Drop in UK Business Failures; SAP Business One can help!

Equifax Business Failures Report: 13.2% drop recorded year on year.

Equifax has released its latest figures on business failures across the UK, showing that despite continuing difficult trading conditions, businesses are doing their best to reverse the negative trend.

In August 2010, there was a reduction in the number of businesses that went bust across every sector compared to the same period last year. Overall there was a 13.2%drop year on year.

There was also an 8.2% decline for August compared to July. Only the Retail sector saw a small increase in failures in August compared to July at 3.2%.

“As was the case at the end of Quarter 2, our Business Failures tracking shows the very close control businesses continue to put on cash flow and costs” explained Nic Beishon, Head of Equifax Commercial Information Solutions.

“Our numbers also seem to suggest that the banks might have been responding to calls to free up their lending criteria to provide new funds to businesses. This could have played a part in helping businesses struggling with cash flow as they chase late payments. More often than not these are good healthy businesses – they just need a helping hand when late payments make it hard to balance the books at the end of the month.”

“Headlines continue to report cuts in headcount as well as some fairly high profile failures. But a close control on debts and cash flow management certainly appears to be working for many businesses. The trend that we saw throughout all of 2009 for failures to increase has definitely been reversed – which has to be positive news for businesses and their employees."

“The speculation has continued about whether we are heading for a double-dip recession, but our Business Failures Report seems to indicate that all the right actions are being taken by UK businesses – and the organisations that support them - to survive in the continuing difficult trading conditions.”

SAP Business One can help support small to midsize companies through the recession allowing them to work smarter, turn downtime into productive time, enhance efficiency and improve visibility across the organisation which can support the maintenance of crucial cash flow. Flourish during the recession with SAP Business One.

To find out more visit: www.beabetterbusiness.co.uk or www.beabetterbusiness.ie

Original Article: SME Web

The Importance of Planning…largely neglected by SMEs

“It's not the plan that is important, it's the planning”.
Dr. Graeme Edwards

Over the last two days the IIS team have come together and all in all the event has been a success and most objectives have been achieved in terms of the discussions, meetings and presentations that needed to be had.

Everyone is now familiar with the numerous new faces that have joined the team in the last 6 months, ideas have been shared, plans have begun to be formulated, processes for each functional area are being developed and improving efficiency and effectiveness overall is the collective goal!

A great emphasis has been placed on the need for more planning, not that it has been entirely neglected but the need to document it from a company, team and individual perspective has become increasingly apparent.

New research shows that a large number of SME’s have no written business plan.
Research by business insurance comparator SimplyBusiness.co.uk of 400 British entrepreneurs shows that 54 per cent of firms have no written business plan.
Jason Stockwood, CEO of SimplyBusiness.co.uk, says: ‘Limited time and resources are characteristic of growing businesses, and the recession will have stretched UK entrepreneurs further than ever before. Understandably, many have become so focused on working in their business that their time working on their business may have suffered as a result.’

At IIS we all understand the importance and value of planning and endeavour to make it an habitual practice across all departments. That is not to say that it is not something we haven’t considered or invested within in the past, but as we continue to grow the need for a more formal approach becomes increasingly imperative.

“If you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail.”
Tariq Siddique

Cheap Internet has hidden secondary costs for SMEs

Cheap Internet services may initially save you money, but they can be detrimental to your business in the long term.

Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of award-winning Internet services provider Gradwell, explores the pros and cons of taking up a cheap internet service provider.

Businesses may be doing everything they can to cut their costs and maximise their profits but unfortunately, if you’re considering cutting the cost of your business Internet provision by switching to a cheap Internet service, you may find yourself counting the cost and not the saving.

Ofcom recently published a report that investigated the most popular broadband products and revealed that despite customers being sold faster connections, due to an increase of more than 25% in the average fixed-line residential broadband speed, many providers were unable to deliver their advertised speed to customers.

These providers may say they can provide fast speeds in your area, but they will really slow you down, as many cheap Internet services can only manage as little as 1-2MB, which is simply not good enough for today’s business broadband user. If you’ve signed up for a long contract with these cheap, slow Internet providers, you’ll be regretting it when you can’t get the speed you need. Therefore if your business relies on speedy Internet, choose a business Internet service with speeds that really match your requirements.

