As we near the end of the year, it’s the ideal time to look back on the transformative journey of our company. For us, 2023 has been truly remarkable, characterised by growth, innovative product advancements and a strengthened global presence.
At the beginning of the year, we successfully secured a round of funding, which has helped us establish a solid foundation for our ambitions and future plans. This set the scene for the rest of 2023.
One of our primary areas of focus for 2023 was developing our product framework, which now clearly consists of two “families”, namely TR Direct (which includes TR Transformation and TR Connect) and TR Assurance (encompassing TR Accuracy and TR Completeness). These modular products offer flexibility and efficiency as they can be used individually or integrated into an end-to-end reporting system, depending entirely on our clients’ needs.
A significant milestone was reached with the launch of “Control Box,” our software platform that seamlessly brings together all our products. This ground-breaking innovation has revolutionised how we approach and build our reporting solutions. In the new year, we’ll introduce Nita, product owner of Control Box and instrumental part of the team who’ll go into more detail about the hows, the whys and the future of the platform, so do keep an eye out for that.
On the subject of our incredible team, they’ve been at the core of our achievements. We’ve made new hires across multiple departments, including marketing, finance, regulatory analytics, and software development, in turn significantly enhancing our capabilities. In the second half of the year, a number of us had the opportunity to visit Sofia, Bulgaria, where a number of our team are based. It was great to meet colleagues face to face, and we’ll be sure to do it again in early 2024. Additionally, we relocated our Sofia team to a new office location as a testament to our commitment to our employees’ well-being.
In 2023, we experienced growth in our client base across a range of business types. We secured the two largest contracts in our company’s history as clients embraced our full range of products tailored to several regulatory regimes. Moreover, our global presence expanded with the addition of clients from the Southern Hemisphere, demonstrating that our potential market is truly global.
To further build engagement with clients and stakeholders, we organised a series of eight webinars focusing on the forthcoming EMIR REFIT. These informative sessions covered implementation practices, data quality, reconciliations, FCA Divergence implications, data transformation techniques and contracts for differences. The overwhelming attendance and positive feedback have been truly encouraging. Consequently, we’ll be investing further into the realm of events for the upcoming year, including additional webinars, roundtables and workshops.
In an effort to provide resources to our clients, stakeholders and beyond, we are putting the final touches to a portal where all the recordings and material can be readily accessed. This will be a growing source of up-to-date information and practical insights as we place more material there in the coming year, focusing on a mix of video and written content.
We also conducted some initial analysis of our TR Accuracy metadata over a four-year period based on the runs made by clients across our portfolio of that application. This is based on tens of millions of records, representing a reliably large sample size. We will publish some detailed findings in due course. Still, it was pleasing to note that the percentage of errors in clients’ reported records decreased substantially from 42% in 2019 to 6% in 2023, strongly suggesting a combination of decisive action to improve data accuracy and the direct benefits of using our software.
As we move forward into the new year, our focus at Control Now remains on safe, structured growth, with our main goal being to support our clients, help them be compliant, and navigate any regulatory changes with ease. We are in the final stages of building a new website, and that, together with a refreshed branding, will outwardly signal our development and ambitions.
It’s been a heck of a year and in conclusion, we’d like to express our gratitude to our clients, colleagues and partners. Your trust, dedication and collaboration have been crucial to our progress to date and we’re excited to continue this journey as we push the boundaries of technology and redefine excellence in our industry. Here’s to a successful 2024!
Murray and Iyad