Donald Maciver founded Gael as a software company in 1992 having previously worked at Unisys and Ferranti. Gael is based in East Kilbride with a satellite office in Dubai and employs 120 direct and 15 indirect. Gael was acquired by Ideagen plc in January 2015. Gael was initially set up to help companies manage Quality Management and used their success in that field to develop high value leading edge solutions for Safety and Risk Management. Gael are recognised market leaders in Aviation, Healthcare and Advanced Manufacturing and have an impressive client base of 2500 spread across 93 countries. There are many unique aspects to Gael that contributed to its success – long term mind-set, zero debt policy, no external investors, exceptional customer care strategies and products that challenge the norm. As an example, whilst our competitors provide solutions to manage incidents and near misses as demanded by regulators, Gael in addition uses intelligence from across the enterprise to anticipate and prevent problems from happening. With that key differentiation comes a reputation that results in 80% of new business coming through referrals. Donald also attributes Gael’s success to “planning for success”. That starts with why. Why are we doing this, to whose benefit, and where is the value? Answering those key questions provide a sense of purpose to drive you through challenging times. In addition each business unit goes through a formal annual process to help them develop their strategies for the coming year / 18 months and they also are required to produce an appropriate operational plan to ensure each team knows what was required of them to make things happen. Sounds like a lot of effort, which it is. Sounds like a lot of paperwork, which it is not as we “scratch our own itch” and use the MindGenius mind-set and product to provide focus and clarity. Having exited Gael following the acquisition, Donald now has time to focus on MindGenius a software company he created in 2001. Having not had any operational involvement in the business over the last 5 years, now is the time to take MindGenius forward as it has always lived in the shadow of Gael and needs some TLC, a sense of purpose, key strategies, operational plans and about 20 staff! Sounds familiar? Correct. We will also be joined at this event by the TechBritannia team on their #AroundTechNationIn80Hours lightning tour of the UK!