Issue 46

NEW Business MATTERS Y O U R L O C A L B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L The only business to business publication that guarantees the exclusivity of each category!

BUSINESS TIPS & ADVICE! Issue 46/2016

October/November

ACCOUNTANCY MATTERS

October/November

What a mistake to make

By Alistair Wallace at BKB Accountants Tax – we all have to pay it, but get it wrong and it could be costly. Here are some real life experiences and pitfalls that we’ve encountered: Non-payment of a salary Having taken over acting for a company, the previous accountants had not informed the directors of the benefits of drawing a salary. This would decrease the company’s tax bill by around £1,600 per director per year, and preserve their state pension. After some hasty correspondence with HMRC, we had this reinstated for the current tax year.

Property VAT A client purchased a property to re-build a new dwelling. This would allow VAT incurred on the costs to be reclaimed from HMRC. However he changed his mind and kept the existing outside walls intact. Unfortunately this meant he could not now reclaim any VAT incurred. There was small comfort in that the property had been vacant for 2 years so the VAT could be charged at a reduced 5% rate by his suppliers.

VAT flat rate scheme

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Another client elected to use the flat rate scheme so he could pay a reduced rate of VAT on his turnover. However, he had overlooked that rental income is exempt for VAT and he had now inadvertently brought this into the VAT net. We immediately took him out of the scheme once discovered.

Purchase of a vehicle A car main dealer advised a client to finance a vehicle on contact hire. However, she was purchasing a fuel efficient vehicle that qualified for 100% tax relief if owned. Luckily, she contacted us just before signing on the dotted line and we managed to reduce her year’s tax bill by over £8,000 with the right advice.

These are just a few examples of recent experiences that we’ve come across. Our aim is to always work with clients and communication is the key to get the best out of your accountants.

To see how we can help you to understand the potential tax issues in your business, please contact us on 01202 950527 or email us at info@bkbaccountants.co.uk

To advertise in this local journal telephone 01202 233580

NEW BUSINESS MATTERS

October/November

Editor’s Note

CONTENTS

Teamwork...

Team work and leadership are skills we can all acquire. How well we do reflects in the statistics of the business.

Are things getting better, expanding and are our clients happy with us, referring us to others? It is all too easy sometimes to listen to what others say, whether they are our employees, our customers or even our competitors. But do we really know how the business is actually doing?

Do we keep records, statistics weekly or monthly to compare how well we did this month in comparison to last month, or this time last year? That really is the only way we can honestly see how well or otherwise we are doing. What is being said can be of interest, but if someone is complaining, yet things are getting better, per real statistics, we know we can ignore those grumbling.

Maybe it is time to look at their production?

02 WHAT A MISTAKE TO MAKE 03 CONTENTS & EDITORS NOTES 04 KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE 05 REMOTE MONITORING & MANAGEMENT 06 MY STORY SO FAR: CLIFFORD JOHNSON 08 HEALTH & SAFETY - SIMPLY PUT 09 CHRISTMAS PARTY PACKAGES A WORLD OF FESTIVE FOOD 10 MARK MY WORDS!

Equally, if all seems chilled and relaxed yet the production is going down, it is time to act and create demand, so that work starts occurring and products are increased in number. Without products and services we have nothing. The business will cease to exist.

11 CYBER INSURANCE MATTERS TODAY MORE THAN EVER

In New Business Matters there are other products and services that can help your own company produce even more. Working together can increase the statistics of all concerned.

13 WHY PRINT WORKS...

WHEN EMAIL DOESN'T

Have a good productive month!

Best wishes,

NBM Debbie Corney You can be the only company of your trade or profession represented in this local business to business journal.

For details on the ‘marketing packages’ available, please contact: Stephen Corney on 01202 233580 or email sales@newbusinessmatters.com New Business Matters UK Ltd 1 Moorlands Rise, West Moors, Ferndown, Dorset, BH22 0JR Tel: 01202 233580

12 DESIGN & PRINT SERVICES

14 THINKING BEFORE PRINTING 15 TO BOOST OR NOT TO BOOST THAT IS THE QUESTION

NEW Business

16 REDUCE Y O UYOUR R LPRINT O CCOSTS A L B U S I N The information contained within this publication is not intended to be complete. Whilst the publisher endeavours to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this publication, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed and the publisher accepts no liability for the use of, reliance on or the accuracy of such information. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher and therefore the publisher accepts no responsibility for them. All artwork and editorial is copywrite and may not be reproduced without prior permission from the publisher.

