Business First November-December 2015

northern ireland’s business magazine

BUSINESSFIRST INFORM CHALLENGE INSPIRE

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015

MCL INSURANCE

TAKING INSURANCE ONLINE Guest Columnist

Thought Leader

Challenge

Best Practice

Colin Anderson, co-chair, shares thoughts on the report of the Heenan Anderson Commission.

Sinead Dillon, Fujitsu, argues that gender diversity is the key for innovation in Northern Ireland.

Briana McAteer, AMH, beleives that employers supporting mental health, support the economy.

Linda Brown, IoD, outlines what she believes should be your prriorities for good Governance.

PLUS: Striking the Balance Report - page 64

CONTENTS

Putting your Business First

What’s inside this issue CLICK ANY PAGE TO BE TAKEN STRAIGHT THERE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & COMMENTARY Northern Ireland is The report of the Gender diversity Do we have an pre-occupied with Heenan Anderson is key for obsession with a short-termism Commission innovation fear of failure?

Roseann Kelly Women in Business Northern Ireland

Colin Anderson Commission Co-Chair

Sinead Dillon Principal Consultant Fujitsu

Simon Bridge Visiting Professor# Ulster University

Page 10 Page 28 Page 44 Page 52 Breaking through the glass ceiling Just as we go to press the BBC has announced that for teh first time since its establishment in 1921, a woman has been appointed as High Court Judges - in fact two women have been elevated to the Bench.

Denise McBride QC and Siobhan Keegan QC have officially risen to the top of what is recognised to be one of the more conservative of our professions and will bring a new and positive perspective to future deliberations from those benches and I look forward to seeing how they might work to change the social face of Northern Ireland in the future.

But their success is equally as important to the business world where women also continue to have to work hard to be given the recognition they deserve. There is no question that we have seen great changes in attitude to women in the workplace over the past few years, but they remain underrepresented in our Board rooms.

You need look no further than the pages of Business First to see that women are making themselves heard throughout the business community. And with over 50 per cent of our editorial contributions from women we pride ourselves in being fully supportive of equality in business. But further progress needs to be made and these appointments in the legal world will have positive repercussions throughout all sections of our society.

See you on the frontline!

FEATURES The changing face Devolution could of insolvency in free renewables Northern Ireland investment Ken Rutherford Partner C & H Jefferson

Richard Murphy Energy Partner Pinsent Masons

Is bad debt spoiling good business?

Striking the Balance - Report

What impact does becoming a parent have Andy McBurney Business Development on employment, working life and career?

Atradius

Page 27 Page 32 Page 49 Page 66 BEST PRACTICE Employers must Talent reviews & Priorities for good Succession be proactive to the leadership governance of planning in family pipeline your business businesses avoid legal pitfalls Rosemary Lundy Partner Arthur Cox

Anne Phillipson William J Clinton Leadership Institute

Linda Brown Institute of Directors Northern Ireland

Maybeth Shaw BDO Northern Ireland

Page 14 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 In our Digital Issue you can click on any square to be taken directly to the article. Download it from businessfirstonline.co.uk

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Gavin

FRONT COVER IMAGE Gary McClarty, MCL Insurance See page 12 for the Cover Story

PUBLISHED BY: The Wordworks Partnership (Limited) Suite 60. Enterprise House Balloo Avenue, Bangor BT19 7QT Tel: 028 9147 2119 info@businessfirstni.co.uk www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

YOUR BUSINESSFIRST TEAM Editor Gavin Walker gavin@businessfirstni.co.uk Sales Jenny Belshaw jenny@businessfirstni.co.uk Finance Margaret Walker margaret@businessfirstni.co.uk Design Studio Tw2 studio@twworks.co.uk

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CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO BE TAKEN DIRECTLY TO THE ARTICLE.

YOUR EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Articles from some of Northern Ireland’s most influential business leaders that will inform, challenge and inspire your thinking.

Roseann Kelly Women in Business NI page 10

Rosemary Lundy Arthur Cox page 14

Nigel Smyth CBI page 16

Linda Brown Institute of Directors page 19

Brian Murphy BDO NI page 20

Richard Murphy Pinsent Masons page 32

Alan Eigner PowerNI page 36

Bill Beers Chair, IoD Business Environment Committee page 38

Phil Davison Negative Equity NI page 41

Sinead Dillon Fujitsu page 44

Dr Alan Black Balackwell Associates page 60

Laurie Scott Visit Belfast page 68

In our Digital Issue you can click on any picture to be taken directly to the article. Download it from businessfirstonline.co.uk

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IN THE HEADLINES

Ulster Carpets begin building on new Dyehouse and Energy Centre

Peter McGuckin ­ Architect (RMI), Robert Mackey ­ MSM, Edward Wilson ­ Ulster Carpets Chairman (in digger), Norman Wilson ­ Ulster Carpets Dyehouse Project Team, Raymond McKeown ­ Ulster Carpets Dyehouse Project Team, Billy McCombe ­ Site Foreman MSM andColin Hyndes ­ Ulster Carpets Dyehouse Project Team

hairman of Ulster Carpets, Edward Wilson today officially launched the building process of the company’s new Dyehouse & Energy Centre by overseeing the breaking of ground for its foundations.

Edward Wilson commented. “This is the

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first phase of a major re-generation of all our Operation Facilities in Portadown. I am delighted to take the first step of this very exciting period of the company’s ongoing development.”

Ulster Carpets is widely acknowledged as

the world’s leading supplier of Axminster and Wilton carpets, to both residential and commercial markets. This investment programme and regeneration scheme signifies yet another considerable commitment to continued Northern Ireland manufacturing as the company grows and progresses. Ulster Carpets have seen sustained demand for their product around the world and also expansion into new export markets. To keep up with this demand, Ulster recently boosted its permanent employment level underpinning its commitment to the local community.

Once the new Dyehouse and Energy Centre is completed, the Company will benefit from new state-of–the-art dyeing technology improving capacity by over 20 per cent as well as increasing the efficiency of the whole process providing faster response times and maximising control.

With its own dedicated steam production plant and advanced heat recovery system, the centre will be able to match supply to demand leading to a significant reduction in the environmental impact of the process, in line with Ulster’s ambitious environmental goals.

The building, which is due for completion at the end of 2016 has been designed and constructed by local businesses; this is a deliberate strategy by Ulster Carpets, supported by Invest NI, to continue to invest in Northern Ireland’s economy and to support local jobs.

Arthur Cox strengthens Partnership Team ewly-appointed Partners at leading law firm Arthur Cox, (L-R) Matthew Howse and William Curry, are congratulated by Alan Taylor, Managing Partner of Arthur Cox Northern Ireland.

Matthew Howse, a Partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution team, joined Arthur Cox in 2010 and has recently advised on some of the largest, high-profile, contentious cases in Northern Ireland.

William Curry, a Partner in the Corporate and Commercial Department, has been with Arthur Cox for almost a decade and advises both public and private sector bodies. With more than 100 Partners, Arthur Cox is Ireland’s largest law firm and the newest Partner appointments further strengthen its offering in the north where it is regarded as one of the foremost Corporate and Commercial practices.

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Search is on to find stars of local Enterprise he search is on to find the stars of the local enterprise sector with the launch of the Northern Ireland Enterprise Awards 2015 The awards aim to showcase the work done by the Northern Ireland small business community and the efforts of the local enterprise agency network to support business development.

Taking place in Belfast on 26 November the special guest speaker for the evening will be Tom Griffiths founder of gapyear.com, regarded as the creator of the modern gap year industry.

Aged 26 he secured £1.26m in venture capital funding for gapyear.com and also launched Gap Year Magazine. He now runs the Acorn Incubator to help entrepreneurs get business ideas off the ground and survive through their first tough years.

Chief Executive of Enterprise Northern Ireland, Gordon Gough, said: “Enterprise Northern Ireland is the voice of local entrepreneurship and we’re very pleased to celebrate great examples of local ingenuity and talent. Helping to develop strong companies that create employment and export across the world is an important part of what we do.

“These awards are an excellent chance to recognise hard work and dedication of businesses and members of the Enterprise Northern Ireland network.

“Whether it is through offering business support or highlighting access to finance

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Gordon Gough, CEO Enterprise Ni, Keynote Speaker Tom Griffiths and Keith Liggott, Legacy Wealth

initiatives, our network of enterprise agencies is playing an important role in stimulating Northern Ireland’s economy.”

Keith Liggett from Legacy Wealth, the headline sponsor of the Awards said: “We are proud to support the awards again this year to show our commitment in helping to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship collectively if we are to improve Northern Ireland’s economic performance.

Entrepreneurial tenacity and determination is alive and well and the 2015 Northern Ireland Enterprise Awards is the place to be to showcase Northern Ireland’s brightest business talent.”

Award Categories include: 1. Business Adviser of the Year 2. Business Start Up of the Year 3. Business Support Initiative of the Year 4. Exploring Enterprise Programme Personal Development Award 5. Growth Business of the Year 6. Innovation Award 7. Social Enterprise of the Year 8. Young Entrepreneur of the Year 9. Special Recognition Award; Indigenous Business media partners for the Enterprise NI Awards

Entrepreneurs to take over St George’s Market oung Enterprise and Belfast City Council are working together to give Northern Ireland’s young entrepreneurs their biggest ever sales platform at St George’s Market on Wednesday 2 December from 10am - 2pm.

The Big Market will host more than 60 businesses which have all been started by young people aged between 10 and 25 years.

Young Enterprise chief executive Carol Fitzsimons commented “The Big Market will be a fantastic opportunity for these young people to gain experience in trading in a live market environment, whilst developing their skills and confidence for a successful future in life and in work.”

We invite everyone in the city centre and beyond to show their support for these young people by calling in to see the future of entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland.

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Young Enterprise 2014­15 company Sonus, from Wallace High School, Lisburn

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IN THE HEADLINES

Belfast gets a real SPARK!

So what do you get when you use Tailored Appointments?

uilding and maintaining a sales pipeline is critical to any business’s future success. It’s a well-known and accepted fact. But it is this still one of the biggest hurdles a business faces in achieving growth; and taking the decision to outsource any part of your business is also a big decision. That’s why at T.AP we provide you with your own account manager who will work with you and your team to ensure we become a seamless extension to your business.

You might just be after a supply of targeted, qualified B2B or B2C leads and the nurturing of your pipeline; or attendees to your training course or exhibition stand; maybe you’re testing the water with online sales and need a team to close the deal – Tailored Appointments can be there with you, efficiently driving your ROI. We also believe in using every ounce of our combined 40 years experience in this business, so when all those leads we generate produce the need to increase your field sales team, come talk to us. We’re in the business and we know the business, and the people out there who can do the business!

Contact us now for an informal chat on how we may help. Call 028 9099 4820.

B Richard Donnan, Ulster Bank Regional Managing Director, Corporate & Commercial, Lynsey Cunningham, Entrepreneur Development Manager, Ulster Bank, and Ken Whipp, Entrepreneurial Spark

ith a new Hatchery for entrepreneurs opening in the heart of Belfast…the world's largest free business accelerator for early stage and growing ventures is coming to Northern Ireland.

Attendees at a recent Ulster Bank-hosted event were encouraged to show entrepreneurs from across Northern Ireland how they could benefit from the innovative programme. Powered by Ulster Bank, the Entrepreneurial Spark Hatchery will provide free space for up to 80 entrepreneurs.

Based in Lombard Street, the new accelerator and growth hub is now open to applications from new and existing businesses with exciting growth potential and will add to seven other Entrepreneurial Spark locations that are already open in Scotland and England.

The completely free Enablement programme sees entrepreneurs, or ‘Chiclets’, based in the Hatchery as they benefit from intensive support, as well as essential start-up necessities such as superfast broadband, office space and telephones – removing many of the day-to-day obstacles to entrepreneurship and fostering a like-minded community of exciting young businesses.

Successful applicants will form part of the first intake for the new Hatchery in February 2016, embarking on a six-month programme of business acceleration.

Richard Donnan, Regional Managing Director, Corporate and Commercial Northern Ireland at Ulster Bank, welcomed the move.

He said: “Ulster Bank was founded by a group of local merchants who saw the chance to build an institution that would serve the banking needs of their local community.

“Entrepreneurship is in our DNA, and we’re excited to see the new and innovative companies that will be developed through

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this venture.

“Creating a culture that is supportive and welcoming towards entrepreneurs is essential in developing the local private sector. This new hatchery will bring creative, like-minded people together under the same roof and I look forward to seeing the results.”

Jim Duffy, Chief Executive Optimist at Entrepreneurial Spark, said: “I am really looking forward to opening our Belfast Hatchery in partnership with Ulster Bank and to what we hope will be a collaborative approach to supporting the entrepreneurial community in Northern Ireland. Belfast has a great start-up culture and we can’t wait to be part of it.”

For more information on the Belfast hatchery and details of how to apply visit www.entrepreneurial-spark.com

About Entrepreneurial Spark ntrepreneurial Spark is the world’s largest free business accelerator for early stage and growing ventures from all sectors that is completely free for the entrepreneur and takes no equity in supported businesses.

Located across seven Hatcheries in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ayrshire, Bristol, Brighton, Leeds and Birmingham, with further UK locations launching over the next 18 months, Entrepreneurial Spark’s vision is to develop an entrepreneurial revival across the UK.

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Graduation comes early for BITC ine people have graduated from Business in the Community’s Building on Talent programme.

The initiative, supported by BT, seeks to help businesses identify talented individuals within their organisations and channel their drive and enthusiasm through tailored shortterm projects within the community and voluntary sector. The programme is endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM).

If you’re business is committed to developing its people, find out more about Building on Talent by contacting clairel.gordon@bitcni.org.uk, visit www.bitcni.org.uk or call 9046 0606.

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IN THE HEADLINES

CPL Q3 Employment Market Monitor • 96% of employers say attitude trumps skills in candidate hunt • 60% of employers say we won’t fire you for CV lies but you better be good • 60% of interviews will throw curve balls • Half of companies now banning social media in the workplace • Practical experience is vital for students Dublin and Belfast based company Cpl, the largest recruitment agency on the island of Ireland, has today released its Employment Market Monitor report for the third quarter 2015.

The survey highlights that with a shortage of some skills, particularly in the tech sector, nearly all employers today are choosing attitude over experience. 96 per cent of nearly 500 employers who responded to the Cpl Employment Market Monitor believe that staff with a great attitude can be taught the skills they need.

The survey also found that 60 per cent of employers will turn a blind eye to CV embellishment or lies, so long as the candidate performs well. A further 60 per cent of employers throw curved balls in interviews – asking impossible questions to assess the candidate’s reaction to the challenge.

Nearly all employers (95 per cent) need students with practical experience during their education. Theoretical know-how no longer cuts it: they want students who have practical experience of their chosen field before landing their first job.

Fifty per cent of employers are now banning social media in the workplace.

Previous Cpl Employment Market Monitors

showed employers estimating productivity lost to social media at approximately 10 hours per week per employee. However, it is yet to be seen how easy such a ban will be to police since staff can use their own devices at work.

“This Quarter’s Employment Market Monitor shows that with continued jobs growth in the FDI sectors, companies are finding it more challenging to locate all the skill sets they would like in candidates. As a result they’re opting for will over skill,” commented Áine Brolly, chief executive, Cpl Northern Ireland.

“We’re also seeing that when a job candidate tells a little white lie about experience, they can get away with it so long as they are good. However, high performance is required for an employer to let the lie go,” she added.

Introducing eir ntroducing eir… the new name for Ireland’s largest telecommunications company. The new face of the company formerly known as eircom reflects the dynamism and confidence of one of Ireland’s most recognisable brands. The distinctive brand reveal is a major milestone for the company, revitalising and modernising the look and feel of the Group.

In Northern Ireland, the company has been operating locally as eircom Business Solutions NI. Since entering the market in 2007, it has experienced continued success, growth and expansion, investing £20 million and creating over 50 full-time jobs. The new rebrand will see the company adopting the name 'eir Business NI' supported by an impactful new look and feel.

General manager at eir Business NI, Darren Lemon, said: “The new identity reflects not just how far we have come but our real

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ambition to continue to deliver to the local economy through progressive ICT solutions as well as unlocking opportunities for enterprise businesses and public sector organisations. We’ve grown, we’ve invested and we’ve upskilled - the time is right to modernise our brand.”

Now known as eir Business NI, the company today announced annual profits for its UK business of £4.9 million for the year ending June 2015, placing it in a strong position as one of Northern Ireland’s top performing companies, grown organically in just eight years.

Business First and Bill McCartney partner with International Academy of Digital Marketing for 2016

orthern Ireland’s Social Media Trainer and Business First, Northern Ireland’s business magazine, are partnering with the International Academy of Digital Marketing to bring a series of Digital Marketing Workshops, Diplomas and online training to Northern Ireland in 2016.

Speaking at the announcement of the partnership Gavin Walker, managing editor of Business First, said that this was a very exciting step for the company.

“We have been working with Bill for a number of years now bringing his expertise in all aspects of digital marketing to many of Northern Ireland’s businesses. So it is very exciting for us to be partnering with both him and the Academy to provide an educational framework for 2016 and beyond.

“Over the past three years digital marketing has become an invaluable part of every marketers toolkit.

“With many of the participants at our workshops expressing a desire to expand their knowledge and levels of expertise, we believe that this new partnership will allow us to provide that at a level not previously offered in Northern Ireland.”

Bill added that he was very much looking forward to the new challenge and hoped to be able to offer the first of the courses in the new curriculum from February 2016.

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OFFICIAL PARTNER

International Academy of Digital Marketing

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Northern Ireland is pre-occupied with Short-termism

by Roseann Kelly, CEO Women in Business Northern Ireland

“Innovation is certainly an area we need to focus on if we are to rebalance and grow our economy. The evidence is clear: innovative businesses are successful.” Roseann Kelly emember to old BCC television sit com Allo Allo set in a small-town café in German-occupied France during the Second World War and the key line ”Listen very carefully I will say this only once.”

Well I guess once is not enough in a Northern Ireland occupied by Short-termism.

I attended a business breakfast event last week and the usual talk about corporation tax came up and how it would attract foreign direct investment.

Don’t get me wrong I support the reduction of corporation tax but I was delighted when a venture capital investor challenged the sliver bullet perception of corporation tax reduction and said that an extra 7.5p in the pound was not a key factor for him, in fact in a list of the top 12 reasons why companies invest in a country, tax was number seven in the list. The number one attraction is its people, a skilled, talented workforce.

So I hark back to some earlier comments I made last year regarding education: Innovation is certainly an area we need to focus on if we are to rebalance and grow our economy.

The evidence is clear: innovative businesses are successful. But what is an innovative business? It is a business that has innovative people.

When asked about innovation key speaker’s

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talk about confidence and curiosity, the characteristics of a two year old? I would add another “C” to that, creativity.

Are our young people leaving school with these characteristics?

As with any system of manufacture, if we are to produce innovative people we must have an innovative process. Our education system needs to innovate, it needs root and branch change if we are to reach our full potential as a business community, as a society, as Northern Ireland.

Our current education system does not facilitate the production of innovators. What happens to our two year olds? How can we keep and nurture their three Cs. I am sure there are educationalists looking at this and that they have studied and researched many systems all over the world. So why do we not have what we deserve?

Is there a real desire to overhaul the system, and to give Northern Ireland the most innovative education system in the world?

I am sure there are many who will say we can’t do it; no funds, political reasons….. Lots of reason why we can’t! But like the two year old with a confident curiosity we should repeatedly ask “Why not”? Remember the old phrase “where there is a will, there is a way”.

As I have also said before Northern Ireland

is small, so we should be flexible, our small size is an opportunity to be innovative.

Imagine a world class education system, Northern Ireland the key destination for international educationalists. Imagine the far reaching impact such a system would have children’s confidence curiosity and creativity nurtured. Imagine a system that delivers innovative and entrepreneurial young people.

Imagine confident young people, who do not fear failure, who are not threatened by other cultures, who are creative and who have been educated about a healthy life style.

As with any good innovation, idea or plan you need to start with a blank page, we need to go back to the start; the start for any society is its children.

I sat on minister Farrys Expert panel for the review of Apprenticeship and Youth Training and I was very disturbed and saddened by a statistic that was shared. Now listen very carefully I should only need to say this once…. 30 per cent of our young people leave school with NOT ONE qualification!

Education is the foundation of a thriving economy , this I will say again and again and again.

COVER STORY

Digital innovation in the insurance sector delivers major growth for MCL Insurance Services

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Gavin Walker talks with MCL Insurance Services managing director, Gary McClarty, about the company’s decision to go online and how 2016 will see the launch of an exciting new service to serve Northern Ireland’s quickly expanding SME market.

ou might not yet have come across the name MCL Insurance Services, but there is a very good chance that you have interacted with the company in one of its online guises.

Under the brand titles of its4women.com, 25+.ie and BoxyMo, MCL Insurance Service has conquered the internet and developed brands that now serve many of Ireland’s motorists including one in three Irish women drivers - and is writing £50m worth of cover per year. This is a Northern Ireland company that has taken a standard business model (motor insurance) and turned it into a digital business for the 21st century.

Based in Coleraine and employing 92 people, many of whom are employed in the company’s customer experience department, MCL has enjoyed a 100 per cent growth in business over the past 12 months now hosting in excess of 80,000 policy holders across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. And as Gary explained, “We have always been based in Coleraine and it’s where I hope to continue creating more jobs for local people over the next 12 months as the company goes from strength to strength.”

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From a company that does digital to a digital company Up until 2006 MCL Insurance was a traditional insurance brokerage serving businesses and individuals in a provincial town. But with a determination to grow the business, Gary began to investigate the possibilities of ‘going digital’.

“We were very aware of the possibilities of the internet to change our business completely and began looking around for the proprietary software that would allow us to move our business online.

“We wanted to provide an online service that would reflect our existing commitment to customer service and didn’t want to be just another online insurance provider.”

After a lot of research it became obvious that the software simply did not exist and it was at that point that the company would move from an insurance company that embraced IT to an IT company that sold insurance.

“When it became obvious that the software we wanted didn’t exist, we took the decision to hire five developers to create our own to our specifications,” Gary explained.

“We formed a new IT company, Dotsys, and gradually developed the system that led to the launch of Its4Women.ie in 2007

which moved us from a regional to a national insurance company.”

On the back of the phenomenal growth of the Its4Women brand the company has gone on to launch 25Plus, (2010) providing car insurance to the 25 year old plus market, and most recently Boxymo (2013), which has introduced telematic technology to the Northern Ireland market serving younger drivers who are prepared to have their insurance premiums determined by the care with which they approach their driving.

“The BoxyMo product has proven very successful in this market as it reduces the risk factors for us in what has traditionally been a very high-risk, high cost market,” Gary explained.

“We are presently looking at the product for the car fleet market where the technology can help improve driving ability while reducing fuel and maintenance costs by up to 20 per cent. It’s a very attractive proposition for Northern Ireland business.”

Back to basics to best serve Northern Ireland business The company is now looking at a new model of business to offer Northern Ireland’s SMEs from 2016.

“We know that the vast majority of businesses in Northern Ireland are smaller, family run companies and we are presently developing a new suite of services and products specifically for that market,” Gary said.

These new services will be built on the company’s established commitment to great value and outstanding customer service, but interestingly will not be based exclusively online.

“Because of the demands of small business, we know that they prefer a personal rather than simply an online service. So the model we are developing is based as much on our established commitment to great customer service as it is on technology.

“By bringing them both together, we believe we can offer Northern Ireland’s small businesses an approach to insurance that they simply won’t have previously experienced.

“It’s a very exciting time for us here at MCL Insurance and with the economy beginning to move again, we know there is a lot of opportunity to use the expertise and market knowledge we have accumulated over the past seven years to continue to provide new services and products that will serve our customers.”

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BEST PRACTICE

Employers can side-step legal pitfalls by being proactive Rosemary Lundy, Partner and Head of Employment at leading law firm Arthur Cox, outlines the current hot topics in employment law and urges employers to seek advice – before it’s too late. to in-house seminars, our clients receive regular updates on current topics of interest and employment law developments. We also regularly publish articles in a range of journals and provide a monthly, web-based employment clinic dealing with the full spectrum of employment issues.

Social media

lmost every employee will have felt the urge to vent frustration about their boss or company – or both – at some stage.

