kdm-posts

[kdm-posts]

West Norfolk supports the royals despite Prince Andrew criticism <div readability="119.0014858841"><!-- Article Start --></p> <p>People in West Norfolk still strongly back the monarchy, despite the recent criticism of Prince Andrew, according to new research on attitudes towards the Royal Family.</p> <p>A survey of 21,000 people carried out by the publisher UnHerd in association with the pollster FocalData found support for the monarchy was still high across most of the country.</p> <p>But the fall-out from the Duke of York’s withdrawal from public life is continuing, amid claims a group of West Norfolk golfers has barred him from their club.</p> <figure><img class="rthmb" src="/1x1.gif" alt="The Queen with Prince Andrew go to Wolferton church. MLNF-19AF01087 (6625046)" data-root="/_media/img/" data-path="21I3HDIK8ATL47NHL3RJ.jpg" data-ar="1.41"><noscript><img src="/_media/img/21I3HDIK8ATL47NHL3RJ.jpg" alt="The Queen with Prince Andrew go to Wolferton church. MLNF-19AF01087 (6625046)"></noscript><figcaption>The Queen with Prince Andrew go to Wolferton church. MLNF-19AF01087 (6625046)</figcaption></figure> <p>Participants were asked how much they agreed with the statement “I am a strong supporter of the continued reign of the Royal Family”.</p> <p>The responses were then analysed to create a model for each constituency, based on the characteristics of people living there, including age, voting record and employment status.</p> <p><span id="ad_563655172" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_472738094" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span></p> <p>Sixty-two per cent of respondents in the South West Norfolk constituency supported the monarchy, compared to 17 per cent who don’t, with the rest undecided.</p> <figure><img class="rthmb" src="/1x1.gif" alt="Scenes from the 2019 Sandringham Flower Show - Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall vist the shows and greet the crowds. Picture: Matthew Usher.. (23145409)" data-root="/_media/img/" data-path="7IO5ZQTIRJWVKZWI7VKV.jpg" data-ar="1.46"><noscript><img src="/_media/img/7IO5ZQTIRJWVKZWI7VKV.jpg" alt="Scenes from the 2019 Sandringham Flower Show - Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall vist the shows and greet the crowds. Picture: Matthew Usher.. (23145409)"></noscript><figcaption>Scenes from the 2019 Sandringham Flower Show – Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall vist the shows and greet the crowds. Picture: Matthew Usher.. (23145409)</figcaption></figure> <p>Of these, 30 per cent strongly agree with the statement, while 31 per cent said they simply agree.</p> <p>The constituencies were ranked based on how many agree versus disagree, with the top ranking being the most pro-monarchist.</p> <p><span id="ad_318966714" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="dt" data-format="['mpu2',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_475655413" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu2',300,250]"></span></p> <p>South West Norfolk placed 105th out of 632 constituencies – not including the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland.</p> <p>In North West Norfolk, meanwhile,61 per cent of people were pro-Crown, compared to 18 per cent who were not – placing it at 127th nationwide.</p> <p>The research comes amid the fallout from the Duke of York’s interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme earlier this month, and the continuing questions over his association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell in America in August.</p> <p>Earlier this month, Prince Andrew announcd he was stepping back from royal duties for the foreseeable future in a move which has been widely seen as like a sacking.</p> <p><span id="ad_324262351" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_475369859" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span></p> <p>He has also given up his patronages of hundreds of organisations, including the Hunstanton Golf Club, whose members are understood to have banned him following a special meeting last Friday.</p> <p>Officials have so far not commented on the claim, though one member has told the Lynn News the club made the move at a meeting last Friday “in the light of recent events.”</p> <p>Across Britain as a whole, 48 per cent of people support the monarchy, 25 per cent do not, and 28 per cent are not sure.</p> <p>Suburban and rural areas dominated the top spots, while all of the 10 least monarchist areas were in major cities.</p> <p>Paul Embery, from UnHerd, said the results demonstrated a widening cultural schism between cities and the rest of the country, which pre-dates the turmoil caused by Brexit.</p> <p>He said: “Though ostensibly about the Royal Family, the poll results highlight something more profound about our country.</p> <p>“They illustrate the extent to which we have tipped into a very real cultural war, with competing values and priorities vying for ascendancy.</p> <p>“Much of our political discourse and debate must now be seen through this prism. We had better get used to it.”</p> <p><span id="ad_602002945" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="d" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_331529158" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_595731703" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <!-- Article End --></p> <hr> </div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/west-norfolk-supports-the-royals-despite-prince-andrew-criticism

West Norfolk supports the royals despite Prince Andrew criticism

People in West Norfolk still strongly back the monarchy, despite the recent criticism of Prince Andrew, according to new research on attitudes towards the Royal Family.

A survey of 21,000 people carried out by the publisher UnHerd in association with the pollster FocalData found support for the monarchy was still high across most of the country.

But the fall-out from the Duke of York’s withdrawal from public life is continuing, amid claims a group of West Norfolk golfers has barred him from their club.

The Queen with Prince Andrew go to Wolferton church. MLNF-19AF01087 (6625046)

Participants were asked how much they agreed with the statement “I am a strong supporter of the continued reign of the Royal Family”.

The responses were then analysed to create a model for each constituency, based on the characteristics of people living there, including age, voting record and employment status.

Sixty-two per cent of respondents in the South West Norfolk constituency supported the monarchy, compared to 17 per cent who don’t, with the rest undecided.

Scenes from the 2019 Sandringham Flower Show – Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall vist the shows and greet the crowds. Picture: Matthew Usher.. (23145409)

Of these, 30 per cent strongly agree with the statement, while 31 per cent said they simply agree.

The constituencies were ranked based on how many agree versus disagree, with the top ranking being the most pro-monarchist.

South West Norfolk placed 105th out of 632 constituencies – not including the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland.

In North West Norfolk, meanwhile,61 per cent of people were pro-Crown, compared to 18 per cent who were not – placing it at 127th nationwide.

The research comes amid the fallout from the Duke of York’s interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme earlier this month, and the continuing questions over his association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell in America in August.

Earlier this month, Prince Andrew announcd he was stepping back from royal duties for the foreseeable future in a move which has been widely seen as like a sacking.

He has also given up his patronages of hundreds of organisations, including the Hunstanton Golf Club, whose members are understood to have banned him following a special meeting last Friday.

Officials have so far not commented on the claim, though one member has told the Lynn News the club made the move at a meeting last Friday “in the light of recent events.”

Across Britain as a whole, 48 per cent of people support the monarchy, 25 per cent do not, and 28 per cent are not sure.

Suburban and rural areas dominated the top spots, while all of the 10 least monarchist areas were in major cities.

Paul Embery, from UnHerd, said the results demonstrated a widening cultural schism between cities and the rest of the country, which pre-dates the turmoil caused by Brexit.

He said: “Though ostensibly about the Royal Family, the poll results highlight something more profound about our country.

“They illustrate the extent to which we have tipped into a very real cultural war, with competing values and priorities vying for ascendancy.

“Much of our political discourse and debate must now be seen through this prism. We had better get used to it.”

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Diesel lorry plan in new waste contract is own goal, says West Norfolk councillor <div readability="85.85817104149"><!-- Article Start --></p> <p>Plans to buy a new fleet of diesel-powered lorries as part of a new waste contract have been branded an “own goal” by a West Norfolk councillor.</p> <p>Borough council chiefs will make a final decision on whether to enter the new deal, in conjunction with two other authorities, at a special meeting tomorrow.</p> <p>And officials have warned the council could face costs, including potentially compensating bidding companies, if it now chooses not to proceed.</p> <figure><img class="rthmb" src="/1x1.gif" alt="Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries" data-root="/_media/img/" data-path="MJ2G2P36T561V5YPY753.jpg" data-ar="1.33"><noscript><img src="/_media/img/MJ2G2P36T561V5YPY753.jpg" alt="Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries"></noscript><figcaption>Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries</figcaption></figure> <p>West Norfolk Council backed plans to jointly procure a new waste contract with North Norfolk District Council two years ago. The current arrangement also involves Breckland District Council.</p> <p>A special cabinet meeting, taking place at Lynn town hall on Friday afternoon, will consider officers’ recommendation for the authority to enter a new waste collection contract, which would come into force in April 2021.</p> <p><span id="ad_461218690" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_847065613" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span></p> <p>But papers presented to the authority’s environment and community panel, which met on Tuesday, revealed the lorries that would be used as part of the arrangement would run on diesel.</p> <p>Independent councillor Alexandra Kemp said that was an “own goal”, given the current concern over climate change.</p> <p>She said: “This council is conducting an audit of its carbon emissions. It needs to get a grip of what it’s doing.</p> <p><span id="ad_517765293" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="dt" data-format="['mpu2',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_857757818" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu2',300,250]"></span></p> <p>“We have got to do a lot more and we have to take responsibility for our own fleet.”</p> <p>But papers presented to the panel said: “The joint procurement is intended to deliver environmental benefits through the use of fewer vehicles being deployed across the three councils through vehicle sharing and cross boundary working.</p> <p>“This reduces carbon impacts through a reduction in vehicles deployed and reduced emissions in service delivery.</p> <p>“The delivery of a new fleet of collection vehicles will help to reduce emissions during operations.</p> <p><span id="ad_473553766" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_512797301" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span></p> <p>“Waste collection fleet requirements for the large rural community of the borough means that diesel is the only practical fuelling option.</p> <p>“A new fleet will be compliant with the latest emissions reduction legislation.”</p> <p>The preferred bidder for the contract, which will come into force once the borough’s present agreement with Kier expires, has not been made known.</p> <p><span id="ad_708743230" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="d" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_570995474" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_454903088" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <!-- Article End --></p> <hr> </div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/diesel-lorry-plan-in-new-waste-contract-is-own-goal-says-west-norfolk-councillor

Diesel lorry plan in new waste contract is own goal, says West Norfolk councillor

Plans to buy a new fleet of diesel-powered lorries as part of a new waste contract have been branded an “own goal” by a West Norfolk councillor.

Borough council chiefs will make a final decision on whether to enter the new deal, in conjunction with two other authorities, at a special meeting tomorrow.

And officials have warned the council could face costs, including potentially compensating bidding companies, if it now chooses not to proceed.

Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries

West Norfolk Council backed plans to jointly procure a new waste contract with North Norfolk District Council two years ago. The current arrangement also involves Breckland District Council.

A special cabinet meeting, taking place at Lynn town hall on Friday afternoon, will consider officers’ recommendation for the authority to enter a new waste collection contract, which would come into force in April 2021.

But papers presented to the authority’s environment and community panel, which met on Tuesday, revealed the lorries that would be used as part of the arrangement would run on diesel.

Independent councillor Alexandra Kemp said that was an “own goal”, given the current concern over climate change.

She said: “This council is conducting an audit of its carbon emissions. It needs to get a grip of what it’s doing.

“We have got to do a lot more and we have to take responsibility for our own fleet.”

But papers presented to the panel said: “The joint procurement is intended to deliver environmental benefits through the use of fewer vehicles being deployed across the three councils through vehicle sharing and cross boundary working.

“This reduces carbon impacts through a reduction in vehicles deployed and reduced emissions in service delivery.

“The delivery of a new fleet of collection vehicles will help to reduce emissions during operations.

“Waste collection fleet requirements for the large rural community of the borough means that diesel is the only practical fuelling option.

“A new fleet will be compliant with the latest emissions reduction legislation.”

The preferred bidder for the contract, which will come into force once the borough’s present agreement with Kier expires, has not been made known.