NEW Business Y O U R L O C A L B U S I N

© 2016 New Business Matters UK Limited Designed by: Stephen Corney

Printed by: Remous Limited, Sherborne

Published by: New Business Matters UK Limited

To receive a FREE copy go to www.newbusinessmatters.com

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COMMUNITY MAG MATTERS

October/November

Know your target audience for effective advertising

By Debbie Corney, Director at Dorset Publications Creating want for your product and service is what advertising is all about. In the introduction I mentioned statistics to know how well the business is doing. It is also important to know where your best clients come from.

What are the ages of your clients? Is one geographical area better than another? The more we know about your current clients, the more we can promote to similar potential clients to increase those all important numbers. It is therefore vital to keep records of those who buy from you, where they came from, who they are, and how they heard about you.

This can significantly help your marketing strategy and streamline your budget to reach your target market. Magazines aim their marketing at different age ranges, and many have a specific audience they appeal to, so research

them and see what they can do for you. Does the package include social media advertising?

Does the magazine have an online as well as offline presence? Knowing your own company well, knowing what you want will help your advertising immensely. Knowing the magazine and their aims will help you get the clients you are looking for.

Stephen and I at Dorset Publications aim our magazines to high end home owners over the age of 50. We use Royal Mail to ensure the message reaches the local people. In fact 98,000 individual homes and businesses receive our titles across Dorset, Purbeck and Hampshire.

Please give one of us a call on 01202 894397 and we will get your fantastic goods and services promoted to the local people! Alternatively, send us an email to info@dorsetpublications.co.uk

Get your business details delivered to over 98,000 individual homes in Dorset & Hampshire Full colour A5 glossy magazines distributed by Royal Mail and our own team of distributors - you can rely on us! » A free article, the same size as the advert booked in one of the months, with a 3 months booking » Free advertising on our magazine Facebook pages » A free listing on our Website Directory pages » Each magazine is on the internet via our website

Call Debbie or Stephen on

01202 894397

info@dorsetpublications.co.uk

West Moors • Ferndown & West Parley • Bournemouth • Poole • Southbourne • Christchurch • Wimborne Page 4

To advertise in this local journal telephone 01202 233580

COMPUTER REPAIR MATTERS

October/November

Remote Monitoring & Management

By Clifford Johnson from PCs Made Simple Remote Monitoring & Management (RMM) is becoming a very popular choice for businesses of all sizes. Essentially, it allows them to hand over the responsibility of many integral parts of their I.T. to a trusted third party.

have, as well as reducing the interference to, and responsibility of your staff for anything other than their work. This can hugely reduce wasted time which in turn allows your business to be far more productive.

Some of the features that can be included are: complete management of your updates and other patches; monitoring of all components, usage and general health of the PC; plus, remote access and control should your staff need any extra help. There are also more advanced remotely managed tools such as web protection, a fully managed anti-virus, managed online backup, and automated maintenance tasks. Custom tasks can also be scripted using a remote background tool for any important and time consuming jobs.

Our anti-virus and backup for example require almost no input from your staff once set up.

System monitoring can also allow us to preemptively spot potentially failing components to reduce down-time and larger issues (such as data loss) in the future, far superior to a standard break/ fix support model.

The combined effect of outsourcing these services can completely remove the hassle you might

RMM is in fact a very large topic, for more info feel free to get in touch with our team or take a look at our website. You can send us a message online, call us on the number below, or for a friendly chat come and see us in our shop along Ashley Road.

We make computing easy...

It's as SIMPLE as that!

PC & Laptop Repairs & Sales

PCs Made Simple can usually fix any sick computer. We can also supply a new one, off the shelf or tailor made just for you.

We Come To You!

