AIM is the best possible confirmation that our facilities and service levels are both robust and lasting. Retaining the gold award provides unique and tangible evidence that we continue to push the boundaries in terms of excellence in service.
We’re an established conference centre based in the Warwickshire countryside near Leamington Spa. We have never assumed that the excellence of our facilities would achieve anything without a comprehensive commitment to customer service and support. Meeting, and indeed exceeding, the demands of our customers is our major driving force, and we’ve won several awards in those areas.
But AIM takes us to a new level. It’s by far the most important accolade that any venue can achieve. And we expected, and received, the most demanding of assessments.
The process was challenging, but we were ready for it. Our previous experience in being assessed for standards such as HAM and ISO 14001 (the environmental standard which we were the first in the sector to achieve) prepared us for the way the AIM assessment would go into very considerable depth in terms of our systems and policies.
The whole process of understanding the criteria, performing a gap analysis and acting upon it, right through to compiling the portfolio of evidence took the best part of 6 months -- primarily because, of course, people have day jobs which must take priority.
The process involved us continually going back to the criteria as a check and to seek comfort that we hadn’t missed anything. No single element was particularly tricky, it was more a case of digging deep to collate the wealth of information required.
We actually also benefited from the process as a business improvement tool, identifying any gaps and improving further as a consequence. It is likely that we will continue to use the criteria template for internal performance review and analysis.
Apart from gaining the accreditation, one of the most pleasing aspects of the process was that it underlines that you must have the buy-in of your whole team to achieve it.
EEF Venues Bristol, Westminster, Leicestershire and Sheffield sites were also reaccredited at entry level.
