NORM

Bi-monthly magazine for LOCAL BUSINESS
IS YOUR
WIRELESS
NETWORK
SECURE?
KEY AREAS
TO HELP YOU
3MANAGE YOUR IT
PHONE
FRAUD EXCEEDS
1 BILLION £’s
KEY DEVELOPMENT
IN NORTH WILTS
Awayfromthe
NORM
Issue 1 Apr-May 2015

ATWELL MARTIN AD

Bi-monthly magazine covering NORTH WILTSHIRE Business Matters
IS YOUR
WIRELESS
NETWORK
SECURE?
KEY AREAS
TO HELP YOU
3MANAGE YOUR IT
Awayfromthe
Contents
PHONE
FRAUD EXCEEDS
1 BILLION £’s
NORMbusiness
KEY DEVELOPMENT
IN NORTH WILTS
>> INTERVIEW WITH MELKSHAM ENTREPENEUR RICHARD JONES

4 aftnonline.com
SAMWELLS AD

Welcome
Issue 1
April-May 2015
Now open for business
Welcome to the first edition of Away from the Norm, a brand
new bi-monthly business magazine for the Wiltshire area.
IT IS OUR INTENTION to provide a business magazine that differs significantly
from anything currently available, matching high quality production with
interesting and valuable articles. At Away from the Norm, we are aiming to
change the industry standard and want to provide a publication that is not
only enjoyable, but one that also provides a high quality reader experience.
Each edition of the magazine will be focused around the growth and development of business in
the local area, as well as providing crucial information in order to save your business time and money.
In the first edition of the magazine we have a number of fantastic, informative articles, including
‘the importance of having a goal’, written by business best-selling author, Robert Craven and advice
on how to prevent phone fraud, a scheme that costs UK businesses and councils over £1 billion a
year. Also included, within the local business section, is an interview with local MP Duncan Hames,
discussing the exciting future for his constituency and a company profile of SCISYS, a Chippenham
based multi-million pound corporation that works heavily with the European Space Agency and the BBC.
I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this magazine and I am thoroughly looking forward to
interacting with you on issues facing the world of business, within our wonderful county of Wiltshire.
Publisher
Publishing Pages Ltd.
Company No. xxxxxxx
Address:
The Green House
High Street
Purton
Wiltshire SN5 4BE
Advertising
T: 01249 123123
Ads@aftnonline.com
Contributors
Carolyn Brownell
Robert Craven
Richard Forsyth
Ben Gregory
Adrian Grey
Jesse Karjalainen
Samo Kraker
Mutamba McCormack
Philip Norman
Kirsty Paget
Andrew Thomas
Alex Williams
Alex Williams
Editor
Follow us on social media
Facebook.com/cubemagchippenham
@cubemag/chippenham&wilts
@cubemag
Although every effort is made to ensure the
accuracy of the material published in this
magazine, the publishers can accept no
responsibility for the veracity of claims made by
the contributors or advertisers. Copyright for
all materials published in this magazine
remains with the publishers.
© Away from the Norm Magazine 2015
The paper used in this magazine is totally chlorine
free. The paper manufacturer and our printer have
been independently certified in accordance with the
rules of the Forest Stewardship Council.
aftnonline.com 5

So Inspired Ad
?

Local Business
National TV recognition for local video company
MATT PAISH AND JAMES STAPLETON of The Creative Video Company,
based in Glove Factory Studios, Holt, have recently had their work
broadcast to millions on national TV.
The company behind the popular online ‘Bath on TV’ regularly work
with a number of the country’s most elite athletes and it was their footage
of the ‘British Skeleton’s World Championship Selection Day’ that was
featured on a recent episode of BBC’s Saturday Sportsday.
When asked about their achievement, James remarked “Occasionally
footage we produce is picked up by the BBC and broadcast in regional
news bulletins, but it’s always great to see our work used in a national
broadcast. We are always proud to see our handiwork on the TV screen.”
This is not the first time that The Creative Video Company have had
their work broadcast on primetime television – their footage from the
‘Special Olympics’ held in Bath last year was broadcast worldwide during
the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony.
Joint venture to deliver huge
savings to the Government
THE CABINET OFFICE and Corsham based SME,
Ark Data Centres, have announced the launch of
a new joint venture data centre that will deliver
increased efficiency and save the taxpayer an
estimated £105 million over the next seven
years.
Crown Hosting Data Centres Limited will
provide public bodies with a physical space to
host their computer servers and systems that
aren’t in the cloud. In the past, individual
departments paid different amounts to either
build their own centres or outsource the service
as part of their own locked in IT contracts. This
deal will, for the first time, provide a crossgovernment
approach to buying data hosting
services and will save up to £105 million for the
taxpayer by utilising the government’s combined
buying power.
It will also allow government to tap into the
latest advances in industry and improve energy
efficiency – using data centres that are
equipped with the latest technological
advancements such as real time dynamic cooling
and unique monitoring systems, all within secure
compounds. Huw Owen, CEO at Ark Data Centres
said “We are extremely proud to be selected as
the joint venture partner and look forward to
working together to drive real transformational
change across the provision of the
Government's data centre services. We are
committed to realising the huge potential cost
benefits for the UK public purse.”
Caption required xxxxxxxxxxx
aftnonline.com 7

Meteoric rise
In a quiet corner on the
western edge of Wiltshire,
sits the Methuen Park
business district that is
home to the
headquarters of a
remarkable mid-sized
business that is full of
surprises.
8 aftnonline.com
Photo: Mark Woods

