Technology

Reimagine your business using mobile technology

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Digital North West 0

An interesting event this morning on “Redefining the Customer Experience using Mobile” hosted by the Institute of Directors (Young Directors Forum) held at the Alchemist in Manchester’s Spinningfields.

In addition to some mind-boggling stats about the proliferation of mobile connections and apps being launched on a daily basis, the overarching message for businesses is that the mobile tech opportunity whittles down to three key advantages:

1. Better customer information
2. Better customer understanding
3. Better customer relationships

After all, a smart phone or mobile device sits in the pocket of pretty much every single one of your target customers.

Some interesting case studies demonstrated how apps can add a element of engagement and fun e.g. Barrett shoes asking for user’s dates of birth to identify their birth stone and therefore their likely personality traits and of course shoe preferences (the live demo worked!). Plus Kiddicare who has built in a multitude of capabilities into their app to allow customers to view video demos of products and even scan barcodes in competitors’ shops to get a price match – plus next day delivery and a 365 day return policy (a no-brainer?!):

“so our competitors become shop windows for our products”

Watch out bricks and mortar retailers!

In designing apps, advice was given to focus on your target market and ideally get them to help design it – otherwise you’ll risk ending up with a highly functional yet dull and unengaging app. And to:

“think multi-channel rather then just Internet in approaching and targeting your market”

Disruptive technologies such as mobile point of sale apps and hardware were highlighted (I was surprised that Dorsey’s Square was not mentioned?) plus user friendly technologies to help offsite / mobile workers transfer data for processing in realtime as opposed to dropping in and out of the office.

Mobiles or smart phones have become such an integral part of daily life that if you as a business owner do not have (or at least are not thinking about building) a channel into your existing or future customers’ mobile device, then you’re pretty much toast!

I liked the comment from Kiddicare:

“we’re a tech company that happens to sell childrens stuff”

Its like McDonalds founder, Ray Kroc‘s comment “we’re a real estate company that happens to sell hamburgers” updated for the 21st Century.

Approached from this perspective, it should help us all reimagine our business or even our entire industry.

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Have you become a daily cyborg?

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Strategic Thinking 0

From the second my alarm goes off on my Blackberry at 6am in the morning, my daily “cyborg life” begins and typically ends with a scan through my blog RSS feeds or perhaps a read of a digital book on my iPad. It is amazing to think how much has changed in our use and interaction with technology in such a short space of time?

This short video is worth watching to reflect on just how much we rely on technology on a daily basis and how this might be impacting on us as humans. In so many ways technology has introduced changes for the better, but Amber Case also highlights some less positive factors such as the time we lose for self reflection – and therefore to re-establish our connection with our innermost self – when we find ourselves constantly reacting to information (overload).  There’s also the gradual erosion of simple face-to-face human interaction. Its funny, a client of mine moaned today about the constant use of email and how this might be slowing down the conclusion of some outstanding issues over a deal, to which he recommended that we get together over the telephone – yet this is still one stage removed with technology still in the way….!

Overall, I love technology and the changes it has made – in most cases for the better to so many aspects of our lives – but its worth taking the time to step outside ourselves and reflect on this issue.

In what ways have you become a daily cyborg?

How to get to grips with your business finances

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Cashflow Management 0

It is easy to get caught up in ‘doing’ rather than ‘running’ your business.

So many business owners find themselves running simply to stand still – finding new customers, taking and fulfilling orders and addressing (hopefully not too many) customer complaints.

Sometimes its difficult to see the wood for the trees:

I’m really busy so I must be making money – right…?

Not necessarily.

Understanding your business finances

It is understandable that, at the end of a busy day working in your business, you would prefer not to review your business finances. But if you don’t understand the numbers that your business is producing then how will you know which bits are working (and profitable) and which bits of your daily work are simply a waste of time and effort?

I frequently recommend that owners of new businesses sit down (at least weekly) with a pencil and journal (yes, that technical!) and write out the week’s sales figures and costs by hand. I find that there is something more insightful about using a pencil and paper compared to an excel or similar spreadsheet – perhaps its the exercise of writing by hand that makes you think more deeply about the figures and how they connect (or not…).

