“What we really liked about the software was the fact that everyone in the company took to Breathe immediately. There was no training or support required.”
Founded in 2017 by Matt Tomkin, Tao Digital Marketing is a specialist Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) agency with expertise in paid search management and web design and development. Matt and his team of 12 people specialise in helping businesses grow via intelligent digital marketing which helps SMEs compete with larger competitors who may have more resources and bigger budgets.
Tao Digital Marketing is Matt's third business and was established after he sold two previous companies. Having experienced the challenges of generating web traffic in his two previous ventures, Matt became passionate about SEO and supporting other businesses. His clients now include businesses in his hometown - Bolton - through to companies across the UK and as far away as Australia.
The challenge of managing HR admin before using Breathe
Having grown rapidly in four years, Matt and Operations Manager Catherine Hayes found they were spending increasing amounts of time managing HR-related admin and documentation. Although they were using spreadsheets and Google Documents, these were far from perfect and processes like managing absences, holiday bookings were proving to be increasingly time consuming.
The success of the company is very much built around strong cultural values and the ongoing developing of team members and their career progression.
Matt and Catherine decided to look for a dedicated people-management system and approached People Matters HR, a consultancy based in Bury, Greater Manchester for their advice.
People Matters already helped Matt and Catherine by providing help with policy development, compliance support and employment law and were the natural and obvious choice for advice about HR software.
People Matters are a long-standing partner of Breathe and provide their software to SMEs as part of the range of monthly retainer packages the consultancy offers.
Breathe offers 14-day trials of its cloud-based HR management software but Matt and Catherine decided this was unnecessary for them and signed up on the strength of People Matters HR's recommendation.
Breathe: the new way of managing HR
Breathe is a cloud-based system which is provided on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis. The system and its data are stored securely in Amazon Web Service's data centre, which are ISO 27001 certified.
This certification recognises the high level of data security provided by Amazon. In many cases, their facilities are far more secure than if software and data is hosted on many small businesses' own in-house-servers. All data stored in Breathe is also compliant with GDPR best practice.
Delivering significant time & cost savings
Breathe very quickly replaced Google Documents with Matt citing the user friendliness of the systems as a factor for rapid adoption.
“What we really liked about the software was the fact that everybody within the company took to Breathe immediately. There was no training or support required - people just got on with using it. The fact that Breathe is built around self-service, enabling people to report absences and book holiday themselves makes life easier for everyone and this has eliminated the need for spreadsheets and trails of emails. We have increased visibility of absences and can very quickly spot any diary conflicts which could potentially cause problems.
Catherine and I use the system for people management and Breathe has saved us around half a day a month in terms of reduced admin. This equates to savings of around £7k per year. The fact that Breathe is a low-cost system designed and priced for SMEs means we haven't had to make a significant investment. Breathe is great value for money.
The team at People Matters HR help us with the more complex and technical sides of HR and employment law and Breathe is key to effective HR management on a day-to-day basis. Breathe's document management functionality means we have all employee-related documents stored safely in one central place from where we can access them from anywhere. This is great if any of us happen to be working remotely.”
Matt concludes: "One of the most important benefits that have come from using the system is that Catherine and I have more time we can devote to company culture and ensuring all team members are well supported and progressing in terms of their development."
Matt Tomkin, Founder
Supporting future growth
With Breathe now very firmly established within Tao Digital Marketing, the automation the software provides and the efficiencies it delivers have paved the way for taking on more employees as the agency continues to go from strength to strength. This - alongside support from the team at People Matters HR - means HR is now managed quickly, easily and affordably, enabling Matt, Catherine & the team to focus on other important areas of the business.
More information about Tao Digital Marketing is available on their website. For more information about People Matters HR, head to their listing in Breathe's HR Partner Directory.
After seeing the benefits for Tao Digital Marketing, book a Partner demo below and introduce Breathe to your clients and see your consultancy grow. Or, contact our helpful team today.