Company Profile
for Wiltshire
company
THE AIM-LISTED SCISYS PLC began as a start-up
in Bristol in 1980 and over the decades grew
into a group with highly skilled staff in three UK
offices, two in Germany and a recently acquired
web and mobile development company in
Leicester. It moved its headquarters to a
purpose-built building at its current Methuen
Park location in 1999.
So, a company in Chippenham, what do they
do then? Well, it’s not what you might expect.
The company is rather modest about its role in
providing software that the European Space
Agency (ESA) Rosetta Mission recently used to
land the Philae Lander probe on a comet 310
million miles from Earth. Its space division –
split between the UK and Germany – is also
playing a part in creating intelligent navigation
and autonomy software for a European rover
intended to be sent to Mars (pictured: a
prototype testing technology that could be used
in the Atacama Desert in Chile) while the
company is also involved in future satellite
navigation systems for the European Galileo
system. These are just three things from the
company’s space division.
Its Enterprise Solutions and Defence arm is
currently delivering navigation and
communications systems for the Royal National
Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), geographic
information solutions for the Coal Authority,
weather service products for the UK Met Office
and bespoke software systems for the Warrior
armoured-fighting vehicle alongside Lockheed
Martin. The company’s media and broadcast
unit in Germany produces radio play-out and
media-asset management tools called dira!
used, for example, by the BBC.
A company firmly on track
There are still many who have not previously
been aware of SCISYS or its solid roots in
Chippenham, Wiltshire and the South West. This
could be simply because in many ways SCISYS
remains a veritable insider secret when it comes
to the true extent of its operations. This is
perhaps so because it remains a B2B solutions
company, even if its technologies touch millions
of people every day without them ever knowing
it. The company, for instance, played a hand in
developing the orange electronic ticket system
for British Rail that went live in 1986.
SCISYS is currently
working on everything
from government and
space projects to
marine electronics and
geographic information
systems (GIS) projects.
It continues to recruit
more every year in all
areas of its activities for
the aerospace, defence,
utilities and
government industries.
The 35-year-old SCISYS plc began trading as
Science Systems, starting out supplying
solutions to the European Space Agency (ESA).
In 1992 it split into industrial and space
divisions and by the following year had 179 staff.
Its profits before taxes surpassed £1 million for
the first time in 1995. In 1997 the business had
doubled its staff numbers and listed on
London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) a
decade later the rebranded SciSys plc (UK:SSY)
bought a German communications, satellite and
broadcast software company VCS. This became
SCISYS Deutschland in 2012 when the entity
rebranded throughout the group under the
SCISYS name (www.scisys.co.uk). Group
revenues for 2013 were more than £40 million,
with an adjusted operating profit of more than
£3 million. The group currently has around 450
staff in the UK and Germany.
At the heart of software and technology
SCISYS has continued to look to the future and
has a stated strategy of accelerating growth
partly through appropriate acquisitions. Its
latest came in December last year when it
bought Leicester web and mobile applications
company, Xibis Ltd. This strategy is set to
deliver growth in the business and retail sectors.
SCISYS’s wholly owned building is now home to
local companies, including a software solutions
analysis business and it currently has room for
other tenants at its Chippenham high-tech park.
In these respects, SCISYS has put down roots as
being at the heart of software and technology in
the region.
All of these features are what make SCISYS a
unique company that operates in sectors
against some extremely big hitters – yet
continues to make its mark. SCISYS has a
reputation for being small enough to be agile
yet having broad experience in working on
technical projects for large organisations and
business-critical systems. Its success is built on
fostering long-term relationships.
All of this is done with little fanfare and
managed from a quiet business park on the
road to Bath. It could just be that the SCISYS
group is one of the local region’s best-kept
business secrets, setting a great example as an
incubator for talent in the UK software, technical
and development sectors. Meanwhile, the
business continues to look for new markets and
more technical challenges to sink its teeth into.
SCISYS certainly is a mid-sized business full of
great surprises. ■
For more information:
SCISYS PLC and SCISYS UK Ltd.
Methuen Park, Chippenham SN14 0GB
T: +44 (0) 1249 466466
E: info@scisys.co.uk
www.scisys.co.uk
aftnonline.com 9

10 aftnonline.com
Local Business
£21 million expansion to Wiltshire College campus
THE CONSTRUCTION of the brand new Wiltshire
College campus in Chippenham is moving swiftly
forward, with the world class facility opening to
students in September. The state-of-the-art,
three storey building, will provide a completely
new purpose-built modern campus for the
college and town of Chippenham.
The new facilities will support growth in
vocational training and apprenticeships in areas
such as engineering, construction, hair and
Dymag wins multi-million pound
funding support from Government
Michael Dunlop on his winning Dymag wheels
DYMAG, the Chippenham based manufacturer of
carbon composite wheels for high performance
cars and motorcycles, has been awarded a
government grant and loan package of over
£7 million. The award will support the
company’s plans for product development and
mass production of what have previously been
niche products that Dymag successfully
commercialised over the past 17 years.
The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain
Initiative (AMSCI) will provide Dymag with vital
funding support for its new product
development programme and advanced
manufacturing process in collaboration with the
National Composites Centre in Bristol. Dymag is
one of 20 projects across England to win
funding that will help rebuild British
manufacturing prowess. The award was
announced by Business Secretary Vince Cable in
March 2015.
Dymag’s Chief Executive Chris Shelley said:
“There was stiff competition to win this
investment so I am delighted that Dymag has
been successful in protecting current jobs and
beauty as well as university level courses and
army resettlement. Designed to be flexible to
meet future anticipated demands of students,
employers and the community, the new building
will provide industry standard workshops and
vocationally-tailored spaces, together with
realistic working environments.
The new building is also designed to be highly
energy efficient and sustainable, in line with the
college’s objective to integrate sustainability into
all aspects of its activities, including energy
management and the management of its
buildings.
Following the approval of the planning
application last year, Ben Allen, Vice Principal for
Business Development, said: “We are delighted
to have got planning permission for the new
campus. This is a transformational project for
both the college and the wider community of
Chippenham.”
will potentially create over 250 new jobs over
the next five years.
“We have already designed and built the next
generation carbon composite car wheel that is
both light and durable. Lightweight carbon
composite wheels dramatically enhance vehicle
handling and performance whilst cutting fuel
consumption and emissions. BMW, Ford and
several other car and motorcycle manufacturers
have recently announced or are already working
on carbon composite wheel programmes.
Dymag is already supplying prototypes and
samples to car and motorcycle manufacturers
for evaluation.
“The AMSCI funding will enable us to greatly
accelerate our development programme to
improve the manufacturing process and
ultimately mass produce high quality carbon
composite wheels for the global automotive
industry. We are now completing a financial
investment round that will provide the matching
funds to enable Dymag to fully utilise this grant
funding, which is a key condition of the award.”
Wiltshire MP Duncan Hames welcomed the
news of the Coalition Government funding for
Dymag’s expansion. He said: “Advanced
engineering has long been key to our area’s
economic success, and will continue to be so in
the future.”

Powells Ad
?

Federation of Small Business Ad
?