At its most basic, to write out your sales income (ideally split across services or products) and associated costs, will give you a much clearer view of what is profitable work and what is unprofitable – the figures rarely lie. You would be astounded how few entrepreneurs do this simple exercise – and by the number of business owners whose jaws hit the desk when they realise why (or even that!) they are losing money you can tell they wish they’d done this far earlier!

Moving on from pencil and paper to the day-t0-day, I’m a big fan of online cloud accounting packages like Xero as they provide a live dashboard view of the health and performance of your business. Now with live feeds across the majority of UK banks, entrepreneurs can get a realtime view of the health (or otherwise!) of their business. The bank balance is clearly there to see plus debts receivable as are costs payable. Cashflow is absolutely king for all businesses so the ability to see how much cash is in the bank, how much is due in and how much is due out at any one time is crucially important if you are to be in the driving seat in running your business.

Don’t get put off by accountancy mumbo-jumbo, simply by taking the steps set out above on a daily or at least weekly basis, you will be streets ahead of many of your competitors who are ‘busy being busy’ with no clear focus or direction on what works for the future of their business. Try it. Let me know how you get on.

If you are a digital, tech or creative business and you would like some assistance in getting a better grip on your business finances then please drop me a line.

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Blueprint for Technology demands an innovative tax blueprint

Posted on November 4, 2010 by Digital North West 0

And so David Cameron continues to make the right noises about making the UK a centre for hi-tech digital, technology and creative businesses – a hub or a ‘UK Silicon Valley’ for the Googles and Facebooks of the future.

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Cameron unveiled his Blueprint for Technology today in East London with a commitment to push through with improvements to UK tax competitiveness, a review of intellectual property laws, freedom of movement of skilled workers, access to funding etc – I won’t summarise all the details as you can read the report in full by clicking here.

Let me kick off my saying that I wholeheartedly agree with Cameron’s focus on investing in intellectual property rich hi-tech digital, technology and creative businesses but I firmly believe that having a business-friendly tax regime and regulatory structure is absolutely key. Given this, I do not believe that the tax measures outlined today go nearly far enough. Okay, we’ll have reduced corporation tax for large companies to 27% and 20% for small companies from next April and there’s a pledge to review the taxation of intellectual property this Autumn but we need more. Far more.

Here are a few suggestions (aka a blueprint for tax) for hi-tech digital, tech and creative UK businesses:

  1. Create Enterprise Zones across the major cities ideally near Universities e.g. Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge etc which will screen start-ups and fast growth companies for entry to these tax incentivised business parks
  2. These Enterprise Zones (EZ) would allow companies to take advantage of certain tax exemptions and incentives for the first 3 years of trading and then, although they will be entitled to stay thereafter (to build a supportive community), they will be subject to many of the tax rules applicable to businesses outside the EZ.
  3. Hi-tech digital, technology and creative businesses only would qualify for admittance to the EZ (this would include cleantech, medtech and gaming businesses).
  4. Corporation tax rates would be 0% for Year 1, 12.5% for Year 2 and then 20% in Year 3 (or whatever the prevailing small companies corporation tax rate is in Year 3). These rates are similar to in some other countries e.g. tax holidays are available for a certain duration whilst the 12.5% rate mirrors the current Irish corporation tax rate which continues to receive admiring glances from many UK hi-tech companies.
  5. National Insurance Contribution (NIC) holidays would be available for the 3 year qualifying period. There is a temporary general NIC holiday scheme in place at the moment although there are many conditions to satisfy plus the postcode finder for qualifying areas is poor. Under this scenario, if you’re in a qualifying EZ, you qualify. No further questions asked. This way startups and growing businesses can recruit without being hit with penal employer’s national insurance contributions (13.8% from next April). At the very least, I would suggest a tax break from employer’s NIC for the 3 year period.
  6. PAYE would be applied to 70% of earnings of employees of companies in the EZ. This would help encourage skilled workers to take the plunge of joining high risk start-ups and help recruit talent from overseas. The Netherlands has a similar tax incentive in operation.
  7. R&D tax credits would be increased to 200% for SMEs within the EZ (from 175% today) in line with the Dyson Review.
  8. Number of companies set up in a group would not impact on the tax rate within the 3 years (subject to point 4). Currently, if a company decides to set up a subsidiary company (e.g. to test a spin-off concept) then the taxable profit band at which small companies rate is payable is divided by a factor of 2 i.e. as a standalone company it could have taxable profits up to £300,000 and pay tax today at 21% whereas if it set up a subsid company it could only earn taxable profits up to £150,000. By eliminating this rule, companies would then have the freedom to experiment with new ideas and concepts in new companies without getting bogged down with tax considerations. When the 3 years draws to a close, they should be in a better position to know which companies in the group can be consolidated, which ones can be killed off and which ones should be kept.
  9. Income of intellectual property companies should be subject to corporation tax rate at a reduced rate of 5% and this rate would continue to apply beyond the 3 years. This rate looks controversially low but we have to face facts that reducing rates of tax to these sorts of levels is essential if we are to encourage – let alone retain – the Google and Facebook companies of the future. Look around locations across Europe and you will see rates that are not dissimilar. Entrepreneurs owe a duty to their investors to maximise returns and likewise tax advisers owe a duty to their clients to explore best possible options for the long term profitability of their clients. Such planning aimed at shifting income overseas could be stopped in its tracks with these sorts of rates. We have proposals for a reduced rate of 10% corporation tax for patent income, however, the Netherlands already offers 5% for a wider range of intangible income. Remember 5% of Google’s annual income from its brand and other intellectual property is an eye-watering figure – plus there would be employee taxes receipts etc to throw into the mix for the UK Exchequer….tempting?

