Transforming our Business with Elevated Digital Technology

Marius Smit | 3 May 2023

Sheffield Hallam University helped Guildhawk Ltd, a women-led, Queen’s Award-winning international business pivot from a language service business to a technology-led, global operation thanks to a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with Sheffield Hallam.

Guildhawk has developed long-standing relationships with global organisations including Bloomberg, TikTok, PepsiCo and PWC. We got in touch with Sheffield Hallam University when we decided to create an innovative digital platform to ensure we offered our clients exceptional customer service.

The Challenge

Innovating with Academic Collaboration

Guildhawk’s existing business management system used home-grown software and the company had no dedicated development team.

We needed to radically re-engineer this to not only meet quality assurance standards ISO:9001 and ISO:27001 but also support outgrowth strategy —creating innovative tech products to sell externally.

Working with academics from the Department of Computing, Soumya Basu and Chris Roast, Sheffield Hallam University has helped us become more confident in adopting technology verticals and put Guildhawk in touch with talented graduates to support the project.

The Solution – Technology

Innovative Software Development and Agile Methodologies

The pandemic highlighted demand for new software to improve multilingual data challenges that global companies face. So, the decision was made to capitalise on the unique expertise and invest in the development of new SaaS (a way of delivering applications over the Internet) while still working to meet the KTP’s original aims and objectives.

The additional objectives and demand for new tech opportunities highlighted the need for an internal technology team. Sheffield Hallum University helped Guildhawk create a new research and development team that is now outperforming industry standards set by Microsoft.

They also helped Guildhawk pilot the use of new communication tools and flexible working, which has increased productivity by 20%.

The transition from a waterfall to agile project management methodology, whilst simultaneously moving their entire IT infrastructure to a Cloud system has transformed their business model, with over 95% of their business now operating virtually post-pandemic.

The Result

Business Growth and Transformation through KTP Collaboration

Thanks to the KTP, Guildhawk have launched two new multilingual SaaS products that have helped corporations reduce CO2 through increased digitisation during the pandemic. This has resulted in new revenue streams and opened up new markets, such as South-East Asia.

The KTP also created a cultural transformation and enabled Guildhawk to feel comfortable with technical experimentation. Knowledge of applied project management was embedded through the organisation through team training, which has had a positive impact on productivity and business resilience.

Since the KTP, Guildhawk have noted several benefits:

An increased breadth of information dissemination
An increased number of individuals benefiting
Improved customer and stakeholder satisfaction
20% boost in productivity

We’ve formed a long-term partnership with Sheffield Hallam University and together we’re committed to training and recruiting new talent. We now have access to a pool of talented students from their computing department to offer internships, placements, and full-time employment opportunities.

View more of our work: The Elders trust Guildhawk with secure, confidential translation.

This case study was originally posted on the Sheffield Hallam University website.