Many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups will be entering uncharted waters with this year’s peak retail season. The past several months have radically changed business operations, and current health and safety restrictions have accelerated the trend in consumer spending online.

As we near the end of a year unlike any other, many business owners will be hoping for a more optimistic 2021 and preparing to turn a new leaf. The crisis is not over yet, but it has already shown us the importance of resilience, resourcefulness, and vigilance for businesses and there are many key lessons for us to carry into the New Year.

A leading business insurance broker has urged firms and SMEs to get new insurance quotes in 2021. Get Indemnity, the digital insurance broker polled 650 SMEs and found that 68% of participants had not sought alternative insurance quotes in the past three years - and a further 32% had not applied for new quotes in the past five years.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing and uncertainty over when we will be returning to our offices, every company big and small is now adjusting to remote working.

Although many businesses are currently able to access significant finance via the various Government-backed loan schemes, which have recently been extended until January 2021, not every business is willing or able to accrue additional debts.

Starting a business may be exciting, however there are a few things that you need to make sure that you get right from the beginning. Here are some of the top tips that I share in my new book, BOSS IT.

Starting a business is hard. You only need to look at the failure rate to confirm it. And that’s in a normal, non-pandemic year. For anyone starting out now or looking to do so soon the challenges are astronomical. This is because as well as all the normal startup hurdles involving financing, staffing, cash-flow and the like, businesses are beset with a legacy of COVID-19 and the wider economic ramifications it will leave.

Xilinx Ventures, the corporate venture programme of US technology company Xilinx, has invested over $125m in more than 30 global startup businesses over the last three years, covering technologies in data center, communications, machine learning, automotive, edge computing, and innovative silicon design. It therefore seemed an ideal port of call for this issue’s Startups Launchpad feature. We caught up with Sagi Paz, Head of Xilinx Ventures, and Patrick Rundell, Manager at Xilinx Ventures, to find out more.

From full national lockdown and the gradual easing of constraints, to a three-tiered regional system of restrictions and then back into another national lockdown. It’s been a long and arduous time for everyone since COVID-19 first reached our shores earlier this year, and even more so for the many hardworking business owners up and down the country trying to keep disconnected workforces operating smoothly.

Podcasts are a great way to build your brand and tell the story of your business. Over the past five years, there has been an explosion in the number of corporate and business podcasts available and with it a growth in engaged podcast audiences. According to a September 2019 Ofcom report over seven million people in the UK listen to podcasts each week, a 24% growth over the previous 12 months.

Anyone digesting the headlines and latest research over the last few weeks would be forgiven for believing things have never been so bad for small business.

The UK’s path to Brexit has not been an easy one. Since the 2016 EU Referendum the country has experienced three different Prime Ministers, a global pandemic and a recession; all have which have made an inevitably difficult negotiation process even more complicated.

Pandemic is a relatively new word to most of us. Not that we do not fully understand what it means, more that we had little use for it before March this year.

E-commerce is something many of us have experienced, but how popular is it, and should you be prioritising ecommerce when looking to sell to customers? 

It is a continuously changing and fast-paced world. For maintaining the competitive advantage you need to have systems in place in the commercial market for scaling and adapting as necessary. More than 50% of the global merchandise trade in the year 2018 was focused around 10 localised economies.

From the ongoing pandemic and climate change to the fight for greater inclusivity and diversity across society, the world is currently facing a number of social and economic challenges.

In the second part of this business mix article series we see Brash Solutions Limited focus on technology. But not the sexy tech of product development, more the ‘behind the scenes tech’ that keeps you operating and secure – a real fundamental backbone to the operations of every business, regardless of size.

This week is Global Entrepreneurship Week, designed to celebrate ambitious individuals within the business world, and those who have believed in their own abilities and branched out on their own. Despite the waves of shock that the pandemic has brought to the business world, there has been a 12% increase in new businesses starting during 2020 already compared to 2019.

With much of the UK still in the midst of a national lockdown and the majority of high street stores temporarily closed, the online activity surrounding Black Friday (taking place on November 27th) is set to be higher this year than ever before.

Thousands of new businesses are setting up during the pandemic, a new report has revealed. 'How Startsups Can Kickstart The Economy', published by law-firm, Harper James Solicitors, details how 41,620 more incorporations happened in the first quarter of 2020 than in the first quarter of 2012. This represents an increase of almost a third (32.5%).