This year, the vast majority of our client’s businesses have restructured or are currently in the process of doing so.
There is no doubt about it, 2020 is a challenge greater than many of us have seen in our working lives.
As a service provider, when our clients’ needs change, we immediately must consider how we can adapt. Thankfully, Apollo’s success is largely down to flexibility. We have built our foundation on working flexibly, responding flexibly and thinking flexibly. Our clients have always commented how refreshing it is to work with a team that isn’t restricted by traditional discipline silos, one size fits all norms and heavy-handed project controls that assume their scopes are identical to the previous job. Nowhere is this flexibility more relevant than in our ‘People’ business unit, that I am very proud to lead.
My two great career passions have always been people and engineering. Over the past 20 years working in the energy industry I have devoted myself to working to find innovative ways for talented, fascinating people to apply their skills to my client’s requirements in new and interesting ways that allow all parties to extract maximum value.
What is Apollo People? This is something I am asked frequently. Is it an agency? Is it a head-hunting service? Is it just traditional consultancy work dressed up as something else? Well, it is none of those things! At Apollo, we recognise that recruitment companies frequently do well at getting the administrative and the ‘human’ side of resourcing right, but sometimes they are not as strong technically. Conversely, engineering companies often get things technically spot-on but fall short when it comes to the human side. That is why we created a business unit devoted to seconding engineers, technical authorities, subject matter experts and designers into our clients’ businesses – whether for 3 hours, 3 months or 3 years. So, Apollo People is a way for clients to flexibly access the time, talents and skills of our incredible family of staff and contractors who collectively boast some of the most valuable skills and experience you will find anywhere in our industry.
In recent weeks, Apollo People secured its biggest contract award to date. We were up against 9 very capable and experienced competitors but are delighted to have come out on top to provide Technical Authority support to a North Sea operator across 16 disciplines on a part-time basis. This contract is the biggest of its type in the industry and represents a fantastic opportunity, and a big challenge also! Our outstanding team of TAs are working with myself and the Apollo People team to ensure we provide a reactive, safe and efficient service to this client. In parallel, I am working hard to ensure we have other great opportunities with other clients to keep the TAs busy and engaged across the industry, whilst enjoying being part of team Apollo.
Coming back to the year that is 2020 and the incredible set of challenges we are all facing in our industry and beyond. We know how hard it is to secure work, we know how pressed budgets are and we know how hard our clients are working under very difficult circumstances. We also know that operations need to continue, assets need to be decommissioned and skills need to be retained. As we all navigate our way through this, we are committed to supporting our people, crafting pragmatic approaches to our clients’ challenges and staying true to our vision and values.
At Apollo, we know engineering and we know people.