Enigma: At the Forefront of Electronics

image: Haris Awang

The effects which the latest technology trends, such as 3D printing and wearable technology, are having on our everyday lives are exciting and profound. Enigma People Solutions feels privileged to be working with clients who are at the forefront of today’s technology, in fast paced industries which affect the way our world works today and the way it will look and work in the future. With clients ranging from companies specialising in the design of medical devices to music and sound products, camera and imaging technology, smart sensors, as well companies committed to the provision of greener energy.

Some of our favourite technologies that clients of ours are working on include:

Visible light communication –  one of our clients is leading the field in the use of the visible light instead of radio frequencies for wireless communication. Their goal is to create high-speed wireless access that offers substantially greater data densities than Wi-Fi along with security properties that eliminate unwanted external network intrusion. Their expectation is that combining lighting and data services will offer reduce costs, infrastructure complexity and energy consumption.

Laboratory equipment  – another client, a global developer and manufacturer of high quality, robust and innovative automated laboratory equipment for both the academic and industrial sectors of pharmaceutical and biotech research. Our client’s focus is to reduce material handling costs and put the discovery tools back in the hands of the scientist. The ability to combine cutting edge science with first rate engineering, enables this company to design and develop unique and novel products. We are excited to see the range of skills used by this company including product design conceptualization, prototyping, mechanical and software engineering to final manufacture and sale. As with many companies in this sector close relationships have been formed with academia and pharmaceutical companies to understand the technological needs of industry and to provide solutions to optimise workflow and reduce costs.

Our client working on power system solutions develops solutions that are used by power system operators and planners worldwide for improving power system security, securely increasing power transfer levels and tracking power system performance, including dynamics, model validation, tuning of power system stabilisers and more.

In short, this company is forging new ways to monitor and reduce power usage and wastage providing this with real green credentials. What has excited the people we have placed with this client is the thought that they are doing their bit to conserve energy and reduce energy wastage and in doing so making a real impact on the world today.

These technologies are fast changing the world that we live in and as always it’s an exciting time be a part of this industry. Although we are excited to see what the new trends like wearable tech and 3D printing will bring to the industry we wondered what other technology products or innovations inspire and excite you?

Do you agree that these new technologies will radically revolutionise how we live our lives? That they will continue grow to allow small UK firms to compete on an international level?

If working with these innovative and exciting technologies is what inspires you, then get in touch (hello@enigmapeople.com) and find out how you can play your part in the industry. For more information on our vacancies visit www.enigampeople.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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The Enigma Weekly Roundup | 5th June 2015

The best technology, business, recruitment news stories from the week gone by:

• SanDisk fits 128GB in a Dime-Sized Drive – That’s the same storage as a MacBook Air or top end iPhone.

• An ‘Army’ Of Seals Gather Data In Antarctica – Boldly Going Where No Seal Has Gone Before.

• The Digital Divide: Attracting, Retaining and Future Proofing Your Workforce – Unleash the talent from within.

• Intel to Acquire Altera in a $16.7 Billion Deal – The deal is expected to enable new products that meet customer needs in the data center and Internet of Things (IoT) market.

• ‘The Big Bang Theory’: How the cast and crew are helping STEM students – $4 million has been donated to the Big Bang Theory Scholarship Endowment at UCLA.

• Hashtag Named UK Children’s Word of the Year – The research has shown that children are true innovators and that they are using more vocabulary, not less.

• Meet Margaret Hamilton, the Badass ’60s Programmer who Saved the Moon Landing – It’s just her and her code.

• Using Psychological Techniques in Digital Marketing – It’s use in b2b is often overlooked.

• The Beer Scientists – Utilizing the Human Palate as a Lab Tool

• Entrepreneurs Sink Their Teeth Into Gaming – The app connected toothbrush designed to teach children brushing habits and oral hygiene.

• Computers Can Tell How Much Pain You’re in by Looking at Your Face – The tech is up to the level of an astute nurse.

• Edinburgh Can Be Intelligent City of the Future – CEO at Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce tells us why the city could be a leading gigabyte city. 

