Run a Business

The Government has advised businesses to encourage staff to work from home wherever possible. While some businesses may be well versed in how to manage staff who work from home, for others this is likely to be new territory.

You’ll want to ensure that despite having less regular contact with your staff, business is still able to carry on as normally as possible, so we asked Francesca Mundy, Senior Legal Editor at Sparqa Legal to highlight key issues for employers to consider. (more…)

If you have a website (which you probably should), you will no doubt have considered how to get more visitors to the site. Without attracting high quality traffic, a website offers very little real value to any organisation. (more…)

Are you worried about managing your business’ remote teams during the current coronavirus pandemic?

John Williams, Head of Marketing at Instant Offices, shares his advice on how to overcome the challenges of managing a remote team, and highlights the main pros and cons of remote working in the long-term… (more…)

Across the globe, millions of employees are being advised to work from home, but managing and coordinating a remote workforce is unfamiliar territory for many business owners.

We asked Paul Jeffrey, of cloud and continuity experts Iomart, to share his must-do tips on maintaining resilience and integrity when employees have to work remotely. (more…)

The digital age has not only revolutionised the entire business world but in the process, created platforms and opportunities that offer small businesses a level playing field.

It’s for this reason IT support and services are vital for the ongoing success and longevity of modern enterprises. (more…)

In all industries, businesses are starting to realise the potential AI (artificial intelligence) can bring; strengthening decision-making whilst automating complex and time-consuming tasks.

Through the power of AI, businesses can help to streamline their operations, increasing efficiency and overall productivity. (more…)

Small businesses and start-ups often provide a more flexible approach to work. That might be working from home a couple of days a week, working remotely, flexitime on core hours, flexibility for parenting duties and perhaps a more relaxed working environment. (more…)

You know things, we all know things – some useful (i before e, except after c), some less so (only one King in a pack of cards doesn’t have a moustache). But sometimes we only think we know things. For example, if you need to go to court, you must employ a solicitor … right?

Wrong! (more…)

Architectural visualisation uses computers with powerful rendering capabilities and intricate modelling methods to create digital models of spaces, structures and buildings.

Often abbreviated to arch viz, this creative process is a powerful lead generation and communication tool. (more…)

The office environment is now the frontline of employee engagement, with businesses everywhere investing in their working spaces for the benefit of staff.

The right working space will improve productivity and the bottom line through a series of benefits that we’ll detail below. (more…)

More and more of our computing, whether it’s storing data or running applications, is being carried out in the cloud.

But what about the desktop? The collection of things that make up your day-to day computing. (more…)

Most UK businesses have just a few short weeks before finding out what the new legislation will be regarding IR35.

The Spring Budget is due on 11 March, and the thought of sweeping reforms for their payroll system. on top of Brexit uncertainty, is only going to cause more frustration for businesses. (more…)

With the UK finally set to leave the UK, businesses are now waiting to see what the post-Brexit trading relationship with the EU will be like.

With a lack of clarity on what the future holds, Ritam Gandhi, founder of Studio Graphene, shares steps that UK tech companies can take to future-proof their business. (more…)

The majority of small business owners recognise the power of digital marketing and that a website is a must have.

With limited funds and marketing budget, most small businesses tend to buy their website from an agency or designer that does everything. However, as Tim Butler, founder of Innovation Visual explains, this might not be the best course to take. (more…)

According to the founding father of Microsoft Bill Gates: “If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business.”

The statement is bold and even controversial, but the Internet is without doubt, an excellent opportunity to tell as many people as possible about your business. (more…)

Complaints about poor service are increasing across the UK telecoms sector, by both consumers and businesses alike.

Whether it is missed appointments, late setup, poor quality connections or simply “it doesn’t work”, customers can now seek redress for sub-standard telecoms performance. (more…)

We no longer live in a Product Economy where organisations are all powerful; instead we find ourselves firmly in the Customer Economy, where customers have more power than ever, exercising influence as online reviewers, advocates and critics. (more…)

It is virtually impossible to eradicate staff sickness absence. However, for small businesses, the costly nature of absenteeism can be extremely disruptive to the day to day running of the business. (more…)

As we head into 2020, one thing is for sure, and that is that 2019 was the year influencer marketing reached the mainstream.