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Building society launches bond which will help young homeless people in Lynn <div readability="65.167054714785"><!-- Article Start --></p> <p>Yorkshire Building Society has launched a fixed rate bond which will enable savers to help homeless young people in Lynn into their own homes.</p> <p>The society, which has a branch in Lynn’s New Conduit Street, will be making a donation to End Youth Homelessness (EYH), a national movement of local charities working together to tackle youth homelessness, including The Benjamin Foundation in Lynn.</p> <p>The one-year EYHFixed Rate Bond will see savers receive a 1.35per cent gross pa/AER interest rate, fixed until December 31, 2020. The society will make a one-off donation to EYH of 0.10 per cent of all balances held in the bonds after the account has been withdrawn from sale.</p> <figure><img class="rthmb" src="/1x1.gif" alt="Lynn's branch of Yorkshire Building Society which is promoting its bond to help homeless people with its window display (23428641)" data-root="/_media/img/" data-path="JSQ8H8NM5YOJRK02H6HM.jpg" data-ar="1.33"><noscript><img src="/_media/img/JSQ8H8NM5YOJRK02H6HM.jpg" alt="Lynn's branch of Yorkshire Building Society which is promoting its bond to help homeless people with its window display (23428641)"></noscript><figcaption>Lynn’s branch of Yorkshire Building Society which is promoting its bond to help homeless people with its window display (23428641)</figcaption></figure> <p>High rents and upfront costs associated with starting a tenancy can make it difficult for homeless young people to secure their own home. The partnership between Yorkshire Building Society and EYH, helps vulnerable young people to live independently by providing rental deposit guarantees, home essentials grants and dedicated support.</p> <p>To date, the partnership has helped over 355 young people into their own rented homes and has raised over £730,000.</p> <p><span id="ad_965902646" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_367897825" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span></p> <p>The limited issue bond can be opened with a minimum balance of £1,000. Interest is payable either monthly or annually and the maximum deposit for this account is £2m. No access is allowed during the term of the bond. The bond is available in branches and agencies and online.</p> <p>For more information or to open a bond call into one of the society’s branches or agencies or visit www.ybs.co.uk</p> <p><span id="ad_247826218" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="d" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_733014231" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_101236176" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <!-- Article End --></p> <hr> </div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/building-society-launches-bond-which-will-help-young-homeless-people-in-lynn

Building society launches bond which will help young homeless people in Lynn

Yorkshire Building Society has launched a fixed rate bond which will enable savers to help homeless young people in Lynn into their own homes.

The society, which has a branch in Lynn’s New Conduit Street, will be making a donation to End Youth Homelessness (EYH), a national movement of local charities working together to tackle youth homelessness, including The Benjamin Foundation in Lynn.

The one-year EYHFixed Rate Bond will see savers receive a 1.35per cent gross pa/AER interest rate, fixed until December 31, 2020. The society will make a one-off donation to EYH of 0.10 per cent of all balances held in the bonds after the account has been withdrawn from sale.

Lynn’s branch of Yorkshire Building Society which is promoting its bond to help homeless people with its window display (23428641)

High rents and upfront costs associated with starting a tenancy can make it difficult for homeless young people to secure their own home. The partnership between Yorkshire Building Society and EYH, helps vulnerable young people to live independently by providing rental deposit guarantees, home essentials grants and dedicated support.

To date, the partnership has helped over 355 young people into their own rented homes and has raised over £730,000.

The limited issue bond can be opened with a minimum balance of £1,000. Interest is payable either monthly or annually and the maximum deposit for this account is £2m. No access is allowed during the term of the bond. The bond is available in branches and agencies and online.

For more information or to open a bond call into one of the society’s branches or agencies or visit www.ybs.co.uk

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Diesel lorry plan in new waste contract is own goal, says West Norfolk councillor <div readability="85.85817104149"><!-- Article Start --></p> <p>Plans to buy a new fleet of diesel-powered lorries as part of a new waste contract have been branded an “own goal” by a West Norfolk councillor.</p> <p>Borough council chiefs will make a final decision on whether to enter the new deal, in conjunction with two other authorities, at a special meeting tomorrow.</p> <p>And officials have warned the council could face costs, including potentially compensating bidding companies, if it now chooses not to proceed.</p> <figure><img class="rthmb" src="/1x1.gif" alt="Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries" data-root="/_media/img/" data-path="MJ2G2P36T561V5YPY753.jpg" data-ar="1.33"><noscript><img src="/_media/img/MJ2G2P36T561V5YPY753.jpg" alt="Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries"></noscript><figcaption>Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries</figcaption></figure> <p>West Norfolk Council backed plans to jointly procure a new waste contract with North Norfolk District Council two years ago. The current arrangement also involves Breckland District Council.</p> <p>A special cabinet meeting, taking place at Lynn town hall on Friday afternoon, will consider officers’ recommendation for the authority to enter a new waste collection contract, which would come into force in April 2021.</p> <p><span id="ad_569666832" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_646537043" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu1',300,250]"></span></p> <p>But papers presented to the authority’s environment and community panel, which met on Tuesday, revealed the lorries that would be used as part of the arrangement would run on diesel.</p> <p>Independent councillor Alexandra Kemp said that was an “own goal”, given the current concern over climate change.</p> <p>She said: “This council is conducting an audit of its carbon emissions. It needs to get a grip of what it’s doing.</p> <p><span id="ad_326637930" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="dt" data-format="['mpu2',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_875215533" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu2',300,250]"></span></p> <p>“We have got to do a lot more and we have to take responsibility for our own fleet.”</p> <p>But papers presented to the panel said: “The joint procurement is intended to deliver environmental benefits through the use of fewer vehicles being deployed across the three councils through vehicle sharing and cross boundary working.</p> <p>“This reduces carbon impacts through a reduction in vehicles deployed and reduced emissions in service delivery.</p> <p>“The delivery of a new fleet of collection vehicles will help to reduce emissions during operations.</p> <p><span id="ad_366412855" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_254639749" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span></p> <p>“Waste collection fleet requirements for the large rural community of the borough means that diesel is the only practical fuelling option.</p> <p>“A new fleet will be compliant with the latest emissions reduction legislation.”</p> <p>The preferred bidder for the contract, which will come into force once the borough’s present agreement with Kier expires, has not been made known.</p> <p><span id="ad_470626264" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="d" data-format="['mpu3',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_287742875" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="t" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <span id="ad_803874149" class="advert" data-provider="3" data-devices="m" data-format="['mpu4',300,250]"></span><br /> <!-- Article End --></p> <hr> </div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/diesel-lorry-plan-in-new-waste-contract-is-own-goal-says-west-norfolk-councillor

Diesel lorry plan in new waste contract is own goal, says West Norfolk councillor

Plans to buy a new fleet of diesel-powered lorries as part of a new waste contract have been branded an “own goal” by a West Norfolk councillor.

Borough council chiefs will make a final decision on whether to enter the new deal, in conjunction with two other authorities, at a special meeting tomorrow.

And officials have warned the council could face costs, including potentially compensating bidding companies, if it now chooses not to proceed.

Plans for a new bin collection contract will be discussed tomorrow, but concerns have been raised about the continuing use of diesel lorries

West Norfolk Council backed plans to jointly procure a new waste contract with North Norfolk District Council two years ago. The current arrangement also involves Breckland District Council.

A special cabinet meeting, taking place at Lynn town hall on Friday afternoon, will consider officers’ recommendation for the authority to enter a new waste collection contract, which would come into force in April 2021.

But papers presented to the authority’s environment and community panel, which met on Tuesday, revealed the lorries that would be used as part of the arrangement would run on diesel.

Independent councillor Alexandra Kemp said that was an “own goal”, given the current concern over climate change.

She said: “This council is conducting an audit of its carbon emissions. It needs to get a grip of what it’s doing.

“We have got to do a lot more and we have to take responsibility for our own fleet.”

But papers presented to the panel said: “The joint procurement is intended to deliver environmental benefits through the use of fewer vehicles being deployed across the three councils through vehicle sharing and cross boundary working.

“This reduces carbon impacts through a reduction in vehicles deployed and reduced emissions in service delivery.

“The delivery of a new fleet of collection vehicles will help to reduce emissions during operations.

“Waste collection fleet requirements for the large rural community of the borough means that diesel is the only practical fuelling option.

“A new fleet will be compliant with the latest emissions reduction legislation.”

The preferred bidder for the contract, which will come into force once the borough’s present agreement with Kier expires, has not been made known.

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Mediafly Transforms Sales Enablement Landscape with Acquisition of iPresent https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-471.png <div id=""><!-- Article Start --></p> <p><em>Combined solution provides “sales enablement for all,” ensures sales teams of any size have easy access to effective tools that impact revenue</em></p> <p><strong>CHICAGO – September 6, 2019</strong> – <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.mediafly.com/" target="_blank">Mediafly</a>, a provider of sales enablement technology, content management and advisory services that create interactive, value-based selling experiences, announced today it has acquired iPresent, a UK-based pioneer of sales enablement. The acquisition brings a sophisticated yet flexible sales enablement solution to any company, of any size and expands Mediafly’s global footprint.</p> <p>From 2013 to 2018, dedicated sales enablement initiatives increased by 39.9%, highlighting companies’ desires to equip sales teams with tools to meet the changing needs of customers. Although initiatives are increasing, companies are overwhelmed by the sales enablement process. Barriers like budget, internal adoption, poor implementations, complex integrations and lack of understanding lead to most companies stalling or giving up on their sales enablement process entirely. Without the proper solution, resources and support, companies open the door to declining revenue, missed quotas and misaligned marketing and sales teams. While sales enablement technology is proven to increase revenue by 66%, the predominance of companies, 93%, have yet to implement a sales enablement system. </p> <p>“There is a huge opportunity for sales teams out there. We’re at a point in time where everyone is at least thinking about sales enablement, but for too many, it feels like an expensive, enterprise decision with a lot of risks. It’s our vision to deliver a platform accessible to all by eliminating the roadblocks to get started,” said Carson Conant, CEO and founder, Mediafly. “Through the acquisition of iPresent, Mediafly is now the first major player in the space to offer sales teams of any size an easy, affordable, and risk-free entry point into sales enablement technology. From there, we can move them as far and fast as they want to go with next-generation sales tools and advisory services proven to improve buyer engagement and increase revenue. Now, a 5-person sales team or a 50,000+ team has a single solution for every stage of their sales enablement journey.” </p> <p>“No one can dispute the pressures placed upon b-to-b sellers given an increasingly complex buying ecosystem and demanding buyer,” said Peter Ostrow, Senior Research Director, Sales Enablement Strategies with SiriusDecisions. “Ensuring that sellers have the skills, knowledge and access to assets that drive consultative buyer interactions is imperative, regardless of the size of the organization supporting the seller. Simplifying points of entry for both users and administrators of sales enablement technology solutions is a strong way to empower that process.”</p> <p>The acquisition positions Mediafly as the most comprehensive and agile sales enablement solution platform available. Sales teams of any size, anywhere in the world will now have access to Mediafly’s existing Evolved Selling™ portfolio and iPresent’s visually striking and easily configurable customizable user interface, along with its quick start, low-cost sign-up model. The powerful combination allows Mediafly to meet companies at any point along the sales enablement journey with one, fully comprehensive platform, which includes sales enablement workshops and advisory services, content management, interactive selling tools like ROI and TCO calculators, sales readiness tools, AI-powered CRM integration and analytics and insights. </p> <p>“More and more businesses are beginning to develop a Sales Enablement strategy, but until now no single supplier has had a range of tools to support all sales teams whatever their size, complexity and growth aspirations. With our combined capabilities, Mediafly will be the sales enablement solution provider of choice for all companies,” said Keith Parrish, CEO of iPresent, incoming Mediafly EVP of European Operations. “Our easy-to-use, interactive user interface combined with Mediafly’s focus on enterprise-grade solutions brings the best of both worlds to the sales enablement industry and has the flexibility to evolve with our customers – combating the solutions of competitors that are limited to serving only SMBs or enterprise-grade organizations”.</p> <p>For more information about Mediafly’s Evolved Selling™ platform: <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.mediafly.com" target="_blank">www.mediafly.com</a> </p> <p>###</p> <p><strong>About iPresent</strong> <br />iPresent is an all-in-one, multi-platform sales enablement tool that helps to deliver engaging sales content, improve sales performance and enhance the relationship between sales and marketing.</p> <p><strong>About Mediafly</strong><br /><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://mediafly.com/" target="_blank">Mediafly</a> is a provider of sales enablement solutions and advisory services that create dynamic, interactive, value-based selling experiences. By using Mediafly’s technology and advisory services, marketing and sales teams at companies including <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.pepsico.com/" target="_blank">PepsiCo</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.disney.com/" target="_blank">Disney</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.gehealthcare.com/" target="_blank">GE Healthcare</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.millercoors.com/" target="_blank">MillerCoors</a> and <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.schwab.com/" target="_blank">Charles Schwab</a>, are able to deliver custom, dynamic sales presentations quickly and efficiently, engaging customers with insights that are relevant to them. Mediafly’s Evolved Selling™ solution enables sellers to be more flexible, insightful and interactive in their sales interactions, resulting in increased sales and stronger customer relationships. Mediafly has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies for six years consecutively, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mediafly.com/press_releases/mediafly-recognized-as-best-place-to-work-in-2019-by-crains-chicago/" target="_blank">Crain’s Chicago Best Places to Work</a> for two years consecutively and named to Inc.’s <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mediafly.com/mediafly-named-on-inc-s-best-workplaces-of-2018/" target="_blank">Best Places to Work of 2018</a>. Visit <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mediafly.com/mediafly-named-on-inc-s-best-workplaces-of-2018/" target="_blank">Mediafly.com</a> or follow <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://twitter.com/Mediafly" target="_blank">@Mediafly</a> for more information. </p> <p><strong>Media Contact</strong><br />Katie Cessna<br />BLASTmedia for Mediafly<br /><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> <br />317-806-1900 x.142</p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/mediafly-transforms-sales-enablement-landscape-with-acquisition-of-ipresent