• Scotland IS – The Scottish IT Trade Board Confident of Sector Success – “We are definitely seeing more technology-enabled companies in Scotland with world-class potential”

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Happy Holidays From Enigma People

The Christmas season is upon us once again and Enigma People are feeling festive! We kicked off this year’s festiveness by taking part in Save The Childen’s Christmas Jumper Day! Not only is it a fantastic excuse to swap our normal office attire for cosy jumpers, it helps to raise money for a great cause. Save the Children is in its third year of Christmas Jumper Days and each year urges people across the nation to donate £2, pull on a pullover, and help children all over the world, and what’s even better is this year the UK Government will match the money donated, doubling the amount raised! Check out the teams jumpers below:

I think Daria gets an A for effort with her homemade Santa jumper dress, closely followed by Scot’s rather amusing 3D carrot snowman face!

The Directors at Enigma People are committed to supporting two local charities, The Sick Kids Friends Foundation and Yorkhill Children’s Foundation. This year we were delighted that we could support a charity close to our hearts and spread some Christmas cheer at Yorkhill Childrens Hospital. We had a great day helping decorate Christmas trees, writing out Christmas Cards, helping to collect presents which had been donated to the kids, and, of course, hanging out with Clyde.

     

 2014 has been an exceptional year for Enigma People with plenty to be celebrating at our Christmas night out! We have grown the team, moved to a brand new office in Sauchiehall Street and racked up some rather prestigious awards:

The Recruitment Business Awards 2014

The RBA’s, run by Carnyx Group and The Drum Magazine, have been supporting and rewarding the industry for over 11 years. We were awarded a commendation prize for Best Small Recruitment Company at the Recruitment Business Awards. This is the 5th year we have been recognised by these UK wide awards and are delighted to have been the only Scottish company to have been awarded in this category.

Marketing and Advertising Awards 2014

The Marketing and Advertising Awards seek to award those who have “best confronted the changing demands of the staffing industry and displayed unparalleled excellence”. We were absolutely delighted to have been ‘highly commended’ by judges for our superb entry for Best Regional Agency.

Both awards are judged by a leading panels of experts with extensive experience and knowledge of the recruitment industry, and Enigma People Solutions is proud to have stood out and been recognised against our local and national competitors by both these awarding bodies.

s1 Awards

These awards, held by s1 Jobs, was held early in the year and were a fantastic achievement for Enigma to have been recognised as one of Scotland’s top recruitment companies. Not only were we voted and shortlisted for Best Small Recruitment Consultancy by s1 users but director David Mains had the honour of being on the judging panel for the awards.

It seems our new location has proved rather lucky and helped towards us having a great year. This year we have celebrated 10 years in business, strengthened existing client relationships and built some great new ones, having turned a new neighbour into a client (which happened to be new Candidate Manager Scot’s very first placement with Enigma)! Here’s hoping Santa is good to us and gifts us many more wonderful vacancies in 2015! From the team at Enigma People, we wish you a Merry Christmas!

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Be Motivated, Be Valued

Our recent HR seminar, Performance Coaching for Success, not only helped our clients manage performance in their workplace, helping them to boost employee morale and support their companies growth, it also determined the real issues they may face, and that is how to keep employees motivated in order to retain them. With the UK economy returning to pre-recession levels, starting salaries increasing and opportunities rife, it is important now more than ever for companies to retain their existing staff in order to grow successfully and take advantage of a buoyant market.

We asked subject expert Gordon Robb, of VR Growth, for his specialist advice on ensuring employees are motivated and feel valued at work:

Having clarity on the kind of people you want, and then actually being able to recruit those people, is one of the greatest challenges in business today. However, once you have them, the real work begins: keeping them.

The statistics are worrying.

Recent research by Investors in People shows that almost half of the British workforce (47%) is considering moving job. They also show that main reason is job satisfaction, rather than money, with half of these people specifically identifying their manager as the reason their satisfaction is low.

There is no longer any doubt about it: people are looking to feel valued in their work place. The days of people seeing a job as just something they put up with in order to get paid, and that this is acceptable, are over.

Ask yourself these questions

– Do my people feel valued? Not do I value them, or do I have robust employee satisfaction processes that treat people fairly, but do the ‘feel’ it. If they are chatting with friends, out of work, will the conversation be about how they feel they and their contribution is appreciated by the company?