Traditionally, this has meant letting off steam at the water fountain in the office, over lunch in the canteen or over a coffee after work.

However, given the prevalence of social media in people’s lives, many employees are now turning to Twitter and Facebook to air their workplace complaints.

A growing number of employers are suffering at the hands of individual staff members posting critical – and sometimes extremely offensive – comments about their line managers specifically, or their companies in general.

Advising clients on how best to navigate the potential minefield presented by social media has become an increasingly important aspect of the work of the Human Resources and Employment Law team at leading law firm Arthur Cox. The team is led by Partner Rosemary Lundy, who has extensive experience in all aspects of employment law, with a particular specialism in equality from her previous role as an inhouse lawyer with the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

Rosemary commented: “The Employment Law team at Arthur Cox regularly delivers bespoke training and seminars to our clients.

As part of our added value ethos, in addition

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“One of those issues which has assumed huge significance in recent years is, of course, social media. Indeed, there’s hardly a day goes by when our team does not have to advise clients about a social media problem.

“Many employees are now used to sharing so much of their life through social media that complaints about a boss or company, which used to be confined to the water fountain or canteen, are now being posted on Facebook and Twitter almost instantaneously via smart phones.

“What a lot of people seem to forget is that they have their company’s name referenced on their profile and, given the nature of the social media platform, any negative comments about their job can become a very public discussion.

“Thankfully, most employers are starting to appreciate the importance of incorporating social media into their company policies. We have drafted social media policies for a range of high-profile firms’ company handbooks.

“This is an area which more and more employers are going to have to get up to speed with and realise the potential damage to their business of not putting the appropriate measures in place before incidents happen.”

Travel time Employment law is such a fast-moving, dynamic area of law that social media is only one of an extensive range of new topics constantly coming to the fore.

These include sickness absence, holiday pay, developments in family oriented leave, travel and working time and statutory minimum pay levels.

Rosemary continued: “Travel time for mobile workers is one aspect of the employer-employee relationship which has come under increased scrutiny recently.

“This is following a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that travel time is working time in the case of ‘mobile’ workers who don’t have a fixed place of work.

“The decision will have implications for

employers in Northern Ireland with mobile workforces, such as sales teams, field maintenance staff and care workers. However, its impact is not as dramatic as some recent media reports have suggested as the Directive, to which the ruling applies, is not related to pay.

“Pay is an entirely separate matter which is governed by the contract of employment and national legislation, namely the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) legislation.

“Employers should consider route planning and daily schedules – it’s best to ensure that assignments start and finish near employees’ homes – and, importantly, continue to keep a watching brief on this issue as there are likely to be ongoing developments.”

The much-discussed Shared Parental Leave (SPL) changes which have been in force since April are still very much a hot topic and Rosemary insists that it is critical for employers to communicate notice period policies around SPL to ensure that business performance doesn’t suffer.

She is also reminding employers that they must continue to be mindful of the recent rulings around holiday pay, as they could have significant ramifications on how employers in Northern Ireland should calculate holiday pay going forward.

National Living Wage Two other burning issues which Arthur Cox has been advising clients on in recent weeks and months are the National Living Wage and judicial cautions for HR managers in terms of dealing with disciplinary processes.

Rosemary continued: “In July 2015, the UK government announced the introduction of a premium, over and above the National Minimum Wage (NMW), for workers aged 25 and over, known as the National Living Wage (NLW). Set to be introduced in April 2016, this new development will effectively result in a prescribed premium on the minimum wage, taking the level to £7.20 for those over 25.

“At the start of September 2015, a package of measures was also introduced which is intended to improve compliance with the NMW and the NLW when the latter is introduced in April 2016. Employers in breach of the new rules will face higher fines and potentially be disqualified from holding company directorships.

“While it was unclear at first, it is now evident that these measures will apply across

“Travel time for mobile workers is one aspect of the employer-employee relationship which has come under increased scrutiny recently. This is following a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that travel time is working time in the case of ‘mobile’ workers who don’t have a fixed place of work.”

Rosemary Lundy Rosemary Lundy and her team at Arthur Cox regularly deliver bespoke training and seminars to clients

the UK, meaning that employers in Northern Ireland need to be aware of the changes over the coming months. Certain industries are likely to feel the changes more than others, with the biggest impact expected in the retail and hospitality sectors.

HR’s role “Meanwhile, a recent decision by the GB Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has provided a useful reminder on the scope of the HR role in disciplinary investigations.

“The key lessons from the case for HR practitioners is that, while their role in providing support and guidance to decision makers during disciplinary investigations is a vital one, HR personnel must now be more mindful of the limitations of their role and influence during such investigations.

“HR should ensure that its advice is limited to matters of law and procedure, such as ensuring that all necessary issues have been addressed clearly. It should not advise on culpability or the appropriate sanction to be imposed, apart from addressing issues of consistency.

“It’s imperative that the report of a manager investigating a disciplinary matter is the product of his or her own investigations. In the wake of this case, HR practitioners would be well-advised to record in writing a summary of their advice and assistance, so as to provide evidence that they haven’t crossed

any lines or influenced the decision makers.”

In-depth knowledge With one of the largest advisory teams in Northern Ireland, Arthur Cox also has international talent in its Dublin and London offices for clients to tap into, which has seen the practice become recognised as experts in cross-border and UK-wide issues as well as local cases.

Arthur Cox advises clients on a wide variety of employment law and personnel issues, providing specialist advice on areas such as discipline, grievances, whistleblowing, discrimination, recruitment and selection, pay and benefits, long-term sickness absence, Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE), commercial transactions and industrial disputes.

Rosemary believes that developing an indepth knowledge of the client’s day-to-day business operation is key to delivering the most effective legal advice.

Rosemary commented: “Our team acts for a wide range of public and private sector organisations, including many major local employers and local authorities as well as multi-national corporations.

Pedigree “Our first-class pedigree is built on our service delivery ethos of proactivity and partnership – we make it our mission to understand our clients’ needs, develop a close

relationship and make ourselves entirely familiar with all relevant aspects of their business.

“We become an extension of their organisation, enabling us to identify potential legal pitfalls and provide advice on how to avoid these, where possible, before they arise.

“An issue such as TUPE or redundancy may seem daunting and complicated at the outset for an employer, but it’s our job to guide them through every stage, ensure all statutory requirements are met and help remove the stress from their shoulders.

“It’s important for law firms not to be precious about their expertise and knowledge. We have it all at our fingertips and aim to arm clients with as much knowledge as possible to enable them to develop effective strategies which are easily implemented.

“We also keep a close eye on market trends and have excellent visibility of the full range of employee benefits which employers currently offer to attract new talent and improve retention rates. We are happy to share this knowledge with our clients.”

The Employment Law team at Arthur Cox is well positioned to advise on how employers need to amend policies, procedures and practices to ensure they are compliant with all employment laws. Call +44 28 9023 0007 for further information.

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15

COMMENTARY

Restructured Northern Ireland Executive needed to deliver better future “In the long run, our private sector needs to grow very substantially, maybe even to double in size for Northern Ireland to have a truly successful economy. The first step towards this goal must be political stability. It is therefore vital that the current political talks have a successful outcome.” hese were the words from CBI Chair, Colin Walsh, at the CBI Gala Lunch in September, which captured the mood of CBI members in the room perfectly.

But what is the successful outcome? CBI Northern Ireland members have made it very clear that they regard Northern Ireland as being better off with devolution and they do not want direct rule. In the same regard, they do not want the old Executive back either.

What we need is a restructured, properly functioning Executive, with new mechanisms and procedures that deliver results and bring an end to the recent never-ending series of standoffs, logjams and showdowns.

The people are tired of a Stormont that staggers from crisis to crisis. Our political leaders must deliver political stability as this is the foundation for building a more prosperous Northern Ireland.

Once the political foundations are in place, a new economic vision is required. This new vision must recognise that Northern Ireland competes within a global marketplace for investment and talent, appreciates the value of investing in infrastructure, and above all, understands that tough economic choices cannot remain undecided forever.

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What we need is a restructured, properly functioning Executive, with new mechanisms and procedures that deliver results and bring an end to the recent never-ending series of standoffs, logjams and showdowns.

Nigel Smyth

To chart a path towards greater prosperity for Northern Ireland, the CBI have launched its 2016 Assembly Manifesto in Northern Ireland, ‘Punching above our weight: 12 Steps to create a more prosperous Northern Ireland’.

At its core, our manifesto argues that the economy must remain the primary focus of the next Executive, and calls on political leaders to focus on developing a long term economic vision that recognises that Northern Ireland’s future prosperity is dependent on a successful enterprise sector.

The CBI’s 12 Steps Manifesto is businesses’ view of what a new economic vision for Northern Ireland should focus on.

Increasing competitiveness, encouraging innovation, raising education standards, investing in infrastructure and instituting widespread public sector reform are each a part of the solution to the overarching need to rebalance our economy and increase opportunities for all.

The future economic prosperity of Northern Ireland will in a large part depend on the

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA at the CBI Annual Lunch

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decisions taken during the next Assembly mandate. These decisions will often be tough, but are ultimately necessary to secure a successful economic future for Northern Ireland.

The next Executive has a historic opportunity to put in place far reaching measures that will close the economic gap with other regions and nations and deliver the prosperity that Northern Ireland so desperately needs.

Achieving a more sustainable economy and providing many more, and better opportunities for all, will require leadership, co-operation and partnerships.

The prize of successfully resolving this latest political impasse is tremendous, and the opportunities enormous. The alternative is an anaemic economy, dependent on handouts from Westminster, and perhaps most critically, an entire generation resigned to the prospect of an era of lost opportunities We urge political leaders to adopt the policies set out in our Manifesto, and ensure that Northern Ireland punches above its weight.

CBI chairman Colin Walsh with First Trust’s Des Moore and Minister for Health Simon Hamilton

The CBI want to see the next Northern Ireland Executive deliver on The 12 Steps To Prosperity Implement all aspects of the Stormont House Agreement to unlock Corporation Tax powers, setting a ‘date and a rate’ no later than the end of May 2016.

Speak with one voice in arguing that Northern Ireland’s economic future is best served by continuing to be a member of a reformed European Union.

Continue to prioritise the economy ensuring a strong focus on supporting enterprise, increasing investment in the knowledge economy and focusing on growing Northern Ireland’s exports. Continued support for the ‘Access to Finance’ initiative will be essential in the short-term, whilst raising awareness of alternative sources of funding is now a key priority.

Complete a strategic review of our employment laws by the end of 2016, with subsequent legislation focused on ensuring our laws are competitive with those of the UK and Ireland, reducing the consultation period for collective redundancies to 30 days and increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal rights to two years.

By the end of 2017, agree the purpose of educational outcomes and reform our school and college

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systems to deliver rigorous, rounded and grounded young people, including requiring the study of maths and English up to age 18, offering separate sciences as a study option at GCSE, and revamping current ICT study options by making computing, including coding, a core subject in school teaching.

Complete a review of funding for higher education by March 2017 with a view to a new settlement having effect from 2018/19. In the interim increase university tuition fees to at least £6,000 to ensure a high quality university education remains widely available.

Address our energy challenges by prioritising the delivery of the second North-South Interconnector, levelling the playing field on energy supply by restructuring electricity tariffs, and develop a longer-term strategic energy vision to attract investment in energy infrastructure to deliver competitive prices.

Set clear timescales for the delivery of key infrastructure projects, including the A6 Belfast/Derry~Londonderry road, through a new draft Investment Strategy by the end of June 2016.

Create a new procurement and delivery agency by the end of 2017 with responsibility for all public sector capital projects other than those under the remit of the new Department for Infrastructure. The Executive’s pipeline of works should also be laid before the Assembly quarterly for review and debate from autumn 2016.

Review the Strategic Planning Policy Statement by the end of 2017 to achieve a clear economic ‘golden thread’ throughout that helps address our competitiveness challenges around housing, office space and telecommunications.

After the election, the parties entitled to Executive seats should agree a draft and more strategic, outcomes focused Programme for Government and Economic Strategy by the end of May 2016 – and before running d’Hondt.

Include the development of a strategic and comprehensive public service reform strategy as part of the Programme for Government and publish the strategy by the end of September 2016.

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17

BEST PRACTICE

Succession and talent reviews are critical to developing your Leadership Pipeline

By Anne Phillipson, Programme Director – William J Clinton Leadership Institute critical roles, and the benefit of conducting such a thorough review is that you can begin to target these needs in a structured way.

For example, perhaps the individual requires a broader perspective on the business and a stretch assignment or lateral move to a larger role or new location would expose them to new areas of the business. Or they may require relationships with key external stakeholders, and introductions can be made. Or, if there are specific knowledge and skills gaps, training may be identified.

Whatever the need, a targeted development plan should follow the review process, after the individual has been given their feedback and can be involved in shaping their own development plan.

What are the benefits disciplined approach to assessing your talent, understanding their career aspirations and factoring that into assignment decisions can significantly improve retention and build your leadership pipeline.

More and more businesses are realising that managing and retaining talent is critical to the future of the organisation, and if not done right, can become a real business risk.

Organisations need to review their talent annually, identify which are the critical roles and develop people to step into these roles.

If there is no internal person ready to step into a critical role, then businesses have to look outside. This is a costly and lengthy process with no guarantee that an external candidate, however good on paper, will fit into the organisation, get up to speed, and perform.

A much safer bet is to develop a healthy talent pipeline from within, where you take a known good performer and help prepare them for the future.

Succession and developing talent doesn’t happen by chance, and requires a rigorous process to achieve good outcomes. HR can certainly lead this process, but it requires the buy-in and support from the entire executive team throughout.

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Four steps to take 1. Leadership Talent Review: discussions with individuals to understand their career interests, and assess their current

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performance against a leadership profile.

Typical rating criteria include: performance & values–not just ‘what’ they achieved but ‘how’ they achieved it; leadership potential –could they be promoted one or two grades above their current level?, and readiness –with focussed development, could they be ready for promotion in the short-medium term?

2. Identification of Critical Roles for Succession: The top team identifies the roles that, should the current post-holder leave for any reason, would need an immediate replacement. These are roles where the business would suffer significantly should the post be vacant for any length of time.

3. Talent Review Meeting: Taking each mission-critical role, and reviewing with the entire Executive Team the potential succession candidates. This open discussion not only provides an opportunity to gain additional insights and perspectives on the individual, but also gives the entire executive team exposure to the talent across the organisation. The discussion culminates in a ranked list of potential successors.

A framework, such as the Nine Box matrix (with performance on the ‘x’ axis and potential on the ‘y’ axis), provides a snapshot of the talent pipeline. The ratings for boxes 1,2 and 3 are typically the top performers who then receive development to help prepare them for the future positions.

4. Targeted Development Plans. Each individual will have their own development needs in order to prepare them for these

Investing in succession and talent manages risks and brings about many benefits: • The individuals identified through the process are the top talent in the organisation, and should know that they are being treated as such; that the executive team believe in them and are willing to invest in them for the future.

• This helps to retain your top people. After all, if we don’t tell them they’re valued, there’s a risk they will go somewhere else.

• It sends a very positive message to the rest of the organisation when a key position is filled from within.

• The knowledge and experience that the internal candidate has is retained within the company.

• The learning curve is less steep, and you know the cultural fit is there.

• Not to mention the reassurance that comes from having a plan in place and not feeling vulnerable should a key position become vacant.

All business leaders need to look to the future, not only to spot new markets, products, customers and opportunities, but also to develop the talent that will deliver that future, and put plans in place now to ensure that talent is ready and able to step up. The future will be here sooner than we think.

Priorities for good Governance

by Linda Brown, Director IoD Northern Ireland ommenting earlier this year on the priorities for the incoming UK government, the Institute of Directors highlighted the need for greater stewardship and ownership behaviour from the investment management industry.

With the changing environment in funding for growth – particularly noticeable in Northern Ireland - that has emerged from the banking crisis, external investors in the form of angel investors, venture capitalists, fund managers and so on have the ability to exercise a long-term ownership role that will be crucial to the performance and legitimacy of UK corporate governance in the years ahead.

The purpose of corporate governance is to facilitate effective, entrepreneurial and prudent management that can deliver the long-term success of the company.

Over two decades of constructive usage, the UK Corporate Governance Code has contributed to improved corporate governance in the UK. As part of a framework of legislation, regulation and best practice, the UK listed market has one of the best development governance frameworks in the world.

Investors who make decisions based on a short timeframe can, however, cause considerable disruption and uncertainty for a business. The Institute of Directors has urged the UK government to build on the success of the UK Code and make strides towards promoting more long-termism in the equity markets.

The IoD also wants government to attach greater importance to the training and development of non-executive Directors through recognised training providers, such as the IoD, and to work with investors to ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities as stewards of listed companies.

Director training can also create greater Boardroom diversity - without the need for excessive and costly regulation.

However, governance – aka risk minimisation – is not confined to big companies or PLCs. Governance has a vital role to play in every business from start-up to eventual sale.

Any business owner seeking funding for growth, planning to appoint a non-executive Director or looking to sell the business on, should be aware that potential investors and cautious non-executives will carry out due diligence on the company before making any decisions. Putting in place the elements of good governance from the very outset places the company on a strong foundation for longterm success.

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The purpose of corporate governance is to facilitate effective, entrepreneurial and prudent management that can deliver the long-term success of the company.

Linda Brown

Many Directors fall into the role almost by chance. Some will have come up through the company and then been promoted to the Board based on their success in a functional role – so the Sales Executive rises to Sales Manager and then to Sales Director.

All too often the move is made without any training in what it means to be a Board Director – the key difference between the functional and the strategic role, not to mention the legal responsibilities and liabilities attaching to a Board role.

Similarly anyone starting up a new business – University spin-outs, young entrepreneurs, etc – will know all about their product or service, they will do their market research and their business plan, but will they have thought about good governance? It’s unlikely.

This is the rationale behind the New Directors Boot Camp created by IoD Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Science Park’s NISP Connect programme.

The Boot Camp provides a ‘light touch’ introduction to the legal role and responsibilities of a Director and Board, but perhaps more importantly introduces delegates to a panel of experienced Directors who can talk about the highs and lows of their Boardroom careers.

Another important element of the Boot Camp is an interactive case study where delegates take on the role of the Board members faced with a tricky situation.

Delegates can experience how easy it is to become embroiled in a spectacular governance failure!

It has been accepted that the behaviour and culture within corporations (particularly in banking) did indeed contribute to the last financial crisis.

Boards have a crucial part to play in remedying this issue and have in particular a crucial part to play in setting the culture and ethos of the business as a whole.

An effective Board is at the heart of good governance so the IoD will continue to lobby to improve the governance of all organisations – whether big or small, or in the private, public or third sectors – and will provide training and development opportunities to support leaders who are committed to being the best Directors they can be.

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BEST PRACTICE

Succession Planning in Family Businesses Succession planning requires careful consideration if it’s to avoid pitfalls, says Maybeth Shaw, Partner at BDO Northern Ireland he importance of family businesses to the local Northern Irish as well as the wider UK economy has long been established with more than three quarters of UK businesses estimated to be family owned and managed.

Regardless of the exact percentage, it is clear that family businesses represent a key part of the private sector. However, estimates suggest that the majority of family businesses fail to adequately plan for or manage the succession of their business to the next generation, particularly in earlier-stage family companies. Problems in the succession process will, as a result, often lead to the company either being sold or not surviving at all.

Such an outcome can be avoided with careful planning and indeed, there are numerous examples of companies that have found the keys to longevity and prospered over several generations.

We have found that there are a variety of sources which can enable family businesses to make better decisions, keeping the family and its business better aligned and thereby allowing for a smoother succession.

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The Problems with Succession Doing nothing about succession can often prove disastrous for family companies but it is a situation that many find themselves faced with. The process of successfully transferring family businesses to the next generation raises complex and emotion-laden problems.

Many business owners are reluctant to give up control and preferring to live with ambiguity, decide that avoiding the issue is the best course for them.

Some of the factors that can lead to this position are fear of retirement or loss of identity, resistance to change, a lack of forward financial planning or an inability to chose among family members to “take over the reins” of the business.

Managing the Transition Succession may be an organised and gradual process, in which case a trained successor grows into the role under the owner’s supervision and guidance. Or, instead, it can take place abruptly and unexpectedly when the owner becomes ill or dies, in which case an unprepared family member can suddenly find the job forced upon them.

We would always recommend that planning should be started early and ideally the owner’s transition from managing director to

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chairman of the board or full retirement is so gradual that it is seamless and therefore easier to adjust to. In our experience, this allows the founder of the business to gradually separate his or her identity from that of the business and become accustomed to a new role or retirement by increments.

It is important for families to establish formal mechanisms, rules and procedures as a way of helping them to avoid (or at least manage) tensions and divisions which, if left unchecked, interfere with the effective functioning of the business.

Setting up a family council and drawing up a written family constitution (recording the family’s agreed policies on the business and other issues) tends to provide a structural framework that helps family members focus on the important issues, progress through problems and find ways of working with each other.

For similar reasons, we have found that developing a written succession plan that incorporates a step-by-step approach to dealing with the practical and psychological aspects of the transition process is often invaluable.

As a minimum, the plan should cover: - A leadership and skills development programme for potential successors. This would include outside work experience and a preliminary outline of a planned career path within the business - The process for choosing a successor – for example, the business criteria to be employed, whether the decision is given to an independent board or a committee of family members.

- A detailed timetable that charts each phase of the owner’s reduced role in the business.

- A timetable mapping out the chosen successor’s expanding role and responsibilities.

- The plan for organisational succession, covering the structure and functioning of the management team after the transition.

Another vital component is to make sure to be inclusive. Input from family members and management as well as other key stakeholders can help clarify their concerns, interest and priorities. In our experience, we have found that communication is key in any process that involves such diverse, and potentially conflicting, opinions.

Selecting a successor A fundamental question is often who is the

best person to succeed to a key position in the business. This can often present a number of practical and emotional difficulties.

Sometimes the choice is straightforward There may be a single successor who is both capable and committed and who, during the succession planning process, grows naturally into the role. But some families define ‘logical’ to mean that the eldest son is automatically the first choice. Although this eliminates uncertainty and reduces the likelihood of rivalry among the children, such a rule may result in the appointment of a leader who is less qualified or capable than other candidates. No matter what the role, family members should be recruited into the firm only if, on business grounds, they possess the skills needed to carry out the job effectively.

Exactly the same principle should apply to the recruitment of a new managing director, even if this offends the family norm that all children must be treated equally.

If, after an honest assessment, the conclusion is that there’s little chance of a successful management transition to the next generation, founders should begin to look for some alternatives.

Conclusion BDO has been serving family business for more than 20 years and we are well placed to help deal with the myriad of complex issues which often prevent businesses successfully transitioning to the next generation.

We can facilitate discussions at an early stage between all relevant parties, helping alleviate any fears or apprehensions that they might have, both from a family and a business perspective, and put in place formal procedures and steps that can help facilitate the change.

Succession planning should not be such a taboo topic amongst business owners. If dealt with early, it is possible to get both family and business stakeholders aligned in a way that will help usher in a new era and foster a family business that can continue to succeed for generations to come.

Appointment Setting Lead Generation Telesales Project Management Recruitment Event Management Sales Training Nisoft House. Ravenhill Business Park, Ravenhill road Belfast BT6 8AW Telephone: 02890 994820 Email: info@tailoredappointments.co.uk Web: www.tailoredappointments.co.uk

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Are you confident your enterprise network is ready for what’s next?

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Shane Haslem is Head of Network Enabled Design, eir Business NI.

We are living in a time of unprecedented change. Whole industries are being transformed as the rise of mobile, the automation of processes through machine-tomachine communication and the shift to the cloud become mainstream.

Shane Haslem

e are living in a time of unprecedented change. Whole industries are being transformed as the rise of mobile, the automation of processes through machine-tomachine communication and the shift to the cloud become mainstream. While this change empowers business and end users everywhere, it puts an ever-increasing strain on the network, the underlying super-highway connecting people, data and things.

Even if your network can cope with your enterprise needs now, can it handle the pressures that lie ahead? Change is here and the pace isn’t slowing down, in fact, it’s only getting faster. In 2010 12.5 billion devices were connected to the internet; Cisco says this figure will have doubled to 25 billion by the end of 2015, and in just five years will double again to 50 billion. The nature of these devices will change too.

