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2008

Z/Yen launches ExtZy

2007

Z/Yen are pleased to launch and publish The London Accord.
Z/Yen creates and launches the Global Financial Centres Index for the City of London Corporation.
Z/Yen sells its investment banking cost-per-trade benchmarking subsidiary to Aon.

2006

Z/Yen receives gold award for charitable giving in the workplace.
Z/Yen selected as finalists for the Working Families Innovation Award.
Z/Yen moved into its new, larger office at the end of September, but the address is still 5-7 St Helens Place!
Michael Mainelli chairs Farsight Award judging panel.

2005

Z/Yen produces The Competitive Position of London as a Global Financial Centre and Anti-Money Laundering Requirements: Costs, Benefits and Perceptions, both published by the Corporation of London.
Michael Mainelli appointed non-executive director of United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
Charityshare and Z/Yen jointly win a Highly Commended Award in the Technology category at the 2005 Charity Awards.
Z/Yen appointed by the Institute of Fundraising in partnership with Business in the Community to act as enquiry line and information centre for the Payroll Giving Grants programme. The programme is funded by the Home Office.
Michael Mainelli appointed to three-year post as Professor of Commerce at Gresham College.

2004

Z/Yen helps NSPCC and The Children's Society to launch co-sourcing venture "Charityshare"
Michael Mainelli honoured with a British Computer Society Individual Excellence Award, 2004/2005 Medallist - IT Director of the Year (SME).
Z/Yen Financial Services benchmarking has grown so much we establish a permanent Far East presence in Singapore.
Z/Yen achieves 40% market share of UK Voluntary Sector.
Michael Mainelli takes on Chairmanship of the Broad Street Ward Club 2004/2005.
Z/Yen launches VizZy, a complementary visualisation system for PropheZy.

2003

Z/Yen launches PropheZy in January. Two clients use PropheZy in first two months. Department of Trade and Industry bestows Smart Award of £45,000 on Z/Yen for PropheZy.
A record number investment banks and brokerages participate in a record number of global studies and benchmarks. Z/Yen conducts major liquidity analysis for a large stock exchange and extensive customer study for a clearing house.
The US Journal of Business Strategy serialises Clean Business Cuisine: Now and Z/Yen.
Z/Yen works with Prime Minister's Strategy Unit on sustainable fishing using risk/reward.
Z/Yen's charity insurance benchmark helps charities tackle rapidly rising costs.

2002

Z/Yen acquires Aspect Consulting from Kaizo and gains a new director, Stephen Martin, to head up the Intelligence Practice.
Mark Yeandle joins to head up SpecialiZm, Z/Yen's expert resourcing division.
Project Auguri, led by Alan Helmore-Simpson, begins research into statistical prediction leading to PropheZy.

2001

ICSA Publishing brings out Z/Yen’s Information Technology for the Not-for-Profit Sector as well as a Best Practice Guide, Information Technology Governance in the Not-for-Profit Sector.
Z/Yen takes assignment-related stakes in HTTP Technology Inc and CityAxis Limited. HTTP’s Medicsight system for cancer detection, built with Z/Yen assistance, goes into trials. Z/Yen sells its stake in Milet to an MBO.
Competitive cost comparison work for investment banks extends to four studies in the year involving over 23 banks across Europe.
Marine Stewardship Council yields two public relations coups: a version of the Z/Yen bourse game at St James’ Palace with prizes presented by HRH The Prince of Wales plus coverage of our “fishy maths” work in the Economist.
Z/Yen wins a cricket match for the first time in its history, beating The Children’s Society by a short square leg.

2000

Jeremy Smith, a former Managing Director with Deutsche Bank, joins Z/Yen as the director to head up the Financial Services Practice.
Z/Yen conducts the first of what become many Competitive Cost Comparison studies for investment banks with 10 participants.
Z/Yen establishes the multi-cultural and children’s publishing firm, Milet and takes assignment-related stakes in Zaroo.com plc.
Z/Yen’s long-awaited humorous risk/reward management novel, Clean Business Cuisine: Now and Z/Yen, is published by Milet. The novel is acclaimed Sunday Times “Book of the Week” in July.
Z/Yen’s first patent submission is cleared for the game of FatCat.
Z/Yen bids adieu to an old friend whose work is done, Taskforce 2000, a few months in to the year 2000.

1999

Z/Yen and other COMAX founder shareholders realise gains from COMAX’s sale to Amey plc.
Z/Yen undertakes a major study across Europe into the market for OTC derivatives outsourcing.
Z/Yen hosts a new start-up in Jaffe Associates Limited, a marketing consultancy specialising in professional services. Several joint ventures begin immediately.
Not-for-profit sector work goes from strength to strength, with extended work with Cancer Research Campaign, BEN, The Children’s Society and others, plus significant gains at British Heart Foundation and UNISON.