Local Business
Chippenham BID scheme
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS, or BIDs as
they are known, have grown in popularity since
their introduction to the UK in 2004 with now
nearly 200 across our towns and cities. These
privately run bodies are voted for by businesses
in the local area in order to professionalise the
running of their business environment. Once
voted in for a fixed five year term, businesses
pay a percentage of their rateable value
towards a pot of money that finances the
business plan they voted for. Following on from a
year long process of extensive consultation with
businesses, stakeholders and the public, the
business plan for Chippenham focuses on four
main areas:
Marketing, Image, Promotion and
Events
Overwhelmingly the business community felt that
Chippenham was under-represented for a town
of its size (a staggering population of 45k) and
there was little to no marketing of what the area
Chippenham officially gained BID status in
November of last year, bringing with it the
promise of all-encompassing changes to the
business environment. Carolyn Brownell,
manager of Chippenham BID, explains how
the scheme works and details the exciting
opportunities for business in the area.
has to offer. BID will run professionally managed
marketing campaigns to boost footfall and to
promote the town as a business destination. BID
wants everyone, from small independents to
large scale developers, to have Chippenham as
their location of choice, which it arguably has
not been in the past.
Welcoming, Safe and Clean
The second area focuses on ‘Welcoming, Safe
and Clean’, the main element of which will be the
introduction of Town Hosts. These individuals
will be uniformed and patrol the town centre,
offering a friendly meet and greet and first aid
services to the public, whilst also providing a
voice from the BID to the businesses. There will
also be an element of security to their role,
working as a deterrent for anti-social behaviour
and theft.
Accessibility and Car Parking
Something that is a large issue in Chippenham,
with over 99% of businesses mentioning car
parking as a large area of concern for them.
Wiltshire Council has recently undertaken a
review of parking countywide and has concluded
that, unlike our surrounding towns, Chippenham
does not have enough spaces to fulfil demand.
BID are already working closely with the council
to, in the short term, alleviate these problems
with various initiatives and, longer term, looking
at increasing the amount of spaces in the town
and the options available to manage that
effectively.
Backing Business
The last area is that of ‘Backing Business’,
which utilises procurement activities to save
businesses money on their bills. This project will
mostly benefit smaller businesses, as larger
organisations already have their own buying
power that independents and SME’s just can’t
compete with. This has been a very popular
project across the world of BIDs and savings for
businesses tend to be around 30-40%, a saving
which could considerably benefit the business
community.
Ultimately, the next five years are something
we, as a company, are really excited about and
we can’t wait to update you in the next edition,
as to our progress and our launch in May!
If you wish to find out more, go to our website
www.chippenhambid.co.uk ■
aftnonline.com 13

This month’s interview with...
Duncan Hames MP
AFTN recently met with Duncan Hames MP in the Houses of Parliament
to discuss his constituency’s exciting future. We thank him for his time
and provide an overview of our conversation.
Alex Williams reports
Your constituency is about to undergo
significant development, how do you see
this creating employment opportunities for
the area?
One of the most significant recent events is that the ‘Wiltshire Core
Strategy’ has been formally adopted by the council, giving locally
elected people a much stronger say in how development takes
place in our area. Until this point, we have been subject to all sorts
of speculative development proposals on sites which hadn’t been
planned for at all. This now means we can move forward in creating
residential and employment opportunities in a way which responds
to the needs of the local people and which is, ultimately,
democratically accountable for.
What do you see are the main challenges in
promoting your constituency?
It astonishes me, here in parliament; how often people presume that
Wiltshire is based around an agrarian society. We have a beautiful
countryside, but overwhelmingly the economy is focused away from
agriculture and towards advanced engineering and high quality services.
Whenever I get the opportunity to bring senior government figures to my
constituency I try to showcase great examples of cutting edge
technology and the advanced business that we have here. Last Spring I
showed Danny Alexander to ‘Anthony Best Dynamics’ in Bradford-on-
Avon, where they are working on very sophisticated testing equipment
for automotive systems and before Christmas I brought together a group
of businesses in Chippenham to show the deputy prime minister how the
digital economy is already having a major impact. On the environmental
side we also have a rapidly growing electricity company, Good Energy,
with their headquarters based in Chippenham. I am very proud to have
them in my constituency, promoting cleaner energy and breaking down
the stranglehold of the ‘big six’.
What do you see your role being, in terms of
bring business to the area?
Right across my constituency, I do my best to create an
environment which is attractive for local businesses that want to
expand, whether that is supporting their bid for government
initiatives or working through the ‘Local Growth Deal’ to get major
commitments from the government to invest in the infrastructure we
need to make Wiltshire a great place to do business.
14 aftnonline.com

Local Business
Do you actively work with businesses, similar to
those you have described, to encourage the
employment of local workers?
My door is always open to my constituents, to local businesses and to people
who want to be a part of our local economy. It is my job, along with the local
council and the government, to try and find ways to enable local businesses
to grow and be more successful whilst keeping all of the opportunities that
go with that employment, within my constituency.
I visited Dymag in
Chippenham not long ago and I
was really impressed with their
commitment to providing
opportunities for the next
generation. They work closely
with the ‘Future Brunel’s
Programme’ in order to
encourage young people to go
into engineering, both girls and
boys. That type of commitment
is something I really want to
encourage and celebrate within
the local business community.
In that regard, it is great to see that Wiltshire College is
undergoing a major expansion and I understand that you
played a large part in securing the funding. What benefits do
you feel this will bring to the community?
Under the last government the learning and skills council had a capital programme for
redeveloping further education colleges, yet it was out of control and wildly overspent.
Colleges that had bid for projects, like Wiltshire College, had their hopes dashed. I knew, as a
new MP, that this was unfinished business and Wiltshire College was still in desperate need of
investment. I promised to go to the very top, if needs be, to try and secure the money that was
needed for the project. In a question that I put directly to the Prime-Minister himself, I made a
brazen bid for over £20 million to be invested in Chippenham, in order to provide a state-of
the-art educational facility for the college. I am delighted to say that we were successful and
during the course of last year I’ve been able to celebrate with the college as they continue to
make great progress on their journey to having this new building.
This means Wiltshire College will continue to be a great facility for young people, especially
those that don’t end up at university, to complete their formal education. It will now be able to
support even more apprentices and provide a way for young people to develop their skills and
lay the foundation for what should be successful careers.
How will this development benefit local business?
Even a few years ago, when the country was still working its way out of the recession,
whenever I met with businesses I was struck by how they told me how hard it was to find
people with the skills that they needed to grow. If we want businesses that are successful, we
need to make sure they can access a skilled pool of labour and the new college development
will play a crucial part in this endeavour.
aftnonline.com 15

directories
Printed
Simple, affordable and effective...
Online
Online advertising made simple...
On The Go!
All just a click away...
digital marketing services
Web Design
Stylish and dynamic websites...
SEO & Social Media
Improve your online presence...
Web Hosting & IT
Your website and email in one place...
www.dentonsdirectories.com
16 aftnonline.com

