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The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Programme for Small Businesses and Social Enterprise Leaders in the Midlands
The programme is for the leaders of established small businesses and commercial social enterprises who want to grow. Participants benefit from a structured, practical learning experience focused on the challenges faced by growing small businesses. They gain access to multiple sources of high quality advice and guidance. Participants join a group of 25 to 30 selected small business leaders who form a trusted network that provides peer-to-peer support, challenge and guidance to one another in an open, constructive and dynamic learning environment. Participation is fully funded for successful applicants.
10KSB UK has been designed with Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and is delivered in the Midlands in partnership with Aston Business School, which is renowned for its strong networks and understanding of local business, the quality of its innovative learning and teaching and world leading research.
A first cohort of Midlands business leaders was recruited in October 2011 and we are now recruiting a further cohort to participate between March and July 2012. The closing date for applications is 12th December 2011.
How to Learn More
Further information about 10,000 Small Businesses, including eligibility criteria, key dates and how to apply, is available at www.aston.ac.uk/10ksb .
Potential applicants are encouraged to register to attend one of several informal preview events we are holding across the region. These provide an opportunity to learn more about the programme from Aston Business School, Goldman Sachs and existing participants, and to network with other small business leaders over refreshments.
23rd November 17:30 Coventry TechnoCentre
24th November 17:30 Blakenall Village Centre, Walsall
30th November 17:30 Birmingham Science Park - Aston
Please register for a preview event at www.aston.ac.uk/10ksb
Contact us on 0121 204 3225 or at 10ksb@aston.ac.uk
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The China IPR SME help desk is keen to provide IPR support to European SMEs in the digital and software industry which are planning to invest, or are currently investing, in China. Listed below are some of their up-coming webinars which you may find interesting. “Our web-based seminars are free of charge, practical and business-focused training sessions that SMEs can join from the comfort and convenience of their own computer. Our IP experts deliver a detailed, jargon-free overview of the key IPR considerations that European SMEs need to be aware of, and present a range of simple, cost-effective measures to protect European SMEs’ intellectual property and business in China. For more detailed information about webinars, please view our 2-page Quick Start Guide, or watch examples of our past webinars here (windows media player file format).”
Using contracts to protect your IPR in China: 5 December, 2011 (date TBC).
For more information please visit http://www.china-iprhelpdesk.eu/
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Google Checkout is being consolidated with the Google Wallet mobile payment service, which is becoming the sole payment platform for the company's Android Market, YouTube and Google+ services.Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is consolidating payment platforms, merging its long-time Google Checkout service with its Google Wallet mobile payment service, the company said Nov. 16.Launched September in New York and San Francisco, Google Wallet is the company's effort to coax users to pay for goods from Android smartphones at over 20 retailers, including Macy's, Toys R Us and American Eagle. Consumers with Sprint Samsung Nexus S 4G phones can pay for goods in those stores by tapping and paying against sales terminals.Google Checkout was launched in 2006 as an alternative to eBay's PayPal service, but it never quite took off the way Google originally intended. Checkout users store their credit or debit card and shipping information in their Google Account, so that they can purchase at participating stores by clicking a button online.Wallet will continue to enable users to make purchases in stores from their mobile phones, and add the ability to buy goods from their home computers. Wallet will also become the payment method for applications in Google's Android Market, movies on YouTube, titles residing Google+ Games, among other Google sites. READ FULL STORY HERE (eWEEK)
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It appears efforts to get most UK adults online are failing, data released today has indicated.
Office of National Statistics (ONS) research that shows 17 per cent of the UK has never been on the internet. Data for the third quarter of 2011 showed 8.43 million adults had never been online.
To get these numbers up, Race Online 2012 is trying to get as many people as possible on the web by 2012. The Martha Lane-Fox led initiative recently recruited 100,000 digital champions to boost the campaign..
"Internet use is linked to various socio-economic and demographic characteristics, such as age, disability, location and earnings," the ONS said in its report.
Those likely to never use the internet include adults over the age of 65, the widowed and those with a disability, the ONS said.
There were 4.25 million disabled adults who had never used the internet in the third quarter, just over half of the 8.43 million that have never used it. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE (IT Pro)
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Resellers seeking to optimise their end-user networks for cost efficiencies would do well to talk up green solutions as an element of the pitch, according to a new study into enterprise IT networks from ingfrastructure specialist CommScope.
