be at the forefront to help drive democracy.”
Print Image Network have held the Cabinet Office Customer Service Excellence Standard since 2012, and continually strive for and maintain the best customer service through continuous development, especially in the field of constantly changing election legislation. Impartial accreditation of our services is vital to helping us hone our products and services to their optimum. So, we are delighted to report that our headline, overall Customer Satisfaction score that will be reported to CSE is 98%.
The Print Image Network Customer Service Excellence survey is issued annually and this year, represents data collated from 24 local authorities. The survey covers key aspects of the products, services, and dedicated support that we provided to our customers for the May 2022 elections.
Results:
The results of the survey included:
What our customers had to say:
Our customers were given the opportunity to provide their honest opinion about our ballot solutions in several open-ended questions. Here’s a small selection of what they had to say:
“Very responsive and very pro-active compared to others. It was helpful to be able to proof ballot papers in advance of the close of nominations – something others haven't wanted us to do. Awareness of the pressures we are under and more flexible than other suppliers I've worked with.”
“Delivered when promised. Excellent lines of communication. Excellent support.”
Reliability, attention to detail - I feel safe awarding any election print requirement to Print Image Network - knowing that the work is in good hands and will be delivered to a high standard.”
To establish how our products and services compare to other providers in the electoral printing sector, we include a benchmark score. This showed that 93% of our customers rated us as better or much better than other service providers they had used. This creditable score is further supported by the statistic that 100% of all respondents would recommend Print Image Network to a colleague or other organisation.
“Customer service is something which is embedded in our company culture and values. We pride ourselves on the level of customer support we achieve, however, it is only through the valuable feedback from our customers that we can continually assess and refine our services to ensure we meet expectations. Being impartially and independently assessed every year for the Customer Service Excellence Standard provides a foundation for continuous development across our entire business and strengthens the relationships we have with our clients..
With an overall, above target customer satisfaction score of 98%, we are extremely proud of our achievements. We are of course immensely grateful to our fantastic team for delivering such high standards and to our clients who took time to provide their feedback.” Stephen Power – Print Image Network, Client Services Director.
You can view the Print Image Network customer satisfaction report and results in more detail here.
For more information about our growing electoral administration print and mail service, please contact us on 0161 209 4800 or email sales@printimagenetwork.com.
Print Image Network/UK Engage hosted another successful Macmillan Coffee Morning Wednesday 28th September 2022. The first one that we have held since 2019, which was pre-pandemic. And we’ve certainly made up for it!
There was lots of choice, ranging from sweet bakes to savoury pastries with Simon’s 3 Saveurs de Rouleau de Saucisse. Thank you to the team for all their creative efforts in the bake off; choosing a winning recipe was tough as they were all delicious, but thankfully the voting process was extremely simple using UK Engage’s secure online voting platform. The team cast their anonymous votes digitally, ranking all 15 entries in order of preference, this meant that the competition was fair and transparent. The winning entries were:
We are delighted to announce that we raised £231.30 for Macmillan Cancer support, which is fantastic and we also welcomed a number of visitors from companies around Acorn business park.
Well done to all involved and for helping to raise money for a wonderful cause that affects everybody in some way throughout their lives.
The passing of Her Majesty The Queen has left everybody at Print Image Network deeply saddened and we offer our warm wishes and greatest sympathies to King Charles III and the Royal Family.
We would also like to extend our support to all of our customers, colleagues and our team.
As the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Head of the Commonwealth, Patron of more than 600 charities as well as a mother, grandmother and great grandmother, The Queen was a remarkable role model.
Her Majesty’s inciteful leadership, good humour, tireless work and unwavering public service helped smooth a way through the enormous social changes of the last 70years. We will be eternally thankful.
John Foster
The Print Image Network team recently attended the AEA Elections Act 2022 Seminar. Being the first AEA face-to-face event since 2019, the seminar was extremely popular and our stand was very busy, having been visited by many of our customers and other local authorities; it was fantastic to see everybody together again for the first time since the COVID outbreak.
The one-day seminar was to provide information on changes to The Elections Act 2022, to show how the Government is working with the sector to deliver important changes to ensure democracy is secure, fair, modern, and transparent. The Elections Act 2022 introduces several measures to cut down on the potential for voter fraud in elections, including a new requirement for voters to show photographic identification at the polling station in Great Britain. In addition to commonly used photographic identifications being accepted at polling stations, an electoral identity document will be available for electors to apply for, which is known as the Voter Card.
The Government are committed to providing funding to local authorities to cover the additional costs occurring as a result of the changes arising from the Elections Act, to be provided under the New Burdens Doctrine as per the individual electoral registration and canvass reform.
Print Image Network are advanced with the knowledge required on the measures and changes arising from The Elections Act 2022, and we are able to support local authorities with our election and canvass print solutions, customer service excellence, unsurpassed capacity network and extensive range of services for local democracy.
