Transforming businesses with
ECI - Eze Castle Integration
ECI’s mission is to be the most transformative business partner their clients will ever engage.
Thriving in a state of constant progress and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
Who are ECI
Over the past two decades, ECI has emerged as the premier provider of managed services and technology solutions, across cloud, digital, and cybersecurity, to the investment management industry.
To date, they have helped more than 1000 global clients, from financial hedge funds and private equity entities to asset management companies, to activate their full potential through technology, a consultative approach, and a relentlessly innovative spirit.
Most Trusted Microsoft Partner
ECI has been helping mid-market financial services companies stay one step ahead with Microsoft technologies for more than 20 years. They handle the day-to-day administration of their customers' Azure resources, so their clients can focus on what’s important for them.
As a Solutions Partner, they have more advanced specializations and accreditations than other providers in the alternative financial industry.
Find out
How our partnership began
When we first started working with ECI back in 2017, they were looking for a Technical Architect. The challenge for this position was finding the right combination of technical and customer service skills to work with a highly demanding client. We took the first brief for the position in September and managed to find the ideal candidate within 8 weeks, including a three-stage Interview process. This very candidate is still working for ECI to this date. This first process established trust in our capabilities with ECI, and we were able to assist on further projects.
As ECI later began to scale at a faster rate, they increasingly looked to us for support. At first, they trusted us with their permanent staffing requirements, which soon expanded to contract staffing requirements as well as helping them with their US operations. We've built a solid partnership with several stakeholders at ECI from talent teams through to their former CEO, which lasts to this day.
Typical vacancies we collaborate on
Server, Cloud and DevOps
- IT Systems & Services Engineer
- M365 Engineer
- Mac OS Engineer
- Sales Consultant
- (Senior) Field Services Engineer
- (Senior) Systems Engineer
Network
- Network Support
- Network Consultant
- Network Engineer
IT Operations & Support
- L1 Helpdesk Engineer
- L2 Helpdesk Engineer
- 2nd Line Egineer
- Desktop Support Engineer
- Field Engineer
- Field Services Engineer
IT Management
- Client Technology Manager
- Lead Infrastructure Engineer
- Project Engineer
- IT Project Manager
- Service Delivery Manager
- Technical Team Lead
- Technical Architect
- Global Service Desk Manager
- Project Management Officer
- Operations/ Service Director
Security
Security Consulting Manager
Why Franklin Fitch got involved
ECI was looking to hire someone for a position that had never existed within the business before. When their Director of International Technology turned to us as his trusted advisors he was looking for a confidential soundboard to see if what he had in mind was already out there and how he could best approach the search. He was looking for a technical leader to oversee and coordinate operations globally. Several factors made filling this vacancy particularly challenging:
No
Job Title
There was no specific title or description for ECIs requirement.
Versatile
Skillset
Including customer-facing MSP experience, experience within the financial services sector as well as global team leadership.
High
confidentiality
Meaning we couldn't just simply advertise the job, and had to come up with different approaches.
Global Stakeholder Management
Including management of cultural differences between the US and the UK teams' expectations.
Complicated Interview Process
A complicated, multi-stage interview process with executives based in the US and UK who were used to face-to-face interviews.
How we helped
Partnering with ECI
The process involved two international locations: the UK and the US. This presented cultural as well as time-management constraints, in addition to trying to find the right talent for an important position that didn't exist, but had been a problem they had not been able to solve for a long time. We created a tailored program of activities to overcome the challenges and to ensure efficiency and results.
This included:
- Increased use of video and conferencing technology to facilitate conversations.
- Honest conversations, positively challenging how the role should be positioned including reworking job descriptions and adverts.
- Tailored workflows and service level agreements to manage expectations and milestones.
We employed a very consultative approach with Eze Castle Integration and the whole process was a constant learning curve for both organisations. Working together on a job specification that had never existed, we were able to truly collaborate and act as expert advisors. Due to our local approach and global expertise ECI felt safe to be more flexible and trust our approach.
Finding the ideal candidate
Initially, we set up 3-4 conversations to work through and pinpoint the position’s key requirements. We couldn’t advertise the role due to its highly confidential nature, so we had to abandon the traditional approach and find new solutions, so we:
- Approached our existing networks of trusted candidates and clients to gauge interest for a role such as this, to be able to further define the parameters of the job description and requirements.
- Researched companies within the sector with this type of passive talent.
- Working with our networks, we set up a system for candidate referrals.
- Identified key individuals to approach about the role in a confidential manner.
- Ran searches across a number of platforms to search for active talent.
After an initial round of interviews with six candidates presented by us, the hiring managers realized that the candidates we found solved were right for the initial job description we created but didn't quite match up to the issue they were trying to address within the business. As a result, we collaboratively refined the role's requirements further and went out again to find the best candidate.
We sourced another 6 profiles out of which 2 candidates progressed to board-level interviews. The successful candidate was hired as their Director of Technical Services. Within a year of him starting his new position, he was promoted to Vice President of Field Services.
Let's take a look at
The Result
The full process took 2 months to go from a non-existent role to a satisfied customer.
Since this successful placement, we have built an even stronger, trusted partnership with Eze Castle Integration and are now their exclusive recruitment partner for the US and the UK.
What our client said
“It’s the partnership I value with Franklin Fitch. If I’m asking too much, they will tell me. If the market changes, they work with me. Other recruitment companies feel very transactional, here it feels completely like an in-house recruitment team, an extension of our company. When I switched firms a few years ago and met some recruitment challenges, I went back to Franklin Fitch to re-engage and bring them in. That takes trust and I feel comfortable recommending the team as I know they will deliver. It's hard to go above the level of service I have experienced, but I have seen examples where the team at Franklin Fitch has. The beyond comes from simply being good people. Doing things the right way, regardless of what has been contracted or even previously agreed – the phrase ‘Good people to do business with’ really rings true.”
Jamie Smith - SVP, Growth