Employees in today's workplace use an average of three different devices during the day, according to Gartner. As technologies like wearable devices and the Internet of Things become mainstream, Gartner expects this figure to jump to five or six devices.

And BYOD is likely to become more ingrained; Gartner says that, by 2017, 50 per cent of organisations will require their employees to supply their own device.

The digital universe will more than double every two years With more devices and apps, comes increased usage and data. IDC predict that the digital universe will grow by a factor of 10 – from 4.4 trillion gigabytes in 2013 to 44 trillion in 2020 – more than doubling every 2 years.

Data from embedded systems, a major component of the IoT, will grow from two per cent of the digital universe in 2013 to 10 per cent in 2020. As more and more useful data becomes available, the greater the opportunity for enterprises to use it – to learn about customers, improve operations, identify new market gaps – and the more they will need to take advantage of analytics technologies and new data sources.

In addition to multiple, diverse devices entering the workplace and generating massive amounts of data, enterprises are increasingly moving their business, including mission critical apps, into the cloud, fuelling demands for higher bandwidth and mobility. According to IDC, by 2020, more than 40 per cent of the data will be either stored or processed in some way by the cloud, up from 20 per cent in 2013.

Your network is no longer just a commodity, it’s the heartbeat of your business So reliant have we become on our network connection that it has shifted from being a good-

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to-have to must-have, as vital as heat, electricity and water. Just like we flick a light switch and expect light, workers of today expect to be able to connect to their enterprise network from anywhere and any device without having to think about it.

An average enterprise network is expected to run email, internet access, cloud applications, customer communications, printing needs and meetings and a host of other mission critical applications that your business just cannot function properly without.

But clogged with devices, overloaded with applications and data, managed by staff with many other commitments, this average enterprise network may be experiencing more than a few cracks. Keeping this network in a condition where it can support the new way of working will become a full-time job for your IT team, if it’s not already.

As IDC point out, the digital universe is doubling every two years in size but the number of IT professionals on the planet may never double again – or at least not for 20 years.

A fully-managed network for the future We’ve seen some enterprises realise the value in outsourcing their network; handing the management of this utility to experts who can make sure it runs at peak performance. By taking this step, they’ve been able to return to the highvalue tasks of using technological developments to achieve their business’ strategic goals.

With eir Peerless Networks, we offer you something that your future business deserves: the most attentive, proactively managed network you’ll find anywhere.

We design your network to make it work harder for you. We manage your network to ensure it’s always running at its peak – optimum performance, minimal downtime. We continuously monitor your network to stay one step ahead and recommend how to make it work smarter.

Rather than worrying about the challenges that this future digital universe will present, be ready for the opportunities it will bring. These changes can be exciting, adding read value to your business, as long as you are prepared for them.

If you believe your IT team have got better things to do than manage your network, let someone else help.

To find out how Peerless Networks can help your business, contact Shane at uk.linkedin.com/in/shanehaslem or call the eir Business NI team on 0800 039 2000 www.eir.co.uk twitter.com/eirbusinessni linkedin.com/company/eirbusinessni

Taking advantage of the dip Nigel Crawford, Head of Belfast Office, Quilter Cheviot talks about taking advantage of the stock market dip and why now is a good time to invest spare cash. or those with extra cash to spare, now may be a good time to invest in risk assets. The UK market in particular holds opportunity for investors looking to make long term gains.

With markets having taken a dip globally, stocks offer a better return on investment than gilts or other savings vehicles.

Markets have fallen so significantly in fact that they are back to 2011 levels, with the UK market having dropped by more than 10 per cent and certain Asian markets seeing falls of more than 50 per cent. When it comes to the cause of the dip, there are a number of factors at play, the most significant being the recent slowing of China’s economy.

Concerns about the health of the Chinese economy led to global stock markets falling sharply in late August. This, combined with reports that the US Central bank was looking at raising interest rates imminently, caused share prices to tumble, with the UK FTSE 100 falling by 363 points over the course of five days.

China’s economy has been hitting the brakes for some time. In part, this is a deliberate policy from authorities who want the country to rely less on exporting and more on domestic consumption.

This transition also coincides with a reduction in capital investment and infrastructure spending which China had begun in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in order to shore up the economy.

Thus, gross domestic product (GDP) growth of over 10 per cent per annum has now slowed to around seven per cent.

The reason for the jitters in the City, however, is the suspicion that actual growth is below the figure reported.

Recent data showed that exports fell by eight per cent in the year to June* and this was followed by a “mini-devaluation” of the Chinese currency, the yuan.

The recent decision by the Federal Reserve to further delay the first increase in US interest rates since 2006, because of concerns about global economic growth, have added to the uncertainty.

While it’s easy to see how global-economic factors such as China’s slow-down have had a negative impact on Asian, European and US markets, the catalyst for the drop in certain

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sections of the UK market is less obvious.

There appears to have been an indiscriminate sell-off that has, unjustifiably, hit a range of sectors that are domestically focused. For the investor, this opens up opportunities to take advantage of low price stocks in specific market sectors that have felt the greatest impact of the dip.

Investments to consider It is certainly worth considering the following sectors in terms of good value investment potential: • retail sector • house-building sector • property sector Across the board, the UK market has fallen so low that it is currently delivering a yield of 3.5 per cent and this is growing at a rate of eight per cent. When compared against the very low interest rates offered by banks at present and gilts delivering yields of around 1.8 per cent, stock market investment clearly leads the pack in terms of value.

To give a long-term view, at current valuations, if you were to invest historically at this level you would have achieved over five per cent per annum growth for the next ten years.

The strengthening UK recovery should result in gains for equities purchased now while prices are low. The UK economy is in good shape, with jobs being created, a recovering housing market and low inflation leading to more money in the average pocket.

The country is expected to achieve growth of around 2.5 per cent this year*.

Investing your spare cash in the UK markets certainly seems prudent then, when you consider the value represented. Of course, it is important to remember that stock markets are notorious for falling far below where they are expected to and it may well be that current valuations fall further in the short term.

Over the longer term, though, there could be good value to be had. For those wishing to grow their wealth, this current weakness offers an opportunity; and investors shouldn’t be afraid of taking advantage of the recent drop in prices to build their portfolio where possible.

Understanding how this type of investment

can carefully sit as part of a diversified portfolio, how much weight to attribute to it and having a clear understanding of its pros and cons is key to achieving a successful return - which is why it is best left in the hands of the experts.

Quilter Cheviot, part of Old Mutual Wealth, is one of the UK’s largest discretionary investment firms and has 12 offices across the UK, Jersey and Ireland. For more information contact Nigel Crawford in Belfast on 028 9026 1155 or nigel.crawford@quiltercheviot.com.

Investors should remember that the value of investments, and the income from them, can go down as well as up. Investors may not recover what they invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. This document is not intended to constitute financial advice; investments referred to may not be suitable for all recipients. *Source: Quilter Cheviot Limited

RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY

BDO Northern Ireland – back to the future for its advisory department The Changing Market

The Evolution of our Services

Surveys have suggested that Northern Ireland suffered a deeper and longer lasting recession than other parts of the UK, largely due to the dramatic decline in property values.

Despite such a bleak climate, businesses in Northern Ireland have risen to the challenge, adapting to the new economic environment and forging their own paths to recovery.

Recent reports confirm that economic activity is rising and job growth has been strong.

Although the economy has some way to go to return to pre-recession levels, current signals are certainly positive, with 2015 expected to be the strongest year for the Northern Ireland economy since the financial crisis.

Prior to the economic downturn, our work predominately focused on restructuring for growth which included areas such as refinancing, strategic business planning and M&A work. When the Northern Ireland economy went into recession, our hard earned experience and practically based commercial skill sets were put to good use in assisting businesses through the challenges of the downturn, with a focus on operational and financial restructuring.

In our work with local businesses over the last eight years, we have sought to avoid formal restructuring appointments where possible, instead favouring informal, consensual agreements, where all stakeholders needed to work in partnership to achieve the best outcome for all. This partnership approach was not always readily achievable, as its essential foundation, trust, had often dissipated between the stakeholders as a result of the pressures of the downturn.

In many cases our focus has therefore been to facilitate the rebuilding of this trust and the relationships that had previously existed. In favouring such consensual processes, we are proud to have been able to assist in the preservation of over 4,000 jobs.

We have also conducted numerous business reviews where we worked in partnership with the Borrower in order to add value and provide an objective view of the business.

During this process, we focus on the identification of key issues for the business and the remedial actions that must be implemented to achieve sustainability.

Although it is often viewed negatively during a downturn, this is essentially a performance improvement exercise; an exercise which should be welcomed by all businesses whether they are operating during a downturn or within a recovering market.

Unsurprisingly, following the collapse of the property market, we also undertook numerous projects involving property-backed Balance Sheets. Whilst many might assume that such assignments are focused on asset disposal, there are a multitude of alternative options available, depending on the individual circumstances of the Company and indeed the asset(s).

Our solutions have included a combination of Refinancing, Debt Restructuring, Joint Venture Build-Out Schemes, Partial Asset Disposals, Profit Sharing and Site Fine Arrangements. Our key objective in all such projects is to maximise value, applying objectivity and lateral thinking to the specific circumstances of each case.

The Changing Demand for our Services This period of sustained Economic Growth is resulting in a change in nature of the type of advisory services requested by our clients.

Whilst we continue to provide restructuring and/or refinancing advice to clients as they manage the legacy issues of the downturn, we are being instructed by an increasing number of clients who are already reaping the benefits of recovery and require assistance in business and strategic planning, finance raising and the preparation of sales mandates.

Notwithstanding this change, the recovery that we are currently experiencing presents its own challenges and once again we are ready to assist businesses through these times of change. We will continue to facilitate the rebuilding of trust and the development of strong partnerships within the local business community. We will foster strong relationships to ensure businesses are fully advised, have access to key contacts and can communicate effectively with stakeholders including current or potential funders. Most importantly, we look forward to combining our skill set and commercial expertise to assist our clients to achieve sustainable, profitable growth.

The Advisory Team Having developed an extensive commercial skill-set over the last 25 years, we currently have a team of 24 business advisers within the Advisory Team, offering clients a combined total of in excess of 200 years of consulting experience.

Through our own professional expertise and by working directly with client organisations and the entrepreneurs behind them, we have developed a unique understanding of the key business influencers and the macro economic factors that directly impact on local businesses.

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Brian Murphy, Advisory Services Partner at BDO Northern Ireland

About us BDO is one of the leading local accountancy firms in Northern Ireland. We specialise in providing a full range of accounting, taxation and advisory services to local businesses, whether indigenous start-ups or overseas multinationals. The Advisory Department within the firm encompasses a multi-disciplinary team that enables BDO to provide a wide range of consultancy services, including: Performance Improvement : Profit Maximisation and Strategic Planning; Business Valuations : To underpin M&A Activity and Forensic Reviews; (Distressed) Acquisitions and Trade Sales: Due Diligence Investigations; Strategic Planning : Business Planning, Financial Modelling and Refinancing; Turnaround : Stabilisation & Consolidation and Working Capital Management; Financial Restructuring and Debt Advisory : Debt & Equity Restructuring and Crisis Management; Creditor Initiated Procedures : Formal & Informal Restructurings and Insolvencies; Structured Exits : Solvent Exits and TaxDriven Restructurings; and Asset Tracing and Investigations : Tracing, Securing and Managing Asset Portfolios.

RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY

The changing face of insolvency in Northern Ireland

by Ken Rutherford, partner at C & H Jefferson

In light of the recent reform in England and Wales, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment has commenced a consultation period to review whether the bankruptcy threshold should be increased here from £750 to £5000. n 1st October 2015 the Insolvency Act 1986 (Amendment) Order 2015 came into effect in England and Wales, which increased from £750 to £5000 the bankruptcy level, namely the minimum level of debt below which it is not possible to petition to have a debtor made bankrupt.

This means that a creditor must be owed £5000 or more before a bankruptcy petition or a winding up petition can be lodged in that jurisdiction. This change has not yet been made here to our primary legislation, the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

Whilst there has always been a desire to maintain parity between the insolvency regimes in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, they are separate jurisdictions and traditionally the implementation of reforms in insolvency legislation in England and Wales tends to occur here some time later.

The advantage of this delay is that there is an opportunity to review the effects of the relevant changes in England and Wales, give consideration to the potential impact on the system here and conclude whether such changes would be beneficial.

In light of the recent reform in England and Wales, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Northern Ireland has commenced a consultation period to review whether the bankruptcy threshold should be increased here from £750 to £5000.

Debt campaigners have lobbied the government arguing that the bankruptcy threshold of £750 is too low, particularly given the draconian consequences of bankruptcy for an individual or winding up for a company.

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The necessity for the review is based on the need to strike the right balance between ensuring that the insolvency regime does not impose overly punitive measures on the most vulnerable people while at the same time safeguarding the rights of creditors to repayment.

Proportionality is a key consideration should an individual potentially lose his home for the sake of a small liability? Invited consultees include a broad range of stakeholders including banks and credit unions, lawyers, accountants, insolvency practitioners, consumer associations, the Insolvency Service, the Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, HMRC, universities and the judiciary. The consultation period concludes on 12th November 2015.

It is anticipated that the insolvency threshold will increase here too and if so, it will have significant implications for debtors and creditors in Northern Ireland.

It is predicted that an increase in the bankruptcy level to £5,000 would lead to 105 fewer bankruptcy orders per year in Northern Ireland.

The service of a statutory demand, which is the precursor to the issue of a bankruptcy or winding up Petition, will no longer be available for use by creditors to prompt debtors to pay debts under £5000 having a direct impact on the available debt recovery options for a creditor seeking to recover a debt under £5000 and affecting credit control and cash flow for businesses.

Creditors will have to litigate in the Small Claims’ Court to recover debts under £3000

and in that court there is no provision for an award of legal costs against the debtor save for the application fee paid.

For debts between £3000 and £5000 a creditor can issue a Civil Bill in the District Judge's Court where an award of costs may be obtained. Once a creditor has obtained a judgment from either the Small Claims’ Court or the District Judge's Court, enforcement of that judgment can then be pursued via the Enforcement of Judgments Office but the costs of judgment enforcement can be significant and sometimes prohibitive.

Businesses will need to factor in the additional time that may be incurred for payment of invoices where recovery proceedings are necessary.

Most businesses operate on a 30 day payment system for their invoices. In the absence of the bankruptcy threat being available, if a creditor needs to issue Court proceedings for a debt under £5000, it is very likely that recovery will take longer, having a profound impact on cash flow.

An individual or a company in financial difficulties should seek early advice from an insolvency practitioner or solicitor in relation to the obligations of an owner or director of an insolvent business and the implications of bankruptcy or winding up. If early advice is sought then there is also greater scope for a business rescue or restructure.

C & H Jefferson Insolvency and Restructuring team advise individuals and businesses in financial difficulty and insolvency practitioners. Please contact Ken Rutherford, partner at C & H Jefferson, Solicitors if you need advice or guidance.

C & H Jefferson is one of Northern Ireland’s oldest and largest legal practices offering a broad range of skills and expertise to an extensive base of local and international clients.

We have a dedicated team of solicitors with a wealth of expertise in dealing with all aspects of insolvency, business recovery and restructuring.

We have advised businesses, banks and insolvency practitioners throughout the recessions of the 1990’s and more recently during the post Lehman downturn in the economy, each recession having its own unique features and challenges.

At present, we are actively involved for banks and borrowers alike in workouts, restructurings and loan sales as the banks continue their transition from “bad

bank” asset recovery to “good bank” business lending and the private funds seek quick returns on their loan acquisitions.

We have longstanding and trusted relationships with major banks, leading accountants and insolvency practitioners and the firm’s expertise in the fields of banking and associated specialist disciplines of insolvency, recovery and restructuring, in tandem with our excellence in property and corporate matters, has been recognised through commendation in Chambers UK Legal directory and Legal 500.

With a reputation for integrity, straightforward advice and reliability, C & H Jefferson should be the first port of call for any client seeking commercial advice.

COMMENTARY

Colin Anderson on the report of the Heenan Anderson Commission L

The issue is that there is duplication, a lack of coordination and too many agendas. It seems that many of us are either going round in circles or off at a tangent. What we need is a shared direction of travel.

Colin Anderson

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ast month saw the launch of the final report of the Heenan Anderson Commission, which was established to examine the causes of the current levels of economic marginalisation and deprivation in Northern Ireland, with specific reference to a legacy of poverty which is being handed down through generations of people here.

What was compelling to me was the fact we had over 600 submissions and responses from people across the length and breadth of Northern Ireland, ranging from academics, politicians, charities, community groups and those labelled with that very negative term, NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).

Listening to and seeing what is going on at Stormont at the moment fills me with disappointment. The one thing that came across from the consultation process that we went through was the need and the desire for people to achieve a better life for themselves.

The big problem is that they don’t know how.

Through the Commission’s engagement across Northern Ireland, we saw that there are some pockets of really good work and there are some superb individuals at community, political and business levels.

The issue is that there is duplication, a lack of co-ordination and too many agendas. It seems that many of us are either going round in circles or off at a tangent. What we need is a shared direction of travel.

People here want to be involved in a country that is successful, peaceful and prosperous. They are looking for leadership and a constructive way forward. It has become very evident that this is missing and desperately needed if we are going to move ahead.

As the Executive was collapsing, our universities were busy showcasing themselves for next year’s intake. Who could blame the young people who went on record to say that instead of staying here, they want out of Northern Ireland? Many people at the margins of our communities here don’t have this choice – they’re stuck, they’re disillusioned and this can’t be good for a society’s morale.

Looking at this from my perspective as a businessman, the solution should be business-like and quite simple: the board of directors of any company have a responsibility to run that company well. In fact, a company director has to make a legal declaration that he or she will do the best for that company. As a politician, you are elected

by a public mandate, you’re given the responsibility by your voters to run the country and to make sure your citizens (just like your employees) live in a society that looks after their needs and is prosperous. We are not being shown that kind of leadership.

Leadership is one of the overarching themes of the Commission’s report. Northern Ireland needs to encourage and foster leaders at all levels of society who are willing to take risks and develop innovative solutions. We tend to be good at identifying problems but less skilled at identifying solutions.

Tied in closely with this is a need for a shared vision for Northern Ireland. We proposed developing a long-term vision for 2050 with agreed interim objectives. This will require an inclusive and honest discussion about our country; acknowledging strengths and weaknesses.

We need to work together to produce an attainable road map for Northern Ireland in order to galvanise government, business, civil society and communities to aim towards collective goals.

In terms of addressing poverty and welfare, the Commission recommends that we must start right from birth: we must support positive parenting, ensure proper early years provision for under 4’s and when it comes to education, we must address a schools system which still divides our children into two tribes and then expects employers to provide equal opportunities and fair employment – it’s bizarre.

If we want the creation of a better Northern Ireland, we need to make it “easy to buy” and by that I mean, making us more competitive.

We recommend devolving Corporation Tax but we must also make sure that the benefits come in terms of new jobs and growth which will directly reduce the current level of worklessness.

The past 17 years have shown that at many levels, we’re all pretty good at getting on with life but for some, the bright future they hoped for simply hasn’t materialised.

Those areas of Northern Ireland which were the worst off 20 years ago are still at the bottom of the pile. This is totally unacceptable.

Instead of looking inwards and backwards, we must look upwards and outwards towards a brighter future, which is what we all want and could be well within our grasp if we get our act together.

Together is what this is all about.

Brands go overboard

by Dr Mary Boyd, Course Director B.Sc Hons Marketing, Ulster University Business School

“Companies must exercise a fresh and meaningful marketing approach, they need to communicate with their audiences as people, rather than consumers.” Dr Mary Boyd uilding a brand in today’s hypercompetitive marketplace is a highly complex process. Like a ship at sea it is at the mercy of the prevailing elements, trade winds if you like. Trends and perceptions are large swells which can push you forward but, take your eye off the forecast for a moment and all can be lost.

Products and services have to appeal to customers, they have to meet their needs but they must exceed their expectations. The customer must like the brand, no, they must love the brand.

Organisations must stimulate and sustain an emotive response to their products and services through their marketing communications. Brands identify the maker, they infer quality, they create barriers to entry and they serve as a competitive advantage.

They instill the sense of belonging within their customer group and they position themselves to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.

The 21st century consumer is looking at the company's ethics and want demonstrable corporate social responsibility. The company's organisational reputation and the image of outward benevolence are factors that will shape a successful customer relationship. Google’s ‘do no evil’ mantra is a case in point.

Integrity is of the utmost value to the consumer. However, we have been bombarded with stories about global organisations that have spent decades

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building a trustworthy, well recognised, dependable brand only to destroy and damage this in the blink of an eye.

As Marx commented, ‘The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made’, that’s Groucho Marx by the way. For the perils of faking ideals we need look no further than FIFA and Volkswagen, two very different entities but both lauded worldwide as brands associated with integrity, trustworthiness and dependability.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), slogan : ‘For The Game, For The World’, has faced doubtless counts of corruption and bribery. It has been portrayed as a gravy train driven by greed and underhand activities, not the image a worldwide football organisation that promotes the beautiful game should be striving to portray.

On the other hand Volkswagen (VW), literal translation ‘The People’s Car’, has been charged with diesel emission violations.

Interestingly one of the first statements from the company stated that they were worried about damage to the brand as opposed to damage to the company.

The multi award winning VW brand is presented as a symbol of engineering quality and reliability throughout the world, internationally recognised and praised in equal measure.

This damage to the VW brand has been compared in the press to the damage caused to the BP brand in 2010 following the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

This was an environmental disaster which it is believed was caused by gross incompetence and serious carelessness on behalf of BP. It was however a shocking accident.

In contrast, Volkswagen’s behaviour was deliberate, they practiced false advertising, deliberately misled consumers through false representation of product features, they were deceitful, they did not deliver what they promised. They lied to their customers. They polluted their brand.

Customers need to be at the heart of every organisation, they must be cherished and valued. Companies must exercise a fresh and meaningful marketing approach, they need to communicate with their audiences as people, rather than consumers. They need to employ ethical marketing practices that accentuate transparent, trustworthy and responsible organisational marketing policies and actions which exhibit integrity as well as fairness to consumers and other stakeholders.

The customer must never be taken for granted and the brand must deliver what it promises. It’s a company’s ballast which, if mishandled, will ultimately sink the ship.

www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

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COMMENTARY

Some big questions about funding

by Patrick Gallen, chair, Chartered Accountants Ulster Society ccess to finance and funding for growth continues to be a major issue for small firms and for the local business community in general.

Our survey of over 300 Chartered Accountants shows that local demand for finance is increasing… but is supply keeping up with demand? What about non-traditional sources?

How is the property overhang affecting the funding market?

Fifty five per cent of local Chartered Accountants feel that the demand for business finance is increasing. Only 27 per cent feel that the supply of finance is increasing to keep up with that demand.

Perhaps more worryingly, 54 per cent of our members believe that viable investment plans are being put on hold because businesses cannot access the finance they need to grow.

This figure has fallen since 2014, but it’s still alarming. Meanwhile, many local business lenders feel that they have money to supply, but have difficulty finding the right proposition.

There is therefore something of a disconnect between what banks are telling us in the market and what our members are experiencing on the ground.

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On November 10th, Chartered Accountants Ulster Society will be holding the Funding for the Future Conference at the Europa Hotel in Belfast in partnership with Danske Bank and IntertradeIreland.

We’ll be hoping to find the answers to some of these questions, or at least inform the debate.

Patrick Gallen

Where does the problem lie So where does the problem lie – is it perception? Is it reality? Is it as simple as bringing those two sides together and making their expectations clear?

What about the role of business advisers such as Chartered Accountants, surely they must be in a great position to help write the business plans and loan submissions which secure the funding out there waiting to be allocated?

I’ve posed a lot of questions over the last few paragraphs. As always, answers are more difficult to come by.

On November 10th, Chartered Accountants Ulster Society will be holding the Funding for the Future Conference at the Europa Hotel in Belfast in partnership with Danske Bank, IntertradeIreland and the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry. We’ll be hoping to find the answers to some of these questions, or at least inform the debate.