I appreciate that there is plenty to unpack here but radical times call for radical measures. We are standing on the edge of a huge opportunity. We need to be brave and demonstrate decisive action beyond slick speeches and glossy whitepapers.

George, I hope you’re listening in anticipation of your Budget speech on 23 March 2011.

Before then, I welcome your comments, criticisms and further ideas.

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Collaboration of digital businesses challenges the future of the firm

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Digital North West 1

Digital businesses are increasingly setting up shop in tech hubs or shared workspaces – the merits of the Sharp Project, Pie Factory and Media:City were all discussed at length at the recent BVCA Digital Age event held in Manchester.

Much of these initiatives are aimed at providing cost effective office premises for those fledging businesses which might not otherwise be able to afford a ‘normal’ office space plus they often have access to state-of-the-art technology and superspeed broadband access.

The merits of such initiatives have been well publicised but less so is the potential importance of housing these businesses under one roof and, more importantly, what the potential for collaboration might mean for future business structures?

What if small businesses seize the opportunity to network and co-create on projects? What if micro digital businesses pull together as deep specialists to provide best of breed combined solutions to beat off the competition provided by larger established agencies? If digital businesses really can collaborate seamlessly to beat the bigger boys then might this mean that the importance of separate firms or company structures becomes less important to the point that the concept of the firm starts to dissolve?

If so, would this be a step forward?  What do you think? Could digital businesses lead us into a new era for the way we do business in the 21st Century?

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R&D tax credits get thumbs up in Tory Technology Manifesto

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Tax N2K 1

Hot on the heels of the Ingenious Britain report by James Dyson, the Conservatives have released a disappointingly limp Technology Manifesto. Although its key aims build on many of the promising ideas set out in the Tory commissioned Dyson report – in aiming to position the UK at the forefront of global technology and science based exports – it unfortunately lacks any great detail (I’m all for brevity but 11 pages?!) plus it appears to veer off track in many parts (not sure how publishing data like….public sector salaries over say £150k etc is going to put us at the leading edge of global tech commerce? Worthy aim, wrong manifesto).

To its credit it promises to implement many of the proposals set out by James Dyson as soon as possible which sounds promising plus it singles out R&D tax credits as being retained and simplified – although unfortunately no mention of increasing the tax relief to 200% as Dyson recommended (although this is still a vast improvement given the rumour that the Conservatives were, up until very recently, considering abolishing research and development (R&D) tax credits altogether in an effort to simplify the UK corporation tax regime.

There is also talk of implementing a superfast broadband network of 100mbps that is some 50 times faster than Labour’s proposed super broadband network but the detail on exactly when and how this will be achieved is also notable by its absence.

Overall, I am delighted to see that the Conservative party is choosing to focus its efforts on pushing the boundaries in making the UK a leading global technology and science friendly location to do business, we could just do with a little more detail – as we’re not the only ones with this lofty ambition.

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Is Craigslist a game-changer for the newspaper industry?

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Strategic Thinking 0

Whilst we watch the newspaper industry being decimated, its tempting to attribute its demise to the recession and consequent decline in advertising revenue.