CommScope quizzed 100 network managers and systems integrators in the UK and found that 84% of firms had already started to take steps to improve the energy efficiency of their networks during 2011.
This investment looks set to continue into 2012, the firm said, with 46% of enterprises believing implementing a green IT strategy was actually the most cost-effective route to achieving cost savings in the network, which was itself cited by 49% as the most significant goal in the coming year.
CommScope European vice president of enterprise sales, Koen ter Linde, said the findings showed a widepread strategy to cut costs by "investing in solutions that are proven to optimise performance and increase reliability, as opposed to simply reducing expenditure or opting for lesser quality alternatives." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE (www.microscope.co.uk)
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The aftermath of severe flooding in Thailand is set to reach the UK as computer prices rise following the disaster, the Shropshire chairman of the Chartered Institute of IT warned today.The country’s worst floods in more than half a century have claimed the lives of hundreds of people and affected millions. The disaster left 14,000 factories under water and more than 600,000 out of work.And Chris Pallett, of Bespoke Computing Ltd in Telford and the Shropshire chairman of CIIT and director of the UK IT Association (UKITA), said the impact will be felt across the world.He said: “Acer and Samsung have already said their prices are going to go up and the CEO of Western Digital, a major hard drive manufacturer, has said the concentration of its supply chain factories in various flooded industry parks in Thailand means it will be greatly impacted.“Pricing is set to rise due to a number of factors including lower economies of scale, and increased logistical costs. Western Digital has so far been unable to specify the hike in average sales prices.“On top of this technology prices are greatly influenced by the USD and Euro rates meaning businesses, now more than ever, need to think about their purchases. It will mean investing more to buy equipment that will meet their needs.”Mr Pallett urged business owners to take independent advice before buying new equipment and to be aware of the changes – which will include shortages in equipment - before they make any decisions.“Distribution giant Computer 2000 has put disk drives on manual allocation while other distributors have completely frozen sales while they review the impact of the flooding,” he added.“It is already a tough time for businesses as the economy struggles and the rise in computer prices may well be harmful for companies making the wrong decision with the future of their IT.“Some businesses may decide to upgrade or refurbish equipment to extend its lifetime, others can look at new technologies and servicing will become more important than ever.”Bespoke Computing Ltd has access to all major brands and provides independent advice to companies large or small.For more information visit www.bespokecomputing.com or contact 0845 004 3025.
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From the Intel newsroom - http://newsroom.intel.com/docs/DOC-2451
New technology adoption and regulatory compliance take back seat as SMEs tighten purse strings.
Fax machines used more than smartphones by SMEs.
Half of IT users and a quarter of IT decision makers don’t know what cloud computing is.
November 2, 2011 – Small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK are slow to adopt new technologies such as tablets and cloud computing because of a lack of financial and human resources. According to the Intel Business Index – an independent study[i] of 3,000 IT decision makers and IT users in companies with fewer than 250 employees – SMEs are also putting themselves at risk of data breaches because of a lack of awareness around security regulations and investment in security technologies.
Technology Adoption Hindered by Lack of Resources
According to the Intel Small Business Index, insufficient financial and human resources prevents almost half (46.3%) of IT decision makers from adopting new technologies. Over a third (36.4%) of SMEs don’t plan to buy any new laptops, desktop PCs, tablets or smartphones in the next 12 months. Furthermore, 78.5% say that the lack of government funding prevents them from training staff in new technologies
The study also reveals that while the adoption of new technologies such as tablets for work purposes is on the rise, with 17.4% of IT decision makers planning to buy/lease an iPad or another tablet for use for work purposes in the next year, legacy technologies still play an important role for many companies. A fax machine is used daily by 37.7% of IT decision makers and 40.5% of IT users.
Graham Palmer, managing director of Intel UK, says: “It’s clear that as SMEs tighten their purse strings, buying new technologies falls to the bottom of the list of priorities. Yet, it’s important that IT decision makers weigh the advantages, such as the increased efficiency and flexibility delivered by mobile devices, against the cost. In many sectors, such as the creative industries and retail, using outdated legacy technologies could even result in the loss of your competitive advantage.”
