Why We Founded Yopla

The Obsession with Tools

No one walks into a bakery and asks about the oven. Or shops for a jacket and interrogates the brand of sewing machine. But in tech? It’s all about the kit. CRM this. Platform that. Endless product demos and comparisons.

We’re told the tool is the solution. But it isn’t.

Because tools don’t make the magic. People do.

And the gap between a good tool and the ability to use it well? That’s where transformation collapses. Not with a bang, but with slow frustration and a trail of half-used software, workarounds and wasted time.

So we flipped it.

We started with the human layer. The habits. The rituals. The real shape of the work. Then we built the tech around that.

What We Built Instead

We took everything we knew and made it practical. The difficult questions became our starting point:

• How do you really work?
• Where are you stuck?
• What’s getting in the way?

From there, we built the method. We call it our Eight-Step Roadmap - and at the heart of it is the Digital MOT: a 110-point diagnostic that scores not just systems, but confidence, clarity, culture and credibility. Then comes Mapping: exposing shadow hierarchies, undocumented workarounds and all the real-but-unwritten parts of the job.

Forecasting adds depth - measuring behaviours, skills, even team typing speeds -to show where change will stick, and where it’ll bounce off. Only then do we get to strategy and tools.

Because a hammer’s useless if no one knows what they’re building.

And once we know what’s needed? We write real plans. With task lists, dashboards, prompts, follow-through. Not transformation theatre — transformation you can actually do.

What Clients Say

"You gave us time back."
"You connected the dots we couldn’t see."
"Finally, a plan we could actually run with."
"You’re the first people who made this feel possible."

These aren’t just nice words. They’re the benchmark.

We include these everywhere - not just because it feels good, but to remind ourselves of the standard.

Why It Works

It works because we use it ourselves. We run Yopla the way we teach: shared dashboards, full visibility, calm comms, and ruthless prioritisation. We test every new tool on ourselves. We measure time saved as our purest KPI.

Every project sharpens our model. Every challenge adds something new.

The Founding Mix

We didn’t meet in a classroom. We met in the middle of real problems.

Eve built her career in global pharma ops and clinical trial logistics before leading massive change programmes in 3,000-seat contact centres. She spots the patterns others miss.

Steph delivered multilingual translation for global brands like F1 and the RBS 6 Nations, then ran finance and implementation for a scaling cybersecurity firm. She makes complexity behave - in five languages.

Charles built his first tech company before he was old enough to drive, then co-founded a few before exiting one of Scotland’s top cybersecurity firms. He’s a systems thinker, board member, and relentless question-asker.

We don’t always agree. That’s the point. Every decision is tested from three angles. Every plan is sharpened by challenge.

And Why We're Still Doing It

We didn’t start Yopla to hang around. We built it so teams could thrive without us - with clarity, capability, and rhythm.

As Professor Bent Flyvbjerg at Oxford has shown, most transformations fail not because the plan is bad — but because execution is weak. What’s missing isn’t intent. It’s structure. It’s habit. It’s momentum.

That’s what we bring.

And we’re still excited every time a team clicks into gear. Every time a plan lands. Every time someone says, “I’ve got time again.”

One Last Thing

If you’ve read this far - thank you. Something must have landed.

Whether you’ve got a specific challenge, a foggy frustration, or just a hunch that things could be better - we’d love to hear it. We’ll bring the right questions, the structure to act, and the curiosity to learn with you.

Because this isn’t about technology. It’s about making business better.