The Hertfordshire Business Independent Issue 33 May 2013

COMPLIMENTARY

YASMINA SIADATAN WE FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE RISE AND RISE OF SERIES 5 THE APPRENTICE WINNER AND WHAT FUELLED HER MOVE TO A NEW JOB WITH JAMES CAAN

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT : Technology MARGARET THATCHER : We take a look back at the life of the ‘Iron Lady’ STRATEGY : We talk business strategy with Deri Llewellyn-Davies ST ALBANS FILM FESTIVAL : We speak to two winners about their new found film success and their future plans

issue May 2013

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WELCOME

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CONTENTS NEWS A round-up of the latest business news and stories from our region

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LEGAL Advice from Cheesmans Accountants

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MARKETING Latest marketing tips from our new columnist Grant Leboff

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EXECUTIVE PROFILE Peter Hope of Austins Funerals

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INTERVIEW We speak with Series 5 The Apprentice Winner Yasmina Siadatan

18 25 33

BUSINESS ADVICE Clive Hyland reveals how a deeper understanding of how your brain functions could transform your business

TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL From crowdsourcing, to the impact of the wireless revolution, to the launch of new social networking brand SunZu.

DRIVE We test drive the Hyundai 140 Tourer 1.7

34 NETWORKING Latest networking advice from our resident expert Andy Lopata

The HBI is distributed to business centres, meeting and conference facilities, hotels and railway stations across the county, with a further 30,000 being delivered directly to the inbox of our subscribers, including the CEOs of the top 200 companies in Hertfordshire.

A selection of distribution points are listed below.

DISTRIBUTION POINTS

Cole Green : Panshanger Flying Club Baldock : Jester Hotel, Baldock Station, Ashwell Station Harpenden : Harpenden House Hotel, Harpenden Station Hatfield : Ramada Jarvis, Hatfield Oak Hotel, Porsche Centre, Fielder Centre Hertford : Hertford North Railway Station I Hertingfordbury : Whitehorse Hotel Hitchin : Hitchin Railway Station I Knebworth : Knebworth Station Letchworth : Letchworth Hall Hotel, Goldsmith Centre, Bizspace Letchworth, Business Centre West Potters Bar : Wenta Potters Bar, Regus Potters Bar Radwell : Days Inn Baldock I Redbourn : Ramada Jarvis Royston : Royston Station, Banyers Hotel, Jester Hotel I St Albans : Quality Hotel Stevenage : Roebuck Hotel, Specialist Cars, Merc Stevenage, Premeir Inn Stevenage, BTC Centre, Cromwell Hotel, Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage Station I Turnford : Cheshunt Mariott The Business Club : West Herts Ware : Hanbury Manor I Watford : Ramada Jarvis I Welwyn : Welwyn North Station Welwyn Garden City : Weltech Centre

The HBI is also available to view online at www.businessindependent.co.uk If you would like to receive copies of The HBI for your business please call 0844 358 5800.

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

0844 358 5800 www.businessindependent.co.uk MANAGING DIRECTOR Simon George EDITOR Jenna Gould

editor@businessindependent.co.uk

CONTRIBUTORS Daisy Simpson Grant Leboff Clive Hyland Deri Llewellyn-Davies Ian Kilpatrick Andy Lopata Andrew Merritt-Morling

SALES MANAGER Sona Shah

sona@businessindependent.co.uk

DESIGNER Karen Birch

www.velvetagency.com

Welcome to the May issue of The Hertfordshire Business Independent. We’ve got a great selection of features for you this month and I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as we have compiling them for you!

This month, our lead interview is with former The Apprentice winner Yasmina Siadatan, where she reveals what prompted her to recently move into a role with James Caan. We also speak to two of the extremely talented winners of the first St Albans Film Festival to find out more about what this win means for their future film making careers. Our special this month is on Technology and we’ve got a great selection of advice from local and national experts. We also find out more about the launch SunZu (formerly Ecademy. com) and what the future holds for this social network.

We have our regular advice from Grant Leboff and Andy Lopata as well as guest articles from Clive Hyland and Deri Llewellyn-Davies too.

Wishing you all a great month! Jenna Follow us on twitter @thehbi

THE IMC GROUP BOLSTERS TEAM FOR FURTHER GROWTH IN 2013

Local accountants KPMG still has a limited number of places available on its ground-breaking School Leaver Programme at their Watford office, the firm has announced.

The School Leaver Programme is a six year programme that offers a highly attractive combination of paid work experience, a university degree in accounting with all university and accommodation fees paid, and a chartered accountancy qualification.

Students need a minimum of ABB at A level and a B at GCSE English Language and Maths (or equivalent). They can opt to do their degree at Durham, Exeter or Birmingham universities. The first four years of the course are spent studying for their degree at university combined with work experience at KPMG’s offices in Clarendon Road. The final two years of the programme are spent studying for the chartered accountancy qualification alongside working in the office.

Nationally, approximately 150 students are expected to start on the programme this autumn.

Peter Selvey, senior partner at KPMG’s London North office based in Watford said: “Our school leaver programme has proved tremendously popular since we launched it less than two years ago. It’s not difficult to see why, with the offer of a free university degree and an attractive salary throughout, leading to qualification as a chartered accountant. Students should complete the course not only debt free but actually in credit! With the prospect of a solid and well-rewarded career as an accountant ahead of them, the programme is a very attractive prospect in these challenging economic times.”

Prospective students can get more information about the course and apply for a place at www.kpmg.co.uk/careers

MEDIATION PROGRAMME AIMS TO CUT DIVORCE LITIGATION COSTS

PUBLISHED BY Business Independent Ltd. Old Batford Mill Lower Luton Road Harpenden Hertfordshire AL5 5BZ

COPYRIGHT Copyright: 2012 Business Independent Ltd 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 without the prior consent of the publishers. The views expressed in any of the Business Independent series of regional magazines are not necessarily the views of the publishers Business Independent Ltd. Whilst Business Independent Ltd has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, neither they norany contributing author can accept any legal responsibility for any consequences that may arise from errors or omissions contained in this publication or from acting on any opinions or advice given.

In particular, this publication is general and not a substitute for professional advice and you should consult your own professional advisors where appropriate.

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Generic Financial Management, a Hertfordshire based firm of chartered financial planners, has launched the Generic Divorce Mediation Programme which aims to help high net worth individuals agree upon a sound financial settlement during a divorce.

Managing director Paul Thomas said: “Marital breakdown is stressful and trying to agree a financial settlement can be an emotional process for both parties, in which it becomes hard to reach an amicable agreement.

There are always complex questions about the division of assets and a desire by both parties to maintain their existing lifestyles.

“The Generic Financial Mediation programme aims to avoid bitter disputes. Our programme aims to help couples achieve their financial objectives during a divorce, while avoiding the stress and costs of lengthy litigation.

“We have developed some advanced financial planning tools and techniques that allow us to build a series of scenarios showing a couple what any proposed divorce settlement will mean to their personal wealth over the long-term. Our approach helps couples to make informed decisions about the proposed financial settlement. This mitigates the need for expensive, time-consuming litigation.”

For more information visit www.gfm-gdmp.co.uk

GRANT THORNTON HERTFORDSHIRE WELCOMES NEW FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS Grant Thornton has welcomed the approval of the Financial Reporting Council’s replacement for UK GAAP, saying the new standard represents a huge step in overhauling the out-of-date and unnecessarily complicated legislation that previously existed.

The new standard is due to apply to accounting periods beginning on or after 1st January 2015, with an option for companies to early adopt the standard.

David Newstead, partner at Grant Thornton, which operates across Hertfordshire, commented: “The new standard is practical, accessible and relevant to businesses in both the commercial and not for profit sectors. Congratulations are due to the Financial Reporting Council and the staff at the Accounting Council who have consulted widely and listened to their constituents.

Grant Thornton says businesses need to plan ahead to find out precisely how the standard will affect their business and what they can do to minimise potential negative impacts.

One of the most talked about changes is the introduction of more fair value accounting, in particular for instruments such as foreign exchange forward contracts and interest rate swaps.

STEVENAGE ENTREPRENEUR AIMS FOR TRIPLE AWARDS GOLD

Stevenage entrepreneur Paul Maguire is aiming for gold after being shortlisted for three prestigious business awards.

Paul is in the running for ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the Inspiring Hertfordshire Awards, while Magnite PR, the integrated public relations and communications agency he founded in 2011, is up for ‘Most Promising New Business’. The Inspiring Hertfordshire Awards will take place on 16th May, at the Porsche Showrooms in Hatfield.

Paul is also hoping to be named ‘Outstanding Freelance Practitioner’ at the national CIPR Excellence Awards run by the UK PR profession’s chartered body. The CIPR Excellence Awards will be announced on 3rd June at the London Hilton Hotel on Park Lane.

Paul Maguire, founder and managing director of Magnite PR, said: “It’s great to be nominated for such important awards as they reflect our growing reputation across both Hertfordshire and the UK. Hopefully, we can make it a triple success.”

£100 MILLION CASH FLOW SUPPORT FOR SOUTH-EAST BUSINESSES

SMEs in the south-east face an average seven week wait for invoices to be paid, according to new statistics from Clydesdale Bank. Not only does this put pressure on cash flow it can also threaten the survival of thousands of SMEs. In a bid to support small businesses facing invoice delays, Clydesdale Bank has reaffirmed its strong support for the invoice finance market by ring-fencing £100 million for cash flow finance from its recently launched £1billion Business Expansion Fund.

The £100 million of additional invoice finance funding is now available to both new and existing customers through the bank’s Confidential Invoice Discounting service.

Cash flow experts at Clydesdale Bank believe a strong invoice finance service is crucial for the south-east’s SME community in the current economy.

Andrew Merrifield, regional director for Clydesdale Bank in the southeast, said: “Late payments can put immense pressure on small businesses as cash flow dries up, leading to pressure on their ability to pay their own bills. Underlining our enduring commitment to the invoice finance market, this £100 million of additional funding will provide real support for many businesses.”

FINANCE WIZARDS FINALLY SCOOP GEORGE HAY JUBILEE SHIELD

Stevenage based Richmond House Financial Services (RHG) demonstrated that quality outshines quantity when they claimed a resounding victory at the George Hay Jubilee Quiz which was held at John O’ Gaunt Golf Club.

Despite fielding a team of only five players, the canny financial advisers were able to resist the challenges from nine other teams of local professionals scoring a recordbreaking 97 points. Previous multiple winners Woodfines LLP were nudged into second place with Huntingdon based surveyors Barker Storey Matthews coming a close third.

Accepting the Jubilee Shield, RHG’s managing director Paul Beasley commented: “We always look forward to this special event and have been lusting after the trophy for the last 10 years. We managed to be the bridesmaid on many occasions, so we are relieved to finally get our hands on this coveted trophy. Having now tasted victory I hope we don’t have to wait another 10 years before the RHG name is engraved on it once more.”

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NEWS

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS GEORGE HAY WELCOMES SME BUDGET MEASURES

Chartered accountants George Hay, which has offices in Biggleswade, Letchworth and Huntingdon, say while the Budget offered limited reward for small businesses, a reduction in Employer National Insurance Contributions should be welcomed.

In his Budget, George Osborne’s headline announcement was that £2,000 will be taken off employers’ National Insurance bills from April 2014, meaning that 450,000 SMEs will no longer be required to pay Employer National Insurance.

Philip Blackburn, tax partner at George Hay said: “While we weren’t expecting anything major from this Budget, the £2,000 reduction in Employer NICs is a surprising, and welcome, measure.

Not only will it take 450,000 SMEs out of employer NICs, it will give them the confidence to invest in their businesses.

Further measures such as the extension in the CGT holiday for Seed EIS investments should also encourage investment in SMEs, while families will welcome the raising of the income tax threshold to £10,000, putting extra cash in their wallets. As always people should carefully study the details to see what the measures mean for their business, family or enterprise.”