If, like many businesses, your company relies on the sending and receiving of considerably large amounts of data each month, you may come unstuck with a cheap Internet service as they often impose unrealistically low download limits and charge you heavily if you go over your agreed usage. A business broadband user often needs to have capacity for downloads that can grow with their business, so you should consider how much information you currently need and how much more you will require in the future.

You should also ask whether your cheap broadband provider offers the kind of service that can support high quality voice telephony. If you experience patchy quality with frequent drops in service, then you should consider changing your business broadband provider to one that offers a stable, reliable service for all your VoIP telephony requirements, as a poor reception is not suitable for customer contact or client calls.

When you choose to sign up to a cheap Internet service you may discover to your cost that their service is down more than it’s up and running. To most businesses these days, downtime means a serious dent in the profits, so always choose a business broadband provider with the very best connection stability.

When you choose a cheap Internet service, you often have to pay a premium price to call their customer service; when you do finally reach one of their operatives, they may be based outside the UK and English may not be their first language.
Before signing up for any business broadband package, check that all of the above areas have been satisfactorily discussed. If your business depends upon excellent communication and connectivity, choosing a cheap Internet service for your company could end up costing you much more than you save.

Source: SME Web

Think twice before you make the switch! Cheaper isn’t always the solution!

SMEs save with Group Purchasing- Why pay more when you can pay less!

“United we stand, divided we fall”

This may be the inspiration behind group purchasing which gives small businesses the collective buying power to compete against their larger counterparts as they can take advantage of the economies of scale which they can so readily exploit. Keeping costs low is essential for small businesses, so any strategy that reduces operations costs should be explored and group purchasing is one such option.

Small businesses use a wide variety of products and services in the course of their operations, everything from office supplies and equipment to information technology, payroll processing, and employee benefits administration. Unfortunately small firms often pay more for such goods and services than large companies because of a lack of volume or scale. But there is a way small business owners can enjoy the same kinds of cost savings their big brethren do on essential goods and services: by participating in group purchasing.

Group purchasing is the collective participation of many different individuals or small businesses in the purchase of products or services, thus enabling participants to benefit from discounted or group rates. While it isn’t new, group purchasing has generally been under utilised by small businesses in the United States.

This may be starting to change, however, with the emergence of a number of different online consumer-group buying services, such as GroupOn and LivingSocial. These services primarily offer localised deals and discounts on items such as restaurant meals, retail store purchases, and event tickets.

If you don’t want to commit to group purchasing co-ops or membership-based associations, you can still apply the principles of collective buying by bartering with other businesses. Through a bartering agreement, your business can offer its products and services at a discount, or in exchange for, the goods or services offered by another local business.

There are many group purchasing groups within the UK developed to meet the needs of particular industries including Spiral, Beacon, Aliaxis and PPG Premier Purchasing Group.

Are SMEs missing out on the benefits of the cloud?

SMEs appear to remain unconvinced that they should consider Cloud and Cloud-Like alternatives.

Independent research, commissioned by Rise, investigated opinions among small businesses towards cloud computing. It found only 42% of small businesses have heard of cloud computing and as many as a quarter (26%) of those who have heard of it, said they don't really know what it is.

Of those who have heard of Cloud Computing, 26% said they are skeptical about its benefits and only 4% of small businesses said they use Cloud Computing and are happy with it.

The hype around Cloud Computing could be the issue in terms of assuring SMEs of the true benefits that they could potentially yield.

What is cloud computing and why should SMEs be interested?

“Cloud computing means that instead of all the computer hardware and software you're using sitting on your desktop, or somewhere inside your company's network, it's provided for you as a service by another company and accessed over the Internet, usually in a completely seamless way.”

Chris Woodford, 2009

Here are some of the cited advantages from a number of sources.

Lowered Costs – Cloud Computing offers tremendous advantages to small and medium size business in terms of reduced costs. You pay for what you use.

Greater level of security - Cloud computing can be more secure than traditional IT. It's all about economies of scale - many established cloud suppliers employ leading security experts, invest vast amounts of money into securing their applications and develop technology beyond the means of any small business.

Scalable Storage Options – You can scale your companies storage needs seamlessly rather than having to go out and purchase expensive hardware.

Automatic Updates – There is no need for IT to worry about paying for future updates in terms of software and hardware.

Remote Access – Employees can access information wherever they are, rather than having to remain stationary much of the time.

Green Computing - Cloud Computing uses less energy than traditional data centers which is important to many in this day and age.

