Another G-Cloud bites the dust!

The Client Services Team at Advice Cloud took some time to reflect on their G-Cloud 10 experience. Hear from our seasoned pros to our newest member of the team, Izzie.

First things first, a special mention to the seagull that flew in our window to steal one of our post-its on a particularly challenging day…

Izzie

As May comes to a close, so too does my first G-Cloud. I was a bit trepidatious at the start of the process, worried about putting my knowledge into practice but looking back I had no reason to be, and I really enjoyed my first G-Cloud experience. What I enjoyed the most was getting to know all our lovely clients, speaking on the phone/email or on the kick-off webinar. Everyone’s passion about their services and products (even if some were a little less enthusiastic over the actual G-Cloud processes?….) was great to see, and really made me want to do well by them.

However, I think the best part for me was our Kanban wall, very professionally made up of bright green frog tape and multi-coloured post-it notes, and on the last day getting to move the last client from the ‘Final QA’ column, to the ‘Done’ column! It was a real sense of achievement.

Although, a notoriously busy time in the Advice Cloud offices, I had a great time with it. I surprised myself on how much I had learnt and grown in confidence since I started back in February. There were points where it was quite hectic, but it is never too bad when you work with such a great team, who motivate and support one another. Now the office is somewhat winding down again, I’m looking forward to growing my relationship with our amazing clients and tackling the next frameworks. Bring on Data and Apps!

Ella

My second G-Cloud involved working with more clients, more listings and inevitably more post-its. The process made me realise just how much I’ve learnt since G-Cloud 9, as I was more confident advising my clients on tricky procurement rules and certain aspects of the application like the Pricing document. We got to see our new and improved Service Definition templates put to practice and read some very good responses that will be shining stars once up on the Digital Marketplace.

This year I also started joining Flo in delivering our G-Cloud webinars to new clients. Although I was a bit nervous for my first few, I soon got into the swing of things. I especially enjoyed giving an overview of how buyers buy through G-Cloud, explaining the potential of the framework to make procurement easier and helping my clients to think of their application from a buyer’s perspective. My highlight of G-Cloud 10 was when, on a day that was closer to the end of the process than the beginning, Izzie – our fab new Business Ops Assistant – exclaimed at being offered some fruit, “Bananas, for a bananas day!” She was not wrong, it was.

There’s no doubt about it though – G-Cloud season is tough! Lots of hard work and dedication goes into completing a quality listing. Thank you to all of my clients for the time they gave, for not minding me chasing them, and for the lovely feedback. I’m looking forward to meeting all my new clients in person – we have lots in the pipeline, so keep an eye out!

Flo

For my third time round the G-Cloud block, I guess the pleasant surprise for me was how much more chilled I was. For my first G-Cloud I remember Chris going on paternity a week after I started, so I was thrown at the deep end to say the least, and for the second, I was working with a brand new team and CCS had done a complete overhaul of the framework so we had to think on our feet, and fast.

I think what has a real positive impact is that after each iteration of the framework we do a retro, learn from what worked and what didn’t, and improve our process accordingly. This resulted in a smoother process for both us and our Clients, and made for a relatively stress free G-Cloud 10. I say relatively because there were still a couple of iffy moments, there always is, but all in all, I feel that we now have a mature model and I am incredibly proud of my team for how dedicated and efficient they are, but also really impressed by our Clients, who have produced their best listings yet. Can’t wait to take this show on the road and go meet them all and make this iteration of G-Cloud the most successful one yet.

I leave you with my favourite G-Cloud moment this year, which was reading this benefit:

“Reliable, durable, performant, consistent and available” Can you guess what the product is?

See you for Data and Apps – Floflo

So there you have it, the highs of what always promises to be a hectic and fun-filled few months. Thank you to all our clients for their hard work, unending patience and most importantly their sense of humour!