Business
Pic to be taken Tues am
Destination Dentons
Established in 1967 and with 25 local directories
currently in production and an annual circulation of over
600,000 copies, Dentons directories are distributed to
over 55 locations in the South West of England.
THOUSANDS of advertisers list and promote their
services in the directories and Dentons remains the
pioneer of local directory production whilst still at the
forefront as the region’s leading directory publisher
promoting local businesses and services.
Dentons’ success relies on a tried and tested
formula based on local knowledge and from its
recognition and establishment of long term
partnerships with local businesses to foster trust and
continuity whilst facilitating a gateway for its
advertisers to reach thousands of users who refer to
the directories for the sourcing of local products,
services and community information.
The directories are crammed full of really useful
local information and users can also source and rely
on accurate and up-to-date information to locate a
huge range of businesses and services including
electricians and plumbers, local takeaways, tree
surgeons, piano tuners, dentists, solicitors and
architects or the nearest garage for an MOT.
Dentons rigorously verifies all listing details to ensure
reliable and up-to-date information is published in all
its directories which are offered in a compact and
handy size – and Dentons’ latest directory was
launched for the Salisbury area in December 2014.
But that’s not all!
Dentons also offers an online national directory
with over two million listings (and counting) available
at www.dentons.net – and the website also extends to
an App which is free, quick and easy to install from
iTunes and Google Play for iPhone or Android
smartphones and tablets respectively.
And at the heart of the technological revolution,
Dentons also offers full marketing services from its
digital agency, dentons creative.
Rapidly becoming one of Wiltshire’s leading
creative services provider, dentons creative has
gained a reputation for design excellence and
customer satisfaction and its growing client base
includes a huge variety of businesses and services
comprising local, national and international clientele.
Dentons’ creative team shares many years of
commercial experience in the new media and digital
marketing industry. The team focuses on designing
and delivering standards compliant responsive
websites and web applications not only for Dentons’
advertisers big and small but also to new clients who
recognise the huge opportunities online marketing
strategies can deliver in terms of brand engagement
and increased business.
From a single and convenient location in the heart
of the South West, Dentons has fast become one of
the region’s facilitators and destinations for all
marketing and advertising requirements. ■
For more information:
Logo
Dentons Directories Ltd
Bridge House, Station Road
Westbury, Wilts BA13 4HR
www.dentonsdirectories.com
T: 0844 776 1967
E: info@dentons.net
aftnonline.com 17

Business
The key to
improving
your
website visibility
Even though Google search is not the be-all and end-all to business, having
a site that ranks well in organic searches is a major help. aprompt website
developers in Chippenham are giving free tips in every issue to help you.
SEARCH Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the
process of improving the visibility of your
website in a search engine’s organic, unpaid
search results. The greater the visibility of a
website and the better it ranks for the relevant
keywords, the more likely it is to receive high
quality hits from people interested in its
particular subject matter.
Search is an important part of our lives! To
understand the value of SEO it is crucial to
appreciate the role that search engines play in
our day-to-day lives:
• 80% of all internet sessions begin or involve
the user visiting a search engine. So enabling
your website to be easily found through them
has massive benefits
• Google records around 34,000 searches per
second, two million searches per minute and
over three billion searches per day.
• Approximately 70% of users choose to
ignore ‘paid search results’, opting for
organic results instead.
For more information:
Contact: Kirsty Paget
Aprompt Website Developers
www.aprompt.co.uk
T: 0845 224 5806
E: webdesign@aprompt.co.uk
Top Tips
In order to achieve fantastic results in search engines, in particular Google, for what you
do rather than who you are, here are our ‘top tips’ for your business:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Find the right keywords to match what you do, keyword research is essential
and is a cornerstone of SEO. Do it before you do anything else!
Write relevant and unique content of 400-600 words per page/ subject matter
on your website.
Ensure your content is optimized for the keywords that you want to be found in
Google. If the keywords aren’t there, Google will not necessarily list you.
Quality blogs and quality content are so important. Make sure to keep
everything up to date and always add new posts to your blog, which should be
part of your website. Using a third party blog is probably cheaper, but it’s
much less effective.
Create meta titles, meta keywords and meta descriptions that match the
content on each page.
Ensure your website design is responsive – ask aprompt for advice if it’s not.
For eCommerce sites: Subscribe to the Google Merchant Center, where you can
upload your product feeds and make them easy to find on Google Product
Search (aprompt websites do this for you automatically depending on your
product type).
Tweet regularly about useful content – don’t try to sell a product via a Tweet.
18 aftnonline.com

aftnonline.com 19

George Humphries Editorial
?
20 aftnonline.com

Is your phone line a 5-figure
liability waiting to happen?
Diane Johnson writes...
Business
Telephone fraud is yet another reality of our connected world and may represent
a major risk to your business. Fraudsters are targeting exchanges at public and
private sector organisations and size does not matter! The latest figures show
that the cost of this kind of fraud is costing businesses over £1bn in the UK alone.
FIXED LINE FRAUD is carried out in a number of
ways. Fraudsters can gain access to a phone
exchange and will use it to make unlimited calls
to numbers of their choosing. The fraudsters
use widely available “war-dialing” software to
hack into exchanges. Commonly known as Dial
Through Draft (DTF) or Direct Inward System
Access (DISA).
The fraud involves the outward dialing to
premium rate numbers.
One example of this fraud involved Hambleton
District Council in Yorkshire. Following a number
of attempted hacks, the Fraudsters accessed
the Council exchange on Christmas Day. The
exchange then made multiple calls to numbers
in Bosnia, Pakistan and Ethiopia resulting in a
bill of £30,000. The exchange owner is
contractually obliged to pay the bill and has little
or no comeback due to the international nature
of the fraud. The Council had to pay up.
Minimise the risk
Protect your telephone systems as much as you
can. If fraud happens on your telephone system
the cost to you could be considerable. It is the
system owner’s responsibility for any calls
passed through the system whether they are
legitimate or fraudulent whatever time of day or
night on any day of the week. Check your Terms
and Conditions on Fraudulent calls.
Fraudsters/Hackers usually target a
telephone system out of office hours and
generally at weekends when they know they
have a free run from Friday night to Monday
morning and they can run up your call charges
during this period. Your telephone system can
be lit up like a Christmas tree all weekend with
calls being made and nobody is in the office to
notice it.
To help you prevent a situation like this
happening to you, you need to be more security
aware. It’s not just the office door that needs to
be secure. While no telecommunications system
can be made entirely free from the risk of fraud,
diligent attention to system security can reduce
the risk considerably. Although the guidance
below may seem obvious, it is not always done.
Change passwords, PINs and access
codes at least four times a year for
both switch (software based/remote
access) and hardware-based
voicemail systems and automated
attendant services, especially Night
Service.
If someone leaves your company
change their voicemail PIN. Using a
PIN such as 1234 or 0000 is just
like leaving the door wide open for
the opportunist fraudster.
Ensure your staff know how
important it is to secure their PINs
and passwords as above and
document policies to enable that.
If you are unsure of how to check the
security of your telephone system,
please contact your system maintainer
and ask them for a security check of
your system. You may be charged for
this service, but think how much it
may cost if you don’t!
Quick mobile tip
There is one clear message that comes out of
the News of the World debacle and this relates
to voicemail security. While mobile operators
may not authenticate caller ID, changing your
phone settings to require a PIN when checking
your voicemail is a good idea. ■
Fraudsters accessed the Council exchange and then
made multiple calls to numbers in Bosnia, Pakistan and
Ethiopia resulting in a bill of £30,000
aftnonline.com 21