Ease of Implementation – Without the need for implementation of hardware and various other components which can take several hours. You can be running your business in almost as much time as it takes to setup a facebook account.

Skilled Vendors - Would you rather these guys manage and protect your data – Microsoft, Google, IBM, Yahoo, Sales Force and Amazon or an incompetent over paid IT staff?

Response time – Cloud computing accomplishes a better response time in most cases than your standard server hardware.

Even playing field for small startups – This allows small companies to compete more effectively with some of the larger businesses. This balances the playing field.

A more collaborative way of working - Using cloud computing applications, people can work more closely together, accessing and working in the same documents in real time - without the need for hundreds of emails with attachments.

Performance and Durability - Run your websites and saas applications at a much faster rate with the benefits of using a much more durable service.

Improve Customer Satisfaction and Sales - Cloud computing offers opportunities for businesses to take full advantage of the latest user-friendly marketing and sales tools available on the Web with the hassles and pains of software installations and maintenance.

Facebook Questions Supplies Huge Opportunities for SMEs

Facebook has begun the rollout of its new feature, Facebook Questions. While online Question and Answer services are not exactly new, Facebook’s community of 500 million users adds a new dynamic to the space and could potentially create an exciting opportunity for small businesses.

“Ask Question” is now a feature of the Publisher, meaning Facebook places it on the same level as status updates, posting photos and sharing links. It’s also integrated on Facebook Pages, where a new “Questions” tab lets users ask questions directly on the Page that can be answered by Page admins or fans.

A Facebook blog post explained the service: “Millions of people ask their friends questions on Facebook every day. What new music should I listen to? Where’s the best sushi place in town? How do I learn to play the piano? With this new application, you can get a broader set of answers and learn valuable information from people knowledgeable on a range of topics.”

Some of the features that Questions will include will offer an opportunity to SMEs. For example, you will be able to create public polls within Questions. This means that SMEs will be able to get feedback on their products and services very quickly, and more importantly for free.

Another feature that will have a definite impact on SMEs is that you will be able to respond to questions about your business with your business name. In other words, if you have created a page for your business, ‘John’s Café’ you will be able to answer questions with your page profile. This allows anyone who comes across the question to visit your businesses page rather than your personal profile.

Also when you pose a question it can be easily spread to whom you like. If you tag it with a certain topic category, the question will be posed to all those users who have expressed an interest in the topic.

Facebook questions is only available to a limited number of users at this time but
Facebook developers are committed to making it available to all users as quickly and proficiently as possible as they gain feedback from their beta testers.

ERP Vs Accounting – What’s the difference?

Though ERP Systems have been around since the 1960s there still is a common misconception that ERP Systems and Accounting Systems are one in the same.

ERP Systems originally existed in the form of MRP systems and developed into what we know as ERP systems around 1990. Global ERP leader SAP technologies were established in the year 1972 by five engineers.

Paul Marketos, Managing Director of Bluekey Software Solutions, which specialises in implementing SAP Business One, says that while accounting is central to any business, it is not what differentiates it.

“Without integrated systems, accounting only offers after-the-fact reporting. But, there are so many factors other than what’s happened in the past influencing where your business stands today and where it will be tomorrow and in a month’s time."

“An accounting package cannot help you forecast demand for products, reduce stock handling, keep goods flowing or improve stock management. Nor will it allow you to set up business rules which prevent stock from being sold or shipped at the wrong price or to customers who owe you more than 90 days; or ensure that managers are alerted to operational exceptions.”

“Where an accounting system assists in tracking the finances to provide an overview of where the company stands from a financial perspective, based on historical data; ERP can be used to plan, control and streamline all aspects of business in real time, into the future."

“ERP integrates your key operational and customer-centric divisions, from production through to sales and service, enabling them to operate more efficiently. In fact, ERP is so effective in planning, integrating and controlling the business that good accounting is just one of the by-products of ERP,” says Marketos.
He believes that ERP is becoming a competitive necessity for companies of all sizes."

“Having made the shift from manual ledgers and Excel spreadsheets, companies that have automated their accounting processes are starting to realise that they need something bigger and better to improve efficiencies and profits because an accounting package simply cannot do it for them."

“The fact is that even with the best accounting package in play, that one source of the truth - that complete and accurate view of the business - remains elusive, and the only way to get it is with an integrated ERP solution."

