With an objective of achieving continuous growth and strong performance, each business undertakes appropriate strategies to achieve or maintain market leading positions.
Research and development initiatives underpin the constant development of products and services to meet the current and future needs of clients. Businesses adopt the most appropriate marketing and sales activities to address the characteristics of their individual marketplaces. Each business also maintains strict disciplines on cost control and seeks to streamline processes where appropriate.
The success of our business and service focus is acknowledged through the breadth and number of industry awards and accreditations we attain. We have also helped many of our clients win awards through our role in delivering improvements in operations and services. Examples of these awards are set out throughout this report.
We have created a pragmatic, flexible structure which is regularly refreshed as the Group develops. We move businesses, contracts and managers across the divisions to ensure the best match of leadership and resources as the Group grows. The businesses benefit from the powerful combination of individual focus and the ability to reach out across the Group to share operational skills and resources, benefit from economies of scale, create and deploy innovation, and harness the best of ICT and business processes.
Many of our contracts draw on expertise and resources from across a number of Group businesses. We have established robust models of collaborative working with clear lines of responsibility, consistent communication and reporting to offer a seamless approach to our clients.
We are currently organised into 5 operating divisions, plus a Group sales and marketing division. Each operating division brings together activities with similar operating models or client bases. Each major contract is managed within the division which best meets its operational, regulatory and management requirements. To provide greater transparency we report financial progress for 8 business segments, splitting Insurance & Investor Services into 2 segments and Integrated Services into 3 segments.
Group-wide support services, such as finance, legal and commercial, property management, procurement, health and safety and environment and HR, report directly to Board Executive Directors to ensure robust control, consistent standards and shared benefits across the Group.