Pedigree Wholesale is one of the leading suppliers of pet and aquatic products into the independent retail sector. Privately owned and financially sound, they supply from stock a broad range of over 10,000 products from the leading brands around the world. They stock products which have been specifically designed for pets, have a proven and well established track record and offer excellent quality and value for money. To keep their offer refreshed and up-to-date they are continually adding new and innovative products to the range.

Pedigree operates from a national network of 5 distribution centres strategically located throughout the UK. They pride ourselves on providing exceptional service and genuinely believe that the dedication of their experienced, knowledgeable & helpful staff is second to none.

The work

Pedigree experienced a short notice change in their IT team and found themselves needing a quick injection of skilled IT experience. The challenge was to support the existing systems, build in greater resilience and – at the same time – plan for a major ERP and WMS upgrade project.

Technical skills were important, but Pedigree also recognised the importance of finding someone with the right personality for the job. They engaged Blues Point to find a high-level IT Manager on an interim basis, with a particular set of technical skills and appropriate behavioural characteristics. After a short but intense recruitment process, the right candidate was found, and the hiring decision was backed up by results from an IKM technical test and Thomas PPA profiling (DISC).

The result was that a few months after the interim IT Manager started work, the IT team was stabilised and the business made a significant investment in IT infrastructure to provide the resilience required. The IT Manager is now playing a lead role in the core systems replacement project.

Following this successful key placement, Blues Point are now a key external supplier of IT staff for Pedigree.

Key Roles

• • IT Manager
  • IT support staff
  • Various finance roles (ABPM)

Testimonial

“I engaged Blues Point after they were recommended to me by a colleague in the industry. They came over to talk about our situation and it was clear that they understood not only our technical requirements, but the business implications of what we were trying to achieve as well.

They suggested using the Thomas PPA assessments as part of the process, and I believe that this holistic approach contributed to the eventual success of the recruitment project. IT people are still people and understanding the person we needed as well as the technical skill set was what made this such an impressive service ”

Chris Laud, Finance Director