For Svetlana Tarnagurskaja and Tom Dibble-Burge, co-founders of The Dot Collective, being able to fully trust each other with everything from decisions and ideas, down to the conversations with investors, has been the catalyst to building their successful consultancy. Here, they share how they developed this vital building block for business. Trust is massively important for us at The Dot Collective. It’s essential for our relationship as co-founders and the success we’ve achieved so far. We trust each other to make important decisions independently which speeds things up – but for issues where the other person would rather be aware,…
Author: sme-admin
While recruitment is undoubtedly a great investment for any company, finding the right talent can be quite costly and time-consuming. Faced with financial challenges posed by the approaching recession and impacts of inflation, many companies are striving to find new ways to become more cost-efficient, without sacrificing the quality of their hiring processes and candidate experience. Pairing strategies like Connected Recruiting with powerful technologies such as automation can help firms engage better with talent throughout the recruitment lifecycle, improving time to hire while cutting costs. Andy Ingham, Senior Vice President, EMEA and APAC, Bullhorn provide some guidance on how can…
Xero, the global small business platform, has today launched a report revealing overall small business owner wellbeing is currently below that of the general population, serving as a reminder of the myriad of challenges small business owners are dealing with in 2023 – including high inflation, slowing economic growth, concern about staff wellbeing and general uncertainty about the future. The report, The global state of small business owner wellbeing, found that of the seven countries surveyed from November 2022 through to February 2023, small business owners in the UK reported the lowest levels of wellbeing and life satisfaction. The report…
Reflecting on a partnership — and friendship — of almost 20 years, co-founders of Contact Center as a Solution (CCaaS) leader Ringover, Renaud Charvet and Jean-Samuel Najnudel, sit down to discuss the company’s journey from a tech start-up to a global cloud calling powerhouse. Where it all started Ringover was founded by Renaud Charvet and Jean-Samuel Najnudel, who met at ESCP, one of the most prestigious and selective business schools in France. There, Charvet and Najnudel developed a common interest in business startups. “When I first met Jean-Samuel, he knew that he wanted to do something big in telecoms, but…
As it stands, living costs in the UK are not expected to return to their 2021 levels in real terms until 2027. The cost of living crisis has seen inflation and food shortages, with wages struggling to keep up with rising costs. Notably, rents are now at their highest rate on record, alongside rising energy bills. For those seeking to live alone at such a time, weathering the storm relies heavily on addressing this factor. With that in mind, chartered surveyors Stokemont analysed the 20 biggest cities in the UK to answer the question – which UK cities are the most expensive to live alone in?…
It’s no secret that AI is a trending topic. However, with the release of ChatGPT, and Machine Learning continuously evolving, cybersecurity service providers, ramsac, are advising businesses not to blindly jump in with AI. From malicious code to leaked data, using an LLM (large language model) could be detrimental to your organisation if used improperly. The dangers of AI for businesses With the media storm around ChatGPT, the site currently has around 100 million users and is visited 1 billion times every month. As an LLM it uses deep learning to provide answers to queries, statements or requests in a human-like manner.…
A Sheffield based engineering company, which is helping businesses recoup thousands of pounds in energy costs, is turning up the heat on its future growth plans after calling on help from Finance For Enterprise and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. Headquartered at Sheffield’s Century Park Industrial Estate, Saphex manufactures, designs and repairs a wide range of industrial heat exchange units, which are typically used to help businesses regulate temperature during the manufacturing process. Recognising that the primary purpose of a heat exchange mechanism is to remove excess temperatures typically generated during the manufacturing process, Managing Director Wayne Nelson began exploring…
The modern business world can be brutal, with a ‘dog-eat-dog’ culture that focuses more on stats, turnover and competition rather than purpose, positive messaging and adding genuine value to society. A company whose purpose is driven by sustainable and ethical practices will not only minimise its environmental impact through maintaining a 100% ethical production and supply chain, but also ensure fair wages, safe working conditions and reasonably priced, quality products/services. Understanding where your organisation has the most potential to make a tangible and positive difference, and then aligning your operations with this, is key to creating real positive impact. What…
Co-working spaces have boomed since the pandemic and the associated normalisation of hybrid working. These businesses offer a sensible solution that makes good economic sense to businesses that want to reduce their overheads. If your staff aren’t in the office for even 3 days a week, you can see why getting rid of the office entirely and instead renting a desk somewhere, no-strings-attached, might be tempting. But this has created a new market, and these co-working spaces are competing. One of the benefits of this competition is a new trend: the hotelification of the office. You can already see the…
Sustainability has now become a driving force for businesses as they face increasing pressure to lower their carbon footprint and fulfil Environment Social Governance (ESG) objectives. Time is ebbing away, as is the hope of achieving NetZero, but it’s a race which can still be won if organisations, including SMEs, actively work towards that goal by pledging their green commitments through setting targets and measuring their environmental impact. Take manufacturing for example, an industry historically known for its overproduction and waste which have been significant contributors to emissions. However, manufacturers are now taking crucial strides to reverse this trend by setting…