Originally introduced to Parliament in July 2022, the DPDI (Data Protection and Digital Information Bill 2022-23) has been refreshed, reintroduced and is poised to move to the House of Lords for consideration. “Ministers have co-designed the Bill with key industry and privacy partners on amendments which will give organisations greater flexibility over how they can comply with the regime while maintaining high data protection standards” Dept for Science, Innovation and Technology Press Release Flexibility is welcome, but confidence is key TLD Client Legal Director, Amanda Mallender, is acutely aware of the challenges these legislative changes could bring to SMEs who…
Author: sme-admin
In the UK, many employees choose not to use all of their full allocated annual leave, which may result in adverse effects on their physical and mental wellbeing, as well as their overall effectiveness at work. Additionally, annual leave is a health and safety measure that can help to prevent injuries and accidents in the workplace as it allows employees to rest and recover from the physical and mental demands of work. There are many reasons why employees may not take their annual leave. Some people may feel guilty about taking time off, while others may worry about their work…
London, 31 May 2023: With the cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation rates reducing disposable income for households across the UK, businesses are once again navigating a challenging economic climate. Despite this, new research shows that businesses are prioritising investment to fuel growth – enquiries into funding have increased by a staggering 277% in the first quarter of 2023, compared with the same period last year. This has translated into decisive action from decision makers, with the total number of transactions up by almost a third (30%) and an 11% increase in the total amount funded compared with the first quarter…
As a small business owner, you will know that your continued success depends to a large extent on your ability to prevent replication by competitors and harm from third parties. Building up your business requires a laser-like focus on the secret ingredients that make your business unique. These secrets may take many shapes and forms, but they all help in moulding your source of competitive advantage. If this is lost, it can be difficult to recreate. Therefore, it is in your interests to pay close attention to the protection of these business secrets. Ashley Gurr a commercial and contract lawyer…
Michelle Huff, Chief Marketing Officer at UserTesting, explores the impact of volatile market conditions, especially in the UK, on customer brand loyalties. In a time when every penny counts, she highlights how Brits are making more considered choices and how customer expectations have reached new heights. Brands are no longer judged solely against their direct competitors; interactions from brands across any sector can set the standard. Therefore, it’s vital that companies look beyond their doorstep and are ready to adapt to evolving customer expectations and deliver an exceptional customer experience. Improving customer experience One of the key best practices for…
In recent years, we’ve seen a surge of interest towards influencer marketing, social media and short-form video content in the marketing sphere – with email marketing looking rather tired and outdated by comparison. So, just like the fax before it, is it time to consign email to the scrapheap and open a TikTok account? Sam Martin-Ross is Founder and Director of digital marketing agency, Digital Uncut tells SMEToday readers it might not. A study from the Content Marketing Institute found 87% of B2B marketers reported email as their best performing free organic distribution channel due to the ease and speed…
Emelia Quist, the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) Head of Policy Research, has been named as a trailblazing executive for people of colour in business in the 2023 Empower 100 Executive Role Models list, it was announced today (24 May). As the Head of Policy Research at FSB, Emelia oversees all areas of diversity advocacy work, particularly on ethnic minority entrepreneurship, which benefits over 5 million UK small businesses and the self-employed. Her work also contributes to small businesses’ workplace diversity and local community cohesion. Emelia commissioned and led the first research project of its kind on ethnic minority and black-led…
Mental Health at Work has partnered with Simply Business to support the UK’s self-employed with their mental health and wellbeing. Together we surveyed more than 700 small business owners to understand their challenges. Now we want to start a conversation and break the stigma surrounding mental health at work Let’s be honest, many of us left full time employment in the hope to escape the “rat race”, and discover the promise of greater freedom, mental wellbeing, and fulfilment, that we heard was promised to us if we “became our own boss”. But the truth is, being self-employed brings its own…
If you have been in business for more than 5 minutes, you will recognise that there are always challenges (problems, if you prefer!) in business. They normally fall into challenges around people, cash and time, and most business books and advisers will home in on these. We can spend increasing amounts of time troubleshooting these challenges but we never seem to get them to go away – and in fact as we grow we can get to the point where we cannot imagine being able to cope with our business being any bigger. We can get increasingly stressed, being pulled…
A perceived lack of leadership from Government is deterring UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from implementing plans to reduce the environmental impact of their business, according to new research. The Barriers To Net Zero study by Rimm Sustainability, a global B2B sustainability solutions provider, found that UK SMEs – representing about 5.5 million businesses or 99 per cent of firms with a critical role in switching to a net zero economy – largely regarded becoming more sustainable as expensive and time consuming. About 50 per cent of the SMEs questioned in the research identified cost as an issue, with many of them…