The index shows that despite the perceived popularity of tablets, they are currently used for work purposes by just 1.4% of IT users. In contrast, a laptop is used by 36.4%, and a smartphone by 16.2% of IT users.
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
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RFID and the UK
UKITA, the UK's Trade Association for ICT SME's, has recently released UK RFID (www.ukrfid.com) – a free website full of information about the emerging technology that is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).RFID (or tagging systems) allows businesses to tag business assets for identification, tracking, tracing, locating and control. RFID is used in Oyster Cards, Transport cards, libraries, supermarkets and many clothing retailers in the UK alone. RFID has an estimated world value at over £4 billion.Businesses should learn about it, supply it, sell it, support it, develop it and use it. This website has lots of free research, information, advice and links, with a UK SME focus.The website also has a UK RFID Suppliers Directory.An RFID / Mobile Fusion Conference is being held at Staffordshire University on Wednesday 15th February 2012 – see www.ukita.co.ukThe website is part of UKITA's involvement in the RFID-ROI-SME project, funded by the European Union's ICT Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.For any more information please contact tom.brookes@innoware.co.uk
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The coalition government has announced funding totalling £295 Million yesterday to help boost the UK’s ICT infrastructure. £150 Million was announced by the Chancellor George Osborne to improve mobile coverage in parts of Britain which have poor or no coverage and the remaining £145 Million was announced by the BIS to improve the computing infrastructure.According to the Chancellor, there are 6 Million people in Britain who do not have good mobile coverage where they live and this investment would help developing additional masts. The government has said that masts would be developed in “consultation with local communities”.In addition to this investment announced by the Chancellor, the Business department has announced £145 million drive growth and innovation across a range of sectors that rely heavily on computing including manufacturing, engineering and design. It will also provide industry with the latest technology and facilities, giving reassurance that Britain is a great place to do business and encouraging further private sector support.Read the full story at eGovMonitor
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A scheme designed to help fledgling technology businesses secure a share of a £1m equity funding pot has been launched by Birmingham City Council.The fund, which will be managed by Finance Birmingham, was established alongside Birmingham Science Park Aston (BSPA).Local start-up technology entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to a panel of senior figures from the city in a 'Dragons' Den' style project. Each business will be pitching for between £20,000 to £100,000.Simon Jenner, head of incubation at Birmingham Science Park Aston, said: "We see a phenomenal number of really outstanding businesses coming through our e4f and Oxygen Accelerator schemes, demonstrating a massive amount of potential."Unfortunately, not all of these businesses go on to become profitable and we identified that a major reason for this is that while they may have outstanding and innovative ideas, they fail to secure seed funding."The panel to which the entrepreneurs will pitch which will be led by Finance Birmingham and will feature representatives from Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Science Park Aston.Sue Summers, chief executive of Finance Birmingham, added: "The city of Birmingham has a great pool of creative talent across the entire technology sector, however like the industry as a whole, we lack the seed funding that is necessary to give these companies the boost that they need to really get off the ground."
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The European Commission is gathering information from ICT suppliers on their experiences of bidding for public ICT contracts. This short survey (20 minutes) is important for the development of guidelines to help IT procurers to purchase ICT based on standards that can be implemented across the market, and thus promote competition. Your assistance in completing it is greatly appreciated.The survey is designed to be answered by people involved in responding to Calls for tenders from public bodies and of particular importance are any difficulties you have experienced as a result of the way in which the public sector tenders were written. Link to the survey: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=ictprocs Findings from the survey will support a study on “the procurement of ICT products and services by public authorities” commissioned by DG INFSO and carried out by Europe Economics.
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A West Midlands IT company has secured a quality award for the fifth year running. The Approved ICT Supplier status and use of the Quality Mark logo is awarded by the UK IT Association (UKITA) – the trade association that represents IT, digital media and internet-related businesses in the UK.
MBM Ltd, based in Wombourne, is a founding member of UKITA and has been a supporter of the quality accreditation scheme since its conception. Nigel Mills, managing director of MBM, said: “Unfortunately, we come across too many businesses who have suffered from rogue IT suppliers. However, accreditation schemes such as the UKITA Approved ICT Supplier go a long way to reassure potential customers of the professionalism of suppliers, like us, who are awarded this mark of quality.”