“Many larger enterprises are also beginning to put pressure on their supply chain to implement ERP, not only to automate and speed-up administrative processes, but to streamline communication and other transactions as well,” says Marketos, adding that very often, the implementation of an ERP system leads to a complete re-engineering of many business processes, resulting in a leaner, meaner, faster and more profitable version of the business.

“With better inventory control, costing and operational efficiencies, ERP can actually help to drive profits, and so it quickly pays for itself,” says Marketos.

When the competitiveness, health and longevity of a business is at stake and the only way to increase profits is through improved efficiencies and cost cutting, the investment in ERP can be easily justified.

Keys to Ensuring ERP Success for SMEs

Make you first ERP implementation your last by following these steps when selecting and implementing ERP.

1.Know what your company needs and wants
2.Look into the future, plan for it
3.Be committed from the top down
4.Try before you buy
5.Pick a partner that understands your business
6.Monitor the progress to ensure focus
7.Don’t bite off more than you can chew

Know what your company needs and wants

What does your company need ERP for? What major areas of your current structure are letting you down. These are things that your company needs to have in order to function properly; there are other things that would be nice to have be may not be a necessity though be sure to consider these once the fundamentals have be accounted for.

Look into the future and plan for it

When assessing your company software needs take some time to look at what you would like to see in the future. Short sighted planning opens organisations up to things like replacing systems, or spending a lot of money to meet future demands. Your ERP systems should support your company and employees in achieving growth.

Be Committed from the top down

If the owners and managers aren’t serious about the integration of their business and the installation of an ERP system the likely hood of success is minimal. The people who run and own the business have to be the driving force behind it at times. How it should be set up, who should do what, breaking down departmental barriers, signing the checks. Buy in is important from the top down. Employees will follow your lead.

Try before you buy

There are many different ways to try before you buy such as trials and full demonstration in using your own data. It is very important that you see that way your companies’ data will flow and how your people will use the system in there day to day jobs. Just because a software package does something, it doesn’t mean it does it the way you need to.

Pick a partner that understands your business

The software you buy and the company you buy it from are not necessarily the same. There are many software salesman out there who know how to navigate the software and talk the talk, but they really don’t understand your business processes. Your partner should offer advice when asked, they should bring business process value to your organisation. Anyone can tell you how software works but you need to find someone to tell you how software could best work for you. IIS have implemented over 200 SAP Business One implementations in almost every business sector and we continue to support our business partners within them.

Monitor the progress to ensure focus

Someone at a high level has to monitor the progress, ensuring that internal staff and vendors are progressing at the proper pace. You will also want to ensure the budget is on track based on the progress of the implementation. You need to ensure that things aren’t sidetracked and if they are that they are scheduled for in the future and the reason that this is happening should be valid.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew

ERP is important and effective in many areas. SME’s often have key people who where many hats, if you try to do too much you will these people will be overloaded. Focus on what is going to give you most return for your investment first and then expand the system. Copyright of Integrate IT 2010

Copyright of Integrate IT 2010

Motivate your staff with SAP B1! Another SME to realise the benefits.

Small toy business Jellycat has implemented an SAP application to integrate its business functions.

SAP's SME-specific Business One package will automate the company's processes and provide financial reporting.

Danny Olive, finance director at Jellycat, said, "We needed a comprehensive, integrated and scalable solution to help us continue our business success."

This follows a push by SAP to expand its offering into the SME market. Jim Hageman Snabe, co-chief executive officer of the firm, said the company had made recent inroads into the sector.

He said: "Reaching more than 100,000 customers is a testament to the inroads we have made in expanding our volume business and our success in the SME segment."

SAP's current ERP and business software for small to medium businesses includes:

Business One
BusinessByDesign
Business All-in-One
BusinessObjects
NetWeaver
Crystal Reports®
Xcelsius®

Each of the SAP SME products has been developed to encourage better management of business processes, providing business owners and managers with insight and information into revenue draining processes and the solutions to streamline them. In a similar way to its large scale ERP products, SAP's SME products helps business owners and managers drive efficiency throughout their entire organisation.

Providing such training to employees also helps them visualise the link between their roles and the success of the business, clarifying the communication channels which SAP initiates. Through SAP, SME owners and managers can empower their employees to contribute to the future success of the organisation.

Sources: Ezine Articles and Computer Weekly

Take a Break!

We are all striving to be more productive and the get as much done as we can within the given work day. For many this means not taking a break which actually is proven to hamper productivity.