BOOST FOR ENFIELD BUSINESSES

Wenta are delighted to announce that they are now extending their support for SMEs to the Enfield area through their recent acquisition of premises on Innova Park, Enfield.

The building, formerly known as The Business Innovation Centre (BIC), has been purchased from the London Borough of Enfield and encompasses a total floor area of almost 40,000 sq ft with 27 businesses currently residing at the premises. Newly named, The Wenta Business Centre – Enfield will offer modern, vibrant and professional business amenities such as offices, workshops, meeting/conference rooms. The centre will also offer an extensive range of services such as virtual offices and call answering, to support other small businesses in the area that may not require a physical space. A dedicated team has been recruited to run the facility supported by the existing management structure of Wenta’s Property Services Team.

Wenta’s investment programme over the coming months includes overall facility improvement; meeting the demands of the site’s existing clients; together with refurbishment in order to provide an attractive environment for new businesses to be based at The Wenta Business Centre – Enfield.

Spencer Tagg, Property Services Director for Wenta said: “We are very excited about the acquisition of our fifth centre. Wenta already provides an environment for over 350 businesses based within our existing four centres and we’re looking forward to bringing our business centre management and expertise to Enfield. Over the coming months and years we’ll be developing the facility to attract more small businesses to the centre.”

For further information on The Wenta Business Centre – Enfield, please call 020 3544 5150 or visit www.wentabusinesscentres.co.uk

OFFICIAL OPENING OF THOMSON ECOLOGY’S NEW BIODIVERSITY HUB FOR THE EAST OF ENGLAND

Thomson Ecology’s new biodiversity hub for the east of England based in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshir, has been officially opened

by Oliver Heald QC, MP for North East Hertfordshire Thomson Ecology is the UK’s largest specialist ecology consultancy. The new offices, based in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, contain new state of the art aquatic analytical laboratories, equipment store and offices. Thirty marine experts are based at the site, working on marine biological and ecological projects for government agencies and private sector clients, for example in renewable energy. The team also runs the National Marine Biological Analytical Quality Control scheme. The Letchworth facility houses over 88,000 marine reference specimens, providing a powerful demonstration of the breadth of work carried out there.

PROMOTING SAFETY TO HARLOW SCHOOL PUPILS

Around 1,000 local children took part in Harlow’s annual Crucial Crew event, which teaches safety skills to year six school pupils.

The event, co-ordinated by Harlow Council and sponsored by Kier Harlow and Harlow Education Consortium, was held at the Latton Bush Centre and attended by 950 children. Crucial Crew has been running for over ten years and is designed to highlight the potential dangers children can face in everyday life. The interactive scheme saw primary school pupils take part in a number of scenarios which required them to make decisions relating to fire safety, road safety and personal safety when out and about.

Kier Harlow operations director, John Phillips, said: “We are proud to sponsor and take part in such an important event focused on teaching youngsters how to avoid potentially dangerous situations. Kier is committed to providing local children with essential information to help keep them safe.”

JJ BURGESS BUYS NEW BRITISHBUILT FUNERAL FLEET Hertfordshire based independent funeral directors JJ Burgess has taken delivery of a new British built luxury vehicle fleet comprising two limousines and a hearse. The all aluminium Jaguar based vehicles were manufactured by Wilcox Limousines and are finished in the traditional black and burgundy livery of JJ Burgess.

Justin Burgess said: “This new generation fleet of Jaguars offers what we believe to be the very best quality funeral vehicle, allowing bereaved families to give their loved ones the best possible send-off.

“We have been serving families in Hertfordshire since 1839. Our new fleet will allow us to continue our tradition of providing a first-class service”.

For more information visit www.jjburgess.co.uk

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STEVENAGE COMPANY BURIES TIME CAPSULE TO MARK 50 YEARS On Monday, the son of a Lord Mayor of London, who opened a Stevenage building 50 years ago, followed in his father’s footsteps by revisiting the building and adding to a time capsule, first buried in 1963.

The building was purpose-built as the headquarters for the Furniture Industry Research Association, widely known as FIRA, the leading research body for the furniture industry.

An old photo revealed that a time capsule was buried at the time of the opening, showing Lord Mayor of London, Sir Ralph Perring, adding to the capsule. His son, Sir John Perring, who attended the 1963 opening ceremony, visited to mark the 50th anniversary.

In preparation for the anniversary, staff decided to uncover the time capsule’s location, which had been concreted over. Unfortunately, they found that the original time capsule had been damaged by water and so many of the items were not salvageable. FIRA has replaced these and added additional items relating to the Association as it stands today.

Phil Reynolds, chief operating officer for FIRA International Ltd, said: “I am really thrilled that Sir John Perring, along with Michael Powell, the current Association chairman, have been able to visit us and help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the FIRA headquarters. Stevenage has changed a lot in the last 50 years, however FIRA has remained a constant, providing unparalleled support to the furniture industry and employment to the surrounding area.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

NEW SURVEY INTO HERTFORDSHIRE BUSINESSES

Rayner Essex accountants in conjunction with Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce has published a Hertfordshire Economic Survey. The report was launched at a well-attended event at the Fielder Centre on the Hatfield Business Park. The report covers topics as wide ranging as the UK economy, the UK’s membership of the EU, the business position of Hertfordshire businesses and Hertfordshire as a base for business.

The report can be found at www.rayneressex.com/publications/march-2013-survey-results-business-environmenthertfordshire .

HERTFORDSHIRE JEWELLER SHORTLISTED FOR UK JEWELLERY AWARD

Hertfordshire jeweller Harriet Kelsall Bespoke Jewellery is one of only eight jewellers from across the UK and the only jeweller in Hertfordshire to be in the running for Boutique Retailer of the Year in the UK Jewellery Awards.

Having won a UK Jewellery Award in 2011 in the Business Initiative of the Year category as well as Harriet herself being awarded Woman of the Year in the Specsavers Everywoman in Retail awards. In recent years the company has scooped a multitude of other business and jewellery awards.

Harriet Kelsall Bespoke Jewellery, based in Halls Green near Weston, will find out whether they will be awarded this prestigious accolade at a glittering ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum on 4th July 2013.

NEW HIGH SHERIFF FOR HERTFORDSHIRE

The Viscountess Trenchard has been declared the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire.

Speaking after the Declaration Lady Trenchard said: “I am very excited and deeply honoured to have been appointed High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. This is an ancient office that dates back to Saxon times. I am delighted to have this opportunity to bring together people who are working with a myriad of organisations to do good in the county’s communities. I look forward to working with the statutory services and voluntary organisations” She added: “I hope to support families during my year as High Sheriff. The modern family faces many challenges. If we can support families which need help, when they need it, by early intervention, it may also reduce crime later on.

Parenting older children and teenagers is as challenging as ever and in 2013 we face the speed of the internet and all modern communications which have revolutionised our world and brought good and bad information to our fingertips. People are living to a great age and this is something that the family in the 21st century has to prepare for.”

A LOOK AT WHAT SOME OF THE HBI FOLLOWERS ARE SAYING ON TWITTER...

GET YOUR BUSINESS OFF TO A BUZZING START FOR 2013

TWEETS StevenBurda Linkedin @BurdaLinkedin Have you read this book? “A Friend in Every City - One Global Family - A Networking Vision for the Twenty First Century “ ? Great read - …

Deborah Temple @dst_design Polite request - please like my Facebook page as I would love to reach 100 followers.. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dstdesign/288205341201576 Giles Fry @GilesFry Our first positive seal of approval for the new Snug Menu. @thesnugbar @thesnughertford #hertford.

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NEWS

Since its debut in February 2012, the Business Buzz series of networking events has been attended by 864 unique businesses across Hertfordshire. On 17th April, Business Buzz Letchworth was launched at The Goldsmith Centre, welcoming the local business “Business Buzz Letchworth, proudly sponsored by the Goldsmith Centre, is centrally located in Letchworth Garden City, making it accessible for local business owners to walk down, drop in and connect. These businesses are often facing the same challenges, so this gives them a great platform to learn from each other and recommend new connections and business opportunities that will help one another succeed.”

Business Buzz is an informal and relaxed networking event, with no advanced bookings and just £5 on the door, which includes unlimited teas and coffees from 10am – 12pm. It will be held on the third Wednesday of every month at The Goldsmith Centre.

BUZZ Host, Fiona Cookland is the Senior Business Advisor at Goldsmith Centre and the new host of Business Buzz Letchworth. She says: “New people are encouraged to come along to the next one on the 15th May and if they are new to networking or would like to be connected to particular businesses, then that’s where I come in. As an active networker my portfolio of contacts is vast which will enable me to introduce and match individuals, dependent on their specific requirements to benefit both parties.”

LASTING POWER OF ATTORNEY WHY YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS NEED ONE A lasting power of attorney (LPA) is a legal document whereby a donor (e.g. yourself) entrusts a personally selected attorney or attorneys to deal with certain personal matters once they themselves lack the capacity to do so.

According to Rob Martins at Cheesmans Accountants an LPA is essential if you want peace of mind - particularly if you own a business.

It enables your attorneys to make decisions about your business should you be unfit to do so yourself.

If you become incapacitated without an LPA in place, an application will have to be made on your behalf to the Court of Protection for someone to be appointed your deputy. This process can take months and is costly. A number of things could go wrong in your business during this time – and no one will have the power to step in and sort things out.

An LPA can quickly appoint a person of your choice to deal with your business affairs on your behalf. This can protect you from such things as banks recalling loans and mortgages or foreclosing on property should payments be missed during the time an application to the Court of Protection is made.

In the LPA application you can give guidance to your attorneys so they will know exactly how you wish your business affairs to be treated. It is a document that can protect you, your business, employees and your family - and therefore it should not be ignored.

THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF LPAS WHICH ARE: • •

Health and Welfare (allowing decisions on treatment, care, medication, where you live etc); and Property and Financial Affairs (allowing an attorney to make decisions about paying bills, dealing with the bank, collecting benefits, selling your house, etc.)

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From a legal perspective, LPAs only cover people in England and Wales and therefore

may not be enforceable in any other country (including Scotland and Northern Ireland).

Many people are of the opinion that they do not need to complete an LPA if they are young, or of sound mind, etc. however one cannot be certain of every eventuality and so, should the unexpected happen and you are incapacitated for any length of time, someone will need to be able to pay your bills and even make decisions in relation to your healthcare. Therefore, regardless of your age or your current state of health it is worth completing and registering an LPA in preparation for any eventuality.

You can find the relevant forms at www.justice.gov.uk . Once you have completed them they need to be submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian. Once submitted, they can be superseded at any time, prior to death, by registering new forms with the Office. An LPA can also be revoked by way of a Deed of Revocation which, once executed should also be sent to the Office of the Public Guardian for registration.

For each LPA at least two forms are required to be completed. For example Cheesmans has helped many clients prepare the necessary forms and provide detailed instructions for signature by the donor, attorney(s) and the certificate provider, where applicable, who confirms that the donor has the mental capacity to register an LPA. Following the signing of all appropriate forms we submit the documents to the Office of the Public Guardian on the donor’s behalf and project manage the registration process in order to make the procedure as simple and hassle free as possible.

Rob Martins is company secretary senior at Cheesmans Accountants.

He deals specifically with wills, probate and lasting power of attorney (LPA), plus all legal and compliance requirements of limited liability partnerships (LLP).

TAYLOR WALTON CELEBRATES 25 YEARS IN ST ALBANS BY OPENING A NEW OFFICE This year Taylor Walton solicitors celebrate 25 years of business in St Albans. During those years we have helped many thousands of clients to move home, resolve family issues, protect family wealth or deal with the numerous problems that businesses experience. We would therefore like to say a sincere thank you to all our clients for placing your trust in us and helping us to grow our business.

