Category: In Business

Collect+, the parcel delivery service, has announced the launch of its service that allows small businesses to send parcels through their local corner shop.

The hunt is on for the UK’s top small businesses with the launch of the Nectar Business Small Business Awards 2011. Now in its third year, the awards will again recognise the achievements of exceptional small and medium sized enterprises and be judged by a panel of respected industry figures, including one of Britain’s leading businesswomen, Karren Brady.

Research, just published, has found that one month on from the VAT rate increase, small businesses in the UK have been largely unaffected despite widespread media hype.

Less than a week after launch, the Business in Bloom campaign, which aims to help 500,000 people start and grow a business in 2011 is on target to reach this ambitious target, having attracted support from small businesses, large corporates and enterprise agencies across the UK.

Technology firms based in Cambridge are recruiting heavily in anticipation of a bounce in the global economy later in the year and with competition so fierce many are using gadgets to get people to interview for the roles.

Athletes are not the only ones training ahead of London 2012 as today saw the launch of the Technology Lab; a miniature version of the 36 Olympic competition venues, with the IT systems for every sports event and venue being put through a series of tests over 200,000 hours to ensure the Games run smoothly.

Over half of businesses across the UK are unsure of what to expect in 2011. Mid-sized companies are the most bullish. Half declared themselves to be positive about the future, with smaller companies being more confident than large enterprises, with nearly half of SMBs questioned are looking forward to a good year.

There was a time when hiring a mother was a positive thing for employers. Mothers were seen as reliable, hardworking and trustworthy; after all they had a child to support. However according to a recent survey, it would appear that times have changed.

Nearly two thirds of UK businesses have admitted they do not provide a good level of support for their employees to volunteer. Despite strong demand from employees to engage more with their local communities, just over a third of business managers said they currently provide a good level of support, such as allocating staff a few hours a month to volunteer.

The office Christmas party season will be in full swing this week, with 65% of workers attending on average two work events over the next few days. However this revelry will cost UK business £620 million, due to hung-over Britons pulling a ‘Hangover Sickie’.

In one of the largest UK settlements to date, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has settled with a media hosting company following an investigation into its use of unlicensed software. The investigation was launched after the BSA was tipped-off by a former employee. The company paid in excess of £100,000 in damages, in addition to paying a significant amount to purchase legal copies of Microsoft and Adobe software.

New research has revealed that nearly two million of UK small businesses are set to move to international markets over the next year, with a third claiming overseas economies are increasingly more welcoming to small businesses than here in the UK.

Over half of UK small business owners will turn to their husband, wife or partner before anyone else for straight talking business advice, according to a national survey of small business owners published today. Spouses and partners were preferred to accountants, trade bodies or other local businesses and bank managers.

The winners of the 2010 NatWest everywoman Awards, which recognise the success of the UK’s most inspirational female business owners, have been announced at a glittering lunch in London at the eighth annual award ceremony. celebrates successful entrepreneurs who are playing their part in helping to pull the UK out of recession and acting as inspirational role models for the next generation of aspiring business women.

Stay-at-home mums, who feel under attack by a Government that is clawing back their Child Benefit, are restoring their financial independence by creating businesses at home according to entrepreneur Krista Waddell