Features

If you have just started a business, you would probably want to know how to get more customers from the get-go. It can be from knowing the way to success or even just having the welcoming body language that can either make or break a deal. You need to be careful as a salesperson – being nervous is easily visible.

In 2019, Elon Musk made headlines by touting AI as a “fundamental risk to the existence of civilisation”. Ironically – for a man in his line of work – Mark Zuckerburg countered this argument, describing the warnings as ‘pretty irresponsible’.

Ask yourself, what would your 2020 have looked like without Zoom, Slack and Google Drive? If anything has stepped up and carried the load of remote working this year, it’s these tools.

It should come as no surprise that a strong environmental ethos within an organisation is a driving factor for many jobseekers when choosing where to apply for work. However, a recent report has detailed just how important sustainability aligned with social responsibility really is in terms of recruitment.

Kanban has been around as a methodology since the ’40s but is now getting more attention partly due to the increase in remote working and the popularity of agile and lean in every sector. While Kanban was originally applied to manufacturing, it can work in virtually any setting. It can be used as a stand-alone tool, or in conjunction with other agile management methods. Implementing it, however, can be easier said than done. Let’s take a look at the steps you need to take to implement a Kanban system in your organisation.

Nine months on from the first outbreak of Covid-19 here in the UK and the virus remains the most-talked about news item. Whether it’s radio shows discussing tiers or newspaper articles investigating possible PPE corruption, coronavirus continues to be the biggest story worldwide.

Back in January, it looked likely that employee share schemes would see reasonable growth across the country through 2020.

The fourth in our six part series of articles harnesses our Associate and Partner network and focusses on Founders and the complexities of relationship between Founders and Co-Founders – for better or for worse. “It’s not you, it’s me,” how do you stop things going pear shaped at the top and what do you do if it does?

I love startup life. It has been my passion for many years now. In 2007, I launched my first company, Skimlinks from my apartment living room in Sydney. It grew to become a $50m-a-year revenue business, headquartered in London with offices in San Francisco and New York.

In the world of startups, scaling and sustainability are made to feel like opposites. You may have started with the best intentions, but as businesses grow it gets harder to ensure high ethical standards are met, particularly when faced with outdated industry practices and the pressure to keep down costs. The company values you wrote at your kitchen table start looking more like suggestions than rules to live by, and growth and greenness feel diametrically opposed. Sustainability just seems like a sacrifice you’ll have to make on the altar of profit and progress.

It seems that we’ve had so many turning points over the past few years, we’re running in circles. Landmark moments from Brexit to COVID-19 have completely shifted our personal lives, politics and the economy. Crises and moments of great change put us into reactive mode, and short-term fixes appear to be the only option. Looking for solutions which reap benefits and pay for themselves further down the line is a much bolder endeavour.

While the economic ramifications of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic are still very much a selection of rather worrying predicted lines and correlations on graphs, there is no doubt the world of commerce and industry is set to be deeply impacted in the long term, and likely changed for good, by the crisis.

There’s no question that 2020 has been an incredibly disruptive year for business, as both national and local shutdowns have forced many firms to temporarily shut up shop.

There is a misconception that the benefits of industrial robots are reserved for few manufacturing giants. However, according to the Robotics Industries Association (RIA), enterprises with less than 100 employees and less than ten robots represent a growing segment of the robotics market.

Our physical and mental health has been at the forefront of many of our minds during Coronavirus. So should we really also be worrying about financial health? The year of 2020 saw many employees furloughed and even made redundant, causing financial stress. However, there are also many people who have been lucky to be able to continue working during COVID-19.

As we all know, branding is something that can make or break your business – a blueprint for how you want the world to see your company. Despite this however, it is something that is still chronically misunderstood – to the point where it is sometimes ignored altogether.

Ten percent of the population are believed to be dyslexic, but it is still often poorly understood. With the right support, the strengths and talents of dyslexic people can shine. So how come workplaces have yet to wake up?

According to statistics, the average business grows at an estimated 15% per annum, yet just four percent manage to reach that magic £1m turnover mark.

2020 has been an unusual year for businesses. Every industry has been affected by the pandemic in some way, whether that’s for better or worse. As companies continue to try and navigate these difficult times, it’s essential to find ways to thrive and keep the money coming in.

Running an organisation free of issues is what everyone wants. No business wants to fall victim to cyber attacks. However, that’s not always the case. Day in day out, cyber criminals are devising means of compromising businesses. According to Purplesec, Cyber crime is up by 600% due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some other factors, such as software issues, make enterprises insecure.