President Macron has promised to make France a world leader in technology, turning it into a “country of unicorns” – that is, startups valued at more than $1bn.
Category: News
The latest news affecting small and medium sized (SME) businesses in the UK
South Yorkshire booze smugglers jailed for £3.8m tax fraud
A South Yorkshire crime gang, who evaded £3.8 million in duty and VAT by smuggling beer into the UK, has been jailed for a total of 19 years.
Business optimism falls again, but financial services expect strong quarter
Sentiment continued to deteriorate across the financial services sector as a whole in the three months to September, despite a broad-based expansion of business volumes and expectations of a stronger quarter ahead.
Business owners are still unprepared for new legislation that could see them fined millions
Upcoming GDPR legislation strategy is proving elusive for SME business owners, and security of metadata is still under-acknowledged.
SMEs in financial denial about the cost of a cyber-attack
Three quarters of SMEs have not set aside any budget to deal with the aftermath of a cyber-attack and of those SMEs who have ring-fenced some funds, many are too IT focused and have not considered the impact on other business areas, according to a new report.
Hiring boom adds pressure to firms’ retention plans
New research suggests that the IT and technology market is changing with average permanent employee tenure falling.
A third of business owners think half of their workforce will work remotely by 2020
Flexi-time has increased by 12.35 per cent from 2012 – 2016, and last year, the TUC found that the amount of people remote working has increased by nearly quarter of a million over a decade.
UK organisations losing over £217 million a year due to lack of cloud technology skills
Two thirds of UK IT decision makers say their organisation is losing out on revenue as it doesn’t have the required cloud expertise.
Flexible working affects mums’ ability to progress their career
Nearly half of working mums think working flexibly has affected their ability to progress their career, although almost three quarters identify flexible work as crucial to getting more women into senior roles, according to a new survey.
HMRC unveils new service for growing businesses
HM Revenue and Customs has launched the Growth Support Service, aimed at mid-sized UK businesses that have plans to grow. UK businesses that have a turnover of more than £10 million, or have more than 20 employees, can register for the scheme. According to HMRC, there are 170,000 mid-sized businesses registered in the UK. The […]
Tech & creative sectors the key to London’s future
As the UK’s future relationship with the European Union hangs over the capital’s businesses, firms view the tech and creative sectors as fundamental to London’s future prosperity.
Alternative fuels investment anxiety revealed in new report
A new report has revealed SME anxiety about the investment required into the UK’s electric vehicle infrastructure to support the alternatively fuelled fleets of the future.
First-ever UK-US Science & Technology Agreement to pave way for closer research collaborations
Science Minister Jo Johnson has signed a UK-US Science and Technology agreement with US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Judith G Garber, marking the first umbrella agreement between the United States and United Kingdom.
Young entrepreneurs showcase Flare for business at University of Hertfordshire
Young entrepreneurs are hoping their innovative business ideas will win a share of £20,000 to get their start-up off the ground in the University of Hertfordshire’s annual flare competition next week.
August online retail growth strongest of 2017 so far
UK online retail sales were up +16.4 per cent year-on-year in August, according to latest figures, which makes it the best month for online retail growth so far in 2017.