– Do they rate their manager highly? Almost half of employee’s survey admitted to talking about their manager behind their back. It is also clear that an employee’s relationship with their manager has more impact on how they feel at work, than almost any other factor.

So what do you do

There are a few things that you need to make sure exist. With them, your people will be fully engaged in the organisation. Without them, at best they will just see their job as something they do for the money: at worst, they will be looking to find a better alternative.

Clarity

People need to know what is happening. They need to know where the organisation is going, and what part they play in this. They need to understand it from their point of view, not with some catchy statement that was created for the business plan. Have robust communication processes in the company that cascade information, in a way that people understand. Also, make sure your managers have the skills of communication and listening.

Feeling Valued

People need to know that what they do, and who they are, is valued by the organisation in general, and by their manager specifically. Having managers who can listen and motivate their teams is vital here. Managers need to be good at managing relationships at least as much as they do performance.

Choice

People need to feel that they have some control. They need to feel that their job is more than a series of tasks that they are given by their manager. They need to be given a destination to get to or results to achieve, and have a manger that will support them in getting there.

If people have a destination they are clear on and bought into, are able to engage their own creativity and experience in getting there; have a manager who supports them and values their input, the level of engagement will be extremely high. This will not only allow you to get the best from them, but it will mean they will stay and you will continue to maximise the contribution they have.

About Gordon Robb

Gordon Robb is an internationally experienced Leadership and Personal Development Coach, working with individuals and companies to achieve greatness. His company, VR Growth, is a people focussed business consultancy that is helping organisations realise their visions through dramatically increasing the effectiveness of individuals and teams.

http://vrgrowth.co.uk/contact

Enigma People Solutions will be running ‘Performance Coaching for Success’ seminar in Edinburgh on Tuesday 2^nd September – full details can be found here!

For the latest IT vacancies, industry news and insights follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

Great Expectations

Image: Barbara Taeger

Ever been frustrated with technology not doing as it should? Well BT Customers felt the pain of not having access to emails for 3 days in a recent failure during migration from Yahoo to BT email services. Its not just BT, recently Nationwide Building Society, RBS and Lloyds have all managed to leave customers less than happy following failures with technology, online and with apps. With a vast number of BT customers complaining that they failed to communicate with them during this time, adding insult to injury.

This week’s blog comes from Director David Mains whose anecdote perfectly describes how customer service technology is great when it works, but when it doesn’t, and there is nobody to help, only frustration can ensue…

As someone of a certain age, I remember a world without the Internet. When I went to college, we had a “computer room” consisting of 5 Macs for the whole campus. In my first job we had a typing pool – an industrious room of oestrogen, battering out legal statements on electronic typewriters whilst listening to the monotone instructions of our greatest legal minds recorded on mini audio cassettes…but things change.

I got my first promotion because of that computer room – my workplace was moving to the first “live” computerised system in it’s industry, and I could work a computer  – hey presto – promoted.

And the world has moved at a technological pace ever since…we can now order and pay for things online and in real-time and when it works, it’s amazing! (I ordered new sunglasses yesterday online and they were on my desk at 9am this morning!)

Then I get an email from a “software giant”…my subscription to their web service hadn’t renewed, as my card had been declined – so…I log on to my account and check to see what the problem is…credit card had expired (why do credit cards expire??) Ok so look for the button ah – “update billing details”… wait for page to load (why does that still happen?) and it’s a 413 error … “heading too large”…ok – try again – same error; try every other button – nope. Helpfully there’s a phone number on the page lets try that…

Ring, ring – automated message “press 1 for sales” etc. 4 minutes later I get someone, but after 3 minutes of questions, I’m in the wrong department apparently – get transferred – wait a few minutes and it seems he can help… problem is he’s on a headset and I can’t hear him properly…we struggle through with me spelling every word and repeating my new credit card number 3 times … and after a total of 23 minutes on the phone, it’s renewed…but he’s opening a support case and will email me…ok(-ish)…

I come off the phone and get logged-in to my account and get working. Meantime I receive not 1, not 2 but 3 separate emails from them – 1 confirming my renewal and 2 giving me a case number and link …. And guess what? The link doesn’t work. I could report it, but the email address is a “no-reply” address and there’s no other way given of contacting them – try to find a contact address via my account? Nothing.

