Kura (company)

Kura
Formerly called
 Response
Limited company
Industry Telecommunications
Fate Active
Founded 1991
Founder Sir David Murray, Murray International Holdings Limited
Headquarters Glasgow, Scotland
Number of locations
 2
Key people
 Brian Bannatyne, Julie McIntosh[1]
Products Syntelate, Relatis, Cams, TeQuios
Owner Internal management team
Number of employees
 Circa 1300
Website www.wearekura.com

Kura is a contact centre company based in Glasgow. They provide outsourced contact centre services and software, including customer service, retention, win-back, up-sell, cross-sell, web chat, complaints handling, appointment setting, general customer management and software development.[2]

History

Kura was formulated (as Response) in 1991 and is headquartered in Glasgow.[2] The company were part of Murray International Holdings Ltd and owned by Sir David Murray until late 2014.[3][4] Founded under Murray after the publication of the Taylor Report into safety at football grounds. One of the outcomes of the report required tickets to be sold prior to games. This spurred on many clubs to open call centres to deal with ticket sales and stadium seating arrangements. Murray, the chairman of Rangers at the time, set up the company to deal with these enquiries.[5]

Under Murray they acquired a contact centre company called Thus for £4m in 2004 and a specialist business process software company called Carnegie Information Systems in 2005.[5][6][7] Trading under the RHL (Response Handling Ltd) name until in February 2007 it was shortened to Response.[8] In June 2008 they also acquired a local software company known as Inisoft, meaning the company offer in-house software capability to potential clients.[9][10]

In early 2014, trade reports stated that Response and its associated companies were for sale as Murray's parent company was under financial pressure. There had been no real interest from the contact centre community with regards to purchasing the company.[11][12]

In late August 2014, the company was sold. A management buyout headed by Managing Director Brian Bannatyne purchased the company from Murray International Holdings Ltd.[4]

In October 2015, the company having been sold changed its name to Kura CS Limited, Kura being the name of the takeover vehicle used by Bannatyne to stage the buyout of Response and a play on the word cura, a Latin word meaning helpful or careful.[13]

Currently operating two Glasgow city centre sites, the company were also located in Edmiston House at Ibrox Stadium but moved out of the premises and it was sold back to Rangers[14][15] Another centre was opened in Clydebank in 2004 and closed in 2009.[16] The company (as Response) used to sponsor the Glasgow Warriors rugby team.[17]

Customers

Kura provide services to some of the UK's biggest companies. Current clients include Student Loans Company, Scottish Power, Esure, Chubb Security, Hiscox Insurance, Bank of America, Orange (UK), Airdrie Savings Bank and Dundee College.[2][18][19][20][21][22][23] The Automobile Association, BSkyB, Buzz (low budget airline operator owned by KLM), Rangers, United States Embassy, Aegon, Hewlett-Packard, Royal Bank of Scotland and Kwik Fit were previous clients.[6][24][25][26][27]

Accreditations

Kura have gained the following accreditations:

Kura are members of the National Outsourcing Association. Inisoft are a technology partner of telecom equipment provider, Avaya.[28]

Awards

In December 2006 the company won the NOA Support Services to the Financial Services Industry Award for their Relatis software system.[29] They were also awarded the NOA Public Sector Outsourcing Project of the Year in 2007 for their work on the American Embassy campaign.[30] The Student Loans Company in July 2008 entered them for Best Outsourcing Partnership for Europe, the Middle East and African regions and subsequently won it.[31] They were named as a finalist at the National Business Awards of 2011.[32] The Hiscox insurance campaign claimed two awards in 2013; they were the 'CCA Excellence Awards Contact Centre Team of the Year' and the 'NOA Awards Financial Services Outsourcing Project of the Year'.[33] In November 2014, Managing Director Brian Bannatyne won the National HR Managing Director of the Year award.[34]

An annual in-house award ceremony to commemorate the work of their staff called The Glitzies was previously held. Awards like Advisor of the Year and Team of the Year were available to staff. The event no longer takes place under Kura.[35][36]

