The Business Bulletin Issue #11 - Focus On Operations & Resources

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Business Bulletin By business owners, for business owners

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Focus on

Operations and Resources Spotlight on Dawar Ali

PLUS The importance of personal KPIs in your business Where to start when it comes to website hosting?

Ten reasons to hire a virtual assistant Life after furlough!

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The Business Bulletin

A magazine that works for everyone Paul Green Founder & Chief Editor

Welcome to the eleventh edition of The Business Bulletin.

Hopefully you will enjoy this edition which focuses on operations and resources. Published every four weeks, it will cycle through the following themes: ■ Finance ■ Sales & Marketing ■ Operations & Resources ■ Strategy & Personal Development It will bring together a collection of articles aimed at any small business owner who doesn’t have all the answers and is open to some thoughts and advice from some of the leading experts in their fields. So what makes this different to any other publication?

I’m glad you asked!

For the reader – no more advertorials. All the featured articles have been chosen for their valuable content, not because the author has paid to be published or taken out an advert to get their slot!

For the contributor – you can submit articles for inclusion without having to pay for the privilege or having to advertise. If your article is deemed suitable based on its merits – that it is relevant,

All the articles featured in this magazine have been chosen because of their valuable content

good and engaging content and not promotional of your business, then it will be published.

For the advertiser – if a publication is more engaging due to the content, then it is more likely your adverts with be noticed. The number of full-page and half-page ads is limited for each edition and there will be a limit on the number of advertisers from a given industry sector. This means your advertisement is more likely to stand out from the crowd and not be lost in a sea of competitors.

Your feedback and thoughts on this magazine are welcome – let

Join in!

us know your experience.

Contact us to contribute an article or

Thanks,

place an advert for future editions contribute@business-bulletin.co.uk

Design & Layout: Pixooma Ltd

Proof-reading: James Tarry

© Copyright 2021 The Business Bulletin. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the editor or the author of the article.

Disclaimer – no responsibility can be accepted for any actions that you take as a result of the content provided in this magazine. There is no guarantee that implementing any of the advice contained in the articles will definitely ensure your business success or have a positive impact. They are presented as information based on the experience of the authors working with many different types of businesses in their field of expertise and are provided as a choice for you to consider if they will be useful for your business.

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The Business Bulletin

Contents This edition focuses on operations and resources and brings together a wide range of topics with a selection of quality articles from leading experts in their field.

Why is an induction programme important?

Daxa Patel How recruitment can boost productivity Neil Chambers

6

9

Training – what’s the future?

Russell Parker

27

Is having an HR system important?

Nicky Buckley

29

Spotlight on

32

Life after furlough!

Wendy Slater

11

Ten reasons to hire a virtual assistant Sarah German

13

Ten ways to show your employees they’re valued Hayley White

16

The importance of personal KPIs in your business Steven Mather

How do you choose which benefits to offer your employees?

Sue Pardy

19

So cyber criminals are not interested 38 in me, are they?

Chris Lambert 40

Identity and access management and adopting zero trust Bharat Panchal

21

What is RPA and how can it help my business?

David Martin Ask the experts

44

Where to start when it comes to website hosting?

Eloise Idoine

24

SME survey

46

Dawar Ali

36

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 5

The Business Bulletin

Why is an induction programme important?

Induction periods are an opportunity for a business to welcome their new recruit, help them settle in and ensure they have the knowledge and support they need to perform their role.

An effective induction programme

costly recruitment fees, negativity

ensures that an employer encourages

and disheartened staff. Below are

commitment from their new

two scenarios of the type of first

recruit and brings them along their

impressions created:

journey. Whereas a quick induction programme can lead to wasted time,

Scenario one “On my first day of employment, I turned up at the company ten minutes before I was due to start.

When I arrived, the receptionist did not know who I was. She tried to call the finance department (the one that I was working in) but no one

Daxa Patel HR Results Ltd Daxa formed her company after spending over 25 years in HR; being part of senior leadership teams providing operational and strategic advice on employee matters. It’s important for Daxa that she provides SME’s with efficient, direct advice – saving them time and money so they can concentrate on their business. She ensures that the client receives a high-level HR service that gives them the results they are seeking.

Understanding that each client’s needs are unique to them and therefore

from the department had arrived to work. Initially, I was not worried, as I was early. I sat in the reception area and after half an hour someone came to take me to my department.

Most of the desks were empty and the person said that my line manager would be with me shortly.

Scenario two “On my first day of employment, I walked through the front door and the person at reception greeted me with my first name and welcomed me to the company. As I was walking through the office, a number of other employees already knew my name and also welcomed me to the company. Everyone knew that it was my first day of employment. My line manager took me to my desk and everything had been set up, my email address, login details were all there.

She gave me a copy of an induction programme, including a detailed timetable for the next three weeks, showing exactly what I was doing, who I was meeting even when I was going to be taking my breaks.

The induction programme

Everyone in my team was arriving late

included meeting one member

including my line manager.

from each of the departments in

My line manager quickly introduced me to a few other staff in the department, told me where the amenities were and said that he had

the company. Finally, it had stages in the programme when I would be touching base with my line manager again to ensure things were ok”.

providing the result that meets their

to go to a meeting so left me with

Creating those first impressions

requirements is very important.

a copy of the employee handbook

are key as they have a lasting impact

and told me to read it. I did not have

about the company. Scenario

a computer, my desk was not ready

one firstly told the employee that

so I was left perched on the end of

timekeeping was not important and

someone else’s desk”.

people could turn up whenever they

07813 084152 daxa@HRresultsltd.co.uk HRresultsltd.co.uk

6 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

The Business Bulletin

wanted, the role or the employee did

importantly, increases

ensure that any queries are

not matter within the department or

employee commitment

answered, the employee is

the wider company.

and job satisfaction which

doing what the company

benefits the employer. An

requires, the role meets the

employee who understands,

employee’s expectation, and

the company, the culture,

fundamentally ensures the

the people their role, ways of

employee understands how

working is likely to be able to

their role fits into the bigger

have better productivity

picture of the company’s aims

Scenario two made the employee feel welcomed. The employee was able to understand the company values, culture, objectives, ready to focus on their role and being accountable for what they were responsible for.

A company that wants to create a

■ an induction programme should start from pre-

positive and lasting first impression

employment to the end of the

and achieve the following with

probationary period

their new recruits would benefit from a carefully tailored induction programme: ■ settle in quickly ■ integrate with the team ■ understand the company

and objectives

■ give line manager’s the responsibility of spending time with their new employees ■ hold review meetings during the probationary

Things to avoid: ■ don’t treat induction like a ‘tick box’ exercise ■ don’t leave it weeks or months after the employee has started, as this will be too late

period as this helps to

values, culture, product or service ■ understand their job requirements and objectives ■ understand how their role fits into the overall company objectives ■ understand how their role impacts all the departments within the business from the salesperson successfully getting the deal to the accounts department collecting payment ■ become productive more quickly and do their job that you have recruited them for ■ work to their highest potential The following are some other benefits of a carefully tailored induction programme: ■ helps employees build good working relationships which then helps them do their job better ■ reduces turnover and absenteeism and more

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 7

The Business Bulletin

If a new employee does not

An employer who wants to ensure

ones are a way of ensuring this does

understand the company, their role

that employees are coming along

not happen, whether they are weekly,

or how their role links to company

their journey, should not stop investing

every couple of weeks, monthly or

goals, this will impact how long they

in their employees at the end of the

even bi-monthly.

stay with the company. High turnover

induction programme. Too many

in a company has a number of

times, I receive calls from clients

negative effects:

complaining that their “employees

■ recruitment takes time and is costly – remember the time of reviewing CVs, interviewing also costs management time ■ limited time spent with the employee is wasted ■ staff remaining in the company become disheartened ■ could have a negative

were doing a fantastic job, however, over the last couple of months, they are not up to scratch”.

When I ask if they have invested time in carrying out regular one-toones, most of the time the answer is no. If employers do not invest time with their employees and ensure that they still understand the company goals, objectives and remain focused then the situation of the

impact on the company

employee leading astray happens and

image and brand

performance dips. Regular one-to-

Bring your employees with you along your journey. Improve your induction process to enhance retention.

The Business Bulletin

How recruitment can boost productivity The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) published a new report earlier this year, and there was one particular statistic in it that I found fascinating: getting recruitment right boosts UK productivity by £7.7bn each year.

If that wasn’t astonishing enough, I

the UK’s productivity. It explained

then read on to see that the overall

that recruitment enhances

cost of a bad hire to a business can be

competitiveness and productivity,

three times higher than just a wasted

bringing in fresh talent and growing

salary. These sound like enormous

businesses, but also that utilising

sums of money. Can they really be

a recruitment consultant helps to

justified? I believe so. In this article I

create better matches between

explore just how good recruitment

prospective candidates and hiring

can boost productivity.

companies.

The REC’s Recruitment and

But what does a recruitment

Recovery report 2021 was designed

company do differently that you

to look at how we can create a

couldn’t do yourself? The obvious

more productive and inclusive

factor is time. Trawling through CVs

labour market, and one of the key findings it made was that recruitment is a major driver of

to find the best candidates isn’t a quick task. But there is far more to it than that. The biggest benefit that I often give to companies is a fresh perspective, making them think about the role in a more detailed way than they might have first considered. The more information you put in the

Job descriptions We’re all familiar with job descriptions.

However, there are certain elements that are often missed out that are actually pivotal to ensuring a good match. One of these elements is company culture. Finding a person who will be happy in your company environment is very important, but job descriptions are often task focused, forgetting about how the environment can have a massive impact on the productivity of staff.

There’s also progression and whether you envisage this to be a static role or if there will be the chance for progression. Considering the ambition levels of the prospective candidate and ensuring what you’re offering actually matches their expectation is crucial. Furthermore, what about training? How does your company handle training, and how important is ongoing development with this particular role?

Whilst all of these elements matter,

job description and the

the biggest problem of all that I find

more you’ve considered

in job descriptions is down to the

the role from all angles,

job title and the interpretation of it.

the better chance you’ll

An Office Manager or Warehouse

have of finding the

Manager, for example, could mean a

perfect candidate and of

hundred different things to a hundred

them staying long term.

different people. When you consider

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 9

The Business Bulletin

the job title you should actually ensure

creating a job description? It may be

you’re very prescriptive about what

something you touch upon at the

it means to your company. Is it quite

interview stage, but that’s already time

a desk bound job or will it be more

lost if the person clearly isn’t right.

interactive? Will it be very admin heavy or is there a support team to help?