Members already have to sign up to a Code of Conduct when they join the association which covers professionalism, delivering quality products/services and keeping up to date with best practice in their field. However, UKITA developed the accreditation system in response to a growing need for members to further demonstrate their professionalism and commitment to customer satisfaction.
Flick Wheeler, UKITA’s quality director, explained: “The granting of Approved ICT Supplier status and the right to display the UKITA Quality Mark, acts as an assurance to both customers and other UKITA members that the supplier has gone through a rigorous process to meet the criteria set by UKITA.”
MBM Ltd provides outsourced IT support, Disaster Recovery and Cloud Computing services to businesses across the UK and has been trading for over 20 years.
MBM Limited
Nigel Mills
www.mbmltd.co.uk
01902 324494
UKITA
Flick Wheeler
www.ukita.co.uk
0800 862 0333
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The UKITA AGM was held on 28th September at Blythe Valley Innovation Centre. Around 25 people attended to elect new directors, make some changes to the constitution and hear our plans for the next 12 months. Charles Huthwaite, as retiring chairman welcomed everyone and introduced the meeting, explaining some of the changes to UKITA that had been achieved during his time as chair. Chief among these was the transition from being publically funded to privately funded through membership subscriptions and also UKITA’s work with PIN-SME which has led to our involvement in two European projects. The changes to the constitution were passed and a brief financial report was given – as the Director of Finance, Fred Noble, was unfortunately unable to attend, questions on UKITA’s finances were requested to be sent directly to Fred by email (fred.noble@ukita.co.uk)New Directors were welcomed to the Board and voted in. They are: Phil Oakley (Outserve), Shaun Carvill (Clicking Mad), Chris Pallett (Bespoke Computing), Marina Ibrahim (Bizz Buzz) and Anna Wilde from UKITA Membership Services.Charles thanked everyone for their support during his time as chairman and was duly thanked by a round of applause in return. A new chairman will be elected by the Board in November.The second part of the meeting was a round-up of the year’s achievements by Anna Wilde from UKITA Membership Services. Anna explained how our mission for this year was all to do with raising the profile of UKITA to gain visibility – visibility for the organisation leading to visibility for members. We are finding that we are being approached by journalists for comment a couple of times each month, and the resulting publicity is starting to bear fruit in new members. Anna asked members to send any news stories, case studies etc to head office for us to publicise on your behalf and also mention the £99 press release deal offered to members by Be Bold PR.Other highlights included the visit by Daniel Tubino from Fiesc (small business support organisation) in Brazil, the acquisition of Skillfair consultants’ network and the soon-to-be-launching Digital Census of IT companies in the UK, in conjunction with Coventry and Warwick LEP.Andrew Corbett then gave a presentation on the direction of UKITA over the next 12 months. Andrew showed the new graphics for the website (cartoon-based) on why you should join UKITA and talked about the Good IT Guide and its role in raising visibility of members to buyers of IT. We are also going to be launching a ‘magazine’ part of the Good IT Guide site, and will be approaching our members to write for this. The aim of this is for non-technical people to gain an easy understanding of common IT purchases – e.g. buying a website, choosing a CRM system etc.He encouraged members to join and contribute to the Technology Business Groups (special interest groups) which currently exist for e-commerce, business intelligence, cloud, RFID, CRM. Members who have an offering in these areas can be added to the appropriate page so that website visitors can quickly find suppliers of the appropriate technology this way, in addition to the directory and Good IT Guide.Andrew explained that we will be adding local area ‘portal’ pages to the website, one for each of the main regions of the UK which equate to the RDA regions, plus Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These pages will feature a map of the Good IT Guide in that area, together with the UKITA IT tender feeds. There will be links to local IT events and news, and people wanting quotes for IT services will be able to submit them through the portal. These will help with UKITA’s roll-out to parts of the UK where we haven’t had the strong presence that the West Midlands has enjoyed due to our roots being here.Andrew also demonstrated the member-to-member ‘Working Together’ collaboration pages. Members are invited to submit an entry to this through updating their profile on the website – (this profile is essential to get the most out of your membership). A member may (for example) offer other members either use of resources (e.g. programmers) or ask for expertise on a particular topic. The entries can be anonymous if preferred.Tom Brookes, the EU Project manager for UKITA Projects rounded up the evening by talking about the RFID project. The first part, the research, is now complete – Tom has been working on this for around a year and produced a website at http://www.ukrfid.com/. SMEs are encouraged to take up RFID to help to identify, track, trace, audit, control and locate business assets. The website is an asset for all businesses who are interested in this technology, with case studies, information and links to a wealth of information which Tom’s research has pulled together.The second part of the project which finishes next spring (2012) is dissemination of this information to SME businesses and events are being planned, to which UKITA members will be invited. Watch this space!Charles then closed the meeting at around 7pm, though many members stayed around for longer to chat and network .Thanks to Blythe Valley Innovation Centre for hosting the meeting free of charge.LINKShttp://www.thegooditguide.co.uk and http://read.thegooditguide.co.uk (under development)http://www.digitalnation.org.ukhttp://www.ukrfid.com – RFID resources website.The official minutes may be downloaded from here.
