The success of a venture which bridges the gap between motorists and the insurance industry is bringing more business, more jobs and a demand for more space to Hull-based Vizion Network.
The latest success for Vizion – a nationwide deal with the Ford Accident Management programme – sees the company build on growth of more than 400 per cent in the last year.
As a result, Tracey Taylor, Operations Manager, is measuring up more office space at The Deep Business Centre and planning to add to a team which has expanded from five to 17 in the last year.
Chris McKie, Director of Network Development, says other proposals submitted by the company could be a real game changer.
He said: “If we were to win everything that we are currently tendering for we would have to quadruple our size.
“But the Ford deal alone is huge, and whereas last year we increased the number of vehicle repairs by more than 400 per cent to 53,000 we are forecasting to exceed 100,000 repairs this year.
“So we expect to need more staff and more space, and we will find what we need here at The Deep, where they have shown that they can change their infrastructure to provide what we need in terms of additional security around data.”
Tracey was the sole member of the team when Vizion opened at The Deep in January 2009 with the aim of providing safe, consistent, quality repair solutions to corporate and individual car owners.
The company has strengthened its links with motor manufacturers to the extent that it now works with 19. It also has good relationships with many insurers, including partner programmes with Allianz, Aviva and Ageas, and it has built a network of 450 carefully selected repair centres.
A sister company, White Room Consortium, brings together industry professionals to provide integrated apps and other software solutions.
Chris added: “We all brought a lot of experience in the motor industry but we are not about doing things cheaply, we are about removing the frictions, transferring information effectively and measuring the outcomes. We found that about 23 per cent of the cost of an insurance claim came from the cost of repairing the vehicle and the rest related to credit hire and administration.”
The progress is reflected at Vizion’s Hull headquarters, where initial, modest growth has gathered pace and from occupying just 250 square feet initially, then 1,000 square feet the company is about to expand again.
Tracey said: “By the end of our first year there were two of us here. A year ago there were five or six. Now we have 17 people and we will probably at least double that by the end of the year.
“There are a lot of advantages with being here starting with scaleability, the management at The Deep make it easy for you to move up or down depending on the needs of the business.
“There are meeting and conference facilities available when we need them, good parking, we’re only five minutes from the city centre and public transport is good, which is important because most of our claims staff are local. And the space here is reasonably priced particularly when compared to elsewhere in Yorkshire.
“The standard of our staff is extremely high. Quite a lot of the people we recruit have had experience with financial businesses and bring a good grasp of the sort of rules and regulations we have to deal with and they are very keen to get on.”
Freya Cross, Business and Corporate Manager at The Deep, said: “It has been fascinating and hugely satisfying to watch the success of Vizion from a new start up, and more particularly with the company’s expansion during the last year.
“Every new phase of Vizion’s development brings more challenges for us as we make changes to their space, IT and communications to help them accommodate more people. But they are the sort of challenges we enjoy and that’s why we are looking forward to further growth with Vizion.”