After many years of being based in Bricket Road, we are delighted to announce the opening of our new office at 107 Holywell Hill, opposite the new Westminster Lodge sports centre. From May all our St Albans lawyers will be based at this new address. It is a great location to serve both personal and business clients with plenty of car parking.

Our new office represents another major landmark in the history of Taylor Walton. We are investing in our St Albans practice as we believe the city has a vibrant and growing local economy.

Although we use the latest technologies to constantly improve the delivery of our legal services, we still believe that what matters most is the trusted relationship between our lawyers and our clients. In fact Taylor Walton has consistently been recognised by

the independent legal directories as a leading firm for Beds, Bucks, Herts and Middlesex and particularly for the quality of its advice and client service.

This summer on Saturday 27 July some of our staff will be attempting the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for Keech Hospice Care and Grove House hospice. The challenge involves climbing the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough (all about 2,400 feet and a total distance of 25 miles) in under 1 2 hours. If you would like to support us we have created a fundraising web page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TaylorWalton where all donations will be gratefully received. You can also follow progress on our web site.

We look forward to welcoming new and existing clients to our new Holywell Hill office. If you have a legal issue you would like to discuss then we will be delighted to help you.

Herts Business Independent 1/2 Page Advert

We Are Moving...

...to brand new offices on Holywell Hill, St Albans 107 Holywell Hill, St Albans Herts. AL1 1HQ Call 01727 845245 or visit www.taylorwalton.co.uk Offices at: Luton, Harpenden & St Albans

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Helping to move you and your business from where you are now, to where you want to be.

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Helping you prosper www.uhy-wkh.com Registered to carry on audit work and regulated for a range of investment business activities by the institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. Details about our audit registration can be viewed at www.auditregister.org.uk under reference number C009128098.

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DON’T RISK LEAVING YOURSELF WITH INADEQUATE COVER

CALL THE EXPERTS In times of crisis it’s always good to have an expert on your side.

And whilst the world’s economic woes continue apace the insurance industry is no more immune than any other sector. Rumours abound about household name insurance companies being sold off by struggling parent companies and it is common knowledge that most pay out more in claims and expenses than they collect in premiums. In a desperate bid to attract new customers they are cutting premiums to make their products more attractive; yet cheapest is not always best.

Low premiums are often counterbalanced by very high excesses meaning that in the event of a claim the insured has to pay out several hundred pounds.

Or policies may have been pared down so much that in the event of a claim the customer discovers much of what they assumed was covered isn’t. Of course all this will be mentioned in the small print but not everyone is as thorough as checking the minutiae as they ought to be – especially if they think they’re on to a good deal.

And this is why it is absolutely essential - now more than ever - that consumers receive honest, practical, impartial advice to not only ensure a competitive price but to check that the policy actually suits their requirements. As Ashbourne’s Hoddesdon Retail Manager, Emma Sibthorpe explains: “It really is important to receive expert advice when purchasing insurance. Our staff receive regular, on-going training, have excellent product knowledge and most importantly are completely independent. You simply cannot get that expertise from a faceless call centre or over the internet.

By calling just one number at Ashbourne you can speak to a real person who can help you with all your business and personal insurance requirements. That same person will be there to help you with any subsequent queries and your renewal the following year...and the year after hat and the year after that. One simple phone call and we will do all the hard work for you.

Please don’t leave your insurance to chance. Pass it on to the experts; we’re waiting for your call!

ADD ON INSURANCE Are you aware of the comprehensive range of business and personal insurance products that are available to you? In addition to all the regular policies vailable we also offer a number of “add on” options to ensure that every eventuality either at home or work is covered.

Among our most popular add ons is Key Protect which for a small annual fee overs all the keys on your fob if they are lost, stolen or broken. Among the many benefits offered are new locks and keys (up to the value of £1,500), the arrangement of alternative transport if car keys are lost and the return of your keys if they are

found. There are no excesses to pay and no limits to the number times you can claim.

Other add ons we offer include: Break down cover – we have various options available from basic roadside assistance to full UK and Europe cover.

GAP products – this is ideal to add on to your car insurance as it covers the shortfall between the market value of your vehicle when it is stolen or written off and the original (higher) price you paid.

Emergency home insurance – covers emergency call out fees and repair costs including plumbing, electricity, heating and more.

Theft protect – in the event that your vehicle is stolen, this add on provides a replacement vehicle for up to 28 days.

To find out more about these and other products we offer, please call one of the Ashbourne team on Hoddesdon 01992-471001 or Cheshunt 01992 622365.

Or even better pop in for a chat!

Ashbourne Insurance is an independent, family-run high street broker which has been serving the residents and businesses of Hertfordshire and Essex for over 30 years. We offer everything from personal insurance through to complex commercial insurance and also provide a 24 hour claims advisory service. We provide a personal, professional service to all our customers and as an independent broker we are free to search all the leading insurers to get cover tailored to each customer’s specific requirements at a price to suit their budget. * At the heart of Ashbourne’s successful history is a strength that comes from professional knowledge and experience accumulated and handed down through generations and an absolute commitment to the values that define the best family-led firms: trust, reliability and dedication to nderstanding customers and to outstanding personal service.

As an independent broker, Ashbourne is free to search all the leading insurers to get cover tailored to each customer’s specific requirements at price to suit their budget. We pride ourselves on offering a personal, tailored service to all our customers with locally based office staff always available on the phone or to meet in person. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Ashbourne is a multi-award winning Hertfordshire Business having taken titles in 2012 at: The FSB Herts Business Awards, The Red Ribbon Family Awards, The Inspiring Hertfordshire Business Awards and The British Chambers of Commerce Awards. www.ashbourneinsurance.co.uk

www.businessindependent.co.uk

MONEY

Left to Right: Commercial Team; Marianne Sapsford, Giuseppina Johnson, Matthew Hunt (Commercial Sales Director), Dawn Spencer & Joe Ferraro

EMPLOYERS NEED TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX WHEN CONSIDERING WHICH ROLES APPRENTICES MIGHT FILL CIPD welcomes the range of measures introduced by government in response to the Richard Review of Apprenticeships The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) welcomes the move towards greater employer involvement in the apprenticeship system and is urging employers to think beyond blue collar jobs when designing their own apprenticeships.

Employers’ concerns about the extent to which apprenticeships are sufficiently tailored to their needs were found to be one of the biggest obstacles for taking on apprentices, according to research conducted as part of the CIPD’s Learning to Work programme*.

Commenting on today’s announcements, Katerina Rudiger, skills adviser at the CIPD, said: “Employers have been telling us that they wish to have greater involvement in defining apprenticeships, to ensure that they are successfully developing employees who are best equipped for the future of their organisation. The government’s announcements address these concerns as they put a clear emphasis on employers and professional bodies owning the process of defining what a good apprenticeship looks like.

“Employers have an opportunity to take advantage of these proposals and think ‘outside the box’ about where apprentices might fit within their business. Traditionally apprenticeships have been common in professions such as engineering and construction but Higher Apprenticeships now provide routes into areas such as marketing,

business administration and HR, which would normally require a university degree or academic qualification. Employers should seek to engage with apprenticeships across a wide-range of business functions; this will not only increase the number of high quality opportunities for young people, but will also help employers to grow their own workforce and recruit from a more diverse talent pool.

“Increasing the types of apprenticeship opportunities available will also help to improve the perception of apprenticeships amongst parents, teachers and others who influence young people’s education and career choices. Recent CIPD survey data showed that almost half of working parents believe that apprenticeships are more appropriate for manual or blue collar jobs**, a perception that we are keen to challenge. It’s not enough to convince employers that apprenticeships are a good idea, we also need to get the message out to potential candidates and their parents that apprenticeships are a good route into skilled jobs.”

Skills CFA and the CIPD have developed a new Higher Apprenticeship in HR Management to provide an alternative route into the HR profession. For more information, visit www.hrapprenticeship.org * CIPD Learning to Work Survey Report ** CIPD Employee Outlook: Focus on Apprenticeships

FEATURE : OLYMPICS DEBATE

TO BECOME “THE NEW NORM” SCHOOLS NEED TO OFFER BETTER ADVICE ON APPRENTICESHIPS Last month, unionlearn held a conference to mark the start of National Apprenticeship Week. The keynote speaker was Lord Adonis, principal advisor to the Labour Party’s policy review on industrial strategy and newly-appointed chair of think tank IPPR. The theme of the conference was ensuring that apprentices feel appreciated in every aspect of their work and training, and that the value of apprenticeships is understood by those who should be advocating them.

David Cameron has said he would like apprenticeships to become the “new norm”. But we have actually seen a decline in the number of 16 – 18 year olds who took up an apprenticeship this year. Unionlearn looks forward to working with the government to ensure we halt this decline and make an apprenticeship a viable option for all young people.

The message coming out of this conference loud and clear was that there will have to be significant changes to the way careers advice is offered in schools to ensure that schools, teachers and students see apprenticeships as a valuable option.

In his speech, Lord Adonis said: “There is not a single more important

challenge than the transformation of apprenticeships. There should – at the age of 18 or 19 – be as many good quality apprenticeship places on offer as there are university places.”

On the issue of careers advice and guidance he said: “I think we need stronger information, advice and guidance (IAG) from a reformed Connexions or career service. Schools are more than capable of bringing in themselves independent advice from people who better understand the apprenticeship route. In places where existing IAG is weak, schools should be taking the lead.”

To highlight the extent of the problem, unionlearn had a panel discussion with four enthusiastic apprentices. All love their apprenticeships, but none were told about them at school.

Clare Cordon – an engineering apprentice at Rolls Royce – said: “My school was very: “university and that’s it.” They were completely focused on that.”

Goldsmith Centre hosts Business Buzz Network 10:00am to 12 noon Third Wednesday each month Letchworth Garden City You don’t need to pre-book for the event or make a financial commitment upfront. Just come along as and when you can make it.

Business Buzz works with the business community in Hertfordshire, providing a platform to connect with other business people, widen your network, and attract more opportunities for your business.

Join the Buzz – we look forward to meeting you Goldsmith Centre – part of the North Hertfordshire College group Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire SG6 3GB

01462 650250

www.gc4b.com

EDUCATION & TRAINING MONEY

More details about Business Buzz can be found on the website: www.business-buzz.org

WHY YOUR STORY MATTERS GRANT LEBOFF When you walk into a meeting with a potential customer, what is the conversation you have?

Does it, at some point, lead to you revealing the features and benefits of your offering? If so, in what context are these presented?

At best, in most sales situations, benefits are delivered as solutions to a customer’s challenges. If this is the case with you, be honest and ask yourself this question: “Assuming that your competitor is also well versed in consultative selling, when they produce their solutions to the customer’s challenges, will your presentation sound significantly different?”

In other words, does your offering contrast so much with others in the market that it will stand out a mile? Of course, it is possible, but if you are honest - then probably not.

The web and digital technology has meant the capital investment now needed to start a business is often miniscule. Moreover, the web has meant that everybody now has an array of channels in which to communicate their message. The consequence of all this is that most buyers feel they have a lot of choice, and in the main, find it very difficult to tell the difference between companies, when looking to make a purchase.

In a world where everything looks the same, buyers will start to make price the most important criteria. It is the one differential that they will understand. It makes sense and provides them with a tangible benefit, that is, more money in their pocket.

However, we do know that when buyers don’t perceive the purchase choice to be the same, price just becomes one of many purchasing criteria and matters a lot less. For example go to any car park and take a look. No matter where you are, it will not be full of only the cheapest model car available.

SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

MARKETING

In an environment where most products and services have become commoditised, customers no longer buy purely on features and benefits, which often look the same. In a digital world, with an abundance of choice and where personalisation of delivery is possible, people look to purchase from companies that they feel reflect the values and beliefs they possess.

