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RIDING LONDONS NEW TECH WAVE: PORTLAND, OREGON-BASED OPAL LABS BRINGS DIGITAL BRAINSTORMING TO THE U.K., SECURES EIS STATUS FOR INVESTORS

London (PRWEB UK) 30 May 2013

London is living through the most optimistic start-up party in a decade and the world’s entrepreneurs are taking note. One of Portland, Ore.’s most promising start-up starlets Opal Labs (“Opal”) has set up shop in London’s growing Tech City to service U.K. customers, such as Arup and BP, and fuel its growth with U.K. investment.

Opal Labs is one of many forward-thinking tech disruptors that consider London crucial to its success – and its U.K. office is the first step to becoming a global business. The company plans to attract U.K.-based investors through the government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).

“London certainly has the wind in its sales at the moment, you can just feel it. It’s pushing the envelope in everything from product design, to service innovation and marketing,” said Opal Labs’ managing director and co-founder Matt Oxley. “There is so much merit being in this city, at a time like this, working with some of the most innovative companies in the world.”

Opal Labs offers social business software enabling teams to easily collaborate around ideas, problem solve and unlock innovation potential across the organisation. The company has been busy helping U.K.-headquartered enterprises such as BP and Arup tap into their company’s next “big idea” using its flagship application Opal Brainstorms. The intuitive social enterprise application is designed to shape the ideas that can have the most impact on an organisation.

“The challenge to us was could we get a mechanism that would allow the whole of Arup – 11,000 employees – to talk to each other, particularly at the beginning of projects,” said Tristram Carfrae, RDI, group board director, fellow and chair at Arup. “So we worked with Opal to create the ideal virtual brainstorming tool.”

Opal Labs developed its Opal Brainstorms application with significant insights from the Arup team– most famous for its ground-breaking work on the Sydney Opera House, Gherkin and the Beijing Olympics “Water Cube.” To develop an application powerful enough for Arup’s team of 11,000 world-class innovators, Opal’s software experts opened up shop in London and worked intimately with users to create a business application that solves a real-world problem – allowing an entire organisation to share and shape their ideas. Arup produced this video to document its journey working with Opal to bring Opal Brainstorms to market.

“We have been extremely privileged to work with some of the most innovative companies in the world including NIKE, INTEL and now, Arup. What we have learnt along the way is that organisational creativity is a critical differentiator,” said Oxley. “Creative ideas can come from anywhere within an organisation and have the power to completely transform a project or entire business – like the idea of a bubble structure on the Beijing Water Cube or using a waffle iron to make Nike’s first running shoe sole. Our job at Opal is to help organisations find and shape these ideas so they can make a real impact out in the world.”

The London team is also proud to be associated with a breakthrough collaboration between NASA, USAID, Department of State, and NIKE called LAUNCH – which is leading the way in systems innovation. Meanwhile, energy giant BP is using Opal Brainstorms to enable communication and collaboration around the globe and is particularly interested in the power of social enterprise tech to improve the way their teams problem-solve between offices.

Back in the U.S., Opal Labs has recently been named to the Portland 100 – an elite list of start-ups expected to reach $ 100 million USD in revenue or $ 100 million USD in enterprise value over the next five years. The Portland Development Commission and successful software entrepreneur, Angel investor and Portland 100 board member, Nitin Khanna, selected Opal as one of the Portland 100 participants.

“We are committed to further expand our business in London, and create the blueprint for how we build a global brand,” said Opal Labs’ president of North America Steve Giannini. “The traction that we have made to date is quite remarkable, and the team in London has been instrumental in contributing to those achievements.”

“We aim to continue the momentum we’ve got in the U.S. here in London and are actively seeking the right investment partners who share our vision to fuel Opal’s rapid growth,” said Oxley.

Especially attractive to U.K.-based investors is Opal’s recent acceptance into the Enterprise Investment Scheme, a government initiative designed to encourage investment in London’s most promising start-ups through tax incentives.

The Opal Labs London office is located at 44 Emerald Street and can be reached at london(at)workwithopal(dot)com.

About Opal Labs

Opal Labs is leading the movement to fundamentally change the way the world does business. Opal’s social enterprise technology helps organisations unlock their innovation potential by enabling the ability to share, shape and ship ideas. Opal Labs is working with global innovators like Arup, Method and BP to deploy a powerful ecosystem of apps such as its flagship Opal Brainstorms – designed to harness the power of ideas to solve the biggest problems facing businesses, and the world, today. Visit http://www.workwithopal.com.

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Using Social Media to Create Revenue and Build Social Status


New York, NY (Vocus) December 21, 2010

The team at ADinfinitum, a full service marketing and PR agency based in New York, discussed how to build a companys Social Status and create sales via social media at the Natural Products Consulting Institute seminar, Becoming a More Effective Sales Manager in the Natural and Specialty Channel. Many companies may realize they need to be including social media in their marketing plan, however, they may still be trying to figure out how to generate ROI.

One of the main takeaways from the presentation was that a social media campaign, just like a traditional media plan, needs to be brought to life through strategic planning and execution in order to see a return on investment.

To just throw up a couple of Tweets now and then isnt going to be effective, commented Sue Taggart, CEO, ADinfinitum. Social media needs to be implemented in a strategic fashion, with set tactics, goals and deliverables.

Once a company does engage in social media, it provides an opportunity to boost its social status, or, in other words, create a buzz around the key brand messages the company wants to disseminate.

The reality is that people are most likely already talking about your brand, so you may as well join the conversation, commented Taggart.

As with anything, there can be a downside, such as a disgruntled customer deciding to post a public rant, or a competitor trying to post negative informationbut the bright side of this is that, as long as someone is paying attention to what is said on social media, it can all be managed. And again, its another important reason for brands to engage in social media.

The presentation also highlighted some of the specific misconceptions companies may have about launching a social media campaign, such as that it is free, or that its as easy as hiring an intern to take on the project. The reality is that social media needs hard work and dedication to ensure that the messaging comes across in the same voice that represents the company in all other facets. And while the platforms may in fact be free, the time and training that go into developing a creative and effective campaign, makes it an important investment.

We too have interns that help implement social media campaigns, noted Taggart, but they have been trained in the area of public relations and communications and work under close supervision as we help them develop targeted communications for the brands we represent.

Throughout the presentation, the ADinifintium team discussed case studies, both on small and national scales that demonstrated how brands that have used social media campaigns were able to increase sales, as well as what companies can to do help implement a successful campaign. For more details or to see the slide show presentation, please contact Leesa Raab, ADinfinitum, 212.693.2150 x314, leesa(at)adinfinitumny(dot)com.

The Natural Products Consulting Institute was founded in 1998 to provide consulting services, industry resource guides and educational programs for companies bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market. We develop effective sales and marketing plans, assist with budgeting and planning, pricing and programs, building distribution, appointing broker networks, building organizations, assisting with financing and helping to execute strategies for growth.

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