June 23, 2023 Industry news
Created to shine a spotlight on successful membership organisations and inspire the leaders of tomorrow, the Memcom Membership Excellence Awards are open to professional bodies, trade associations, membership charities, trade unions and the wider not-for-profit membership sector.
As a not-for-profit membership organisation, we are constantly looking for new ways to help our 59,000 members adapt, thrive and prepare for the future, so it is a great honour to be acknowledged by our peers in the membership community.
The five awards we have been shortlisted for all celebrate the creativity and hard work which goes into driving up the standards of the membership sector and shine a light on the organisations that increase value for their profession and contribute to a better society. This includes:
Best use of data, AI or insight – Chatbot
GS1 UK membership has increased by 20 per cent over the last two years due to the explosion of SMEs who need GS1 identifiers and barcodes to sell their products online. This demographic of members are typically digitally savvy, always connected, need information instantly, expect a good experience, not in tune with GS1 standards and are not always based in the UK.
In order to provide our members with the best possible experience and ensure their needs were being met, we decided to implement an AI powered chatbot feature on our website.
Using valuable insights from day-to-day conversations with our members, we were able to develop the structure and content of the conversations we wanted the chatbot to handle and successfully launched in March 2022.
Since then, our chatbot has handled more than 27,000 chats, engaged with over 20,000 users and dealt with 33 per cent of enquiries outside of core office hours.
This has had a huge impact on our ability to support our members at all times and we are continually refining the AI engine to ensure the chatbot is accurately matching user queries with the right answers.
Best event on a shoestring - Powering effective deposit return schemes (DRS)
With DRS implementation rapidly approaching despite a concerning lack of awareness across industry, we hosted an intimate, exclusive event that brought together members, key figures from government, industry bodies and the media, to explore solutions for a future-proofed approach that delivers simplicity, consistency, convenience, and ease of use.
The event was successfully held at One Aldwych on 20 September 2022.
Our carefully curated 90-minute agenda featured a range of keynote presentations and panel discussions packed with thought provoking insights, healthy debate and recommendations for the future.
A key theme from the event was how everyone agreed that, for the schemes to be successful, there needs to be simplicity – for industry and consumers – which aligned perfectly with our position on DRS. All attendees seemed to agree that the time for debating on whether or not DRS is a good thing was over and we now need to collaborate and concentrate our efforts if we are to find a solution that works for all.
Best in person event of the year - 2022 GS1 UK Healthcare Conference
The 2022 GS1 UK Healthcare Conference, our first live event since Covid-19 and the publication of the 2020 Scan4Safety evidence report, returned on 17–18 March 2022 at the QEII Centre in Westminster.
Our biggest conference to date featured more than 70 speakers across three stages who explored the key themes of patient safety, digital transformation and the significant potential of GS1 standards in shaping the future of care.
This included some of the most influential thought leaders in UK healthcare including Emma Summers, NHS Digital’s programme lead for MDIS, and Baroness Julia Cumberledge.
Attendees had the opportunity to hear directly from Trusts that have embarked on GS1 standards adoption journeys, discovered how their own organisations could get started, and engaged with those leading the charge in implementing Scan4Safety.
Best campaign on a shoestring – HFSS
On 15 March 2022, we launched a large-scale campaign designed to inform both industry and consumers of the new High Fat Salt and Sugar (HFSS) legislation, its impact and to announce that we were leading the way in collaborating with industry to deliver a solution.
This was achieved through a comprehensive communications campaign that increased awareness of the issue and encouraged industry to adopt our productDNA for HFSS solution.
We sought to stimulate wider thinking about the impact of the increasing legislative demands being placed on industry and the vital role collaboration and trusted data play in helping businesses adapt and keeping consumers informed and protected.
We commissioned nationally representative Onepoll research of 400 business owners and managers alongside 1,500 UK adults to understand attitudes and preparedness for the legislation. The findings allowed us to carve out a strong news story that revealed widespread unpreparedness amongst businesses. As a result, we could seamlessly and confidently showcase our free HFSS solution as an essential offering for all suppliers and manufacturers.
This drove over 100 pieces of media coverage as well as a significant increase in the use of our productDNA for HFSS solution. In the first six weeks following launch, the number of products uploaded increased by more than 26,000 and the number shared by 45,000, proving that when industry needs to find solutions to address challenges, collaboration gets it done.
Team of the year
At GS1 UK, we maintain a relentless focus on our members and their needs. Our support is recognised as a vital part of the day to day running of thousands of UK businesses.
In 2020, we launched a transformational three-year strategy created by all staff and our supervisory board. It united the business with a commitment to service all its members, addressing the challenges of the silos in the previous strategy.
The strategy included a reinvigorated purpose, a position for the brand and brand values developed through member feedback.
The plan was built on four strategic pillars, community engagement, voice and visibility, standards and solutions and operational excellence. This cross functional approach ensured everyone in the business felt they could contribute, something the previously sector led approach had failed to deliver. This level of transformation requires the brand values to become our day-to-day modus operandi.
Our submission for the ‘Team of the year’ award demonstrated how the whole GS1 UK team have brought the values of collaboration, forward thinking and, trust and integrity to life, entwining them in our daily activities to deliver a greater focus on supporting our members and the delivery of our shared goals.
Each of the awards is judged by an independent panel, chosen for their expertise in that particular field and the winners will be announced on 26 September at a ceremony at the Hilton Bankside in London.
We eagerly await the results and hope we can celebrate a win with our community of 59,000 members.