Does the role come with an office or will the person be sitting in the middle of a busy open plan space? A candidate may fill in blanks themselves based on their interpretation of a job role, so the more you can explain, the more likely you’ll be to find the best person for the job.

The report went on to say that “For individuals, there is a strong correlation between finding a good

Sky Blue Safety

life satisfaction.” We spend a large proportion of the week at work. We

Neil helps businesses who want

need to be happy and we all deserve

to take ownership of their health and

job satisfaction. A well thought

safety. He does this by either offering

through and detailed recruitment process can make a positive difference at all levels.

Success

Neil Chambers

job match, job satisfaction and overall

guidance and support or through helping with the recruitment of in-house professionals. Through Neil’s experience, he has found that for any health and safety management system to be truly successful, it has to be owned by and

“according to businesses, the quality

Coming out of the pandemic

of their staff and recruitment is

There is no doubt that as businesses

terminology, and the policies need to

The REC report detailed that

the second most important driver of their success, behind only the quality of their end product – and more important than management expertise, proprietary research or physical investment.”

Being heavily involved in health

build themselves up again following

businesses who have had to make big changes and need to diversify

health is becoming an increasingly

in the expectations of staff as remote

vital factor for businesses. If you hire

working may become more popular.

someone who isn’t a good fit, they

The pandemic has certainly brought

may leave, yes, but also if they stay,

about a more flexible labour market.

in a culture that isn’t natural for them won’t be on top of their game. Even if the person stays in the role for the long term, if they aren’t a great match for the job because the recruitment process wasn’t executed well enough, a business can still lose money in productivity, and it could have a negative effect on the whole workforce.

No matter what a person’s

Very interestingly, the report stated that “28% of large businesses told us that they were likely to explore hiring people who do not live close to the office in future, while remote working itself could boost UK productivity by £9 billion.” To be able to cast the net wider to more locations to find the ideal candidate could massively boost the chances of hiring good matches.

Whereas before businesses may have only looked locally and the commute was a deciding factor, this could all change and could be very positive

qualifications or experience are, their

indeed. But irrelevant of how many

personality plays an important part of

candidates are out there, if the job

whether they’re right for a role, and this

description isn’t right, it will still make

alone can determine how happy they’ll

it harder to find the right person, or at

be. But would you consider that when

least be a far more costly journey.

10 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

skybluesafety.co.uk

support business growth or support

businesses will see a vast difference

work. Someone who is uncomfortable

neil@skybluesafety.co.uk

move forward. It could be to

their staff. It’s also possible that some

won’t be able to produce their best

01933 812 234

play a major role in helping things

much mental as well as physical

factors? Someone who is unhappy

work for your specific circumstances.

this pandemic, recruitment will

and safety, I am very aware of how

how will that impact productivity

personal to each organisation. Every business is different and uses its own

It can take a little more time to create a valuable job description, but that extra time up front will boost your chances of securing the best possible candidate, and someone who will stay in the company and thrive. As well as not wasting money through ineffective hiring, the positive impact this good match could make could actually be financially beneficial in itself. Next time you’re hiring, make sure you explore all angles and work with your recruitment consultant to get that job description absolutely right. The return on investment could be massive.

The Business Bulletin

Life after furlough!

2020, not a year that most of us want to remember…..although some have thrived!

It’s no secret that the small and

What does this mean?

medium-sized companies got the

The table below shows the detail. You

biggest hit over the past year with

can obviously find more information

the COVID-19 crisis. It could even be

on the Government website here

considered as the worst crisis to hit

Furlough Scheme Extended

businesses hard in modern history.

and Further Economic Support

There were 3.4 million people still on furlough, according to the latest published figures up to the end of April 2021. That’s a lot of people who

announced (www.gov.uk) Now is the ideal time for you to start to plan your way out of furlough.

Whilst this might seem like a

don’t know whether they have a job to

challenge for your business, it could

go back to.

be an opportunity in disguise. You

Rishi Sunak announced an extension of the scheme until the end of September, which provides companies with some level of comfort

may be tempted to go back to how you worked before, but is that the best fit for your business now?

The pandemic brought in remote

that they have time to re-build

working for lots of employers that

their business before furlough ends

didn’t have staff working from home

completely. However, companies

previously. Some struggled with

will need to contribute 10% in July,

the sheer technical impact of how

and 20% in August and September

they could facilitate it, especially

towards wages for the hours

with such short notice. Others were

employees cannot work.

already equipped from a technical

Wendy Slater Breedon HR Wendy’s experience spans 30 years of managing people and the last 20 years as a director leading people with responsibility for strategic HR. She has been in your shoes, so she understands the struggle with finding a flexible and approachable solution to your HR management. Breedon was built on this understanding and to put it simply – we are real people who you can rely on 07870 574355 wendy.slater@breedonhr.co.uk breedonhrnorthants.co.uk.

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 11

The Business Bulletin

It is certainly true that some staff have experienced increased stress, anxiety, loneliness, and perhaps other

75% of staff do not want to return to the office full time once we get back to ‘normal’

mental health issues, as they found it much harder to switch off from work. Their home environment can also have an impact on how they feel about it, especially if they live in a smaller home with limited space to set up a workspace.

This could be considered a great opportunity to re-shape your business. If you take advantage, you could end up with a far more efficient

perspective but were not prepared

business than you had pre-pandemic.

Business in general will need to

Of course, re-structuring could mean

on how they would manage remote

consider their employee’s welfare

workers on such a large scale.

and according to the latest research

A report by the Chartered Institute

you regrettably have to make some roles redundant. Conversely, it may

by digital coaching provider Ezra,

well open up opportunities to recruit

of Personnel and Development

suggested 75% of staff do not want

(CIPD) found that remote working

to return to the office full time once

did not cause a fall in productivity

we get back to ‘normal’. So, managing

in 71% of business, and in a third of

staff remotely, at least some of the

them their productivity increased,

time, is probably here to stay.

suggesting many could make the shift

expertise you have wanted for some

business needed.

Does this mean you will need less office space and perhaps be able to

Did you see an increase in

reduce these overheads? Some staff

The way we work and where we work has undoubtedly changed

efficiencies or productivity? Has this

have really benefitted from not having

given you more capacity?

to commute to the office. This has

You might also recognise there

improved their work/life balance, given

were some activities that were done

them more time for rest and in some

pre-pandemic that you have not

cases, they have been afforded greater

missed and don’t need at all!

flexibility around when they work.

for hours not worked

be able to afford at this point in time and that could be just what your

permanent after the crisis ends.

Government Contribution: wages

time but never thought you would

forever and could benefit both the business and its workforce. Strong leadership and management of staff are even more crucial than they have ever been.

May

June

July

August

September

80% up to £2,500

80% up to £2,500

70% up to £,2871.50

60% up to £1.875

60% up to £1.875

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

10% up to

20% up to

20% up to

£312.50

£625

£625

80% up to

80% up to

80% up to

80% up to

80% up to

£2,500

£2,500

£2,500

£2,500

£2,500

Employer contribution: employer National Insurance contributions and pension contributions Employer contribution wages for hours not worked For hours not worked employee receives Figure 1

12 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

The Business Bulletin

Ten reasons to hire a virtual assistant Arguably, every business owner needs a VA, but what are the most common reasons for taking that next step to hiring a virtual assistant.

1. Time pressure

2. The admin-overwhelm

3. …focus on your genius!

This must be one of the commonest

It’s easy to let your admin mount up,

Jack Canfield et al’s book, “The Power

reasons for businesses to start thinking

especially if it’s a task you’re not keen

of Focus” tells us, “focus on your

about hiring a VA. You’re a busy

on doing. Suddenly, without noticing,

strengths and eliminate everything

entrepreneur or a small business and

an admin mountain begins to emerge

that’s holding you back”. Let’s face it –

you just don’t have time to sort out any

and grow until you reach the point

most people start their own business

of those boring, but necessary jobs.

where there’s so much to do, you can’t

because they have a “superpower”,

You’ve got plenty to do during the

think straight anymore. The truth is you

but that skill is rarely enough on

week, looking after your clients. And

feel overwhelmed! There are simply

its own, to run a business and be

the evenings and weekends are meant

hundreds of great VAs poised to break

successful at it. Just imagine if you

for relaxing, not catching up on admin.

that mountain down, so that you can

could outsource all the jobs that

So, you start to consider delegating.

breathe again and feel liberated to…

are holding you back to a Virtual

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 13

The Business Bulletin

Assistant, how much stronger your superpower would be.

4. Save on recruitment

7. Short-term projects There are thousands of businesses that are managing “just fine thank you” and don’t need a VA. That is, until

Now that you’ve recognised that

there is a short-term project such as

you need an extra pair of hands, you

an event, product launch or a training

consider how expensive and time-

program that takes employees out of

consuming it is to find and recruit

the business. Even if you’re not already

someone. A simpler and arguably

working with a VA, it’s worth being

more cost-effective option is to find

proactive and researching now. They

a VA. It may take a little time to

can then zoom in and take the strain

find the right one, but there are no

whenever you need them, if they have

recruitment costs, no recruitment

capacity of course

agencies, no sifting through CVs, just an agreement and a contract to do the work that you specify.

8. Marketing and communications As small business owners, we’ve all

Although a VA will cost money – we

how to market our business effectively

the time spent on the tasks you have specified in your contract. There are no office overheads, no traditional employee costs (breaks, sick pay, NI, pension contribution). For many businesses, working with a VA makes

had to become marketers and learn and efficiently both on and offline. A

It can be a terribly lonely place working by yourself, for yourself. A VA might be a person who loads your business cards onto a database, or transcribes a meeting for you, but often they are so much more.

Most VA’s have a specialism and/or qualification relating to their former career. Choose wisely and you may just find a Virtual Assistant that has the knowledge and experience that you lack. You never know, your admin fairy may just also become a valuable source of wisdom in your business.