Business
3key areas to help you
manage your IT
Adrian Gray writes...
IT used to be a tool to help parts of your business
run. For most organisations now, IT is the business.
Be it back end processing or shop window epos
systems, most of us are entirely reliant on
hardware and software, static and mobile.
I ONCE WITNESSED the complete loss of power
in a large supermarket and was fascinated by
what took place over the next 10 minutes (much
to my wife’s frustration). New shoppers were
stopped from entering the premises and existing
customers had their trollies estimated by the
supermarket staff and negotiated by the
manager!
In this instance, there was an obvious loss of
revenue, as the customers had the upper hand
in any negotiations. Furthermore, as well as the
obvious problems of cash control, details of the
customers were taken and they were allowed to
leave, having signed for their goods. There were
other major issues such as stock levels not
being recorded, that would have impacted on
supply chain processes and home delivery
orders not being processed. We have also seen
recently that RBS were fined £50m for a
computer problem that had a huge impact on
their customers. It has become obvious that
things will go wrong no matter how much money
you put into your contingency plans.
However, what can you do to ensure that your
systems are being appropriately managed?
There will be a number of third parties that will
play a role in the on-going support of your IT
and you need to manage them effectively.
1. Incident Management
All incidents to your systems should be recorded
either internally, or by your service provider. An
incident is defined as an unplanned interruption
to an IT service or a reduction in the quality of
an IT service. I have seen numerous examples
of incidents being reported to which the service
desk responds “yes we know about that” and
they proceed to take action on a quick fix, as
opposed to getting to the underlying cause. The
problem with this approach is that known
incidents may only take a couple of minutes to
fix, but should they occur regularly, they can
heavily impact on service availability. One
example of where this was the case took place
in a travel firm that required a database reset to
overcome the known problem. It transpired that
the reset took four minutes to complete, but
during that spell there were 78 people that
could not access their systems. In one month
alone there were a total of 17 resets. 17 resets
at 4 minutes a go for 78 people, comes to 88
hours – two weeks work for somebody! Put a
monetary value on that and these incidents
demonstrate their cost. It is only when you have
the data on all incidents that you can act on
them and prioritise the fixes.
2. Supplier Management
You need to have a Service Level Agreement
(SLA) with each of the entities involved in your
IT support and delivery processes. Contents of
the SLA should include:
• A list of the services being provided
• Responsibilities of other parties e.g.
telecoms/power providers
• Details of the availability and response times
for the services
• Service reporting and management – who
does what and when
• Other measurements such as downtime and
incident response, and
• Service fees and SLA breach penalties.
3. Change Management
Whatever upgrades or enhancements that are
made to your systems need to be business
driven. I have seen many examples of changes
that have been IT driven, that have not delivered
the projected benefits. The system users are
often a good starting point to judge the benefits
of proposed changes at the coalface. New
developments or enhancements that focus on
increased functionality, faster response times or
more secure transactions need to be judged
from a more holistic perspective. IT has got a
major role to play in aiding the decision making
process, but the final decision must be agreed
by the business. Any changes to systems or
environments should be authorised and
prioritised, with contingency plans in place in the
event that any unforeseen problems arise.
All of the above are key to ensuring that you
have the support you need for your business
systems. Manage these three areas and you will
gain a level of control over your vital systems
that don’t help you run the business but are the
business! ■
22 aftnonline.com

Business
aftnonline.com 23

Devison Ad
?
24 aftnonline.com

Business
The importance
of accreditation
Richard Forsyth writes...
The business edge in a crowded market place can come
in many forms. We know the importance of marketing,
website management, forensic examination of finances
but what about those little things that mean so much –
the little things that hold up the credibility of the business?
TO MAKE YOUR BRAND say quality, authentic,
‘passed the tests’ we need to consider
accreditation. Accreditation can come in many
forms, always from a third party. Accreditation
means you have a badge of proof of your
credibility that you can display next to your
brand, on your website, on your shop front, on
your merchandise and it stands out if it’s a
symbol.
The rewards from awards
Firstly – if you are confident your business ‘is
the business’ why not apply for awards? The
benefit is obvious. If you win, you have a shiny
badge and a ‘cred’ that elevates you head and
shoulders above your rivals. Remember – new
customers make up their minds very quickly
(under a second in some studies) about
businesses they see for the first time –
especially online. An award badge will yell
‘professional and quality’ if put somewhere
prominent.
It’s good to be good
Being ethically minded and responsible is
important for consumers and a lot of
businesses. There are many bodies that are
widely recognised for their rigor in screening on
issues like fairness of working conditions and
green sustainability issues. Some businesses
and consumers will look for these signs or at
least appreciate them, which gives you an
advantage if you are accredited.
For example, The Westbury-based Paper Bag
Company chose to gain Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC ®) certification last year. “The
certificate reassures buyers that the wood
sourced for our products has not been illegally
harvested and is from a responsibly managed
area,” said Director Jon Marling.
Be a professional
Sometimes accreditation is as simple as showing
your qualifications. For instance the Bradford on
Avon based digital marketing and SEO firm, Varn
Media displays a Google Partners badge on the
homepage.
Caption here
“Anyone can join Google Partners, but only
trusted agencies can earn Google’s seal of
approval and get listed on Google Partner
Search. The Google Partner badge shows that
Google trusts us,” said Tom Vaughton, Director
of Varn Media.
In safe ‘brands’
Then there is safety. For many products this is a
regulatory requirement but in the age of global
internet business and cheap imports customers
are savvy to checking for accreditations. This
applies to a wide range of products and
services but is doubly important for food, toys
and healthcare products for instance. There is
the kite mark in the UK which is used on smoke
alarms, crash helmets etc. For food there are
many schemes including Red Tractor (a logo of
a red tractor) which means the primary food
source like chicken or beef can be tracked back
to the source farm.
Whatever your business is it’s worth taking
some time out to consider how accreditation can
benefit your company. Whilst some are
regulatory in nature, there are numerous
schemes that you could join that will give your
business a great selling point. For information
on accreditation you can turn to UKAS, United
Kingdom Accreditation Service which is
recognised by government. Accreditation is
especially beneficial for export and accessing
business markets. ■
With thanks to: Tom Vaughton of Varn Media
(www.varnmedia.co.uk) and Jon Marling of Paper
Bag Co (www.paperbagco.co.uk)
aftnonline.com 25

