The story of Optimo began a few years ago with a company called DH Professional Solutions. However, they decided they needed a makeover to match their new values and growth. 

This was when Optimo was born.

In 2021, Danielle decided that she wanted to undergo a rebrand. She had been a one-woman band for several years by then and after some evaluation, she felt that the company had outgrown its brand and needed a fresh change. 

This was the moment that DH Professional Solutions became Optimo!

At the time it was only Danielle and our then part-time university student, Charlotte, working at the company but she had big visions of where she could see us growing. 

“The previous brand name was something that existed because I had to put a label on the tin when I became a contractor project manager. 

In the world of contracting, in the programme and project world, the brand of a company is not that important, it’s just the name of the company that you put on the invoice. It’s more about the personal brand when you’re a contractor.

But when Charlotte and Mollie joined the team, I realised the business was growing. It became more than just me at that point. It had always been on the cards that I would go into rebrand and it felt like the right time because the team had become more than just me.”

-Danielle Heward, Co-Director & Founder of Optimo.

So why ‘Optimo’?

Well, we were juggling many options for the company’s name. It had to be catchy, refreshing, and relevant- so this was no mean feat. It can be hard, to sum up a whole company with one name.

“We ran a focus group as part of the rebrand where we asked people who were close to the brand to participate and answer questions like what it was they thought we did and what it was they thought we stood for.”

– Danielle 

We knew we wanted the name to incorporate the word ‘optimum’ somewhere. What we do is create optimum solutions for our clients so they can optimise the way that they do things. These sorts of words came out in the process of trying to find a new name.

“It was the rebrand team working together that came up with Optimo as the name. Particularly Tash, the copywriter, who was part of the team. 

We had a couple of options but Optimo ended up being the favourite.”

-Danielle

Our team so far:

We are growing so quickly so let’s do an Optimo round-up!

Danielle– Our Co-Director & the woman who started it all! Danielle has over 15 years of experience in operations, consultancy, business change and transformation. She worked with large, complex organisations, spanning many sectors. She founded the company with the determination to establish a new kind of business improvement firm after feeling disheartened by the damage done by mainstream business. 

Vicky– Our Co-Director. She’s an experienced Business Analyst and Consultant with over 15 years of experience working with businesses to deliver new software and maximise current software and tools. She brings her passion for inclusivity and diversity to the Optimo table.

Mollie– Our Improvement Manager. She’s an enthusiastic change professional who has led and supported the delivery of many projects, products and continuous improvement initiatives. This work covered the financial services, government, higher education, and sustainability sectors. She works on maintaining and improving our internal processes and systems and supporting the delivery of project management and improvement services to our amazing change-making clients.

Nick– Our Business Improvement Consultant.  He works with businesses as they try to improve the efficiency of their operations. This ranges from mapping and analysis of organisational processes to selecting and optimising systems.

Charlotte– Our Digital Marketing Apprentice. She was the second member to join the team after finding the company while looking for a university placement. After graduating in July 2023, she became full-time and started her digital marketing apprenticeship. 

Colin– Our Improvement Consultant. He’s our most recent addition to the team with over 10 years of experience in technology consulting, business analysis, digital strategy, and transformation. He’s worked with national and international companies and in the private, public and charity sectors to build, design and deliver new software, improve customer experience, and solve business problems.

However, we are still actively growing. Right now we have enough members for a volleyball team, soon we may have enough for a football team!

What does Optimo mean to us?

We asked one of our co-directors, Vicky, what Optimo means to her:

“Optimo represents a dream that Danielle and I had many years ago, when we were working on a large digital transformation programme. Danielle and I were working on an operational readiness workstream, getting all the various sites and departments ready for the IT implementation. We worked so well together, it was then we had a conversation about doing this for ourselves one day!!

And now we are doing just that!!!” 

– Vicky Heward, Co-Director of Optimo.

Where we are now:

It is so rewarding to look back on our journey and see how far we’ve come. However, like in any story, this is just the first few chapters. 

But what have we accomplished?

• We’ve gained many new additions to the Optimo family!
• We became a B-Corp in 2023!
• We’ve hosted many events including Sustainable Bytes.

To find out more about us, check out our website.