14 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

Having immersed herself in Paid Ads during this past year, Sarah now also provides training, 121s and full Paid Ads management services, specialising in Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. With a past career in retail merchandising and customer insights, both being extremely detail-focused, a key part of her service

new Paid Ads campaigns.

accounts in preparation for launching

■ email marketing

07817 907730 info@va-va.co.uk

■ social media scheduling

■ customer service (sometimes

6. You need a wingman/ woman

provide social media and administrative

■ CRM support

■ marketing collateral

dwell on that

change of direction to support work/life balance. Sarah now works with a team to

is auditing and optimising social media

this could never happen, but if you’re easier to say goodbye. But let’s not

Sarah launched her VA business in 2020 following redundancy and a

VA can help with:

efficient, financial sense. And, I’m sure not happy with your VA, it’s much

VAVA

support to a variety of small businesses.

5. Easy “employee” don’t come for free – you only pay for

Sarah German

in foreign languages too!)

va-va.co.uk

10. Cut costs This one may surprise you. Surely a VA

9. Data management “Without data, you are just another person with an opinion” (W. Edwards Deming). An oft neglected area, particularly of creative businesses, yet regardless of business-type, we all need data to make decisions.

Valuable data is well-structured and organised, so there needs to be a robust process for data capture and analysis in your business. VAs can support all these vital tasks in your business, so that you can make decisions, no longer based on a hunch, but on the actual analytics.

is an extra cost? Well, research suggests that hiring a Virtual Assistant will save you 78% in operating costs per year over a full-time employee (Angelica Sembrano). This creates a win-win scenario for businesses. Not only are they saving costs by not recruiting an employee, they are also adding value by shedding admin tasks and increasing their own productivity.

Securing your business

C4 Secure

With , administrators can set which authentication methods will be offered to users based on the sensitivity of the application. For example, administrators may decide that SMS authentication is suitable for low assurance applications, but not for those that require a medium or high level of identity assurance. Also, with RSA SecurID Access, users have the flexibility to choose from the allowed authenticators at runtime, which makes a convenient experience for users.

Usernames and passwords are not enough.

Thousands of employees require on-demand, 24/7 access to your VPN. Revoking that access is not an option and neither is making the authentication process for complex. A recent Data Breach Investigations Report found that

If your employees rely on usernames and passwords alone, you’re at risk for a VPN security breach. Are you sure your users are who they say they are? Can simple authentication and vigorious security co-exist?

Found out in the RSA eBook:

is a powerful, feature-rich platform that delivers substantial productivity gains and cost savings. However, organisations rushing to adopt Office 365 risk creating holes in their wider security architecture.

See where you could be exposed and what to do to get protected, if you’ve migrated to, or are considering migrating to Office 365, contact to learn about: ● ● ●

The Business Bulletin

Ten ways to show your employees they’re valued The coronavirus pandemic has undeniably changed the shape of the working world, but so too has it shifted society’s perspective on what is important in the workplace. Some businesses have struggled to survive, and others have flourished, but what will no longer be tolerated

As we see even the likes of ‘gig economy’ employers move to give payment rights and employment contracts to their staff, more traditional businesses too must move toward a fairer, more engaging proposition for employees to retain and motivate them.

It’s not uncommon for employers

is those who operate without resolve, care or

to have given out vouchers to staff

compassion for their employees.

party with drinks tokens or dished

at Christmas, throw the odd staff out a weighted performance bonus in times of success. But now with

16 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

The Business Bulletin

employees becoming even more

If the COVID-19 pandemic has

trusted a little further too. Offer extra

aware of their rights – and their

taught us anything, it’s to expect

responsibilities or further development

desires – these small gestures may

the unexpected. Realistically,

opportunities where possible but toe

no longer be considered enough.

offering a little flexibility to staff

the line between increasing workload

That’s not to say that small businesses

needing to leave early for a family

– all should be given the chance to

must scrimp and save to spend their

reason or switch shifts to make an

earn trust, but not to be overwhelmed.

bottom dollar on staff incentives,

appointment or work from home

by no means. But there are creative

because they don’t feel great lends

and more engaging ways to show

very little disruption to the workplace

your workforce just how appreciated

– but can be really, truly appreciated

they are… and we investigate some of

by those who utilise it.

those right here.

1.Host employee ideas forums The notion that “ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time” rings true – and facilitating an opportunity for all employees of all backgrounds, levels and responsibilities to raise theirs can be hugely beneficial.

Whether an ideas forum is set up as a meeting, a drop-in session, a box for post-its or an email inbox, all ideas can be collated, acknowledged and worked from where appropriate.

No idea should ever be dismissed,

4.Be specific with praise There’s nothing worse than having a boss who doesn’t know your name, or who just hands out compliments without actually caring or understanding what they’re saying.

Being targeted and honest with your compliments, praise and thanks properly conveys that not only do you know what staff are doing, you’re grateful for it and you value their individual contribution. Get specific in thanking for them their particular

7.Pay fairly Is there a gender, racial or age pay gap in your business? All employees deserve to be paid fairly for what they do and equally to their colleagues in the same position. Ensure pay is fair across the board if not transparent and give staff clear visibility on policies and procedures which enables them to ask for a pay rise, if appropriate.

8.Have their back It is, unfortunately, not uncommon to see a customer complaint or supplier niggle escalate to a manager and miraculously, the whole problem is resolved. In practice, there are indeed

input. It’s only a few words extra, but can make the world of difference!

and where an idea is made by an employee that is taken further, thanks should be given and they should be invited onboard the project in place to make it a reality.

2.Listen It is a common frustration with employees, particularly in large and more traditional businesses, that they don’t feel that their concerns are listened to or their voices heard.

Taking the time out of your day to sit down, have a coffee with and really interact with staff on an equal level allows them to air anything they need

5.Open opportunities If employees feel valued and as though they’re able to grow and develop within a firm, they’re more likely to stay there. Opening opportunities to those already working within the business, even if not necessarily linear career development, demonstrates a willingness to help them grow; professionally and

about anything work-related at all!

3.Offer flexibility

VirtuVA After an 11 year career in Human Resources (HR) and the need to find a balance with family life, Hayley started

personally. Introduce staff to people

VirtuVA, she provides administrative and

in roles of interest, encourage them

HR support to all kinds of busy people,

to volunteer and network, and, if possible, promote internally through the ranks.

in all manner of demanding positions and roles. Admin is an unavoidable part of everyday business life - Hayley can look after your business affairs from her remote office, giving you the valuable

to, upward or onward, and to feel as though they’re listened to; even if not

Hayley White

6.Give trust Of course, a successful employee should be trusted to do their job without the intervention of others

Employees are human, and

(unless they ask for it), but don’t

humans have complicated lives.

be afraid to show them they’re

time to concentrate on what matters most – generating more business and achieving your goals.

07792 152879 hayley@virtuva.co.uk virtuva.co.uk

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 17

The Business Bulletin

situations whereby things need to be

early, buy breakfast for the office or

corrected, but it is always important to

just make a round of coffees once in

have your staff’s back – especially when

a while. These little things can really

dealing with someone more senior or

make all the difference.

someone external to the firm. Even if things must be changed or amended, or a decision reversed, acknowledging employees’ contribution/s and policy adherence should always be vocalised (or typed, in the case of email or written correspondence).

9.Surprise and delight

10.Stay open and honest Business is rarely always plain sailing and employees get this; particularly when they’re on the front line of it!

Maintaining an open, honest, noblame line of communication and keeping the workforce abreast of company developments provides

Once in a while, surprise your staff! The

oversight, encourages employee buy-

‘surprise and delight’ method is used

in and allows for greater employee

often by companies as a marketing

engagement. All are imperative to

method for customers but it can

cultivating a great employer-employee

build relationships with staff, too.

relationship; and reaping the rewards

When things are quiet let them leave

sown by both parties.

Is Your Business Ready?

We live in changing times New business practices Ever changing technologies New and changing markets

Is your business ready to face these and other challenges?

At QRB we offer a range of training and coaching services for you and your teams to adapt and adopt to your changing environment We help your people plan, monitor and adapt changes to your business to help you achieve better, smarter and more structured ways of working

PRINCE2 PRINCE2 Agile AgilePM

Change Management ITIL4 Service Management

Put your teams through a real working simulation so they can practice their new skills in safe environments and embed their new knowledge and learning.

All our consultants are experienced practitioners in their field. Bringing real life examples to embellish the core material and facilitate the learning of the group.

Contact us today for your free consultation www.qrbmc.com 01327 630355 enquiries@qrbmc.com

The Business Bulletin

How do you choose which benefits to offer your employees?

When money is tight in a small business, it can be tempting to dismiss exploring extra benefits or perks to offer your employees, on the basis that you feel you should prioritise paying competitive salaries. But there is definitely value in doing what you can to enhance the package you offer.

Sue Pardy Face2FaceHR Sue Pardy, a highly competent and knowledgeable HR consultant with over 20 years’ experience gained in both public and private sectors across a wide range of industries including retail, insurance, financial services, professional services, education, charities and SMEs. Sue is a qualified Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and her advice has assisted managers, directors and owners in dealing with many complex employee relations issues such as disciplinary & grievances, absence, capability and performance issues.

07936 663314 sue.pardy@face2facehr.com face2facehr.com

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 19

The Business Bulletin

So how do you decide which

attracting candidates when recruiting,

benefits to offer so that you can

it’s worth having a nosey at what the

ensure maximum impact without

competition is offering, either other

excessive costs?

businesses in your sector, or local

1. Ask what people want For employee perks and benefits to have maximum impact, they need to be ones your employees will value highly, and the most effective way of getting this right has to be to ask what they want. You may be surprised at what you find and this could save you money you might have been considering spending on a benefit not many people are interested in, and ensure your resources are channeled in the right direction. When enquiring what priorities people have when it comes to benefits, you could conduct a short survey, and either give people a number of options to select from, or just throw it open to suggestion and see what comes out. You’ll never be able to please everyone, but if there are key benefits a large proportion of your workforce would like to see implemented, it makes sense to fund those if you can.

employers, or both. That doesn’t mean necessarily matching what they do – perhaps you can better it! Think about how you can differentiate yourselves from the competition so that potential candidates see your business as a better option than the rest. And don’t forget ‘better’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘more expensive’….

a great idea, but too much choice is not necessarily a good thing, and can be confusing, reducing the positive impact you are looking for, and also could add administration time or cost.

A few well-chosen easy-to-administer and easy-to-join benefits might have a greater impact on a per-cost basis.