1998

Z/Yen is commissioned to work on two audacious projects with The Children’s Society, project managing a short, sharp rollout of Windows in months rather than years, and commencing work on the much quoted “evidence of worth” measurement initiative for projects and units known as MART.
In the technology arena, Z/Yen does some pioneering work on the implications of quantum computing and moves to providing its own web server support rather than just Compuserve.
Z/Yen begins the first of the popular Boating Bourse games on S.B. Lady Daphne. This original Technology Bourse is followed over the years by the Legal Bourse, Facilities Management Bourse, Cashing in on Catches Bourse (environmental) and Bull-Bear Biotech Bourse.
Z/Yen cranks up the effort to support Taskforce 2000. The press makes much of the fact that this shoestring organisation punches above the weight of the government’s heavily funded Action 2000. The press seems oblivious to the fact that Taskforce’s resourcing is Z/Yen people’s part-time jobs!

1997

Z/Yen continues to assist and participate in the Management and Employee Buy Out of DERA’s Support Services Division, renamed COMAX Secure Business Services.
Z/Yen pays off founding loan, restructuring the remaining (much reduced) burden onto Messrs Harris and Mainelli.
Z/Yen’s client Ideal Hardware plc wins a prestigious human resources award for the HR strategy work it is doing with Z/Yen, a few days after the assignment begins (for the ideas in the proposal!). Mercifully, Ideal also wins the award again the following year for seeing the ideas through.
Z/Yen undertakes several prestigious IT strategy assignments for charities, including Barnardo’s, WRVS and The Children’s Society.
Helping to put in context the dangers of beef-on-the-bone and BSE, our team alert the public to the far-more-deadly risks of Christmas which is picked up by The Telegraph.
Z/Yen begins its series of famous boating trips on S.B. Lady Daphne.

1996

Z/Yen establishes the £1.9M Financial Laboratory, an innovative joint venture between BZW (now Barclays Capital), Royal and Sun Alliance, The London Stock Exchange, DERA (now QinetiQ), City University, City University Business School, The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and Silicon Graphics. The Financial Laboratory wins a £750,000 DTI Foresight Challenge award later that year.
Z/Yen conducts a major study, jointly with DERA, on central counterparty risk for the London Stock Exchange.
Z/Yen works with Bloomberg in New York on its financial systems strategy.
The Edinburgh office opens under the stewardship of Dr Kevin Parker.
Z/Yen plays a major part in founding Taskforce 2000, a private sector initiative to alert people to the Millennium Bug

1995

Z/Yen wins a major assignment to determine the Corporate Development Plan for the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA, now QinetiQ). The plan wins Ministry of Defence and HM Treasury approval and leads to the privatisation of DERA’s Support Services Division.
The team undertake a large assignment for British Gas establishing risk/reward contract management for a few hundred million chunk of IT outsourcing with particular attention paid to the legacy systems.
Z/Yen begins work with a leading computer games company, Argonaut, which then really takes off.
Z/Yen begins a long-term relationship with the European Fertiliser Manufacturers’ Association establishing a risk-adjusted rate of return for a viable industry which is now regularly updated.
Z/Yen undertakes a comprehensive strategic planning exercise with Broadcasting Support Services leading on to help with Science Line and the BBC Radio Helpline.
In September, Z/Yen moves from Gresham Street to St Helen’s Place (where it remains today). Despite the fact that Z/Yen employs only five men and one woman, romance blossoms and two of the original team of six marry!

1994

Z/Yen begins operations with five working directors and one practice manager. Two of the founding directors, Michael Mainelli and Ian Harris, remain on the board today.
Z/Yen’s first clients are ICS (a distribution company) and, in our first competitive tender, National Aids Helpline run by Broadcasting Support Services (a charity providing care-based call centres and fulfilment) who remain a client for many years. Z/Yen boasts a 100% success rate in competitive tenders for many months.
The original offices were in Gresham Street, thanks to Nick Pickering of Rochester. We couldn’t get any property company to let premises to a start up, but “Uncle” Nick kindly took the space and sub-let to us.

The rest will be history but for now it is the future.

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Copyright © 1994-2008 - The Z/Yen Group of Companies
Last modified: 30 April 2008

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1994

Copyright © 1994-2008 - The Z/Yen Group of Companies Last modified: 30 April 2008

Copyright © 1994-2008 - The Z/Yen Group of Companies
Last modified: 30 April 2008