14/02/2010 by admin.

So we have hit the year sliding, some of us even managed to get to the office. There is no denying the fact that the UK is not up to it when it comes to dealing with snow, something which the FSB is calling for a major national conference to have a look at. I take full responsibility for having a rear wheel drive car and if it was not for the fact that my broadband connection was a thousand times faster snow and ice or not, I would not have been able to carry on working relatively effectively. Business has taken another battering, but have we learned any lessons?

Broadband connectivity is critical, at the right speed and the right price. We have only have to look at Finland to see the investment that country is putting into its communications infrastructure – why should Kent be any less endowed? One of the vital points here is the expense and the contention ratios. It is all very well to say you can have the speed, but if you are buying through a national provider – or getting it for free, then the price of the overall package may just be acceptable, but is the service. In a situation like this we have to look at the contention ratios – how many people are sharing the same connection at the same time as you are? My question has been, and remains, what can KCC do to help here? Several years ago, on the Kent Broadband Committee), we haggled with BT over opening up access; now years later we have not kept up the pressure and looked forward sufficiently at the new superfast capabilities or the spare capacities that can be found in our schools and other public institutions that could possibly be sold on. We have been talking, but frankly it has been offline for some time. One excuse has been that it may contravene State Aid regulations, but please, someone must have the wit somewhere to find a solution.

The broadband link brings me nicely into the comment about the HMRC. Small businesses are being firmly pushed along the online route. Financial encouragement, extra time to complete returns you name it. But it still hinges around the quality and consistency of the service we get. In endeavouring to complete the company’s first online VAT return I ended up not knowing whether I had successes or not. It was only when I got “The Letter” through the post I knew something had gone wrong. Putting that on hold for the moment, a few days ago I also had to talk to HMRC to clarify the payroll returns, and on both of these occasions I was taken aback at the helpfulness and indeed friendliness of the person at the other end of the line. I can only hope that this has been at the result of some focussed training and that someone somewhere has at last come to the realisation that businesses should not automatically be treated as crooks and that human error, when under the considerable pressure of running one’s own business, can happen.  

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14/02/2010 by admin.

The beginning of a new year brings with it the hope of fresh starts and the opportunity to wipe slates clean and begin with a renewed vigour, putting into place all those actions we promised ourselves and really start making a difference – doesn’t it?

Normally I look forward to the start of the year because for one thing I have had a break from the pressures, but this last Christmas will have seen a short lull which doubtless will have made some difference but not long enough, a few days quickly brings home the harsh reality of the fragility of the economy to us. I have almost invariably been a positive and optimistic person, and running a business either for someone else or myself for some thirty years should have taught me a lesson or two. It has. At our “small” and in particular the “micro” business level we have the opportunity to be flexible and unencumbered by overt internal regulation and bureaucracy.

The Micro businesses are all around us, they are the very grassroots of the economy, in 2008, SEEDA figures indicate businesses with 1-4 employees represented around 7% of the southeast turnover, the FSB thinks it is much greater with thousands almost unseen below the VAT threshold. If the economy as a whole is to survive, then we have to ensure that we have sustainability at this level, the diminutive descriptor should not disguise their true value. We do hear about the innovative entrepreneur with an exciting new approach to business, but how much of that is focused around the celebrity values of Dragons Den and The Apprentice. They make great news, but in no way are they the norm. Where is the X factor in everyday business? Where is the hero worship of these stalwarts that hang on in there day after day running their businesses come hell or high water?

The FSB has just completed a major piece of research which demonstrated that more than half of businesses have resisted the worst of the recession by innovating, creating new products and services, a fact that I have found myself amongst the members I meet. The 2009 survey reveals that over half of businesses introduced new or improved products and services and that again over half will continue this momentum and are keen to grow despite tough times. Just under one third (27%) respondents said their profitability has increased over the last year and 30% said sales volume had gone up.

We fundamentally no longer have the luxury of just talking, it is action that is the key to 2010. That goes for all of us, either in business or government at all levels. We should not let up on the talking but we have to do more, it needs lead directly to delivery, and the delivery needs to be now – not tomorrow. We need to work together in collaborative networks as indeed the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

This year will see a massive round of talking and promise making, yes it’s an election year. The one message we need to get over and over again to those we elect to look after our interests is to keep it simple, keep it proportional and do not stifle the innovation and vitality of our small and micro businesses. I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.

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