Morson has been recognised and celebrated for its global growth success by taking home the award for ‘Growth in New Markets’ at the Insider International Trade Awards 2022! This prestigious award celebrates the company that has made the most impressive debut in a new market this year.

Morson CEO Ged Mason, OBE, HonDBA:

“I’m delighted to receive this recognition on an international trade basis. Throughout our history, we’ve completed over 15 acquisitions to extend our footprint overseas, in locations such as Canada, the USA, Italy and now Australia. A big thank you both my teams within the business who have worked hard in supporting our growth, as well as our external partners on acquisitions, Beyond Corporate LLP, Deloitte LLP, Barclays. As we have seen with ACRWORLD, as a business we are always looking for strategic growth opportunities, both organic and through acquisitions in new geographies with culturally aligned companies.”

Budding relationship

Adrian Adair, our COO, had worked with ACRWORLD’s director, Dave Deemer, in a previous role. When COVID-19 hit the UK, we reacted with an agile response that saw the Group evolve into a consultancy service. We supported our clients in managing remote teams of workers. Seeking a similar type of support, the directors of ACRWORLD reached out to Morson, and we helped devise a strategy for its diverse business continuity.

Having built their organisation successfully even through the most challenging of years, ACRWORLD opted to sell the business. They went out to market but, based on previous experience, engaged our Board in discussions. It quickly became clear that our two businesses aligned perfectly in terms of culture, values and process. We held all discussions remotely, to make the process as sustainable as possible, and Adrian flew out to meet the team once the deal was agreed.  

Aligned strategies

Our award submission highlighted the fact that ACRWORLD and Morson are both people businesses, with strategies that put colleagues, clients and suppliers first. ACRWORLD noticed how our MSP and RPO offerings, as well as our proprietary software, would add immense value to what it already offered.

For example, ACRWORLD have already integrated Vencuro – our business intelligence tool – as a way of using people data and insights to help the business gain a competitive advantage in its sectors.  

Additionally, Fit for Work, which Morson built in partnership with technology and AI specialists, improves the health, safety and well-being of ACRWORLD contractors working on-site. Initially, workers on Melbourne Metro used the app to ensure they were carrying compliant PPE. But, by assessing whether contractors were suffering from COVID-19, the app supported frontline workers keeping networks running during multiple lockdowns. Today, Fit For Work’s facial recognition technology allows senior leaders to identify which and how many workers are on-site for health, safety and well-being purposes.

Completing the deal

As we completed the deal with ACRWORLD in full in spring 2022, the expansion process is still fairly new. However, big inroads are already being made.

Three of ACRWORLD’s clients are already utilising Morson’s RPO1 service, with contracts for the service turned around incredibly quickly. It was essential to demonstrate we can work in an agile fashion to migrate clients into our service provisions. ACRWORLD were able to immediately promote the benefits of our partnership to its client base.

Our technologies, Vencuro and Fit for Work, have been received incredibly well. We are proud to have brought such innovations to Australian shores. Data insights into recruitment patterns and trends are highly sought after in Australia. Vencuro is already providing ACRWORLD with a competitive edge by creating greater understanding of markets and future talent opportunities. Likewise, health, safety and well-being are essential for working in Australia. Fit for Work has quickly elevated basic expectations of compliance and is a value that both organisations prioritise.

While it is the early days of our presence in Australia, we’ve never before had such a successful take-up of services and products in such a short space of time. It shows there is a huge demand for what we offer and provides reassurance that the future is lucrative.  We are thrilled to see that our hard work in Australia is being recognised by this award nomination. Morson is incredibly proud of the progress we have made.

Learn more about our RPO and MSP models that have made such an impact in Australia.