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Friday, 12 July 2013
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
From Generation X to Y and Z!
Why understanding new ways of working is vital to any enterprise
‘If Facebook were a country, it would now be the third largest country in the world’. That astonishing fact was recently upheld across the media as an indication of the way in which (the so-called) ‘Generation Y’ is already changing the way in which the world interacts. It is a strong indication that we are witnessing a noticeable shift in the way in which the future workforce wants to communicate, and consequently will have a huge impact in the way future business leaders will want to do business.
Seismic changes in the way we do business are nothing new. In much the same way that previous generations adopted the telephone, television and computers, the business leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow will be looking to use the tools they know best to solve problems – and they will be looking towards potential employers to ensure they have these in their arsenal when they enter the business world.
A good example of how things are already moving is email. The ubiquitous communications tool of the last decade or so has become a staple portal for the sharing of letters, memos, documents and files – largely replacing a sizable percentage of reliance on postal services, fax machines and even telephones. However, to many graduates email is already out of date, with Instant Messaging applications making it seem slow and inefficient – especially in a fast moving and time sensitive environment.
Similarly, the huge increases in mobile data usage in the last few years show that the Smartphone is rapidly overtaking traditional Internet access as the web portal of choice. Generation Y has fully embraced the use of mobile devices and school-leavers and graduates will be eager to transfer their Smartphone prowess to the world of business, along with their peers.
So where does this leave the business leaders of today? All businesses should be aware of the wealth of talent entering the workplace each year, and smart businesses leaders will recognise that it is important to embrace new ideas to attract fresh talent. The soon to arrive influx of graduates and school leavers, hungry to cut their teeth in the world of business, will often expect more than basic IT in their new career. Lightweight laptops/netbooks and Smartphones are integral to the personal lives of Generation Y, so they will expect business to equip them with similar tools if their position requires them to think and act on their feet to benefit the organisation.
The clues can be found from all our own experiences within the business world during the last 10, 20 or 30 years. The pace of change in the workplace, thanks to technology, has been astounding. From the computers, phone systems and fax machines of the 1980s through to the mass adoption of the Internet and email in the 1990s and the explosion of communications options during the last 10 years, the modern workplace is a very different one to that of the previous generations. Undoubtedly there had been reluctance to adopt even the simplest IT by some quarters upon its introduction. Today, as always, there is hesitancy from some business leaders to make the investment (and a sometimes fundamental mindset shift) needed to embrace new ways of working, but any tool which gives an organisation an edge over its competition will always find favour with anyone with the vision to fully capitalise on it.
Savvy businesses realise they can significantly improve productivity, increase their profile and raise the bar for customer service (as well as opening the door for new business opportunities), by having a well managed, proactive and rapidly reactive work force. What could be more helpful to the spirit of entrepreneurship than arming fresh talent with the relevant tools they need to help your business continue to thrive in a changing environment?
The simple truth is that business, like all aspects of society, is constantly evolving and so are the young breed of up-and-coming professionals who play a large part in keeping industry and commerce relevant and profitable. A firm understanding of the benefits of change is an important one for all business leaders who want to continue to thrive. The older generation may be confounded by some of the ideas that come from Generation Y, but they represent the upcoming market as well as future employees, so it is vital to accept new ways of working and ensure your business is blooming for the inevitable rise of Generation Z!
‘If Facebook were a country, it would now be the third largest country in the world’. That astonishing fact was recently upheld across the media as an indication of the way in which (the so-called) ‘Generation Y’ is already changing the way in which the world interacts. It is a strong indication that we are witnessing a noticeable shift in the way in which the future workforce wants to communicate, and consequently will have a huge impact in the way future business leaders will want to do business.
Seismic changes in the way we do business are nothing new. In much the same way that previous generations adopted the telephone, television and computers, the business leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow will be looking to use the tools they know best to solve problems – and they will be looking towards potential employers to ensure they have these in their arsenal when they enter the business world.
A good example of how things are already moving is email. The ubiquitous communications tool of the last decade or so has become a staple portal for the sharing of letters, memos, documents and files – largely replacing a sizable percentage of reliance on postal services, fax machines and even telephones. However, to many graduates email is already out of date, with Instant Messaging applications making it seem slow and inefficient – especially in a fast moving and time sensitive environment.
Similarly, the huge increases in mobile data usage in the last few years show that the Smartphone is rapidly overtaking traditional Internet access as the web portal of choice. Generation Y has fully embraced the use of mobile devices and school-leavers and graduates will be eager to transfer their Smartphone prowess to the world of business, along with their peers.
