Three technology heavyweights join Scottish customer loyalty business

Glasgow-based customer loyalty app, Swipii, has brought on board three senior technology executives as it prepares for a period of rapid expansion.

The business was created to help small firms attract repeat business via its online customer loyalty platform.

It has appointed Skyscanner growth director, Janet Balneaves to its executive team. It has also appointed former Skyscanner chief operating officer, Mark Logan and 5pm.co.uk founder, Ronnie Somerville, both as non-executive directors to its board.

At Skyscanner, Janet Balneaves was responsible for implementing a growth-focused marketing structure to the company’s operations. She joins Swipii also as a growth director, where her expertise will help the company establish a scalable expansion model for the business and its users both in the UK and internationally.

Ronnie Somerville takes on the role of non-executive director. The entrepreneur was one of Swipii’s first investors in 2015, and his experience in working closely with local markets and brands will help the company focus on its product development and service offerings.

Mark Logan has also taken up the position of non-executive director at Swipii after originally joining the company as an angel investor. Mr Logan brings a wealth of experience in business operations and culture and will assist Swipii to scale up with the implementation of new governance strategies to help prepare for further growth.

The appointments come just a few months after Swipii hired ex-Google content strategist, Mark Crabbie to the role of product owner, and Stephen Mclintock to the role of customer operations manager from his previous managerial position at CoStar Group.

The months ahead will see Swipii start to bring on board more businesses to their new technology platform: card-linking. Users are now able to collect points for every pound they spend directly through their regular bank card, making it effortless for both the businesses and the consumers. The company will also continue to focus on investing in talent, with plans to double its developer team in Glasgow to further deliver the new card-linking technology.

Chitresh Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Swipii, said: “Our goal is to build the world’s largest local marketplace by connecting businesses, consumers and brands on one shared platform, and our recent senior hires are a vital step in helping us achieve that vision globally.

“They’ve already made a huge difference to the business, changing behaviours and helping us create the baseline infrastructure we need to realise our ambitious growth strategies. We want to make Swipii a household name in the UK for local businesses and consumers to save money on their everyday purchases. Attracting the best talent is key to helping us reach these important business milestones.”