Specialist learning and development consultancy RTS Group is celebrating 25 years in business – a quarter of a century in which the tools of its trade have progressed from flipcharts to online technology.
The Chippenham-based group began life as a niche agency aimed at serving the training and development needs of the automotive industry. It was founded by chairman Richard Wells, who had been managing car dealerships across the South West.
Today the company has more than 55 employees, 200-plus associates throughout the world and trades on every continent.
It is now planning to relocate within Chippenham to accommodate its growing team, which in the last few months alone has increased by 45%. To celebrate the milestone, the company went off-site for a team-building day.
Managing director Malcolm Miller said: “We’ve come a long way and achieved so much, since we started in 1989.
“Back then, a projector was considered the height of technology and now we are designing and delivering great learning via the web, tablets, smartphones and more, to make the learning journey as engaging as it can be.
“However, we never forget that the best learning is often face-to-face, in classrooms, at events or in the workplace.”
RTS’ clients include global automotive giants such as Mazda, Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. For these and others it supplies learning and development programmes to frontline, dealership staff to help enhance the customer buying experience and increase sales.
The business is wide-ranging: the UK-based parent company has offices in Spain and Germany and works across Europe and the Middle East; it has a FIMTRAC F&I and Compliance division, which specialises in finance, insurance and compliance learning; and there is RTS eSolutions, which devises technology-based learning programmes.
Earlier this year, its FIMTRAC division broke into the Chinese market to help manufacturers by developing programmes for dealership staff to increase finance penetration at point of sale – a model already successfully used by the company in South Africa.
Mr Miller added: “The future is certainly rosy. We are expanding all the time, both in terms of our geographical reach, clients and staff numbers. The scene is definitely set for the next 25 years, which I am sure will be as successful.”
Pictured: RTS staff celebrate the firm's 25 years in business
