Posts Tagged ‘Small Business Advice’
Friday, October 14th, 2011
Dennis Ritchie
Steve Jobs’ passing was rightly lamented in the world’s media, but I wonder how many people will note the passing of Dennis Ritchie? Far fewer, I’ll bet, but arguably he was many, many times more important to IT innovation than the Apple founder.
Ritchie’s software creations and their direct descendants run pretty much everything we use online today, including Jobs’ own devices like the iPhone.
When you visit a website and your PC asks you to run Java…that’s based on Dennis Ritchie’s C programming language, a shorthand of words, numbers and punctuation. Successors like C++ also build on the ideas, rules and grammar that Mr. Ritchie designed.
He also came up with the Unix operating system which has similarly had a rich and enduring impact. Unix and its free, open-source variant, Linux, underpins nearly everything online. It powers many of the world’s data centres, like those at Google and Amazon, so much so that 70% of all web servers use it. Its technology also serves as the foundation of operating systems like Apple’s Mac OS, iOS on your iPhone, Android on your smartphone, the base system in your wifi router at home …
So, you may not realise it but Dennis Ritchie’s inventions touch your life every single day and although he may not be as well-known as Mr Jobs, his IT legacy will live on for many generations to come.
Requiscat in Pace, dmr.
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 Number News, 08direct.co.uk, Apple, apple ipad, business advice, business startup, C+, Dennis Ritchie, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, non-geographical number, number translation services., Small Business Advice, unix
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Thursday, October 13th, 2011
Carlos Tevez
The saga involving Carlos Tevez, the controversial Argentine footballer, drags on with today’s news that he’ll get a disciplinary hearing at Manchester City.
You don’t have to be a football fan to have heard about Tevez. He is one of Man City’s biggest stars and earns a ridiculous amount of money each week, but the press has been full of stories for months about how he isn’t happy and wants to go back to South America.
Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t go down well with either the fans or the club that is paying him so much money. When he then allegedly refused to play in a recent match (something he denies), this was the final straw and Man City launched an investigation. Tevez is now going to get a disciplinary hearing. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, 08direct.co.uk, business advice, business startup, carlos tevez, employment law, manchester city, small business, Small Business Advice
Posted in Tips for business | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Blackberry is under pressure from all angles
BlackBerry users now find themselves facing a 3rd consecutive day of service disruption.
As a result, RIM, BlackBerry’s maker, whose recent financial results have disappointed investors (we blogged about it here ) is now under further pressure as it faces the prospect of losing subscribers who are disgruntled due to service quality. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 number, 08direct.co.uk, android, Apple, apple ipad, blackberry, business advice, business startup, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, number translation services., RIM, small business, Small Business Advice, telecoms
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Monday, October 10th, 2011
Unrealistic optimism is a human trait that influences our views on everything from personal relationships to politics and finance.
According to a recent study, published in Nature Neuroscience, optimism is not just a person’s chosen demeanour or outlook, there are scientific reasons behind your relative positivity towards life.
According to the study, the brain is very good at processing good news about the future but in some people, anything negative is practically ignored. These are the people who hold a positive world view – sometimes an unrealistically positive view even when you are being presented with evidence to the contrary.
So the question is, are good business leaders optimists? Or is a degree of pessimism healthy? Does optimism blind you to risks and dangers? Or does pessimism simply drag you under with low morale?
And do you agree with the study or do you believe that you can choose to have a positive or negative outlook?
Let us know what you think.
Tags: 08 Direct, 08direct.co.uk, business advice, business leader, business startup, director, manager, optimism, pessimism, small business, Small Business Advice
Posted in Tips for business | No Comments »
Friday, October 7th, 2011
As a business owner, I bet you get several calls a week from companies promising to upgrade your office technology with revolutionary new systems that will transform the way you work.
But when you take the plunge and install this technology, you find that these claims were overhyped, or certainly premature, as the technology fails to work as well as you were expecting, or deliver the benefits that justified the investment.
Phone systems are a classic example of this. With the advent of the Internet and mobile communications, many people have forecast the demise of the office phone as it becomes superseded by newer, more advanced technology. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 number, 08 Number News, 0800 free phone number, 0800 Numbers, 08direct.co.uk, business startup, Call Forwarding, call management, Call Routing, call whisper, fax to email, freephone number, Freephone Numbers, Interactive Voice Response, national 0844 number, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, non-geographical number, number translation services., Services, small business, small business 0800 number, Small Business Advice, telecoms, voice to email, Voicemail, welcome message
Posted in business telephone systems | No Comments »
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
In his Party Conference speech yesterday The Prime Minister said that you can’t get out of debt by spending more money.
Of course, I’m paraphrasing, because a) party conference speeches are long and boring and b) in business, you are already well aware of this and that’s why in times of recession businesses seek to reduce costs wherever possible.
