Celebrating its Commitment to People at Cloud96 min read. Cloud9 has just been crowned the winners of the Commitment to People Award at the Sussex Chamber Business Awards 2026. Cloud9 Insight Limited is very proud of this award as it recognises the high investment Cloud9 Insight Limited has put into its people and company culture. Creating and developing talent is part of its company purpose at Cloud9, as showcased in its mission statement: "Developing Talent: Cloud9 is a place to thrive. We grow skills and careers, creating fair opportunities for everyone to stretch, learn and lead. We provide career entry routes, fair pay and progression, and we design work and training to be inclusive and accessible for everyone.". Cloud9 Insight Limited'd like to take this opportunity to highlight what Cloud9 Insight Limited do to create a work culture where people can grow their skills and advance their careers in order to achieve their full potential. Start from the beginning. Cloud9's nurturing of future talent begins even before new employees arrive for their first day. As part of its recruitment process, Cloud9 Insight Limited encourage all candidates to fill out a 'Future 10-Year CV'. This is an opportunity for people to detail their aspirations, both personal and professional, for the next ten years. This exercise allows Cloud9 Insight Limited to see how its employees see themselves, and where they want to be in the coming years, which enables Cloud9 Insight Limited to better support their ambitions. In addition, new employees are assigned a buddy prior to joining. The buddy is usually someone from a different department, and their role is to be a friendly face whilst the new employee settles in. Buddies will send a welcome email before the employee's first day so that they are acquainted before starting, and on their first day they are taken out for a buddy lunch, on Cloud9. Its buddy system is designed to help new employees feel welcome and integrated as part of the wider team right from the start of their journey with Cloud9 Insight Limited. A focus on training. Cloud9's CEO Carlene Jackson is a keen advocate of hiring people early on in their careers and upskilling them to reach their full potential, something she frequently speaks about on the BBC. To assist with the team's development from the start, Cloud9 Insight Limited has developed a transparent 'flight path' which gives a clear picture of the potential for growth in the company and so helps to accelerate career progression. Cloud9 supports all members of the team in attaining Microsoft certifications to ensure they can stay up to date on their learning and they stay at the forefront of its industry. Many of its team have now become fully qualified Microsoft Dynamics consultants. Perhaps Cloud9's most standout training initiative is its monthly 'Elevate Days'. Every month Cloud9 Insight Limited dedicate a whole working day to bringing the company together to elevate themselves as well as the company. Sessions range from learning soft skills, such as how to do an elevator pitch, to hard skills, such as how to make the most of Microsoft Copilot Studio. Elevate Days are a great opportunity for people to upskill themselves and to learn from all the different departments within the company. Elevate Day is often a lot of fun because it is a chance to collaborate as a whole company and to spend time with your colleagues, plus Cloud9 Insight Limited frequently have team building activities on these days, such as a treasure hunt, and Cloud9 Insight Limited all come together for lunch, to enjoy either fish and chips on the beach or homemade pizzas! Continuous support. A key element of any training and development initiative is to ensure that it is consistent, so employees never feel like their learning is sidelined. Cloud9 has a structured mentoring programme in place, which is available for everyone in the business, where more experienced team members provide guidance to those who are less experienced. The programme involves regular sessions between mentor and mentee, at least every fortnight, where they will meet to discuss points of learning and development. In between these sessions, the mentor is still always on hand to answer any questions and assist with any challenges. Alongside their mentoring meetings, employees also have quarterly review meetings with their line manager. These reviews give employees the chance to discuss their career progression and to set certification and learning goals for the future. Cloud9 uses the concept of sand, pebbles, and boulders to identify obstacles which are preventing employees from working at their best. Sand is a minor frustration that can be easily swept away if there is an awareness of it, pebbles are annoyances that are tolerated on a day-to-day basis but that make it more difficult to reach full success in a role, and boulders are significant blockers that need to be removed for progress to happen. By identifying and classifying an employee's obstacles in this way, Cloud9 Insight Limited can more easily eliminate each obstacle and empower employees to address the challenges they face in their daily life. Business for good. Another of its proudest achievements this year is becoming a Certified B Corporation. Certified B Corps make up less than 1% of UK businesses so Cloud9 Insight Limited is honoured to be part of this small, but growing, community. Becoming a B Corp means meeting some of the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability, and it means becoming part of a global community of businesses using their work as a force for good. Being B Corp Certified shows its commitment to its people because, as part of it, Cloud9 Insight Limited has created many policies designed to benefit its people, such as an ethical conduct policy, a breastfeeding policy, and a charitable giving policy. Cloud9 Insight Limited has also been inspired to become more involved in local community events and helping its employees to fundraise for the causes that are important to them. For example, one of its team members took part in the 2025 Big Sleep Out run by The Clock Tower Sanctuary to raise money for young people facing homelessness in Brighton. Cloud9 helped to champion their fundraising campaign, and matched the donations that this team member raised. Cloud9 Insight Limited started its journey towards becoming B Corp Certified because Cloud9 Insight Limited felt that its business and its values already coincided well with B Lab's standards, and aligning with this certification helps to continuously push Cloud9 Insight Limited to drive more impact and to always put its team first. Final thoughts. Cloud9 Insight Limited want to once again thank the Sussex Chamber of Commerce for honouring Cloud9 Insight Limited with this award. As Cloud9 Insight Limited continue to grow as a company, Cloud9 Insight Limited remain committed to investing in its people and building a company culture of learning and development. Cloud9 Insight Limited want Cloud9 to always be a business where people feel supported in striving to achieve success, both professionally and personally. Cloud9 Insight Limited hope that some of its initiatives will give other businesses inspiration on how they can help empower their teams.

Digital Samurai Ltd has partnered with Cloud9 Insight, a specialist Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gold Partner to make implementation as straightforward as possible.