By John Walker on July 1, 2010
Some interesting results from a survey by Insurantz.com showing Small businesses are still not catching on to social networking.
Just 16% of UK SMEs embrace sites like Facebook or Twitter as essential tools for business
56% of businesses put off by lack of understanding
65% have yet to see any benefit from social networking
Leisure and tourism industry most [...]
Posted in Brands, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Distribution Channels, Equipment & Operational Resources, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Internet Services, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Product Research and Development, Recruitment, Reputation, Sales, Surveys, Technology, Telecommunications Services, UK |
By John Walker on May 20, 2010
PCG (the professional association supporting freelancers, contractors and consultants) was established to fight the introduction of IR35, so today’s announcement that it is to be replaced will be welcomed by freelance workers throughout the UK.
It is a triumph for common sense over political dogma.
In the Coalition’s full programme for Government, published today (20th May) the [...]
Posted in Freelancers, Politics & Legislation, Professional and Business Services, Regulation, Regulatory Compliance, Taxation, UK |
By John Walker on April 20, 2010
Met Office scientists have been working with the Universities of Reading and Hertfordshire to gather comprehensive data about the potential danger to aircraft from the volcanic plume that has been emitted from the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.
The volcanic dust was measured using newly-developed probes that attach to meteorological balloons that can be used [...]
Posted in Business Continuity Planning, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Environmental Issues, Equipment & Operational Resources, Europe, Scotland, Surveys, Transport and Distribution, UK | Tagged Eyjafjallajökull volcano |
By John Walker on March 25, 2010
The UK Treasury has released further information following the Chancellor’s Budget Statement (Wednesday March 24th 2010). The following is an excerpt from the notice that outlines the particular measures for supporting business and growth.
The Government took decisive action to support the economy during the financial crisis and its aftermath. As the UK emerges from [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Farming and Farming Support Services, Arts and entertainment, Bars, Critical Infrastructure, Education, Energy and Utilities, Environmental Issues, Financial Resources, Food, Drink and Tobacco Manufacturing, Food, Drink and Tobacco Retail, Food, Drink and Tobacco Wholesale, Forecasts, Grants and Funding Pronouncements, Lending and Borrowing, Loans and Finance, Media and Creative Services, Monetary Policy, Petroleum and Fuel Products Wholesale, Political and Economic Philosophies, Public Spending and State Aid, Real Estate Services, Regulation, Regulatory Compliance, Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions, Skills and Training, Taxation, UK, UK Budget, Waste Management and Environmental Services | Tagged Accelerated Development Zones, Annual Investment Allowance, Better Regulation measures, Energy Market Assessment, Entrepreneurs’ Relief, Green Investment Bank, Higher Education Modernisation Fund, small business rates relief, The Treasury, Time to Pay arrangements, UK Finance for Growth, University Enterprise Capital Fund |
By John Walker on March 9, 2010
Barclays has become the first bank in Europe to launch commercial contactless debit cards to its business customers. From March, all Barclays Business customers receiving new or re-issued cards will find that they come with contactless technology as standard. This enables them to pay for low value transactions by holding the card over a reader, [...]
Posted in Debit and Credit Card Merchant Services, Financial Services, Ideas and Innovation, Product Launches, Sales, Technology |
By John Walker on February 18, 2010
18th Feb 2010
Launched today, a new report - ‘Supporting Economic Growth 2007 - 2009′ - reveals the British Library Business & IP Centre’s outstanding success in providing the capital’s aspiring entrepreneurs with both the inspiration and confidence to take on the economic downturn. The full report will be available at www.bl.uk/bipc/evaluation
The British Library Business & [...]
Posted in London, Market Research, Product Research and Development, Public Spending and State Aid, Startups, Surveys | Tagged British Library |
By John Walker on December 9, 2009
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, introduced a temporary lower rate of VAT in last year’s pre budget report.
There was some speculation that he might have extended this reduction beyond the original term. However, in today’s pre-budget report statement to the House of Commons, he said:
I can confirm that VAT will return to [...]
Posted in Procurement, Professional and Business Services, Sales, Taxation, UK, UK Budget | Tagged Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer |
By John Walker on December 6, 2009
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced that the MIT Red Balloon Challenge Team won the $40,000 cash prize in the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that required participants to locate 10 large, red balloons that had been placed at undisclosed locations across the United States. The MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) team [...]
Posted in Advertising and Marketing Services, Awards and Accreditations, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Human Resources, Ideas and Innovation, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Multi-Level Marketing, North America, Sales, Technology | Tagged ARPANet, DARPA, MLM, Multi-Level Marketing, Network Marketing |
By John Walker on December 3, 2009
Processors could become smart enough to let PCs use “vision” to interact with people.
Researchers from Intel Labs demonstrated an experimental, 48-core Intel processor, or “single-chip cloud computer,” that rethinks many of the approaches used in today’s designs for laptops, PCs and servers. This futuristic chip boasts about 10 to 20 times the processing engines inside [...]
Posted in Business Software, Financial Services, IT and Telecommunications Services, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Product Research and Development, Technology, Worldwide | Tagged Cloud Computing, concept chip |
By John Walker on November 20, 2009
Responding to the implications of the recent flooding across areas of the UK, Barclays Local Business has today announced that it will be offering a financial support package to all of its affected business banking customers.*
The package will allow businesses time to recover from the immediate impact of the flooding, or to bridge the gap [...]
Posted in Accommodation, Business Banking, Business Continuity Planning, Critical Infrastructure, Cumbria, Lending and Borrowing, UK | Tagged Barclays, Floods November 2009 |
World Business News