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Speakers
The first ever comprehensive 'census' of the UK's IT industry is to be launched this month in a pioneering project which will support business development and innovation.IT businesses of all sizes, LEPs, Local Authorities and Higher and Further Education institutions are invited to a free briefing to hear about:
The Digital Census which will be launched at the event
The plans of the IT group of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP
The Good IT Guide which showcases IT and digital media businesses in the LEP area with a free entry showing their technology capabilities, certifications and accreditations
The Digital Nation UK-wide project - currently in Beta version
The Working Together collaboration listings
The IT Hub West Midlands site - also in Beta which will go live shortly after the Census launch on the 26th September
There will be updates from representatives of several of the key strategic IT assets in the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP area: SCC - the largest independent IT company in Europe, the Serious Games Institute, International Digital Lab and the Coventry and Warwickshire branch of UKITA.The launch event will be held at Warwick University's International Digital Lab from 11am to 2pm on the 26th September and will hear from speakers from the LEP, UKITA, the International Digital Lab and the Serious Games Institute.
The launch event has been postponed until November, apologies. If you would like to be informed of the new date when it has been arranged, please
All enquiries to UK IT Association - 0800 862 0333 info@ukita.co.ukThe full news release appears below.
NEWS RELEASEDate: 1st September 2011For immediate useFIRST EVER CENSUS OF THE UK'S IT INDUSTRY TO LAUNCH The first ever comprehensive census of the UK's IT industry is to be launched this month in a pioneering project which will support business development and innovation.Digital Nation, developed by the UK IT Association, is beginning its roll-out with the backing of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership on September 26.As well as a census which will digitally map IT companies and new and ongoing projects, Digital Nation aims to help companies grow by assisting with research and development and finding new markets in the EU and further afield.The census will also help to bring together companies with different areas of expertise and capability for business partnership opportunities.UKITA director Andrew Corbett said Digital Nation was an ambitious project to strategically map the landscape of the IT industry.“The UK IT Association exists to encourage the growth and business improvement of IT businesses, provide expert guidance in what technologies are available and encourage all parts of the industry to interact with each other.“We've developed Digital Nation to help us achieve those aims, which we believe will bring massive benefits for businesses looking to work together on large-scale projects by combining their expertise. It will allow companies not only to find contracts, but importantly allow IT sector projects to find interested companies in their area and nationwide.”“Coventry and Warwickshire was in at the start of what has now become the UK IT Association, formerly WMita, and has been one of our largest and most active branches. And Coventry and Warwickshire LEP is ahead of the curve when it comes to sector support for the IT and digital media sectors. “With a dedicated focus group, chaired by Tracy Westall sales director of SCC, the largest independent IT company in the EU, the partnership intends to act as a beacon for other LEPs to mobilise the IT and digital media industry in the region.“As we roll out the Digital Census throughout the UK, we see Coventry and Warwickshire LEP as an excellent reference point for the value of this tool to other LEPs, local authorities and the further and higher education sectors.“This is an ambitious project designed to discover and map out the strategic digital and IT assets of the UK. We are looking to work with people whose mission it is to engage and help these businesses and we'd be delighted to see them at the launch event on September 26.”The launch event will be held at Warwick University's International Digital Lab from 11am to 2pm and will hear from speakers from the LEP, UKITA, the International Digital Lab and the Serious Games Institute.To register for the free launch event, go to www.ukita.co.uk/digitalcensusENDSFor further information contact Mark Waugh or Amy Bould at Be Bold Public Relations on 01952 898051 or email hello@beboldpr.comNotes to editors-UKITA, the UK IT Association, is the recognised trade association for SME IT, digital media and internet-related businesses throughout the UK. With its membership office based in Ludlow, UKITA is dedicated to creating advantage for its members, helping them to improve all aspects of their delivery and service. -UKITA also aims to educate buyers to expect more from their IT suppliers and to know how to pick the best. The UKITA website (www.thegooditguide.co.uk) maps IT companies nationally, highlighting companies which are UKITA members and those which have achieved Quality Mark status.- The organisation operates online and through its branch network. You can join us or get involved free of charge by joining our free B2B suppliers register or coming to one of our IT-focused branch events. Annual Membership of UKITA costs from £160 + VAT and companies can join online at the UKITA website at, call 0800 862 0333 or email info@ukita.co.uk for more information.