Helping us to get a comprehensive summary of the current funding landscape will be Professor Russel Griggs, chair of the independent Access to Finance Implementation Panel and currently reviewing the Lending Code in the UK ; Angela McGowan and Kevin Kingston of Danske Bank; Aidan Gough of IntertradeIreland; Aidan Doherty of MOAT; Liz McCrory of UK Export Finance; Paul Millar of Whiterock Capital; Tom Smyth of Broadlake Capital and Rory Quirke of MML Capital.

In addition, we’ll have case studies from local firms EMS, Automated Intelligence, Conveyortek

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and Lowe Refrigeration, as well as two expert panels on banking and debt resolution so that delegates can get some answers to their own questions.

If that lot can’t provide a clearer picture of funding availability and how local businesses can get hold of it, then we really are in a tight spot!

What is evident is that the general business climate has improved since the longest recession in living memory finally surrendered to slow recovery. Even if sometimes it’s hard to notice. Historical debt from that period still hangs over many, particularly in certain sectors such as construction.

Businesses need cash to fund working capital requirements. The difficulties over debt resolution, combined with a general lack of awareness of alternative finance offers can leave many feeling that their options are narrow. The impact of the NAMA loan book sale is certainly still being felt, and raising even more uncertainty.

Where can you turn if funding is hard to find?

What are the key reasons that applications for credit are turned down? How can you give your application the best chance of success?

So many questions which local businesses (and their advisers) need answers to. The Funding for the Future Conference will provide some perspective, as well as showing the experience of local business owners who have dealt with ‘alternative’ lenders or private equity, or been through the debt resolution process.

The economic recovery still has some significant way to go, and business finance for growth has a vital role to play, especially with Government cuts and uncertainty over local politics.

We need to make sure that the correct structures are in place, and that businesses know where they are and how to access them.

The saying goes that if you don’t ask then you don’t get. But before approaching lenders, businesses and their advisers need to ensure that they are well prepared with a proper business case which meets the expectations of the prospective lender. Those lenders will certainly have a lot of difficult questions of their own.

The first step is knowing the funding landscape, and having an adviser in your corner that you can trust. Then perhaps we can get more of those viable funding plans into operation and provide some real growth, jobs and prosperity for everyone in our community.

Devolution could unlock £480m renewables investment pipeline With a Westminster policy blocking an estimated £480m local renewables investment pipeline Pinsent Masons Energy Partner Richard Murphy says devolution could be the tool to unlock it.

“A region the size of Northern Ireland cannot afford to leave an investment pipeline of almost half a billion pounds blocked, but thankfully we are not without our own tools.” Richard Murphy hen minister Jonathan Bell recently announced the early closure of the Renewables Obligation Certificate Scheme for onshore wind in Northern Ireland (ROCs), it came as no surprise.

In fact in addressing the Northern Ireland Energy Forum a fortnight before the minister made the announcement I had already told the industry to leave some braking distance because there could be a u-turn ahead. It may have seemed like a bold thing to predict but in reality no crystal ball was required, just a calculator.

In proposing to extend support for onshore by a year beyond England and Wales, the bean-counters in Whitehall had already responded by saying the cost differential would have to be borne by Northern Ireland. The difficulty in achieving clarity around the shortfall drew the ire of the Enterprise Trade and Investment Committee and the proposal was halted.

With a now frustrated ETI committee unwilling to approve the legislation, and a Utility Regulator who proved to be no pushover in previous decisions, any attempt to ask Northern Ireland consumers to pick up the tab was really a non-starter.

With no extra money in a departmental budget already stretched, financial reality kicked in, and to his credit the minister made his announcement quickly with a short

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consultation to provide the certainty that industries such as renewables require.

So where does that leave the industry today?

Under ROCs, any scheme that meets particular criteria and can get the necessary planning and connection approvals is eligible for support.

In July, the Northern Ireland Renewables Industry Group (NIRIG) estimated a further £480m pipeline of investment was placed in jeopardy due to the failure to secure an extension for the status quo.

Great Britain is proposing the replacement of generator subsidies under ROCs by the Contracts for Difference (CFDs) mechanism.

Having adopted a wait and see approach towards Great Britain, we are now behind the curve in preparing for the new mechanism and dealing with transitional issues.

The key issue is that the new mechanism places Northern Ireland energy developers in a competitive scenario for support against larger scale projects in Scotland and the rest of the UK. In those circumstances there is no guarantee any new developments in Northern Ireland will be able to compete against larger schemes in more mature and efficient markets.

A decision as to whether Northern Ireland

will transition to CFDs remains to be taken.

A region the size of Northern Ireland cannot afford to leave an investment pipeline of almost half a billion pounds blocked, but thankfully we are not without our own tools.

For years we have largely had a copy-andpaste energy policy that was steered by the whims of Westminster.

But in exposing the limitations of this approach the present challenge presents an opportunity to wholly re-think how we support the renewables industry.

Northern Ireland was a relatively small voice in the debate over the future of the UK industry, but if we were to maximise our use of devolution and seek to capitalise on the Single Electricity Market with the Republic of Ireland, we could create an all-island mechanism much more fit for purpose.

The challenge we have is not to simply patch up the pipeline, and allow those projects already conceived to come to fruition, but to create the conditions for a new generation of projects long into the future.

The intention of devolution is to pursue different policies when they are of benefit to the local region.

For the future of our renewable energy sector the time has come to use it or lose it.

ENERGY

Don’t miss the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme deadline

by Stewart Curtis, The Energy Desk ccording to various sources less than 500 of the approximately 14,000 organisations that are required to comply with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme have registered their compliance.

There is only one month to go before the 5th December deadline, albeit there has been notification that there will be no enforcement until 29 January. However, organisations still have to notify that they are going to be completing late.

Apologies to those who know about ESOS but for the purpose of this article we’ll assume that there are still organisations out there who have been in hiding for the last 12 months or who have maybe…just maybe, missed all the hype surrounding ESOS. It all started on the 2 May 2007 when the Council of the European Union published the Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council (8/9 March 2007,) this concluded that there needed to be an increase in energy efficiency in the Union in order to achieve the objective of saving 20 per cent of the Union’ s primary energy consumption by 2020.

It stated that; “The European Council underlines the vital importance of achieving the strategic objective of limiting the global average temperature increase to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and “an integrated approach to climate and energy policy is needed to realise this objective.”

Fast forward through several European Council conclusions and resolutions and we arrive at Article 8 (4-6) of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU). It was decided that EU countries were required to transpose the Directive's provisions into their national laws by 5 June 2014 and from this the UK Government’s approach was to implement ESOS. The UK’s ESOS scheme applies to “large undertakings” that employs 250 or more people; or has an annual turnover in excess of £38,937,777, and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £33,486,489. The scheme requires these “large undertakings” to produce detailed reports on their energy use and efficiency of their buildings, transport and processes.

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So the question is “Has anybody not heard about ESOS?” Well, contrary to earlier indications from other surveys compiled by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, research now suggests that in June 2015, 89 per cent of businesses had heard of ESOS.

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Ian Edwards, managing director, The Energy Desk

But is having heard about ESOS enough?

If you are in the scope of ESOS but are not taking steps to comply then what next?

Apologies to those that are probably sick to the back teeth of ESOS and may even have submitted your declaration of compliance to the Environment Agency and have your feet up relaxing ready for phase two!!

If not it’s important to consider your route to compliance, there are a few, but I suspect that 80 per cent of those captured in reality only have one option. Let’s consider the three that didn't make the grade... Or maybe have a better fit outside of ESOS? The Green Deal - yes the green deal is a route to demonstrating ESOS compliance sorry DECC, nobody is interested! Time to move on.

ISO50001 - I'm a big advocate of Energy Management Systems, I've written before about how organisations can really benefit from having a full EnMS (and there is a big knowledge gap in what that actually means!) which is why I'm pleased that it’s a route to compliance for ESOS. And now with no enforcement if you achieve your ISO50001 by mid 2016, it might not be a bad option.

Display Energy Certificates - Again, a big fan of this less than perfect approach to Energy Benchmarking. DEC's may not be perfect but are engaging and provide a very simple way to give everyone an understanding (at a high level) of performance. I had to stop saying that "even my mum understands that a Green A is better

than a Red G" as she got wind of it and wasn't keen on being referenced!

DEC's for ESOS however, unless you already have them (which is the case for Universities for example), don't really offer a valuable solution to achieving compliance. If you are going to commission a DEC and its accompanying Advisory Report (AR) its more worthwhile to consider a more specific survey for ESOS - or mix and match, maybe commission a few DEC's first and see what you think.

So the final option and in reality the only option for most of us is to carry out specific audits on assets (buildings and transport) to identify opportunities for reduction. You may already have some (those carried out in the last five years can be submitted as evidence).

Or as is the intent of ESOS, you might benefit from commissioning new ones. A specific audit, if carried out to best practice BS EN16427 would identify areas to reduce energy and yes, save money! Who wouldn't want to save money?

Appointing a Lead Auditor If you’re struggling to identify your best option for compliance, appoint your Lead Auditor first and they can help and advise. If you've decided already, appoint a Lead Assessor and then agree how it’s going to be implemented.

On the assumption that you’re going down the survey route then contrary to the belief of some, your Lead Assessor doesn't have to carry out the surveys. Surveys can be carried out by internal staff, specialist consultancies or a mix of both - of course your selected Lead Assessor may be an expert in the field. My advice (as a Lead Assessor) is mix expertise to best match your overall compliance.

Your Lead Assessor might not have to carry out surveys but does need to audit them to make sure they are fit for the purpose of ESOS compliance.

The most important role your Lead Assessor should take is one of project management and overall auditing - ensuring that you, as the ESOS participant, face no riskfrom non-compliance - after all the Lead Assessor doesn't run the risk of fines, you do!

www.theenergydesk.co.uk

What is the future of renewables in Northern Ireland?

Commentary from the Northern Ireland Renewables Industry Group

enior representatives from the renewable energy sector, supply chain, investors and commentators from across these islands came together recently to discuss the future of renewables in Northern Ireland.

Renewables have grown rapidly in recent years, providing skilled jobs and investing in the regional and local economy. The sector, however, has also faced unprecedented upheaval over the last six months.

A series of consultations and announcements made by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have led to renewables policy reaching a crossroads in Northern Ireland.

Energy is simple: it needs to be secure, sustainable and affordable. The balancing act between these three aims is where policy complexity arises. When we look at Northern Ireland, we see a partial success story in energy policy.

A Strategic Energy Framework that laid out objectives for the period 2010-2020 provided a clear direction for policy-makers and industry to align with, and the result is that one fifth of all of entire electricity needs now comes from renewables, mostly onshore wind.

This has come alongside the benefits of skilled local jobs and investment from a fastgrowing global industry. According to a recently-commissioned NIRIG report Northern Ireland benefitted to the tune of £32 million in 2014 through the local onshore wind industry.

This includes a return of over £9 million to the local areas where onshore wind developments are located and represents half of all Northern Ireland wind farm spend.

Another way of putting it is that a single turbine from an average wind farm represents £2.7 million investment in the local economy throughout its development, construction, and operations and maintenance (O&M) phases.

DETI’s own cost-benefit analysis, published

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earlier this year, highlights that increasing renewables development will benefit Northern Ireland economically, apart from the substantial environmental benefits.

The benefits include a reduction in fossil fuel use and costs, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, air quality improvements, employment opportunities and increased security of supply.

The analysis did not include business rates (in 2015 alone the value of wind farm rates to local Councils is in the region of £10 million) and nor did it include local community benefits or landowner leases.

The local supply chain also relies heavily on this growth sector, particularly West of the Bann. Many companies across Northern Ireland are reliant on the continued sustainability of the wind industry to support local employment and the wider economy.

Recent policies, however, have focused almost exclusively on energy consumer costs, while almost ignoring the wider benefits and need for long-term strategies to deliver our energy.

We are now in the situation where investment has slowed due to the uncertainty surrounding support for renewables in both Noorthern Ireland and across the rest of the UK. At the NIRIG Energy Summit a leading European investor noted that in a risk analysis for a recent renewables project in the UK, its risk level had increased to the extent that it was on a par with investment risk in Nigeria.

The damage caused by rapid and everchanging government policy has also led to the UK slipping out of the Ernst & Young top 10 ranking of countries’ attractiveness to investors in renewables for the first time. EY stated that DECC’s recent policy changes and cuts to renewables lacked "any rationale or clear intent", were destroying investor confidence in renewables, and could also have a knock on effect to investment in other parts of the UK energy sector.

best ensure that this sector can continue to act as a catalyst for jobs and investment for the future? How do we ensure that short-term concerns do not destroy the long-term viability of a secure, sustainable and affordable energy supply?

Northern Ireland must first lay out its policy intentions. With a target of 40 per cent renewables by 2020 shortly up for review through the mid-term review of the Strategic Energy Framework, we must recommit to this ambitious target.

By doing so we will ensure that we remain focused on utilising our natural resources to their full advantage. This will also send a strong signal to innovators and investors that we are open for business.

We must set out targets to 2030 in order to allow long-term planning for infrastructure and investment in energy. We must look to the future of all industry and seek to create the conditions that have seen Apple and Facebook announce investments of hundreds of millions of Euros across the border, based on securing energy supplies from renewable sources. We must not allow ourselves to be blinded by the fears of the nay-sayers.

The onshore wind sector has grown in recent years, and it is a vital part of the Northern Ireland economy. Cheaper than other renewable sources, its sustainability will nevertheless rely on tapered support so that by 2020 it will become cheaper than new gas generation and therefore competitive on a cost basis for consumers and businesses alike.

Political support now will lock Northern Ireland consumers into a low cost future.

Ending support now leads to a future of price volatility and risk for the economy.

The industry is committed to ensuring that benefits continue to flow into the local economy. Today more than ever, you can stand at the base of a turbine in Northern Ireland and be confident that the majority of investment flows back into the local economy.

Ensuring the future So how do we move forward from here to

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Price, Performance and Payment: ‘three Ps’ to consider before you can tick your energy box with confidence

by Alan Egner, Commercial Sales and Marketing Manager at Power NI he fall in petrol prices has grabbed the headlines recently, but the reduction in electricity prices slipped under the radar and has gone almost unnoticed by commentators and the media.

At the time of writing, wholesale electricity prices are at a three year low and the majority of Northern Ireland’s small and medium sized businesses are paying less than they were in 2008!

Of course this doesn’t mean that everything is rosy in the energy garden. While for the majority of businesses here prices are similar to those in the Republic of Ireland and close to the EU average, for a small number of very large users a significant price gap exists between here and in the Republic of Ireland.

This is one of the big issues exercising the minds of energy policy makers on both sides of the border at the moment.

Energy remains a significant overhead for many businesses and unless you apply the same rigour as you do to other costs, you risk becoming uncompetitive through lack of knowledge, bad choices or just plain complacency.

There are ‘three Ps’ to consider before you can tick your energy box with confidence; they are Price, Performance and Payment.

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Price Let’s start with Price. At contract renewal time how many of us take the time to shop

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around to make sure we are getting the best rate? And what type of deal is best for your needs? Is now a good time to fix prices, or do you take your chances with a market tracker product? Does green energy offer any benefits over traditional brown energy? If you switch supplier how will it impact on bill clarity and after-sales service?

As with all decisions in business there is an element of risk involved, but at least if you go in with your eyes open and ask the right questions you are in with a better chance of getting a good deal.

Performance Next is Performance, the way that you use the electricity in your business.

We all know that being energy efficient can make a big difference to our bills. Low energy lighting, wall and loft insulation and energy efficient appliances are all tried and tested ways to save the pounds . But for many, being switched on to saving energy is no longer enough.

There has been a huge increase in the number of homes, farms and businesses embracing renewable technology and generating their own electricity by fitting solar PV panels, wind turbines or digestors.

In addition to reducing their bills, many of these savvy operators are also able to take advantage of generous government incentives and earn extra money from selling energy

certificates (ROCs).

However, recent changes in legislation have brought an end to incentives for new wind turbine installations.

Payment The last P is Payment. Like most other utilities, energy suppliers prefer Direct Debit as it ensures that payments are almost always made in full and on time.

Most suppliers offer incentives to customers who pay this way, so if you aren’t already paying by Direct Debit you are almost certainly missing out on discount. Some suppliers also offer additional discount for online paperless billing.

Looking forward, despite the growth of renewable energy locally, most of our electricity is still generated from fossil fuels and we remain a small island, at the edge of Europe, exposed to price fluctuations on volatile world fuel markets.

So enjoy this period of lower prices while it lasts, shop around to get the best deal for your electricity and use it as efficiently as possible.

Power NI supplies 30,000 businesses and is the largest energy provider in Northern Ireland. They have produced a free ‘Buyers Guide to electricity’ at www.powerni.co.uk/largerusers

Energy Infrastructure: Strategy 2030 Bill Beers, director of Beers Engineering Consultancy and chair of the IoD Business Environment Committee, discusses the overwhelming need for a co-ordinated strategy for Energy Infrastructure in Northern Ireland which will deliver for society and the economy, and the key components of any such strategy. he review of the 2012-2020 Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) Strategic Energy Framework, which is currently underway, provides the ideal opportunity to define a strategy for energy infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

Energy infrastructure is the essential backbone to how our economy and therefore society will be shaped until 2030 and beyond.

It is imperative that the Strategic Energy Framework covers a period which reflects the time taken to implement strategic energy infrastructure projects.

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Strategy Timeframe The World Energy Council has highlighted the fact that unclear and unstable policies are considered as one of the biggest risks to developing more sustainable energy systems.

Five years is too short a time span for a strategic framework document on energy infrastructure. The immediate five years must therefore be about optimising the implementation plan which fits into the 10-20 year strategic plan.

In terms of the Strategic Energy Framework, the horizon which must be defined should be for the next 15-20 years.

Such is the implementation timeline for investment that the private sector needs clarity of policy and certainty of regulatory intent if investment is to be forthcoming.

Furthermore, with planning requirements, consultations, potential public enquiries and delivery on equipment, etc., it is clear that preparation for strategic projects takes time; as is evidenced by the current delays in the North/South Interconnector and the time taken to bring the Moyle Interconnector back to full capacity.

Key Issues the Energy Strategy must address Several issues that the Energy Strategy must address include the lack of an up-todate co-ordinated, prioritised, all-encompassing energy strategy for Northern Ireland with a 15-20 year horizon, as well as the security of supply of electricity and natural gas.

The Maximum Import Capacity constraints throughout the province (electricity grid) consitute a serious issue for the economy and is already constraining investment of indigenous companies, never mind the negative impact on Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).

The issues surrounding the costs of electricity within the Single Electricity Market (SEM) and cost differences which continue to

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exist between both Northern and Southern Ireland as well as Northern Ireland and North America have meant that the largest industrial users in the country are putting in place a strategy which will see them follow the Bombardier route and come off-grid.

Consideration must be taken to the lack of fossil fuel generating capacity within Northern Ireland post 2020 and our increasing dependence on imported electricity from jurisdictions without our legislature.

Whilst a lower carbon footprint is important, with 20 per cent renewables already installed, any future increase in renewables must be viewed in the context of cost and where it fits into the overall affordable cost of our Energy Strategy. No single energy related decision should be viewed in isolation.

Major Opportunities and Challenges The North South Interconnector planning process and speed of delivery must be prioritised given the time taken to move things to the current stage and the risks associated with delivering this ‘no alternative solution’ approach.

Given the current status on the North South Interconnector and the fact that Northern Ireland will be reliant on 49.4 per cent of peak fossil fuel generating capacity being supplied by the interconnection, the Kilroot Closure in 2021 is a concern. When Kilroot closes, Northern Ireland will be 100% reliant on natural gas for the remaining fossil fuel generation capacity.

The Moyle Interconnector coming back to full capacity in 2016 is positive; however the re-use of the inner core of the old cable does raise risks and concerns about the reliability of the 450MW interconnector in the medium to long term.

Due to the security of supply and the constrained capacity on the electricity grid, targeting grid enhancing investment in areas aligned with the economy and jobs will be essential, as will signalling to the market how the necessary energy infrastructure will be paid for. It is crucial that we optimise grant funding that is available from Europe.

Changes needed to existing Framework Northern Ireland already has 20 per cent of electricity generated from renewables. To go much further is a significant cost burden to consumers and must be rigorously challenged and justified.

To say a strategic aim is to ensure that

‘much more’ of our energy is from renewables is simply making a commitment which constrains the economy and punishes customers already faced with higher costs than our competitors. No consideration has been given to the total cost and grid impact of such a strategy.

Much more thought must be put into ‘economy proofing’ energy strategy.

Specifically, where are the jobs coming from?

What Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are we targeting and, if successful, where on the energy grid can we facilitate the investments in factories, data centres, etc.?

The speed with which we can build the necessary infrastructure for investment must be reviewed. Strategic investment in infrastructure must be undertaken in advance and in line with Invest NI strategy, ahead of securing FDI. The revised strategy must incorporate a vision as to how we will meet the increasing demand for electricity generation in the future.

Given the increasing dependence on natural gas, the ever more urgent requirement for Gas Storage must be incorporated.

‘The What’ and ‘The How’ The revised Strategic Energy Framework must deal with 'the what’ and 'the how’.

‘The What’ covers the key aspects of strategy which are critical to building our energy infrastructure.

• What are the main projects/requirements; • How do they fit in the overall infrastructure model; • How much will they cost; • How will they be afforded; and • Where does each project sit in the prioritised strategic requirements?

‘The How’ relates to the departments and bodies responsible for implementation and how DETI co-ordinates and delivers strategy as effectively as possible.

The minister has set up an Energy Stakeholder Group to improve and optimise on how each of the key delivery partners work together.

HSENI

Watch Out – Carbon Monoxide Kills November is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, as part of the NI CO Safety Group, is reminding readers of Business First of the dangers from deadly carbon monoxide.

Some of you may have CO alarms fitted in your home for a number of years now.

However, CO alarms have a limited life span, so please check yours to see if it is working properly. It might be time to buy a new one.

The ‘silent killer’ Even in today’s world of new energy sources, most homes and businesses still use appliances that burn fuels such as gas, oil and coal, peat and wood.

If these appliances are not installed, maintained, ENERGY and used properly, carbon monoxide (CO) can build up to dangerous and even deadly levels, particularly in poorly ventilated areas.

CO is produced by the incomplete combustion of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels. It is a highly poisonous gas which is impossible to see, taste or smell and is often known as the ‘silent killer’.

Early symptoms of CO poisoning can mimic many common ailments and may easily be confused with food poisoning, viral infections, flu or simple tiredness.

Symptoms to look out for include: • headache • nausea • breathlessness • dizziness • collapse • unconsciousness

Away from home

and flues should also be inspected annually and swept, if required, by a registered technician.

As a back-up measure, you should also install an audible carbon monoxide alarm – these are widely available in supermarkets and DIY stores.

We normally associate CO with domestic fossil-fuel burning appliances and most of us are aware of its dangers in the home.

However, incidents and fatalities relating to CO can also occur in holiday homes, caravans and on board boats where faulty gas cookers, appliances or petrol-powered generators have led to carbon monoxide poisoning. So, make sure all appliances that you use are properly installed and are serviced regularly.

For more information contact HSENI on: 0800 0320 121 or visit the ‘Watch Out. Carbon Monoxide Kills’ website: www.hseni.gov.uk/watchout During Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month this November, please help raise awareness about the dangers of CO by sharing safety messages posted on HSENI’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

Facebook: healthandsafetyexecutive Twitter: @Hsenigov

Best protection The best way to protect against carbon monoxide is to make sure all fuel-burning appliances are properly installed by recognised and established engineers, and serviced by competent companies or individuals - at least once a year.

Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for boilers, stoves, gas fires and solid fuel room heaters.

Don’t forget that chimneys

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ENERGY

firmus energy – today, tomorrow and into the future s firmus energy approaches its 10th birthday, we look back on the local company’s key achievements and investment to date. With over 1000km of natural gas pipeline in more than 26 towns, cities and villages across Northern Ireland, firmus energy has invested around £100 million to bring the benefits of natural gas to more than 76,000 customers.

Strategic planning remains a priority for Antrim-based firmus energy and its 100 strong team who are planning the development of the network for today, tomorrow and the future as the demand for this versatile, convenient and environmentally-friendly fuel continues to rise.