Mediafly Transforms Sales Enablement Landscape with Acquisition of iPresent

Combined solution provides “sales enablement for all,” ensures sales teams of any size have easy access to effective tools that impact revenue

CHICAGO – September 6, 2019 – Mediafly, a provider of sales enablement technology, content management and advisory services that create interactive, value-based selling experiences, announced today it has acquired iPresent, a UK-based pioneer of sales enablement. The acquisition brings a sophisticated yet flexible sales enablement solution to any company, of any size and expands Mediafly’s global footprint.

From 2013 to 2018, dedicated sales enablement initiatives increased by 39.9%, highlighting companies’ desires to equip sales teams with tools to meet the changing needs of customers. Although initiatives are increasing, companies are overwhelmed by the sales enablement process. Barriers like budget, internal adoption, poor implementations, complex integrations and lack of understanding lead to most companies stalling or giving up on their sales enablement process entirely. Without the proper solution, resources and support, companies open the door to declining revenue, missed quotas and misaligned marketing and sales teams. While sales enablement technology is proven to increase revenue by 66%, the predominance of companies, 93%, have yet to implement a sales enablement system.

“There is a huge opportunity for sales teams out there. We’re at a point in time where everyone is at least thinking about sales enablement, but for too many, it feels like an expensive, enterprise decision with a lot of risks. It’s our vision to deliver a platform accessible to all by eliminating the roadblocks to get started,” said Carson Conant, CEO and founder, Mediafly. “Through the acquisition of iPresent, Mediafly is now the first major player in the space to offer sales teams of any size an easy, affordable, and risk-free entry point into sales enablement technology. From there, we can move them as far and fast as they want to go with next-generation sales tools and advisory services proven to improve buyer engagement and increase revenue. Now, a 5-person sales team or a 50,000+ team has a single solution for every stage of their sales enablement journey.”

“No one can dispute the pressures placed upon b-to-b sellers given an increasingly complex buying ecosystem and demanding buyer,” said Peter Ostrow, Senior Research Director, Sales Enablement Strategies with SiriusDecisions. “Ensuring that sellers have the skills, knowledge and access to assets that drive consultative buyer interactions is imperative, regardless of the size of the organization supporting the seller. Simplifying points of entry for both users and administrators of sales enablement technology solutions is a strong way to empower that process.”

The acquisition positions Mediafly as the most comprehensive and agile sales enablement solution platform available. Sales teams of any size, anywhere in the world will now have access to Mediafly’s existing Evolved Selling™ portfolio and iPresent’s visually striking and easily configurable customizable user interface, along with its quick start, low-cost sign-up model. The powerful combination allows Mediafly to meet companies at any point along the sales enablement journey with one, fully comprehensive platform, which includes sales enablement workshops and advisory services, content management, interactive selling tools like ROI and TCO calculators, sales readiness tools, AI-powered CRM integration and analytics and insights.

“More and more businesses are beginning to develop a Sales Enablement strategy, but until now no single supplier has had a range of tools to support all sales teams whatever their size, complexity and growth aspirations. With our combined capabilities, Mediafly will be the sales enablement solution provider of choice for all companies,” said Keith Parrish, CEO of iPresent, incoming Mediafly EVP of European Operations. “Our easy-to-use, interactive user interface combined with Mediafly’s focus on enterprise-grade solutions brings the best of both worlds to the sales enablement industry and has the flexibility to evolve with our customers – combating the solutions of competitors that are limited to serving only SMBs or enterprise-grade organizations”.

For more information about Mediafly’s Evolved Selling™ platform: www.mediafly.com

###

About iPresent iPresent is an all-in-one, multi-platform sales enablement tool that helps to deliver engaging sales content, improve sales performance and enhance the relationship between sales and marketing.

About Mediafly Mediafly is a provider of sales enablement solutions and advisory services that create dynamic, interactive, value-based selling experiences. By using Mediafly’s technology and advisory services, marketing and sales teams at companies including PepsiCo, Disney, GE Healthcare, MillerCoors and Charles Schwab, are able to deliver custom, dynamic sales presentations quickly and efficiently, engaging customers with insights that are relevant to them. Mediafly’s Evolved Selling™ solution enables sellers to be more flexible, insightful and interactive in their sales interactions, resulting in increased sales and stronger customer relationships. Mediafly has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies for six years consecutively, Crain’s Chicago Best Places to Work for two years consecutively and named to Inc.’s Best Places to Work of 2018. Visit Mediafly.com or follow @Mediafly for more information.

Media Contact Katie Cessna BLASTmedia for Mediafly [email protected] 317-806-1900 x.142

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Over one-third of B2Bs Plan to invest in personalised content in 2020 amid extreme pressure to improve digital experience https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-469.png <div id=""><!-- Article Start --></p> <p><em>Episerver’s newest global survey highlights how B2Bs are meeting consumer-like expectations</em></p> <p><strong>London, UK, Sept 24th, 2019</strong> – Nearly nine in ten (84%) of B2B decision makers say increasing digital expectations from customers or partners is their top external threat according to a new survey from <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.episerver.com/" target="_blank">Episerver</a>™, the company transforming digital experiences. In the face of these rising expectations, B2B leaders look to automate marketing, ordering and personalisation with the help of artificial intelligence and key technology investments.</p> <p>For “<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.episerver.com/learn/guides/report-b2b-survey-on-digital-experience-tactics-in-2019/" target="_blank">B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019: How Companies Are Meeting Rising Expectations</a>”, Episerver surveyed 700 B2B decision-makers across the globe to learn more about their priorities, plans, tactics and technologies – and to surface their pain points, key challenges and barriers to growth. </p> <p>Personalised content is top of mind with business-to-business organisations. According to the survey findings, the number one website feature/functionality B2Bs plan to adopt in the next 12 months is personalised content (36%), followed by improvements to the mobile experience (33%). As they look to the future, 82% of B2Bs agree they’ll use artificial intelligence (AI) to personalise customer experiences online in the next three years, making for more intelligent experiences for all.</p> <p>“Consumers expect more from our organisations every day,” said Deane Barker, senior director of content management strategy at Episerver. “Unfortunately, the accounting department expects…well, less. Digital marketers are in a tug-of-war between rising expectations and dwindling budgets. With this report, we’ve looked at the factors pushing and pulling these teams toward their decision points. If you work in digital marketing, I promise you’ll see yourself somewhere in these results.” </p> <p>With the rise of one-click checkout, buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) and next-day delivery, speed and convenience have come to define what business customers expect in their experiences with B2B brands. In response, more B2B decision-makers are looking to streamline the buyer journey with enhanced personalisation and more self-serve functionalities. In fact, pricing on website, self-service functionality and easy scheduling with a salesperson are the top three ways B2Bs can make it easier for business users to work with them online. The report shows B2Bs are already planning to open up direct, online selling paths to uncover new revenue sources with 72% of respondents indicating that by 2025 the majority of their company’s B2B revenue will come from ecommerce websites they own and operate.</p> <p>Once the digital laggards of marketing and ecommerce, B2Bs are now looking to automate these functions with AI, even if that means replacing human workers. According to <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.episerver.com/learn/guides/report-b2b-survey-on-digital-experience-tactics-in-2019/" target="_blank">Episerver’s B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019</a>, 60% of B2Bs say they are likely to use AI to replace human workers for marketing functions by 2022. Other key findings include:</p> <ul> <li>Ninety-one percent of respondents say B2Bs care about their experience or are providing a better experience when the content on the website is personalised to them.</li> <li>Twenty-one percent of B2B decision-makers believe delivering personalized customer experiences through their digital channels is a significant opportunity for their business.</li> <li>As it stands now, the majority (51%) of B2Bs currently use basic web personalisation such as displaying name on login. </li> </ul> <p>To learn more about B2B challenges and opportunities, download “<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.episerver.com/learn/guides/report-b2b-survey-on-digital-experience-tactics-in-2019/" target="_blank">B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019: How Companies Are Meeting Rising Expectations</a>”.</p> <p>“<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.episerver.com/learn/guides/report-b2b-survey-on-digital-experience-tactics-in-2019/" target="_blank">B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019: How Companies Are Meeting Rising Expectations</a>” from Episerver explores the priorities and plans, tactics and technologies of 700 decision-makers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Australia. Respondents are employed full-time by enterprise manufacturing, distributing, retail and service provider organisations. The survey was conducted between July 3, 2019 and Aug. 1, 2019.</p> <p><strong>About Episerver</strong><br /><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.episerver.com/about/company/overview/" target="_blank">Celebrating its 25th year</a>, Episerver empowers digital leaders to easily create standout experiences for customers – everywhere they engage, and always with measurable business results. The Episerver Digital Experience Cloud™ unifies digital content, commerce and marketing in one platform, including omnichannel solutions for smart personalization and intelligent campaigns. Episerver has offices in the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, South Africa, Singapore and Vietnam.</p> <p><strong>Contacts</strong>:<br />Alex Warren / Shaan Sidhu <br />Wildfire<br /><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br />020 8408 8000</p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/over-one-third-of-b2bs-plan-to-invest-in-personalised-content-in-2020-amid-extreme-pressure-to-improve-digital-experience

Over one-third of B2Bs Plan to invest in personalised content in 2020 amid extreme pressure to improve digital experience

Episerver’s newest global survey highlights how B2Bs are meeting consumer-like expectations

London, UK, Sept 24th, 2019 – Nearly nine in ten (84%) of B2B decision makers say increasing digital expectations from customers or partners is their top external threat according to a new survey from Episerver™, the company transforming digital experiences. In the face of these rising expectations, B2B leaders look to automate marketing, ordering and personalisation with the help of artificial intelligence and key technology investments.

