Purple Tuesday Spotlight

Purple Tuesday Spotlight

Purple Tuesday is about to celebrate its ninth birthday. Based in Norwich, with a team of thirteen, the software house supports a wide range sectors and industries. Having a broad client base, and being a tech company, placed them in a better starting position than many when the pandemic hit back in March, but the past six months have not been without challenges. They have had to adapt working practices, diversify the services they deliver, change how they interact with clients and seek opportunities.

Brian Bush, Head of Business Development, explains: “We have certainly faced new challenges over the past six months and have had to make some tough decisions. I’m proud that we are in a positive position to move forward”.

Like many, Purple Tuesday immediately switched to home working. They faced the difficult decision of who to furlough and how best to protect jobs and the company. The majority of the team is back at work, with a mixture of home and office working depending on personal circumstances and business needs. The focus is now to ensure that the team ethos and culture is maintained with the home working period being prolonged.

With a drop in income from retail and hospitality clients, due to complete closure being enforced upon them, new business needed to be won. “Relationships with our clients and potential clients have been key to allow us to grow our business, win new business and continue to be a success during this period”, explains Brian. “We have always focused on relationship building and providing excellent customer service, and that paid off during this period.”

Purple Tuesday has historically had two main approaches to building efficiencies within software: to revise and integrate old systems to allow them to work and communicate better, and to build bespoke applications. “We are focused on improving the client’s profitability, working with medium size SMEs to improve efficiencies and realise cost-savings,” says Brian, “but during this period we have had to pivot. Instead of looking at strategy and long-term gain, we have concentrated on immediate problems that needed a quick solution”. An example being for one client Purple Tuesday recognised that working remotely removed the opportunity to pass paper physically around the office and systems were needed to allow processes to continue. The client wanted a quick solution to an issue that only existed due to the new approach to the whole team working from home which Purple Tuesday was able to provide.

Purple Tuesday are feeling positive. Their client base has increased, they are recruiting and there is a willingness to continue to adapt to thrive. Their team ethos of having a positive focus places them in a strong position to face future challenges and continue to be a success. “It is so important to focus on what you will be doing today rather than what you expected to be doing, and to look for opportunities with a positive mental focus”, believes Brian. “It has been a tough time for all and it’s important to look for the positives and move forward.”