If this is a business purchase, it may be that customers share the same commercial narrative and beliefs about the market and how business should be undertaken. In consumer sales, it may be beliefs around who you are, what you stand for and how you want to be perceived or perceive yourself.

Of course, there are a number of ways businesses communicate these values. Logos, images and associations with appropriate ambassadors, whether they are business experts or famous sports stars, all provide an indication of what a business is about.

However, in order for a company to be able to communicate these values in a coherent and powerful way, they need to be understood and be able to get their story across. This ‘narrative’ will be the beliefs the company have, which explains why they deliver their products and services in a particular way.

So, for example, a website selling recruitment advertising online could talk statistics about the number of unique visitors they get, the demographics of those visitors and time spent on the page etc. While all these matter, they may not be significantly different from another provider.

However, these statistics become much more powerful within a ‘narrative’. It provides a context for the statistics and explains why the company works in the way it does. So, in a meeting, a salesperson may say, “At Smith & Co. we believe the talent war has now gone online. In order to attract the best people, companies now have to look in the right places on the web”. If a customer also believes that to be true, there is then a meeting of minds. The service and statistics will not change, but they will resonate with a customer in a much more powerful way.

Stories sell. We share stories and emotions with each other. They may contain facts and figures, but only within a context. It is the story that your company tells which allows it to establish shared values with your customers. In turn, this provides your customer with reassurance and confidence in your ability to deliver. It makes it more likely that you will be their supplier of choice. It also increases the chances of them talking about you, in a positive way, to others. This will not necessarily be because your offering, service or credentials are any better than your competitors.

In fact, it might just be because you told a better story.

Grant Leboff is the CEO of www.stickymarketing.com. He is the author of two business books, Sales Therapy and Sticky Marketing.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE PETER HOPE When did you first get involved with Austin’s Funerals?

Claire Austin and I first met when we were fingerprint officers at New Scotland Yard. Claire left the Metropolitan Police and took employment within Austin’s, her family business. We were married in 1999 and in 2001 an opportunity arose for me to take employment with Austin’s as manager and registrar of their Crematorium, Harwood Park. The Crematorium was the brainchild of Claire’s father John and was constructed in 1997. My role in managing the team at Harwood Park is no different to managing teams at New Scotland Yard, although I did consider it important to apprise myself of the law relating to cremation and burial. This prompted me to enrol with the Stratford Business School through the Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration, where I studied the Law of Burial, Cremation and Exhumation.

What’s your role within the company?

I now sit on the board of directors with responsibility across the Austin’s group of companies and have a special interest in Harwood Park Crematorium as manager and registrar.

What attracted you to the company?

W. Austin and Sons Ltd was originally established in 1700 in Graveley, a small village between Stevenage and Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The firm then traded as Builders and Undertakers. It was traditional and common place for builders to act as undertakers as they possessed all the necessary skills and manpower to ‘undertake’ a funeral: carpenters for constructing coffins, labourers to excavate graves and a horse and cart to convey the deceased. In 1800 the company moved to premises in Letchmore Road, Old Stevenage. Here family members resided adjacent to the builder’s yard and funerals were arranged and carried out from there. The Austin family continued to be prolific builders in the area for the following 150 years or more.

Many of the residential streets in Old Stevenage were constructed by the family. In 1965, John Austin, my wife’s father, took control of the firm and in 1978 he decided to concentrate on the funeral side of the business and building operations ceased. The business flourished under John’s guidance and in 1997 he was eventually in a position to construct his brainchild, a crematorium for Stevenage and surrounding areas. He used his own family middle name John Harwood Austin and created the wonderful facility he named Harwood Park Crematorium.

What do you think sets Austin’s Funerals apart from other funeral providers?

Funeral Directors are in many respects no different from a variety of businesses within the service industry, but as we know the ones which survive and prosper are the ones able to deliver sustained levels of quality and commitment to their clients. Austin’s have not grown to be the foremost funeral provider across Hertfordshire by chance, they have demonstrated that they consistently reach or exceed the client’s expectations. This is achieved by good old fashioned family values applied within a family business and that’s what sets Austin’s apart from other funeral providers and has kept them in good stead since 1700. All of our staff members are known personally by the Austin family and this generates a feeling of collective responsibility to the client and the company. I like to think that our employees are, in the first instance, there for the bereaved families and that it is the personal relationship they build with the bereaved that helps the bereaved through a difficult time.

What do you consider to be the most important values in business?

Business, derived from being busy in the trade of goods or services to customers, can only be performed to everyone’s satisfaction if it is conducted openly, honestly and with integrity. To fail to conduct oneself in this manner will result in failing in business.

What drives you on?

I enjoy my work, there is great satisfaction and reward to be had working in this environment. Letters of appreciation and even gifts are often received from families who appreciate the care, respect and attention to detail exhibited by Austin’s and Harwood Park.

Meeting people’s needs at a time in their lives of sadness and despair is challenging but so very satisfying.

What advice would you give to a startup business?

Having taken up employment with Austin’s which was founded in 1700, startup business is not really something we have experience of. Nevertheless we do open new branches throughout Hertfordshire and we have been involved in the promotion of the crematorium.

One of our prime objectives is to demonstrate to the community as a whole that we offer a quality of service unsurpassed by any of our competitors. The reputation and standing of a service industry within a community is a difficult thing to achieve, but once achieved, it must be maintained rigorously by careful and sensitive management.

What’s your motto?

I don’t really have a motto or mantra but I was once told that ABC in the school of management stood for Assume nothing, Believe no one and Check everything! Sounds good but one would be awfully busy!!

15

EXECUTIVE PROFILE MONEY

Can you tell us a little more how Austin’s Funerals started?

Having been employed at New Scotland Yard as a fingerprint expert for 26 years I had experienced and been involved in many criminal cases right across the country and given evidence in the highest courts in the land, including the Old Bailey. The opportunity to embark on a whole new career within my wife’s family business was very enticing indeed. Even before I took employment with Austin’s, discussions at family gatherings would often centre on the family business and it seemed in some way a natural progression for me to become involved.

AN INTERVIEW WITH

YASMINA SIADATAN Highly ambitious businesswoman and marathon runner Yasmina Siadatan was born in Hull and spent time living in Iran and Los Angeles before settling in London. Yasmina first experienced the world of business in her dad’s restaurant. However, since then she has been running her own restaurant; applied for and won The Apprentice; worked for Lord Sugar; started a family; and is now working for Hamilton Bradshaw - seconded out to Start-Up Loans - headed by the inspiring James Caan.

THE APPRENTICE

The Apprentice is a British reaity television series in which candidates compete for the chance to go into business with British tycoon Lord Sugar.

Previous winners have included: Series 1: Tim Campbell Series 2: Michelle Dewberry Series 3: Simon Ambrose Series 4: Lee McQueen Series 5: Yasmina Siadatan Series 6: Stella English Series 7: Thomas Pellereau Series 8: Ricky Martin Series 9 is due to air late Spring 2013 and this year’s winner will be competing for the chance to pocket a £250,000 investment.

I was running my restaurant at the time and I was like everyone else. I watched The Apprentice and thought I could do better than that, so I applied. You don’t think you’re going to win at all; I just applied for a bit of fun!!

What did you get out of the experience?

Tons! My whole life has completely changed. I learnt a lot about myself, learnt fundamental business skills and learnt about the media industry. I guess I learnt a multitude of different life skills and met so many different people, which was fantastic!

What was it like working for Lord Sugar?

It was great. I worked with him for two years and he is very much as he appears on the television. He is an astute businessman and at the same time, he is reasonable and very intelligent. You can learn a lot from somebody like that.

I understand you are currently working for private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw headed by James Caan. What does your job involve?

I am head of a media team for a company called The Start-Up Loans Company, which is a government backed scheme that James Caan is chairing. We are tasked with funding and mentoring young entrepreneurs. As head of media and communications, I have to make The Start-Up Company synonymous with entrepreneurship. We have over £100 million available to help kick-start and support a new generation of entrepreneurs, aged 18-30, and we have helped start 3,000 businesses so far. We are looking to start another 20,000 over the next three years! Our aim is to help to inspire an entire generation and lead this country to a more enterprising and prosperous future.

How do you manage to balance your work/family life?

With a huge support network - my family, a nanny and being very organised. I just work and be with my family, that’s it. There is no longer a gym membership anymore; I go for long walks with the kids at the park instead. You just become very efficient with everything you do.

What advice would you give for the modern day working mother?

I think you just have to accept compromise and you have to learn to say no. Before I had children my work was more important than anything else. Work now has 2 little boys to compete with!

What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs wanting to start their own business?

You have to go for it. If you have a burning ambition to be an entrepreneur you should act on it straightaway, don’t wait, go for it!

What’s the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

It is actually a piece of advice I have been given recently since being a working mother. Get your head down and work very hard. If you work hard and you are good at what you do, it will come off in the end. I do not think you can get anywhere in this world without graft.

Who is your role model in business?

My mum. She is a very intelligent lady and has sound business sense. I always go to my mum for a reality and sanity check before I make any business decisions.

Any exciting plans for the rest of the year?

Yes! We have to start 10,000 businesses by Christmas! How we are going to achieve that is another conversation, but that’s the overall goal!

What’s your motto?

Always treat others as you expect to be treated. Having respect for others is vital.

HAMILTON BRADSHAW GROUP Founded by James Caan, Hamilton Bradshaw is an investment group specialising in service-based businesses.

Their focus is offering the vital expertise to drive growth which creates value for their stakeholders.

HBHC

HBHC is the specialist recruitment sector investment division of the Hamilton Bradshaw Group. Their investment management team has over 50 collective years of experience in the sector and over the past 7 years they have developed an investment portfolio of over 25 organisations making HBHC the UK’s leading specialist recruitment sector investor.

They focus on market sectors displaying resilience and strong core growth characteristics. This extends to both the private and public sectors where they have made investments in both temporary and permanent placement companies as well as in some of the most exciting businesses bringing new technology or new practices to the market.

Whether they are working with a mature business or an early stage venture it is the quality of management that is their principal driver. www.hamiltonbradshaw.com

START-UP LOANS UK

If you are aged between 18-30 and thinking about getting into business, Start-Up Loans UK is a government backed scheme to fund and mentor young entrepreneurs. With the help of the government and their chairman James Caan, they have over £100 million available to help support a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Benefits

Low cost unsecured loans Quality business mentoring Exclusive business products from their global partners

How it works

If you have a passion or an idea, or see there could potentially be a gap in the market that you can fill, then Start-Up Loans could have what it takes to start your own business. The first thing to do is to fill in an application form and then once you have applied, Start-Up Loans will identify an appropriate Delivery Partner who can work with you to turn your idea into a plan.

With the idea planned and mapped out, your business plan will then be considered for funding. When your plan gets the green light, you are on your way to building your business. With the money in your own account, it is then time to put your plan into action and make things happen.

Every business that gets funded by Start-Up Loans gets assigned to a mentor who is on hand to help you succeed.

Mentoring

Mentoring is as important, if not more important, than the loan itself when starting a business. That is why Start-Up Loans insists that every single entrepreneur who is offered a loan additionally gets a mentor with it.

Whether it is to brainstorm, seek advice from, run past an idea, or learn from someone who has been there and done it before, the assigned mentor will be available regularly to help launch the business.

As mentoring is a compulsory part of the Start-Up Loans programme, if entrepreneurs do not attend sessions with their assigned mentor, it is an indication of those who do not take their loan or business seriously. www.startuploans.co.uk/

17

INTERVIEW : YASMINA SIADATAN

Yasmina Siadatan, thanks for talking to us today. I’m sure many of our readers will remember you from winning the 2009 series of The Apprentice, what made you decide to apply?