And it’s with frustrating regularity that I find this happening – and mainly because everyone is so concerned about the technological solution and NOT actually solving the problem the customer has.

So anyway, I call back and speak to someone, who switches off the email nags and promises to report the problem.

This is the reality of on-line “service” – we still need people to make it work. Instances like these serve as a reminder that in this digital age, technology can automate and quicken services all we like, but sometimes all it takes to make a customer happy is someone to do something to solve the problem.

For all the latest vacancies, industry news and updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

[SME Event] Performance Coaching for Success

Manage Performance In Your Team, Boost Employee Morale, Increase Productivity And Support Your Company’s Growth!

Enigma People Solutions, in collaboration with Young Company Finance, would like to invite you to a free “Performance Coaching for Success” seminar, featuring experienced HR consultant Sarah Prasad, on Wednesday 25^th June, in Edinburgh and Thursday 26^th June in Glasgow.

The seminar will cover:

• Free coaching on managing employee performance to enable you to improve overall company performance 
• Learn when and how to provide employees with effective feedback, to get the best out of your people and boost productivity
• Learn to conduct performance reviews in a way which adds value to you and employees leading to improved staff retention levels
• Opportunity to discuss any ‘people’ related topic, big or small

Sarah is a commercially astute HR leader with a proven track-record of developing and implementing effective HR strategies within growing and changing environments. During her time with a variety of businesses, including publishing, financial services and retail, Sarah has specialised in; Change Management, HR Strategy, Training Design & Delivery Performance management and Employee Relations.

You’ll also be able to pick up a free copy of ‘Guide to Finance For Young Companies’, giving you a directory of funders and advisers plus articles on raising finance in young companies.

Event Details:

EDINBURGH: Wednesday 25th June 2014
Venue: Reception Business Centre,
21 Lansdowne Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 5EH

8.45 Arrival Teas & Coffee
9.00-10.15 Presentation
10.15-10.45 Questions and Optional Q&A

GLASGOW: Thursday 26th June 2014
Venue: Lighthouse Suite, Hotel Novotel Centre,
181 Pitt St, Glasgow, G2 4DT

8.45 Arrival Teas & Coffee
9.00-10.15 Presentation
10.15-10.45 Questions and Optional Q&A

Attendance is free however registration will be required. To register please email your name, company name, contact telephone number and which date you would like to attend to: anndeep@enigmapeople.com or call 0141 332 4422.

Spaces are limited please RSVP no later than Monday 16th June 2014. 

Hope to see you there! For the latest industry news, updates and vacancies follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

D14 – Inspiring Digital Business at Glasgow’s SECC

If you are involved in Scotland’s thriving Digital sector then I am sure you will have heard of the D14 Summit on the 29^th and 30^th May. If not then listen up, as this is an event at Glasgow’s SECC you won’t want to miss!

This is the 4^th year of the event which inspires digital businesses and connects them with the opportunities for innovation and expansion. I caught up with Alisdair Gunn, Project Director at Interactive Scotland. Alisdair has been an integral part of organising these fantastic events since day one and told me a little more about the day.

How has the event grown?

This year’s event has grown to include 9 main session speakers and
over 20 studio session speakers & panel members, quite a vast growth from the first year.

Alisdair has seen a significant growth and engagement coming through from the digital sector in Scotland since the event first began and now incorporates 4 different key markets of Retailing, Digital Health and Care, Education & Financial Services. These key markets will shape the day in keynote presentations, studio sessions, networking and an interactive showcase.

What is the focus for this year?

This year the key aspect is the growth in the sectors. Digital media and the tech industry are transforming our marketplaces. This year’s focus will debate the issues impacting digital businesses and offering fresh perspectives on identifying opportunities for business in this rapidly evolving sector.

The two key objectives for D14 are:

1. Debate and address the strategic issues impacting businesses as well as identifying the opportunities for companies designing, innovating and adopting the opportunities for – and from – the digital sector; and
2. Open channels to the world’s digital pioneers, creating new connections and business opportunities for our community.