If your computer can’t come to us, PCs Made Simple can come to your computer! We cover all of Dorset and most of West Hampshire.

Tel: 01202 830121 E: info@simple-pcs.co.uk W: www.simple-pcs.co.uk

312 Ashley Road • Poole • Dorset • BH14 9DF

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MY STORY SO FAR...

My Story So Far...

Let’s start with some confessions, I am never going to fit the whole of my story so far into an article nor am I willing to share in detail some of the more oddly adventurous things I have done in my life. I will happily have a beer or many with any of you and tell large chunks of it all in detail if you so wish but none of that will be in this.

Where to start….

In my early years, growing up in a small village just outside of Portsmouth we were all quite content to live our little lives and let the big world pass us by.

Well I was happy too, until my uncle Mike showed me his new computer. It was an Atari ST, it was amazing, we played for hours on all the wire framed games and gruelling Dungeons and Dragons maps. I got a glimpse of the future then and I wanted it! Bear in mind I was only 4 at the time, so for my 5th birthday I had it set in my mind what I wanted. A computer! Simple eh?

Not really, the cost of computers where well out of the reach of my parents and the affordable PC was well over 15 years away.

My birthday came along with a little surprise first - the birth of my little brother Daniel which was a great present anyway.

On my birthday I had one present, a big box with the words Commodore +4 written across the front of it! Being that it was so long ago I don’t remember my actual reaction but I do remember the weeks and months of playing games, programming my own code, creating little Basic games to run and using the monthly Computer mag to try out new code and features. It wasn’t long until I became more intrigued about what was on the inside of this magic box that I typed code into regularly. So one day I found a screw driver in my dad’s workshop and took the beloved +4 apart completely, needless to say it never worked again and I was none the wiser on how these things worked! I was in the bad books of course and was without a computer to play with.

Not long passed and I managed to find at a car boot sale an Amstrad CPC 464 with a green CRT Monitor, it was a bargain.

No games, no screw drivers just code on a green screen. And of course green mono tone games of Dizzy Egg. My little sister Kirsty was born around this time so I was left alone to code a lot and grew a good understanding on languages the system used and how it worked. Mainly through trial and error and reading magazines.

That is an intro into how I started doing what I do now, very brief!

The early 90’s arrived and the PC’s hit the shelves. This put me right out of the game they cost £1000’s far too much money.

I kept my hand in by popping to see my uncle when I could.

He showed me how he built his PC and let me play and tweak the components as well as help him unpack his new 4Gb Hard Drive. Yes, 4Gb! This set him back the best part of £2000 (some large cost per Gb right there).

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Clifford Johnson Of course I got to play with my school’s computers, Acorn Archimedes and some 386’s and 486 PCs but… The cost of PC’s was so prohibiting that I really lost interest in my early teens and found other interests... mainly girls and games consoles! Oh and football of course.

Also without knowing it in my earlier years I had already met my future wife Victoria at a holiday play time thing. She became my girlfriend in ’93 - no one believed me that she even existed! (We have now been married for 12 years and have 3 amazing kids together!) This took up most of my free time and mental capacity.

I could spend hours talking about games consoles, my first NES, Master System, Game Boy and Game Gear but I won’t. Only thing is I played them a lot! This was a good time to be alive, especially getting a copy of Mortal Kombat for the Megadrive before it was banned! You would of thought that playing games takes up most of this article, it doesn’t. It took up a lot of my time but console gaming was not why I started PC’s Made Simple.

Let’s fast forward to ’97 when I went to Fareham college to study Art of all things, in this course was a large section dedicated to design. The college clearly having a reasonable budget had Apple Mac’s everywhere and it wasn’t long until I was right back in the frame of mind and caught up fast with technology. Found that I had a good knack for understanding the logical processes and the way software worked. I picked up programs like Photoshop rather easily and could use them to a high standard without any formal training to do so.

I finished college and had to look at what I wanted to do with my life. After a string of jobs (pizza boy, kitchen staff, the usual...)