5. Free or low-cost benefits If budgets are tight (and even if they’re not), there are plenty of free or very

great-sounding benefits offered

a lunchtime running club? If you have

by other employers, advertised by

local attractions such as museums or

benefits providers as being popular

parks, you could organise walking trips

or something offered by ‘forward-

once a month, again at lunchtimes.

thinking’ big employers. But think

Bring and share lunch or coffee

their thirties, or a high concentration of women, but if you have a high proportion of male employees in their fifties, for example, the impact is unlikely to be worth it.

3. Look at the competition

significant feel-good impact if they are chosen well. How about dress-down

break treats can help encourage your employees to get to know each other, whilst negotiating discounts with other local businesses might be useful at a small cost. Employee awards can be motivating, recognising employees for going over-and-above or making a significant one-off contribution.

There are many other things you can do which require a little effort but very little cost, and could make a big

As one of the objectives of your

difference in retaining employees and

benefits programme is likely to be

making them feel valued.

20 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

set of priorities about how you work and what your business ethics are?

You can (and should) choose benefits which match your culture and business objectives if this is possible, and certainly ones which don’t conflict with it.

As an extreme example, if you run a vegan café/healthfood shop

social media, then providing cake

a flexible basis or not, can seem like

Fridays, bring-your-dog-to-work day or

for a mixed-sex workforce mainly in

image, or project a certain culture? A

A wide range of benefits, either on

You may hear about all sorts of

or childcare help might be great

you have (or wish to have) a certain

and generally try to promote that

low-cost benefits you could offer with a

workforce. Extra paid family leave

What kind of organisation are you? Do

4. Keep it simple

2. Consider your workforce profile

about the profile of your own

6. Match and enhance your culture

lifestyle as a brand, including across to employees every Friday isn’t necessarily the best choice. Offering yoga classes might be a better option for supporting your brand profile as well as attracting job candidates who will fit with your business objectives.

7. Be careful not to discriminate or cause conflict In your enthusiasm to offer good benefits to employees and trying to show you value them, make sure you have explored the risks of the perks you want to offer before going ahead.

Make sure benefits are offered to all employees, not to specific groups you think might want them, and try to ensure the range of benefits you offer doesn’t disproportionately benefit certain groups whilst leaving others out.

Part-time employees can’t be treated less favourably so ensure you are able to offer benefits on a pro-rata basis.

Employee benefits don’t need to be expensive to be of value, so even if budgets are tight in your small business, it’s worth exploring putting something in place, as the right ones can have significant commercial benefits.

The Business Bulletin

Identity and access management and adopting zero trust As organisations move more applications and operations to the cloud, it’s critical to secure access to those resources – and to do so in a way that leaves everyone free to focus on pursuing business goals in the cloud, rather than dealing with access issues. That’s why you need identity and access management that provides reliable performance, flexible choices and adaptive authentication to support your organisation’s cloud journey.

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 21

The Business Bulletin

Here’s what to look for as you consider

using a variety of devices and

environments, user/device risk

authentication and other identity and

platforms. You want to make it equally

profiles, and organisational

access management (IAM) capabilities

easy to authenticate whether someone

preferences

in the cloud.

is using a corporate-issued laptop or personal device. And you want a

Rock-solid reliability you don’t have to think twice about

broad range of modern authentication methods available to accommodate both the organisation’s and the user’s preferences and circumstances.

You need authentication that works all the time, every time, to keep people connected and productive in the cloud. That means technology with documented high availability, and more ways to stay connected – including having options for other ways to stay connected to the cloud if internet connectivity is disrupted.

Adaptive authentication for secure yet convenient access Securing resources while making them easy for users to access is as important in the cloud as it is anywhere. Be sure you have a way to lower the bar when access risk is low, and raise it when

Flexible choices for connecting to the cloud Today, your organisation’s workforce is connecting from many places beyond the traditional corporate perimeter,

a user or device poses a higher risk.

Look for multi-factor authentication that adapts based on risk, stepping up to another factor of authentication only if behaviour analytics and other advanced capabilities indicate the risk warrants it.

Solution features to look out for

secure access to resources in the cloud, with: ■ High availability, coupled with

decided to focus on helping businesses

failover authentication capability

by offering the RSA SecurID® Suite. This

that enables deployments

and business context to provide secure access to all their users, across all applications. He delivers peace of mind to end-users and to management. With Bharat’s help firms don’t worry about contravening strict rules on data access and GDPR regulations or about loss of data due to malicious attacks or plain forgetfulness.

01604 439303 sales@c4secure.co.uk c4secure.co.uk

22 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

makes it easy for admins to ensure appropriate levels of access People have been talking about zero trust ever since Forrester introduced the term back in 2010 – but adopting zero trust has never felt as urgent as it does now. As organisations pursue more digital projects, adapt to a workforce that works from anywhere and explore new possibilities in the cloud, the idea of zero trust is central to IT security today. And identity – the very notion of who can be trusted and with what – is central to zero trust. As you contemplate the role of zero trust in your organisation’s security strategy, keep the following fundamentals in digital projects, adapt to a workforce

to authentication you need to

uses identity insights, threat intelligence

management for cloud that

should include:

choices and adaptive approach

After 30 years working in IT, Bharat

■ Identity and access

mind. As organisations pursue more

reliable performance, flexible

C4 Secure

monitors user behaviours

when choosing the right approach

■ Flexibility – Ensure you get the

Bharat Panchal

■ Risk-based authentication that

to seamlessly pick up access if internet connectivity is interrupted ■ Technology integrations with as many applications as possible ■ Ability to easily and seamlessly extend on-premises capabilities to the cloud, at your pace ■ Multi-factor authentication

that works from anywhere and explore new possibilities in the cloud, the idea of zero trust is central to IT security today.

Zero trust is about the right level of trust The name suggests having no trust, but it is more specifically about not assuming trust unless there is a clear basis for trust – even inside an organisation’s network perimeter.

In that sense, zero trust means establishing the right level of trust, whether in a user or a device, before allowing access to the organisation’s resources. The level of trust required will differ depending on who or what wants to be trusted with access, what they want access to and other factors –

options in the cloud that

all of which will change as the access

are context-driven to user

environment and context change.

The Business Bulletin

Zero trust is an ongoing endeavour Zero trust isn’t a technology or a product; it’s a mindset. Employing the principles of zero trust is therefore an ongoing endeavour, not a one-anddone deployment. Zero trust is about thinking of trust as something to be established continuously, through a process of dynamic decisionmaking that is constantly informed by changing context and risk.

Zero trust is in the details defined by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

requires attention to a multitude of

■ The ability to act as policy

detailed tasks in the service of key

administrator, with a range

goals: securing all communications

of authentication methods

regardless of location, granting

to determine access when

access on a per-session basis and

requested at the policy

determining access by dynamic policy.

enforcement point

Multiple components of identity and access management – including a policy engine, policy administrator and policy enforcement informed by data access policy – are essential to realizing these goals. The requisite identity and access management capabilities needed to address NIST’s tenets of zero trust, are: ■ Role- and attribute-based access, conditional access and risk-based analytics – all

NIST has defined seven tenets of

fundamental to establishing a

zero trust as part of its zero-trust

policy engine and policy decision

architecture. Adhering to these tenets

point as required by NIST

■ Governance and lifecycle capabilities that provide the foundation for governancefocused and visibility-driven authorisation of access to resources ■ Integration with identity systems such as Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and cloud-based Azure AD and Amazon Web Services (AWS) AD to integrate identities with the policies, administration and methods required by a zero-trust architecture.

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The Business Bulletin

Where to start when it comes to website hosting?

If you’re a start-up attempting to launch your business, there will no doubt be a lot on you plate to prepare and consider. Even if you are already established and are in a position to further grow your business online, how do you go about deciding what type of hosting is going to be best suited?

Your website should demonstrate

No matter what type of company

shared hosting platforms tend to be

or organisation you run or work for,

the go-to-option as they are simple

who you are and be easy to use,

having an online presence is vital in

to get started with and very cost

without draining much-needed

this day and age, and for those who

effective.

resources with expensive and

don’t have the IT expertise, it can be costly or tricky to know which option to choose.

Here is a simple guide to the different types of hosting available and how to choose the right plan for your business….

Shared hosting is ideal for blog sites, test-sites, and sites which have less than 1000 visitors per day. With this type of hosting, you are sharing the resources of the server with other

unnecessary charges. You’ll need to consider bandwidth, SSL certificates, subdomains and webspace in order to choose the right hosting plan.

Once you start to grow and gain

sites so there could potentially be

more visitors, then it’s time to look at

100s of other sites sharing the same

more advanced hosting options.

pool of resource and storage. That’s why shared hosting isn’t a viable option for e-commerce sites as a serge

VPS Hosting

For businesses who are just starting

in traffic could affect the performance

Virtual Private Servers are a great

out and have simple requirements,

of your site.

option for businesses who have

Web Hosting

24 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

The Business Bulletin

outgrown shared hosting and want

upfront cost and will be required to

to have dedicated resources at an

still manage the servers yourself.

affordable cost. It’s essentially a set between shared hosting and having your own full dedicated servers.

This removes the potential negative impacts of other businesses impacting your website.

With a VPS you have more control and flexibility, for example, to make installations. VPS hosting is available in Linux and Windows and hosting control panels such as Plesk and cPanel can be installed. This allows the server to be customised to your precise business needs.

When it comes to VPS, there are various plans available so you’ll need to consider how many CPU’s you need, how many GB’s of memory and SSD (RAID) storage is required as well

Dedicated Servers Managed Dedicated Server hosting plans provide you complete control and unrivalled performance levels so what you do best.

Linux server hosting plans tend to be the most popular choice as they are available in many flavours Debian and Red Hat Enterprise, and hosting control panels such as Plesk and cPanel. This lets you customise a server to your precise business needs.

Although a more expensive option,

to keep it secure or exhausted by endless visits to external centres. Why not remove the need for your office to fulfil data hosting, allowing you to focus on your business?

Colocation allows you to move your servers into the safe environment of a securely managed data centre whist still retaining complete control over your servers. You can benefit from the data centres round the clock support, security, HVAC, fire protection and also the expertise of the DC’s onsite employees. Colocation means that you rent rack space but you still retain control and are responsible for

when she can assist a business or an individual to streamline their processes and make their working lives easier.