Advertorial
I’m reminded of a quote by John Ruskin, a
19th century author who wrote “The Low Bid”.
“There is hardly anything in the world
that some men cannot make a little
worse and sell a little cheaper, and the
people who consider price only are this
man’s lawful prey!
“The common law of business balance
prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with
the lowest bidder, it is well to add
something for the risk you run, and if
you do that, you will have enough to pay
for something better.”
What are the services
that Digiprint provide?
DIGIPRINT is an award winning local independent design,
print and signage company offering small and wide format
printing, posters, signs, and display items since 1987.
Digiprint has been servicing the local business community
and supporting growth by continuously enhancing their
products and services within their three local centres.
The image that companies portray in
print, ranging from brochures to
something as simple as a letterhead,
is often overlooked. Why is it crucial
to get it right?
Image is everything in the world of business!
Getting things right from the start is now more
important than ever; with increased competition
and price wars, your company has to stand out
from the crowd. Online templates are a great
time saving convenience and usually offer
budget economy printing, but your efforts and
spend is often wasted with run of the mill design
and poor quality printing. That’s why at Digiprint
they focus on getting the product right and fit
for purpose with bespoke design and the best
print quality available, whilst also offering a
wider range of papers and services than most
other print companies on the market.
Is there a difference between high
quality printing and the low cost
alternatives?
Absolutely! The quality of your marketing items,
including the design and print quality, reflects
the overall standard of your own products or
services. If you offer a customer a business card
for example, printed in poor quality on a thin
board with a budget printer’s details plastered
on the back, what does this say about your
business to the customer?
How does Digiprint aim to
differentiate themselves from other
printing companies?
It’s simple. We offer a quality print and signage
service that keeps our customers coming back,
year after year. The convenience of ordering
online is great, but what if you need some
advice, support, ideas or to actually see the
product before pressing the button to print?
And what happens if something goes wrong?
Digiprint is convenient, with three service and
production centres in the South West, plus the
option to order online if you need to. We
combine the personal service and High Street
convenience with quality products and
competitive pricing, ensuring our continued
growth.
Concern for the environment is
becoming increasingly important.
As a print company, what steps do
you take in order to lower your
environmental impact?
Digiprint is proud to be one of the only truly
‘green’ print and signage companies. We have
invested considerably in the latest green
printing technology and were the first business
in the South West to offer latex ink printing, a
process that releases no volatile organic
compounds into the air when printing wide
format signage. Furthermore, 95% of our
paper and board is Forestry Steward compliant
and we recycle or reuse whenever possible.
See gogreenprinting.co.uk for our full green
credentials.
For more information:
Digiprint
T: 01249 655778
E: info@digiprintgroup.com
www. www.digiprintgroup.com
26 aftnonline.com

Social media – do I need it?
Written by a businessman not a social media agency
Many firms have not yet fully incorporated social media (SM) as an integral part of
their marketing and sales strategy. Should they – please discuss!
THE METEORIC rise of social media, over the
last few years, has brought with it new
marketing, commercial and communication
opportunities for firms of all sizes. Many of
them are now viewing this fundamentally
different approach to business communication
as ‘must have’ rather than a 'should have'.
Many of them are seeing significant growth in
their customers and partners.
Social media is defined as “online tools and
platforms that allow Internet users to
collaborate on content, share insights and
experiences and connect for business or
pleasure”.
Having done some research on this subject,
some of the main reasons for not embracing
social media were listed as follows:
1. A lack of relevant knowledge
2. Our customers wouldn’t use it
3. Don’t know how to measure my ROI
4. No skills to do it
5. Fear of the unknown
6. It would take too much time
7. Cost
8. Security and privacy
9. Possible negativity
Social media – yes or no?
SM should be a method of helping you to grow
your business, not to suck your resources and
hold you back. It is only when you fully recognise
the benefits and drawbacks of SM that you
should make a strategic decision on adopting it.
You should also accept that SM is ever changing
and you need to change with it.
Discussion points
Relevant knowledge – There is a significant
amount of useful information available on the
Internet that may even provide specific sector
data on your services or products. There are
also SM consultants that could provide you with
strategic advice and help you understand the
benefits. I would recommend using them for this
holistic role alone as opposed to bringing them
in to take any plans further.
No in-house skills – Your strategy should
be based on information from the extent of the
amount of expertise needed depending on what
knowledge exists in your organisation and you may
not know this. Many Firms take advantage of their
staff who may have fully embraced the SM world.
Measuring ROI – This is difficult, how do we
convert likes and shares to hard cash? Nobody
has the definitive answer but using analytics on
the various social media platforms as well as
Google can help give you an idea of how your
SM advertising is relating to sales. Is your
website or ecommerce traffic increasing as a
result of SM, what pages are being viewed and
what products are being purchased.
You will need to understand how all of these
things work together if you want to identify ROI.
There is no simple answer.
Possible negativity – The first thing to
remember is that SM is just what is says on the
tin, it is a social platform. You should encourage
people to use it as that and welcome comments,
both good and bad.
We all know that negative feedback exists on
most of the major online retail portals we use
but we also know that there will always be
unhappy customers. How firms respond to that
negativity can be a positive.
If you are not able to justify the expense and
time to use social media, then focus your
resources in other areas.
28 aftnonline.com

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aftnonline.com 29

Business
Big Hairy
Audacious
Goals
Best selling author
Robert Craven writes...
Visionary companies often use bold missions.
These can also be called BHAGs, Big Hairy
Audacious Goals, pronounced bee-hargs.
A BHAG is a powerful mechanism to stimulate
progress. Most companies have goals, but
there is a difference between merely having a goal and
becoming committed to a huge, daunting challenge.
IN THE 1960s President Kennedy didn’t have a
goal to ‘do a bit more in space’. Despite there
being a less than 50:50 belief in getting a man
on the moon, in 1961, he still declared ‘that this
nation shall commit itself to achieving the goal,
before the decade is out, of landing a man on
the moon and returning safely to earth’. At the
time this statement was outrageous. It was a
BHAG, and what a BHAG does is provide a
unifying focal point of effort, often creating
immense team spirit.
A BHAG engages people – it reaches out and
engages their emotions. It is tangible,
energising and exciting. It has a clear finish line.
As the goal becomes the focal point so the
leader becomes less important. BHAGs are wellsuited
to entrepreneurs, small companies and
start-ups in particular.
• Sam Walton’s BHAG was to make his first
dime store the most successful in Arkansas
within five years. (This is now Wal-Mart)
• Tom Watson Snr’s goal was to transform his
tiny one-building company into the International
Business Machines Corporation. (This is now
IBM).
For start-ups, to simply get up and survive is
a pretty audacious goal!
Case study
KJ Printing Systems was a generalist printers
with 75 employees. Margins on standard print
jobs were ever-decreasing. In recent years they
focused on printing large advertisements for
roadside hoardings. They decided that their
future lay in investing in a unique technology for
large-sized (photographic) printing. It was at
this point that they still lacked clarity about the
future and worked through the BHAG process
(defining core purpose, core values, BHAG, and
vivid description).
Core purpose:
To make it hassle-free for advertisers and their
agencies to get superb quality print
advertisements on their hoardings.
Core values:
• Customer-led
• State-of-the-art technology
• Professional
• Growing profit
BHAG:
To create a reputation for quality and reliability
such that 70% of advertising agencies actually
stipulate that they want KJ to print the advert.
(Within three years). To be known as the only
printer worth working with. To be the leader in
our class, proven by awards.
Vivid description:
Two years later. We are in the car park at KJ –
there is a series of company cars ahead of us –
convertible Saabs, the new BMW sports. We
enter through the glass double-doors. The
30 aftnonline.com