I got a job as a labourer for a large building company and was worked hard by them for pennies. It was gruelling, but it meant I had time to think whilst shovelling this then that and then this and that. I wanted to go back in to programming, using a grant from my bank called a Career Development Loan (CDL) I went to the biggest high street shop at the time (this is kind of a swear word in my house now but) PC World and got myself an Advent computer. I spent hours agonising over which one I wanted. I was horrifically frustrated by the fact I wanted several parts from several different PCs... there was not one which ticked all the boxes for me.

I had settled and started learning Java, C++, Visual Basic and HTML, a broad spectrum of languages indeed. I spent a lot of time on this and gained qualifications and applied for jobs with IBM and the like. A few things to note, at this time I have already become bored of the fact none of my friends liked coding and was more and more aware that I was struggling to hold a sensible conversation because all I did with my time was code.

Secondly history repeated itself, I found a screw driver and took this PC apart and of course it broke but… when the guy from PC World came out to fix it and he couldn’t, I took it upon myself to do what he couldn’t. After stripping the PC down and completely voiding any form of warranty I had left, I built it from scratch again and got it working. This was the moment that my flare for hard drive and system building kicked in properly.

I moved to Poole around ’02 and messing around with PC’s was

To advertise in this local journal telephone 01202 233580

MY STORY SO FAR... my hobby, it was also my little brother's hobby which worked out well for the next part. I had trouble finding a decent job in Poole, I thought I had it all sussed out when I started working as a warehouse manager managing 5 teams of fitters for a large company with an offer to come onto the board and be a director but had the wind ripped out from beneath me when I was made redundant just before Christmas in ’05 as the company went bust. This knocked me more than I can put into words, the last 2 years had been so hard and I was lost. I spent some time unemployed, well a long time. Finding the odd job here and there but nothing I could sink my teeth into.

So some time past… In 2005 I was given a little bit of cash by my wife for my birthday which I used to buy 120Gb HDD and a DVD RW drive for my PC. It was from a local company I purchased in the end, not from where you would expect as when I went to these places it was clear I was more clued up on these things than any of their staff were (PC World this is!).

To my dismay though the advice from the local shop was just as bad and even worse when I went back to speak with them about replacing my faulty parts and wasting my time with terrible recommendations.

This spurred a very venting phone call to my little brother, stating that we could do this and we could do it better without leaving a bad taste in the customer’s mouth. We agreed then and there that at the first chance we could we would create our own company and do what they do but better, the focus would be on the right product for the customer and not how cheap something was. We would only promote and recommend manufacturers we knew to be good and that we would use ourselves in our own PCs. It took a few months to get our heads around it and with an amazing amount of support and understanding from my wife, some starting capital from my dad and brother we birthed PC’s Made Simple Ltd on 19th September 2006.

Things started well, all the people I had helped over the years started recommending us as knowing we knew what we were talking about. It grew fast, focusing on domestic customers only and helping those who felt let down by the bigger guys when they had an issue.

Then disaster struck, in two forms; My little brother who suffers with CF and other complications became too ill to work at all and halved the size of the company overnight so we could not cover Hampshire anymore. To add to this, I suffered a horrible football injury when I broke my knee and was put out of action.

This meant that we were not trading at all! I couldn’t walk and Daniel could breathe so it was doomed.

Until… After the surgery to put my leg back together was completed I had to walk, a lot! Mainly to build up the muscle after so much wastage had happened. So as a last ditch attempt to keep my business I walked and delivered leaflets at the same time.

I got an email one evening from someone I had put a leaflet through their door inviting me to a network meeting at 6am!

Didn’t know what networking was, didn’t know what to expect either but the man that invited me, Peter Hopper, I owe my

Clifford Johnson whole company to. It was a local networking breakfast group which propelled me from being on the verge of closing it all down to owning 2 businesses, having 3 staff and a retail shop.

Word of mouth was key to me, I didn’t have an advertising budget (barely had enough money for the leaflets) it was an easy sale to speak person to person and give them the personable service they deserved. I soon became known as the networking guy who was at every event talking and talking (I can do this a lot) meeting new people with different skills. I met one of my business partners in Simply Broadband networking and we still pass work to each other to this very day.