Eloise passionate about learning, sharing knowledge and inspiring others to achieve more!

you will have higher levels or resource, unlimited bandwidth, more cores and

access allowing you full control of how

to create the best environment

prides herself on helping businesses grow and achieve their objectives by implementing the right solutions.

Colocation hosting their data, either struggling

Eloise spent the last 11 years working in software, marketing and hosting and

There is a great sense of achievement

as your data transfers per month.

by the logistical nightmares of

CWCS Managed Hosting

including the latest CentOS, Ubuntu,

threads and also more RAM. Having

A lot of businesses can be frustrated

Eloise Idoine

you can focus your time and efforts on

0800 1 777 000 sales@cwcs.co.uk www.cwcs.co.uk

a dedicated server also gives you root you want to manage.

Public Cloud Businesses will often move over to a cloud hosting platform when they have been having hardware failures and frustrations which are impacting on their business.

Although the name came appear off-putting, public cloud hosting is actually one of the most secure and effective ways to host online. With no single-point-of-failure within the infrastructure, you don’t have to worry about downtime. Public cloud is

Private Cloud Private Cloud is specifically designed as a mission-critical system that will never let you down. With four core qualities in mind; security, reliability, scalability and high-performance, your solution can be designed from the ground up.

A Private Cloud platform will safeguard your future, protecting you from damaging downtime whilst being fully scalable to cope with any challenge.

Private cloud solutions include

secure, scalable and allows for high-

server performance monitoring,

performance. With managed public

essential security updates and an

cloud hosting, you can rest assured

image backup of each cloud server. If

your service would never be impacted

you’re looking for a Managed Private

by hardware failure again.

Cloud Hosting solution which offers

software, storage and backups. For

Not only do you get a fully

businesses who have the technical

redundant platform but you also

expertise and simply want to move

benefit from enterprise grade

their equipment to a more secure

hardware, reliable network speeds, as

environment, this is a fantastic option.

well as having the flexibility to choose

However, for a start-up, it’s not as

what operating system and control

practical as you will have a larger

panel to use.

you complete control and peace of mind, allowing you to get on with the running of your business, then a managed Private Cloud solution is the perfect solution for you.

Hosting isn’t a one-size fits all.

It’s important for businesses to

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 25

The Business Bulletin

understand the impacts of their

will benefit from the expertise,

Nowadays, this is expected

hosting on their hosting solution on

facilities and SLA’s that come

for any sites outside of single-

other areas of the business, such as

with the support package.

page or simple blogs sites.

SEO and cybersecurity.

Taking a managed support

There are other factors to consider when choosing your hosting provider. A good hosting provider will also be able to assist and advise on the following: ■ Support – Do you need

package frees up your time to allow you to get on with more pertinent projects and are generally a more cost-effective option for your business.

■ SSL – Secure Socket Layer

■ Domain names – You can retain a domain name for up to ten years so when it’s time to renew or change, it’s important to still retain control over the old domain. You can use 301 redirects to ensure your

certificates are a web protocol

traffic isn’t affected when you

managed or non-managed

which authenticates and

purchase a new domain.

hosting? What IT resources do

encrypts data across the

you have on site that would

internet. Depending on your

enable you to manage your

industry, traffic, data security

server and systems? Taking a

and hosting requirements, you

managed support package

will need to choose either a

with your hosting provider is

paid or free SSL certificate to

often recommended as you

ensure security for your site.

Like what you have seen?

Spread the love and share!

The Business Bulletin

Training – what’s the future?

The COVID pandemic was certainly something that brought change into all our lives and presented all of us with challenges in how we could still deliver value to our customers. Operationally, many businesses had to shift into new ways of working and communicating with existing or potential clients. Online communication platforms suddenly became the normal way of meeting and chatting with our networks both business and social to accomplish this.

As our clients tackled their own

Because they are both online so

With a physical classroom you

operational issues and preferred being

must be the same, right? No! So here

will have a live training session

in a room with other learners and the

is a short guide to what both types of

with a training expert in the room.

training consultant anyway, training

remote learning look like.

You may be provided with books about the subject, hard copy of the

demand just stopped overnight.

It took a few months for events to settle and the world to realize it could work and learn in other ways, so we started getting enquiries from several people wanting to take up some

Virtual Courses that are advertised as ‘virtual’ will try and recreate the physical classroom environment only remotely.

presentation with notes and there may be other printed materials you will be working with.

Courses are structured by topic and at the end of a session you could

form of remote learning. From the

be divided up into smaller groups to

conversations we were having a few

work on an exercise. If you are taking

common questions arose about what

an exam at the end of the course

the differences are between a virtual

the room will be configured like a

course and an e-learning one.

school classroom and the trainer can

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 27

The Business Bulletin

become the invigilator and run the exam session.

E-Learning Courses advertised as ‘e-learning’ will

A virtual training course will attempt to recreate this classroom environment remotely. The trainer will be broadcasting a live session as they would in a classroom, and this is sent across a conference call platform out to the learners who are positioned anywhere. Documentation will typically be sent electronically and if the learner wants to have physical copies, they can arrange this themselves.

Depending on the broadcast platform being used the trainer may be able to split the learners into smaller groups to do the exercises.

The learners can interact live with the trainer and the rest of the group as if they were all in the same room.

Exams will be taken separately and will be sat either at an approved exam centre or some subjects can be sat from a laptop connected to the internet anywhere.

be structured differently.

These courses are typically modular in format with separate files held on a learning management system that the learner accesses one at a time across the internet.

Content in these files will vary from one training provider to another.

Some will record video and audio sessions, or the files may just be documentation to read.

Learners progress through the material at their own pace and access is sometimes limited by time frame.

For example, the learner pays for 90 days access and then uses the material within their own preferences during that time.

If there is an exam this will be taken in a similar way as the virtual courses.

Which one is best?

management, and helped dozens of managers to get their qualifications and be successful in frameworks such as PRINCE2, Agile and ITIL. Russell has run numerous projects in the public and private sectors. He then turned his hand to training and consultancy. His core skill lies in helping people and organisations to make a positive change for real benefit.

01327 630 355 enquiries@qrbmc.com qrbmc.com

a live environment to which you can interact. You have immediate direct access to the training expert and the course will be just like attending a normal learning event. You must commit to being in front of the screen when the session is happening to get maximum value. This can be seven hours a day for three, four or five days in a row. It’s the same commitment as going to the physical venue just without the travel. Practical exercises could be different as there are certain constraints with the virtual delivery platforms.

■ E-Learning courses are often cheaper though you lose the

and looking around at a world we

through peer groups setup on

haven’t seen for a while, we will notice

social media style platforms.

it has changed a bit.

If you cannot commit to the

visibility. As more people have experienced this type of learning it may have increased viability for many people as a learning option.

There are several factors to consider though when choosing the right option for your learning.

■ Physical training events are still many peoples’ preferred way of learning as it provides not only an opportunity to gain new knowledge, but it also provides an opportunity to meet new people and expand our networks. It gives the trainer more options for practical

28 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

■ Virtual courses will give you

to a trainer. Support is often

learning option has increased its

training in service and project

in a safe environment.

direct support and access

will help our businesses, the remote

Since 2006, Russell has delivered

learners can practice new ideas

environments, blinking in the sunlight

resources to gain knowledge that

QRB Management Consultants

acquired knowledge as the

As we all emerge from our restrictive

When it comes to investing our

Russell Parker

exercises to help embed newly

time needed for the virtual course the e-learning option offers you more flexibility. If you want more time to review the sections again that can be done by replaying the modules. With some courses the modules can be done in any order you wish again adding to the flexibility.

Which one is best being therefore dependent on your own circumstances, learning style and what you are hoping to accomplish at the end of your course.

The Business Bulletin

Is having an HR system important?

So, what do I mean by an HR System? It’s the way you store your employee records, the process you use and the information you use to report data. You may still be using spreadsheets, but there are HR systems designed to make your life easier, save you time and much more.

HR information systems (HRIS – shortened for HR lingo)

■ Record sickness & absence, medical information

I remember working in large

■ Exporting data to payroll

organisations with paper-based

■ Employee directory – imagine

systems, spreadsheets to complete and the dreaded filing to clear manually, or the scanning and shredding to store things both on paper and electronically. I am sure there are still large companies that still do this and smaller businesses not sure if they should invest in an HRIS. HR functions ordinarily completed through an HR system are: ■ Filing and managing

how useful that is for a new employee ■ Health & Safety – fire wardens,

■ Remote working – manage office space with who is in and who is remote working.

There will be more features or addins you can have for your business to make the system you choose more adaptable to your business,.

first aiders see who is on site ■ Self-service employee functions: ❙ holiday bookings, ❙ update address, ❙ emergency contact, ❙ bank details

employee records ■ Producing reports and charts ■ Communication to employees ■ Confirmation important documents have been read ■ Immigration & Right to Work documents ■ Driving Licence checks ■ Equipment, mobile, laptop, desk, chair, etc.

■ Induction & training records ■ Performance & objectives ■ Shift plans

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 29

The Business Bulletin

Everything in its place HRIS puts everything accessible in one place, and essential for managers and HR teams who work remotely – information is available when and where you want it. No more trying to find out who had the filing cabinet key last, getting to the office out of hours, because there is always something that happens after 5pm, right?

You could continue with

teams’ holidays, sickness, emergency

is a one-off exercise and then you just

contact but would not have access

update any changes as and when

to bank details. This means you can

required. Using an HR Consultant

comply with GDPR as the system is

for this will save you time, as they are

the data processor and you are the

used to dealing with systems and I

data controller.

would combine this with an audit

Which should I choose?

There are lots of providers of HR

HR reporting

systems and some of the factors to

Data is only as good as what is input,

consider would be:

but if you can get data to show

spreadsheets, but I believe the

1. How many employees you have?

efficiency and automation of an HRIS

2. How many ‘admin users’ you

far out ways the reliance on formulas and that you have protected cells, or

will need?

you periodically go in to check things.

3. Cost

What about GDPR

5. Modules I will benefit from

You may be thinking, who has access to what on the system – well you decide that based on your business.

