11 minute read
Business News
Socially distanced station staff at Toddington
GWSR EXPANDS SERVICES TO CHELTENHAM RACECOURSE AND BROADWAY STATIONS
Advertisement
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) have expanded its services following the successful resumption of train services on its 14-mile railway through the Cotswolds, in April. Services since then have comprised a round trip starting and finishing at Toddington station. The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a volunteer operated heritage railway in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire offering a round trip of 28 miles. It uses part of the route of the former Great Western Railway's main line from Birmingham to Cheltenham which used to run via Stratford-upon-Avon. Richard Johnson, Voluntary Chairman of GWSR Plc, commented: “As government guidance changes we are able to adjust the service we offer.
“We plan to offer two steam trains on each operating day (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) and with two additional travel packages, from Broadway and Cheltenham Racecourse. It’s another positive and exciting step on the journey to full, unrestricted train services.”
DRPG DELIVERS LIVE EVENT FOR WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
DRPG was able to dust off the flight cases and deliver one of the first live physical events of 2021. The event was the end of season awards for football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. In pre-Covid times this event is attended by a mixture of players, sponsors and fans. Due to the pandemic and following guidelines, this had to be limited to the club sponsors only. The event was still a milestone opportunity to celebrate the club and what it achieved this season. Blending a traditional awards format with full production values and presenting pre-recorded films from players. The event included a drinks reception and a sit-down dinner on tables of six with social distancing in place. Emma Stanley, Producer at DRPG, supported the event and talked about the excitement around the delivery: “We have quite a jam-packed week with events happening. It’s good to get back to delivering live experiences again. Although there are additional factors to consider now, everyone is glad to be producing great experiences for clients again. We are all adapting, and it’s great to be working with Wolves again, supporting with bringing their brand and club values to life.”
DRPG have manoeuvred around the pandemic and been able to help many clients with virtual solutions. This week has seen a gradual return to live experiences, and long may it continue.
www.drpgroup.com
STAYING AGILE AS THE MARKET CHANGES USING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Last year businesses had cause for concern as they reacted to the pandemic. The business landscape for many, literally changed overnight. Inturi Technology are predicting that this year businesses can become more agile by looking inward at the infrastructure they have and making investments in process efficiencies and streamlining. Clare Kay, CEO of Inturi Technology, says: “By looking at your processes and isolating issues that cause bottlenecks, you will see the bigger picture and come out stronger for it. Office based manual repetitive, low value and error prone tasks can be automated, saving you time and money. More concise data handling will also be proactive for staff morale, and this will naturally pass on to customer satisfaction.” Using Dynamics 365 as a hub, and integrating legacy platforms, will mean all data becomes consolidated and can be seen on one dashboard, across all media devices - phone, tablet and laptop. Remote staff and field operatives will be able to see all information in real-time, so communication is maintained, companywide. In a data-driven culture, businesses from SME’s to global enterprises will benefit from digitally transforming their systems to gain agility and increase ROI.
www.inturi.co.uk
For you and your business
BACK TO THE FUTURE
While many key-worker employees have stoically continued to attend their normal workplaces throughout the covid pandemic, many employees have been furloughed, or working at home for over a year.
With the gradual release of lockdown, employers should now be turning their thoughts to the “new normal” and how they are going to manage the “return to the workplace”. But what are the legal implications? It is inevitable that as soon as the government’s dictat of work from home if you can is lifted employers will be at the receiving end of requests to continue working at home for some or all of the time. A request to be based at home is effectively a flexible working request. Employers can agree to such a request on an informal basis, but it is still advisable to clearly document the terms of such arrangement going forward. If you are going to deal with the request as a formal flexible working request, you can only decline it for one or more of 8 ‘permitted reasons’. This could be tricky given the fact that people have been working from home relatively successfully for months. Remember too that the employee’s reason for wanting to work at home is not relevant to your considerations – the focus is on the impact to the business. Employers may also have to deal with those who continue to be fearful of the covid risk. Much has been talked about of the right for employees to stay away from work (on full pay) if they have a reasonable belief that their health will be endangered by doing so. However, as long as the employer has taken al reasonable measures to minimise the risk of covid transmission and has clearly communicated what these measures are to its workforce, it is arguably difficult for an employee to demonstrate that their belief in the danger the workplace poses is reasonable. Can you insist on mandatory vaccinations before allowing people to return? Probably not, except in very limited circumstances. However, employers should certainly encourage the employees to take the jab unless they have a good reason not to do so. It is perhaps more reasonable to insist on regular testing. Employers can access lateral flow tests for use by employees and many do now require twice-weekly testing as a pre-requisite for being permitted into the workplace. This is arguably a reasonable instruction given that the “greater good” is likely to be given precedence over individual inconvenience. Thursfields have built our reputation by providing timely and practical advice to our clients.
We will tailor our approach to suit you and take your instructions in whatever way best suits you – by ‘phone, video conference or in person at our Birmingham, Solihull, Worcester, Kidderminster or Halesowen offices.