Over the last 6 years, I out grew my front room and increased my range of services to what we are able to do today. I employed a football mate of mine who had history of working for Fujitsu installing workstations and servers. I found a shop along Ashley Road in Parkstone and took out an eye watering loan (was at the time) to be able to fund this all.

It was slow at the start, we were new.

Now we are a national multi-award winning business for our customer service. I have a great team who work for me and a great consortium of business we work with to ensure we can do everything our customers need.

We are relocating to a bigger retail shop along the same high street and adding to our services all the time.

If you want to know how friendly we are you only need to look at the reviews on Facebook, WHICH? Trusted Traders and many other websites as well as the kindly worded testimonials from customers over the years which we have in a book in the shop.

There is a lot more to this story, I really have only just skimmed the top of things. The offer for a chat and a couple of beers is always there and I will happily talk at you for hours.

Vicky Johnson, Clifford Johnson & shop manager, Dave Richter

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HEATH & SAFETY MATTERS

October/November

Health & Safety - put simply

By Judith Ward from Worldwide Waste Wise Managing health and safety can be much easier and affordable than you think, particularly for small businesses.

As an employer, or a self-employed person, you are responsible for health and safety in your business. The approach you take should be proportionate to the size of your business and the nature of your business activity. For most small, low-risk businesses it can be very straightforward to protect people from workplace harm.

You simply need to: • have a health and safety policy and control the risks in your workplace • consult and train your employees • provide the right workplace facilities • make arrangements for first aid, accidents and ill health • get insurance for your business and keep your business up to date • have access to a competent person who can provide health and safety help and advice Failure to comply with these requirements can have serious consequences – for both organisations and individuals, as

sanctions include fines and or imprisonment. There’s nothing like a workplace accident to focus people’s attention, but by then it’s often too late.

There is plenty of health and safety information available, but if you’re a busy person with little time to find things out, then let Worldwide Waste Wise sort things for you. We can write H&S Policies/Statements, risk assessments and Environmental and Equality and Diversity Policies and anything else that you require to be compliant and win work. For example, we specialise in helping small companies not only secure sub-contracting roles, but by providing simple and affordable advice.

FREE 1 hour advice session

Waste Wise

Inspirational - Affordable - Training Waste Management - Health & Safety - CSCS

£

r Reduce your company’s waste bills r Ensure you are legally compliant r Take the quick route to Construction CSCS card r Cut your workplace accident rate through health & safety training r Reduce your insurance costs r Achieve Technical Competence r Upskill through training and qualifications

Accredited Institute Of Safety & Health (IOSH) and WAMITAB centre

T: 01202 612149 Merley House, Wimborne, BH21 3AA Page 8

E: mail@wastewise.expert www.worldwidewaste.org.uk

To advertise in this local journal telephone 01202 233580

HOSPITALITY MATTERS

October/November

Christmas Party Packages A World of Festive Food!

By John Marsh at Oceana Hotels

If you haven’t booked your Christmas Party yet, it’s definitely that time of year to start making plans. OCEANA Hotels have four great properties in Bournemouth, The Cumberland, Suncliff, Ocean Beach and BEST WESTERN Hotel Royale. Each hotel provides vibrant parties from the end of November to celebrate the festive season in style. So come and join us for a culinary experience from around the world and the best party ever!

“Christmas and New Year at OCEANA hotels is a magical time. We specialise in Christmas parties in Bournemouth and have so much to offer during the festive season. With years of experience delivering top service, great food and that all-important magical atmosphere, OCEANA hotels should be your first choice for celebrating Christmas.”

OFFICE FESTIVE PARTIES – We can cater from 4 to 400 people across our four Bournemouth venues. Menus start from only £18.95pp for lunch and £24pp for evenings. Prices include free Disco in the evenings, crackers and freshly cooked festive fayre. This year we have some exciting alternatives to the traditions; Italian at the Ocean Beach and Asian at the Hotel Royale.

THEMED PARTIES – Treat your team to an extra special Christmas

Party at one of our themed events. This year we have some great tribute shows lined up at the Cumberland and Ocean Beach, including Buble, Rod Stewart and Elvis amongst others. Or you may prefer a trip to Casino Royale with our fun casino and black tie nights at the Hotel Royale.