For “B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019: How Companies Are Meeting Rising Expectations”, Episerver surveyed 700 B2B decision-makers across the globe to learn more about their priorities, plans, tactics and technologies – and to surface their pain points, key challenges and barriers to growth.

Personalised content is top of mind with business-to-business organisations. According to the survey findings, the number one website feature/functionality B2Bs plan to adopt in the next 12 months is personalised content (36%), followed by improvements to the mobile experience (33%). As they look to the future, 82% of B2Bs agree they’ll use artificial intelligence (AI) to personalise customer experiences online in the next three years, making for more intelligent experiences for all.

“Consumers expect more from our organisations every day,” said Deane Barker, senior director of content management strategy at Episerver. “Unfortunately, the accounting department expects…well, less. Digital marketers are in a tug-of-war between rising expectations and dwindling budgets. With this report, we’ve looked at the factors pushing and pulling these teams toward their decision points. If you work in digital marketing, I promise you’ll see yourself somewhere in these results.”

With the rise of one-click checkout, buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) and next-day delivery, speed and convenience have come to define what business customers expect in their experiences with B2B brands. In response, more B2B decision-makers are looking to streamline the buyer journey with enhanced personalisation and more self-serve functionalities. In fact, pricing on website, self-service functionality and easy scheduling with a salesperson are the top three ways B2Bs can make it easier for business users to work with them online. The report shows B2Bs are already planning to open up direct, online selling paths to uncover new revenue sources with 72% of respondents indicating that by 2025 the majority of their company’s B2B revenue will come from ecommerce websites they own and operate.

Once the digital laggards of marketing and ecommerce, B2Bs are now looking to automate these functions with AI, even if that means replacing human workers. According to Episerver’s B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019, 60% of B2Bs say they are likely to use AI to replace human workers for marketing functions by 2022. Other key findings include:

Ninety-one percent of respondents say B2Bs care about their experience or are providing a better experience when the content on the website is personalised to them.

Twenty-one percent of B2B decision-makers believe delivering personalized customer experiences through their digital channels is a significant opportunity for their business.

As it stands now, the majority (51%) of B2Bs currently use basic web personalisation such as displaying name on login.

To learn more about B2B challenges and opportunities, download “B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019: How Companies Are Meeting Rising Expectations”.

“B2B Digital Experiences Report 2019: How Companies Are Meeting Rising Expectations” from Episerver explores the priorities and plans, tactics and technologies of 700 decision-makers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Australia. Respondents are employed full-time by enterprise manufacturing, distributing, retail and service provider organisations. The survey was conducted between July 3, 2019 and Aug. 1, 2019.

About Episerver Celebrating its 25th year, Episerver empowers digital leaders to easily create standout experiences for customers – everywhere they engage, and always with measurable business results. The Episerver Digital Experience Cloud™ unifies digital content, commerce and marketing in one platform, including omnichannel solutions for smart personalization and intelligent campaigns. Episerver has offices in the US, UK, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, South Africa, Singapore and Vietnam.

Contacts: Alex Warren / Shaan Sidhu Wildfire [email protected] 020 8408 8000

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Artesian Solutions Annual Quiz Event Raises £4,000 for City Giving Day https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-468.png <div id=""><!-- Article Start --></p> <p><strong>30th September 2019</strong>: Artesian Solutions, the powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, once again celebrates the resounding success of its annual ‘Brain of the City’ Quiz for the Lord Mayors Appeal City Giving Day. </p> <p>Following the success of last year’s event, The Artesian team were determined to make the popular quiz night bigger and better in 2019. Working in partnership with hosts Pinsent Masons, RSA, BACB and the Guildhall, the event took place across four venues. 60 teams took part raising a total of £4,000 (doubling last year’s total), from a combination of entry fees, refreshment sales and a Heads and Tails Challenge (raffle with a difference), which alone raised £1,000.</p> <div> <div><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/Artesian-logo.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="Artesian logo" title="Artesian logo" data-recalc-dims="1"></div> <p>Artesian logo</p> </div> <p>Artesian’s resident quiz master, and Senior Customer Success Manager, Nick Boardman hosted the event alongside Artesian quiz masters at each of the four venues. After nine hard fought rounds team ‘Salix Regenerated’ from Salix Finance walked away with the accolade of ‘Brain of the City’. Team ‘Diehards’ representing City of London Tour Guides came a close second. </p> <p>Speaking about the event Nick Boardman commented: “It was a true honour to once again take part in this annual celebration of volunteering and philanthropy in the City. It was an absolutely fantastic evening with everyone really getting into the spirit of the event and determined to raise as much money as possible for the Lord Mayors Appeal and all the amazing charities it supports. Special thanks to all four venue hosts, Pinsent Masons, RSA, BACB and the Guildhall, along with all the teams who helped to make this year’s Quiz Night one to remember.”</p> <p><strong>NOTES TO THE EDITORS</strong></p> <p><strong>For more information about Artesian Solutions please contact</strong>:<br />Kelly Prior, PR Consultant<br />Tel: [phone]<br />Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p> <p><strong>About Artesian</strong><br />Artesian is a powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships.</p> <p>Artesian has invested over a decade creating leading technology which can read and interpret millions of sources of unstructured content published online which it can combine with factual data about companies. The resulting powerful insights and triggers are used to create meaningful conversations to drive engagement and better long-term customer relationships. Artesian’s usage and adoption rates are some of the highest in the software industry with a browser, mobile device and integrated CRM user-experience. </p> <p>Artesian ENGAGE helps sales and customer facing teams create genuine relationship-based customer experiences by providing them with a suite of tools to find, get to know, engage, sell and retain.</p> <p>For companies in regulated industries, Artesian’s Risk and Compliance Hub (ARCH) uses a sophisticated fully programmable and configurable decision engine to continuously monitor real-time credit risk and KYC data sources, applying a company’s own internal policies to immediately flag potential issues so they can be resolved by the front-line teams who are best placed to engage with the client. </p> <p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artesian.co/" target="_blank">artesian.co</a></p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/artesian-solutions-annual-quiz-event-raises-4000-for-city-giving-day

Artesian Solutions Annual Quiz Event Raises £4,000 for City Giving Day

30th September 2019: Artesian Solutions, the powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, once again celebrates the resounding success of its annual ‘Brain of the City’ Quiz for the Lord Mayors Appeal City Giving Day.

Following the success of last year’s event, The Artesian team were determined to make the popular quiz night bigger and better in 2019. Working in partnership with hosts Pinsent Masons, RSA, BACB and the Guildhall, the event took place across four venues. 60 teams took part raising a total of £4,000 (doubling last year’s total), from a combination of entry fees, refreshment sales and a Heads and Tails Challenge (raffle with a difference), which alone raised £1,000.

Artesian logo

Artesian’s resident quiz master, and Senior Customer Success Manager, Nick Boardman hosted the event alongside Artesian quiz masters at each of the four venues. After nine hard fought rounds team ‘Salix Regenerated’ from Salix Finance walked away with the accolade of ‘Brain of the City’. Team ‘Diehards’ representing City of London Tour Guides came a close second.

Speaking about the event Nick Boardman commented: “It was a true honour to once again take part in this annual celebration of volunteering and philanthropy in the City. It was an absolutely fantastic evening with everyone really getting into the spirit of the event and determined to raise as much money as possible for the Lord Mayors Appeal and all the amazing charities it supports. Special thanks to all four venue hosts, Pinsent Masons, RSA, BACB and the Guildhall, along with all the teams who helped to make this year’s Quiz Night one to remember.”

NOTES TO THE EDITORS

For more information about Artesian Solutions please contact: Kelly Prior, PR Consultant Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected]

About Artesian Artesian is a powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships.

Artesian has invested over a decade creating leading technology which can read and interpret millions of sources of unstructured content published online which it can combine with factual data about companies. The resulting powerful insights and triggers are used to create meaningful conversations to drive engagement and better long-term customer relationships. Artesian’s usage and adoption rates are some of the highest in the software industry with a browser, mobile device and integrated CRM user-experience.

Artesian ENGAGE helps sales and customer facing teams create genuine relationship-based customer experiences by providing them with a suite of tools to find, get to know, engage, sell and retain.

For companies in regulated industries, Artesian’s Risk and Compliance Hub (ARCH) uses a sophisticated fully programmable and configurable decision engine to continuously monitor real-time credit risk and KYC data sources, applying a company’s own internal policies to immediately flag potential issues so they can be resolved by the front-line teams who are best placed to engage with the client.

artesian.co

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Artesian Solutions Announces New Features to Tackle Flawed SIC Code System https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-466.png <div id=""><!-- Article Start --></p> <p><em>Company Buzzwords and Artesian Business Categories – two new intuitive features for advanced new business prospecting</em></p> <p><strong>8th October 2019</strong>: Artesian Solutions, the powerful AI-powered technology for commercial teams, today announced the launch of two exciting new features that add additional functionality to its market leading prospecting tools. Company Buzzwords and Artesian Business Categories (ABCs), are both highly intuitive new search features for new business teams to be extremely specific when identifying potential target accounts. They offer a powerful alternative to the fundamentally flawed Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code UK company search system typically used by sales, marketing and commercial teams. </p> <div> <div><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/Artesian-image3.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="Artesian Logo" title="Artesian Logo" data-recalc-dims="1"></div> <p>Artesian Logo</p> </div> <p>The SIC code system of categorising a company’s primary activities was first introduced in the UK in 1948 and although it has since been revised, the most recent update was back in 2007. It is widely criticised for excluding categories to cover the latest sectors and for mis-representing the activities of many businesses. For example, Google UK Ltd is listed on Companies House as “82990 – Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified” (a generic category for companies struggling to identify a suitable alternative). </p> <p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://artesian.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002549558-BETA-Company-Buzzwords" target="_blank">Company Buzzwords</a> help Artesian users search by finding companies that use specific words or phrases on their websites (to describe themselves or their industry), such as Blockchain or Craft Beer – keywords that wouldn’t appear within traditional SIC codes. </p> <p>For users who still rely on SIC codes to identify target companies, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://artesian.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002550078-BETA-Artesian-Business-Categories" target="_blank">Artesian Business Categories</a> serve to simplify the process of finding the correct SIC code(s) by creating new categories and synonyms that link to existing SIC codes. For example “Drink Production” could be used as a synonym for the “Manufacture of Beverages” SIC code. Using the word ‘Drink’ as the basis for the search means users also see results for related industries, such as “Drink Retail” and “Drink Wholesale”. </p> <p>Speaking about the addition of these two new features to its existing Prospector functionality, Richard Clark Artesian’s VP of Product Management commented:</p> <p>“The current SIC code system, whilst being an established industry standard in the UK, needs significantly redefining. The market has changed dramatically since they were last reclassified in 2007 and many modern industries are poorly represented. This wasn’t just something we noticed, but something our customers regularly told us too.”</p> <p>“As a business, we constantly aim to exceed customer expectations, so in response to their feedback, we not only improved the way they use SIC codes (with Artesian Business Categories), but also created a whole new way of finding companies in niche or highly specialised industries. These two new features will help our users get hyper-specific when searching for companies using Artesian’s prospecting tools, thereby enabling them to uncover new opportunities that may otherwise have been missed, and keeping them one step ahead of the competition.”</p> <p><strong>NOTES TO THE EDITORS</strong></p> <p><strong>For more information about Artesian Solutions please contact</strong>:<br />Kelly Prior, PR Consultant<br />Tel: [phone]<br />Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> </p> <p><strong>About Artesian</strong><br />Artesian is a powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships. </p> <p>Artesian has invested over a decade creating leading technology which can read and interpret millions of sources of unstructured content published online which it can combine with factual data about companies. The resulting powerful insights and triggers are used to create meaningful conversations to drive engagement and better long-term customer relationships. Artesian’s usage and adoption rates are some of the highest in the software industry with a browser, mobile device and integrated CRM user-experience. </p> <p>Artesian ENGAGE helps sales and customer facing teams create genuine relationship-based customer experiences by providing them with a suite of tools to find, get to know, engage, sell and retain.</p> <p>For companies in regulated industries, Artesian’s Risk and Compliance Hub (ARCH) uses a sophisticated fully programable and configurable decision engine to continuously monitor real-time credit risk and KYC data sources, applying a company’s own internal policies to immediately flag potential issues so they can be resolved by the front-line teams who are best placed to engage with the client. </p> <p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artesian.co/" target="_blank">artesian.co</a></p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/artesian-solutions-announces-new-features-to-tackle-flawed-sic-code-system

