All-star April – a roundup of last month’s client coverage highlights

With a new whitepaper on the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, a webinar focused on successful analyst relations and an awards ceremony, it certainly wasn’t a quiet month for the Babel team! Amongst this flurry of activity, the team worked hard to make sure that our clients were driving the most important conversations in the media: from AI to critical communications networks, and everything in between. Here are some of my favourite pieces of client coverage from April… 

When should start-ups bring in C-suite experts, and how can this process be as seamless as possible?

Last year, Britain became the birthplace of 46,474 technology start-up companies – and this figure means that the number of newly-created UK tech firms was up by a fifth last year. With technology start-ups on the rise, it is crucial that they know exactly when to hire C-suite experts in order to help their respective companies thrive in the competitive technology market.

After a start-up has raised money through funding rounds, has expanded its customer base and has grown its team, it is time for the founders to consider bringing in more experienced C-suite experts to help steer their organisation towards success. However, if start-ups hire senior roles too early, or they hire the wrong people, they risk damaging their organisation rather than helping it to succeed. To help start-ups navigate this challenge, Sifted spoke to a range of experts and founders who have been through the C-suite hiring and expansion process, about their top tips for onboarding the C-suite seamlessly.

One of the most important factors for start-ups to consider is where exactly they can find C-suite candidates. In response to this query, CEO of Babel client Leapwork, Christian Brink Frederiksen, told Sifted that although many founders rely on their network to source a senior hire, relying on your own contacts could mean that you do not “get the exact profile that you need”. In their search for a CFO, Leapwork utilised an executive search service called Erevena as most experienced C-suite individuals do not want to put their current role on the line by talking to the CEO of a company they may be joining directly. 

To read more about how start-ups can successfully hire C-suite experts, you can access the full article in Sifted here.

AI might not take your job, but an AI expert might… 

Once again, AI has dominated media conversations and as the technology increases in popularity, many individuals are beginning to worry about the security of their jobs. However, according to Fortune, it might not be AI itself that replaces current workers, but AI experts.

With the launch of ChatGPT, AI has become more accessible than ever before and many businesses are beginning to think about how they can utilise the software in their everyday operations. CIO at Babel client Ciena, Craig Williams, told Fortune that businesses need to think about the time that is spent on tasks that don’t add value, such as repeatable tasks, to work out where AI can be integrated into your business to drive efficiency. You can read the full article in Fortune here.

The role of dedicated, secure networks during major events and emergencies

When major events or emergencies take place, effective communication is essential in ensuring that members of the public stay safe, they can receive crucial information and responses can be coordinated. However, these situations can put a lot of pressure on our regular networks which could mean that many people will not be able to get in touch with loved ones or find the most up-to-date information available. Not only this, but these networks could also be disrupted when a natural disaster occurs, leaving infrastructure damaged and in certain cases, unusable. Many governments are trying to step in and begin to develop dedicated critical communications networks to help resolve this problem. However, these projects are an enormous challenge and they tend to face logistical, technical and financial challenges – and this is where telcos can step in and provide assistance.

Mikaël Schachne, VP of the Telco Market at client BICS spoke to Vanilla Plus about why nations need these critical networks, the requirements of a critical comms network, and the role of telcos in ensuring connectivity. When discussing the role of telcos, Mikaël’ highlighted the importance of collaboration in resolving this issue, as multiple operators must come together to create networks with comprehensive coverage and reliability. He then goes on to discuss that Governments should tap into the telecoms ecosystem and work with them on these kinds of projects from start to finish. Governments should also have technology specialists to lead these projects and should leverage the expertise of multiple telco organisations to successfully deliver these projects. This approach allows the government to adapt existing products rather than creating solutions from scratch – making this solution much more effective. 

You can read more of Mikael’s insights in the link above.

And there you have it – another month of great coverage for the Babel team! If you would like to learn more about how Babel can ensure that your business is driving the media conversations that matter most to your business, please do reach out to us!