TAKE THE STRESS OUT OF BOOKING – If you’ve been given the ‘honoured’ role of Christmas Party Organiser and feeling the pressure of booking a venue, organising who’s coming and getting their food orders then we have a great stress free option. The Suncliff Hotel offers Festive Carvery Parties, all you need to do is book in for the number of people and they turn up on the night to choose their own delicious food from the plentiful Carvery… Job done!

VENTANA GRAND CAFÉ, THE OVERCLIFF PUB & ITALIAN CAFÉ – Looking for a social get together with your smaller team, friends or family? Our 3 unique venues, located on the East Cliff of Bournemouth, will be serving up festive treats and drinks from the end of November. Booking is advisable. Keep an eye on our Facebook pages or websites for more information.

For more information, or to make a booking contact our dedicated Sales Team on 01202 298 350 or email sales@oceanahotels.co.uk.

To receive a FREE copy go to www.newbusinessmatters.com

Page 9

INSOLVENCY MATTERS

October/November

Mark my words!

By Mark Liddle from the Mark Liddle Partnership There's an old saying “change is inevitable... except from a vending machine” but too may people I meet don't seem to understand that.

In the course of my work, I have helped many hundreds of business owners to start again after serious financial difficulties, and I always ask them one question, “what are you going to do differently next time?”

Far too frequently I am met with a blank stare and the comment, “what do you mean, I've always been a printer”, or plumber, hotelier, widget manufacturer, or whatever. But the problem is that without change, things will be just as they were.

I am not suggesting for a minute that somone with decades of experience and a high level of expertise in one industry should do something completely different, but some things have to change.

For a start, most people have to be more careful about how they manage their business finances.

It is not enough to just look at the sales and the overdraft and keep on going regardless. You must take account of the likelihood of your customers paying you on time, the margins and the cash flow.

I make my living from helping owners and directors of businesses get out of financial trouble. Most of them are suffering from high levels of stress. In every case, we care and we help. We care about the people involved, the client and his or her family.

We help them to get the best possible result they can. It's a different approach and one we think you, if you are the owner of the business, will appreciate.

So if you are facing difficulties and you are feeling stressed about your business, don‘t just sit there working and worrying - do something different, accept that it‘s time to change and give us a call on 01202 551193 or email me at office@markliddle.com, because mark my words, it won‘t get better just by carrying on doing more of what got you into trouble in the first place!

Business Problems?

Talk to people who care... discreet | confidential | professional | friendly We work for you

• not your creditors • not your landlord

• not your bank • not the tax man

Call us for a free confidential chat

01202 551193

My creditors were chasing me and I felt like I was losing control of my own business. The people at Mark Liddle Partnership helped me get control back.

30 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, BH1 3PD

www.markliddle.com Page 10

To advertise in this local journal telephone 01202 233580

INSURANCE MATTERS

October/November

Cyber Insurance matters today more than ever

By John Palmer of Coversure Insurance

Businesses of every size rely on information technology (IT) and data to some degree or another and are all therefore exposed to the risks of business interruption, income loss, damage management and repair, and possibly reputational damage if IT equipment or systems fail or are interrupted. A UK Government survey estimated that in 2014 60% of small businesses suffered a cyber breach. The average cost of such a breach is £65k-115k for SMEs. While existing insurance policies such as commercial property, business interruption or professional indemnity insurance, may provide some elements of cover against cyber risks, businesses are increasingly buying specialised cyber insurance policies to supplement their existing insurance arrangements. This is particularly true if they hold sensitive customer details such as names and addresses or banking information; rely heavily on IT systems and websites to conduct their business; process payment card information.

The risks associated with data loss are increasing.

A serious breach of the Data Protection Act could result in a £500k fine.

The issue of cloud computing further obscures the nature of data responsibility managed externally.

Many firms outsource some element of their data management process but mistakenly think this absolves them of their own data responsibility.

