Whenever you hear anyone talk about the fundamental building blocks of a successful company the phrase ‘getting the right people in the right places’ will always be close to the top of the list.

You can have a compelling vision and a really talented CEO but this will only get you so far; it’s the people who will build the company and are the single biggest determinant of its success or failure.

When we think about teams we usually focus in on a company’s ability to attract, retain and manage talent. There is already a huge market in place providing a whole range of products and services to make companies more effective in this area.

What we think less about is mobility – where is the best place for this person to be, physically? We assume that the reference to ‘the right places’ refers to role and company. But surely your physical location is just as important? I would argue that employee mobility is a critical dimension of the all-important ‘getting the right people in the right places’ strategy for any global organisation.

This is becoming an ever more important dimension given the combined forces of the globalisation of the world’s economy, increasing skill shortages and the desire of millennials to experience new countries and cultures.

Mobility and Relocation are usually viewed in a transactional way as a complex, time-consuming and expensive process to be avoided wherever possible. But I believe that this is because of a complete lack of innovation in the industry. It’s an industry supporting the past rather than the future.

This is how I see the size of the opportunity for Notion portfolio company MOVE Guides and why we are so excited to be participating in their new $48m Series C funding.

MOVE Guides is digitising the process of employee mobility that includes temporary assignments, office moves and full relocation. The company believes that if most of the friction is taken away and the costs are reduced, then a company can deploy talent where it is needed the most and turn mobility into a true competitive advantage.

The product digitises the workflow of mobility, enables payments and provides information on the country and city that people are moving to. But it also consolidates all the data related to mobility so that a company can understand who is moving, where they are in the process and how much it is costing. This all-encompassing view means that a company can ensure that their mobility programs are on time and budget, and that policy is being enforced. They can also plan and estimate costs for future moves.

In this way MOVE Guides are creating and leading a whole new software category called Global Mobility Management - already a fast-growing $11bn market according to a recent research report.

MOVE Guides is led by Brynne Kennedy, one of our most talented and ambitious CEO’s, and already has a very impressive roster of clients who are moving more and more of their mobility needs onto their platform.

I’m really excited about how far MOVE Guides can go and believe they will continue to lead this fast-growing category and build a very large business in the process. Ultimately they help organisations get the right people in the right places and that’s a very valuable problem to solve.

Posted by Jos White, Partner at Notion Capital