The D14 summit is an ongoing journey for those involved and a lot has been done in preparation for the event. It brings together the 4 pre summit sessions held in order to link together the heads of digital with the buyers of digital, identify and discuss key issues in the market, assimilate common points from the industry and shape the thought leadership in preparation for the main event. The D14 summit is a collaborative effort to bring all of this together.

How does the event help businesses and facilitate growth and opportunity?

The event is about linking the digital businesses in the sector to facilitate growth and to recognise and develop opportunities for expansion on national and international levels.

Alisdair says there are 4 key questions we want everyone to think about:

1. What does the future (5yrs) look like for the Digital Sector and how will this impact the 4 key markets: Retailing, Digital Health and Care, Education & Financial Services
2. What will that mean for digital ‘suppliers’?
3. How will it affect their business and resourcing models?
4. What will the interactions between digital adopters and digital ‘suppliers’ need to be like?

The event is an opportunity to learn more about what digital can offer you as a business. If you work within the digital sector or are interested in knowing what’s going on, the event will give you the chance to learn from internationally known key players in the digital sector and share your views and ideas with like minded people.

From recruiting for the most innovative and exciting digital agencies in Scotland to annual sponsorship of the Herald Scotland Digital Business Awards, digital is such a big part of what we do at Enigma People Solutions. This event in particular will prove to be exciting and informative and one I would urge anybody wanting to know more and creative and digital industries to come along!

For tickets and more information on the event visit www.d14.org.uk.

For the latest vacancies, news and industry updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

Enigma People Solutions Candidate Survey

We recently conducted a survey amongst our candidates about their experience in dealing with us and here is some of their wonderful feedback:

“If there is something you can do to improve the service, I don’t know, I am very satisfied with the service provided”

“This is a very well run professional service and I would advise you keep it up.”

It is fantastic to get such a great response from our candidates so thank you to those who took part 🙂 For our latest vacancies, industry news and updates follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

The Enigma Weekly Roundup | 11th April 2014

We bring you the best technology, business and digital news from the past 7 days:

• France Ban Work Emails after 6pm For Digital and Consultancy Sectors
• Twitter Redesign Makes Profile Pages Resemble Facebook
• Airbus A380 ‘Super Jumbo’ Lands in Scotland for First Time
• Robotic Pocket Printer Sits in the Palm of your Hand
• UK Can be the World’s Digital Capital if Tech Skills are Fostered Nationwide
• California’s Optoelectronics Firm Kaiam Corporation to Relocate Production Facilities From China and Expand Livingston site
• 3D Printed Big Macs Coming to UK High Streets?
• China Approves Nokia’s Sale of Mobile’s Business to Microsoft
• New Mobile Charger Developed to Power up your Phone in 30 Seconds
• Tech Stocks Drop Again as Market Volatility Continues
• Software Guru to Leave Apple After 18 Years
• Our Latest Blog – Is Disruptive Technology better for Hi-Tech Giants or Small Specialist Firms?

For the latest news, updates and vacancies follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople and @in_electronics

 

The Digital North

Greater Manchester, Teesside and Yorkshire are key players in the Digital marketplace, giving London a run for its money for the title of UK’s Digital Hub. London’s technology sector has been compared to California’s Silicon Valley for its thriving industry and importance to the UK economy however the North of England has now grown to become a worthy contender.

London’s Mayor and the Tech City Investment Organisation recently held a £1million start up global competition to attract a high-growth technology company to London. This competition had high hopes however was pulled due to a lack of suitable entries, investors money returned and no public notice given. It seems the £20,000 worth of legal consultation and consultancy services wasn’t enough to entice anybody. What’s more interesting is the Digital Shoreditch event which began in 2011 as vibrant networking event for London’s tech scene, has been cancelled this year due to a lack of resources.

Is the rise of a globally competitive and thriving industry in the North signs of a failing interest in the capital?

With intense competition, higher salary expectations, higher office and living costs a city like London can swallow young start-ups whole, hence why the North seems pretty attractive in comparison. Not only that, the North has “great access to nature, it’s less congested, less expensive, super friendly and positive,” as described by Thinking Digital who hold the annual conference in the north-east on tech, media and content.

