Business Heroes – Caja

Business Leaders: Nigel Guest, Director

Company name: Caja

Business activity (day job): Business consultancy firm across a range of sectors to support boosting efficiency and productivity.

Business activity during (Covid-19): Continuing the day job but helping even more companies during Covid, especially public sector organisations to use analytics to predict future demand.

Pearls of wisdom to thrive not just survive: Look after your people and they will look after you.

Supporting essential business transformation through critical times

Keele-based business consultancy firm Caja has been operating for five years. It has supported businesses and organisations from a range of sectors across the UK on transformation projects to boost efficiency and productivity in their operations.

Its services include strategy development, service design, change management, shared services and digital enabled transformation and more. Councils, NHS, charities and private sector businesses have all benefited from Caja’s experience and expertise in recent years. A Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Growth Hub advisor supported Caja by carrying out a business diagnostic and making referrals to grant funds.

Director Nigel Guest said the company had a great year last year which meant the business was in a strong position going into the Covid-19 crisis.

“We have many public sector clients and the majority wanted to continue with their projects despite the pandemic, and some even asked us to support them in their response planning to the crisis so we have been really busy and rapidly adapted the way we work as a team and with our clients.

“Our analytics work in particular has gone from strength to strength, especially with health and social care clients, for obvious reasons in recent months. This covers descriptive analytics – for example modelling patterns in historical patient demand – and predictive analytics which helps our clients make projections about future demands on their services’.

“Through dynamic simulation modelling we also help clients consider a range of future scenarios and ask the ‘what if?’ questions; with the right stakeholders on board, we can really support strategic decision making and help mitigate risk.”

Nigel added that at the heart of all Caja’s work is a focus on creating the synergy between People, Process and Technology – it’s in the business’s DNA. With the majority of public and private organisations needing to adapt and transform operations as a result of Covid-19, Caja can expect high demand on its service to continue.

Nigel has a few words of wisdom for businesses in overcoming pressures from Covid-19.

“We know that it may take some time to get the economy back to some level of normality and that will continue to present both opportunities and risks for businesses.  However, it’s people that are important; their commitment, drive and innovating that will help businesses survive, grow and thrive so I still try and live by the mantra of ‘look after your people and they will look after you.”

Caja is a patron company of the Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce and its managing director Caroline Brown a board member on the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Enterprise Partnership.