Artesian Solutions Announces New Features to Tackle Flawed SIC Code System

Company Buzzwords and Artesian Business Categories – two new intuitive features for advanced new business prospecting

8th October 2019: Artesian Solutions, the powerful AI-powered technology for commercial teams, today announced the launch of two exciting new features that add additional functionality to its market leading prospecting tools. Company Buzzwords and Artesian Business Categories (ABCs), are both highly intuitive new search features for new business teams to be extremely specific when identifying potential target accounts. They offer a powerful alternative to the fundamentally flawed Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code UK company search system typically used by sales, marketing and commercial teams.

Artesian Logo

The SIC code system of categorising a company’s primary activities was first introduced in the UK in 1948 and although it has since been revised, the most recent update was back in 2007. It is widely criticised for excluding categories to cover the latest sectors and for mis-representing the activities of many businesses. For example, Google UK Ltd is listed on Companies House as “82990 – Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified” (a generic category for companies struggling to identify a suitable alternative).

Company Buzzwords help Artesian users search by finding companies that use specific words or phrases on their websites (to describe themselves or their industry), such as Blockchain or Craft Beer – keywords that wouldn’t appear within traditional SIC codes.

For users who still rely on SIC codes to identify target companies, Artesian Business Categories serve to simplify the process of finding the correct SIC code(s) by creating new categories and synonyms that link to existing SIC codes. For example “Drink Production” could be used as a synonym for the “Manufacture of Beverages” SIC code. Using the word ‘Drink’ as the basis for the search means users also see results for related industries, such as “Drink Retail” and “Drink Wholesale”.

Speaking about the addition of these two new features to its existing Prospector functionality, Richard Clark Artesian’s VP of Product Management commented:

“The current SIC code system, whilst being an established industry standard in the UK, needs significantly redefining. The market has changed dramatically since they were last reclassified in 2007 and many modern industries are poorly represented. This wasn’t just something we noticed, but something our customers regularly told us too.”

“As a business, we constantly aim to exceed customer expectations, so in response to their feedback, we not only improved the way they use SIC codes (with Artesian Business Categories), but also created a whole new way of finding companies in niche or highly specialised industries. These two new features will help our users get hyper-specific when searching for companies using Artesian’s prospecting tools, thereby enabling them to uncover new opportunities that may otherwise have been missed, and keeping them one step ahead of the competition.”

NOTES TO THE EDITORS

For more information about Artesian Solutions please contact: Kelly Prior, PR Consultant Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected]

About Artesian Artesian is a powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships.

Artesian has invested over a decade creating leading technology which can read and interpret millions of sources of unstructured content published online which it can combine with factual data about companies. The resulting powerful insights and triggers are used to create meaningful conversations to drive engagement and better long-term customer relationships. Artesian’s usage and adoption rates are some of the highest in the software industry with a browser, mobile device and integrated CRM user-experience.

Artesian ENGAGE helps sales and customer facing teams create genuine relationship-based customer experiences by providing them with a suite of tools to find, get to know, engage, sell and retain.

For companies in regulated industries, Artesian’s Risk and Compliance Hub (ARCH) uses a sophisticated fully programable and configurable decision engine to continuously monitor real-time credit risk and KYC data sources, applying a company’s own internal policies to immediately flag potential issues so they can be resolved by the front-line teams who are best placed to engage with the client.

artesian.co

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

techUK launches study asking, “What does B2B Tech Sales need from Marketing in 2020?” https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-465.png <div id="col1" readability="53.422594142259"> <p><!--sub heading here h2--></p> <article readability="50.866423357664"><!-- Article Start --></p> <p><em>Take part in the survey here: </em><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/b2btechsales" target="_blank"><em>https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/b2btechsales</em></a></p> <p><strong>London 16 October, 2019</strong>: <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.techuk.org/" target="_blank">techUK</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.championcomms.com/" target="_blank">Champion Communications</a> and <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://pure-potential.co.uk/" target="_blank">Pure Potential</a> have partnered to launch a study investigating the ways in which marketing can be of greater value to sales and business development in business-to-business technology companies. The first part of this research is a survey of business development executives, to develop a greater understanding of what sales teams really need from marketing to enable them to complete their jobs more effectively. This will be followed by a report and a series of workshops to explore the findings.</p> <p>Professionals responsible for sales or business development within B2B technology companies are invited to participate in the research. The data will form part of a report made available to techUK members and the wider business community in early 2020.</p> <p>Glyn Hughes, Head of Business Development at techUK, said: “At techUK, we are committed to helping our members grow and enabling the UK technology sector to thrive. One way in which we do this, is by reducing business costs and risks for our members. techUK is proud to support this research that will be used to guide marketing strategies within B2B technology companies, ensuring they are having a positive impact on the bottom line.”</p> <p>Richard Cook, managing director at Champion Communications, added: “For too long, marketing and sales units within B2B technology companies have been acting in silos. Businesses have spent countless amounts of cash analyzing buyer behavior and working with marketing analysts to develop strategic approaches, but not enough is done to ask the CSO’s and their colleagues what is actually going on. </p> <p>It is time to talk to business development professionals to ask them exactly what they want from marketing to make them more effective. By bridging the gap between marketing and sales, businesses can generate more sales and more revenue. Champion Communications is dedicated to providing sales teams with the content they need to initiate, progress, or close sales conversations.”</p> <p>Neville Merritt, Director at Pure Potential, said: “Throughout my career I have worked in both marketing and sales, which has given me insight into the disconnect that can exist. I have long believed that marketing and sales have the same objective – to win business. Yet too often, the two functions operate entirely separately. This research will give a voice to business development executives who have not been involved in marketing strategy conversations.”</p> <p>Take part in the survey here: <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/b2btechsales" target="_blank">https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/b2btechsales</a> </p> <p>ENDS</p> <p><strong>Contact</strong>:<br />Champion Communications<br />E: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> <br />Tel: [phone]</p> <p><!-- Article End --></article> </div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/techuk-launches-study-asking-what-does-b2b-tech-sales-need-from-marketing-in-2020

techUK launches study asking, “What does B2B Tech Sales need from Marketing in 2020?”

Take part in the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/b2btechsales

London 16 October, 2019: techUK, Champion Communications and Pure Potential have partnered to launch a study investigating the ways in which marketing can be of greater value to sales and business development in business-to-business technology companies. The first part of this research is a survey of business development executives, to develop a greater understanding of what sales teams really need from marketing to enable them to complete their jobs more effectively. This will be followed by a report and a series of workshops to explore the findings.

Professionals responsible for sales or business development within B2B technology companies are invited to participate in the research. The data will form part of a report made available to techUK members and the wider business community in early 2020.

Glyn Hughes, Head of Business Development at techUK, said: “At techUK, we are committed to helping our members grow and enabling the UK technology sector to thrive. One way in which we do this, is by reducing business costs and risks for our members. techUK is proud to support this research that will be used to guide marketing strategies within B2B technology companies, ensuring they are having a positive impact on the bottom line.”

Richard Cook, managing director at Champion Communications, added: “For too long, marketing and sales units within B2B technology companies have been acting in silos. Businesses have spent countless amounts of cash analyzing buyer behavior and working with marketing analysts to develop strategic approaches, but not enough is done to ask the CSO’s and their colleagues what is actually going on.

It is time to talk to business development professionals to ask them exactly what they want from marketing to make them more effective. By bridging the gap between marketing and sales, businesses can generate more sales and more revenue. Champion Communications is dedicated to providing sales teams with the content they need to initiate, progress, or close sales conversations.”

Neville Merritt, Director at Pure Potential, said: “Throughout my career I have worked in both marketing and sales, which has given me insight into the disconnect that can exist. I have long believed that marketing and sales have the same objective – to win business. Yet too often, the two functions operate entirely separately. This research will give a voice to business development executives who have not been involved in marketing strategy conversations.”

Take part in the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/b2btechsales

ENDS

Contact: Champion Communications E: [email protected] Tel: [phone]