The standard working week of 40hours is constantly being extended as people push themselves to meet expectations, targets and ensure that they maintain their jobs. The "work until you drop" culture is not only unproductive but it could also be detrimental to our health. People who work longer hours are more prone to illness and injury which in the long term benefits no one.

Industrial companies put a lot of effort in to "asset integrity" - which really just means protecting critical plants and machinery from damage and wear and tear.

Within the service industries should companies not be doing the same where their people are their only assets?

Conflictingly financial services, consulting, the law and even the medical profession perpetuate working hours where all-nighters are heroic, driving with jet lag is the norm and anyone who actually has lunch risks becoming lunch.

For the last 100 years every productivity study in every industry has come to the same conclusion: after about 40 hours in a week, the quality of your work starts to degrade. You make mistakes. That’s why working 60 hours may not save you time or money: you’ll spend too much of that time fixing the mistakes you shouldn’t have made in the meantime. That’s why software companies that limit work to 35 hours a week need to employ fewer QA engineers: there isn’t as much mess to clean up.

With regard to multi tasking, when the cognitive scientist Dan Simons looked at the vast mountain of evidence that demonstrates the futility of it, he was inevitably asked whether there were anything we could do to enlarge the capacity of our minds to which the answer was an emphatic no.

Simons said that the one thing that truly enhances cognition is exercise.
Experiments by his colleague Arthur Kramer showed that walking for a few hours a week led to large improvements on cognitive tasks. Stretching and toning exercises had no cognitive benefits, but aerobic exercise, which increases blood flow to the brain, did. Seniors who walked for just 45 minutes a day for three days a week showed better preservation of their brains in MRI scans. Exercise, Simons concludes, improves cognition broadly by increasing the fitness of your brain.

Instead of setting unrealistic demands upon yourself or expectations for others you should take a break! Step away from the desk at the very least over your lunch break and if your the boss encourage it and lead by example. After all it's called a lunch "break" for a reason!

The Computer in Your Pocket! iPhone is finding its place in the Business World

Initially conceived as a technology for personal communication the iPhone is now being completely submerged, integrated and utilised within todays fast pace business environments and the trend is one which is set to continue.

The iPhone offers great promise of mobility for businesses with the ability to drive efficiencies, increase convenience and employee flexibility. These factors ultimately bear relevance to the competitiveness and profitability of a business.

A survey carried out by Logmeln found that nearly a quarter of SME employees work off-site at least once a week and about 12 percent of them work virtually. More than half of SMEs surveyed plan to increase their use of remote access services over the next six months.

With SMEs accounting for 59% of the UK workforce, and over 50% of them, according to a study carried out by Interactive Intelligence, actively encouraging and supporting remote working the outlook is apparent.

The iPhone is becoming more popular as a result as it provides a great way to boost their off-site productivity, allowing them to check emails, access calendars and make calls when on the move.

Sybase Inc., an industry leader in enterprise and mobile software recently announced the results of a survey carried out in the US which demonstrates that the demand for iPhone in the workplace is on the rise.

Apple is intending to introduce a number of new features intended to improve the functionality of iPhone for business. More than a third said they would consider purchasing an iPhone for work even if not provided by their employer.

The ability to multi-task is the most anticipated feature and almost half of those surveyed also think that video conferencing will be of key importance in building stronger client and colleague relationships.

"It's the paradigm shift from 'cell phone' to 'computer in your pocket.' It's all about the software and apps," said Gene Munster, senior research analyst with Piper Jaffray, in an interview with TechNewsDaily.

The iPhone has made some great progress in terms of entering the long exclusive territory of the Blackberry. It is now entirely compatible with Microsoft Exchange, hard drives can be encrypted and secured and phones can be imaged so the same phone is rolled out to the entire workforce.

It is currently estimated that 40% of all new iPhones are being sold to businesses for such use.

The Apple application store is what truly differentiates it from the Blackberry. Companies are now utilising the platform and offering their own applications on the iPhone to further differentiate their own offerings and also to ensure that they continue to meet the evident changing needs of their customers.

Research carried out by Strategy Analytics shows that organisations that leverage the iPhone are in fact reaping greater benefits from mobility than organizations that do not have iPhones.

The conclusion…
iPhone for business is the way forward and businesses both large and small would be unwise to ignore the trend and neglect to take advantage of the technology and the unprecedented benefits it has and is likely to continue to afford.