Stakeholder consultation is an important part of these plans and firmus energy recently undertook a series of information events in local council areas across the province. The aim was to update elected representatives regarding proposed development plans for its natural gas network. Two-way communication and feedback with local elected representatives has helped to shape the network development plans which have been submitted to the Utility Regulator to cover the 2017-2022 price control period.

Between June and October this year, the company’s Directors met face-to-face with Council Chief Executives, planning officials and elected representatives including MLAs and Councillors across its network areas.

Following liaison with six Supercouncil areas, briefings were set up and a drop-in session for MLAs in Stormont was held.

Michael Scott, managing director, explains: “Our strategy is a three strand approach and modelled on a “WIN” basis, which means that we “Work” our existing assets (pipes in the ground) to maximise connections to the network, “Infill” the gas network to areas in close proximity to existing mains, making gas available to other potential customers in new residential areas and finally look at opportunities for “Network” extensions to bring gas to others outside our current licensed areas.

Consulting with elected representatives allows us to align our company goals with

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those of our local communities.”

More than 300 contractors, installers and agencies work to deliver firmus energy’s network plans and engaging with representatives from each specific area enables the company to provide even more opportunities for suppliers.

Michael continues: “Having connected our first major business, Michelin in Ballymena, back in 2005, we have continued to develop our major gas user customer base and today more than 90 per cent of major industrial users along the routes of our pipelines are now customers. Our goal is to bring even more companies, public buildings, schools and households etc. on-board, meaning cleaner air for more areas as natural gas is a low-emission fossil fuel.

“We are continuing our residential customer development, bringing natural gas to more and more areas and, working with the office of the Utility Regulator, we regularly apply for licences to extend our

network to new locations. For example, we recently started working to bring natural gas to customers in Richhill, where the uptake has been extremely encouraging. In the near future, we plan to develop the network to Moy, Loughgall, Benburb and Blackwatertown.

“The future of natural gas in Northern Ireland is bright as we continue to invest in bringing the advantages of this convenient and environmentally-friendly fuel to as many customers as possible.

“This is great news for the Northern Ireland economy, the associated contractors, gas installers and trade along with the environment and local consumers,” he added.

IN CONVERSATION

Don’t be a victim of negative equity Business first talks to Negative Equity NI Director Phil Davison uestion – and with this being Halloween it’s a suitably scary one: could the light at the end of your interest-only mortgage tunnel be an oncoming train rather than the illuminations of the station at which you were hoping to disembark?

It’s a timely question in another sense, too, now that house prices are increasing in certain parts of Northern Ireland. Where that applies, obviously it is a very welcome and long overdue positive for the many in negative equity.

But there is a downside, too, and at this stage no-one is quite sure how all of this is going to play out.

One thing we do know, however, is that there are still many parts of Northern Ireland where prices continue to lag quite a distance behind which means those whose homes are in negative equity remain in a still-tricky situation.

Those who have negative equity AND interest-only tracker mortgages face two huge problems. Potentially it’s a real doublewhammy, a fact of which - based on experience - Negative Equity NI director Phil Davison is all-too-well aware.

“These unfortunate people fall into a number of different categories,” he explained.

“I say ‘unfortunate’ because they are victims of circumstances not of their making at all.

“They did nothing wrong, so they are in no way to blame for the total collapse of house prices in 2008 and beyond. That crash was due to factors beyond their control or influence, so you really feel for them.”

Citing examples of some of those victims, he said: “There’s the first-time buyers, the young professional couple who bought a two-up, two-down in south or east Belfast or Greater Belfast for a couple of hundred thousand pounds at the height of the market.

“Currently it’s worth £100,000 or £110,000, but they need to move on because their family situation has changed.

“Then there’s the family who remortgaged to raise capital to do something else.

“Or the family who moved from the threebedroom semi to the four or five-bedroom dream home and have been caught in negative equity.

“People’s circumstances change, too,” he pointed out. “Take the man whose income has been cut as a result of there being none of the overtime he used to get. His earnings haven’t kept pace with inflation - and credit is harder to get these days.

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“And then there’s the person who is coming towards the end of his working life. He has an interest-only tracker mortgage that takes him beyond the end of his working cycle. There are lots of people who were put in that situation,” he warned.

It all sounds frighteningly bleak. But Phil Davison was keen to stress that despite those grim scenarios, there is light – and it’s not in the form of an out-of-control, hastening-tocrush-you negative equity locomotive.

Speaking from his Mount Charles office, just off Botanic Avenue, he explained:“We’re seeing these people all of the time; currently we’re dealing with over 400 clients and we getting things resolved for them.

“I’d simply say to anyone in this situation that we understand their concerns. But I’d stress that their problems aren’t unique, nor are they insurmountable. And we have a proven track record in terms of achieving positive outcomes.

“I’d simply encourage anybody who is worried to seek help. Get in touch, talk to us and let’s see what can be done. They’d probably be pleasantly surprised to discover the options they have.”

In view of what undoutedly is coming down the track, that’s a timely piece of advice for the thousands whose interest-only tracker mortgages are destined to leave them facing a sizeable shortfall. In many ways it’s a re-run of the old endowment mortgage fiasco faced by a previous generation of home-buyers.

As Phil Davison put it: “The big question is this – what actually is going to pay the capital on your interest-only loan? At the end of the cycle you could find yourself having paid an awful lot of money, but still have no house to call your own at the end of it. That’s the crux of it.

“Those are problems we’re helping people solve right now. They need to know that there is help and there are options. We’re FCAregulated to do this sort of work and I’d advise anybody seeking help to ensure that whoever they consult is fully qualified and accredited in this field and has a history which proves their credentials.”

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SCIENCE & IT

Worthy winners of Northern Ireland IT Professionals of the Year 2015 A wise man recently told me that ‘if you do the right thing, the right way, you’ll get the right result’. Now this statement may be somewhat of a truism but it reminded me that in order to be recognised as an IT Professional it’s not just about having a job that needs special training and a high level of education (the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary definition), it’s also about doing the right thing, in the right way and getting the right result.

So with this in mind, it was particularly pleasing to see the BCS Belfast Branch select John Healy from Citi and Gareth Workman from Kainos as Northern Ireland ‘IT Professional’ and ‘Young IT Professional’ of the Year 2015, respectively.

Northern Ireland IT Professional of the Year Award John Healy is a well-known and highly respected member of the Northern Ireland IT community and was awarded the Northern Ireland IT Professional of the Year Award for 2015 because of his exceptional dedication to the technology sector in Northern Ireland over the past decade and, most recently, his work as chair of the Panel that developed the MATRIX ICT and Digital Foresight Report 2015.

As the head of Technology at Citi’s new Technology Centre of Excellence in Belfast he has been pivotal in growing it from nothing to a delivery centre with almost 2000 employees.

Gareth Workman is Northern Ireland Young IT Professional of the Year 2015, with Bill McCluggage

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John has a passion for finding talented IT professionals and giving them the best start to their careers. Having established Citi’s Technology Academy some 37 students successfully graduated from the academy in 2010.

Not satisfied with a busy day job he is also an IT Ambassador for Northern Ireland’s ‘Bring IT On’ campaign and is regularly called upon to speak at conferences both locally and internationally. He was responsible for Citi’s sponsorship of Coderdojo Belfast and provided verbal evidence to the Committee for Employment and Learning in May 2013 on the Digital Strategy for Northern Ireland.

John Healy has exhibited the personal characteristics, commitment, dedication and willingness to go that extra mile in support of the IT industry in Northern Ireland that sets him apart as a true IT Professional and a worthy recipient of the Northern Ireland IT Professional of the Year Award 2015.

Northern Ireland Young IT Professional of the Year Gareth Workman is Northern Ireland Young IT Professional of the Year 2015 Gareth has worked in the IT industry for over nine years and is a Principal Architect with Kainos, based in their Belfast office.

He is the youngest Principal Architect in Kainos and is considered a role model in the company for the younger members of their technical community, where he understands the importance of coaching and mentoring the next generation of aspiring WebOps professionals.

Over the last three years, Gareth has also championed the use of DevOps to establish high performing multi-skilled teams delivering digital solutions for the UK Government. He has been involved in shaping the direction of the GDS ‘Government as a Platform’ service and has led teams of engineers on a number of the GDS exemplar projects and other high volume government transactional services, which are now being used by millions of UK citizens.

Notably, Gareth has played a crucial role in delivering a large scale and highly complex cloud migration project for the new DVSA MOT service. As a Principal Architect Gareth’s achievements have extended beyond his main role of delivering successful digital solutions to customers. Within the IT industry in Northern Ireland, Gareth has built a profile as a WebOps guru having presented at conferences such as BelTech.

At this early stage in his career, Gareth has

Northern Ireland IT Professional of the Year, John Healy, with Bill McCluggage

shown outstanding commitment and professionalism in sharing skills and building digital capability within departments, thus enabling the UK Government to deliver more cost effective and user focused public services that are positively impacting the lives of millions of UK citizens. He is a deserving winner of the Northern Ireland Young IT Professional of the Year Award 2015.

BCS Belfast Branch would like to also recognise sponsorship by BrightwaterNI and publicity provided by Business First Magazine.

The Turing Lecture Returns to Belfast in 2016 Given the outstanding success of the Turing Lecture’s first ever visit to Belfast during this year’s Northern Ireland Science Festival, and an audience of 450 people at Belfast City Hall, the event committee have agreed that it should return to Belfast as a keynote feature of the 2016 Festival.

The Turing Lecture is jointly organised by both the BCS and IET, and in 2016 will be held in London, Cardiff and Manchester before arriving in Belfast on Thursday 25 February 2016.

Belfast City Council have kindly agreed to host it in the Great Hall, so make sure the Turing Lecture is in your diary and it should prove once again to be both informative and enjoyable.

The telephone is still King for businesses

by Richard Simpson, managing director, Atlas Communications.

o much talk in business is around using digital or online channels. Seen as a costeffective means of contacting large numbers of customers, some might suggest that this is becoming the primary way to communicate with your market. Sending hundreds of emails in a working week, using blogs and social media to target and communicate with customers has become a norm. Is there still a place for the humble telephone in communicating with customers?

Telephony still dominates the business to business marketplace as the first tool of communication with customers. Even in the consumer market most people still choose the phone first when there is a problem. Critically, it’s direct & personal, making online communication seem slow.

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Whilst many companies have already secured an online presence and are increasing their digital footprint using blogs & social media, many have not considered a voice contact plan & strategy. This may be more relevant to contact centres, but given the ubiquitous, one to one, direct nature of the phone, all companies should focus on how calls are handled.

A small business could easily spend ten thousand pounds on a website that doesn’t sell a product online, they could spend time and effort discussing search engine optimisation, but would they spend the same money and time on how calls are made?

Well planned online communication & response mechanisms do work, but are they are faster in getting resolution than taking 5 minutes to talk through a query? Can you pick up buying signals from an email as easily as over the phone?

Despite the advantages of digital platforms, after face to face conversations, the best means of communication is to speak to a person directly by phone. If you have ever

had long email conversations, resulting in a phone call to resolve the issue, then the power of the telephone is evident.

It is vital to find the balance between the communications tools your business uses. We see a lot of adverts, seminars and promotions about doing business online but rarely see government agencies running sessions promoting the use of the telephone to secure deals. The digital and voice worlds complement each other, not replace. Yet, how many companies consciously review their call handling regularly?

Making voice an integral part of an overall communications strategy is key. Digital & online communication is seen as low cost, but in business it’s not just the cost of contact with the customer, it’s the value derived from it and for many local businesses, the telephone is still king.

Atlas provides in­premises and hosted data and telephony solutions to businesses across Northern Ireland and can be contacted at 028 9078 6868.

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Gender diversity is key for innovation

by Sinead Dillon, Principal Consultant, Fujitsu

ccording to the Northern Ireland Equality Commission, advanced posts in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths (STEM) currently constitute over 11 per cent of the workforce here, with men outnumbering women by nearly three to one.

This is in contrast with the overall employment situation in Northern Ireland, where women comprise 47.3 per cent of those currently in employment.

The Social Market Foundation also recently estimated a 40,000 per year shortfall in the number of STEM graduates in the UK. The need for more STEM graduates is well known in Northern Ireland as we seek to further strength the Knowledge Economy.

We have seen efforts being made by government, educational providers and businesses to encourage more students into these areas and to help them recognise the benefits that come from a career in these related industries.

The National Skills Forum has reported that the limited number of women entering STEM fields is exacerbating skills shortages in STEM sectors - reducing the productivity of related organisations and making it harder for them to compete on the international stage.

Increasing the number of women entering the ICT sector will enhance the pool of knowledge and improve innovation as well as productivity.

At Fujitsu, our aim as a business is to increase the percentage of female employees and increase representation at all levels. Our gender diversity initiative, ‘Women at Fujitsu Network’, is a collaborative programme open to everyone, not just female employees. It celebrates the achievements of the women employed at Fujitsu and showcases the

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benefits that come from a more diverse working environment.

Women should be encouraged to embrace ICT and companies recognise the wealth that comes from having dynamic and passionate employees – no matter what their gender.

While there are a number of groups dedicated to promoting the role of women in business and in ICT, achieving a gender diverse sector is something to be encouraged throughout primary and secondary education.

It is important to foster an inclusive learning environment where all young people can access technology and ICT skills across the curriculum.

At a business level, mentoring - both to those in the organisation and through schemes for young people - can help ensure the value of gender diversity in the workplace.

At Fujitsu, as well as our Women at Fujitsu Network, we support employees with mentoring and offer graduate programmes and apprenticeships for those looking to the enter the ICT sector.

For pupil and students, to showcase the value of a career in ICT, we visit schools, attend career fairs at colleges and universities, offer work experience and support coding workshops and ICT competitions.

Additionally, at a corporate level, Regina Moran, the new CEO of Fujitsu UK and Ireland, will be taking the time to share our gender diversity best practices and benefits at a STEM Business Group and Equality Commission conference in Belfast.

The conference will examine gender diversity to promote good practice in STEM industries. This is a great opportunity for companies to come together and share their

thoughts on how to tackle the shortfall across STEM sectors.

A collaborative approach – between industry, government, schools and parents – will help ensure gender diversity is recognised.

At Fujitsu, we have seen how a collaborative workforce, made up of talented men and woman, create innovative approaches and products to support our customers’ growth and that of our own organisation.

Northern Ireland currently has the second fastest growing Knowledge Economy in the UK with the latest figures suggesting that the sector now represents 10 per cent of the local economy, delivering around £3.4 billion in value annually.

Fujitsu believes that having the widest talent pool of STEM graduates across all genders will help enable innovation and growth in the ICT sector.

BEST PRACTICE

NORTHERN IRELAND BUSINESSES

learn how you can comply with oil storage regulations A re you in business in Northern Ireland and have fuel or oil storage tanks? If so, you may be aware that time is running out for your organisation to comply with the environmental safety regulations that went into effect back in 2011.

If your company is not using “bunded” fuel and/or oil tanks by December 2015, you could be hit with a non-compliance fine as high as £20,000.

What is a “bunded” storage tank?

A “bund” is simply a double-walled storage tank that seals the primary tank. This “tank within a tank” design will help prevent oil spillage and protect the environment.

The Northern Ireland Environmental Agency released the legislation in efforts to promote better oil storage, protect the environment against contamination from single skin oil and fuel tanks, and minimise the risk of oil loss and spillage. (To read more information about the new regulations visit the Department of Environment website: www.doeni.gov.uk).

Until recently few businesses were aware of the new regulations coming into force, indeed, 70 per cent of those surveyed by Kingspan Titan to date are unprepared for the enforcement.

It’s not just old single skin steel tanks that don’t meet the new law, business owners need to be aware that, no matter how modern a plastic tank may look if it is not double skinned it is not complaint.

Additionally, for commercial premises such as garage repair shops that are likely to store fuel and oil in barrels, if they are storing over 200 litres they will be falling foul of the law.

Non-compliance can be a costly business with fines of up to £20,000 or even imprisonment. It is the case too that few business owners are aware that they are liable for spillages from storage tanks on their premises with clean-up costs running into in the tens of thousands.

Kingspan Titan can help you comply with the new standards. We are the leading manufacturer of “bunded” tanks in the UK. We manufacture a wide range of compliance-ready “bunded” storage tanks from 1,000 to 60,000 litres, each equipped with a remote Watchman oil level monitor and theft alarm.

We also offer fuel storage and dispensing

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tanks including steel “bunded” tanks for large storage capacities.

Our team of experts will provide you with full support We can offer a one stop shop solution which includes a free site survey, guidance on which fuel/oil storage tank best suits your specific organisation and the decommissioning of your existing storage tank.

We will also provide you with a certificate of compliance after installation, so you can be worry free!

Kingspan Titan prides itself in its customer service levels and guarantees a simple and cost effective solution for your business.

When it comes to changing your tank, make sure to come to the industry experts. We make

it our business to keep you right.

To speak with our experts and/or schedule your site assessment, contact our Portadown office on 0333 456 4455 or email: nifuelregs@kingspan.com.

FEATURE

Carson McDowell expands Litigation Practice with McCloskeys deal

Hugh McGrattan (previously of McCloskeys), partner and head of the professional indemnity team, Claire Harmer, partner and head of the defence insurance litigation team and Michael Johnston, managing partner of Carson McDowell.

orthern Ireland’s largest independent law firm Carson McDowell has bolstered its litigation practice by bringing an expert team of liability lawyers in from Belfast firm McCloskeys Solicitors.

Five lawyers specialising in insurance defence litigation and six support staff from McCloskeys have joined Carson McDowell.

The firm now has 40 lawyers in its litigation team working across a number of disciplines, making it the largest litigation team in Northern Ireland.

Carson McDowell recently announced it had taken over another floor of its city centre office building Murray House to accommodate more than 30 new staff recruited over the past year at Partner, Associate, Solicitor and Trainee level.

The company currently employs 133 staff, including 78 lawyers and expects to recruit for a further six jobs before the end of 2015.

McCloskeys, which will now become part of

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Carson McDowell, was formed in 1965 and is one of Northern Ireland’s leading defence litigation practices.

It specialises in the defence of professional negligence claims in Northern Ireland and in defending insurance litigation claims brought against individuals, partnerships, companies and government bodies in Northern Ireland.

Michael Johnston, Managing Partner of Carson McDowell, said: “McCloskeys is a firm with an established pedigree in the professional indemnity field and we are delighted they are to become part of Carson McDowell.

“The solicitors who are joining us are at the top of their field, acting on behalf of London underwriters, blue chip insurance companies and local insurers.”

He added: “Our expansion this year comes as a direct response to the increase in demand from our clients who are investing in their own growth, making acquisitions and

moving into new markets.

“We are the law firm of choice for many of Northern Ireland's Top 100 companies as well as international companies doing business here and as they grow and adapt so will Carson McDowell.”

Hugh McGrattan, head of Carson McDowell’s professional indemnity team and former partner of McCloskeys, said: “This group of solicitors who are joining Carson McDowell bolsters an already very strong litigation team and adds considerable expertise in professional indemnity and defence insurance litigation.

“McCloskey’s has developed specialist expertise over a number of years and will make a big contribution to the firm.”

Is bad debt spoiling good business?

by Andy McBurney Atradius

omething that a business should never have to worry about is getting paid.

However, in an increasingly challenging trading environment bad debt continues to be a significant issue and is described by many as the single biggest risk faced, with the potential to undermine the ability of a company to do business.

Chasing payment to reduce trade debt can be daunting, is often time consuming and can be an administrative burden – resource which could be more constructively directed towards growing the business. Overdue payments put strain on cash flow, and for some, unpaid invoices can break the business altogether. SMEs in particular can be vulnerable as often they have less breathing space to withstand the financial pressure.

The latest Atradius research into payment practices reveals that an average of 41per cent of B2B invoices are paid late. This trend has risen over the past two years with British businesses now waiting an average of 10 days longer for overdue invoices to be paid. In addition, around seven per cent of all sales become delinquent – that is, unpaid 90 days after the due date with 1.2 per cent of trade receivables entirely uncollectable. Nearly half of businesses surveyed said that delays were due to their customers having insufficient funds, with around 11per cent of creditors insolvent.

As the economy emerges from recession confidence is rising and quite rightly British businesses are ambitious for new opportunities. However, even in a recovery period the risks and challenges can be tricky to manoeuvre and strong credit management remains an essential tool. Few businesses can sustain a portfolio that includes bad debt but implementing a positive risk strategy need not be complicated.

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Be focused: The first step is to focus on your market – you will have much more success directing your energies to specific markets.

Understand the regulatory and legal regimes and focus on your distribution channel and building strong relationships.

Know your customer: Credit checks will allow you to find out vital financial information about your customer, including how good they are at paying suppliers and their credit rating. This will help you to decide if you can do business with them on credit.

Set your payment terms: Make sure that you have a written agreement on the costs and the payment procedure. Can you offer an early payment incentive to reward timely payment?

Stick rigidly to your side of the deal and invoice promptly.

Be clear about the service or product you’re selling: Because nearly one in five invoices are unpaid because the customer disputes the quality of the service or goods provided. Don’t let this become an issue.

Get your admin right: 15 per cent of bills are unpaid because the invoice has the incorrect information. A further 13 per cent are sent to the wrong person. Don’t take the basics for granted – check it’s correct.

Stay on top of billing: Create aged debtor reports to monitor which invoices are unpaid after the due date and follow up swiftly with reminders.

Spot the warning signs: A business almost never fails overnight. Red flags include frequent failure to pay on time, permanently taking advantage of full credit lines, asking to prolong overdue bills, changing banks or offering bills of exchange in lieu of payment.

Collect your debt: If your bill still hasn’t been paid, send a final warning letter and turn the debt over to a collection agency. You may not have the resource but, for example, Atradius has specialised collections teams on the ground in countries across the world ready to take action and you pay nothing if they do not successfully collect the debt.

Don’t be embarrassed: You may have a longstanding relationship with your customer but you cannot let this hamper your business sense. Don’t let any customer over-extend usual payment boundaries and you can’t afford to be shy about sending payment reminders, conducting credit checks or taking out trade credit insurance against their orders.

Protect yourself: Trade credit insurance is the simplest, most cost effective way to protect your business against not getting paid.

If your customer fails to pay, becomes insolvent, or is affected by political risk, Atradius will pay your claim – reducing the need for bad debt provision and releasing money back into your business.

While the general business horizon is looking brighter, there are still significant trading risks with different sectors and businesses continuing to face specific challenges.

The risks of not getting paid are ever present and Trade Credit Insurance which is tailored to the needs of your business is one way to manage bad debt risk out of your business.

Andrew McBurney 028 90 275 192 Andrew.McBurney@atradius.com ww.atradius.ie or www.atradius.co.uk

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From Belfast to the Big Apple with United Airlines A s a vibrant global centre for art, culture, fashion and finance, New York offers endless avenues for visitors to explore.

From the bustle of Wall Street to the hidden speakeasy bars, this destination has something for everyone and United Airlines provides the best way of getting there.

From Belfast Airport, United provides the only year-round nonstop flight to its New York hub, Newark Liberty International Airport.

Famed as the city that never sleeps, you won’t want to waste a moment of your NYC experience; located just 25 kilometres from downtown Manhattan, Newark Liberty airport offers the fastest surface transfer journeys to many parts of the city, including the AirTrain service to New York Penn Station in midtown Manhattan, with a journey time of less than 30 minutes.

Before you know it you’ll be shaking hands with a key client or taking your seat at the latest show on Broadway.

Fly to the city in style with United BusinessFirst and enjoy a flat-bed seat and Cowshed brand premium skin-care products as well as a multi-course menu accompanied by a sommelier-chosen selection of wines – letting you arrive in NYC refreshed.

Alternatively, United Economy Plus offers up to six inches of extra legroom and includes personal on-demand entertainment, whilst all United Economy customers can enjoy complimentary beer and wine as part of a new, high-quality inflight dining service.

United BusinessFirst

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In this high-tech age, people want and expect to be connected at all times and in all places. United was the first U.S. carrier to offer onboard satellite-based Wi-Fi and with installation of the technology more than 85 percent complete, the airline now has Wi-Fi on more than 700 of its mainline aircraft.

Bob Schumacher, Managing Director Sales, U.K. & Ireland at United, said: “We

really appreciate the support for our Belfast service from customers across Northern Ireland.

“Our flights not only provide non-stop, convenient access to New York from your local airport, but also a top quality product for our business customers, and connections to more than 300 destinations throughout the Americas.”

