Change and Transformation in the Private Sector
Safely returning UK PLC to work
Delivering a social distancing device to safely return employees to the workplace
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic sent shockwaves throughout businesses of all kinds, meaning most employees had to be sent to work from home on short notice.
As a leading player in the UK robotics industry, Tharsus, identified the need for a social distancing device, Bump, to help businesses return their staff safely to the workplace. Yet, despite Tharsus’s wealth of experience in robotics, it was largely a solution-oriented firm, with no experience in producing and commercialising consumer devices.
Without this background in taking products to market, Tharsus needed to create a new organisation structure, sales channels and market Bump. Because of the evolving nature of the pandemic, it had an extremely limited timeframe to execute testing and production to meet high, but concentrated demand.
Arca Blanca’s extensive experience in new business and operating model definition and implementation proved to be the perfect match for Tharsus in producing Bump. We helped deliver the first product just three months after it was conceptualised.
A new organisation was created to support the sale of Bump to a new market segment in weeks. In addition, a go-to-market strategy was devised, including a rapid partner evaluation process.
As a result, Bump and Tharsus received both large orders and wide praise in the market, with the device being used in workplaces and events such as the London Marathon. It has also opened wider conversations for Tharsus’s business, including creating a launchpad for developing new products in new markets.
“Working with Arca Blanca to take Bump to market was an extremely positive experience and we would be delighted to partner with them in the future.
Their expertise and how they collaborated in the joint team meant Tharsus could pivot from delivering complex robotic solutions to taking a consumer device to market in just a few months, addressing the crisis of a global pandemic at warp speed.
The joint-team approach challenged our thinking and delivered the experience and capability to create a launchpad for more products in the future.”
— Brian Palmer, CEO, Tharsus
View the Arca Blanca profile in the MCA Members Directory.