CONNECT

THROUGH THINK FEEL KNOW

The Think Feel Know model draws on the most recent neuroscientific research and is a representation of the inner workings of our brain. It helps us to understand the relative influence of the different regions of our brain on our everyday behaviour and offers insights that are very relevant to business life. Much of this has only been revealed since the millennium with the data now available via functional MRI scanning technology which allows us to directly monitor brain activity.

Let’s take a quick look at this model. Simplistically, the ‘thinking’ layer of the brain is the cortex and is where we process logic, data, structure, method and rules. The ‘feeling’ layer, the limbic region, operates on totally different principles: here it is about energy, sensing, feeling, emotions, relationships and creativity.

The knowing layer, the basal region, is the world of instincts, intuition and ‘gut’ responses. Of course, we use all three in our everyday behaviour but over time we will exhibit a tendency to favour one or two of the ‘styles’ over the others in certain situations. It is our own unique blending of the functionality of these regions of the brain which determines the way we ‘show up’ in life and in business, the way we process and give meaning to our experiences and the impact that we have on others.

So what is the relevance for business? The answer is that it offers fundamental insights into how we harness and motivate people, behaviour and performance, behind a common cause. The principles are not limited to business: they are equally relevant to educational learning, developing relationships and sporting prowess. And it is in the business arena that we attempt to bring all of these factors together in reaching our strategic goals.

The book starts out by explaining the fundamental principles which underpin our own behaviour and performance and then looks to how we translate these insights into effective business practice.

level. Just as explained in some of the earlier scenarios, we accumulate through life our experiences and our reflections on how we feel about them. Over time we establish a pattern of how we feel about certain emotional stimuli, and we refer back to these patterns to enable a consistency of response.

These are the anchors that tell us what we feel is morally right and what is wrong. They are essentially subjective references that provide the rudder for our emotional journey. They sit in the Knowing brain and they directly influence and channel the energy of the Feeling brain. They are our conscience.

When the techniques of our trade are truly understood and their execution mastered to a high level of finely tuned certainty, all that remains is for us to believe in what we are doing. When we put this belief into practice we are experiencing who we want to be. Life is giving us the feedback to reinforce our belief in who we are, and the journey becomes self-fulfilling. And the deeper our conviction of who we really are the more sustainable the performance becomes. This is the ultimate; we are being who we really are. No energy is wasted; everything is committed to the cause. No emotional distress, no distraction, just a flowing performance that takes us to another plane. Watch athletes in the zone, watch classical musicians lost in their music, watch the people who truly believe.

VISION, VALUES AND BELIEFS

Far from being soft and fluffy stuff, my many years of business experience have taught me that successful relationships sit at the heart of all business success. Nobody can achieve sustainable success on their own. We all need people to support us and work with us, whether it is internal colleagues, clients or partners. Yet my experience has also taught me that leadership and management teams are generally not teams at all. They are groups of people whose job responsibilities mean that they have to meet in order to achieve some level of team co-ordination.

The team leader will, of course, do his best to maintain a semblance of teamwork and will try hard to keep team members all on the same track, but typically, as soon as the team meeting is over, each member will revert to his own agenda, and that will normally mean alliances with some colleagues and also competition and even conflict with others.

Rules of social engagement help to guide and moderate our behaviour, but they rarely help us with how we feel. This is why we so often have to keep a lid on our feelings while we behave in a manner apparently appropriate to the occasion. The content of the book demonstrates that ultimately our emotions are more powerful than our thoughts when it comes to influencing behaviour.

Thus, any rules of engagement laid down in the ‘Thinking’ brain will not help us emotionally. For this help we have to look to the real powerhouse – the ‘Knowing’ brain. The Knowing brain provides the anchors that guide us: it is not directly concerned with how we behave socially, but it directly influences how we feel.

The brain cannot define a new rule for feelings every time we come across a new situation. Because survival sits at the heart of our emotions, we need to react quickly in the event of threat. Emotions are the body’s mechanism for immediate behavioural response, for taking reflexive action. So, emotional rules cannot be made up as we go along. Equally, our pursuit of meaning in life will be extremely challenged if we do not have these emotional anchors to help us make cumulative sense of our journey. Emotions are the essence of our experience of life, and they have to build their own reference library to guide us.

These references include vision, values and beliefs.

A vision in this context is an internal visual reference point held in our memory that helps us to guide our direction of travel. It is the lighthouse in the fog. A meaningful vision gives us a channel for our energy. If we can connect with this vision it gives us a sense of purpose. If we can see the lighthouse and if we trust its purpose then we will allow it to guide us. Emotional energy without such a vision is unfocused and bounces unproductively without a meaningful course.

It is the power of a vision that gives an athlete the resilience to continue to commit a large part of her life to the outcome she wants from her sport. This applies over a long period, for example, training through the four-year cycle to ensure peak performance at the time of the Olympics. It also applies in the moment, when the athlete visualises the immediate outcome she has trained for in her sporting contest. In the same way, a person in business can sustain a high commitment level by connecting with his own personal vision, such as the next step in his career.

Our personal values are our point of reference for checking out how we feel about the things in life that really matter to us.

They help us to decide right from wrong. They are an emotional and intuitive guide, not directly concerned with behavioural response, although the result is often seen at the behavioural

BUILDING SUCCESSFUL TEAMS

The reality is that most team members are career competitors, and they cannot all get the boss’s job. So, while the corporate ideal may be one of leadership teams riding off together into the sunset, the everyday experience is a much more complex tapestry of personal agendas and career ambitions mixed with a constant tension between occasional collaborative intent and inevitable competition. I am not for a moment judging corporate business people negatively here. I am convinced that most of us share the craving for a genuine environment of shared trust where we can feel valued by our peers. My negative judgment is actually about the corporate environment we have created that makes such open and trusting behaviour a high-risk personal strategy. The business world is an example of the modern-day jungle where the human instinct for personal survival will never be far below the surface, and if that means survival at the expense of colleagues, then so be it.

It amazes me how so much management theory ignores this basic observation. It is as though all we need is someone to sound the rallying call and we will all start turning up ready and willing to die for the team. This could not be further from the truth. More likely the assembled troops will arrive expecting the worst and with their antennae highly tuned to spot any threat.

We need only revert to the neurological principles we covered earlier. The brain is geared first and foremost to be wary of threat, and corporate change is normally seen as threatening. Of course, experienced corporate business people – and I confess myself to have been included in this category – have become very skilled in the appearance of teamwork, so to the untrained eye it may seem like we are committed. Yet, in most cases, the best you can hope for is compliance.

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP

Unfortunately, we appear to have created corporate organisations where distrust is far too frequently the norm. It may not always be expressed as such; it is more of a default setting: resistance remains underground and is encapsulated not in open conflict but in the safer territory of inertia and apathy. Instead of aligning with the overall organisational culture, which they do not feel a part of, people will align behind the sub-culture that forms the more relevant and enjoyable part of their daily experience, such as their functional team or the people in the office they like to be with. Expecting others to change but not being prepared to change ourselves is the most common source of failure, and any programme that does not address this fundamental requirement from the top is doomed to fail.

People respond to the everyday environment of which they are a part, the constant signals and evidence they pick up from those around them. So, if we want a change of behaviour, the working environment has to change. Every opportunity has to be taken to reinforce examples of positive behaviour and to gradually tempt people out of their naturally defensive ways. They need to feel safe and supported. They need leaders who help them to feel that the business will take them on a journey that is meaningful, relevant and exciting and that will give them the chance to thrive and grow as human beings.

Changing the corporate culture means changing the way people feel about their organisation. The emerging neuroscience reflected in the Think Feel Know model offers us a new and radical opportunity to move human connection and collective performance to a whole new level.

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FILM MADE FOR £10 IS A WINNER AT THE FIRST ST ALBANS FILM FESTIVAL The best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.

STANLEY KUBRICK A film made for just £10 has won the Special Mention Award in the Main Short Film category at the first St Albans Film Festival.

GRACIOUS AWAKENINGS, directed by Ben Jacobs, and starring actor, writer and director James Callas Ball, shows a man waking up naked in the English countryside, with no idea where he is or how he got there.

The two filmmakers made the film with just £10 and were delighted when it got a Special Mention Award at the Festival, especially since more than 400 films from 30 countries were entered into the short film competition. We caught up the budding pair to find out more!

Can you tell use bit more about yourselves?

Ben: “I’m a professional freelance photographer and have been running my own business ‘Benji Photography’ for the last two years.

I have a keen eye for detail and work primarily as a commercial photographer shooting for many local businesses as well as international clients.”

James: “I am a St Albans based actor and have been in the city for the majority of my life. I went to Beaumont School, completed a drama degree at the University of East Anglia and actor training at RADA, London.”

What are you both currently doing?

James: “I am currently working as a drama teacher at Theatrix, a St Albans based performing arts school. I am also directing, producing and writing my own theatre production for the Edinburgh Fringe alongside our filmmaking.”

Ben: “My most recent video work is for a creative advertising agency called Saddington Baynes, I was commissioned to create a series of case study videos for various projects of theirs. I’m also photographing for a website reshooting all of their product photography as well as various other clients including weddings and portraiture.”

What inspired you to enter St Albans Film Festival?

James: “We were attracted by the St Albans Film Festival because of its locality and also having been enthused after speaking to Leoni Kibbey, the Festival Director. Also, the festival’s submission deadline gave us a realistic goal for us to finish the film.”

Ben: “The Film Festival was a last minute decision, but it really gave us an end goal for our film. We originally created it for a laugh and to see how we could collaborate! The film wouldn’t have been entered if it wasn’t for Nik Stojkov and Tim Kramer working around the clock to complete the audio.”

Ben: “I’ve learnt a lot about leadership and the importance of keeping everyone informed and on track, working closely with mates on a very tight schedule puts a lot of pressure on friendships and it’s very important that everyone maintains their professionalism and understands their role. One of the biggest things I’ve learnt from this experience is to keep working hard and that personal projects such as this short film are just as important as clients, pursuing your passions can lead to unexpected success!”

What are your plans for the future?

James: “Our immediate plans are to continue making short films together and develop our partnership. We still have a great deal to learn, so making more films should make us better. I’ve written some more scripts and Ben has ideas of his own so we’ll have fun whatever happens. Hopefully in the future people will want to invest in our work.”

Do you have any advice for any aspiring film producers?

Ben: “Our advice to aspiring film producers or filmmakers would be to just do it! Our original aim was to simply have some fun as mates and combine our skill areas; I’m a photographer and James is a writer/actor. We didn’t think that the result would be an award at an international film festival, but we wouldn’t have discovered that without giving it a go in the first place. Technology is so accessible nowadays that anyone can make a film, we only spent £10 on ours.”

How did you go about producing the film?

James: “I was inspired to write the script while walking my dog in the countryside outside St Albans. I sent my ideas to Ben and we agreed we’d try our best to make it. The first thing we did was wander round our favourite dog walking spots to match locations to the scenes in the script. We then galvanised a crew of like-minded and talented friends, asked for permission from a pub owner in St Albans to film on her grounds, then rallied some mates with beer to act as extras.

After that it was just a case of figuring out a schedule and getting it done!”

Ben: “Producing the film took a lot of organisation and favours.

Fortunately I’m surrounded by talented and creative friends in the industry, together we form ‘Flying Moustache’. The company is currently unreleased but we have big plans for the future.”

Synopsis - Dawn breaks over the English countryside. A young man awakes from his stupor. He is unsure of his exact location and how he got there. Why does he have jam on his chest? Where are his clothes? Our hero embarks on a journey to retrace his steps hoping to answer some of his questions and rekindle his memory. What has he forgotten? What will he discover? If anything at all…

Ben: “Gracious Awakenings is a short and very British comedy that documents a young man’s journey to find out what happened the night before. I think its success is down to having one line of dialogue, the film can be understood in any language and all ages can relate. It’s simple storytelling at its best - we let the viewer make up their own answers and opinions.”

Would you have done anything differently when creating your film?