WiFi Connectivity in BusinessFirst

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Do we have an unhealthy obsession with a fear of failure?

by Simon Bridge, visiting professor at Ulster University

high rate of business start-ups is generally good for an economy. It may be accompanied by a relatively high rate of business failures but, if the start-ups

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outnumber the failures, then the economy grows.

While every start-up does not contribute in the same way, between them they provide

things like employment, a nursery for new ideas, support and sub-contracting for bigger business and a productive outlet for independent minds. It is like an ecology: if an economy does not have a continuing supply of a variety of new life there will be no evolution of new forms and eventually everything will age and die off.

But Northern Ireland has a relatively low rate of start-ups and it is often said that one of the reasons for this is that we suffer from a fear of failure which deters people from starting a business because that is perceived to be a risky thing to do. That may sound like a simple conclusion – but what is the evidence for it and is it helpful and realistic?

The only research of which this author is aware which appears to look at a fear of failure is the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). It regularly surveys attitudes to entrepreneurship across many countries and, in its reports on Northern Ireland, it has often stated that when, it comes to starting a business, a greater proportion of people in Northern Ireland have fear of failure than the UK average.

But, instead of concluding from those reports that people in Northern Ireland have a high fear of failure, it is worth examining GEM more closely.

For instance its data are derived from telephone surveys with simple yes/no or multiple choice questions and with no interpretation or follow up.

Further, while those surveys have asked respondents if a fear of failure would prevent them from starting a business, the previous question asks them if they think they have the skills necessary to start a business.

Apparently in Northern Ireland a greater proportion of people than the UK average think they do not have those skills – but, in that case, surely it is not surprising if the same people then say they fear that if they were to start a business it might fail.

So the anticipation of failure is likely to be because they think they lack the necessary skills rather than because they have a general fear of failure. This would suggest that GEM is not a good source for substantiating the fear of failure hypothesis.

A second point to be made about references to a fear of failure is that they imply that successful entrepreneurs do not have a fear of failure – and that is not the case.

Successful business venturers are not risk junkies and are instead usually risk averse.

Saras Sarasvathy , when she explored the attitudes of ‘expert’ entrepreneurs (people to had started a business and taken it to the stage of a stock market flotation), found that they sought to reduce the risk and, for instance, would limit their investment in a new venture and not put at risk more than they could afford to lose.

There is a school of thought that

Northern Ireland has a relatively low rate of start-ups and it is often said that one of the reasons for this is that we suffer from a fear of failure which deters people from starting a business because that is perceived to be a risky thing to do.

Professor Simon Bridge distinguishes between risk and uncertainty by applying the word risk where the odds are known, or can be estimated, and uncertainty when they are not – so uncertainty is unquantified risk but that is not necessarily high risk.

Businesses are supposed to try to assess the risk in potential new ventures through market research but Sarasvathy’s ‘expert’ entrepreneurs didn’t think you could reliably predict the future and didn’t trust market research.

So they didn’t try to quantify the risk – instead they accepted the uncertainty and operated accordingly.

It is also worth recognising that ‘trial and ‘error’ is the route to success in almost every field of human progression – and of course ‘error’ is not really the right word because error implies making an avoidable mistake whereas what the process involves is trying something, observing where it doesn’t work, changing it and then trying again.

Explorers know they will probably have to explore several routes in order to find one that works and map makers have to explore and survey the territory before they can make their maps.

Oil companies expect that they will have to drill several trial wells before they find a productive one and Edison described finding many substances that didn’t work as a filament for a light bulb as a success, because they could then be eliminated from his investigations.

So, when innovating, finding what doesn’t work is often an essential part of the route to success and therefore should not be seen as a failure – although we often call it that. Trial and error is the established method and the only one that works - provided you haven’t put at risk in the trial more that you can afford to lose.

So, instead of talking about a fear of failure, we should encourage an eagerness to experiment combined with a readiness to admit when something isn’t working plus an ability then to see other options and a willingness to try them.

Is it the case that, in saying we have a fear of failure, those concerned are not helping but instead are actually doing one (or both) of two things?

Are they, and this applies particularly to officials and policy makers, in effect offering an excuse for why economic and/or enterprise policies aren’t working – instead of admitting they are the wrong policies?

And are they implanting in people’s minds the idea that they should be frightened of failure and that business venturing is a risky business – thus making them more frightened and discouraging them from doing it?

We tend to believe what we are told, especially when it comes for supposedly wellinformed official sources so, by telling us that we don’t start businesses because we have a fear of failure, does that tend to increases our fear of failure and further deter us for doing what the officials want us to do.

Another result of encouraging people to fear failure is that it can also encourage them to avoid recognising failure when it does occur. On the route to business success, evidence that things are not going according to plan, which some might consider to be failure, should be welcomed because such feedback is necessary if corrections are to be made.

The trial and error route to making things better involves accepting that sometimes things don’t work well and could be done better - but if people are frightened of failure they may refuse to accept that it might be occurring. In his book Adapt, Tim Harford describes how in Stalinist Russia one of its weaknesses and sources of significant waste was a refusal at the top to believe that its grandiose projects, such as the Lenin Dam on the Dnieper River and the steel mills of Magnitogorsk, might not be working or that there might be better ways of doing them.

Therefore evidence of failure which, if accepted, might have led to corrections and improvement, was rigorously spurned by the officials concerned because failure was not officially permitted – and the projects turned into disasters.

Suggesting that our fear of failure is holding back our enterprise may, at least in part, be offered as an excuse for the failure of enterprise development programmes, but is it also an example of a tendency we seem to have, especially in government circles, to assume that in Northern Ireland local ideas and abilities are not going to be as good as in other areas?

Such a belief justifies the role of agencies because it implies that without their help our thinking and approaches are always going to

be limited and therefore higher-level intervention is needed.

Thus, because we are supposed to have a fear of failure, we can’t be expected to start businesses for ourselves and so we need help to do it.

So is it for that reason also that we are reminded of our supposed limitations - and is that then likely to become a self-fulfilling prophesy?

Therefore, instead of bemoaning our supposed fear of failure, we should change our approach.

We should recognise both that we may not be more frightened of failure than others and that a lot of what might be labelled failure is instead an inherent part of the route to success.

We should encourage exploration and welcome the ‘failure’ that that involves - and realise that problems arise, not when we try something uncertain which might not work initially, but when, like the Russians, we can’t admit that we didn’t get it right the first time and that there could be other better ways of doing it.

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FASTANK will offer a discount for all Bunds purchased in November 2015

FASTANK® raises awareness of oil storage regulation changes Minister of the Environment Mark H. Durkan MLA visited Fast Engineering Limited to launch the company’s Environmental Protection Initiative for Northern Ireland’s business community he Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 is aimed at ensuring local businesses store their Oil and Fuel appropriately and in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

Recent changes mean that companies must be storing oil and fuel in a double bunded system by the end of December this year.

Minister Durkan attended an event at Fast Engineering’s Antrim Base to raise awareness of the changes in legislation and launch the company’s incentive to assist local businesses in complying with the regulations.

Fast Engineering Ltd was established in 1981 to manufacture FASTANK, a patented liquid storage container for use in a number of sectors including oil and chemical spill clean-up, Aid Agency, firefighting, military, fish-farming, and animal rescue.

The Minister enjoyed a tour of the factory where Fast Engineering designs and manufactures a range of innovative products under its FASTANK brand and from where it exports to over 100 countries worldwide On hearing of the company’s ambitious plans for growth across both UK and International markets, Minister Durkan commented, “It is encouraging to see a local company investing in new and innovative products and successfully competing worldwide under challenging market conditions”.

Seamus Connolly MBE, Fast Engineering Managing Director commented “It was a pleasure to welcome the Minister to our site here in Antrim and to witness his enthusiasm for our products. His support for our aspirations to continue to grow worldwide in the Environmental Sector is stimulating.”

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Seamus Connolly MBE explained to Minister Durkan that many Northern Ireland companies could be in breach of the Oil and Fuel Storage Regulations and need to take swift action to avoid fines of up to £20,000 and even imprisonment in severe cases. After a high level of oil related pollution events, the regulations will apply to all ground storage facilities more than 200 litres capacity.

Adam Holland, General Manager for Fast Engineering explained, “The regulations effectively mean that older single skin tanks must be replaced with more expensive double skinned tanks or placed in a secondary containment system designed to capture any leaking fluid and with a 10 per cent more capacity than the tank itself. “ Most notable though is the deadline on companies to reach compliance by 31st December 2015.” Fast Engineering have developed a product that provides a simple solution to the problem.

The FASTANK® BUND can be placed underneath existing nonbunded single skinned tanks providing robust and durable secondary containment in compliance with the regulations.

The Bund is a

cost effective alternative to a replacement of the tank with a double skinned system.

Mr Holland added, “The bund is a multipurpose rapid installation, secondary containment system designed to catch oil, fuel or chemical leaks and spills. Most recently we have seen an uptake in the building sector due to the increasing environmental guidelines and restrictions that construction sites must adhere to.

“The Bund can be employed as secondary or emergency containment for equipment, plant or material storage areas. It is versatile, reusable and unlike semi-permanent concrete bunded areas or lined excavations, the FASTANK BUND can be cleaned, packed and taken to the next site on completion of work.

“As a company committed to helping our customers to deliver sustainable and environmentally sound containment solutions, we’re building on our 34 year heritage of excellence to expand our reach and help our customers meet the challenges of the future.

Construction is only one area of growth identified in Fast Engineering’s 4 year expansion and growth strategy which is underpinned by the company’s long term commitment to innovation, research and development.

Minister Durkan welcomed the environmental benefits of Fast Engineering’s most recent product, the FASTANK® BUND and congratulated the company on its ambitions plans for growth.

Seamus Connolly announced that, “In order to assist with what we perceive to be a significant and immediate problem for local businesses, FASTANK will offer a discount for all Bunds purchased in November 2015”

BEST PRACTICE

Getting it right first time things you should know about instructing expert witnesses

by Caroline Prunty, Partner Millar McCall Wylie Solicitors xpert witnesses provide vital assistance to the courts in litigation cases. Whether you are pursuing a clinical negligence claim or defending a commercial oil spill case, the courts will rely heavily on the input of those who have an expert insight into that area.

There are many experts who classify themselves as such, but the quality of their work and oral evidence can vary significantly. Finding an expert who has the appropriate qualifications, experience and who will be respected by the judiciary requires a solicitor with an in-depth knowledge of their practice area.

Millar McCall Wylie LLP (MMW) are a regional leader in commercial litigation and we often recommend, appoint and manage expert witnesses on behalf of our clients.

In practice, experts may not be required to give oral evidence as many cases are resolved prior to court hearings . Most of their work is in the form of reports and determinations.

Nevertheless, experts must be prepared to provide oral testimony to support their findings and opinions. The right expert will be sufficiently robust to withstand challenges to their evidence during the course of cross examination.

It is therefore of crucial importance to engage the correct expert in the first instance. This is illustrated by the fact that in many commercial cases, once you have outlined the identity of your expert you are directed to share their report together with any other maps or plans which are associated with same. Obviously the ramifications of an unhelpful report are significant.

Recent case law has established a right for expert witnesses to be sued under certain circumstances where they have not met the standard of a reasonably competent expert.

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Recent case law has established a right for expert witnesses to be sued under certain circumstances. This has gone some way to compensating clients who have suffered loss when an expert has not acted in a reasonably competent manner.

This has gone some way to compensating clients who have suffered loss as a result of negligent advices..

A predictable consequence of this has been that some experts have taken a more conservative approach to their evidence rather than try to enhance a client’s case and risk being sued.

A new Practice Direction issued by the courts in Northern Ireland in 2015 carries with it an expectation that experts will be suitably qualified.

This often means that they will have to be professionally accredited in some way – usually through the Academy of Experts.

Having an expert who is capable of effectively liaising with the other side’s team can lead to a swifter resolution of technical matters in dispute, and thus reduced costs for plaintiffs and defendants alike. The Court also promote greater use of concurrent evidence or so called ‘hot­ tubbing’.

Many clients do not realise that the primary duty of an expert in any case in Northern Ireland is to the court and not the client. Experts are required to sign a declaration for each report which confirms this duty.

An experienced solicitor with sufficient litigation expertise will know the experts which have the best understanding of the issues involved in your case.

MMW will choose the right expert for your case to ensure a successful outcome.

If you have a complex legal matter or are unsure about who to speak to contact us today.

Millar McCall Wylie Solicitors caroline.prunty@mmwlegal.com 028 9020 0050 www.mmwlegal.com

This material is intended for general information purposes only. It is not provided for any specific purpose(s) or persons and is not intended to be relied upon as legal advice. No liability is accepted by Millar McCall Wylie LLP Solicitors for any actions taken in reliance upon the information provided. It is recommended that appropriate professional advice should be obtained regarding any specific legal problem or matter. Should you require such advice or assistance please contact us.

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DIRECTOR DISQUALIFICATIONS Spotlight on Director Disqualifications by Ian Finnegan, director, ASM Chartered Accountants, Newry and Dundalk. n this article, leading accountancy practice, ASM Chartered Accountants, which has six offices in Newry, Dundalk, Dublin, Dungannon, Magherafelt, Dublin and Belfast, outline the changes to the law surrounding director disqualifications, in a bid to better educate affected individuals and their businesses.

Ian Finnegan, Licensed Insolvency Practitioner and director at ASM, Newry commented:

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Change is afoot in the law on director disqualifications.

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act which obtained Royal Assent on 26 March 2015 will bring some very significant changes for directors of insolvent limited companies. The New Act applies in Northern Ireland with the director disqualifications provisions having come into effect on 1 October 2015.

Up to now the main piece of legislation dealing with directors’ conduct is The Company Directors Disqualification (Northern Ireland) Order 2002. The new Act widens the scope of the law and makes the consequences of falling foul of it potentially more painful.

In addition to extending the time allowed for the DETI to take action against directors, the main changes are summarised below: The new provisions mean that a director’s conduct in companies registered outside of Northern Ireland can be taken into account here.

This is obviously particularly significant for directors of Republic of Ireland companies who may have had difficulties with the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement in Dublin.

There are new provisions aimed at stopping the appointment of “puppet” directors.

This is the practice of companies appointing “named” directors, for example, spouses, where the original directors are either bankrupt or subject to Disqualification Orders or Undertakings but still effectively in control of the company.

The new provisions apply to individuals under whose influence, instruction or direction the “named” directors act.

Penalties can be imposed on those deemed to be controlling the company and also on the named directors.

Finally and perhaps most significantly the new Act gives the DETI the power to hit

Sabrina Donnelly, Licensed Insolvency Practitioner at ASM, is pictured with Ian Finnegan, director, ASM and Fiona Fearon, Insolvency Manager at ASM.

disqualified persons where it hurts the most, their pockets.

Where a person is subject to a disqualification order or a disqualification undertaking and that persons conduct has caused loss to a creditor or a group of creditors the DETI will be able to apply to the High Court for a Compensation Order against that person.

The Compensation Order is potentially a massive weapon in the war on rogue directors for whom a disqualification is seen as nothing more than a rap on the knuckles, now they face the prospect of also have to pay financial compensation to the creditors.

However it will also cause potential difficulty for all directors of insolvent companies.

It is envisaged these orders will be provable in bankruptcy and could therefore see directors made bankrupt for the debts of an insolvent company where up to now they have been able to walk away.

Effectively the benefits of limited liability will only be available to those deemed to have acted properly.

ASM Snapshot Since its launch in 1995, ASM has grown rapidly and today stands as one of the largest accounting and management consultancy firms in Ireland, with offices in Belfast, Dublin, Dundalk, Dungannon, Magherafelt and Newry.

The firm, employing 160 people, specialises in a range of accountancy disciplines that include: corporate finance, audit and accounting, internal audit, consultancy services, taxation, hotels, tourism and leisure, insolvency and forensic accounting.

For further information on this topic or for one-to-one consultancy contact Ian Finnegan, ASM Newry on 3026 9933 or email ian.finnegan@asmnewry.com.

A full range of ASM’s services can be viewed here: www.asmaccountants.com

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FEATURE

MANAGING MSDs What are the main causes?

With Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) being the most common kind of work-related illness in the UK (NI Direct, 2015), their appropriate treatment and management should be increasingly important to organisations.

Dr Alan Black, Director of one of Northern Ireland’s longest established occupational health providers, Blackwell Associates Limited, outlines what employers need to know. he term ‘MSD’ refers to any injury of the joints, or other soft tissues in the limbs or the back.

Spinal and muscle/joint pain accounts for over half of all reported work related illnesses in Northern Ireland, with around 20 per cent of all reported injuries related to sprains associated with manual handling (HSENI 2013).

In addition, almost 33 per cent of all absences from work in Northern Ireland councils are due to back and neck problems, with the average duration of such absences around two weeks (NI Direct 2015).

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While it’s easy to assume that these disorders only affect those engaged in labour intensive roles, MSD doesn’t discriminate.

From the young to the elderly, sedentary to physically active - anyone can experience musculoskeletal pain and it is most often caused by an injury to the bones, joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, or nerves.

The disorder can be caused by a number of activities including repetitive and heavy lifting, bending and twisting, working in an uncomfortable position, repeating something too often, and using the wrong tools for a job.

However, there are a number of other causes which are perhaps less obvious.

Working long hours without breaks, or even working in environments that are consistently too hot or too cold, can contribute to employees falling victim to this illness.

Even the way employees sit at their desks can trigger MSDs. For example, 63 per cent of office workers complain of aches and pains at their work station which more often than not, can be alleviated by adopting an improved posture and utilising a range of ergonomic solutions such as providing chairs with lumbar support (CIPD, 2014).

How can companies identify employees with MSDs? As with many workplace illnesses, MSD may not be immediately visible. However, due to the primarily physical nature of MSDs, there are some symptoms employers can look out for in their workers.

For instance, has there been an increase in the number of injuries to backs or limbs in the last few months or years? Have managers reported that their teams have made such complaints?

If you are in manufacturing or production, ask yourself, has overall product quality, or productivity, reduced?

If you take a walk around the premises, are you noticing employees resorting to DIY

improvements to counteract uncomfortable working environments, such as padding on seats, wearing bandages or splints?

How can companies mitigate the risk?

The first step is to identify which tasks present a serious risk of chronic injury. For instance, do any of your employees have a role which requires frequent bending or lifting? This risk assessment should be carried out across the entire organisation, from the head office to the factory floor.

Employers may wish to also engage safety representatives directly with employees or trade unions to understand first hand what workers experience on a day to day basis.

Where changes are possible and practical, these should be introduced and clearly communicated to your employees. However, where mechanisation is not possible, other reasonable measures should be taken. For example, in the case of a physical role, frequent job rotation to a different work station area will reduce the risk of a worker repeating an action (such as lifting) too often.

Your occupational health provider can assist with any risk assessments to ensure that the correct questions are asked and that any issues can be correctly identified and addressed. They can also manage the recovery of employees by ensuring correct diagnosis and development of a return to work plan.

The team at Blackwell Associates Limited are strongly positioned to work with you to ensure that all workplace illnesses, including MDSs, are appropriately identified and managed. Call 028 9065 6131 to speak to a member of the team or email enquiries@blackwellassociates.co.uk or follow us on @BwellAssociates or www.facebook.com/BlackwellAssociatesLtd

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eir DIGITAL HEROES 2015

Digital Heroes 2015 - The Winner Gavin Walker meets this year’s Northern Ireland Digital Heroes winner Rachael Colton, Founder and Editor of ROCO Magazine OCO is an online interior and lifestyle Magazine covering the UK and Ireland.

ROCO appeals primarily to affluent, sophisticated women in the ABC1 demographic.

Since launch, ROCO has already entertained over 120,000 readers from around the world with the UK and USA as top locations.

Showing that our users readily interact with the site and trust the brand, whilst providing advertisers with a target, captive audience.

“We provide online advertising and exposure for business to reach markets locally and in the UK, ROI and USA,” Rachael explained, “ Examples of products offered to clients range from full-page adverts, advertorials, film, product placement, competitions, banner website advertising, business directory advertising.”

It was paramount from the beginning to create a magazine online that would provide a guide to stylish modern living, showcasing creative, quality design and providing readers with superior features and breathtaking imagery.

“By working with top designers we created a brand and brand identity that instantly began attracting large companies that wanted to advertise in ROCO. Including Laura Ashley, IKEA, Sofa.com, Sofa & Chair Company etc,” Rachael said.

Top interior designers began to seek us out for features in the magazine including Dragon Dens Kelly Hoppen and Kishani Perea interior designer to A-List celebrities to name a few.

“We set out to use the best technology practices, website design and usability available to ensure we where able to compete on an international stage.

“We worked with one of the UK's top website developers (who has worked on brands such as Ted Baker) to help us create a new website, that provided daily news feeds whilst housing the magazine. This was launched only six months ago to rave reviews.

“We took our innovation further and also launched a dedicated app for reading the magazine available on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. We researched the software and worked with Invest NI innovation to create an app that software is also used by the top worldwide publications including Forbes. It allows readers to crop images in the magazine and share clips through all social media streams, this is currently not available on another magazine software.

“On our first day of launch we featured on the home page of iTunes Newstand in the USA. Somewhere that normally only features top worldwide publications like Vogue or Elle.

With sales only starting full time in December 2013, ROCO export market stands

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at 85 per cent in mainland UK alone and this is predicted to rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2014. We have increased our turnover in the last six months by 350 per cent “We wanted to grow readers organically who would trust the brand, interact and view ROCO as their one stop guide to interiors,” Rachael added.

“We have achieved this by now having 120,000 readers to the site and magazine, our newsletter subscribers total over 12,000 and social media streams have over over 9,000 followers.”

With the re-launch of the new site and app, teh comapny ran a TV commercial over UTV demonstrating high-end CGI techniques of the magazine within an tablet.

“We are seeing an increase in sales outside GB in countries France, The Netherlands and India. We plan to increase our sales figures over these regions paying attention to the EU companies exporting to the UK. We have new planned marketing strategy in place to grow our readership and subscribers within the next 12 months and new products for advertisers to avail off.”

ROCO was the first online interiors magazine in Northern Ireland, we embraced new publishing techniques and sought to align ourselves as expert in the world off interiors. We are dedicated to showcasing good design and work hard with both our advertisers and readers to ensure all their

needs are met. We constantly research new techniques and ways to interact and readers whilst trying remain innovative with out content.

ROCO really is a one woman team, who showcases what hard work, determination and drive can achieve. Within a short period of time the company has been able to compete on an international stage.

Gaining readers from around the world, one hundred and twenty thousand of them, whilst being able to grow revenue and attract large international advertisers.

It is the perfect example of a local female business woman creating a business that has gained international recognition and a worthy winner of the Northern Ireland Digital Hero Award 2015.

in association with

Home Security Solutions from Diamond Systems Domestic burglaries in Northern Ireland are on the increase. Recent PSNI crime statistics report an average of 16 homes per day are targeted in domestic burglaries – that’s one home in Northern Ireland every 90 minutes. company, you can be sure that your intruder alarm system will be installed and maintained by skilled, professional engineers. We never compromise on quality when it comes to selecting the right manufacturer for our products and we are renowned for quality alarm systems that stand the test of time.

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Belfast Giants help launch new Diamond Systems App enabled home security solution

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How can an Intruder Alarm System protect your home?

According to Directgov, the Government’s digital information service, a home is five times more likely to be targeted if it has no apparent security measures in place. Studies have shown that a well-installed intruder alarm system will significantly reduce your chances of becoming a victim of burglary.

As well as protecting your home when unoccupied, modern intruder alarm systems can also be “part set” to protect you and your family, even when you are at home.

Does the quality of your home security reflect the value of your assets?

When you have made the decision to purchase an intruder alarm system, it is important to choose a reputable and experienced firm to install the system.

Selecting an alarm company accredited by the National Security Inspectorate, NSI, will ensure that your intruder alarm system is installed to a high level of quality, to offer you and your family the protection you deserve.

You may even be entitled to a discount on your home insurance if you choose an NSI accredited company to install and maintain your home alarm system.

Using the very latest technology, an Intruder Alarm System from Diamond Systems not only protects your home, but integrates with your lifestyle and provides you with complete control of your system, from anywhere in the world.