So how can businesses successfully use influencer marketing to reach more customers and grow sales? (more…)

Out of Home (OoH) advertising are any ads you see whilst out and about in your daily life, such as fixed signage and billboards. (more…)

According to the Oil & Gas UK Workforce Report, there are around 280,000 people working offshore in the UK alone.

If you’re interested in a career working offshore, whether it be on an oil rig or working, research vessel or servicing and installing wind farms, here are eight things you’ll need to know before you dust off that CV and start applying. (more…)

Some businesses will work on Christmas Eve but then close down until Thursday, 2nd January. It may feel as if everyone is off work and every office is closed (especially with many schools closed until the 6th or 7th of January as well) – but that’s not entirely accurate.

As a small business owner you don’t want to lose out on business over the Christmas period, so here are a few tips to help you get a festive break, without disappointing customers; (more…)

Office technology has developed rapidly in recent years resulting in new ways of working and doing business.

A growing number of companies rely on remote workers who operate outside the traditional office space and many UK-based businesses draw a significant percentage of their customer base from abroad. (more…)

As your business grows, your brand becomes an ever-increasingly important tool to drive your success. It’s importance means you’ll want to nurture and protect it, and part of this will be developing your brand style guidelines. (more…)

Transforming a start-up business into a scale-up is an incredibly challenging task, which can be difficult to plan and prepare for.

Although there is a lot to consider, moving from start-up through to the stages of rapid growth is practically impossible for any entrepreneur without having the right team or talent in place. (more…)

Black Friday 2019 is coming up, and consumers are getting ready for a frenzy of online deals. Last year, there were 194 million site visits on Black Friday alone, with over 1.2 billion visits across the whole of Cyber Week for the top 10 retailers. Clearly, this is an event that retailers should be taking part in and capitalising on. (more…)

It has long been an expectation for businesses to make physical spaces accessible for people of all abilities, and improvements have been made.

Now the onus is on online retailers, where there is still a lot of work to be done, so we asked Hilary Stephenson, MD at user experience (UX) design agency, Sigma to outline how small businesses can make their website more accessible. (more…)

Recruiting the right person is a challenge for any business. For startups and SMEs without an in-house HR team or even a single HR specialist, it can be especially daunting.

Hiring executive talent brings extra complexities and takes valuable time. But be warned, failure to do your homework on candidates for senior positions can be a risky business. (more…)

From flexible hours to an easier commute, working from home seems like an ideal option for many employees and it can have a lot of benefits for business owners too.

In this article, Peter Watton of matched betting start-up OddsMonkey, offers his advice to businesses who might be considering offering a working from home policy. (more…)

Take a close look at any business that has been thriving over the last few years, and there’s a very strong chance you’ll see it has a clear USP, or Unique Selling Point.

Your USP is something you need to develop as you start your own business. So here’s how you can work on your USP to help draw more customers to your business. (more…)

Regularly reviewing employee performance is vital for businesses, as it provides both employer and employee with important information about the employee’s progress, needs and skills.

It can also help improve employee productivity – but only if it’s done in the right way. (more…)

While a large corporation can absorb the damage of a handful of negative reviews, for startups and small businesses, negative reviews can often seriously harm your reputation.

By dealing with bad reviews in the right way, you will show that you care about customer service, and take feedback on board to improve your business as a whole. (more…)

As a small business owner, your legal responsibilities when taking on staff can be somewhat daunting but with a little help you can soon get your head around what’s needed.

One of your first duties as a new employer is to ensure you comply with employment contract law. To help you understand your legal obligations, here’s a guide to employment contracts for small business owners. (more…)

Building morale in teams is a key part of making them function better, with more motivation and with greater efficiency.

Of course, low morale is something that can impact negatively on both individual managers as well as team members, so it is something that needs to be addressed right across the board of a business structure.  (more…)

As a start-up, every piece of data; whether it’s information about a new customer, a networking contact, your sales brochure or invoicing data, is hard won and valuable. As your business matures much of this can be re-purposed and re-used to save time, and cut costs – but only if you’ve kept it safe.

So, what happens if you have a critical failure and lose some, or all, of this data? (more…)

As a smaller business or startup, it is important to be economical in all of your actions and processes. That way, the money you save can be spent elsewhere to help expand your business.

However, sometimes it can be difficult to know in which areas it’s possible to save money; especially if they aren’t frequently talked about. (more…)