Storage should be cloud-based, line managers would need access to their

4. Modules you need.

Before getting a demo of the system, think about what you want to get from an HRIS and what future plans there are for your business. Optional add ins that may attract additional costs or maybe as standard include: ■ Timesheets ■ Expenses ■ Recruitment ■ Learning ■ Engagement tools

Nicky Buckley East Midlands HR Nicky created East Midlands HR to provide professional, affordable HR

■ Time & attendance More importantly who will use the system – they are the person who will benefit most from a demo and

Services for SME businesses to enable

maybe even a trial of the system to

them to have the right advice how and

see if it can do what you want from

when they need it. Nicky is a Breathe HR partner, providing a cloud based HR System, which reduces paperwork for effective HR Admin, Absence & Holiday Management, compliant to GDPR and more. Nicky is passionate about HR and whilst she delivers on compliance to Employment Law, she really enjoys developing line managers to have the people skills to deliver results through their teams.

07973 353498 info@eastmidlandshr.com eastmidlandshr.com

30 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

opportunity at the same time.

it and what it can do that you do not

ethnicity, gender, age, holiday usage, sickness by type, starters, leavers, length of service, then you can start to use the data effectively to make better decisions.

Immigration compliance If your employee’s right to work is timelimited, you will need to check their documents again when it is due to expire. You need to retain evidence, as per the gov.uk advice, having the correct electronic copies will comply with storage and enable you to produce documents quickly to confirm you have completed a right to work check.

Business contingency planning You may not have thought of completing a business contingency plan (BCP) prior to COVID-19 or you may be well versed in completing documents to cover varying levels of disaster/emergency planning. As an HR system is cloud-based, should you need to relocate offices, work from

currently do, and probably should.

home, or you lose paper-based systems

Will it be a pain to set-up?

then your HR data and documents are

Well yes and no, it depends how you have your information now. However, whichever HRIS you choose, there should be an import function which will enable key data to be popped

due to fire, flooding, pandemics etc. not lost. Emergency contacts can be called if needed, employees contacted, and you can continue your HR function remotely.

across at the press of a button. You

Employee engagement

may need some time to get other

Let us start with holidays, one of

documents input, such as handbooks,

the main employee frustrations,

contracts, policy documents but this

completing a paper holiday form,

The Business Bulletin

4. Are you confident your legal

passing it to a line manager – they

initiatives. When it comes to showing

have stopped working whilst they

gratitude, a little goes a long way

requirements are compliant,

are going to find their manager,

and receiving thanks is sure to make

including immigration?

manager checks the spreadsheet

someone’s day.

and then too late, someone else booked it first. HR system’s holidays can be split by department, block out dates if there are holiday bans, teams can view who else is off and know if too many people are off already.

HRIS – request the holiday, email sent to line manager, check online, and approve or reject, much easier, speedier response, holiday recorded on calendar and balance calculated. I know which I prefer.

Several HR systems have

What is stopping you?

Review what you are currently using, try these ten questions out: 1. What system have you got in place?

2. Does your current system or process fit your business plans, growth, remote working, multisites, paperless?

3. How much time is spent

kudos or recognition functionality,

updating employee records, filing,

allowing employees to recognise

approving holidays, recording

other employees for projects, or

sickness? (Remember you have

achievements to support engagement

manager and admin time here)

5. Do you want to improve induction and onboarding of new employees?

6. Do you want to improve or set up a performance/productivity programme?

7. Do you know what skills are in your business, and identify where there are gaps?

8. Would you want to report HR metrics easily?

9. Is your current process GDPR compliant?

10. Will an HR system make things easier for employees?

Do you have something to say?

Are you considered an expert in your field?

Then why not submit an article for inclusion in a future edition of The Business Bulletin?

There is no cost to have an article included

The Business Bulletin

Spotllight on…

Spotlight on Dawar Ali Dawar runs an innovative business called Recruitico.

He provides offshore remote staff – hiring highly skilled people overseas in Pakistan; getting them to work remotely for businesses in the UK. Primarily software developers, website developers, designers and digital marketing professionals. The business started in 2018.

32 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

The Business Bulletin

Pakistan?

When I was in the final year of my

…“hang on a second, we can make some money from this”…

A-levels in Islamabad, Pakistan, we had something called the student union in our school. You have different positions - you have a president, vice president, etc. I ran for president and I got elected somehow! One of the roles was to organise lots of events.

Over the course of the year, we organised quite a few events, which included a couple of pretty big ones; some of which involved selling tickets.

sponsors from local businesses. We put

suggested to get a student in Pakistan

on a few events, including a couple of

to do it. We’ll pay them really well and

pretty midscale theatre plays, which

if you look at the exchange rate, his

went on for a few days. We made some

living costs, it's going to work out really

money from all of that, it was all going

cost effective over here. Through some

well. Then the year came to an end.

contacts, I managed to get a couple

It actually got extended to a bit more

of university students in Pakistan who

than a year because I was planning

worked on these Excel sheets. They

to go abroad and had to get the

were over the moon as they got this

to my parents and said I wanted to

admissions process sorted – it took 2

summer job, which has paying them

take a year off. Back in Pakistan, taking

years in the end!

really well. We got this project done. It

It was totally non-commercial just to support the school. I looked at how it worked and thought “hang on a second, we can make some money from this”. That's how the first business started organising events on a commercial basis.

After I finished my A-levels, I went

a year off was pretty much unheard of. The norm is you go straight from school to uni, and then you graduate, you get a job, you get married and have kids, you settle down and that's how you do it! This whole taking a year off things just doesn't go right with

The first “proper” business that I'm

was a win-win situation.

still involved in started a few years ago.

That idea stuck. I thought this was

I was working as a marketing manager

something I could focus on, because

for a local company in Northampton. I

I'm in a unique position to actually

always wanted to work for myself and

do this.

to have my own business. This job was

Being from Pakistan, I understand

only a way to gain some experience

the culture over there, I understand

because I was in a new place, new

how to work with people and I have

country. What happened was we had

lived and worked in the UK for long

this project that needed doing it - it

enough to understand how the culture

was a massive database of about 30-

company. We did pretty much exactly

and business over here works. So I can

40,000 records that needed sorting. It

what we did for the school, just on

put something together that can be

was a two month project, which we

a slightly bigger scale. We got some

quite beneficial for everyone and make

didn't have anyone in house to do. I

it into a valuable business myself.

most parents, but my parents very kindly said “ok, do whatever you want, get it out your system!”

So, I started an events management

What’s your why? What actually gets you out of bed in the morning?

Back in Pakistan in 2005 taking a year off was pretty much unheard of

I can look at this from quite a few different angles and maybe it changes, or it may have changed over time. I think what I do really excites me. Many times we managed to solve pretty big problems for small businesses, or we managed to do things for small businesses, which were quite difficult through our model and the resources that we

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 33

Spotllight on…

What was your first business in

The Business Bulletin

company in Luxembourg to pay £12

Spotllight on…

for their services, the person in the UK would be working above minimum

Many times we managed to solve pretty big problems for small businesses…

wage but according to Luxembourg, they would be below minimum wage.

And the company that's paying them will be saving money, and whoever set it up will be making a little bit of a profit, is that exploitation in any way? The person is getting more than they would get here, the company there saves money, whoever sets it up makes a profit. Now it sounds like a win-win-win situation for everyone.

One thing that we do guarantee is

have. So, that's what excites me -

what we do at a much bigger scale

that all our staff will be taken care of

being able to solve problems which

for much bigger companies. For small

really well. That is proven by the fact

were pretty difficult.

businesses, they won't be able to work

that we currently have nine people

with such bigger companies because

working for us. They're all highly

their minimum requirements would

motivated, they love what we do, and

be out of reach.

they do an excellent job. They wouldn't

On the other hand, with the people who are based overseas, giving them the opportunity that they wouldn't have had - that really drives me. As well as giving the company in the

do that if they were being exploited.

What would you say to people who may have concerns about overseas

Since you've been in business, what

they wouldn't be able to afford here.

workers being exploited?

would you say has been your biggest

Looking at people's reactions, when

In some cases people are saying: are

business challenge?

something sets up that works - that's

these people going to be paid below

I think there's two ways to look at this.

a very good feeling.

minimum wage? And there's a very

One is the specific challenges that I

interesting answer to this question. It

had running my business, because of

What makes you different from your

needs to be in context. For example

the nature of it. Then challenges that

competitors?

the minimum wage in Luxembourg

any business owners have. When it

We don't have many people doing

is about £13 per hour. The minimum

comes to specific challenges for me -

wage in the UK is about £9. So, if you

it was a new concept for most people.

actually got somebody from the UK to

So it was communicating what we

work at £10 an hour, and you've got a

do to people, and then building that

UK, a really high skilled person that

what we do in the local area.

However, there are lots of businesses who are involved in this similar model, mostly at a much bigger level.

One type of competitor are the big freelance marketplaces, who seem to be similar to what we do. The way we're different is we're offering the same sort of service, but it's more personal, it's more bespoke towards our clients’ needs.

They’re dealing with a smaller business, who understands how small businesses work. As opposed to dealing with a big corporation, that is just a massive website or a marketplace, like Upwork or Fiverr, or something like that. There are companies out there who do

34 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

One thing that we do guarantee is that all our staff will be taken care of really well.

Spotllight on…

The Business Bulletin

trust. Getting people to understand

If you were to give one top business

the benefits of what we are offering.

tip for any business owner out there,

The other challenge, I think a lot of

Watch the interview

what would that top tip be?

small businesses have - I've learned

There are ups and downs and

this through trial and error myself -

there are times where you feel a bit

they think we can do pretty much

insecure. You can feel stressed out

anything for anyone. They don't know

about things. My advice would be to

exactly where their target market is.

just keep going. Eventually things do

Finding that focus and that target

work out. So stay motivated. Just keep

market is not easy. It takes time. What

focusing on things that you do best.

seems like a good idea today may not

If you've made the decision to start

be what you want to do. You really

your own business, then stick to it and

have to align your objectives and your

eventually it will work out.

For the full video interview, visit here: https://youtu.be/mERAbQoqiY

core competencies with things that you want to do and come up with and with things that you want to focus on. I think we're still doing that, it's an ongoing process, it never stops.

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 35

The Business Bulletin

Anyway, I’ve got a key, one of many

your life coach and I don’t want to

keys which make up success. It’s one

be either. Two, I’m a business lawyer

of what I call the Laws of Success.

so I’m going outside of my allocated

Ok, let’s get a couple of things straight.

pigeon-hole in writing this. Three,

One, I am not a business coach or

adopting this one philosophy may not change your life completely, but it sure will be a good start. Four, everyone’s definition of success is (and should be) different.