The Diamond Intruder Alarm system provides remote access to your home security system via the Home Control app which can be customised to offer you the following benefits and flexibility: • Check the current status of your system, set or unset your system remotely, or receive notifications via SMS to inform you that a family member has arrived home safely • Investigate activations or faults on your intruder alarm system, and allow remote maintenance of your intruder alarm system

by Diamond Systems’ engineers • Integrate your home appliances such as lights and heating with your home alarm system to also control these via your smart phone To discuss your home security requirements, call the Diamond Team today on 02890 207 207 or visit www.diamondsystems.co.uk.

Choose Quality, Choose Diamond Systems for all your Home Security needs Diamond Systems offers a range of home security solutions, each one tailored to your exact requirements. We have over 25 years’ experience installing and maintaining security alarms and as an NSI Gold accredited

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Report confirms value of SMEs to Northern Ireland T FSB Northern Ireland

he most comprehensive independent study of small businesses in recent years, that has been launched by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Northern Ireland has revealed that small businesses in Northern Ireland employ more people than large companies and the public sector combined.

Launched at a 30th Anniversary to mark the presence of FSB in Northern Ireland, ‘The Contribution of Small Businesses to Northern Ireland’ is an in-depth, piece of research gauging not only a current capture of the SME landscape, but also their primary issues and concerns.

The research, conducted by the Ulster Business School at Ulster University and commissioned by FSB Northern Ireland, reveals that in Northern Ireland, small businesses contribute 75 per cent of turnover, 75 per cent of employment, and 81 per cent of the GVA generated within the private sector.

Furthermore, 80 per cent of SMEs plan to grow their business over the next two years, and nearly all of the SMEs surveyed (95%) plan to remain within their local area, with around a quarter of SMEs indentifying employing and hiring a local workforce as one of the most important ways they contribute to the local economy.

When asked what the main concern for the future of small businesses were, the majority of respondents agreed that political instability was the primary concern followed by cash flow and the availability of skilled employees.

Wilfred Mitchell OBE, FSB NI Policy Chair

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The SMEs surveyed identified a number of barriers to doing business, with the top issues being

• reduction in business rates and corporation tax, • Better broadband provision, • More help with online/marketing activity, • Better availability of skilled staff, • reduction in bureaucracy and regulation, • VAT reduction, and • Action to address late payments.

Small businesses are vital not only to economic contribution in Northern Ireland, but also social contribution. Additionally, ‘The Contribution of Small Businesses to Northern Ireland’ reveals the substantial socio-cultural contribution of small businesses, in terms of the role they play in their local communities and wider society.

Of the 200 small businesses surveyed, a significant number employ staff who were previously long-term unemployed, engage with schools, colleges and community groups, and volunteer time and services to local charities.

As the voice of small business, this research will drive the support FSB NI provides for its members, as a business organisation, that was identified as the main source of business support, by the respondents who were independently selected by Ulster University and comprised of both FSB and non-FSB members.

Wilfred Mitchell OBE, FSB NI Policy Chair explained; “In the FSB’s 30-year history in Northern Ireland, the importance of the selfemployed, small and micro business to the economy has never been greater.

“Northern Ireland has the highest concentration of SMEs of all the UK nations and research conducted by the Ulster University clearly evidences that it is small businesses which make the greatest contribution to turnover, employment and GVA. “This vital research not only provides an up to date capture of the SME led private sector in Northern Ireland but also an in-depth study on how small businesses contribute to the socio-cultural fabric of their communities through charity, volunteering and community participation.”

Mr Mitchell outlined that the research will provide a foundational basis for future work of FSB NI. He continued: 'This innovative research will form the basis of FSB NI’s work going

forward, as we act upon what small businesses have highlighted to us, commencing with the FSB NI Assembly election Manifesto which will be launched next month.

"As identified in the survey through a free text option, with no response prompts, the primary concern and barrier to growth of our largest economic contributor is the current unstable political situation. FSB NI will be continuing to highlight this in our political engagement in the coming weeks."

He concluded; "We hope this substantial piece of research will be used by policymakers as the foundation document for all small business policy in the next Programme for Government" Professor Marie McHugh, Dean of the Ulster University Business School, said, “This is the most comprehensive research of SMEs in Northern Ireland for some time, and has given them a voice to raise their concerns.

“More importantly, it reminds us just how significant small businesses are to our economy, and it is a challenge to all of us to do more to support them. Our call to Government is that our report forms the foundation for shaping the next Programme for Government and Economic Strategy, to help our SME economy grow, prosper and compete on the global stage”.

Copies of 'The contribution of SMES to Northern Ireland' will be available online with hard copies available through request by emailing info.nireland@fsb.org.uk.

FAMILY FRIENDLY EMPLOYER AWARDS 2015

Family Friendly Employers Awards Strike the Balance!

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ver recent months the concept of ‘Family Friendly’ has become increasingly popular with the introduction of a number of family friendly initiatives in Northern Ireland, such as the introduction of shared parental leave, and a number of major international employers, such as Netflix and Virgin, hailing the importance of facilitating working parents.

To celebrate local employers who show commitment in prioritising Family Friendly policies, local charity Employers For Childcare Charitable Group held the fifth annual Family Friendly Employer Awards on Thursday 8 October at Belfast City Hall.

At the ceremony Employers For Childcare also launched the new ‘Striking the Balance’ report which outlines the challenges that working parents in Northern Ireland face today, and explores the real impact that becoming a parent has on a person’s employment, working life and career prospects. (see page 66).

The awards celebrated employers who have acknowledged the true value of being family friendly. This annual award ceremony recognises organisations as some of the best family friendly employers in Northern Ireland. From flexible working policies to employee benefits like Childcare Vouchers, these organisations are committed to initiatives that make it easier for parents to balance their work and family life.

The judging panel for the Family Friendly Employer Awards 2015 were Julie Taylor, Integrity NI and Board Member of Employers For Childcare Charitable Group; Gavin Walker, Business First; Maxine Orr, Worthingtons Solicitors; John Simpson, Economist and Sarah Uprichard, CIPD Policy Committee.

Winners of the Family Friendly Employer Awards 2015 Public Sector Organisation of the Year – Queen’s University Belfast A forward-thinking organisation, the judges felt that Queen’s University is innovative in their approach to family friendly practices.

Queen’s were one of the only entries to use social media to promote and implement their abundance of family friendly policies, including the provision of crèche facilities for their employees.

Queen’s has demonstrated dedication to staff through the introduction of a new website for international staff members; helping signpost them to find new homes and

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schools. They demonstrated evidence of thinking ahead to see what else they can provide to help maintain a satisfied workforce.

The judges felt that Queen’s tick every box and is a model of good practice.

Childcare Voucher Scheme; group income protection, group death plan and their flexible leave policy which encourages staff to take as much time off as required!

Large Private Sector Company of the Year – Coca-Cola Hellenic

Aisling Daycare is a worthy winner, demonstrating excellence in their approach to meet the needs of each of their individual employees.

They have a child focused and family ethos in values, providing a variety of initiatives including family friendly working hours, ‘come in and have a chat day’ whereby one day is set aside each term where staff are invited to come into the office and discuss any topic that is important to them including family life; providing a sense of community in addition to a staff forum to listen to all of the staff needs.

Coca-Cola resonates family friendly!

Coca-Cola Hellenic Northern Ireland provide a comprehensive range of enhanced family friendly policies which have resulted in increased engagement levels throughout the entire organisation. One of Coca-Cola Hellenic’s core values is ‘Caring for their People’ and they pride themselves on listening to employees’ feedback to develop family initiatives of worth.

As a result, a noteworthy initiative implemented earlier this year was ‘Make my life easier’ that include no meetings on Fridays and no emails after 6.30pm to encourage down time from work to spend time with family; providing a healthy worklife balance.

Micro Business of the Year – Adhaus Media With limited resources and small in size, Adhaus Media is keen to listen to their team; as what works for the business may not always work for the individual. Adhaus’s initiatives are based around their staff and what works for them and can help the most.

They have demonstrated excellence in meeting their individual employee needs for example moving home time from 5.30pm to 5.15pm, making the commute home quicker.

Allowing 15 minutes earlier is a small thing to do but makes a massive difference for arents.

Adhaus have also adopted a rotational 4pm leaving policy in July, each day except for Friday a team member gets to leave at 4pm to enjoy some quality family time as the children will be off school. In addition in December they provide each staff member a 2 hour lunch to assist with Santa shopping to avoid the frantic rush.

Small Medium Enterprise of the Year – Edwards and Co. Solicitors Edwards and Co Solicitors do an amazing amount for their employees and it is evident that they are truly family friendly, clearly enhancing the quality of their workforce.

They offer an array of family friendly initiatives, including providing enhanced maternity/paternity packages including 100 per cent pay for the first six weeks then half pay for the next six months rather than SMP;

Education Sector Organisation of the Year – Aisling Daycare and Afterschool

Charity Social Enterprise of the Year – Joint winners: MACS Supporting Children and Young People and Action Cancer MACS Supporting Children and Young People has a number of established family friendly initiatives! They aim to be an organisation that wholly embraces flexible working, where it is the norm! They offer and heavily promote flexible family friendly initiatives including working from home, having business meetings in the home, compressed hours, all staff finish at 4pm on a Friday, paid time off for anti-natal appointments, bring your children to work and hosting family work events.

Action Cancer believes that their staff team is the most valuable asset to their organisation. They monitor, trial, change and keep an eye on employees’ work patterns, particularly those with families, to ensure that they maintain the right work-life balance and are happy in their work.

Action Cancer’s leadership believe in “an environment where their people are valued and where they can realise their full potential”.

The award winners and highly commended companies will feature in Employers For Childcare’s 2016 Calendar, which is distributed to over 2,500 companies across the UK. For more information about the launch of the Striking the Balance report visit vouchers.employersforchildcare.org/ media/striking-the-balance.pdf or call 0800 028 3008.

Asdon Golf Day

Julie Taylor (left) Judging Panel Chair with all of the winners of the Family Friendly Employers Awards 2015

Laura Lynch Queen's University Belfast and Laura Hourican CIPD

Steven Johnston from Adhaus Media with Gavin Walker

Teresa Curran from Edward’s & Co Solicitors with Laura Hourican

Bronagh McAllister & Una Dougherty Aisling Day Care. Diane Hill

Eileen Tunney from Coca-Cola with Maxine Orr

Mary Ryan and Maxine Orr Worthingtons Solicitors.

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FAMILY FRIENDLY EMPLOYER AWARDS 2015

Striking the Balance - Report What impact does becoming a parent have on employment, working life and career?

mployers For Childcare Charitable Group has released a new report called ‘Striking the Balance’ which uncovers the challenges that local working parents face in balancing work and family.

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The ‘Family Friendly’ Movement The topic of work-life balance has become popular issue over previous months. From a government perspective, 2015 has seen the introduction of a number of family friendly

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initiatives in Northern Ireland, such as the introduction of shared parental leave. A number of large international companies have also dominated the media promoting the support they provide to parents, such as Netflix which earlier this year extended its parental leave programme, allowing employees to take unlimited time off.

Other major organisations such as Virgin, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Nestlé have also joined the trend. These companies have

prompted international debate on the need to support working parents and send out a message that work-life balance is achievable, desired and an issue that employers must support.

In Northern Ireland, an at-a-glance look at the labour market will reveal that many companies are now offering enhanced maternity and paternity pay, providing support with the cost of childcare and offering a range of family friendly working

The role of the employer is crucial – the parents in the survey who were most satisfied with their work-life balance were those who worked for supportive employers.Striking the Balance Report arrangements. These are companies like those which are represented in Employers For Childcare’s annual Family Friendly Employer Awards, companies who are celebrated for implementing innovative and forward thinking policies.

Looking from the outside in, it would appear that working parents have never had it so good. However, amongst the discussions about work-life balance, the propaganda machines and the government initiatives are some less heartening statistics, such as the rise in maternity discrimination and the number of parents who are denied their rights. There is still progress to be made.

The Impact of Becoming a Parent on Employment and Working Life Trying to accommodate the changes involved in caring for a child into everyday life can be a challenge, and when it comes to employment trying to reach a balance between work and home can be difficult. The ‘Striking the Balance’ report puts the focus back onto parents, and explores the impact becoming a parent has from their perspective.

During 2014 Employers For Childcare surveyed 4,200 parents from across Northern Ireland, both mums and dads, working in a range of roles and levels of responsibility.

Of these parents, 63% made changes to the way they worked after becoming a parent, such as altering the nature of their employment, changing their working hours or choosing a different pattern of work.

Yet, despite the majority of parents making changes to their employment to accommodate family responsibilities, 77% commented that it was more difficult to progress or develop a career after having children.

For many the choice to make changes to employment is taken at the expense of career development, and indeed the report details many quotes from parents which discuss how they felt forced to give up their career ambitions, or were side-tracked into another path and find themselves unable to progress any further. More mothers than fathers find themselves in these situations.

Many respondents also discussed the daily challenge of being a working parent. A staggering 91% of parents commented that it is difficult to combine work with family commitments and responsibilities.

When suggesting solutions which could help make this easier, parents commented on government interventions, such as new polices for working parents, and better information on financial support, working

rights and childcare. However, although these are important asks, the role of the employer in better supporting parents was paramount in the results - when it comes to creating a suitable work-life balance, the employer is at the front line, they are crucial in facilitating and encouraging work-life balance.

How can employers better support working parents?

There are five main ways respondents suggested as to actions which could be taken to better support working parents: 1. Practice increased flexibility This could be through the provision of policies, such as flexitime, home-working or job-share. However, a flexible approach could simply include facilitating parents when they need to take time off to deal with emergencies. Some parents suggested allowing parents to work at home when their children are ill, or allowing the build-up of TOIL to facilitate other commitments.

Flexitime in particular helps parents with school or childcare pick-up and drop-offs, which can reduce the childcare bill and ease the stress of rushing into work.

make available onsite childcare for their employees. This is convenient for parents, and can also help save money on the cost though the Workplace Nurseries Scheme.

5. Be more understanding Aside from all other asks, many parents simply called for their employers to be more understanding of working parents and their needs. A number of respondents commented that they wished for their employer to be more approachable and open to supporting parents and discussing flexibility.

Many parents commented that they understood why in some cases permanent flexible working arrangements were not a viable option, but asked that their employers could be more flexible in certain circumstances, for example in emergencies or for school appointments.

For those employers who offer family friendly work practices, parents called for employers to respect the policies in place, for example looking at the workload of part-time employees and managing their work expectations better, or not organising meetings during non-working hours.

Overall…

2. Ensure equality of opportunity Numerous parents commented that once they were on a part-time contact they were no longer eligible to apply for senior roles, or conversely managers or senior officials felt that they could no longer request flexibility. A number of respondents suggested solutions to this such as home-working or job-share.

3. Provide better information Many respondents asked that their employers provided better, up-front, information on the policies which are available to them, both statutory entitlements and company policy. A number of means in which this could be communicated were suggested, for example using the staff intranet, company newsletters, during inductions and staff workshops.

4. Offer Childcare Support The cost of childcare can cause a significant financial burden for families, finding affordable and suitable childcare can also be a challenge. Many parents suggested that their employer could help with childcare through providing the Childcare Voucher Scheme, which helps parents save up to £1,800 per year on their childcare bill.

Other parents suggested that employers

The report shows that many local parents are struggling to find a suitable work-life balance, but with right support it is achievable.

The role of the employer is crucial – the parents in the survey who were most satisfied with their work-life balance were those who worked for supportive employers. Research shows that when employees can strike a suitable balance they are more motivated, productive and more likely to stay with the company – all of which also benefit the employer.

Employers For Childcare has always encouraged the use of family friendly policies, and on the back of the findings of the ‘Striking the Balance’ report it is clear that much more needs to be done, the group have already started working on developing a package of support for employers. This will be rolled out in the coming months.

It is hoped that the findings of the report will act as a catalyst for change and that they will encourage employers, and government, to better support parents today and lay a better foundation for those employees who will become working parents in the future.

The ‘Striking the Balance’ report is available to download from www.employersforchildcare.org.

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Putting business tourism first Business tourism is an integral part of the tourism mix, attracting overnight visitors for meetings, events and conferences - for an urban destination like Belfast, it often delivers a greater impact to the overall tourism performance of the city. With city wide investment and the opening of the extended Belfast Waterfront, the prospects for growth have never been greater, according to Laurie Scott, Visit Belfast’s newly-appointed Business Development Manager. elfast is on track to deliver one of its most successful tourism years to date, with hotel occupancy, visitor interest and tourist enquiries all at record levels for the nine months of 2015 and the body responsible for promoting its tourism credentials across the world is confident of further growth – particularly in the business tourism arena.

“Belfast has established itself as an awardwinning business tourism destination and concurrently developed strategy to secure more high-profile conferences and events for future growth – this success is further assured by the commitment being shown to developing the sector, the investments being made and the dedicated industry focus on a quality hospitality offering,” said Laurie, who joins Visit Belfast from Visit Britain, where he spent more than seven years as Business Development Manager, then Partnership Development Manager, based in New York.

Scottish-born Laurie, who studied hospitality management and tourism management at both Napier University and Glasgow Caledonian University, is looking forward to the challenges ahead.

“Belfast may be a small city but it can really pack a punch on the international meetings, incentives, conferences and events sector. Sales success and direct experience have shown that the city can deliver and I fully expect this to continue.”

Further adding that new Belfast Waterfront, which opens next year following a £29.9 million expansion and refurbishment programme by Belfast City Council will make a significant difference to the future growth of conference and business tourism in the city and that much work has already been done to secure major events for the exiting, innovative new space.

“The facilities available at the Belfast Waterfront will help place the city in a new league of opportunity, allowing us to compete for more international business and for events with delegate sizes that were previously out of reach.

“That job has already been started - Visit Belfast, along with our partners, look forward to continuing that good work in securing new leads and conference wins for the city.”

The Waterfront's expansion will see the venue's event space double in size as well as provide a wealth of support services and additional event space. Its impressive 2,000seat auditorium will host the plenary sessions, whilst two new multi-purpose halls spanning over 2,500m2 are ideal for exhibition space and the gala dinner.

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Belfast may be a small city but it can really pack a punch on the international meetings, incentives, conferences and events sector. Sales success and direct experience have shown that the city can deliver and I fully expect this to continue.

Laurie Scott

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Earlier this year, following a joint bid, Visit Belfast and Belfast Waterfront revealed that they had secured the annual International Surgical Congress of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI) as the first conference to use the Waterfront`s new 7,000m2 facility. The event take place in May 2016 and it is anticipated that the event will generate £2.2m for the local economy.

There are many more on the horizon.

Earlier this year, Visit Belfast unveiled its strategy for the next three years and outlined plans to more than double overnight stays in the city to 690,000 by 2018 as it looked to extend the city’s year-round and city-break appeal to business and leisure visitors from the UK, Ireland and overseas.

Business tourism will have a significant role to play in delivering that growth, Laurie said.

“Belfast has already secured many major and high profile conferences which have made other cities really sit up and notice,” said Laurie.

“Conferences such as Routes Europe, announced earlier this year, will bring key decision-makers from airlines, airports and tourism authorities to Northern Ireland, an event which is the right fit for the city on many levels.

“Not only will it bring welcome visitor revenue, it will generate a wider, longer-term economic impact, and creates positive advocates.

“Most importantly, it provides Belfast and Northern Ireland with an opportunity to showcase our strengths and abilities to a new international audience. The importance of events such as these can’t be overstated.”

Laurie is excited about the future.

“It’s a great pleasure to be heading Visit Belfast’s business tourism team at such an exciting time and I look forward to working with industry partners to ensure that Belfast and Northern Ireland continues to build on its reputation as a quality conference and meetings destination.”

Visit Belfast is a public-private sector partnership, representing over 500 tourism business. Funded by Belfast City Council and supported by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Visit Belfast has strategic partnerships with Translink, Diageo Northern Ireland and Value Cabs, as well as corporate partnerships with Hastings Group, Victoria Square and Titanic Belfast.

Maldron Hotel Belfast – the perfect conference partner! hen planning an event or meeting, one of the most important aspects is Location, Location, and Location.

You may have to consider that delegates will be travelling from different regions of Northern Ireland to attend your event.

When considering a venue, then look no further than Maldron Hotel Belfast. Located in the heart of Northern Ireland, only a twominute walk from Belfast International Airport and just 20 minutes outside Belfast.

The Maldron Hotel Belfast the perfect location for your next meeting or event!

Easily accessible from the M1 and M2, making Maldron Hotel Belfast, the ideal meeting point for any regional businesses.

Maldron Hotel Belfast is perfectly located for corporate meetings when you are bringing people together from different parts of the region or even from further afield.

Avoid the traffic and parking issues of Belfast City Centre with stress-free access to Maldron Hotel Belfast. All conference guests can avail of complimentary Parking and WiFi. At the Maldron Hotel Belfast you will find there is a conference room to suit any event or budget! The hotel offers 10 impressive conference rooms with capacity for up to 250 delegates. Each suite can be tailored for any event such as training, product launches,

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networking, interview or exhibitions.

Maldron Hotel Belfast is renowned for high standards, outstanding service and a keen eye for detail.

So think of Maldron Hotel Belfast when you are planning your next meeting and take advantage of our great facilities.

Our conference team offers a highly personalised approach to meetings and

events, trained to offer you a tailored and professional service. Contact them with your meeting requirements and will provide a bespoke quote to match your needs.

Or visit our website maldronhotelbelfast.com Contact 028 9445 7000 or email conferences.belfast@maldronhotels.com.

Putting the extra into extraordinary events ocal organisations will soon benefit from having new world class event facilities right on their doorstep. The opening of the newly extended Belfast Waterfront in May 2016 will bring an impressive range of spaces and services unique to Northern Ireland.

For almost 20 years the venue has built an outstanding reputation for all kinds of business functions. Long-standing client Gillian McKee, Deputy Managing Director at Business in the Community NI explains: “Belfast Waterfront is a fantastic venue. I would recommend the Waterfront to anyone requiring a first class event or conferencing service. The location is ideal and the venue offers a unique space, superb catering facilities and a highly professional staff, who have always gone out of their way to ensure our events were a tremendous success.”

The new 7,000m2 facility will continue to elevate Northern Ireland’s finest onto the world stage as well as attract more international conferences – an estimated 70,000 delegates are already destined for the stunning riverside venue.

Recognising the valuable contribution events make to the local economy Belfast City Council, Tourism Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund together invested £29.5m in the new development to further enhance the city’s ability to accommodate conferences on a larger scale.

The newly extended Belfast Waterfront promises not to disappoint. In keeping with

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the venue’s contemporary style, it will house two new interconnecting multipurpose halls spanning over 2,500m2; three large meeting rooms, each accommodating up to 200 delegates and a new riverside entrance leading to a 660m2 reception area. And boasting stunning exterior terraces, delicious local produce and service that’s second to none, clients are guaranteed something extraordinary every time, no matter the size or type of event.

The Ulster Hall In contrast, for businesses seeking a truly alternative venue steeped in history, the legendary Ulster Hall fits the bill.

‘The Grand Dame of Bedford Street' exudes elegance and charm that continues to win the hearts and minds of its guests.

This classic beauty is the perfect venue for fashion shows, weddings, drinks reception, gala dinners or exhibitions.

This 19th century masterpiece features elegant Victorian architecture, diverse spaces

and the striking Mulholland Grand Organ.

The venue can cater for up to 1,000 delegates and boasts an impressive client list including Tourism Northern Ireland, EY and Arts and Business Northern Ireland.

Alternatively, the Group Space seats up to 100 and is ideal for an intimate wedding ceremony or reception or a private art exhibition.

Whether you chose the Grand Hall, Group Space or one of its five meeting rooms, the space can be fitted with AV technology and managed by an experienced team - delivering the wow factor.

There’s no denying, both Belfast Waterfront and the Ulster Hall have what it takes to put the extra into extraordinary events!

For more information on both venues contact the Waterfront and the Ulster Hall sales team. Call 028 9033 4400, email conference@waterfront.co.uk or visit www.waterfront.co.uk and www.ulsterhall.co.uk.