But such a widely held view misses the KEY point.

Look at the above chart, comparing ad revenue of US classified ads website Craigslist with ad revenue generated by traditional newspapers over the same period. Advertising revenue for newspapers has decreased (no shocks there) but look at the ad revenue for Craigslist since the recession hit in late 2007 – it has increased dramatically, demonstrating that capital does not disappear, it simply shifts to a more effective and efficient business model.  It is estimated that the newspaper industry has suffered a $10bn hole in ad revenue in the last decade – Craigslist has clearly picked up much of this slack.

As well as being a game-changer for the newspaper industry, Craigslist is one of the Top 30 most visited websites in the world yet it has less than 30 employees.

Craigslist is an example of a new breed of flexible, lean, game-changing businesses that are capable of challenging traditional, established businesses – or even entire industries. No industry sector is safe. You should be considering now what game-changing business model could redefine your industry and either prepare to compete in the very near future or (ideally) start building it.

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Is our Education system ready for a New World of Work?

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Digital Kids 0

Technology is evolving fast.  It is changing everything – from home to the workplace. Although many businesses are wrestling with these changes, others are already seeing the benefits of collaborative working, knowledge sharing and real-time communication that technology advancements can bring. From my perspective, barely a month goes by without another game-changing possibility being introduced e.g. a new productivity, marketing, communication or some other channel or tool.

We are entering a New World of Work.

It is crazy to think that when I was at Uni (‘only in’ 1993-1996), we had to

  • queue to use the telephone kiosk to phone home (mobile phones were not readily available),
  • hand-write all course-work, assignments etc (some students typed them on ‘wordprocessors’ but they were the ‘v early adopters’) and
  • email was at its v beginnings of becoming mainstream (“what? you can send a message for……FREE???!!!”).

When I started my professional training-contract at KPMG in 1997 I recall firing up my laptop with trepidation…. Microsoft Office was a new world that was set to become a staple part of my working day.

At home today, I am continually amazed by how naturally my 6 year old interacts with technology. It is an everyday norm for him. He is a Digital Kid. He can log into Club Penguin and other (protected) online gaming platforms without assistance. He uses the mouse tracker pad with ease and can find his way around the keyboard to interact with the gaming experience without fuss. He loves it and, here’s the interesting bit, it has without doubt accelerated his reading, questioning and strategic thinking abilities.

Although we keep tabs on the time he spends on the Mac Book playing online children’s games, Nintendo DS and Wii, I am relaxed about him getting to grips with technology at this early age as – let’s face it – an advanced competence in technology is going to be a key life skill for his generation (hey, this requirement is already pretty much here).  Plus he enjoys it and learns in the process. A win-win. (the fact that it gives me a chance to indulge my old ZX Spectrum gaming skills has nothing to do with it!).

But what happens in our schools today to reflect these changes? Not enough from my perspective so far. Although the blackboard has now become a whiteboard with overhead projector and there’s access to a computer room, the rest seems pretty archaic. Lining up to go in, sat on a mat being read to, practising joined up writing for hours on end etc. Meanwhile, there’s a national curriculum that appears to have been designed in the dark ages.

If our UK children are to excel in the 21st century New World of Work we need to seem some changes – and fast.

We need children who are encouraged to:

  • think differently
  • question (everything)
  • find their passions and follow them
  • be au fait with latest technology and use it to interact and collaborate
  • be creative and inquisitive
  • pull together in different teams to work together and share their experiences
  • think and do – not sit and listen
  • be individuals who understand their talents and innate gifts.

The future of UK (/global) enterprise and the world of work needs Innovators. Leaders. Entrepreneurs.

Our education system needs to reflect this. It is impossible to know what job(s) my 6 year old son will carry out over his lifetime (most roles probably do not as yet exist), however, it is important that we equip our kids with an inquisitive, curious and questioning mind; confidence in utilising latest technology and an overriding focus on thinking skills and developing new, creative ideas and work (rather than an education system based on regurgitating known facts as has been the norm over the 20th Century- all pretty useless in a Google and Wikipedia New World of Work).

And then there’s my 3 year old…

Postscript: I was at VentureFest 2010 in Yorkshire today and was pleased to see what appeared to be a great deal of involvement of local high schools in tech projects, exhibitions and competitions which is promising…

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