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UKITA Director Helen Brewster and UKITA member company ACUTEC have had a good write up on the Midlands Business News website. Helen and Chris Roche, the MD of Acutec are featured in a write up on Helen joining the Acutec team - you can read the full article here
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From the Cabinet office's website:The Open Data consultation paper sets out Government’s proposed approach for Transparency and Open Data Strategy, which is aimed at establishing a culture of openness and transparency in public services. We want to hear from everyone – citizens, businesses, public services themselves, and other interest groups – on how we can best embed a culture of openness and transparency in our public services. The proposed approach is fundamentally about creating a ‘pull’ (an enhanced right to data) and a ‘push’ (a presumption of publication). The consultation seeks the public’s views on:
how we might enhance a ‘right to data’, establishing stronger rights for individuals,businesses and other actors to obtain data from public service providers
how to set transparency standards that enforce this right to data
how public service providers might be held to account for delivering open data
how we might ensure collection and publication of the most useful data
how we might make the internal workings of government and the public sector more open
how far there is a role for government to stimulate enterprise and market making in the use of open data.
Download the consultation paper here.How to respond Deadline for responses27 October 2011Onlinewww.data.gov.uk/opendataconsultationEmailopendataconsultation@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.ukPostSend a written response to:Open Data ConsultationTransparency TeamEfficiency and Reform GroupCabinet Office1 Horse Guards RoadLondon SW1A 2HQ
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Less than half of the companies featured in a high profile list of the UK's fastest growing enterprises over the last decade remain in business today, new research reveals.According to analysis by SAP and Delta Economics of the Sunday Times Fast Track 100, which focuses on SMEs that have excelled in their first phase of commercial growth, only 47% are still trading. Almost half (44%) of firms featured since 2001 have been liquidated while a third have been acquired. Other findings included:
High growth companies are growing slower over time: Average growth rate of businesses that featured from 2001-2005 was 29.2% compared to 25.5% from 2006-2010.
Manufacturing gradually disappearing: Whilst seven manufacturing businesses were in the 2000-2001 Fast Track, 2008 saw only two, with zero the following year.
IT has never recovered from dot com boom heyday while retail has endured throughout: 22 IT or telecoms businesses featured in the 2000-2001 entries, whilst the highest presence since 2005 has been only four entries. In contrast, there were 13 retailers in 2000/2001 compared to 21 in 2009/2010. Retail peaked in 2005 with 26 (over one in four) entries.