Northern cities have created a thriving collaborative environment for their digital industries to flourish and compete in their own way. In terms of size the North  England’s digital market is not as big as London’s (nothing is!) however a rise of ambitious young start ups which have emerged from the recovery of the UK’s recession have made the regions home to hundreds of highly talented agencies, many of which are making an impact around the world.

The region which has perhaps the greatest influence is Yorkshire. It has one of the fastest growing creative and digital industry sectors in Europe, already employing around 100,000 people, with a GDP of £10.5 billion. The Prolific North Top 50 Digital Agencies 2014 ranks the best agencies in Northern England and 4 of out the top 5 agencies are Yorkshire based. Prolific North explains:

“The strength of Yorkshire agencies has much to do with the region’s ongoing and historical strengths in direct response and mail order companies with their focus on ROI and measurement, two of digital’s greatest commercial attributes.”

Manchester can also boast a very strong and diverse digital sector with 5% of the city’s employment classified as creative and digital and an estimated 40,000 new jobs created between 2012 and 2015. The centrally located TechHub is at the heart of the digital community and provides an affordable place for start ups to grow, collaborate and bounce ideas of one another. Manchester’s city council has also pledged to make the city one of the worlds foremost digital cities by 2020. This is supported by Manchester’s trade association for its digital sector Manchester Digital who run various events and projects to promote the digital businesses opportunities in the cities.

Newcastle is home to global software firm Sage, only one of the two technology stocks to be listed in the FTSE100; Ubisoft, the largest independent game publisher in Europe; games developer Eutechnyx; and CCP Games, the Icelandic games studio, among thousands of thriving software technology, gaming and creative businesses. Sunderland’s Software City has brought together the software industry, Sunderland’s City Council and Sunderland University to promote opportunities in the region. Not only that, Sunderland’s University has the UK’s largest ICT training facility and supplies more computer graduates to Microsoft UK than any other British university. Newcastle’s Go Digital initiative aims to bring optimum broadband speeds to 97% of the city by next summer and the industry is ably supported by Teesside University’s Institute of Digital Innovation, helping to create 50 new start-up businesses. As a leading centre’s for electronic games development and start-ups, thriving companies and excellent university courses its  clear why the region is attracting high levels of entrepreneurs and students. Newcastle’s tech sector is also known as quite a social scene where “entrepreneurs can be found there hobnobbing with one another at a few choice pubs and coffee shops” as described by Digital Union – the largest digital network in the region.

Sheffield has been getting in on the action too where there are more tech workers per head than any other UK city. The city pioneered the first specialist University Technology College for 14-19 year olds. The college specialises in providing qualifications to prepare them for careers in the creative & digital media. Lets not forget Cheshire is also recognised as one of the major technologically hubs of the region which has attracted Atos Origin Ltd, Fujitsu Services Ltd, Siemens Plc and Websense Inc.

The digital sectors in these regions do receive a great level of support from Governments, local authorities and universities but it is also nice to see that within the cities, they receive a great level of support from each other. It seems what strengthens them is the sense of community with regular informal and formal meetups, networking events and help from trade associations.

It’s clear these regions of North England are thriving and they are only set to grow. London’s digital market is seemingly struggling to attract the dynamic young start ups which are pushing the UK economy forward. No longer is it a case of “if” the North will overtake London’s tech sector it’s more a question of “when.”

The Recommend Agencies Register (RAR) Awards have long recognised the top agencies in the country and for the first time they are recognising that digital is in a league of its own. New for 2014, the RAR Digital Awards will reward the best digital agencies as voted for by clients in June this year. In previous years the RAR Awards digital category was split by company size – under 30 staff and 30+ staff. Last year the winners were split – London based agency “Pancentric Digital” won the 30+ category and Yorkshire agency “Ink” won the under 30 category. It will be interesting to see which region is crowned winner at the first RAR Digital Awards. The Dadi Awards are another celebration of the nation’s excellence in the digital sector. Their annual awards are to be held in October this year and will certainly be one to watch to see which region goes home with the most trophies.

Don’t forget for any Scotland based digital vacancies, news and updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople