2019: A Retrospective

It’s fair to say that 2019 has been a remarkable year at AND Digital - both for the organisation as a whole and the people that work hard to deliver success for our clients.

So, as the year draws to a close, we want to share some of the highlights of 2019 and celebrate the hard work and achievements of our ANDis.

ANDi Success

Marcel Thomas, Tech Lead

Marcel’s passion and experience in tech were recognised when he placed in the IB100: a list that showcases role models to encourage and inspire tech’s future BAME leaders. He was recognised as one of the most influential BAME leaders in the UK tech sector.

Eileen Valera, Product Developer

For Eileen, 2018 went off to a flying start, being named as a finalist in the Young Leader of the Year category at the Women in IT Awards.

Lola Olaore, Product Analyst

Lola was another ANDi who had a busy 2018, with multiple award nominations and wins. Notably, Lola came 20th in HERoes 50 Women Future Leaders List 2019. On top of this, she also placed in the Individual category of the TechWomen100 Awards.

Company Awards

2019 was a big year for AND on the awards circuit, with a total of 13 awards and nominations. Here are a few we’re particularly proud of:

The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For

After ranking in the best small companies list for the past two years, 2019 was extra special as our company growth rocketed us into a new larger size category where we placed 15th.

We also ranked 7th in the London list, as well as 3rd in the North West list.

Finally, we also walked away with the Learning & Development Special Award, which recognises an organisation that makes ‘…every effort to enable their employees to gain the skills and knowledge they need, not only to do their jobs well but to achieve their own personal goals as well as the organisation’s.’

Recruitment

At the In-House Recruitment Awards, we won Gold for Best Onboarding Strategy and Best Recruitment Team -  testament to the dedication and hard work of our Academy and Recruitment teams.

Growth

Our company growth has been a focus for awards this year, and we’ve received the following recognition for it:

• The FT 1000: Europe’s fastest-growing companies - ranked 24th in Europe and 9th in the UK.
• Maidenhead & Windsor Business Awards - won ‘Fastest Growing Business’.
• UK Tech Business Awards - awarded 'Most Impressive Growth', and shortlisted for ‘Digital Agency of the Year’.
• Prolific North Tech Awards - shortlisted in the Tech Growth Business of the Year category.
  
  

Top Agencies

AND ranked 29th in Prolific North’s Top 50 Digital Agencies list; the highest new entry this year.

We also featured in Econsultancy’s Top 100 Digital Agencies for the fourth year in a row. This year we climbed four spots to be ranked 23rd, as well as placing 5th in the Technical category.

Company Growth

2019 was also a record year for growth at AND. Here’s a small snapshot of how the organisation has expanded:

• We opened three new clubs (that’s what we call our offices), with a third set to open in February 2020.
• We almost doubled in size, with a headcount of 594 ANDis at the end of the year.
• We onboarded 345 ANDis in 2019, compared with 196 last year.
• In September alone, we onboarded 68 new ANDis across three clubs.
• Our Onboarding team ran 22 ANDuctions and AND Bootcamps across the country.
• We ran 31 AND Chats and AND Breakfasts over the course of the year, compared to 18 in 2018.
• We trebled our followers on LinkedIn, hitting the 10k mark in at the start of December.
• Our annual learning summit, Horizons, saw 562 attendees (both ANDis and clients) join 41 sessions across five workstreams.
• Our Academy team organised 83 workshops, and our ANDis racked up 737 hours on Pluralsight, our tech skills platform.