James: “In hindsight, there are a few things we could have done better while making the film. Our continuity between shots could have been improved and we could have saved time with more detailed storyboarding of the scenes. However, we were proud of the outcome considering our inexperience.”

Ben: “Being in the creative industry I think being self critical is very important, there are many things I notice that bug me but I think it’s key to make mistakes in order to gain experience. I am now aware of problems that can arise and will be equipped to deal with them for the next film. In hindsight, shooting a whole short film in one day was very ambitious and I’m very pleased with our outcome!”

What’s the biggest thing you learnt from the experience?

James: “Ultimately the biggest thing we learnt is that we have the ability to make films people enjoy. We’ve had a huge boost of confidence in our work and are more encouraged to make more.”

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FEATURE : ST ALBANS FILM FESTIVAL

What was the film about?

WHEN LESS IS MORE

PUT YOUR BUSINESS STRATEGY ON A PAGE The good news is that the mid-sized sector in the UK showed growth last year. The ongoing recovery of the UK’s economy will depend on the 4.8 million SMEs in this country. The bad news is that 1 in 3 businesses fail. Why? Deri Llewellyn-Davies believes it’s because most companies aren’t clear on their strategy and don’t have a proven method for recording their action or holding themselves accountable. All business owners are ‘doing’ strategy, it’s a question of whether it is good or bad strategy.

Would you know the difference? Strategy is defined as a plan for obtaining a major specific result.

Good strategy is a five-pronged approach that regularly examines the five areas of sales, marketing, finance, operations and people, in an integrated way, and over time. This is where business magic happens.

BGI Strategy on a Page™ came from Deri’s extensive business experience (he also holds an MBA), through being non-executive and executive director on 18 different boards and advising over 125 companies, The methodology hasn’t come lightly – it’s taken him 17 years to get strategy on one single page. Today Deri works exclusively with SMEs helping them grow and has written the book as a ‘how to’ so that more businesses can adopt this simple powerful tool.

One such company is Hatched based in Hitchin. Established in 2006

by Adam Day, James Venning, and James Saunders, Hatched is one of the fastest growing online estate agencies saving its customers millions of pounds each year. So why did director Adam Day decide they needed help with their strategy?

“We were growing but really had no idea whether we were on the right path. We had no mechanism in place for confirming that we were making the right decisions. We’re fairly unusual having three directors, most companies starting up will have one, possibly two.

The three of us meet up monthly with Deri for our strategy session.

Since starting to get our strategy on a page for the first time we’ve got really clear about our individual roles and responsibilities. It hadn’t occurred to us how important defining our company values was and as our team grows (we now have 14 staff) how the visibility and communication of these impacts on how the team works.

Since looking at our recruitment strategy (people are one of the five key areas of strategy) we’ve started using psychometric profiling to make sure we get the right people working in the right roles so that we build effective teams. It’s a refreshing approach and it works; my previous experience of working with business mentors is that they focus almost exclusively on cost-cutting and marketing. This is different, ‘Strategy On A Page’ keeps us on the right path, doing the things that contribute to our success; it keeps us focused. We currently have five regional offices and we’re set to open a further seven in the coming year. It’s an exciting time and we’ve defined the strategy to make that a reality.”

Deri Llewellyn-Davies is passionate about strategy so much so that he is becoming known as ‘The Strategy Man’, he says: “We have to understand the old model is broken and it’s been broken for quite a while. Just look back at the rise of the corporation, the rise of technology. The world has speeded up so fast, most people don’t even know if they’re coming or going any more and that’s the opportunity as well. But the old model is broken. Sitting down and doing a 100 page business plan and mapping out for the next five years doesn’t work any more because you’re not going to know what the world’s doing in five years time because it’s changing so fast. So strategy in a new world needs a new model that is dynamic, flexible and adaptable to change with the changing world around us.

“The issues business owners face always fall into one of the areas of sales, marketing, finance, operations or people. Once we’ve got clear on vision, values and purpose – so that we’re building the right business for the right reasons, then we look at each of those areas on a monthly basis and define the activity that is required over the coming month. Where many businesses go wrong is that they may have looked at one or two areas and decided those activities haven’t worked so they stop. What they needed to do was carry out integrated activity across all the areas.

“I can only work with a finite number of businesses and the book is my way of extending BGI Strategy On A Page™ to

a wider audience. It is not a one-time read. It will be your compass and constant companion as your business evolves. I’ve deliberately kept it jargon-free and as engaging as possible. It’s filled with inspiring quotes, images and exercises. It asks incisive questions to help you get to the heart of what your business is about and where you are headed. It ensures that you align with your values (a common source of problems in finding the right people both in terms of staff and customers), purpose and vision and keeps you accountable.”

Reader Offer Readers can get a £10 discount on their copy of BGI Strategy On A Page™ with additional bonus gifts using promo code ‘HERTBUS’. To take advantage of this offer please visit bit.ly/11Souf9

biz4Biz THE VOICE OF BUSINESS IN HERTFORDSHIRE The resourceful nature of Entrepreneurs and Directors usually enables them to overcome most issues faced daily within business. Struggling as we do to make decisions regarding strategy, policy, employment law, product liability, conformance, profitability, operating costs and compliance amongst so much more, it is a wonder how we manage to structure our businesses, build value and develop the company against this varied background and demand for our precious time. by engaging with local and central government, relevant public sector bodies and local organisations to promote the county of Hertfordshire as a great place to live and do business. biz4Biz has broadened its activities to represent the interests of businesses and people throughout Hertfordshire. Its networking, local government liaison and charitable involvement operations aim to benefit the residents, commuters, workers and business owners who contribute to Hertfordshire life.

Our specific objectives include, • Promoting the benefits to society of a successful business community • Supporting a competitive tax regime to stimulate growth • Lobbying for corporate tax transparency • Highlighting wasteful government spending and compaigning for a smaller state • Campaigning to reduce the burden of regulation on business • Encouraging business to work with local schools and colleges • Encourage greater corporate social responsibility • Encouraging local purchasing • Continuing our campaign for the widening of the A1(m) • Encouraging investment in local infrastructure

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FEATURE : BIZ4BIZ

Today the Business Owner and Professional Director is a most undervalued asset yet we are expected to possess a full range of knowledge, see around corners and expect the unexpected. We are not all paid bonuses at the level of Bankers, yet we are expected to be a sophisticated, highly motivated and focused individual.

Against this background we appear to be the most under represented demographic group in the business world today which in itself enhances the sense of loneliness within our all important decision making role.

In the Telegraph recently, Sir Paul Judge, a chairman of various organisations, said: “[Leaders] must understand and foster positive engagement with employees, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and local communities, as if these are not supportive then it is very unlikely that the key objectives will be achieved.”

For these particular reasons alone a group of successful, Hertfordshire based business people have come together to represent the interests of Business Owners and Professional Directors and have formed an organisation called biz4Biz. In addition to supporting the professional, biz4Biz provides a coherent voice for businesses in Hertfordshire. We aim to influence and shape policymaking and encourage investment in Hertfordshire

We recognise that time is at a premium and we therefore we hold meetings only when we are able to provide good quality speakers on subjects very close to your hearts. These are usually very well attended, which underscores the relevance of the subject matter.

Members of biz4Biz also enjoy FREE access to the quarterly “CEO Forum” usually attended by a sitting Member of Parliament. We also encourage our Members to join us at “Ladies day” in Newmarket or take a trip to “The Terrace” at the Houses of Parliament and further details can be found for both of these at www.biz4biz.org/events.html We will shortly be providing a Newsletter, a copy of the HBI Magazine and a Business directory to support our activities across Hertfordshire. We currently sponsor two business awards in support of our intention to celebrate and revere, these are the Herts Business Awards www.hertsbusinessawards.co.uk/# and the Business Excellence Awards www.businessexcellenceawards.org.uk We encourage you to enter both programmes in promotion of your business activities.

We feel sure that our collective activities will suit your interests and we would like you to join our group. We encourage you to follow this link to our Members enrolment page http://www.biz4biz.org/ join.php We welcome your support for the “Voice of Business in Hertfordshire”. Join us today.

Adrian Hawkins, Co-Founder biz4Biz, Chairman Weldability Sif

MARGARET THATCHER 1925-2013 Whether you loved her or hated her, there is no denying that Baroness Thatcher made an impact during her 11 year residency as UK prime minister. As the nation reflects on the life of the first female UK prime minister, we take a look back at her rise to power.Margaret Thatcher entered Downing Street in 1979 at what many have described as a time of national calamity and it has been said that she saved Britain from internal collapse.

At the time, social order was breaking down across Britain, industry was in tatters and inflation was out of control. Attempts to restore order had mainly been blocked by the trades unions, who were growing in power, influence and popularity.

Margaret Thatcher was the first to challenge and reverse what was consider a ‘national collapse’. She was able to establish economic stability and took on the unions. She also transformed Britain’s standing overseas and gambled all to retake the Falkland Islands, in which she succeeded. As she continued into the Eighties, she formed an alliance with US president Ronald Reagan, which strengthened the country’s position and influence on a global scale.

KEY FACTS ABOUT BARONESS THATCHER She was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979-1990.

She is the only woman to have held office.

She was called the ‘Iron Lady’ due to her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

She survived an assassination attempt in 1984 when the IRA bombed the Brighton Grand Hotel, where she was staying for the Conservative Party’s annual conference.

Her fate was sealed with her introduction of the ‘poll tax’ and her views on the European Union.

She resigned as prime minister and party leader in November 1990.

She remained a familiar face in politics for years after her resignation.

She classed Tony Blair as her ‘greatest achievement’.

THATCHER COULD HAVE BEEN A HERTFORDSHIRE MP Had things turned out slightly differently, she would have been a Hertfordshire MP. In the 1950s she narrowly missed out on being selected as the Conservative candidate for the Hemel Hempstead seat which, at the time, included Berkhamsted and Tring. Hertfordshire’s loss was Finchley’s gain.

WHAT THE COUNTRY THOUGHT Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair called her a “towering figure”.

Gordon Brown praised her “determination and resilience”.

Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher loved this country and served it with all she had. For that she has her well-earned place in history - and the enduring respect and gratitude of the British people,” he said.

Lord Sugar: “Margaret Thatcher died today. A great lady, she changed the face of British politics, created opportunity for anyone to succeed in the UK.” Meryl Streep, (who played Margaret Thatcher in the film The Iron Lady), said “Margaret Thatcher was a pioneer, willingly or unwillingly, for the role of women in politics. It is hard to imagine a part of our current history that has not been affected by measures she put forward in the UK at the end of the 20th century. To have given women and girls around the world reason to supplant fantasies of being princesses with a different dream, the real-life option of leading their nation, this was groundbreaking and admirable.”

A LOCAL OPINION Local Watford entrepreneur Mark Abrahams, and founder of Gigglz (www. gigglz.co.uk) comments: “Margaret Thatcher has had an everlasting impact on entrepreneurs as she was the one of the first to encourage people to go out and start businesses and there was no shame or embarrassment in making a financial success.

One key example was enabling people to buy their council houses, people became business people as they were negotiating the purchase of a property and looking at ways to improve the value of this property. In addition, people had confidence to start their own business which they had not considered doing under the previous government. She created an environment where capitalism was encouraged and respected. This is the time Alan Sugar started and saw the success of Amstrad.”

Is Crowdfunding for you?

Are you ready for the wireless revolution?

An interview with tech entrepreneur Mark Abrahams Introducing SunZu Unveiling the new Raspberry Pi

25

TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL

TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL

FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS RAISE MORE FUNDING THAN MEN IN CROWDFUNDING Female entrepreneurs are shown to be more active than men and receive more backers per campaign and a higher average donation value, in fact raising 10.75% more money than male run campaigns The crowd sourcing platform Crowdcube celebrated their 2nd birthday last month and the infographics they released, showed that only 10% of entrepreneurs going for funding are women.