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

First Pay As You Go legal bundling tool for law firms as Zylpha partners with LEAP https://i0.wp.com/kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-453.png?fit=236%2C157&ssl=1 <div id=""><!-- Article Start -->The leading legal systems innovator Zylpha (<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.zylpha.com" target="_blank">www.zylpha.com</a>) has partnered with LEAP, the leading practice management software provider (<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.leap.co.uk" target="_blank">www.leap.co.uk</a>), to launch the legal profession’s first integrated pay as you go (PAYG) document bundling system.</p> <p>This new Zylpha service is helping to drive efficiency across law firms using the cloud-based platform. Priced per ‘bundle project’, the partnership ensures that legal document bundling becomes affordable and that firms are only paying for what they use. Zylpha provides everything needed to create the highest quality bundles via a user-friendly dashboard. This unique approach streamlines and simplifies even the largest, most complex bundles.</p> <div> <div><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/LEAP_Zylpha.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="LEAP Zylpha Partnership" title="LEAP Zylpha Partnership" data-recalc-dims="1"></div> <p>LEAP Zylpha Partnership</p> </div> <p>By using Zylpha’s digital document bundling in conjunction with the LEAP software, users can produce even the most complex bundles in minutes. Additionally, Zylpha’s bundling system eliminates costs such as stationery, photocopying, paper file-storage, maintenance and courier charges.</p> <p>John Espley, CEO of LEAP UK, explains that “Partnering with innovative and market leading solutions such as Zylpha allows us to offer this exclusive PAYG service and provide an optimum solution for our clients. We help them to save time, reduce overheads and, thanks to the unique pricing model, benefit from the same bundling technology afforded to larger practices.”</p> <p>Zylpha CEO Tim Long had this to say: “LEAP is the go-to practice management solution for small to medium-sized legal practices and is widely acclaimed for its innovative product, rich content and quality of service. Through our new integration, we can now enhance their offering by delivering a fully professional document bundling solution on a pay as you go basis, ensuring practices only pay for what they use. It’s the first of its kind and as such represents a real game changer for legal practices. We are therefore delighted to sign this partnership agreement with LEAP and look forward to working with LEAP’s clients to deliver pay as you go bundling and streamline the way they work.”</p> <p>Ends</p> <p><strong>About LEAP UK</strong><br /> LEAP is a cloud-based practice management system with integrated time recording, billing and client accounting. Developed specifically for small to medium-sized law firms, LEAP’s powerful features allow fee earners and legal support staff to manage their matters more efficiently and profitably from anywhere, anytime and from any device, accessing real-time matter and client information on the move.</p> <p>With an investment of more than £8m each year into research and development, LEAP continually strives to deliver a product that meets the demands of its users. This ensures that law firms using the software benefit from affordable, yet highly innovative technology.</p> <p>LEAP simplifies a law firm’s IT infrastructure, eliminating the need for expensive servers, reducing hardware and support costs and eliminating the confusion and risk that comes with using multiple programs and databases.</p> <p>Currently supporting over 1900 law firms across the UK and Ireland to streamline their practices, LEAP has offices in London, Manchester, Brighton, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and Dublin.</p> <p><strong>About Zylpha</strong> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.zylpha.com" target="_blank">www.zylpha.com</a><br /> Headquartered in Southampton, Zylpha is an innovative specialist offering tools for the legal profession including:</p> <ul> <li>Secure electronic document production and delivery.</li> <li>Court Bundling.</li> <li>Integration with the MOJ Portal and Land Registry Business Gateway.</li> <li>Links to agencies for AML and Identity Verification.</li> </ul> <p>The company, which was founded by Tim Long its CEO, has won widespread acclaim in both the legal and local government sectors for its systems, which transform secure communications for court and case management bundles.</p> <p><strong>For more information about Zylpha, please contact</strong>:<br /> Tim Long<br /> Zylpha Ltd.<br /> T: 01962 658881<br /> <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br /> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.zylpha.com" target="_blank">www.zylpha.com</a></p> <p>Or</p> <p>Leigh Richards<br /> The Right Image<br /> T: 0844 / 561 7586<br /> M: 07758 372527<br /> <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br /> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.therightimage.co.uk" target="_blank">www.therightimage.co.uk</a></p> <p><strong>For Information about LEAP please contact</strong>:<br /> Mark Hatton, Product Manager UK & Ireland<br /> <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br /> Mobile: [phone]<br /> Web: <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.leap.co.uk" target="_blank">www.leap.co.uk</a></p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/first-pay-as-you-go-legal-bundling-tool-for-law-firms-as-zylpha-partners-with-leap

First Pay As You Go legal bundling tool for law firms as Zylpha partners with LEAP

The leading legal systems innovator Zylpha (www.zylpha.com) has partnered with LEAP, the leading practice management software provider (www.leap.co.uk), to launch the legal profession’s first integrated pay as you go (PAYG) document bundling system.

This new Zylpha service is helping to drive efficiency across law firms using the cloud-based platform. Priced per ‘bundle project’, the partnership ensures that legal document bundling becomes affordable and that firms are only paying for what they use. Zylpha provides everything needed to create the highest quality bundles via a user-friendly dashboard. This unique approach streamlines and simplifies even the largest, most complex bundles.

LEAP Zylpha Partnership

By using Zylpha’s digital document bundling in conjunction with the LEAP software, users can produce even the most complex bundles in minutes. Additionally, Zylpha’s bundling system eliminates costs such as stationery, photocopying, paper file-storage, maintenance and courier charges.

John Espley, CEO of LEAP UK, explains that “Partnering with innovative and market leading solutions such as Zylpha allows us to offer this exclusive PAYG service and provide an optimum solution for our clients. We help them to save time, reduce overheads and, thanks to the unique pricing model, benefit from the same bundling technology afforded to larger practices.”

Zylpha CEO Tim Long had this to say: “LEAP is the go-to practice management solution for small to medium-sized legal practices and is widely acclaimed for its innovative product, rich content and quality of service. Through our new integration, we can now enhance their offering by delivering a fully professional document bundling solution on a pay as you go basis, ensuring practices only pay for what they use. It’s the first of its kind and as such represents a real game changer for legal practices. We are therefore delighted to sign this partnership agreement with LEAP and look forward to working with LEAP’s clients to deliver pay as you go bundling and streamline the way they work.”

Ends

About LEAP UK LEAP is a cloud-based practice management system with integrated time recording, billing and client accounting. Developed specifically for small to medium-sized law firms, LEAP’s powerful features allow fee earners and legal support staff to manage their matters more efficiently and profitably from anywhere, anytime and from any device, accessing real-time matter and client information on the move.

With an investment of more than £8m each year into research and development, LEAP continually strives to deliver a product that meets the demands of its users. This ensures that law firms using the software benefit from affordable, yet highly innovative technology.

LEAP simplifies a law firm’s IT infrastructure, eliminating the need for expensive servers, reducing hardware and support costs and eliminating the confusion and risk that comes with using multiple programs and databases.

Currently supporting over 1900 law firms across the UK and Ireland to streamline their practices, LEAP has offices in London, Manchester, Brighton, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and Dublin.

About Zylpha www.zylpha.com Headquartered in Southampton, Zylpha is an innovative specialist offering tools for the legal profession including:

Secure electronic document production and delivery.

Court Bundling.

Integration with the MOJ Portal and Land Registry Business Gateway.

Links to agencies for AML and Identity Verification.

The company, which was founded by Tim Long its CEO, has won widespread acclaim in both the legal and local government sectors for its systems, which transform secure communications for court and case management bundles.

For more information about Zylpha, please contact: Tim Long Zylpha Ltd. T: 01962 658881 [email protected] www.zylpha.com

Or

Leigh Richards The Right Image T: 0844 / 561 7586 M: 07758 372527 [email protected] www.therightimage.co.uk

For Information about LEAP please contact: Mark Hatton, Product Manager UK & Ireland [email protected] Mobile: [phone] Web: www.leap.co.uk

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

ADLV Survey Shows Clear and Pressing Fleet Demand For the DVSA To Release CPC Training Data https://i0.wp.com/kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-467.png?fit=210%2C236&ssl=1 <div id=""><!-- Article Start -->A recent survey by the ADLV (Association for Driving Licence Verification & Vehicles) has delivered an emphatic business case for the DVSA to allow fleets greater access to driver CPC training course attendance data. The survey of leading transport & fleet logistics managers along with compliance officers & HR directors, was conducted to encourage the DVSA to make the data available directly. The ADLV believes that the DVSA can and should do this by adding CPC course and attendance data to driver data files that are already held and made accessible by the DVLA. The ADLV believes that fleets will use this additional training data to become more compliant, administratively more efficient and to boost road safety.</p> <p>The survey results revealed that training data is a crucial element of fleet driver management and compliance, with over 75% of those surveyed indicating that that they actively take CPC training courses into consideration when hiring drivers. Nearly all those surveyed carry out DQC (Driver Qualification Card) checks and whilst 17% wait for them to be presented by the driver in person, the majority (over 52%) use the DVSA temporary password look-up system. This requires a separate password to be supplied in each case.</p> <div> <div><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/Glyn_Jones.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="Glyn Jones" title="Glyn Jones" data-recalc-dims="1"></div> <p>Glyn Jones</p> </div> <p>Most respondents, are keen to end this current ‘wait for a password’ system which causes frustration and thwarts rapid onboarding. Significantly, 9 out of 10 respondents wanted course information to be available (with driver consent) either directly or through their data supplier. This, say the ADLV, could be easily achieved by adding it to existing DVLA licence data which is readily accessible.</p> <p>A similarly high percentage felt that visibility of non-compliance alerts and notifications would also help greatly. In addition, over 8 out of 10 felt that if the information was available with current expiry dates, it would also help drive compliance significantly.</p> <p>Survey respondents also felt that being able to identify a driver’s training topics, through the data, would prevent course duplication and therefore save considerable sums. In helping to plan training more efficiently, it would also ensure that drivers don’t slip through the net as easily as they might. It would also remove the constant need to chase CPC certificates and facilitate greater confidence that drivers are maintaining their CPC correctly. In turn, this would also support a move to safer drivers and therein road safety.</p> <p>Commenting on the results, ADLV Board Member Glyn Jones noted; “The current system is not meeting the demands of the fleet sector. However, by enabling easy open access to CPC training course data, through the DVLA, fleets could gain a single source of truth about a drivers’ training – helping them to ensure compliance, efficiency and ultimately road safety. The results of this survey are emphatic and represent a clear and pressing business case for the DVSA to change the system. If required, the ADLV would be happy to help guide them on how best to introduce and apply that change.</p> <p>“We believe, that the significant benefits of making a change, will lead many fleet operators to add this data either to a driver’s existing records or utilise it in a simple bulk online format. With this in mind, the ADLV will forward these results to both the DVSA and DVLA and hopefully their response will be a positive one.”</p> <p>For more in-depth results please email <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</p> <p>Ends</p> <p><strong>Note To Editors</strong>:</p> <p><strong>About the ADLV</strong> (<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.adlv.co.uk" target="_blank">www.adlv.co.uk</a>)<br /> The Association for Driving License Verification has been established to promote and encourage best practice within the industry for the initial and continued validation of driver entitlement for responsible employers and road safety.</p> <p>The association’s remit is:</p> <ul> <li>to represent the interests of its members to the DVLA on policy, legislative and regulatory matters within a strict code of conduct.</li> <li>to act as the conduit in any consultation or similar exercise that is likely to affect Members.</li> <li>to represent Member and industry concerns to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency and Department for Transport (“DVLA/DfT”).</li> <li>to encourage wider take-up of driving licence checking by organisations and the introduction of regular and appropriate re-checks thereafter.</li> <li>to exercise professional supervision over Members through the formulation of agreed minimum standards of good practice for the industry ensuring Members meet and maintain minimum acceptable standards of security in relation to the handling and safeguarding of personal data.</li> </ul> <p><strong>For further information, please contact</strong>:<br /> Mark Sugden<br /> ADLV<br /> M [phone]<br /> <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p> <p>Or</p> <p>Leigh Richards<br /> The Right Image<br /> M 07758 372527<br /> <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/adlv-survey-shows-clear-and-pressing-fleet-demand-for-the-dvsa-to-release-cpc-training-data

ADLV Survey Shows Clear and Pressing Fleet Demand For the DVSA To Release CPC Training Data

A recent survey by the ADLV (Association for Driving Licence Verification & Vehicles) has delivered an emphatic business case for the DVSA to allow fleets greater access to driver CPC training course attendance data. The survey of leading transport & fleet logistics managers along with compliance officers & HR directors, was conducted to encourage the DVSA to make the data available directly. The ADLV believes that the DVSA can and should do this by adding CPC course and attendance data to driver data files that are already held and made accessible by the DVLA. The ADLV believes that fleets will use this additional training data to become more compliant, administratively more efficient and to boost road safety.

The survey results revealed that training data is a crucial element of fleet driver management and compliance, with over 75% of those surveyed indicating that that they actively take CPC training courses into consideration when hiring drivers. Nearly all those surveyed carry out DQC (Driver Qualification Card) checks and whilst 17% wait for them to be presented by the driver in person, the majority (over 52%) use the DVSA temporary password look-up system. This requires a separate password to be supplied in each case.