So where does this leave the business leaders of today? All businesses should be aware of the wealth of talent entering the workplace each year, and smart businesses leaders will recognise that it is important to embrace new ideas to attract fresh talent. The soon to arrive influx of graduates and school leavers, hungry to cut their teeth in the world of business, will often expect more than basic IT in their new career. Lightweight laptops/netbooks and Smartphones are integral to the personal lives of Generation Y, so they will expect business to equip them with similar tools if their position requires them to think and act on their feet to benefit the organisation.
The clues can be found from all our own experiences within the business world during the last 10, 20 or 30 years. The pace of change in the workplace, thanks to technology, has been astounding. From the computers, phone systems and fax machines of the 1980s through to the mass adoption of the Internet and email in the 1990s and the explosion of communications options during the last 10 years, the modern workplace is a very different one to that of the previous generations. Undoubtedly there had been reluctance to adopt even the simplest IT by some quarters upon its introduction. Today, as always, there is hesitancy from some business leaders to make the investment (and a sometimes fundamental mindset shift) needed to embrace new ways of working, but any tool which gives an organisation an edge over its competition will always find favour with anyone with the vision to fully capitalise on it.
Savvy businesses realise they can significantly improve productivity, increase their profile and raise the bar for customer service (as well as opening the door for new business opportunities), by having a well managed, proactive and rapidly reactive work force. What could be more helpful to the spirit of entrepreneurship than arming fresh talent with the relevant tools they need to help your business continue to thrive in a changing environment?
The simple truth is that business, like all aspects of society, is constantly evolving and so are the young breed of up-and-coming professionals who play a large part in keeping industry and commerce relevant and profitable. A firm understanding of the benefits of change is an important one for all business leaders who want to continue to thrive. The older generation may be confounded by some of the ideas that come from Generation Y, but they represent the upcoming market as well as future employees, so it is vital to accept new ways of working and ensure your business is blooming for the inevitable rise of Generation Z!
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Technology update for non technical executives - 23rd September 2010
It’s a fact that modern businesses can’t survive without embracing technology. IT has developed in the last five years at a faster rate than in the last 50, and there’s always someone out there using the latest buzz words, and telling you just what your business should be doing to stay ahead of the game.
Techies reputedly have a knack of hiding behind jargon and baffling people into decisions that they don’t necessarily understand. At ramsac we’ve always hated jargon, along with the sort of people that use it to pressure businesses into making decisions that aren’t necessarily right for them or proportionate to their needs. Therefore our latest seminar will be a review of the latest business technology products to have been launched over the last year, as well as a look at what’s in the pipeline, presented in a non techie, business focused way, to give you the information that you need to be able to decide if something is relevant for your business. We’ll do a few live product demonstrations and explain the business benefits and draw backs of the latest options available to you.
This complimentary seminar will be held on Thursday 23rd September at our offices in Godalming. Tea and coffee will be served from 5pm with the main event starting at 5.30pm. Afterwards there will be drinks and canapés and an opportunity to network with fellow local businesses.
You can register here: http://www.ramsac.com/tech_for_non_tech_execs
Techies reputedly have a knack of hiding behind jargon and baffling people into decisions that they don’t necessarily understand. At ramsac we’ve always hated jargon, along with the sort of people that use it to pressure businesses into making decisions that aren’t necessarily right for them or proportionate to their needs. Therefore our latest seminar will be a review of the latest business technology products to have been launched over the last year, as well as a look at what’s in the pipeline, presented in a non techie, business focused way, to give you the information that you need to be able to decide if something is relevant for your business. We’ll do a few live product demonstrations and explain the business benefits and draw backs of the latest options available to you.
This complimentary seminar will be held on Thursday 23rd September at our offices in Godalming. Tea and coffee will be served from 5pm with the main event starting at 5.30pm. Afterwards there will be drinks and canapés and an opportunity to network with fellow local businesses.
You can register here: http://www.ramsac.com/tech_for_non_tech_execs
Friday, 18 June 2010
No such thing as a free launch
Office 2010, the latest version of Microsoft's ubiquitous package was launched earlier this month with most of the attention focussing on the free online versions of its main applications. But is 'free' ever worth it?
Cash remains tight for most UK businesses, so this might not be the easiest time for Microsoft to be launching the latest version of its Office suite of software.
Perhaps this is why so much of the talk surrounding Office 2010 has been about the new suite of Web-based applications, which are free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, designed to compete with Google’s Docs, Zoho Office and various other open source Web-based productivity tools.