Sadly these female led campaigns are met with a shortage of female investors, as despite women owning 49% of the wealth in Britain, they total only 5% of the angel network in the UK, which is unfortunate as female investors tend to invest more time in mentoring investees, which is something a female-owned business would particularly appreciate. Ocky Olly founder Marilu Wren, who has recently launched her crowdfunding pitch on Crowdcube, was pleased to note that research shows that although women are less likely to ask for funding, when they do seek to raise funds through the crowd, they have a high success rate in securing funding, with approximately 41% of successful campaigns being led by women.

Based in Devon, Marilu is also encouraged by the statistic that the south-west received funding for the most projects after the south-east, with retail projects being the front runners when it comes to securing investment over the last two years.

Ocky Olly’s first product is the Smocka, a practical and inno-

vative play top for pre-school children, that encourages them to play and learn outside. Made of fleece with fun, digitally designed canvas trims, it’s ideal for little explorers who like to collect things. The large pocket has a waterproof lining which is perfect for conkers, leaves, shells and other discovered treasures, whilst also protecting the garment as a pouch, once the Smocka is folded down and turned inside out.

Having recently won a Best New Business Award 2013 from the Devon based Women’s Development Unlimited, who provide training and support for business women in the south-west, Marilu is excited by this crowd sourcing investment opportunity.

She says: “The needs of the child in the children’s clothing market are often sacrificed in the name of fashion itself. Ocky Olly is significantly different in its approach. We seamlessly engage all the generations whilst producing high quality, innovative products for the children themselves.”

Ocky Olly has developed an ethical brand with a British pedigree and is seeking to raise £150,000 through financing equity, to launch new products and accelerate growth, initially within the UK and then beyond, with a proposal that also offers UK investors and business angels EIS Tax Relief.

www.crowdcube.com/partner/businesspilot/investment/ocky-olly-ltd-12425

ARE YOU READY FOR THE WIRELESS REVOLUTION? IAN KILPATRICK, CHAIRMAN WICK HILL GROUP 2012 saw a huge growth in the use of wireless, fuelled by factors such as mobility, strong tablet sales, BYOD and the consumer deployment of devices which support the upcoming wireless standards, 802.11ac and 802.11ad.

2013 and beyond will see continuing growth in wireless networks with a move in many organisations to wireless actually replacing wired networks. This move, which already has many early adopters, will create a sea change in working practises and operational management. and more pervasive wireless, and with tablets and smartphones supporting the standard from 2013, this pressure will only grow. An increasingly popular alternative to the AP approach (sometimes characterised as ‘breeding’) is the modular array approach.

With this method, an array can hold multiple directionally tuneable APs. Unlike traditional broadcasting, directional focus minimises interference and enables clear control over geo overspill.

Additionally, with the array-based approach, the APs can be slot-in cards, so can be easily and inexpensively replaced or upgraded, as traffic usage and capacity evolve.

CONCLUSION We are at the beginning of a radical shift in the IT world. Mobility, BYOD, multi Gbps wireless and 4G are creating an unstoppable wave of change, fundamentally altering the working environment and creating some major challenges and opportunities for security and access.

The key beneficiaries will be those who recognise that this is a sea change and plan accordingly, rather than treat it as an evolutionary change and have to play catch up. Given the repeated historic issues of back-fitting security after deployment, planning and budgeting for security at the beginning are essential for success in this new environment. www.wickhill.com or www.twitter.com/wickhill

Ian Kilpatrick is chairman of international value added distributor Wick Hill Group plc, specialists in market development for secure IP infrastructure solutions and convergence. Kilpatrick has been involved with the Group for more than 35 years. Wick Hill supplies organisations from enterprises to SMEs, through an extensive value-added network of accredited VARs.

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RECRUITMENT SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY

The new wireless standard 802.11ac is on track to be ratified in the second half of 2013 and will provide WLAN throughput of at least 1Gbps, first generation, and up to 7Gbps in the future. 802.11ad, with multi Gbps throughput, is likely to be ratified in 2014.

However, manufacturers are already delivering consumer devices designed to both these standards. Home users are already getting the improved performance and user experience that these standards will deliver and are increasingly bringing these expectations into the office.

Currently, in many organisations, wireless is not of the same standard as wired. Most of today’s wireless implementations provide limited, rather than total, coverage with cold spots, performance limitations and access limitations. This contrasts unfavourably with the mobile environment increasingly experienced elsewhere.

The situation is not sustainable in the medium term. Mobility is an unstoppable wave. Smartphone and tablet use are soaring; desktop sales are declining, below laptop sales; 4G will drive further performance expectations; and organisations need the increased productivity that mobile devices can bring.

The move to wireless raises many challenges and opportunities.

Security is a significant challenge, raising a number of issues to be addressed, such as network access control, ID management, mobile device management, device remediation, intrusion prevention and management infrastructure. Key to success, in this significantly changed environment, will be deployment pre-planning, risk assessment and determining the policies to apply.

The changes in wireless standards provide a key opportunity for strategic planning. Most wireless deployments have been tactical, with more access points added, often unstructured, to meet increasing user demand or deal with cold spots.

802.11ac will deliver the unfulfilled promise of the previous standard 802.11n, but with a focus on 5GHz rather than 2.4GHz. With 5GHz providing shorter range, but higher throughput, existing access point (AP) based systems will be inadequate for the new requirements. As users increasingly have 5GHz devices, the old 2.4GHz APs will become obsolete. This gives organisations a one-time opportunity to plan for a future working environment based on wireless, rather than wired LANs. This is particularly relevant given the challenges that 5GHz and beyond will create for the old AP-based approach to coverage.

With 2.4GHz, providing more coverage typically involves adding more APs. However, that has been shown to be increasingly selflimiting because interference between Aps reduces coverage, rather than increasing it.

To migrate, will require entirely new APs, new antennas, upgraded or replaced controllers, and new switches or PoE injectors. Similar to 802.11n, there will be multiple versions and phases of 802.11ac, so AP-based organisations will need to budget for ongoing infrastructure upgrading and replacement.

This is a tough challenge, since it involves planning for growth driven by staff’s home experience of high throughput access and app usage, and of course 4G. While the much faster and even shorter range (10m) 802.11ad 60GHz standard is likely to deliver high capacity, short-range cordless (back-up to docking station, etc.) to the wireless office, it can’t be ignored in the planning process.

Already, we have seen unprecedented pressure for ever faster

INTERVIEW WITH

MARK ABRAHAMMS

Local Watford entrepreneur Mark Abrahams has set up a number of businesses to help people empower themselves. One of his most recent ventures is a company called Gigglz – a company targeted mainly at mothers seeking self-employed business opportunities, and which offers mums the opportunity to set up their own businesses in a flexible working environment to complement their lifestyle.

Can you tell us about your background?

community to buy, sell or donate used or surplus IT equipment. With budgets that are being cut businesses can find IT equipment that is used or surplus, that can make their budget go further and likewise companies can sell or donate their used or surplus equipment. Techtrader is a free, simple and easy way for businesses to trade IT equipment.

I joined a start-up IT company in the 80’s when IT was really taking off and enjoyed success in selling systems to medium / large organisations. I never had any formal sales training but due to my technical background I was able to understand the technology and client requirements. Additionally the technology guys I was selling to liked me, as I did not come across as an aggressive salesperson.

Gigglz – this is one of my newest and exciting ventures as f o r m e , i t i s a d e p a r t u r e f r o m t h e I T s e c t o r. We have designed and branded a range of quality children’s clothes and dress-up that will be sold exclusively through Agents.

This will enable mums with young children to run a small business with a good profit, around their busy lives.

I studied for a degree in Electronic Engineering and started my career as an avionics engineer designing electronics for aircrafts. I then realised that I wasn’t very good at it and enjoyed more of the people interaction than sitting in a lab, so moved into sales.

Since then, I have run several IT companies and I am now looking to get involved in projects that empower people in this difficult economic climate to generate additional income for themselves.

I currently run a recruitment agency specialising in IT, finance and admin roles to use my experience of being an employer to help people find the right roles for themselves.

What does your typical day consist of?

As my primary business is Secta Appointments, most of my day is taken up with reviewing CVs and interviewing candidates and discussing candidates with employers.

Around this, I have to look at other ventures to look at the sales and marketing needs to get them up and running.

What is your business approach?

It is very hands-on, talking to suppliers and customers so I understand what the real issues are and what we are doing right and wrong.

It is not all about profit, but taking an idea and making it into a real venture that people are getting a benefit from.

Can you tell us more about your ventures, what they do and your roles within the companies (TechTrader, Technical Resource, Gigglz, Secta Appointments, Candidatefinder, Computers4All)?

Techtrader is an online service that enables the business

Secta Appointments – Our core business of recruitment services focused on IT, finance and admin roles.

Candidatefinder – due to our experience of the recruitment sector we have put together a spin-off company from Secta Appointments. It is for companies that do not use recruitment agencies and therefore, do vacancy advertising themselves as the solution, as it is cheaper than them doing the advertising themselves and will generate a greater number of candidates for a small fixed fee of £199.00.

Computers4All – this is a new and very exciting project that we have just had the go ahead on. We are developing an IT refurbishment centre that will provide hands-on IT training for disadvantaged groups, as they will be trained in troubleshooting, and configuring computers, that can lead to an industry qualification and future employment. These computers will then be sold or donated to charities, youth groups, or other disadvantaged groups, to enable more people to take advantage of the online benefits.

What drives you on?

Having an idea and seeing it become a reality and benefiting other people.

What are your plans for the future?

Firstly take the aforementioned ventures and make them a success and then work with other people to assist them to turn their ideas into successful ventures.

RECRUITMENT SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY

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MOVING TO THE CLOUD REMOVES YOUR IT BURDEN The Cloud is quite simply perfect for Small Businesses.

Ashgoal are an IT company that is powering Small Businesses forward by providing cutting edge Cloud computing at a fraction of traditional IT costs. The ‘Ashgoal Cloud’ removes all of the obstacles that Small Businesses face in migrating their IT to the Cloud by offering free set-up and data transfer, a personal one-to-one service that isn’t available from multi-national providers and face to face meetings to ensure your migration happens efficiently.

That’s why Ashgoal are one of the fastest growing Small Business Cloud providers in the country.

Ashgoal focus on companies with just a few staff upwards and know exactly what they need and how to implement the most appropriate solution. Over 100 companies now run their IT infrastructure from the ‘Ashgoal Cloud’ and over £500 million worth of business is conducted annually from it. The Ashgoal Cloud also works with 3rd party applications; in fact Ashgoal will even liaise with providers on your behalf.

But what is ‘the Cloud’? In a nutshell Cloud computing is moving from having physical servers and applications in the office to accessing them virtually in one of the UK data centres. It saves customers thousands and provides better security, reliability and is easily scalable. You can also access your data from any device anywhere in the world.

Why are Ashgoal winning so many Small Business customers?

Ashgoal are not a faceless large organisation and are able to offer a much more personal service than some of their competitors.

Small Businesses have to feel comfortable that their data is in good hands and also want to be able to speak to a local, helpful support centre when needed. It is also easily scalable, so the number of users can be increased or decreased as necessary, giving companies a huge advantage in today’s volatile economy.

Ashgoal have been providing IT solutions since 1979 and are vastly experienced with helping and supporting SME’s. The Cloud solution provided is amongst the most reliable and secure in the UK, in fact Ashgoal has an enviable record for both uptime and offers a superior SLA. Not all cloud providers are the same. You need to be able to

trust and rely on your Cloud computing provider. The Ashgoal Cloud is different to other cloud services as it’s data is held across multiple UK data centres, Ashgoal are not a multi-national company, so you will receive a personal service and hardware and software is constantly updated, so you don’t have to do it.