Peter Drucker, the world renowned business management gurus, was the one of the first to write “what is

Steven Mather Steven Mather Solicitor Steven Mather is a Consultant Solicitor and specialist in advising SMEs on all legal issues affecting their business – from contracts, employees, intellectual property or disputes. He qualified as a lawyer in 2008 and in January 2020 set up on his own in order to deliver extremely high quality & efficient services to SMEs. 07912 605933 steven@stevenmather.co.uk stevenmather.co.uk

measured is managed, and what is managed gets improved”. And

When you set up in business (one assumes, dear reader, that you are self-employed or running your own business), my guess is that you did so for one of a few reasons. It may have been to ‘make a difference’ to a community (or just to ‘make money’), but it was most likely because you wanted independence, autonomy and to make a legacy for you and your family.

Indicators (KPIs) have been a

How do you know if you have succeeded?

mainstay for the last few decades,

This is where personal KPIs come into

as tools used to measure a wide

play. You should consider some of the

range of vital business objectives. At

following questions:

so, in business, Key Performance

a basic level, a business might have KPIs for things like: number of new

1. What is your desired outcome?

clients, sales revenue, satisfaction

2. Why does that matter?

scores. Boring spreadsheet stuff really, but a way in which managers can objectively compare staff and a method to see how units, teams or the whole company is performing.

36 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

KPIs are great in business.

3. How will you measure progress?

4. How often will you review progress?

The Business Bulletin

The importance of personal KPIs in your business “I’ve got the key, I’ve got the secret, I’ve got the key to another way” – Urban Cookie Collective circa 1993 – no you’re old.

For me, my desired outcomes

wasn’t hitting their billing targets their

But these personal KPIs are so

revolve around spending time with my

manager would ‘have a word’ to see

important – or should be – that you

family, doing the school run, having

what could be done, I take a look at

simply cannot afford to ignore them,

time for lunch with my wife during

what I’m doing and readjust so that I

not have them, or think that you can

the week, and spending more time on

can achieve the desired outcomes.

only have them “once I’ve made it” or

hobbies. For you, your personal KPIs

The second question – the why – is

“once the business is more steady” or

may be relationship driven, fitness

crucial. There’s no point in having a

“as soon as….”, because we all know

driven, relaxation driven.

personal KPI without a strong why

there’s always something else. Indeed,

behind it, because you’ll just miss it,

the real key to success is to build them

(which let’s face it for a lawyer involve

something else will be more important

into your life now, not at retirement, so

cash), I have personal KPIs and for

or which takes away your attention.

that you can really enjoy life.

me – and this is the key – they are

With a strong why, you’ll make sure you

more important to hit than the

hit your personal KPIs each and every

business ones. Sure, we all need to

time – or try your best at least.

As well as my business KPIs

hit the business KPIs to pay bills,

Measuring progress and reviewing

earn money, do stuff – I get that. But

that progress is also important. It’s

the real key to success is hitting the

a balance, of course. Few of us can

personal ones, and I’ve got a laser-

have a personal KPI which says “I

focus to ensure I achieve mine.

want to spend 6 days a week doing

Do you?

my hobby” unless you’re already a

I therefore incorporate the personal

multi-millionaire with loads of income

“No one ever said on their deathbed ‘I wish I’d spent more time at work’” This old adage is another way of saying ‘I wish I had hit my personal KPIs’. Because the bottom line is this: having personal KPIs, and hitting them, is a big key to success. Not hitting them, or worse still not having them, is

KPIs into my business plan, after all

generating assets. No, sadly, most of

the business is meant to work for

us have to work hard to enjoy some

me. So if I cannot do a couple of

perks. But if you don’t measure your

school runs in a week, then I’m not

performance with the things that

personal KPIs in all areas of your life

performing at running a business; in

you’re saying matter most, then you

because without them you won’t

the same way that if an employee

will never achieve them.

know if you’re a success.

the road to regret on your deathbed.

So the Law of Success is this: have

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 37

The Business Bulletin

So cyber criminals are not interested in me, are they?

You might think that cyber criminals are not interested in your business, especially if you are a small business or just starting out, but you would be very much mistaken.

Small business owners who have not

legitimate option to simply react to

1. Realise you are a target

implemented a thorough cybersecurity

these attacks. The statistics showing

plan are running the risk of finding

the most common breaches are

Start by recognising that you are a

themselves with real problems. In

frankly a wake up call.

some cases, this could even leave them without a business to protect.

It has never been more important for business owners to consider cyber security for their business. While there have been numerous catastrophic breaches of global businesses and government departments in the news in recent months, these are only the tip of a very big iceberg. They are

■ 62% of breaches featured hacking (81% of hackingrelated breaches leveraged

annoying, there is no getting away

■ 51% included some form of malware ■ 43% were social attacks

■ 14% because of privilege

Cyber criminals look for easy targets they can pick off in a shorter time frame than the more complex attacks required to compromise a large corporate. The reward for hacking a large corporation is certainly likely be higher but it is harder to do, far more time consuming and more likely to lead to the exposure and arrest of the perpetrators.

processes up to date

passwords)

see on the surface. Below them is

businesses around the globe.

2. Keep your systems and Let’s face it software updates are

■ 14% were due to errors

attacks that are destroying lives and

steps to reduce the risk.

either stolen and/or weak

the big, highly visible, events that we mass of smaller, less media friendly,

potential target and taking positive

misuse ■ 8% were caused by physical actions To give a stark view of what these means to business, at the time of writing this, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) Fraud and

from it and yes, they will happen at the worst time, normally when you are in a rush. But software updates are a key factor in maintaining a secure computer system.

3. Scrutinise every email Regardless of who that email looks to be from review it before you click any links or open any attachments.

It can only take one wrong click of a mouse button for your system to be compromised.

Cyber Crime Dashboard reported

4. Forget pet/friend/family names

498,862 reports resulting in a loss of

People are creatures of habit. All too

£2.6 billion in the previous 13 months.

often the need for a new password

The highest point was July 2020 with

will result in the use of something

36,160 reports and a loss of £414.7

personal. It is time to forget those

Million, at its lowest point of May 2020

pets, friends and family member

proactive with their cyber security if

the report was still a hefty 29,394 and

names and start using more secure

they want to survive and thrive. One

a loss of £122.9 million. So, what can

passwords. Many internet browsers

small business in the UK is hacked

be done to mitigate the risk of being

and password managers will suggest

every 19 seconds so it is no longer a

a victim of cyber crime.

secure passwords for you.

Small business owners need to be

38 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

The Business Bulletin

5. Back up your data

how we interact with other people.

This is a key factor in both business

For years people have been happy to

and personal life. If your data in important to you then you need to be backing it up and more importantly testing the back up to make sure it will be there if you need it.

post their daily run, dog walk times or check ins to venues, but all this information is a gift to both cyber criminals and criminals in general.

Before you post a status consider how others will read the post. Is

6. Give your homeworkers business security knowledge The pandemic precipitated one of the biggest changes in how we work in a matter of days. The shift to the workplace to from home working

knowing that you run the same route at the same time of the day really a beneficial post for the world at large?

It certainly is for criminals who know you are not at home.

8. Get your people cyber aware

table or into the back bedroom

When you look at the stats above you

office without giving us the time to

see that a lot of these attack methods

take things like security into account.

are caused by people not being cyber

Reviewing how your team works at

aware. Invest in training sessions for

home is the key factor when it comes

team as it may well just save your

to ensuring that you, your data and

business in the future.

7. Do not let a social media post become a gift for cyber criminals

Chris has been involved with IT Support since he used his first computer back in the 80s. He’s worked within IT Support for blue chip delivery companies ensuring their systems and machinery keep the business running. He’s also worked alongside the Technical teams at Barclays Bank, Lloyds and TSB. With the links he’s made from business networking, he’s able to provide a wide range of services from basic IT support to Cyber Security testing and accreditation.

07932 535271

forced many of us on to the kitchen

your staff are secure.

Chris Lambert Datasense Consulting

The list above is a brief insight into

chris.lambert@datasense.ltd datasense.ltd

on enforcing the same point. As a business owner, no matter how big or small the business, you need to be investing in cyber security from day 1 and not sadly reviewing it as you try to

the things to be aware of. If we tried

patch together your business after a

to cover everything we would have

breach has occurred.

been here for a long time. While it

People are social and COVID-19

would have made for an interesting

made social media even more key to

read it would have only carried

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 39

The Business Bulletin

What is RPA and how can it help my business?

Of course automation is not new, the difference

Asking people to work like “Machines”

with RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is that

intentions, human error occurs and

has never been ideal. Despite best

it delivers automation by using software robots

such mistakes can be costly to rectify.

that mimic human interactions with computer

generally accepted figure is 4% of

systems in a non-invasive way. This means that businesses do not need to throw away existing computer systems. RPA can be used to perform the repetitive tasks necessary to operate both individual computer applications and between such applications.

The level of errors will vary but the activity will be impacted. RPA is more accurate and more predictable than manual activity.

The potential market There are millions of office workers, most of whom spend significant time working in computer systems for their companies. With this potential market, it is clear why investors have been keen to participate in UiPath’s recent IPO, as the leading RPA software vendor.

40 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

The Business Bulletin

It is worth avoiding the “hype”, not

Although RPA technology has a

be there. Good company directors

everyone who spends time working

history of using the user interface

will always be looking to improve the

with computer applications is going

(GUI) to mimic the interaction of

performance of the business. For many

to benefit from RPA. The key factor

humans with applications, for the

companies, COVID-19 and Brexit,

for any automation to be successful

larger application vendors such as

mean that changes have had to occur

is “Repetition”. It would be possible

Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Salesforce,

which presents challenges as well as

to automate any activity, but without

etc. the RPA vendors have created API

opportunities. Nobody can assume

the repetition it would not be a good

interfaces to the technology. This still

that competitors will be continuing

investment as every automation has a

allows the mimicking of the human

as “normal”, hence the need to adopt

cost which can only be recovered by

interaction but offers the potential to

automation has never been greater.

achieving savings on the usage of the

deliver it in a more efficient route.

automated process.

