Are you ready for some bad news? Well, it’s inevitable – your business will never be able to keep all of the people it deals with happy all of the time. Darker forces are at work and they will lure customers away from your business to your competitors.
Issues around your customer service may arise and will leave your customers unhappy, whether these are down to computer or human errors. It’s naive to think everything will run smoothly all the time, even when you have the best intentions and provide the best staff training. Let’s face it, everyone, including you, can have an off day.
Year: 2008
Why use an accountant?
When you’re starting up a new business an accountant may seem like an added expense that you could do without. What do you need one for? After all you’ve got a calculator, it can’t be that hard! Think again – A good accountant isn’t just a number cruncher, it’s someone who understands how to run a business in today’s economic climate, an experienced professional who will get to know you and your business and will provide you with essential support.
Ultimately your accountant is someone you should regard as a trusted business advisor. When you are starting out your accountant can help you evaluate your business idea, help you plan for a successful future and make sure you keep proper financial records.
Mobile communications
Wifi is taking over the world – or so it sometimes seems from a consumer standpoint. Venues from churches to coffee shops are offering internet access to customers as an added enticement, and many homes and offices have also installed hotspots as laptops slowly edge out desktop machines.
One of the biggest UK providers of wifi is BT’s Openzone, which has agreements with several hotel chains, including Thistle and Hilton hotels. It believes that many people now choose hotels based on the quality of their wifi. "Research shows that, for the business traveller, flexible, fast and reliable wifi access is a prerequisite when choosing a hotel," says Chris Bruce of BT Openzone.
Breaking into the big city service
You might have thought car rental companies were just that: companies which offered you the chance to rent a car. They do that, of course, but in the 21st century they offer much more. With ever more demanding customers, the major rental companies could not sustain their infrastructures from simple car rental, so came up with the concept of "total mobility": cars, vans, trucks and even motorcyles if you need them, extended rental periods, full leasing, and contract hire to take care of long as well as short-term needs. They aim to offer a seamless system so integrated with the client that it is difficult to move to another rental company.
For larger companies this has enabled the replacement of the fleet department. Taking care of all transport, from a car to collect a visitor from the airport right up to providing executive saloons for the directors, as well as pre-contract vehicles, short-term leases for new recruits and even short-term high-performance cars as incentives for sales staff: all is well within the capability of the top car rental firms.
Cash flow crunch
There are so many reasons for businesses to run out of cash. Sometimes the causes are clear, sometimes it’s a complex web of reasons. Sometimes it’s been building for a while and other times it’s more sudden.
Either way the effect is usually the same, you find you can’t pay your bills. It’s a frightening prospect; there is a list of bills on your desk and not enough cash in the bank to pay them.
I remember a friend of mine who works in the oil exploration industry in remote parts of the world, Chris used to get into really scary situations and developed an interesting crises response methodology: “If there is a crisis and you need to respond absolutely immediately (such as using the fire extinguisher) do it. If not, have a cup of tea and plan your actions”
It is not so different in business. Is the lack of cash simply because of an admin error, a cheque that has genuinely gone astray (it has happened), or sadly, as is increasingly likely, is there something more serious? Is this is a short or a long term problem? Remember cash is king, if you don’t sort it, you won’t succeed.
Buying’s easy, it’s getting value that’s difficult
The problem of purchasing within small and medium-sized businesses is that it has often developed as the business has grown with little or no discernable plan. Whilst there may have been some rational strategy regarding direct materials, with indirect costs (which although they account for a smaller proportion of the spending are necessary for the organisation to function), the result is often that of unplanned trial and error.
What’s the problem?
This is a consequence largely of the business owner focussing on the main function of the business with little or no time to spend on other matters. As employees are added, indirect purchasing is often delegated to secretarial, clerical, administration or perhaps IT personnel. This results in the loss of an overall view of the spending and responsibility in the hands of amateurs (albeit well-meaning amateurs!)
How to fight Climate change and boost your bottom line
In February last year, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th Assessment Report warned that climate change is the single biggest threat to businesses and societies globally. As efforts to increase awareness of climate change and carbon footprints continue, more businesses of all sizes are starting to think about how they can deal with the impact of their activities and the business benefits of doing so.
There are a number of reasons why it is increasingly important for businesses to be taking action on the environment. Regulation of carbon emissions and fiscal measures affecting business are scaling up – with new sectors being brought into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in 2008, and the EU setting more stringent targets for carbon emissions from new cars, to the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation and the Carbon Reduction Commitment in the UK Climate Change Bill from 2010.