This trend in outsourcing certain security functions and the use of ‘Cloud computing and storage’ continues to rise. It is worth remembering that it is unlikely to be thought appropriate for infrastructure cloud providers, many of which are based outside Europe, to become subject arbitrarily to obligations under the EU Data Protection Directive due to choices made by their users. EU data protection responsibilities and liabilities are imposed primarily on the 'controller', who may employ 'processors' to process data for it.

The fact remains few businesses have procedures and processes in place for when a ‘cyber event’ occurs. Many do not cover this. Insurers have responded with specific cyber insurance. With immediate access to expertise in the event of an incident, a crisis management team can limit financial and reputational damage to the business from the moment a breach is discovered, instead

of finding out much later via a third party claim.

Cyber breaches are new territory for businesses but for larger companies, the cost of informing customers and, for example, replacing customer credit cards, can quickly escalate.

PWC reported in their 2015 research that the average cost of the worst single breach suffered by small business ranges from £75k to £311k. The impact of a cyber event on a small business is clear but where opinions diverge is in the probability of this risk but PWC reported 38% of the small businesses interviewed admitted to an attack by an unauthorised outsider last year.

Insurance is the logical way in which to manage cyber risk. Brokers and insurers can help firms reduce their losses by providing insight from claims and near misses across their client base however, as with any nascent market, at the moment that information is patchy though growing. Experience in other jurisdictions means that in a global market, very soon actuarial models will be highly accurate.

But this is a work in progress that means there is a window for businesses that means cover is affordable.

Cyber insurance is a new market, one that will reward early adopters that develop good histories as time goes by while industry claims data becomes more readily available. The question for firms will not be ‘if’ they should get cover but ‘when'.

If you have any questions regarding your insurance, whether you have the right cover or could get a better deal, give John a call on 01202 929141 or email poole@coversure.co.uk.

!

Tel: 01202 929 141

Email: poole@coversure.co.uk www.coversure.co.uk/office/poole

To receive a FREE copy go to www.newbusinessmatters.com

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PRINTING MATTERS

October/November

Why Print Works When Email Doesn't...?

By Alan Bunter, MD of Remous Limited

The anticipation and excitement that we could communicate without having to interrupt some one with a phone call, or print off a memo then stand by a fax machine whilst it was sending was a revelation. The paperless office and all the benefits that come with it.

An envelope, with a prospect’s name on it, perhaps square proportions (Different to the norm) with a bespoke sticker to seal it closed but most important a large lump or bump in the middle suggesting there is something inside that is worth looking at will always capture the interest – it is human nature. We can’t resist opening up to see what is inside – a bit like birthdays, Christmas and the like – we all want a pleasant surprise – the smart solution is to make sure they aren’t disappointed.

Seems a very long time ago now and very difficult to imagine running a business with out it. But sadly it has gone though the same cycle as nearly every other form of communication, – print included, where marketers, salespeople and selling in general grasp hold of a new tool and grind away at it until it’s use is completely saturated with scattergun approach to prospecting.

There is a place for email and perhaps in a few years we will see that become more prominent again, as it is convenient but a combination with tangible marketing, designed from the beginning to supplement one another will always deliver better results. Whether it is prospecting or simply corporate/SME client communication – we can help you create that campaign..

How excited to you get when you receive an email? How many times do you simply delete if you don’t recognise the sender?

Probably more often than we realise, in the same way marketing material used to fall through the door every day and then straight into the bin (Apart from the occasional letter that catches your interest)

If you would like to know more or indeed like some print support for your business, give us a call on 01963 250920.

Remember email when it started?

I do, waiting for the exciting little tone to say a new email had arrived – Yippee! ‘We are really at the cutting edge now…‘

So email has been devalued so much we simply dont take any notice, they have little value, the cost is negligible so this leads us to value it as such.

Print has seen a resurgence, not junk mail, though it will always have a place. But targeted, personalised and clever ideas will often grab attention. Something print can offer which electronic services and specifically email is a tangible product that can include ideas, shapes, popups, finishes, weight and visceral qualities that only some with handling the communication.

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IT MATTERS

October/November

Thinking before printing

By Katie Clark from Copyrite Business Solutions For today’s copy, scan and fax management, the modern approach is to think “inside the box”. As our multi-functional devices continue to evolve, you must also choose to incorporate software that is managing to keep up.