ground floor is a throng of activity. It is a highceilinged
hallway that has hoardings adorning
its walls. It is like a church dedicated to the art
of tasteful persuasion. You would never know
that behind this room dedicated to style is a
printing works.
On the walls are some of the most
memorable advertising hoardings of the last few
years. All the famous and/or notorious brands
have had their work printed by KJ.
At reception a backlit glass cabinet houses
some of the most prestigious awards of the
industry. The factory floor is a hive of activity,
with the latest digital printing technology in
evidence. Fifty men and women at work in what
resembles a dust-free environment.
The design studio comprises 30 designers
working at computers – there is bustle, there is
excitement, and the phones are ringing –
controlled chaos. The sales and administration
floor is relaxed, informal yet with an air of
success. All areas are clean and tidy. The style
is very Scandinavian – large plants, large
windows, and wonderful views of the
countryside.
Action point
Ask yourself if your vision for your business is
compelling enough. Do you have a Big Hairy
Audacious Goal or do you have dull uninspiring
goals like ‘do better than last year’? Where’s the
passion and excitement in that? Rewrite your
vision until it is a BHAG – this in turn will inspire
you to rewrite your mission and will affect your
strategy.
Mergers &
acquisitions
We live in a changing business world and the
expansion of services, products and geographical
markets is becoming more viable due to
improved technology and communications.
STEP 1
What is your core purpose?
STEP 2
What are your core values?
STEP 3
What is your BHAG?
STEP 4
Write a vivid description of your BHAG
• Is it clear?
• Is it compelling?
• Does it require little explanation? It shouldn’t.
• Is it a goal (rather than a statement)?
• Does it get people’s juices going?
• Is it outside the comfort zone? It should be.
• Does it have a life of its own beyond the leader?
• Is it consistent with the company’s beliefs and
ideologies?
So, have you got a motivating BHAG? Or look at
it another way, what would it mean if you didn’t
have a clarity and direction for your business?
■
GLOBALISATION used to be reserved for bigger firms but we have recently seen a shift to
include much smaller firms who have embarked on this route.
Why would a successful, profitable firm consider either merging with or acquiring another
entity? From a financial perspective there may be benefits but cost savings are not usually a
major driver for this kind of change. There are many reasons for expansion that incude
securing the supply chain, maximising under-used resources, reducing the competition and
taking on a new products or services. Experience shows it is more likely that the desire is to
move up the chain and look to attract bigger and richer clients or to take the skills, products
and customers of the another firm.
According to research from KPMG, 90% of mergers and acquisitions fail to reach their
objectives, compared with 42% of marriages! (source – Office for National Statistics).
Steps to you can take to minimise risk of failure include:
■ Due diligence: do it throroughly especially in financials and order books.
■ A common goal: have a strategic vision over a five year period.
■ A common culture: make sure you have policies/processes documented and mix
teams as soon as possible. Use social events to build empathy.
■ Resourcing: don’t expect your people to continue with their day jobs as well as managing
the merger workstreams.
■ Communication: a powerful tool and key to any success.
■ Strong leadership: ensure effective decision making is demonstrated.
■ External help: use this sparingly.
aftnonline.com 31

Business
How to win public
sector business
Have you been tempted by a public sector ‘opportunity’,
only to find that the paperwork might take you longer to
fill in than it takes to recruit a whole team of bid
professionals? Are you lacking in the necessary resources?
Unsure of how much the whole process might cost? And
yet, have you really looked into this as a possibility?
Philip Norman writes
NOT CONSIDERING that
there may be other options
could mean that you are
potentially losing out on
some really solid business.
Bringing in outside
expertise is one way that
previously unsuccessful companies are
beginning to achieve success. Here, Philip
Norman of public sector bid management
company, Bidbetter, describes how your company
could get closer to achieving that sought-after
success within the public sector arena.
Having worked for a number of years as a
public sector procurement professional, I
became increasingly aware of the gulf between
public sector procurement professionals like
myself and private sector businesses who
wanted to bid for opportunities. I was wellversed
in all aspects of public sector
procurement; developing strategies and tenders
for large-scale public sector procurements and
overseeing their evaluation and award process.
This was an in-depth exercise, which involved a
lot of planning and took place over many
months. And yet I always knew that there
seemed to exist a real lack of understanding
amongst suppliers of what was really required
of them.
I found myself thinking of ways in which I
could make the process more simple for
businesses to understand. My sympathies often
found themselves on the other side of the fence,
alongside the dozens of frustrated private
sector marketeers; talented people with
unbroken track records in B2B marketing and
yet completely flummoxed by what some saw as
a ridiculously convoluted process.
Of course, the sentiment behind the current
public sector tender process is that this is a fair
and competitive system, allowing any business
the opportunity to bid for proportionately sized
contracts. Unfortunately, the supposed
beneficiaries are so put off by the bureaucracy
that they do not always pursue these
opportunities. Training workshops are provided
by the public body, but these just don’t seem to
be enough to give the supplier confidence that
the process is going to be clear and concise.
There are certainly good reasons for the way
in which public sector tenders are developed
and there can be simpler ways for businesses to
approach the bidding process. I set up my
business, Bidbetter, with the key aim of helping
businesses overcome the barriers to bidding for
public sector business.
I am now proving that with a good
understanding of how the process works and a
clear strategy in place, the bidding process can
be well-managed and completed within
achievable timescales.
I have put together a list below of what I have
found to be the biggest mistakes companies
make when bidding for public sector business.
You may find it helpful to bear these in mind if
you are planning on pursuing an opportunity:
Relevant contracts
Make sure you can deliver all requirements.
If you do complete the tender documentation,
complete everything in full, do what is asked of
you and avoid sending stock corporate sales
material and standard copy.
Follow instructions
Even before your bid is quality assessed, it can
be disqualified. Ignore the word count or fail to
complete any part of the tender and you can be
removed from the process. If asked to complete
the tender in a particular format, do not ignore
that instruction.
Get help
If you do not have the time or experience, you
can get help in completing your bid. There are
experts who develop public sector responses as
a profession (Bidbetter wins three out of four
public sector bids that we assist our clients with).
Be honest
It’s amazing how many companies bidding for
the same work all profess to be the industry
leader. Do not include bold statements that
cannot be backed up with the appropriate
evidence.
Understand the difference between
the PQQ and ITT phases
The PQQ (pre-qualification questionnaire) is
about selection criteria and short-listing, so the
focus is backward-looking. Therefore, you need
to demonstrate your credentials as a company
before getting the chance to actually bid for the
work on offer. Bidding for the actual work on
offer is through an ITT (Invitation to Tender).
These are forward-looking and focus on how
you will seek to perform the contract.
32 aftnonline.com