One of the most important challenges for business is to get to grips with the size of the problem with a comprehensive audit and ongoing measurement, and to take a strategic approach to managing and reducing carbon footprints.
Baby blues
Having babies is not a modern fad. Yet the way that employers frequently mishandle issues affecting expectant women you’d think it was something unusual and new to them. Only four in 10 women believe their bosses know how to handle pregnant staff. And we’re not talking about making sure someone gives up their seat in the staff canteen – there appears to be a serious knowledge gap when it comes to maternity rights. It means companies are putting themselves in danger of being liable to claims of pregnancy discrimination.
This kind of discrimination costs employers up to £126 million every year in recruitment to replace the 30,000 or so women who lose their jobs simply because they’re expecting.
An investigation by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) uncovered many factors relating to maternity of which businesses seemed completely ignorant. Some were even unaware that they could claim reimbursement for statutory maternity pay.
The companies act 2006 explained
The Companies Act 2006 comprises of 1,300 sections, approximately one third of which are genuinely new, including the following areas:
Company formation and constitution;
Company members and directors’ duties and powers;
Derivative actions and secretaries;
Company meetings and political donations;
Company accounts and auditors;
Private and public companies, share capital and allotments;
Company takeovers and investigations;
Companies not formed under the Act and unregistered companies.
What should businesses have done already?
By now all companies should have made sure that order forms and other documents, whether hard copy or electronic, have been amended to include the company’s registered name (as opposed to just the trading name), number, place of registration and registered office. It is easy to overlook the updating of a company’s website in a similar way but such an oversight will make the company liable for a fine. Any officer of the company could also find themselves liable for a fine if they have authorised the issue of a non-compliant document.
Absenteeism: Use & Abuse
No-one can be under any illusion that absence from the workplace is a persistent and costly problem for British business. The issue is more acute in the summer months as employers face increasing levels of sick leave and absenteeism, the timing of which is not always co-incidental.
According to the CBI, absenteeism levels in the UK are the main reason why UK productivity lags behind the US and our European competitors. Output per UK worker is half that of US employees and is significantly lower than that of both France and Germany. At any one time around 2.7 million workers are on long term sick leave costing employers some £11 billion.
What insurance do i need?
Insurance is an essential aspect of your business, but even the best entrepreneurs can find it confusing. Specialist insurers Bussinesssure are here to make things clearer, and explain the different types of business insurances you should consider:
Small means flexible
Rumours that flexible working is the future of business have been feared and dismissed in equal measure by owners of many small and medium-sized companies.
If you’re running a multinational with hundreds or thousands of people then it’s pretty straightforward to jiggle a few working hours here and there, ask some people to change shifts or cover absences and keep everyone happy. But when you’re in a smaller firm, it’s not so easy. The personnel are simply not available to cover shifts, the budget doesn’t extend to recruiting new staff and the work still needs to get done.
Working towards a better future
Offering staff flexible working arrangements has previously been an overlooked consideration and the potential benefits particularly undervalued. However, having a productive workforce in place has become increasingly important as companies strive to be more competitive.
The traditional working week of nine to five from Monday to Friday is gradually becoming a thing of the past and having strict working hours in place is proving inadequate to meet the demands of modern day practices. Yet despite this, many companies are still failing to recognise how incorporating flexible working patterns, such as flexi-time and home working, into their strategies can have a profound impact on their business efficiency and overall success.
Small firms miss training
Formal training schemes and lengthy inductions are the norm in larger companies. When it comes to smaller businesses there simply isn’t the time, money or resources available for such programmes.
Almost half of all small companies in the UK carry out no staff training, according to recent research carried out by the independent Small Business Research Trust (SBRT).
Not surprisingly, the survey also found that the smaller the company, the less likely it is to offer any training at all, whether that be internal or external. Only 40 per cent of micro companies have formal training, while 69 per cent of small companies do. Topping the poll are medium-sized businesses, with a significant 87 per cent offering a structured programme that staff have to undergo.
Postcode predicament
Everyone has to admit that moving offices is a bit of a pain. If you’re shifting the whole company it can be a nightmare. Even the initial excitement over the promise of a room with a view starts to wane when you’re dropping your files, desk photos and potted plants into cavernous grey crates. Your only hope now is that you’ll be reunited with them once they reach their new home.
But if you’re running a growing small business, it’s highly likely that you’re going to have to move out of your current workspace at some time in the near future. The prospects of this are often met with mixed reactions – of joy and of absolute horror.