Business First celebrates your success [1]Grant Thornton Northern Ireland has appointed Kim McCourt as Forensic and Investigation Services Manager. Her role will include developing Grant Thornton’s Forensic Accountancy and Investigation Services in the Northern Ireland market place. Kim has 10 years’ experience conducting financial and non-financial investigations and drafting expert witness testimony and is a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland as well as an Associate Member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

[2] Grant Thornton Northern Ireland has appointed Emma Brannigan as Associate Director. Her role will include managing a portfolio of audit clients, with responsibility for delivering audits and fulfilling regulatory and statutory obligations. Emma has 11 years’ experience and has worked across a vast range of industries including media, manufacturing, software and internet related services. She is a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

[3] Hugh McGrattan has joined Carson McDowell as partner and head of the firm’s professional indemnity team. He was previously partner in another leading Belfast firm for over 20 years. Hugh specialises in Professional Indemnity and Defendants’ litigation, acting on behalf of insurers and a range of professionals. He has developed considerable expertise defending solicitors, accountants, architects, engineers, surveyors, estate agents and insurance brokers in Professional Negligence actions.

[4] Naomi Gaston has joined the Banking and Finance team at Carson McDowell as an Associate in 2015 from her most recent position as Senior Associate in an international law firm. Naomi is dual-qualified to practice as a solicitor in Northern Ireland and in England & Wales. She advises all aspects of non-contentious banking and restructuring including secured and unsecured lending, acquisitions and refinancing.

[5] Una Mackle has joined the Commercial Litigation Team at Carson McDowell. Una works closely with Partner, Hugh McGrattan and Associate, Kirsten Magee in defending professional indemnity claims on behalf of solicitors, architects, valuers, engineers, accountants and other professionals and their insurers. She joins from another Belfast firm where she acted in a wide range of litigation cases.

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[6] Enya McKenna has joined the Healthcare team at Carson McDowell. She acts for a number of Medical Defence Organisations representing the interests of medical practitioners in Clinical Negligence claims. Enya also acts on behalf of various insurance companies in relation to the defence of employers liability and public liability claims including slipping/tripping claims, industrial disease and manual handling claims in both the County Court and High Court.

[7] Lighthouse Communications has appointed Mark Sterling as Senior Client Manager. A former journalist, Mark has more than six years’ experience in delivering successful corporate, consumer and crisis management campaigns on behalf of high profile clients. Mark will manage and implement communications strategies to achieve specific objectives for clients such as Arthur Cox, HeartSine, Montgomery Transport, Huhtamaki and Mary Peters Trust.

[8] Ian Wolfendale has ben apppointed Northern Ireland Client Engagement Manager at Jumpstart, the UK’s leading specialist in Research and Development (R&D) tax relief. In his role, Ian will look to develop stronger engagement with clients in Northern Ireland and increase uptake by firms across the province. With strong existing relationships with professional advisers and company directors in NI, Ian will ensure that any interested parties are educated on the advantages to be gained from R&D tax relief. investors throughout the United Kingdom.

9. Flora Delargy has been appointed Client Executive at Lighthouse Communications.

With experience in professional services and corporate finance Flora will be implementing PR and communication strategies for clients such as George Best Belfast City Airport, Donnelly Group, Grant Thornton, Lisney and Omexom.

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2 Padel Tenn is courts 6 Motorbike S imulators Soccer Pool

BUSINESS IN COMMUNTY

Five new appointments to Arts & Business NI board A rts & Business NI’s Professional Development Programmes match local businesses with cultural arts boards through initiatives such as Board Bank and Young Professionals, believing that a strong board and outstanding governance is vital to any organisation’s success.

It is also an excellent opportunity for staff in their own personal development capacity in gaining experience as a non-executive director or trustee and in developing key skills including: strategic management, leadership, influence, problem solving, creative thinking, confidence building and developing networks.

Arts & Business NI undertook the rewarding challenge in bringing new talent onto the exceptionally accomplished current board and is delighted to announce the appointment of five new Directors to the Arts & Business NI Board.

The new appointments are: Martin Bradley MBE, chair, Millennium Forum Theatre and Craft Northern Ireland; Maureen McLaughlin, Operations Director, Diamond Corrugated; Thérèse Rafferty, Head of Regeneration for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council; Jaime Steele, Managing Director, Pale Blue Dot and Gráinne Walsh, Head of Consulting, Stratagem.

Martin Bradley MBE is a former Mayor of Derry City Council, was chair of Culture Company 2013, the body responsible for the delivery of the first UK City of Culture in Derry/Londonderry.

He has extensive connections with the arts community in the city and wider region. He is currently Chairman of the Millennium Forum Theatre and Craft Northern Ireland as well as former Chair of the Ormeau Baths Gallery Belfast and former vice-chair of the Arts Council for NI. He was awarded an MBE in January 2008 for services to the arts in Northern Ireland.

Maureen McLaughlin is Operations Director of Diamond Corrugated and an industrial professional with over 20 years’ experience in manufacturing. Maureen graduated from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow with an honours degree in business and a post graduate diploma in marketing.

She travelled to the United States and lived and worked in Florida until returning to

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Ireland spending time in both Dublin and Limerick. From her first taste of the packaging Industry as a fresh graduate, Maureen continued to work in the industry and found herself in packaging roles wherever she travelled.

On returning to the North West, Maureen joined Diamond Corrugated in 1998 as Business Development Manager. In 2001 she became General Manager and in 2004 assumed the role of Operations Director.

Maureen sees the Arts very much as an industry as well as a personal pleasure and it is her industry experience that will support the “business” of Arts & Business NI in her role as director.

Thérèse Rafferty lives in Banbridge and is Head of Regeneration for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. She leads and directs a wide range of strategies within the Council’s Corporate Plan and enables the economic and regeneration strategy of the district including developing and promoting tourism and EU programmes. Thérèse advises on regional and local policy as it affects the Council.

She is a former school governor and holder of a ministerial appointment. Previously, she managed the Regional Development Office within the Ulster University including the establishment of the NI Centre for Entrepreneurship in partnership with Queen’s University, Belfast.

Jaime Steele is managing director of award-winning marketing and advertising agency, Pale Blue Dot Creative. He is a digital and brand strategist, creative thinker and marketer. Jaime brings over fifteen years’ international experience to the board, having worked with clients throughout the world, including startups, charitable organisations, political parties, professional athletes and global blue-chip companies.

Gráinne Walsh is head of Consultancy advising some of Stratagem public affairs’ longest-term clients and has provided project management to organisations working in complex legislative and regulatory environments. She plays a key role

in all aspects of the business, including pioneering Stratagem’s award winning corporate social responsibility activities.

In her time with Stratagem, Gráinne, a native of Dublin, has developed an expert knowledge and understanding of politics, policy and governance both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, providing high level public affairs support and advice for clients in the energy and public health sectors in particular.

The current board members of Arts & Business NI chaired by Dr Joanne Stuart OBE (Chair), Director of Development at the Northern Ireland Science Park are excited to work with the new members in driving the organisation forward and in continuing to support the local arts sector whilst working alongside the business world.

Dr Joanne Stuart OBE, Chair, Arts & Business NI and director of Development at the Northern Ireland Science Park remarked: “The new appointments to the Arts & Business NI board have brought great strength and talent, increasing the skills set and complementing the existing board.

“I look forward to working with the board to strengthen and build upon the excellent reputation of Arts & Business NI.”

Current board members are: Dan Gordon, Actor, Director and Writer; Michael Johnston, Managing Partner, Carson McDowell LLP; Cecil Russell, ASM Financial Planning, Neil Holland, Head of Sales & Marketing, Arc Applied Sciences in the UK; June McCluskey, Finance & Governance at HSC South Eastern Trust and Tony Kennedy OBE, Chair, The John Hewitt Society.

Sustainable consumption and the circular economy S

ustainable consumption is about society using resources at a rate that the planet’s systems we rely on can sustain, and at a rate that does not jeopardise the needs of future generations.

In practice, this means people living more sustainable lives. One key aspect of this is the products/services consumers buy and how these are used. Sustainable consumption is wholly integrated with and dependent upon its sister concept of sustainable production (which describes the design, development, production and supply of goods/services in a sustainable manner).

Resource Efficiency aims to maximise the use of materials with minimal waste production. Resource efficiency has traditionally emphasised minimising waste disposal by preventing its production, reusing and recycling materials and products, and recovering energy from remaining material.

However, a resource-led approach is increasingly the aim of companies today, based on reducing the intensity of resource use through stewardship, improving performance and avoiding the negative environmental impacts associated with certain materials.

Until relatively recently, resource security has not until been a primary concern for many businesses, however increasingly there have been issues of supply and rising costs across a wide range of raw materials – not only oil and minerals but everyday resources such as timber.

Associated with this is the increasing imperative to responsibly source materials to avoid negative environmental and social impacts. Companies that are under pressure are increasingly forced to consider resource replacement, using substitutes, replacing virgin materials with recycled materials and stopping the use of others.

Looking forward, however, approaches based on resource management – maximising efficiencies, re-using products and utilising closed loop systems – may offer an alternative route.

What is a Circular Economy

A Circular Economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each

service life.

Those companies that are working towards a circular approach seek to maximise the potential for their products to be reused, returned for remanufacture or easily recycled, keeping the materials within the circular economy. Opportunities are sought for developing closed loop value chains, extending product life, product reuse, remanufacturing and repair – and product and service design which allows these to happen.

The Circular Revolution - an Imperial College London report commissioned by Veolia (who head up Business in the Community’s National Environment Leadership Team) indicates that adopting a

Circular Economy could contribute £29 billion (1.8 per cent) of GDP and create 175,000 new UK jobs.

The McKinsey Centre for Business and Environment, authors of Growth Within: a Circular Economy Vision for a Competitive Europe, point towards the need for a shared agenda across all sectors and policy domains.

Recognising the clear potential to address growth and job creation whilst simultaneously tackling key environmental impacts, the move towards a Circular Economy is at the heart of the European Union’s resource efficiency agenda established under the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and the European Commission aims to present its new, ambitious Circular Economy Strategy late in 2015, to transform Europe into a more competitive resource-efficient economy.

With global mega-trends including increased connectedness, increasing transparency for businesses and the decline of blind consumerism, there is space for businesses to really improve the quality of the conversation with citizens around sustainable living.

Businesses that engage with consumers around sustainability and sustainable consumption will be the market leaders of the future, will gain strong consumer loyalty and trust, boost reputation and create competitive advantage.

In the coming months, Business in the Community will be focusing on the Circular Economy and how to best engage Northern Ireland companies with this issue. Find out more at Business in the Community at www.bitcni.org.uk.

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BMW GRAND TOURER he 6 series BMW has always been a big car since it first appeared in the 80’s as the loved Batmobile.

Fast forward to 2015 and the BMW 6 series is in its third generation. Available with petrol or diesel engines and in three body styles: gran coupe which has a longer wheelbase, coupe and convertible.

I tested the 640D Convertible which was fitted with a twin Turbo 313 bhp 3.0 litre diesel engine driving the rear wheels through an 8 speed auto gearbox. The first thing I noticed was the sheer bulk and size of this handsome car, some subtle changes to the exterior including all day LED running lights and really just a few tweaks here and there.

Once on board you do realise that the long nose housing the engine takes getting used too as you sit quite far back in chassis. The interior itself is –well just BMW. The driving position is comfortable and the passenger seat is roomy and although it’s considered a four seater the passengers in the back are squeezed a bit for legroom. So for such a big car the interior is surprisingly compact.

Meanwhile the boot is adequate although the roof – which is simple to operate with the push the button folding it away beautifully – takes up a lot of space.

Out on the road the Big Six will hit 60mph in about 5.5 seconds, the power delivery is smooth and once on the move it really does not feel as big as it looks.

The suspension systems have been honed to the character of the individual models and

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can now be further personalised through options like Dynamic Damper Control, which varies its responses electronically according to where and how the car is being driven; Adaptive Drive, which includes roll stabilisation; and Integral Active Steering, which introduces an element of rear-wheel steer to reduce the amount of turning effort needed while enhancing agility. I felt that when I set the suspension in sport or sport + mode it really was too hard and it crashed out over every pot hole, but not to worry comfort mode was good and the 6 Series handled well.

by Ian Beasant, BUSINESSFIRSTMAGAZINE motoring correspondent The diesel engine also returned a very respectable 40 miles per gallon.

It may not be the most practical car in the world, but on a long journey, maybe on the AutoRoute’s across Europe the BMW 6 series would really come into its own, easily covering 500-600 miles in a day and leaving its passengers fully refreshed and its driver very happy.

The 640D Convertible comes with a starting price tag £62,295.00 add on a few extras and the car I tested was £81,000.01 it’s a lot of money.

Audi RS3 Sportback Undercover Supercar

e live in a world of austerity where people with money do not even want to show it. Rewind ten years and if you had any money at all you were driving the latest, fastest flashiest car on the road where Bling was king.

Today people are buying cars that are practical, useful, economical and which raises no undue interest.

So I Introduce you to a five-door medium sized car that is extremely well built with 367 bhp; yes that’s right, 367bhp making it capable of 174 mph, 0.60mph in 4.3 seconds complete with four-wheel drive that offers over 35 miles to the gallon. Not only that it is great fun to drive at all speeds, it is comfortable, has adjustable suspension and a super sweet DSG gearbox. It is the new Audi RS3 Sport back and it is a great car.

On the outside it looks little different from the Audi Sportback you meet on the road every day. But look a little closer and you notice the give-away Red RS3 badge in the honeycomb grill. From behind also you will notice the subtle diffuser below the back panel housing the exhaust from the fivecylinder turbocharged engine.

Inside you find the excellent quality of build and materials that Audi do so well. But it is all done very subtly, there is nothing garish or blingy inside where it is classier and the sports seats are just perfect. Push the start button and oh what a sound - a deep grumble that is music to any car lover.

Select Drive and off you go. Now find a straight piece of road and floor the RS3 – there is a tiny bit of turbo lag as the engine

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noise grows even sweeter and your kidneys are left in the back seat as the car eats the road like it’s not there.

It takes a little time to get used to but I reckon it would take years to get bored with.

With Audi’s now well tried and tested Quattro drive system the RS3 stays well stuck to the road and the brakes are brilliant and it stops as quickly as it goes all with no sense of drama.

The RS3 has hit the spot where you can have a supercar and use it every day. It will accommodate four people with ease and the boot space is far from shabby either. I drove it

on various roads in and around the city and it was easy to achieve 35 miles per gallon. The five-cylinder engine makes it perfect for town driving as it is so torquey but you have power available when you need making it as good on a twisty road as it is on the motorway.

The RS3 starts at around £40,000 –yes a lot of money but this is a lot of car. Most buyers are expected to spend another £8-10,000 on extras from Audi’s extensive extras menu which was on my test car that came in at £51,500. Even so it is some car and so understated other road users will love you.

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Viva the Viva!

he Vauxhall Viva is back. The original Viva was on the market from 1960 and Vauxhall took it through three evolutions before the name and production was called to a halt in 1979.

Vauxhall has designed the original Viva to be a small fun to drive, practical car. It worked and was a massive seller – now 36 years on can the new Viva do the same?

Well, in short the answer to that would be yes. The new Viva is powered by a 1.0 3cylinder 75 horse power petrol engine and it

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by Ian Beasant, BUSINESSFIRSTMAGAZINE motoring correspondent

is a little beauty. The five–speed gearbox that drives the front wheels has a lovely slick super smooth change. The Viva is aimed at the city car market and it certainly ticks all the boxes. It is extremely well equipped with all the safety and comfort features you could think of.

From the outside the Viva looks good it sits quite high for a car but is definitely not a cross over. And it is slightly shorter than the Vauxhall Corsa - although it does not look it.

The interior is well equipped and

comfortable and with the ability to adjust the steering column and height adjustment on the driver’s seat it is easy to find a comfortable driving position. You could also have enough room for four passengers as well. It’s a bit like a Tardis inside – extremely roomy and very practical.

The boot is not over generous, but then again it is a city car and offers enough space to do all the jobs you need. I even found when cruising at 70mph on the motorway the car was quiet and comfortable. And even on a more twisty and bumpy B road the Viva showed its qualities and handled nicely and precisely. The ride was excellent with neither thumps nor bumps from the suspension.

The 1.0 litre engine revs freely if you want to push on a bit and during my test averaged 62 miles per gallon which is not to be sniffed at. If you really want the Viva will do a 106mph – but what I liked about it most is that the Viva is so easy and effortless to drive yet still engaging. Its practical and I think it is true what they say “simple is efficient”.

The Viva does everything so well it is probably one of the best cars I have tested this year. It is competitively priced at £7,995 on the road putting it right at the heart of the most competitive place in the market where all manufactures are looking a slice of the cake. Vauxhall maybe a little late in joining, but I think it will have been worth the wait.

Suzuki Vitara uzuki have gone back to the drawing board to produce the new Vitara. This rugged, strong, well built and extremely well priced car is now a contender with any budget off-roader available on the market at present. After spending a week with the new Vitara, I think Suzuki is right on the mark and it offers two engines both 1.6litre one petrol the other diesel -120bhp for the petrol engine and 118bhp for the diesel – not much between them.

The petrol engine is a beauty with a free revving and fluid power delivery that never feels short of power. It is refined –so refined in fact whilst sitting on traffic I had to check it was still running. The ALLGRIP transmission is driven through a five–speed gearbox which was light and easy to use. The AllGRIP system is really unnoticeable on normal day-to-day driving and is very sophisticated offering features like hill descent control, hill hold control, and a feedback function. This works by sending more torque to the rear wheels if it detects wheel spin at the front.

The option is there to set the transmission in three modes, Sport – really good for a twisty road, Snow – do I need to say anymore other

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than you will not get stuck and Auto where the Virtara does it all for you .

Suzuki has designed this Vitara to be as good on the road as it is off and on a twisty road it really handles well for a vehicle of this size. In fact the handling is similar and nearly as sharp as the much acclaimed Swift.

Inside the Vitara is well equipped, comfortable and definitely built to last. There may be some hard plastics but they are in the right places and the Vitara is a SUV that is usually chosen by customers who like

something strong, rugged and practical.

The good news is it’s easy to spruce up the Suzuki’s cabin because all models come with a customisable body-coloured strip that runs almost the length of the dashboard. And you also get equipment such as a seven-inch touchscreen and a big panoramic glass roof that floods the cabin with light.

The transmission is excellent offering features that would normally be seen on high-end, high-cost SUVs. With prices from £13.999 it really is hard to go past.

Finding the right mobility solution for your business

ver the past 12 months, I have spoken to many business owners and fleet managers who have expressed a desire to reduce the cost of vehicle usage in their businesses.

A simple review of the company’s historic vehicle requirements has highlighted areas where significant cost has been unnecessarily incurred.

Take, for example, the IT company which committed to a three year contract hire deal but had to downsize during the recession.

Having to lose staff was hard enough but the company also found itself tied in to a contract for vehicles which it had no longer any requirement for.

When business picked up, the company chose a risk free monthly rental solution for the newly appointed Account Executive, intending this to run for the employee’s three month probationary period. Sound judgment as it turned out - the new executive left the business within a week!

Needless to say, the company now routinely rents vehicles for new recruits.

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It’s worth mentioning that those days when companies simply went down to the local garage to purchase their cars or vans for the business, with little thought for depreciation or the impact this had on cashflow, are long gone.

Savvy business managers now pay as much attention to business costs as they traditionally have to income.

For many businesses, the less risky fixed term and cost of a leasing arrangement has become more preferable.

Some employers also offer perceived incentives such as salary sacrifice schemes and fuel allowances for staff who have access to company vehicles or who use their own vehicles for business purposes (also known as “grey fleet”).

But are any of these options really the right solution for your business?

For the SME Sector, in particular, flexible fixed cost vehicle rental is fast becoming the preferred solution for the business.

The ability to hire and off-hire the latest fuel-efficient vehicles according to business

needs can not only reduce vehicle expenditure but will often enhance the company’s image. It is the flexibility and accessibility to cars and vans which can very often keep your business moving in the right direction!

If you suspect that you are spending too much money on running vehicles in your business, it is highly likely that you are. The simple question is: “What are you going to do about it?”

Europcar is officially Northern Ireland’s Best Short Term Rental Provider 2015 (as voted by Business Eye Fleet Industry Awards).

We don’t try to sell you a service you won’t need – we try to save you money and time on using a service which you do!

If you would like to find out more about how Europcar can help your business save time and money, please call Mark Maguire on 07969 109425 or email me at mark.maguire@europcar.com.

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The Final Word Northern Ireland’s poor infrastructure is costing jobs

by Sinead McLaughlin, chief executive, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce he CBI in Northern Ireland has set out its plan for the economic regeneration of Northern Ireland (see page 16). At the heart of its demands lie two projects – the A6 upgrade to improve Derry’s connectivity with Belfast and the A5, which runs between Derry and Dublin.

The significance of these two projects for the economy of the North West was made absolutely clear at the recent Danske Bank/Londonderry Chamber of Commerce North West Business Debate. Those attending were not just insistent that there is a good quality road, in particular, between Derry and Belfast, they were angry that it is not already in place.

In private, many of Northern Ireland’s most senior decision-makers say similar things. ‘Why,’ they typically ask, ‘is there not a good road between Belfast and Derry?’ Yet their dismay at the absence of an adequate road connection between Northern Ireland’s two major cities has not translated into the action needed to build it.

That gap between recognising what needs to be done and taking the necessary decisions is symptomatic of the culture of government in Northern Ireland that causes serious problems for our businesses.

At that North West Business Debate there was a clear call from the audience for action. The people in the room have invested their money and time in setting-up and running businesses in Derry-Londonderry. They understand what needs to be done to make their firms more successful.

For transport and logistics companies, the delays at Dungiven, Moneynick, Castledawson, the Glenshane Pass and elsewhere delay their journeys, adding cost and unreliability. For owners and managers, it means that a short meeting in Belfast can require almost a full day out of the office. For potential investors, it can produce a reaction of surprise – and not making the visit to see what our city can offer.

That message was emphasised at the North West Business Debate by recent arrival, professor Paddy Nixon, the new vice chancellor of Ulster University. Professor Nixon was forthright in his criticisms not only of Derry’s road connections, but also of the gaps in telecommunications coverage in parts of the route between the West and the East. Fellow panellist and finance minister Arlene Foster listened carefully.

The distance between Belfast and Derry is about 70 miles. On a motorway, that would take about an hour. Yet a normal journey time between the two cities is an hour and 45 minutes.

At some times of the day the journey can take significantly more than two hours. Some of our members report regular delays at Moneynick that

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The gap between recognising what needs to be done and taking the necessary decisions is symptomatic of the culture of government in Northern Ireland that causes serious problems for our businesses.

Sinead McLoughlin

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can last an hour at peak times. If there is a worse road connection between the two major cities of any other nation in Western Europe we would be surprised.

As the CBI recognises, improving the road connectivity for Derry is not merely of absolutely central importance for the economy of the North West – it is actually also essential for the economic well-being of the whole of Northern Ireland. The UK National Infrastructure Plan puts it perfectly: “The quality of a nation’s infrastructure is one of the foundations of its rate of growth and the living standards of its people.”

To rephrase this in the negative, the poor quality of the infrastructure of the North West of Northern Ireland is a key reason for poor growth, high unemployment and significant deprivation.

The UK Government’s recent road strategy went on to spell out even more clearly the importance of a high quality strategic road network. It, said the strategy, “drives local economic activity – it enables new housing and business developments, encourages trade, and attracts investment to local areas”. The report gave examples of how road improvement schemes had generated specific new investments and major economic projects in parts of England.

We, in the North West, demand the same for our economy.

What would an improved A6 mean for us? Our businesses would become more productive; it would increase the travel-to-work area and so make the labour market more efficient; it would extend market size for businesses not just in the North West, but also in the East; and it would help to make our sub-region financially independent. In addition, a major road improvement scheme would of itself help to revitalise the construction industry – and not just to the benefit of the North West.

So why has it not happened? It is possible that some decision-makers in Belfast are simply unaware of the poverty of the road connection. It became clear during Derry’s year as City of Culture that lots of Belfast residents had never before visited Derry. Others perhaps visit the city seldom, so do not dwell on our road infrastructure problems. For businesses in the North West, however, it is a daily problem that cannot be ignored.

Ministers and MLAs in Stormont have a responsibility. They must make government here work and make the essential decisions. When they do, we have a strong message. Improving the Belfast­Derry road is essential for our economic health.