Product and technology make up three-quarters of BankiFi’s business, so reliance on good people is a must. That’s when it turned to nearshore as an option, working with BrightBox of one of a handful of strategic resourcing partners.

“We took a deliberate strategy, when we knew we were growing – and growing relatively quickly – not to have a fully employed team. We could be agnostic of location, provided that people work in a UK time zone,” said Kirk.

“We wanted two or three key partnerships that would allow us to add people relatively quickly to our team. It meant if we needed to resize the team or repurpose the team, we could do that rapidly. If we'd have employed people in those roles, that would be really hard to manage.”

BankiFi took an approach to have its key leadership roles internal, one or two people as part of its employed team, and the rest via third parties.

And it’s the effort taken to understand BankiFi’s business by BrightBox that hasn’t gone unnoticed, laying the foundations for establishing the right cultural fit alongside skillset.

“We knew we needed a robust, stronger relationship than we’d previously had, something that would be more reliable. And BrightBox has the most consistent ability to provide the right people. These people are part of our team. It removes pain, additional costs and additional management.

“I’d say we've got a very distinct culture. And team fit is more important than skills and experience. BrightBox understand that. The people they put forward are always a really good team fit. And that's critical. We've interviewed people with third parties and directly that are technically brilliant, but we would never employ them, because the team fit wouldn't be right.”