Claims

In 2007, the BBC were investigating credit card fraud within the UK and were making a programme called "The billion pound bank robbery". They sent an undercover reporter into the company and gathered customers' information including bank details. The BBC approached Response with their findings and they subsequently took the BBC to court in an effort to stop the programme being broadcast. A judge ruled in favour of the BBC and the show was broadcast.[37]

In 2008, a Muslim man won £20,000, after accusing Response of mistreating Irish and minority staff. He claimed staff frequently mocked Irish callers, and persistently made racist comments towards callers from the Student Loans Company. He was granted £15,000 for injury to his feelings, a further £3,750 because the company did not follow the statutory grievance procedure, and an additional £3,718 in interest.[38] The Student Loans Company also had to reimburse two students after their student loans were never received. Another staff member was responsible for this and subsequently left the company.[39]

References

  1. ↑ "Hr Network interview Julie McIntosh". Hr Network. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "About Kura". wearekura.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Douglas Fraser (5 April 2013). "BBC News - Sir David Murray's firm in £97m loss". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Sir David sells Response in management buyout". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 "RESPONSE celebrates 20 years in business | news". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  6. 1 2 Custom byline text:  MARK SMITH (25 March 2006). "Abbey high flier joins Response Handling". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  7. ↑ "UK | Scotland | Rangers boss in takeover bid". BBC News. 10 July 2004. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "RHL becomes RESPONSE | news". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Response acquires Inisoft to strengthen professional services software". Compute Scotland. 12 June 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Software services". wearekura.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "BBC News - The very slow slaying of Sir David's Goliath". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  12. ↑ Custom byline text:  Scott Wright (7 April 2014). "Asset disposal programme hailed by Murray Holdings". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "Response mulling acquisitions as it calls up a profit rise ahead of rebrand". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "Locations". wearekura.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  15. ↑ Saturday (10 August 2013). "Inside Ibrox: Q&A". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "UK | Scotland | New call centre jobs buck trend". BBC News. 16 January 2004. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  17. ↑ "Warriors get eager RESPONSE | news". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  18. ↑ Custom byline text:  MARK WILLIAMSON (14 November 2012). "Response wins esure call centre contract". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  19. ↑ Custom byline text:  GREIG CAMERON (12 June 2013). "Response wins contract extension with Hiscox". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  20. ↑ "Glasgow Contact Centre Firm Renews Partnership With Student Loans Company". Callcentreclinic.com. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  21. ↑ "300 ScottishPower call centre jobs in Glasgow unveiled". The Scotsman. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  22. ↑ "Airdrie Savings Bank | case-studies". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  23. ↑ "Dundee College | case-studies". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  24. ↑ "US Embassy | case-studies". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  25. ↑ "AA Breakdown Insurance | case-studies". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  26. ↑ "BBC News - Sir David Murray's firm Response loses Sky contract". Bbc.co.uk. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  27. ↑ "Scotland | Call centre rings up more jobs". BBC News. 31 October 1999. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  28. ↑ "Awards & clients". wearekura.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  29. ↑ "RHL announced Industry Innovators 2006 | news". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  30. ↑ "NOA Award win | news". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  31. ↑ "Glasgow partnership is world class | news". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  32. ↑ "National Business Awards 2011 Finalists | news". Response-uk.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  33. ↑ "Case studies". wearekura.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  34. ↑ "HR Network Awards". Ipso Facto. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  35. ↑ "RESPONSE employees shine at the glitzies - Contact Centre NEWS™". Contactcentrenews.co.uk. 21 February 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  36. ↑ "Small business advice for companies in Scotland UK". Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  37. ↑ Ross McWilliam (30 May 2007). "UK | Scotland | The billion pound 'bank robbery'". BBC News. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  38. ↑ "Muslim in call centre abuse wins £20,000". The Scotsman. 7 July 2005. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  39. ↑ "Student loans firm hit by Glasgow worker's fraud". BBC News. 28 January 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.