With almost two-thirds (65%) of B2B businesses reporting tighter buyer budgets as one of their biggest challenges last year, a new report has revealed the top sales and marketing challenges in 2025, as well as how to tackle them. The report, created by the lead generation experts at Sopro – a global multi-channel prospecting service for B2B businesses – dives into the trends and challenges shaping industry strategies. The fourth annual report features insights from more than 400 senior B2B decision-makers, data from 97.9 million emails and 21.6 million multi-channel touchpoints, as well as innovative strategies from leading outreach experts. Some of the…
Author: sme-admin
Rachel Exton, vice president of Marketing for Pearson, explores how balancing brand identity with regional nuances can help deliver strong results for businesses. In today’s increasingly connected world, brands must strike a delicate balance between global consistency and local relevance—a balance I call “Glocal.” As someone who has worked in both global and local roles throughout my career, I’ve seen both sides of the coin. The common tension is familiar to many marketers; the global team feel local markets aren’t following brand guidelines, while local teams feel that their region isn’t fully understood by the global team. Each side has…
In a September 2024 study, Vodafone found that 47 per cent of UK-based small- to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) use WhatsApp as their primary business communication platform. While its convenience is undeniable, the platform’s use poses significant data privacy and security risks. Here, Kristian Torode, Director and Co-Founder of business communication specialist Crystaline, explains why unified communications (UC) offers a more secure solution. WhatsApp was launched in 2009 as a simple messaging app, but its user-friendly interface, ad-free design and cost-free messaging over the internet quickly caused it to gain popularity. In 2025, it is estimated that WhatsApp will reach 3 billion monthly…
As the UK fitness sector grows, exercise is becoming more community focused. Workplaces can capitalise on this trend of social fitness, which can have significant benefits both for employee wellbeing and overall organisational performance. Research consistently shows that physical activity improves mental clarity, reduces stress and boosts productivity—all things that can directly impact employee wellbeing. Time spent during the work week prioritising physical wellbeing even has a correlation with increased productivity. “An active space doesn’t necessarily mean a ‘fitness space’. It’s a flexible space away from the standard workspace that can be utilised to take a break from work or encourage physical…
Online dating has become a phenomenon in recent years and has led to many happy marriages and new relationships. However, it’s also allowed the catfishes of the world to rise up and scam those looking for romantic connections. Remember the Tinder Swindler documentary? That showed the destruction that online dating can bring, and the importance of staying safe while online dating. This Valentine’s, cybersecurity experts ramsac have released some key ways that you can stay safe while online dating in the lead up to the most romantic day of the year. Watch out for fake profiles Fake profiles are rampant on dating apps,…
The vast majority of UK businesses who fall victim to fraud are eligible to reclaim lost funds through their banks- but few firms are aware of the opportunity, according to a fraud recovery law firm. Since October 7, last year, banks are obliged to pay back any ‘microenterprises’ that may have lost money to fraud though Authorised Push Payments or CHAPS payments. But National Fraud Helpline solicitors, a trading name of Richardson Hartley Law, says very few businesses are aware of the new mandatory reimbursement scheme which requires payment service providers (PSPs), including banks, to pay back up to £85,000…
When you want to check your internet connection is working, most people’s natural reflex is to check Google. We assume it always operates an uninterrupted service — and Google engineers work hard to achieve that perception. All software products need constant improvements to resolve bugs, improve user experience and more, but how do developers achieve this while consistently providing a reliable service? Here Craig Cook, chief engineer at software engineering expert Catapult, explains the importance of adopting a site reliability approach from the outset. Originating at Google in the early 2000s, site reliability engineering (SRE) is a discipline that incorporates…
UK takeaways are failing hygiene inspections at an alarming rate, with one in twenty scoring low in 2024. According to data from the Food Standards Agency, 200 takeaways scored zero and 3,630 failed their latest inspection in 2024. Worryingly, in Birmingham,167 takeaways scored a rating between zero and two. Phil Meyers, CEO of mpro5, explores the root causes of these failures, from outdated council inspection methods to the reliance on manual processes by takeaway chains. He outlines how process compliance platforms can help revolutionise hygiene management, preventing another major food poisoning outbreak in the UK. Whether large or small UK takeaway…
Leadership today demands more than meeting current quarterly goals—it requires shaping the future of both the business and its people against the backdrop of an often challenging environment. Yet, there are striking gaps between the skills that leaders need, and the development organisations are providing. Leaders feel ill-quipped to deal with the demands of their role face while facing an increasingly challenging environment as highlighted in DDI’s Europe Leadership Report 2025, a comprehensive research study from leadership consultancy DDI, based on insights from 428 leaders and 250 HR professionals, across 18+ countries. Eighty percent of HR organisations in Europe are predicting a surge in…
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) arrived on 17th January 2025. DORA is a regulation introduced by the European Union to strengthen the digital resilience of the financial sector. It is part of the EU’s broader efforts to enhance the stability and security of financial markets, aims to ensure that financial institutions can withstand and recover from ICT (Information and Communication Technology) disruptions. This regulation focuses on enhancing the ability of financial entities to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks, system failures, and other technology-related disruptions. As organisations adjust to these new requirements, industry experts have weighed in on the…