A nation of recruiters?: In 2009/10 one in five of the Fast Track 100 were recruitment businesses, significantly skewing this sectors contribution to national GDP and suggesting that there is still a dynamic jobs market
You can read the full report, including an infographic here
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UKITA’s Black Country branch recently held a seminar on Intellectual Property. Branch vice chair, Sharon Kendal of Blue Orange Marketing, provides a summary of the event.The event was sponsored by the Institute for Innovation & Enterprise (IIE) which is part of the University of Wolverhampton, with whom the branch has organised a number of successful joint events over the last 2 years. Higgs & Sons kindly offered us their facilities at their new and impressive offices in Brierley Hill, giving some members a chance for a bit of shopping in the Merry Hill Centre before popping across the road to the event! Higgs & Sons, an active member of UKITA, kindly provided the meeting room as well as drinks during the event. Intellectual Property is an important issue for any business, and in particular for IT companies who, for example, may be coding software or building websites. The two speakers planned the event very well by making it interactive, using exercises to break up the presentation – it certainly got delegates thinking and talking! There were over 20 delegates (members from the Black Country, Staffordshire and Shropshire branches plus visitors) and we were seated around small tables of 3 to help with networking and the group exercises.The speakers were Amy Hylton, a solicitor in Intellectual Property and in drafting business terms and conditions with Higgs & Sons, and Gary Lennon who runs Ideas2Reality providing consultancy services to businesses in the area of capitalising Intellectual Property as well as tools and supporting services for entrepreneurs.Amy explained the various types of Intellectual Property including Trademarks, Patents, Copyright, and Design Rights. Delegates were particularly interested in the process of trade marking and the costs involved. Exercises in identifying the different intellectual property from a coffee jar, matching inventions with the type of intellectual property protection, and discussing who owns the copyright/intellectual property rights in a number of scenarios helped to reinforce her explanations. Gary’s presentation included two real, local case studies: Winning Moves and Classroom Medics. In the case of Winning Moves, he explained how an Intellectual Property audit, training and the creation of an asset register enabled the company to place intellectual property as an intangible asset on their balance sheet. The process has ensured that intellectual property is now an integral part of their company strategy.In the case of Classroom Medics, owner Tom Warrender explained how he set up a business to promote the varied professions in medicine to school children through science-related activities and workshops. However, a year into his growing business he received a legal letter from the Olympics Committee advising that he must stop using ‘Get Set’ (part of his original company name) as they had a trade mark on this phrase, and he had to remove any reference to Olympics/Olympian in his materials. Tom explained that, over the course of the following months, he had no choice but to rebrand. This case study in particular was a stark warning to all businesses to check out company / product names when you start a business and to seriously consider trade marks and protecting your Intellectual Property early on.Overall, this was an excellent seminar with all delegates certainly leaving with a clearer understanding about Intellectual Property and how it may affect their business.
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UKITA's Andrew Corbett has been quoted by IT Pro, commenting on the PASC (Public Administration Select Committee) report, titled "A Recipe for Rip-Offs". The report claimes that IT SMEs are blocked out of Government contracts, with most of the work going directly to the 'big 19' companies at the expense of smaller, often more cost-effective businesses.“The other thing the 'big boys' routinely do is to not pay the invoices smaller companies that work for them on time,” said Corbett.
“The smaller company has done the work, they have agreed to pay on 60 days but when the smaller company chases after 90 days they are effectively told ‘we will pay you when we want - and if you take any action against us, you will never get another piece of work from us again.’
“Often they are actually waiting to see if the smaller company goes bust and so they can avoid paying altogether.”
IT Pro rang UKITA Head Office for our comments - you can read the full piece here.
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A West Midlands IT company, and founding member of UKITA, is helping their customers with carbon reduction by transferring all their hosting to a carbon neutral data centre. This will help customers meet their carbon reduction targets.Nigel Mills, managing director of MBM based in Wombourne, explained: “Many companies struggle to meet carbon reduction targets that form part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment. We’re getting asked more and more about the carbon footprint of IT systems, so when we were looking for a new provider we included this as one of our criteria.”MBM’s new data centre in Manchester is completely carbon neutral. In 2008 the supplier planted 150 acres of forestry on its farm in Scotland. These trees now carbon neutralise all CO2 emissions emitted from the data centre. In addition, the facilities are energy efficient achieving a power usage efficiency (PUE) rate as low as 1.32 against an average of 2.2.Jason Timmins, technical director at MBM, said: “We host many customers' servers in our internet data centre and, even with advances in power management, these machines consume a lot of electricity. A medium-sized web server that's busy running your e-commerce web site could easily consume 500W of power all day, every day. Clearly, reducing the environmental impact of that is important. Our customers understand that servers consume plenty of electricity and, under pressure from demanding carbon reduction targets, they asked us to examine the power that is consumed on their behalf.”He added: “We believe we have sourced an affordable hosting solution for businesses that neutralises its carbon footprint and provides all the technology, security and industry leading service level agreements that is fit for today’s business environment.”Contact: Nigel Mills or Jason Timmins - http://www.mbmltd.co.uk - 01902 324494