But just how much do you get for nothing? After all, Microsoft has stated that it created Office Web Apps as companions to, rather than replacements for, their desktop equivalents. Our review describes some of the newest features of Office 2010 and highlights some of the limitations of the free online versions.
Suite-wide changes
New online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote let users create, edit, and share documents online, for free using the company’s SkyDrive website.
Improved customisation features, such as being able to easily assemble the commands you frequently use in user-created Ribbon tabs and groups of your own creation.
The big Office button has gone from the top left corner. Instead the File tab now brings up a new window called 'Backstage View' where you can create, share, save, print and access recent documents.
New Live Preview function for a paste that allows you to see what it will look like before you commit, saving on clicks.
Sophisticated image and video editing tools that could mean that many users no longer have to use third party applications to process media for use in Office documents.
Office documents downloaded from web programmes now open in a ‘protected view’ by default in a bid to tackle increasing Malware problems. This means that editing is disabled until you explicitly authorise it.
Word 2010
Better design tools with new artistic effects easily accessible from Fonts pop-up window.
New navigation pane which makes skipping between sections simpler in long documents
New 'Insert Screenshot' feature which permits you to add and edit a screen grab from any non-minimised window on your desktop instantly without exiting the document.
Word has now become such a powerful editing tool that its online version seems all the more disappointing. In particular, there is no support for Word's 'Revision & Review' toolset which seems illogical given that one of the primary uses of the online version must surely be to enable simpler collaboration between users. Please note that simultaneous editing in both Word and PowerPoint require the full desktop versions.
Excel 2010
Addition of Sparklines, a feature that can create tiny charts in a single cell to illustrate trends in a row of figures.
The ability to save complex spreadsheets to the Web, open and edit them in the Web version of Excel and return then to the desktop without losing the formatting is a great advancement.
As with Word, functionality in the web version of Excel is very restricted with no charting tools whatsoever. Functions may be used and tables can be refreshed from outside data sources however some tests have reported slow performance.
PowerPoint 2010
PowerPoint’s 'Broadcast Slide Show' feature is one of the smartest innovations in Office 2010, making it simple to show presentations remotely to anyone with a Web browser. The presentation just needs to be uploaded to a secure website which gives you a unique URL to pass to your friends or colleagues to create an impromptu presentation from wherever they may be. It's a very convenient way to collaborate, although to start this type of presentation, you'll need to buy Microsoft Office 2010.
Other improvements include advanced video-editing features where you can trim embedded videos and bundle them up so they travel with your presentation. You can now easily import video from the web too.
A new animation painter allows the application of an animation created for objects in one slide to objects in another.
As with other Office 2010 applications, the online version of PowerPoint is a shadow of its desktop self. You may only create slides using text, still images and smart art with no animations or transitions.
Outlook 2010
New layout features and options: i.e. default mail view adds a people pane that shows recent interactions with the sender of whichever message appears in the pane. This People Pane also has an Outlook Social Connector feature, which brings the e-mail and calendaring program into the world of social networking. Allows contact data to be synced with popular social networks, sharing status, pictures, shared documents and more.
The new Quick steps feature provides an easy way of creating rules and applying them to specific messages (as opposed to filters)
OneNote 2010 (now a component of all Office editions)
Microsoft is trying hard to promote the use of this application by including it in all Office editions. OneNote is billed as the ultimate place to store and share information in a single location as the application allows you to capture text, images, video and audio.
OneNote 2010 is perfectly mobile. You can post notes online and access them from virtually anywhere using the Web or a smartphone.
The latest version includes some smart new features such as the ability to record audio while you’re taking notes and then let you use the notes to play back the audio it captured as you were writing them. It can also turn handwritten maths equations into text.
Microsoft's Web Apps
These web-based Office Applications are skeletal shadows of the desktop applications.
Whether you purchase one of the desktop Office 2010 editions or not, you’ll be able to use Office Web apps, free of charge, although you will need a Windows Live account either way.
Web Apps allow you to create new Word, Excel PowerPoint and OneNote documents online, via the Office menu item which appears on your Windows live page. You can visit the file from any browser, in any location, and click the edit button to bring up editing options. The free versions do not include all of the functionality of the desktop versions of Office 2010, but some home users may find them sufficient.
For details on Microsoft Office licencing or to discuss the new features of Office 2010 in more detail, please contact your ramsac Relationship Manager on 0844 225 1600 today.
Cash remains tight for most UK businesses, so this might not be the easiest time for Microsoft to be launching the latest version of its Office suite of software.