Ask questions
If you are not offered supplier engagement
activity or a pre-qualification event, this does
not mean you cannot enter into dialogue with
the buyer if you are unclear of any aspects
of the tender. The tender will provide
instructions for communication.
Add creativity and innovation
Add creativity to your bid. Understand the
question and go beyond expectations. Show
them you are capable and back this up with
examples. Work out your unique selling point
and make your response more relevant to
the requirement.
Price appropriately
The public sector does not negotiate, so the
price you bid within the tender is the price
they will evaluate. If you do price at a point
whereby your market intelligence suggests
you will win, ensure that the price is
sustainable for you.
Inform your references
It does not give a good impression if a public
sector body contacts your nominated
referees and they are either not aware they
were listed or, even worse, give you a poor
reference.
Submit the tender on time
Most public bodies have a zero-tolerance
approach to late tenders. Plan your time
methodically and allow time to upload the
documents (I always recommend submitting
a bid at least 24 hours prior to the
deadline).
Introduce the correct people
If you are invited to undertake or receive a
presentation, send the most appropriate
representative from your company. They
should be well versed in the requirement and
in your company, and be presentable.
Sport
Need to track down this pic
Photo: xxxxxxxx
Karen speeds to victory
SPEED QUEEN Karen Stevens, a Service Receptionist at a car dealership in Box, recently piloted her
1972 Chevrolet Vega – affectionately known as Lass Vega – to victory in a tense final, to take the
Drag Racing National Championships in the Super Street Car class.
The Championship had gone down to the wire, with the title still hanging in the balance going into
the last race, at the last meeting of the year, at the ‘Santa Pod Raceway’. With everything still to play
for, Karen managed a spectacular victory and was understandably delighted with her achievement.
“When it happened it was just unbelievable. I had to pinch myself to make sure it was true.”
Karen added, “This was definitely a team effort and I would like to thank my partner Mike for helping
me to prepare my car and also my track crew Adam Shuttleworth and Mike Braney for their support
during this season.”
Her win is made all the more impressive as Karen has only recently taken up the sport and her
first major title comes in her ‘rookie’ year as a drag racer. Although she has been involved in the
sport for a long time, accompanying her partner Mike to track meetings for several years, it wasn’t
until she rode as a passenger in Mike’s car that she was bitten by the racing bug and decided that
she wanted to be out on the track too.
Karen fully intends to defend her title when the season starts again at Shakespeare County
Raceway, later this year.
In general, the way to win public sector
business is by approaching it in a planned,
methodical, energetic and thoughtful way.
Follow instructions, stick to a strategy, take it
seriously and you could be reaping the
rewards. ■
Contributor Philip Norman has worked with SMEs
and mulitinationals in a number of different
sectors and has achieved a three out of four bidwin
success rate for his clients. Connect with him
on LinkedIn or visit www.bid-better.co.uk
Karen’s 1972 Chevrolet Vega – affectionately known as Lass Vega
Photo: Peter Donaldson
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Doing business in ...
Business Abroad
Slovenia
Samo Kraker writes...
This will be a regular slot for articles on doing business
in various parts of the world and we start off our first
edition with Slovenia.
The Country
SLOVENIA (officially the Republic of Slovenia)
has Italy to the west, Austria to the north,
Croatia to the south and Hungary to the
northeast. It is on the Adriatic Sea and has an
area of 20,273 square kilometers (similar to
Turkey). It has a population of just over two
million with the capital city Ljubljana accounting
for well over a tenth of that.
The country became independent in 1991
and it laid out its intentions to become a “new
Switzerland”. This hasn’t happened (yet), but
the calm and peaceful Slovenian people are in a
good place and the country is making inroads to
that goal. Slovenia has become a member of the
EU in 2004, it has adopted the Euro and has
become a good solid European entity.
Business
The country shows some good fiscal numbers
having one of the highest GDP/capita in the
post-socialist era. It also has positive growth
and unemployment is at an acceptable level.
For investors, the main drawback until
recently has been the general negative attitude
towards foreign investors in the country.
Companies were often viewed as a precious
commodity (the family silver) and the Slovenian
business community has managed to make
people believe that the silverware is best kept in
domestic hands. This idea had been well
accepted, was seen as being in “the national
interest”. Things changed slightly with the lack
of investment that was needed to move the
industries up a gear. The lesson has been
learned, so today Slovenians largely welcome
foreign businessmen. Starting a business in
Slovenia is fairly straightforward with short lead
times allied to a healthy commercial real estate
sector so an educated, skilled workforce is not
difficult to achieve.
Slovenia’s central position in Europe allied to
advanced transport and communications
networks provide a firm footing for companies
looking to open up the Western Balkans for
business. An important organisation for those
wishing to explore the business opportunities
that Slovenia provides is SPIRIT which was
established in 2013. The mission for this
organisation is to realise the strategic goals and
guidelines of the development programmes of
Slovenia as an innovative, technologically
“ The UK currently
runs at a very low
level of exports to
Slovenia and this
is something that
numerous
Governments have
sought to improve.”
advanced, export orientated destination that
also focuses on increasing the tourism sector.
The final piece of advice is that Slovenian
business people tend to mirror the behaviour of
others (polycentric). Their normal attitude is of
a relaxed nature and adopting this approach as
opposed to a business only attitude may bring
benefits in the longer term.
Slovenia’s main export partners are Germany,
Italy and Austria (those three countries
representing more than 42% of Slovenia’s
exports). The UK currently runs at a very low
level of exports to Slovenia and this is
something that numerous Governments have
sought to improve.
The Capital
Ljubljana is a beautiful city, situated on the
Ljubljanica River, it is compact but has so much
to offer. The triple bridge in the main square has
various events throughout the year and has a
fantastic flea market. Locals and visitors mingle
in bars and restaurants on both banks of the
river and the architecture has remained
unspoilt. English is widely spoken, and the locals
are very friendly and welcoming, keen to tell you
about their city and country. Parts of the main
areas of the city are traffic free and it
represents a safe haven for tourists.
The Countryside
Further out into the countryside you will find
mountain peaks soaring above the forests, over
50% of Slovenia is covered in forest (with the
odd brown bear here and there) and around
33% of the land is protected area.
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