Nearly a fifth of small businesses would not survive the second lockdown

Articles in the Mail, Express and the Times have all highlighted that a survey by insurance group Simply Business revealed that 17% of small businesses believe they would not survive a new lockdown. Not only that a total of 62% said they were less confident about their company’s long-term outlook. A meagre 5% of respondents think they would cope better.
If a company genuinely believes their business is really struggling, then one suspects that they must be already making plans to shelter their business through the storm. If not it maybe already too late.
In the particular case of SME’s battening down the hatches can often mean not spending any money on good advice or marketing. In the first instance the cost of good advice may very well end up saving you thousands or even your company and in the second if you don’t continue to market your business prudently your customers may very well already think you no longer are around!

Cyber Security and Working from Home

Dolly Parton sang about “Working 9-5” and for many office workers, this described their work week perfectly. Then COVID happened and working hours have become a lot more blurred.
Aside from the human implications of life and work becoming blurred, the Cyber Security implications can be dire. We have not only moved away from our office desks but also our office networks. Networks that are secured with firewalls, intrusions prevention systems and web filters.

We, of course, have VPN (Virtual Private Network) systems but many of them do not provide the same level of protection as our office networks.
This has pushed many companies to a more cloud based model and are utilising products such as Azure and AWS. This is definitely the way to go but does come with its own set of security challenges.

Here at iBoss, our consultants not only understand on premise considerations, but also which cloud implementation could be best for you, be that SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) or something in between. Not only that, we can help you make sure that you are safe.

Call us today for more information about how to secure your home in the virtual sense 🙂

New SME grant scheme launches this month

This week I sat in on a network meeting where Ruth Cozens from SEMLEP – South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership gave us an excellent update regarding a new grant-funding scheme. It launches this month to help SMEs recover from the impact of COVID-19. The £20m fund, will distribute grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 and will be administered by growth hubs led by Local Enterprise Partnerships. Understandably there will be huge interest and demand from SME’s. £20m does not go a long way these days!
At iBOSS we help SME’s the best way to start a business, turnaround a business or grow your business during difficult times.

Women inspired to launch businesses due to COVID-19 situation

A recent article in the Daily Telegraph shows that a survey conducted by AllBright a women-only members club found that 25% of women have felt moved to establish their own business as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It went further on to say that overall, 74% of women are keen to start their own company after the crisis. In response to the latest findings, AllBright is launching the ‘Making it Work’ campaign, which will include online training, content, and in-club programming to help members build confidence, resilience and return to the workplace.

There has been a recent surge in all new start-up businesses. 21 Thousand new companies Registered with Companies House in the first week of August!

New start up business advice

Now more than ever, new potential businesses need new start up business advice from a professional The initial excitement and euphoria of starting a new business can quickly dissipate if the business model isn’t thought through thoroughly. Money from redundancy, savings or a family loan can soon run out.

Getting the right professional advice is essential. The right professional advisor will not tell you how to run your business. Instead, they will guide you through potential pitfalls which they may have already learned themselves. They will help you to create that all-important Business Plan. They can advise you with financial projections, sales and marketing, staff recruitment and a whole host of other business support.
Spending a little money on the right business advice may very well be your best initial expenditure!

If you want any advice about your new business, contact us