Perhaps this is why so much of the talk surrounding Office 2010 has been about the new suite of Web-based applications, which are free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, designed to compete with Google’s Docs, Zoho Office and various other open source Web-based productivity tools.
But just how much do you get for nothing? After all, Microsoft has stated that it created Office Web Apps as companions to, rather than replacements for, their desktop equivalents. Our review describes some of the newest features of Office 2010 and highlights some of the limitations of the free online versions.
Suite-wide changes
New online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote let users create, edit, and share documents online, for free using the company’s SkyDrive website.
Improved customisation features, such as being able to easily assemble the commands you frequently use in user-created Ribbon tabs and groups of your own creation.
The big Office button has gone from the top left corner. Instead the File tab now brings up a new window called 'Backstage View' where you can create, share, save, print and access recent documents.
New Live Preview function for a paste that allows you to see what it will look like before you commit, saving on clicks.
Sophisticated image and video editing tools that could mean that many users no longer have to use third party applications to process media for use in Office documents.
Office documents downloaded from web programmes now open in a ‘protected view’ by default in a bid to tackle increasing Malware problems. This means that editing is disabled until you explicitly authorise it.
Word 2010
Better design tools with new artistic effects easily accessible from Fonts pop-up window.
New navigation pane which makes skipping between sections simpler in long documents
New 'Insert Screenshot' feature which permits you to add and edit a screen grab from any non-minimised window on your desktop instantly without exiting the document.
Word has now become such a powerful editing tool that its online version seems all the more disappointing. In particular, there is no support for Word's 'Revision & Review' toolset which seems illogical given that one of the primary uses of the online version must surely be to enable simpler collaboration between users. Please note that simultaneous editing in both Word and PowerPoint require the full desktop versions.
Excel 2010
Addition of Sparklines, a feature that can create tiny charts in a single cell to illustrate trends in a row of figures.
The ability to save complex spreadsheets to the Web, open and edit them in the Web version of Excel and return then to the desktop without losing the formatting is a great advancement.
As with Word, functionality in the web version of Excel is very restricted with no charting tools whatsoever. Functions may be used and tables can be refreshed from outside data sources however some tests have reported slow performance.
PowerPoint 2010
PowerPoint’s 'Broadcast Slide Show' feature is one of the smartest innovations in Office 2010, making it simple to show presentations remotely to anyone with a Web browser. The presentation just needs to be uploaded to a secure website which gives you a unique URL to pass to your friends or colleagues to create an impromptu presentation from wherever they may be. It's a very convenient way to collaborate, although to start this type of presentation, you'll need to buy Microsoft Office 2010.
Other improvements include advanced video-editing features where you can trim embedded videos and bundle them up so they travel with your presentation. You can now easily import video from the web too.
A new animation painter allows the application of an animation created for objects in one slide to objects in another.
As with other Office 2010 applications, the online version of PowerPoint is a shadow of its desktop self. You may only create slides using text, still images and smart art with no animations or transitions.
Outlook 2010
New layout features and options: i.e. default mail view adds a people pane that shows recent interactions with the sender of whichever message appears in the pane. This People Pane also has an Outlook Social Connector feature, which brings the e-mail and calendaring program into the world of social networking. Allows contact data to be synced with popular social networks, sharing status, pictures, shared documents and more.
The new Quick steps feature provides an easy way of creating rules and applying them to specific messages (as opposed to filters)
OneNote 2010 (now a component of all Office editions)
Microsoft is trying hard to promote the use of this application by including it in all Office editions. OneNote is billed as the ultimate place to store and share information in a single location as the application allows you to capture text, images, video and audio.
OneNote 2010 is perfectly mobile. You can post notes online and access them from virtually anywhere using the Web or a smartphone.
The latest version includes some smart new features such as the ability to record audio while you’re taking notes and then let you use the notes to play back the audio it captured as you were writing them. It can also turn handwritten maths equations into text.
Microsoft's Web Apps
These web-based Office Applications are skeletal shadows of the desktop applications.
Whether you purchase one of the desktop Office 2010 editions or not, you’ll be able to use Office Web apps, free of charge, although you will need a Windows Live account either way.
Web Apps allow you to create new Word, Excel PowerPoint and OneNote documents online, via the Office menu item which appears on your Windows live page. You can visit the file from any browser, in any location, and click the edit button to bring up editing options. The free versions do not include all of the functionality of the desktop versions of Office 2010, but some home users may find them sufficient.