70% of all UK SMEs not investing in SEO for their websites

A new study has found that 70% of all UK SMEs have little or no Search Engine Optimisation on their websites. This means that for those businesses they are not taking advantage of the unique opportunity which the internet provides to improve your corporate image and brand visibility.

The research was carried out by ThomsonLocal.com and an online analytics provider Analytics SEO. They analysed 1000 websites of companies with 50 or fewer employees.
SEO is one of the most effective ways to promote a website and shouldn’t be disregarded. If the right terms are used targeted traffic can be generated for your website.

82% don’t have a HTML Sitemap, 75% don’t even have an XML version. Meta isn’t great either, with 56% failing to write unique page descriptions and 35% missing page titles; the list is endless!

Though this may not be currently detrimental to business as the vast majority of competitors are evidently not taking advantage to any great extent either, they are still missing out on vital opportunities to potentially compete with their larger counterparts, aggregating new clients and customers.

Only 3% of sites were found to have ‘advanced levels of SEO’.

Laurence O’Toole, Managing Director of Analytics SEO added “We are used to seeing poor websites, as it is our business to identify and fix poorly optimised websites, but we were really surprised at how many SMEs still have not invested in SEO. Companies need to adopt a new approach to their online presence. They have to ensure that their sites are built according to well established industry guidelines and fully optimised for search engines. Even if a company does not have a transactional website, the adverse effect on sales of a poor website could be substantial.”

LinkedIn For the SME

LinkedIn is geared towards professionals and has become one of the world’s largest virtual networking platforms. It

For a small business it is seemingly not what you know but who you know. It’s all about the contacts, building relationships and taking advantage of the dimensions of your business relative to your larger competitors!

LinkedIn’s mission is to connect the world’s professionals supporting increased productivity and success.

Set up 6 years ago it has achieved continuous monumental success by linking over 70 million professionals worldwide across 180 countries and 157 industries with approximately 3 million new professionals joining every month which is the equivalent to 1 joining every second!

There are now over 675,000 groups, with 1,500 new groups being formed every day and 1million status updates every week. The UK has the largest membership in comparison to its European counterparts with over 4 million professionals signed up to the network.

When you sign up you build a profile, add you C.V and information about your experience, expertise, interests, accomplishments and qualifications. From there you can begin to construct your network, searching for people you know first and foremost and from their connecting with additional professionals through invitations, introductions and links.

When searching for people you know consult your outlook contacts or business cards and carry out a quick search for them as well as anybody you may have worked for or with, in the past or that you are seeking to work with in the future.

The whole point of LinkedIn is to network, get to know people in your vertical, advertise job posts or seek out employment, offer your services or advice, create discussions and gain insight that you may otherwise remain oblivious too.

For small businesses it removes obstacles such as geographical isolation and time constraints creating a level playing field with larger competitors. Everything is done online which means that networking can be done almost anywhere and anytime whenever the time is available.

Through making valuable connections professionals can build their brand and find new opportunities.

SMEs missing out on funding opportunities in the UK

It is estimated the total value of support schemes available to UK business is £5 billion per year.

According to experts, it’s not just government grants that are not being taken advantage of but financial support from advisory, guidance and information services too.

The issue has been highlighted by North West accountancy firm, Hurst which has seen an increase in demand from businesses seeking alternative sources of funding and advice on grant applications.

Helen Besant-Roberts, partner at Hurst said:

“Lots of grants are set aside for specific business types for example IT, construction and creative media. There are also lots of grants available for innovation and research as well as to help new businesses to grow. Some funding is aimed at business owners to help develop skills, but they often find that looking at the different schemes awarded by many different awarding bodies can be daunting at first.

“Even if you know what funding to apply for, you need to make sure you apply for it in the right way. I work with a lot of charities and businesses who feel they are often wasting valuable time filling in grant application forms incorrectly and need guidance in getting the most out of the application process.”

Helen, who specialises in providing compliance and advisory services added:

“Typically you can get business grants and other awards for anything from £500 to £1 million and you might be able to apply for multiple schemes or grants. There are also a lot of interest free loans available for capital investment, particularly in energy efficient assets. The application process for different types of funding can vary greatly and some are more onerous than others. Before applying for a grant, loan or award, you should prepare a business plan with forecasts outlining how much money is needed, what it is needed for, and the benefits that will be obtained. We would always recommend that you get advice before making an application.”