Glyn Jones

Most respondents, are keen to end this current ‘wait for a password’ system which causes frustration and thwarts rapid onboarding. Significantly, 9 out of 10 respondents wanted course information to be available (with driver consent) either directly or through their data supplier. This, say the ADLV, could be easily achieved by adding it to existing DVLA licence data which is readily accessible.

A similarly high percentage felt that visibility of non-compliance alerts and notifications would also help greatly. In addition, over 8 out of 10 felt that if the information was available with current expiry dates, it would also help drive compliance significantly.

Survey respondents also felt that being able to identify a driver’s training topics, through the data, would prevent course duplication and therefore save considerable sums. In helping to plan training more efficiently, it would also ensure that drivers don’t slip through the net as easily as they might. It would also remove the constant need to chase CPC certificates and facilitate greater confidence that drivers are maintaining their CPC correctly. In turn, this would also support a move to safer drivers and therein road safety.

Commenting on the results, ADLV Board Member Glyn Jones noted; “The current system is not meeting the demands of the fleet sector. However, by enabling easy open access to CPC training course data, through the DVLA, fleets could gain a single source of truth about a drivers’ training – helping them to ensure compliance, efficiency and ultimately road safety. The results of this survey are emphatic and represent a clear and pressing business case for the DVSA to change the system. If required, the ADLV would be happy to help guide them on how best to introduce and apply that change.

“We believe, that the significant benefits of making a change, will lead many fleet operators to add this data either to a driver’s existing records or utilise it in a simple bulk online format. With this in mind, the ADLV will forward these results to both the DVSA and DVLA and hopefully their response will be a positive one.”

For more in-depth results please email [email protected].

Ends

Note To Editors:

About the ADLV (www.adlv.co.uk) The Association for Driving License Verification has been established to promote and encourage best practice within the industry for the initial and continued validation of driver entitlement for responsible employers and road safety.

The association’s remit is:

to represent the interests of its members to the DVLA on policy, legislative and regulatory matters within a strict code of conduct.

to act as the conduit in any consultation or similar exercise that is likely to affect Members.

to represent Member and industry concerns to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency and Department for Transport (“DVLA/DfT”).

to encourage wider take-up of driving licence checking by organisations and the introduction of regular and appropriate re-checks thereafter.

to exercise professional supervision over Members through the formulation of agreed minimum standards of good practice for the industry ensuring Members meet and maintain minimum acceptable standards of security in relation to the handling and safeguarding of personal data.

For further information, please contact: Mark Sugden ADLV M [phone] [email protected]

Or

Leigh Richards The Right Image M 07758 372527 [email protected]

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Rallying cry needed to beat CX slump https://www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/Confirmit-Logo.jpg <div id=""><!-- Article Start --></p> <p><em>Research reveals CX ‘evolution and revolution’ is key to driving change</em></p> <p><strong>London, UK and New York, NY and Oslo, Norway</strong>: <strong>12 November 2019</strong>: The gap between CX Leaders and Laggards is widening according to the newly published <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://bit.ly/2JVgPK7" target="_blank">State of Customer Experience 2019</a> report. Many <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.confirmit.com/What-We-Do/Voice-of-the-Customer/" target="_blank">Customer Experience</a> teams are struggling to prove the value of their programmes, and investment is being threatened. The results of the survey indicate that in order to reverse the trend practitioners need to embrace both CX evolution and CX revolution.</p> <div> <div><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/Confirmit-Logo.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="Confirmit logo" title="Confirmit logo" data-recalc-dims="1"></div> <p>Confirmit logo</p> </div> <p>In one of the largest global surveys of its kind, over 800 CX professionals from around the world were surveyed by <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.confirmit.com/" target="_blank">Confirmit</a> in partnership with Engage Business Media for the third year in a row. The number of CX Leaders – programmes who are receiving significantly increased investment as a result of delivering financial, cultural and operational value – has declined. Other markers have dropped back to 2017 levels. The 2018 survey urged CX professionals to focus on the five habits demonstrated by CX Leaders but many of the issues highlighted haven’t been resolved. </p> <p>“The truth is that CX is hard,” explains Claire Sporton, SVP of CX Innovation at Confirmit. “Driving real business change based on customer insight is a real challenge. It takes serious planning, requires a range of diverse skills, and needs evidence of financial success. </p> <p>“We all know that CX programmes are never ‘finished’ but we need to recognise when change is needed to keep moving forward. We need to know when continuing on an evolutionary path is the right answer or if it’s time for a revolution!” Sporton added.</p> <p>Most respondents (67%) felt that evolution is right for them but a quarter (26%) are ready for a revolution. Leaders said their programmes were most in need of a revolution, suggesting that they are always asking ‘what’s next?’</p> <p>The study identified three key issues that need to be addressed which could provide CX professionals with the catalysts for change needed in 2020.</p> <p><strong>One Rallying Cry</strong>: Data silos that have dogged CX since its inception are still causing huge problems. Organisational silos are not helping either. <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.confirmit.com/Products/Confirmit-Horizons/" target="_blank">Technology</a> is part of the solution and Leaders are much more likely to be integrating operational and financial data into their programme. However over two thirds don’t actually do this, and Laggards are further behind. The reason for this is lack of executive commitment, lack of IT priority, and mapping issues but none should be terminal. </p> <p>Communicating CX goals and achievements should also be a top priority but the figure for internal communications strategies is going backwards, with the number of companies that have an internal communication strategy in place now below 2017 levels (65% down from 73%).</p> <p><strong>Focus on decision making</strong>: Data collection, analysis and simplification drives smarter decision making but more than half of the executive teams surveyed are taking decisions without considering customer insight, even in businesses who have invested in CX. </p> <p>Too few companies are empowering teams around the business to make decisions that are informed by customer insight – this is particularly the case for middle managers and frontline teams. Only 12% of middle managers and 6% of frontline staff amongst Laggards are using customer insights to make decisions. The figure for middle managers amongst Leaders rises to 22% which suggests they are more able to make better decisions within their area of expertise, leading to better business outcomes. </p> <p><strong>Prove your worth</strong>: CX teams are not making the critical link between insight-based decisions and actual business value. There has been a reduction in the number of people surveyed saying senior stakeholders are invested in CX goals and a reduction in demonstrable ROI. In both cases, the numbers are now below 2017 levels. </p> <p>That said, Leaders are more than twice as likely to demonstrate ROI as Laggards (34% vs. 14%). They are more than twice as likely to have invested in CX initiatives to address key markers for CX ROI – reduce complaints (42%), customer churn (40%), to increase spend (39%) and attract new customers (38%). To secure more investment, CX professionals need to know what decisions they are enabling and map them back to reduced costs, increased revenue and retention, and improved employee engagement. </p> <p>“The results of the survey suggest that there is a huge opportunity for CX teams to evolve, grow and drive business change. The success of CX initiatives can be boosted and our ability to prove that success can be improved. It’s time to be bold, embrace the catalysts for change and shift from ‘measuring reality’ to ‘changing reality,’” concluded Sporton.</p> <p>The full report provides detailed insight and analysis and learning points for individuals and teams across the CX industry. To learn more, the full report Time for a Revolution: How to beat the CX Slump is available from 12 November 2019 and can be downloaded here: <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://bit.ly/2JVgPK7" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2JVgPK7</a>. </p> <p>-Ends-</p> <p><strong>About Confirmit</strong><br />Confirmit is the world’s leading SaaS vendor for multi-channel Customer Experience, Employee Engagement, and Market Research solutions. The company has offices in Oslo (headquarters), Grimstad, London, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Vancouver, and Yaroslavl. Confirmit’s software is also distributed through partner resellers in Madrid, Milan, Salvador, and Tokyo. </p> <p>Confirmit powers Global 5000 companies and Market Research agencies worldwide with a wide range of software products for feedback / data collection, panel management, data processing, analysis, and reporting. Customers include Aurora, British Standards Institution, Cross-Tab, Dow Chemical, GfK, GlaxoSmithKline, GMO Research, KeepFactor, Nielsen, Research Now, RS Components, QRS, SSI, and Swisscom. Visit <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.confirmit.com" target="_blank">www.confirmit.com</a> for more information. </p> <p><strong>Media Contact</strong><br />Melanie Oxford<br />Indigo River<br />M: 07515 632065<br />E: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> </p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/rallying-cry-needed-to-beat-cx-slump

Rallying cry needed to beat CX slump

Research reveals CX ‘evolution and revolution’ is key to driving change

London, UK and New York, NY and Oslo, Norway: 12 November 2019: The gap between CX Leaders and Laggards is widening according to the newly published State of Customer Experience 2019 report. Many Customer Experience teams are struggling to prove the value of their programmes, and investment is being threatened. The results of the survey indicate that in order to reverse the trend practitioners need to embrace both CX evolution and CX revolution.

Confirmit logo

In one of the largest global surveys of its kind, over 800 CX professionals from around the world were surveyed by Confirmit in partnership with Engage Business Media for the third year in a row. The number of CX Leaders – programmes who are receiving significantly increased investment as a result of delivering financial, cultural and operational value – has declined. Other markers have dropped back to 2017 levels. The 2018 survey urged CX professionals to focus on the five habits demonstrated by CX Leaders but many of the issues highlighted haven’t been resolved.

“The truth is that CX is hard,” explains Claire Sporton, SVP of CX Innovation at Confirmit. “Driving real business change based on customer insight is a real challenge. It takes serious planning, requires a range of diverse skills, and needs evidence of financial success.

“We all know that CX programmes are never ‘finished’ but we need to recognise when change is needed to keep moving forward. We need to know when continuing on an evolutionary path is the right answer or if it’s time for a revolution!” Sporton added.

Most respondents (67%) felt that evolution is right for them but a quarter (26%) are ready for a revolution. Leaders said their programmes were most in need of a revolution, suggesting that they are always asking ‘what’s next?’

The study identified three key issues that need to be addressed which could provide CX professionals with the catalysts for change needed in 2020.

One Rallying Cry: Data silos that have dogged CX since its inception are still causing huge problems. Organisational silos are not helping either. Technology is part of the solution and Leaders are much more likely to be integrating operational and financial data into their programme. However over two thirds don’t actually do this, and Laggards are further behind. The reason for this is lack of executive commitment, lack of IT priority, and mapping issues but none should be terminal.

Communicating CX goals and achievements should also be a top priority but the figure for internal communications strategies is going backwards, with the number of companies that have an internal communication strategy in place now below 2017 levels (65% down from 73%).

Focus on decision making: Data collection, analysis and simplification drives smarter decision making but more than half of the executive teams surveyed are taking decisions without considering customer insight, even in businesses who have invested in CX.

Too few companies are empowering teams around the business to make decisions that are informed by customer insight – this is particularly the case for middle managers and frontline teams. Only 12% of middle managers and 6% of frontline staff amongst Laggards are using customer insights to make decisions. The figure for middle managers amongst Leaders rises to 22% which suggests they are more able to make better decisions within their area of expertise, leading to better business outcomes.

Prove your worth: CX teams are not making the critical link between insight-based decisions and actual business value. There has been a reduction in the number of people surveyed saying senior stakeholders are invested in CX goals and a reduction in demonstrable ROI. In both cases, the numbers are now below 2017 levels.

That said, Leaders are more than twice as likely to demonstrate ROI as Laggards (34% vs. 14%). They are more than twice as likely to have invested in CX initiatives to address key markers for CX ROI – reduce complaints (42%), customer churn (40%), to increase spend (39%) and attract new customers (38%). To secure more investment, CX professionals need to know what decisions they are enabling and map them back to reduced costs, increased revenue and retention, and improved employee engagement.