We have an excellent team of specialist employment solicitors to advise you, on work-related issues, always seeking the best solution for both employers and employees. If you would like more information, please contact Helena Morrissey at Thursfields Solicitors on 0345 20 73 72 8 or
hmorrissey@thursfields.co.uk
Tel: 0345 20 73 72 8 | info@thursfields.co.uk | www.thursfields.co.uk
IT SPEND PRIORITIES SOAR AMID POST PANDEMIC PLANNING
As businesses around the globe bounce back from the difficulties of the pandemic, 2021 is set to be the biggest year for IT spending on record.
According to the latest forecasts by global research firm, Gartner, worldwide IT spending looks to hit $3.9 trillion by the end of 2021.
As we continue to feel the fallout and effects of the pandemic, businesses will be forced to accelerate digital transformation plans by at least 5 years to survive in a post Covid world. Unsurprisingly, spending related to remote work will be a key factor in driving IT growth, with a total of $332.9 billion to be invested in remote work infrastructure and digital transformation initiatives.
Our own report, conducted with the Worcestershire and Herefordshire Chamber of Commerce predicted that 62% of Worcestershire businesses are set to increase their digital technology spend. But what do IT and business leaders deem the most essential areas of investment?
As we start our journey down the road to recovery, ‘digital business’ will continue to dominate technology trends, with priorities such as cloud, end-user and security leading the way.
Cloud:
Driving the economy through the instability of Covid-19, cloud triumphed as the true business hero of the pandemic. Any reluctance toward cloud has been swiftly disregarded, with the pandemic serving as catalyst for cloud interest.
With an increasing number of businesses looking to modernise legacy infrastructure, the biggest cloud spend will come from ‘infrastructure-as-aservice’ (IaaS) – including compute, storage and networking. This will be closely followed by ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS), where heavy investments in hosted applications, alongside collaboration, productivity and security tools, will look to further support flexible and remote work, as well as innovation.
Security:
We only have to look at recent headlines to realise the enormity of cyberattacks causing crisis among businesses and organisations worldwide. Cashing in on the pandemic, cyber criminals have ramped up their activity with 172,079 attacks on UK businesses reported between January and March 2021 alone.
Looking to meet the demands of remote working, cloud and SaaS vulnerabilities, security investment will focus on end user security such as; secure access, end-point protection, multi-factor authentication and backup. Security strategies will need to be realigned with the rise of new digital products and services implemented over lockdowns, in addition to personal employee devices and unsecure home Wi-Fi connections.
Outsourced Services:
As our appetite for technology grows, so do the costs of planning, implementing and managing new technology strategies. SME’s with smaller IT budgets and resources will look to outsource some, or all elements of their IT infrastructure. Managed Service Providers, like EBC Group, provide state-of-the-art services and solutions for a fraction of the cost of sourcing hardware and software in-house.
Businesses looking to digitally transform, update or overhaul their existing technology will invest their money with reliable outsourced providers. Helping to bridge the technology gap, businesses can access market leading solutions, services and on demand support that would otherwise not have been financially viable.
Helping our clients to invest in the best IT and technology for their business needs, EBC Group’s award-winning managed services can you understand your current IT setup and identify ways to make it more efficient, cost effective and easier for the end-user.
According to the latest forecasts worldwide IT spending looks to hit $3.9 trillion by the end of 2021. ’’
For more information on EBC Group’s workplace technology solutions contact hello@ebcgroup.co.uk or 0121 368 0154 or visit www.ebcgroup.co.uk.
PRAGMATICK CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Q: Why approach change differently from my normal, day-to-day management style?
Pragmatick: Because, after making a decision to put a change in place, the tendency for many businesses is to start work straight away - ‘moving things’ in the direction they want to go… “The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll get there, yes?” No. Unless you've defined your destination very clearly and you've planned the route carefully, you could end up somewhere you had no intention of going, and will have spent time, effort and money on getting there.
Q: So, how SHOULD I approach business change?
Pragmatick: By defining where you are going in detail. By looking at how that destination will impact your wider business. By planning the route to achieve it very carefully. By getting your key people involved, making sure they understand the destination, so they can see where the journey could go badly wrong. By picking apart the risks that could stop you succeeding - if you leave the journey to chance, it will be eventful, it will be time-consuming, and it will be expensive. So, build a plan of your journey clearly showing how you will move through each step of the change. A plan that includes who you need help from, when that help is needed, what their input will be, and how long for. A plan that defines how much it will all cost - after all, you don’t want to leave it to the end of your journey to find out how much you’ll have to spend to get there… better to know the cost of the ticket up front. And get help if you need it! Don't struggle by yourself – help is only a phone call away.
pragmatick.co.uk 01432 233 930 nigel.higgs@pragmatick.co.uk
We help you to make change happen without interrupting business performance. We can manage the whole process or coach and support you along the way. Please tell us your challenge. And we’ll share ideas on how we might help make the change with you.
Adapting to new regulations?manage the whole process or coach and
Changing a process? support you along the way.
Adapting a workflow? Re-imagining your business? Please tell us your challenge. And we’ll share ideas on how we might help make the change with you. pragmatick.co.uk 01432 233 930 | nigel.higgs@pragmatick
The Right Support Helps
Creating the plan for change
Team communication
Coaching and 1-2-1s
Implementation