Copyrite is an independent company formed in 1993 that continues to be driven by the original senior management team, including its founders.

This means, as with most companies, change has had to be welcomed in order for us to continue to grow and expand. No longer are we just a provider of office equipment, we are now a complete solution provider.

One of the key areas being discussed by nearly every local business we speak to is the costs associated with their print. Many companies are starting to assess ways in which the business can control costs and cut waste. We at Copyrite are heavily behind a company called PaperCut™.

By implementing PaperCut™ you can: Cut Waste and Your Carbon Footprint You can encourage responsible printing with PaperCut™ MF quotas and print policies, cutting paper and toner costs and power usage.

Apply Print Policies Enterprise-Wide Printing requests are intercepted at the print server to control jobs according to policies that encourage or enforce good behaviour.

For example, you might route large jobs to dedicated high speed printers, display pop-ups to ask end users to confirm single sided output, automatically delete print jobs with incorrect paper sizes or suggest an alternative printer when a device is offline.

Secure Print Release You are able to protect confidential documents and slash the volume of unclaimed printouts by ensuring users release print jobs at the point of printing. With Find-Me printing, users queue print jobs to a virtual queue, they can then release them on a specific printer. Secure print release

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will require a form of authentication before printing, this will ensure that only authorised users can print and collect confidential documents.

Monitor and Report on Usage Real-time monitoring and reports address all areas of print/copy/fax/scan management, ranging from detailed page logs to summaries by user, department, device, or environmental impact. PaperCut™ offers more than 50 reports out of the box, in PDF, HTML, or Microsoft Excel (.csv) format.

Simple Deployment An installation wizard installs server software and then proceeds to automatically detect printers and multi-functional devices on your network. Create users and groups automatically from directory services including Active Directory, Open Directory, Novell eDirectory or LDAP. As you can see, PaperCut™ MF is the easy way to automatically monitor and manage all the copying and printing in a company. It is an effective method of giving you control over your costs and environmental impact.

We are currently offering local businesses a free print audit, this will involve a member of our staff visiting your business and providing you with a complete report detailing your current print costs and potential savings.

To find out more, visit: www.copyrite.co.uk Or email Katie Clark at: katie.clark@copyrite.co.uk If you want to rate this article and/or place your vote for the next topic to be covered, then please go to www.copyrite.co.uk/itmatters

To advertise in this local journal telephone 01202 233580

SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERS

October/November

To Boost or Not To Boost That is the Question!

By Mike Sharp from Mike's Online Academy If you have a Facebook business page you will have come across the option to "boost" a post. As you may be aware Facebook do not show your posts to all of your Facebook followers due to the overcrowded nature of it's news feed.

So to get seen by more people Facebook would like you to pay for the privilege!

This is not unusual in online advertising because this is similar to what happens in Google search results, you get the organic results and then you get the paid results that have been fast tracked to the top.

So going back to the question should you boost your post? The answer is a yes and no (sorry).

In order to get your post seen by more people the answer is a resounding yes and if you are a small business targeting your local area with a small budget and you want to dip your toe in the world of Facebook marketing for minimum spend it is also a resounding yes and great results can be achieved.

Another advantage to boosting your post is if you are on the go and only have your mobile phone with you boosting your post is very easy.

But if you want to get serious about Facebook advertising as part of an advertising campaign with a bigger ads budget I suggest you use the other more advanced Facebook advertising tools to get more "bang for your buck".

The Boost Post function is great but like anything in life the path of least resistance isn't always the best way long term.

One of the advanced Facebook marketing tools available is Facebook ads manager. It is a very effective tool because it provides you with a wealth of ad analytics, targeting tools and testing tools. The more knowledge you have about your target audience the better the results.

The Facebook ads manager can look complicated at first but Social Media whizzes like myself can help guide you through it.

So go ahead and boost your posts, the results can be fantastic but if you are not getting the results you want with your Facebook advertising please do get in touch!

T: 01202 912385 M: 07402 174436 E: mike@mikesonlineacademy.com W: www.MikesOnlineAcademy.com

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