A great idea poorly executed - Anonymous employee Polecat Employee Review

Hi – thanks for taking the time to give us your feedback. I completely agree with your assessment of there being massive potential. The strategic media monitoring industry (focussed on evidence-based insight for reputation, brand, sustainability, diversity, etc) has immense potential – especially for products such as Polecat’s. It’s true we started the company 11 years ago; we are one of the very few businesses to successfully move from consultancy to product. As an Enterprise SaaS business, it’s never an ‘either/or’ between self-service product and professional services – it’s always an ‘and’. That’s what our customers appreciate about what we offer – we understand their requirements, concerns and opportunities - and can also make what was purely agency-driven advice, far more efficient and help them be more independent. In terms of the product then I’d argue that the customers we have delivered insight to, over many years, in many languages including Arabic and Chinese (and more recently adding Urdu, Hindi and Mongolian to name a few) appreciate our translation options in the platform. Your point on pricing is useful; certainly, in the current market, we see the need to respond to changing priorities coming from our customers. Some of these priorities include offering particular packages at particular prices – so this is definitely something we’re working on together across our Bristol, London and US teams. I also take your point on the risks that face a company bringing in consultants. Fortunately, the majority of the consultants have given us great advice on brand, identity, diversity and reputation and have now either joined Polecat or are working in partnership with us directly with customers - demonstrating the value of professional services on top of he Polecat product set. We know that this is something our customers value and really differentiates the business from a tactical media monitoring or pure agency offering. It’s the best of both worlds. Really appreciate you taking the time to feedback to us, we share all comments with our people so we can learn from different perspectives.