Normally where there is “repetition”

UiPath have been promoting “a robot for every desktop”, which initially

it is defined by very clear rules based

can seem a little ambitious but given

of business processes covering sales,

on distinct data conditions and this

that there is never just “one” business

production, finance, HR, etc. These

is ideal for RPA. However, there are

process in an organisation which

core activities are available in the

business processes that rely upon less

would benefit from automation, over

software applications such as CRM,

well-defined situations, this is where

time the amount of automation a

ERP, AR, AP, etc. The use of RPA will

the potential to include Artificial

company can embrace could be huge.

not replace any of these systems, but

Intelligence (AI) alongside RPA offers

This could well mean every desktop

it will impact the human activity to

a further range of benefits. The pair of

having a robot deployed, but it would

interact with such systems.

technologies are well suited as each

not mean ever user spending all day

can leverage the strengths of the

interacting with the robot. Effective

other. RPA delivering the “action” and

automation at scale, is where the

AI delivering the “understanding”.

UiPath scenario could become reality.

has meant that levels of “Repetition”

Market drivers

Motivation for RPA

required to justify an investment in

For any director considering

There are approximately 4,000

RPA, with good ROI, can be seen in

automation, whether they invest today

business in the UK using RPA.

virtually every business.

or tomorrow the opportunity will still

Although there used to fear for some

Every company will have a range

The price for RPA products such as a UiPath licence has reduced over recent years as the technology has become more established. This

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 41

The Business Bulletin

■ External events such as

a schedule or the use of Queues. As

big change to processes

every Finance Director will tell you,

■ Increasing workload with team size constraints

David Martin Ether Solutions David leads a team specialising in intelligent automation solutions delivering productivity and quality gains for SME, regional and national businesses by using RPA software robots.

With a background in large databases, document management and BPM solutions, David’s experience has been a natural progression to automation solutions as the RPA technology has matured. David believes that there is a lot of pride and satisfaction to be gained by everybody involved with the implementation of automation solutions whatever the size of the business.

0845 643 4410 enquiries@ether-solutions.co.uk ether-solutions.co.uk

■ Human errors raising compliance challenges and quality issues ■ “Smarter not harder”

improves employee satisfaction (“not working like robots”) and an eagerness to embrace the technology from those who have a vision for the future.

Managing directors see investing in RPA in the same way as deploying machines in the production line, it being essential to a company for competitiveness in the market.

With the potential to gain board

■ Digital Transformation leaders looking at “quick wins” ■ IT managers dealing with legacy systems and cloud SaaS initiatives ■ Directors determined to get ahead of competitors by being first to automate

The “why” of RPA The “Why” question for RPA, can have

do not “work like robots” ■ It is good for business as it delivers a “return on investment” (ROI) ■ It is good for customers as less errors means better quality ■ It provides the opportunity to change when work is preformed (robots work 24 x 7)

Implementing RPA does not require a

conversations on automation.

revolution. RPA can start with a single task in a business process. Yes, starting

catalysts that start a business being interested in RPA. These include: ■ Knowledge that a competitor has an RPA project

42 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

systems, emails, databases, etc. There are other types of robot that work

activities as an “assistant”.

RPA delivers ROI Every business wants an ROI to justify any change. RPA is able to offer a number of “soft” benefits in terms of the impact on people and their work, and it is also able to deliver the “hard” benefits the company directors like to see.

operational activities that start the

There are many different triggers or

on their own, taking work from other

with them as they perform their daily

aspiring managers responsible for

Catalyst for RPA

There are of course different types of robots. There are robots that work

solutions

RPA can start small and grow

support for an RPA initiative, it is often

perform a range of different tasks.

alongside people directly interacting

■ It is good for staff so that they HR Directors would report that RPA

“sweat the asset”, so each robot can

programmes seeking practical

answers such as: people about automation, many

workload can be controlled through

COVID-19 and Brexit posing

with one robot has some setup overhead, but once in place it delivers a lot of capacity. This is a critical part of the thinking to getting the best use from the RPA investment. Once the robot is established it can perform a variety of different tasks. The robot

Case Studies have shown that an RPA solution can be the equivalent of employing staff to do the same task at the rate of £1 per hour!

The RPA choice There are many RPA technologies available in the market. Each company will factor in their specific requirements when selecting an RPA solution from an RPA vendor or more commonly from an RPA reseller.

UiPath has been the first of the leading vendors to reach an IPO which reflects its broad appeal. Microsoft making acquisitions to strengthen its position with Power Automate demonstrates market maturity.

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The Business Bulletin

Ask the experts Do you have a burning question that you would like the answer to?

Or maybe you’re looking for some advice to help your business? In each edition some questions will be shared and answered by some of The Business Bulletin experts.

Q. Is GDPR still important?

A. Short answer to the question is… yes! It’s always going to be relevant until the government makes any changes to the law. Long answer to the question is…yes! GDPR is now more relevant now than it has ever been. GDPR is part of UK law and will stay that way for some time to come. Now that we have seen a massive increase in people working from home and given that in many cases the move from office to home based working was rushed through due to the UK Lockdown in March 2020, many businesses have not considered how their staff are accessing and storing data whilst working from home.

The are many things to consider when working from home. To give a brief list 1. Equipment being used.

2. Method of accessing company data i.e secure home wifi or a VPN 3. Location of equipment while not in use i.e. overnight 4. Other devices on a home wifi network.

The list goes on and on. All of the above and more will be factors in any

If a company is not taking its GDPR

guidance as closely as possible and

these uncertain times then they are

please don’t overcomplicate the things

leaving themselves wide open to a

as GDPR is quite simple to follow.

data breach and a fine.

Chris Lambert Datasense Consulting A. Yes, all businesses out there should

A. The short answer is yes, primarily

be GDPR compliant. It’s nothing more

because it makes it easier for those

than a best practice to follow to handle

you leave behind.

personal data carefully and effectively.

have to deal with if/when they have

I strongly recommend the GDPR

44 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

Ashish Kumar Web Alliance Q. Should I have a will?

data breach that a company might a breach.

you and your business follow the

and cyber Security seriously during

policies and audits to make sure that

A will allows you to make provision for the inevitable and to ensure that your wishes are known. A well

The Business Bulletin

considered will should appoint executors who are the people who sort everything out after your death.

It is the executors responsibility to collect in your assets, pay any debts and ensure that your instructions within the will are followed.

Your will should also appoint guardians for minor children and set out your wishes in relation to personal possessions, including pets as well as dealing with your financial assets.

During the planning you should consider any potential tax liability and also any vulnerable beneficiaries that you need to protect. You should also consider any potential challenges to your will and also the different ways in which provision can be made for people to ensure that your estate ultimately ends up where you want it to. Passing away without a will can cause all sorts of problems, particularly for couples who are not married or in a civil partnership or for those people with young children or blended families. The law sets out who will

Q. How do I choose a CRM system?

■ Capsule

A. Which CRM to use is really

■ Zoho

dependent upon the actual requirement of the company and which stage the business currently is at.

For start-ups with no employees and no idea of the requirements then Google sheet or Excel spreadsheets can do the trick because they offer the following benefit: ■ Easy to use and cost effective ■ Define data structure ■ Ideal for small teams ■ Low maintenance charts

■ Microsoft Dynamics You may find that an off-the-shelf system doesn’t match your business requirements. You may then decide that a bespoke solution could be the best option – something that can be designed to exactly match your business processes and systems.

Ashish Kumar Web Alliance

Got a question?

■ Generate basic documents like invoices, quotes, etc.

■ Work well with reasonable amount of data ■ No database knowledge needed Once the business is past the initial stage, then it can look for more stable

who dies without a will and these

off-the-shelf systems. When selecting

rules only recognise relationships of

an off-the-shelf CRM browse through

blood, marriage, civil partnership and

variety of options available such as:

Rosie Wright Brixworth Wills

■ Sugar CRM

■ Generate and manage graphs/

benefit from the estate of a person

legal adoption.

■ Salesforce

■ Pipedrive

If you have a question – then email us and these experts will set about answering it for you. It can be on any business topic you like, be it finance, sales, marketing, operations, resources, strategy or personal development.

If you would like a more immediate response, then raise your question on the “Ask The Experts” forum.

■ HubSpot

Contributing experts

Chris Lambert

Ashish Kumar

Rosie Wright

Datasense Consulting

Web Alliance

Brixworth Wills

Issue 11 – Operations and Resources | 45

The Business Bulletin

SME Survey Do you outsource services to support your business?

The intention of this survey was to find

capable of delivering the service they

out what services are outsourced by the

offer; more than likely doing it to a

businesses that undertook the survey

higher standard and more efficiently

(71 respondents) and if there were any

versus it being done in house.

services that people were considering

Get involved To take part in the next survey

Unsurprisingly, as can be seen

outsourcing in the future. Often the concern for most small business owners is the additional cost of outsourcing to a third party; particularly the case if you are new in business.

about business planning –

from figure 1, accounting was the

visit here: https://forms.gle/

service that was most outsourced by

V37arHdEuanLF5JB6. The

businesses; followed by website. 6

results will be shared in the next

people who responded to the survey

edition of this magazine.

didn’t outsource anything and 29 had no intention of outsourcing further.

However, engaging someone else, which in turn frees up your time to

Figure 2 represents the services

focus on what you are good at and

Encouragingly, the vast majority

that people are considering

redirect the time you get back to

outsourcing. In this case social media

undertake marketing* and increase

and marketing were the leading

sales to cover any additional costs,

using outsourcing as a strategy to support their business.

services as these didn’t feature

can be a significant benefit to any

of survey takers – at least 66.2% - are

It is definitely worth looking at those

significantly in what was currently

business. (*Something else that could

outsourced. Small businesses are

things you are not that good at, don’t

notoriously poor at marketing and

like doing or where you don’t have the

engaging on social media, so the

necessary competence or capacity and

and having the confidence that they

fact that this is being considered as

hand over to an expert!

will get done when, to an extent, they

something to hand over to someone

are out of your control. Again, most

who knows that they are doing, has to

reputable services will be more than

be a good thing!

be potentially outsourced!).

The other barrier is releasing tasks

Accounts

Social media

Website

Marketing

Graphic design

Admin

IT

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping

SEO

SEO

Accounts

Social media

Sales

Admin

Admin

HR

IT 0

10

20

30

40

50

Figure 1

46 | Issue 11 – Operations and Resources

0

5

10

15

20

Figure2

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