• Providing IT solutions since 1979 • Small business cloud specialist • UK Support centre • Microsoft, Sage, HP and Citrix Partners

Speak to one of our experienced team today on 0208 2755 100 to find out how your small business can benefit from the Ashgoal cloud, or visit www.ashgoal.com/cloud

NEW ONLINE SOCIAL BUSINESS NETWORK GIVES ENTREPRENEURS THEIR OWN ‘TOOLKIT’ TO CONNECT AND PROSPER SunZu is fast establishing itself as the leading platform for business owners around the world to connect, share, trade skills and business. Just two months after its launch, SunZu has half a million members and is on track towards its goal to become the online network of choice for business owners worldwide.

“SunZu is the ‘white knight’ for businesses, solving all their networking issues and assisting them to grow,” says SunZu Founder and CEO Lyndon Wood.

“Finally business owners have a new way of social business networking, supported by the sharing of knowledge and experiences that will encourage growth.”

SunZu provides business owners with a community in which they can develop and thrive online. Members can bid for work and place work opportunities by creating an auction, form alliances, arrange categories and connections into circles, publish articles and blogs, and create and attend networking events.

“I have a passion to assist other business owners succeed. Before SunZu there was a gap in the social business network market for this type of platform. Now business owners can collaborate and keep the cash in the local eco-system, as we encourage SunZu members to spend with members so all businesses flourish,” says Wood.

The latest offering by SunZu is ‘Flashboard’, the ability to provide members with statistics and real-time measurement on their SEO (search engine optimisation) ranking and activity, including page views. SunZu content is generated through its members’ highly optimised blogs, articles and other content they post to the site.

“The more active a SunZu member is, the more likely they are to

be found in search engines. SunZu has everything they need to get their message across and measure their success,” says Wood. “It’s well optimised for search engines and we are making continuous enhancements to the site. We are largely guided by SunZu members’ feedback.”

SunZu inherited over 500,000 members from Ecademy, thought to be the world’s first social business networking site (established 1998, pre-dating Facebook and LinkedIn). Wood purchased Ecademy in July 2012, acquiring its database of members but creating a completely different environment from Ecademy.

“SunZu is about meeting new business friends face to face as well as online, many networks have forgotten that business is about people.”

SunZu aims to attract one million members by the end of this year.

The most active members are from the UK and USA, with increasing interest from India, Australia, China and Europe.

An official launch event will be held in Dublin on April 26 to celebrate SunZu’s successes to date and reveal the vision for the future. Guest speakers include young entrepreneur James Whelton, co-founder of Coderdojo, SunZu Women’s Ambassador and former Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Samantha Kelly and SunZu Founder and CEO Lyndon Wood.

ABOUT SUNZU SunZu – The Art of Business Limited was established in Dublin, Ireland in 2012. It was created to assist and inspire business owners into growth. Lyndon Wood has a 90 per cent share of SunZu, while social networking pioneer Bill Liao has a 10 per cent share. SunZu’s value proposition is “trade, share knowledge and cash together so the economy in the local eco system thrives”. For more information and membership options visit www.sunzu.com.

ABOUT LYNDON WOOD, FOUNDER AND CEO, SUNZU

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TECHNOLOGY

Multi-millionaire and published author of the 2011 book, Diary of a Fortune Hunter, Lyndon Wood invested in SunZu in July 2012. The Welsh entrepreneur left school at 14 and set up his insurance business Moorhouse Group in 1990 when he was just 19. He launched the business insurance comparison site Constructaquote.com in 2007. He has many business interests and employs around 150 people.

INTRODUCING THE RASPBERRY PI It’s the latest gadget to inspire adults and children alike, but what exactly is the Raspberry Pi? We take a closer look…

WHAT IS A RASPBERRY PI? The Raspberry Pi is essentially a credit card sized computer that you can plug into your TV and a keyboard. It works just like a little PC which can be used for many of the things that a normal desktop PC is used for, like spread sheets, word processing and games.

It also plays high definition video. The company’s aim is to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.

It was developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools. The Raspberry Pi was launched earlier this year and was designed in Britain.

THE LIGHT BULB MOMENT: A few years ago, Eben Upton and some of his academic colleagues in Cambridge University’s Computer Laboratory became concerned about the fact that most of the kids who wanted to study computer science no longer knew how to program. So they had the idea of designing a small, cheap computer that they could give to prospective students at open days. Anyone who turned up for interview would be asked what they’d done with it and only those who had done something interesting would be considered for admission.

Thus began the most intriguing home computing experiment since the BBC Model B transformed Britain’s IT landscape in the 1980s.

“We thought we’d make maybe a few hundred of these devices,” Upton wrote later, “or, best case, a lifetime production run of a few thousand.”

RAPSBERRY PI AND EDUCATION: Thousands of children in the UK received free Raspberry Pi computers to encourage them to develop programming skills.

A total of 15,000 of the credit card sized, barebones systems were given away in collaboration between the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google. The machines will be distributed through educational organisations including Coderdojo , which runs free, volunteer-led classes for children interested in programming.

THE CRITICS HAVE BEEN LEFT WITH PI ON THEIR FACES… At first, the idea was mocked my many who claimed that in the age of the ‘iDevices’, there was no market for a basic product that ran Linux.

How wrong could they be!

When the device was first announced, 100,000 are reported to have joined the mailing list. Then, when it went on sale, the demand was so high that it crashed the servers of the two major online retailers that had signed up to sell it. So far, it has sold in excess of 800,000 units.

THE SPEC: The GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode. The GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24 GFLOPs of general purpose compute and features a bunch of texture filtering and DMA infrastructure. That is, graphics capabilities are roughly equivalent to Xbox 1 level of performance. Overall real world performance is something like a 300MHz Pentium 2, only with much, much swankier graphics.

GETTING HOLD OF A RASPBERRY PI: The Model A will cost $25 and the Model B $35, plus local taxes and shipping/handling fees. Although it is a UK company, the components they buy are priced in dollars, and they negotiate manufacturing in dollars. Because currency markets are so volatile at the moment, they have decided to price the final board in dollars too so they don’t have to keep changing the price. Makes sense!

You can buy the Raspberry Pi through Premier Farnell/Element 14 and RS Components. Both distributors sell all over the world For more information visit www.raspberrypi.org

HYUNDAI I40 TOURER 1.7 (136) CRDI STYLE

If you need to shift bulky goods on a regular basis the i40 Tourer is the perfect companion. The i40 boasts the lowest floor level in its segment at just 59cm from the ground - that’s more than 4cm lower than the Volkswagen Passat. With the rear seats in place, you can load 553-litres of cargo, but fold those rear seats and it extends by over 200% to more than 1,700-litres. However, it should be noted that the seats do not fold completely flat and the wheel arches get in the way – but still, the boot is still massive – larger even than a Mondeo’s, but smaller than a Skoda Superb’s.

The stylishness of the exterior continues into the passenger cabin.

Our Style-trim test car came with alloy wheels, automatic climate control, stability programme, traction control, a full complement of nine airbags, Bluetooth, satellite navigation and parking sensors.

Headroom is great all round but what really impresses the most is rear legroom – there is loads of space. The footwell is huge too, and if you put your feet under the chair in front, it provides limousine-like space allowing you to stretch out. Even those who usually dread bagging the rear centre seat have somewhere to put their feet and so don’t need as much pity as they would in some of the i40’s class mates. And besides, the rear centre position affords an enviable view of the good looking dash which has plenty of soft-feel plastics.

At last, it appears the Koreans have finally identified why the interiors of their cars have been somewhat lacking – but Hyundai have clearly learned this lesson.

Our test car was a 134bhp 1.7-litre diesel in mid spec–Style and

weighed in at £22,250. This is the engine that Hyundai expects to be the most popular choice among both private and company buyers.

And we are inclined to agree with them since it feels perkier than the performance figures might suggest. The 0-60mph sprint can be despatched in 10.9 seconds before going on to top out at 120mph.

The stick shift expects you to return 55.4mpg (against 51mpg for the equivalent Skoda Superb) and emits 134g/km CO2 putting you into the 20% company car tax band – or £15 per year cheaper to tax if you are a private buyer.

Like its siblings, the Hyundai i40 Tourer comes with the company’s 5-year Triple Care Package warranty, roadside assistance and vehicle health checks. All in all, despite Hyundai succeeding in taking the bargain out of the basement for budget conscious motorists, the i40 Tourer still looks very good value for money.

Despite its very obvious plus points, regrettably the i40 Tourer is still unlikely to topple the UK’s established estate cars from their perches, but there is no doubt left that in the i40 Tourer, Hyundai has created a car of substance as well as style. It is a commendable and fascinating alternative to the usual Ford Mondeo’s and Volkswagen Passat’s. But it should be borne in mind that the i40 fails to do one thing excellently and that makes the new big Hyundai a hard car to love. However, it is close and in our opinion Hyundai is just a few touches away from being as great as the best.

DRIVE

Hyundai has been promoting its fluidic design language over recent months, but only now with the i40 Tourer has the prose been truly transformed into poetry. But over the last two decades or so, the European car bodystyle landscape has been transformed with the arrival of MPVs and SUVs – so the big question is, with the i40 Tourer, have Hyundai opted for the right strategy by launching a traditional estate car? Andrew Merritt-Morling, motoring editor, finds out.

WAIT UNTIL THE 19TH HOLE

WHY ASKING CLIENTS FOR REFERRALS DURING BUSINESS MEETINGS IS A MISTAKE In one of my workshops recently, one of the participants explained that he had a number of annual reviews with clients scheduled over the next couple of months.

It was his plan to confirm that his clients were happy with his work over the last year and then ask them for referrals.

NETWORKING

“Please don’t”, I asked to his surprise. “They may be very happy with the work you’ve done and may indeed be happy to refer. But don’t ask at your review meeting.”

Most people, I explained, look to their clients first for referrals. That makes sense on the face of it, after all your clients have direct experience of your services and are in the best position to relate the quality of the experience and the benefits of engaging with you. I have a different view, however.

That’s not to say I don’t ask clients for referrals, I have had some excellent referrals from past and present clients, including a very promising one this week. They are not, however, my primary referral source and, when I do ask for referrals, it’s not at the same time as I’m engaged in delivery for them.

I believe that when I am working for my clients I am delivering a service for which they pay me. That is not the time to ask for referrals, to ask them to serve me. It is far more appropriate, and has much greater impact, to save the request for a referral for another time, even if it is a telephone call a week later.

The conversation reminded me of a networking interaction I had a few years ago. I had recently been advised that I needed to be more guarded about my time as I was being stretched in every direction. Therefore, when a new connection through a social network asked for a meeting, I wasn’t, shall we say, very accessible. He asked several times before, in an inspired shift of tact, he asked if I played golf and invited me to play at his club. Suddenly, of course, I found even more time in my diary than he originally had requested!

I turned up at his club expecting to talk business as we worked our way around the course and was surprised to find that his neighbour had joined us for the round. To confuse me further, his neighbour would have had no interest in our business discussion. Sure enough, we played 18 holes without discussing business once.

My host then invited me to join him in the bar for a drink. I was aware that the rush hour was due to start soon but it would have been ungracious to make my excuses so I joined him in the clubhouse (or the 19th hole as it’s known in golf circles). Over a pint of beer we talked business and I found myself promising three key introductions for him, introductions which I subsequently followed up and made.

While many people see golf as the ultimate corporate networking opportunity, it’s often seen as poor form to raise business on the golf course. There is a time and a place, often at the 19th hole.

It’s the same with asking clients for referrals.

When you are serving your clients that’s where your focus should be and where it should stay. If your relationship with them is strong and they are happy to refer you, the request will hold off until a later stage, when

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it’s not taking the shine off what you are doing for them.

There’s a time and a place to ask for referrals and it’s a different time and a different place from client reviews or sales meetings. Keep the focus on them until you reach the 19th hole.

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