In many cases, the marketing budget is often the first casualty, but this has a negative influence on sales and profitability. So although there is some sense in what David Cameron said, we believe you have to cut the right costs and spend your remaining money in the most effective ways. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 number, 08 Number News, 08 numbers, 0800 free phone number, 0800 freephone number, 0800 Numbers, 0844 number, 0844 numbers, 0845 numbers, 08direct.co.uk, auto attendant, Budget cuts, business advice, business startup, Call Forwarding, call management, Call Routing, Call Statistics, call whisper, David Cameron, fax to email, freephone number, Freephone Numbers, Interactive Voice Response, IVR, marketing effectiveness, marketing tracking, national 0844 number, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, non-geographical number, number translation services., Services, small business, small business 0800 number, Small Business Advice, telecoms, voice to email, Voicemail, welcome message
Posted in Tips for business | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
So, there’s a new iPhone, but it’s not the one the world was expecting. In fact the iPhone 4S is really just a slightly enhanced version of the existing model. It has the same look and feel as the existing iPhone 4, which was launched 15 months ago, but boasts an improved camera, longer battery life and some new voice recognition capabilities.
There has been widespread disappointment following the launch with avid Apple fans feeling underwhelmed. Shares in Apple fell by almost 5% within minutes of the eagerly anticipated launch, with analysts saying that investors and Apple fans had expected the latest version to be a more radical. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, Apple, iPhone, iPhone 4s, small business, Small Business Advice, Sprint, telecoms
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
I have to confess that I didn’t really want to write this blog, because I fear that I am now contributing to the self-fulfilling prophecy that says we are talking ourselves back into recession again… (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 number, business advice, business startup, Chartered Management Institute, CMI, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, non-geographical number, small business, Small Business Advice, telecoms, UK economy
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Monday, October 3rd, 2011
With the party conference season in full swing, the news has been full of conflicting views about how to get the UK’s faltering economy back on track.
As a business owner you know the pain of the times we are living in, so you may be pleased to hear that one organisation has decided to tell the Government exactly what it should do to boost the UK’s business prospects.
The Institute of Directors’ Route Back to Growth report outlines 15 proposals which it says “could make the UK one of the most competitive advanced economies in the world by 2020-25″.
The proposals include a second round of quantitative easing (whereby the Bank of England injects new money into the financial system to try to boost banks’ lending, and in turn the wider economy) and also cutting the top rate of income tax from 50% to 40%.
“I think there is a despair around Britain as a whole, and around British business, about the way the economy is trending,” new IoD director general, Simon Walker told the BBC.
Driving growth was urgent, he said, and although the government was on the right track, it ought to be going “faster and further”.
The IoD’s other proposals are:
- Cutting corporation tax to 15% by 2020. It currently stands at 26% and the government plans to reduce this to 23% by 2014
- Improve labour market flexibility
- Ring-fence transport, energy and IT and telecoms spending
- Ensuring that energy policy “does not sacrifice UK competitiveness for green credentials”
- Expand free school provision with profit incentives
- End the £100,000 personal allowance taxation “anomaly”
- Intensify competition policy, both domestically and within the European Union
- Carry out radical civil service reforms to promote deregulation
- Reduce political influence over infrastructure planning
- Greater decentralisation of public sector pay
- No watering down of public sector pension reforms
- Reduce public spending to 35% of GDP by 2020
- Repatriate key employer power rules from the EU
The IoD wants the Bank of England to spend an initial extra £50bn on quantitative easing (QE).
Minutes of the Bank’s last Monetary Policy Committee meeting indicated that the Bank is looking at the possibility of more QE.
The full version of the IoD’s Route Back to Growth Plan can be read here
What do you think of the IoD’s plans? Would they make make a difference to your business?
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 numbers, 08direct.co.uk, business advice, business startup, Institute of Directors, IoD, Route Back To Growth, Services, small business, Small Business Advice, telecoms, UK economy
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
Friday, September 30th, 2011
Not quite equal, but agency workers will have similar rights to permanent staff from 1st October
A couple of days ago we blogged about how red tape for businesses can sometimes be a good thing. But today’s post highlights new rules which are unlikely to be received warmly by UK SMEs.
From tomorrow, agency workers will have additional rights in pay and benefits which are similar to full-time staff once they have completed 12 weeks of service doing comparable work. This means you’ll have to pay agency staff overtime, shift allowances, holiday pay and bonuses not attributable to individual performance, as well as maternity rights after 12 weeks’ service.
Business groups have suggested the changes could cost firms up to £2bn a year. (more…)
Tags: 08 Direct, 08 number, agency workers directive, employment law, employment rights, non geographic numbers, non geographical numbers, Services, small business, small business 0800 number, Small Business Advice, telecoms, temporary staff
Posted in Business News | No Comments »
