In the UK, around 60% of small businesses fail within three years of launching. Every small business has to start somewhere, but in the early days it can be extremely tough to grow a company with limited resources. Growth is important for small businesses as it helps reach a wider customer base, increase financial stability and importantly, stay competitive in the market. However, without sufficient funds, growing a business can seem like an impossible task. So, here are a few cost-effective ways to help expand your small business. Utilising social media According to Statistica, there were more than 5 billion…
Author: sme-admin
An estimated 8 in 10 UK are expected to reevaluate their operational plans due to the higher tax rate which is set to be introduced in April. To help small business owners keep track of their expenses and save money where possible, business energy experts, Utility Bidder have listed key dates for business owners to note in the upcoming financial year and beyond. Key dates for business owners: March 26th March: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has confirmed that the Spring Forecast will take place on Wednesday, 26 March 2025. 31st March: Corporation Tax return filing deadline for companies with an accounting year…
Signing a commercial lease is a pivotal moment for a business owner and can be an exciting new adventure. However, there can be serious repercussions if you sign a bad lease, such as paying too much or finding yourself in a space that isn’t fit for purpose for years to come, or both. Commercial lease documents are complex, and before signing on the dotted line it’s crucial to ensure you completely understand what you’re agreeing to. Here are some of the most important clauses to familiarise yourself with. Security of tenure ‘Security of tenure’ is the tenant’s statutory right under…
2024 was a breakthrough year for weight loss drugs, with numerous celebrities and influencers endorsing the products, and 2025 is looking to hold continued publicity. Over the past 30 days, searches for ‘how do weight loss drugs work’ have increased by a staggering 5,000%. But behind the hype, a new survey by ZAVA reveals a stark reality: accessibility remains a major hurdle, and affordability is holding many Brits back from trying these medications. Is the weight loss injections boom leaving Brits behind? Almost a third (29%) of Brits find weight loss drugs easy to access, which could be about to change, as regulators look to tighten the criteria for obtaining…
With AI steadily reshaping the workplace, the demand for workers skilled in leveraging this technology is surging. While companies are eager to capitalise on this technology to boost productivity, many are missing a crucial step: equipping their workforce with the training and guidance needed to unlock AI’s full potential. Organisations aren’t going the distance needed to align their employees with the tech provided. In fact, the majority of workers in the UK educate themselves about AI by reading articles about AI (40%) and experimenting with AI tools on their own (41%) with only 28% acquiring skills through work-sponsored AI training.…
Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), the global financial technology platform that makes Intuit TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, today announced a host of product enhancements and a completely revamped popup forms experience in beta to help marketers target and engage site visitors with branded, interactive popup forms to grow their audience. With popup forms, marketers can grow their customers using customizable, mobile-first designs for deeper audience targeting and seamless zero-party data collection. Popup forms empower marketers to collect data directly from customers and prospects, which enables AI-powered, truly personalized marketing. While e-commerce businesses will see significant value from popup forms, the solution is designed to support a…
Amid a drop in UK goods exports, international logistics specialist Aramex UK has urged logistics providers to offer greater support to SMEs in expanding their reach to overseas markets. According to Umar Butt, CEO of the UK and Europe at Aramex, many within the industry are guilty of making it harder for small to medium sized businesses to trade internationally by imposing several barriers, ultimately limiting their access to effective logistics solutions and advice. This comes as UK goods exports continue to decline, with recent reports revealing that, aside from Japan, the UK has recorded the weakest export performance among…
The procurement act came into play on Monday 24th February 2025, and how organisations set, track and report on social value commitments will be under the spotlight. A new, entirely free tool is making it possible for well-intended businesses of all shapes and sizes to get on the front-foot. The recent launch and expansion of this progressive valuation platform, MeasureUp, is tackling one of the most difficult challenges around assessing social value head-on: how to value real impact in a meaningful way. By sharing publicly-available data and useful resources – usually hidden behind paywalls – this bold move by partners Impact…
In this article Phillip Mellet, General Counsel of Pipedrive discusses the issues around trusting and verifying the data practices of partners, and ensuring the data privacy and protection side of best practices is highly secure. UK GDPR and the price of non-compliance should be top-of-mind for business leaders. Data is central to businesses, from reasonably simple areas like email lists to more sensitive and personally identifiable characteristics like identity, health, and financial data that businesses need from customers to provide services. Businesses should note that as of January, there’s been a cumulative tally of just over €5.5 billion in GDPR-related fines…
In February 2025, Dell’s CEO, Michael Dell, announced that the company is “retiring” its hybrid work policy. In his announcement, Dell stated, “Nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction. A thirty-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days”. Here, Kristian Torode, Direction and Co-Founder of business communication specialist Crystaline, argues that with the right technology set up, businesses can move beyond traditional work models and embrace hybrid. Since 2020, hybrid work models have become increasingly commonplace. In 2025, it’s estimated 63 per cent of UK employees now working remotely at least…