For details on Microsoft Office licencing or to discuss the new features of Office 2010 in more detail, please contact your ramsac Relationship Manager on 0844 225 1600 today.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
The politics of business and the business of politics
Since starting my company ramsac in the recession of the early 1990s the impact of the incumbent government of the time, on the success or failure of small businesses cannot be underestimated. Twenty years and three prime ministers later and we find the country coming out of another recession and a new coalition government in place. So what does the future hold for the current and future captains of UK industry? Well, to learn about the future it is a good idea to look at the past.
We conceived our company, ramsac, along with many other entrepreneurial businesses, at the end of the last Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher. However, the business actually started life, in earnest, during the economic downturn in the early 1990s when John Major had taken office and the reality of doing business had altered. In many ways it was not an ideal time to be starting a fledgling company, but whilst the economy was tough, the government was always supportive of British business and the entrepreneurial spirit - which is just as important, if not more so, today.
My first experience of how the government can have a significant and direct affect on small business came in 1997 at the dawn of the new Labour era. Regardless of political persuasion it is evident to all who worked hard to build and grow their businesses during this time that many of the advantages we once took for granted had been eroded, with increased, costly and cumbersome legislation. In fact it is reputed that there was one new piece of legislation for every day of the Labour government’s term, despite a pledge to tackle red tape for small enterprises during the launch of the Labour party’s 2001 election manifesto. The cost to businesses since 1998 was estimated by the British Chamber of Commerce last year to be in the region of £77bn, so fingers crossed the new ‘one in one out’ rule will put a stop to much of required bedtime reading!
So what changes will the new government bring to business? Certainly, with the astronomical levels of government borrowing an increase in widespread taxation is almost inevitable. Yet most employers will be breathing a collective sigh of relief that the planned rise in National Insurance contributions will now not take place. In fact, the good news for those entrepreneurs starting out now is the planned waiver of the employers' National Insurance contribution on the first ten employees they hire in the first year of business.
I hope that the new coalition government with the former economist, Vince Cable as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, embrace the importance of hard working and innovative UK businesses and the entrepreneurs who invigorate and drive them. To this end I hope that the entrepreneurs’ relief that was introduced in 2008 will be fully supported by the new government. Also, I welcome plans to make it easier for SMEs such as my own organisation to win prized government contracts, although only time will tell if businesses have the inclination to submit a tender.
Finally, I would argue that the announcement of a five-year fixed parliament is a positive step in uncertain times. Whether your views are left, right or centre the best government for business is a stable government that gives a strong signal that GB Plc is ripe for investment, something which is good for all businesses of all sizes and the country as a whole.
We conceived our company, ramsac, along with many other entrepreneurial businesses, at the end of the last Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher. However, the business actually started life, in earnest, during the economic downturn in the early 1990s when John Major had taken office and the reality of doing business had altered. In many ways it was not an ideal time to be starting a fledgling company, but whilst the economy was tough, the government was always supportive of British business and the entrepreneurial spirit - which is just as important, if not more so, today.
My first experience of how the government can have a significant and direct affect on small business came in 1997 at the dawn of the new Labour era. Regardless of political persuasion it is evident to all who worked hard to build and grow their businesses during this time that many of the advantages we once took for granted had been eroded, with increased, costly and cumbersome legislation. In fact it is reputed that there was one new piece of legislation for every day of the Labour government’s term, despite a pledge to tackle red tape for small enterprises during the launch of the Labour party’s 2001 election manifesto. The cost to businesses since 1998 was estimated by the British Chamber of Commerce last year to be in the region of £77bn, so fingers crossed the new ‘one in one out’ rule will put a stop to much of required bedtime reading!
So what changes will the new government bring to business? Certainly, with the astronomical levels of government borrowing an increase in widespread taxation is almost inevitable. Yet most employers will be breathing a collective sigh of relief that the planned rise in National Insurance contributions will now not take place. In fact, the good news for those entrepreneurs starting out now is the planned waiver of the employers' National Insurance contribution on the first ten employees they hire in the first year of business.
I hope that the new coalition government with the former economist, Vince Cable as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, embrace the importance of hard working and innovative UK businesses and the entrepreneurs who invigorate and drive them. To this end I hope that the entrepreneurs’ relief that was introduced in 2008 will be fully supported by the new government. Also, I welcome plans to make it easier for SMEs such as my own organisation to win prized government contracts, although only time will tell if businesses have the inclination to submit a tender.
Finally, I would argue that the announcement of a five-year fixed parliament is a positive step in uncertain times. Whether your views are left, right or centre the best government for business is a stable government that gives a strong signal that GB Plc is ripe for investment, something which is good for all businesses of all sizes and the country as a whole.
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