Jan O’Connor, manager at Wood Street Mission, a charity that provides help to families in the Manchester and Salford area said:

“As a charity there are several funding options available but it’s easy to get bogged down in the rigorous application processes. We need to secure funding to cover all our costs so it can be immensely frustrating having to invest so much time and effort completing complex forms rather than doing hands on work for the charity.”

The government provides a number of financial products for helping small and medium businesses, including Grants for Business Investment and Research & Development, the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, and small loans. In addition, there are many other organisations that offer funding for certain types of business investment and growth.

Examples of funding available for charities include awards from charitable foundations, such as the Lloyds TSB Foundation, Awards for All, the Hedley Foundation, plus grants from organisations such as the Big Lottery and Futurebuilders.

Latest from the SME WEB!!!

How are SMEs Getting Finance? Aldermore present the solution as they gain a competitive foothold

SMEs continue to have issues acquiring loan finance from banks. Now tired of receiving the cold shoulder from the UK’s largest banking institutions they are beginning to seek finance via other sources and means.

Invoice financing is now in vogue. It’s used to free up cash and working capital by borrowing against the business’s unpaid invoices.

Aldermore, the new British bank, says that the number of SMEs using invoice financing is soaring as small companies look for new ways to deal with the SME funding crisis.

British lenders are this week expected to continue to announce profits in spite of concerns over levels of lending to SMEs.

HSBC Holdings announced £7bn in profit for the first half of 2010 yesterday, with about a billion of this coming from its UK operations. They boldly announced that they intend to increase the pay and bonuses given to their staff, though one can only suppose who may receive them in actuality.
HSBC also admitted that despite their mammoth windfall as the UK climbs out of the recession they are have not increased overall lending to firms in the past 12 months.

Business loan applications are down 20% in the first half of 2010 and the stock of outstanding loans to SMEs was fractionally down because many core customers to HSBC are paying down debt.

Aldermore says that small businesses are increasingly frustrated with the inability of some of the big UK banks to meet their demands for funding.

The banks could be missing a trick as invoice generation is a sure indication that the firms in question remain viable.

Ian Wilkins, Managing Director at Aldermore’s invoice finance arm, comments:

“Some SMEs want to create some headroom in case of a fall in orders or a possible double-dip. Other businesses want to release cash to fund expansion.”

“They all realise that they will not be able to rely on their bank to give them the kind of overdraft facility that they have used in the past. Banks have to reserve capital against overdraft facilities even if they are not being used.”

“Small companies remember the lessons of the last recession and they are keen not to be let down at a crucial time by their bank.”

“I would love to say that the surge in invoice finance business that we are seeing is entirely down to our own efforts but we are definitely helped by the fact that other banks are giving SMEs the cold shoulder.”

Adapted from Source : http://www.smeweb.com/finance/news/how-are-smes-getting-finance-081003.html

Leadership vs. Management, Do we need both?

What is the difference between leadership and management and does it really matter?

The answer is yes it does!

In today’s dynamic business environments it’s important for businesses to be able to differentiate between the two and to ensure that responsibility for each of the roles is assigned.

"There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and both are important. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial" – Warren Bennis

Put plainly:

Management controls or directs people/resources in a group according to principles or values that have already been established.
Leadership is setting a new direction or vision for a group that they follow.

In today’s dynamic business environments it is essential that organisations are driven by a leader in order to remain continually innovative and to sustain competitive advantages in their market place.

Two look at the distinction between the two in more depth I like the way Warren Bennis outlines his view of the differences in his book “On Becoming A Leader”. The manager administers; the leader innovates.

•The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.

•The manager maintains; the leader develops.

•The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.

•The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.

•The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.

•The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

•The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

•The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon.

•The manager imitates; the leader originates.

•The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

•The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.

•The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

Another strongly influential thinker on the topic of leadership and management is John Kotter who describes them as two distinctive actions, each one being necessary and complementing the other.

It’s undoubtedly something which warrants the attention of business owners and managers.

Here are some basic skills that a good leader should possess…

Be a Good Listener
Lead By Example
Endeavour to Inspire
Facilitate Creativity
Continually Learn
Seek to Motivate
Articulate your Ideas and Share your Experiences
Learn from your own Mistakes
Get to Know your People
See the your Business as a Whole
Encourage Teamwork!

Do not assume you automatically have the necessary leadership skills. They are skills which you need to gradually develop as your business grows and develops.