“The results of the survey suggest that there is a huge opportunity for CX teams to evolve, grow and drive business change. The success of CX initiatives can be boosted and our ability to prove that success can be improved. It’s time to be bold, embrace the catalysts for change and shift from ‘measuring reality’ to ‘changing reality,’” concluded Sporton.

The full report provides detailed insight and analysis and learning points for individuals and teams across the CX industry. To learn more, the full report Time for a Revolution: How to beat the CX Slump is available from 12 November 2019 and can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/2JVgPK7.

-Ends-

About Confirmit Confirmit is the world’s leading SaaS vendor for multi-channel Customer Experience, Employee Engagement, and Market Research solutions. The company has offices in Oslo (headquarters), Grimstad, London, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Vancouver, and Yaroslavl. Confirmit’s software is also distributed through partner resellers in Madrid, Milan, Salvador, and Tokyo.

Confirmit powers Global 5000 companies and Market Research agencies worldwide with a wide range of software products for feedback / data collection, panel management, data processing, analysis, and reporting. Customers include Aurora, British Standards Institution, Cross-Tab, Dow Chemical, GfK, GlaxoSmithKline, GMO Research, KeepFactor, Nielsen, Research Now, RS Components, QRS, SSI, and Swisscom. Visit www.confirmit.com for more information.

Media Contact Melanie Oxford Indigo River M: 07515 632065 E: [email protected]

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Artesian Solutions Set to Once Again Host the ‘Brain of the City’ Quiz for City Giving Day on 24th September 2019 https://www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/Artesian_logo_lf.jpg <div id=""><!-- Article Start --></p> <p><strong>27th August 2019</strong>: Artesian Solutions, the powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships, is once again set to host the ‘Brain of the City’ Quiz for this year’s Lord Mayors Appeal City Giving Day. </p> <p>Following the success of last year’s event, in which tickets sold out in record time, Artesian along with partners Pinsent Masons and RSA Group, will run concurrent quiz events from multiple venues around the City. The bigger and better City quiz is just one of many events taking place on Tuesday 24th September across the City of London to celebrate the work and success of the hundreds of charities and communities that the City supports, and of course raise vital funds so that they can continue their mission to create a better city for all.</p> <div> <div><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.realwire.com/preview_writeitfiles/Artesian_logo_lf.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="Artesian logo" title="Artesian logo" data-recalc-dims="1"></div> <p>Artesian logo</p> </div> <p>Artesian’s resident quiz master, and Senior Customer Success Manager, Nick Boardman will once again host the event alongside groups of volunteers from each of the partner organisations. With 20 teams of 6 already signed up, and space for 20-30 more, the quiz team are hoping to exceed last year’s fund raising total of £2,000. The event, which also includes a raffle, will culminate in teams winning individual venue prizes, and one team walking away with the accolade of ‘Brain of the City’.</p> <p>Speaking about the event Nick Boardman commented: “The Lord Mayor’s City Giving Day has grown year-on-year since its launch in 2015. This year more than 400 companies have signed up to take part in this annual celebration of volunteering and philanthropy in the City. It is an honour and privilege to be involved once again. Last year we raised £2,000 for Lord Mayor’s Appeal charities, and this year we hope to exceed £3,000 with our bigger, better multi-quiz event. It promises to be a great night so sign up and join us.” </p> <p>For more information and to register your team go to: <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.thelordmayorsappeal.org/events/650/city-giving-day-quiz-night/" target="_blank">https://www.thelordmayorsappeal.org/events/650/city-giving-day-quiz-night/</a> </p> <p><strong>NOTES TO THE EDITORS</strong></p> <p><strong>For more information about Artesian Solutions please contact</strong>:<br />Kelly Prior, PR Consultant<br />Tel: [phone]<br />Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> </p> <p><strong>About Artesian</strong><br />Artesian is a powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships. </p> <p>Artesian has invested over a decade creating leading technology which can read and interpret millions of sources of unstructured content published online which it can combine with factual data about companies. The resulting powerful insights and triggers are used to create meaningful conversations to drive engagement and better long-term customer relationships. Artesian’s usage and adoption rates are some of the highest in the software industry with a browser, mobile device and integrated CRM user-experience. </p> <p>Artesian ENGAGE helps sales and customer facing teams create genuine relationship-based customer experiences by providing them with a suite of tools to find, get to know, engage, sell and retain.</p> <p>For companies in regulated industries, Artesian’s Risk and Compliance Hub (ARCH) uses a sophisticated fully programmable and configurable decision engine to continuously monitor real-time credit risk and KYC data sources, applying a company’s own internal policies to immediately flag potential issues so they can be resolved by the front-line teams who are best placed to engage with the client. </p> <p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.artesian.co/" target="_blank">artesian.co</a></p> <p><!-- Article End --></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/artesian-solutions-set-to-once-again-host-the-brain-of-the-city-quiz-for-city-giving-day-on-24th-september-2019

Artesian Solutions Set to Once Again Host the ‘Brain of the City’ Quiz for City Giving Day on 24th September 2019

27th August 2019: Artesian Solutions, the powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships, is once again set to host the ‘Brain of the City’ Quiz for this year’s Lord Mayors Appeal City Giving Day.

Following the success of last year’s event, in which tickets sold out in record time, Artesian along with partners Pinsent Masons and RSA Group, will run concurrent quiz events from multiple venues around the City. The bigger and better City quiz is just one of many events taking place on Tuesday 24th September across the City of London to celebrate the work and success of the hundreds of charities and communities that the City supports, and of course raise vital funds so that they can continue their mission to create a better city for all.

Artesian logo

Artesian’s resident quiz master, and Senior Customer Success Manager, Nick Boardman will once again host the event alongside groups of volunteers from each of the partner organisations. With 20 teams of 6 already signed up, and space for 20-30 more, the quiz team are hoping to exceed last year’s fund raising total of £2,000. The event, which also includes a raffle, will culminate in teams winning individual venue prizes, and one team walking away with the accolade of ‘Brain of the City’.

Speaking about the event Nick Boardman commented: “The Lord Mayor’s City Giving Day has grown year-on-year since its launch in 2015. This year more than 400 companies have signed up to take part in this annual celebration of volunteering and philanthropy in the City. It is an honour and privilege to be involved once again. Last year we raised £2,000 for Lord Mayor’s Appeal charities, and this year we hope to exceed £3,000 with our bigger, better multi-quiz event. It promises to be a great night so sign up and join us.”

For more information and to register your team go to: https://www.thelordmayorsappeal.org/events/650/city-giving-day-quiz-night/

NOTES TO THE EDITORS

For more information about Artesian Solutions please contact: Kelly Prior, PR Consultant Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected]

About Artesian Artesian is a powerful technology for client facing commercial teams, designed to accelerate revenue growth by helping create deeper and more meaningful B2B relationships.

Artesian has invested over a decade creating leading technology which can read and interpret millions of sources of unstructured content published online which it can combine with factual data about companies. The resulting powerful insights and triggers are used to create meaningful conversations to drive engagement and better long-term customer relationships. Artesian’s usage and adoption rates are some of the highest in the software industry with a browser, mobile device and integrated CRM user-experience.

Artesian ENGAGE helps sales and customer facing teams create genuine relationship-based customer experiences by providing them with a suite of tools to find, get to know, engage, sell and retain.

For companies in regulated industries, Artesian’s Risk and Compliance Hub (ARCH) uses a sophisticated fully programmable and configurable decision engine to continuously monitor real-time credit risk and KYC data sources, applying a company’s own internal policies to immediately flag potential issues so they can be resolved by the front-line teams who are best placed to engage with the client.

artesian.co

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Best UK small business accounting software 2019 – review guide https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-204.png <div id="article-content"> <p>As every entrepreneur knows, with everything going digital, more and more is being pushed onto the poor small business owner.</p> <p> <!-- /14181245/TEST-INPAGE-TEXTAD_4 --></p> <p>This year, HMRC rolled out its Making Tax Digital initiative, compelling 1.2 million VAT-registered businesses which earn £85,000 plus in turnover to file returns online. Those businesses now must submit their quarterly VAT returns under the new system.</p> <p>However, it’s not going to stop there – MTD will be widened to include income tax and corporation tax from 2021 onward.</p> <p>Given that moving to small business accounting software is inevitable for every SME, surely, it’s time to put away your paper and pencil (or your standalone Excel spreadsheet).</p> <p>To help you decide, we’ve looked at the best UK small business accounting software packages on the market.</p> <h3>Best UK small business accounting software</h3> <p>Every small business is different. Most small businesses can make do with basic functions like invoicing, bank reconciliation, income and expense tracking and financial report generation.</p> <p>Indeed, most UK small business accounting software offers the same features, it’s just that you may feel more comfortable with how one is designed over another – and then of course, there’s the cost.</p> <h2 class="tablepress-table-name tablepress-table-name-id-42">Best accounting software for UK small businesses 2019</h2> <table id="tablepress-42" class="tablepress tablepress-id-42"> <thead> <tr class="row-1 odd"> <th class="column-1"> </th> <th class="column-2">FreeAgent</th> <th class="column-3">Sage Business Cloud Accounting</th> <th class="column-4">QuickBooks</th> <th class="column-5">Xero</th> <th class="column-6">Zoho Books</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody class="row-hover" readability="29"> <tr class="row-2 even"> <td class="column-1">Estimates and invoices</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-3 odd"> <td class="column-1">Expense tracking</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-4 even"> <td class="column-1">Billable time tracker</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3"></td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-5 odd"> <td class="column-1">Self assessment</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x*</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6"></td> </tr> <tr class="row-6 even"> <td class="column-1">MTD compliant</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-7 odd"> <td class="column-1">Corporation Tax</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x*</td> <td class="column-4"></td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-8 even"> <td class="column-1">Multi-currency support</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-9 odd"> <td class="column-1">Connect your bank</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-10 even"> <td class="column-1">Reporting</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-11 odd"> <td class="column-1">Stock management </td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-12 even"> <td class="column-1">Purchase orders</td> <td class="column-2"></td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-13 odd"> <td class="column-1">Payroll</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6"></td> </tr> <tr class="row-14 even"> <td class="column-1">PayPal</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x**</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-15 odd"> <td class="column-1">Stripe</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-16 even"> <td class="column-1">Cloud-based</td> <td class="column-2">x</td> <td class="column-3">x</td> <td class="column-4">x</td> <td class="column-5">x</td> <td class="column-6">x</td> </tr> <tr class="row-17 odd"> <td class="column-1">Mobile</td> <td class="column-2">iOS, Android</td> <td class="column-3">iOS, Android</td> <td class="column-4">iOS, Android</td> <td class="column-5">iOS, Android</td> <td class="column-6">iOS, Android, Windows</td> </tr> <tr class="row-18 even" readability="23"> <td class="column-1">Cost (monthly)</td> <td class="column-2">New users get a 50% discount for first six months, then it goes full price. Sole trader: £9:50 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £19 a month + VAT</td> <td class="column-3">Accounting Start for sole traders and microbusinesses: £6 a month + VAT for 3 months; then £12 + VAT a month</td> <td class="column-4">Quickbooks is offering a 50% discount for the first six months. </td> <td class="column-5">Starter £10pm allows you to send 5 invoices and quotes, enter 5 bills, reconcile 20 bank transactions</td> <td class="column-6">Basic: £6 with up to 50 contacts, 2 users, including bank reconciliation, invoices, expense tracking, projects and timesheets, recurring transactions and sales approval</td> </tr> <tr class="row-19 odd" readability="19"> <td class="column-1"></td> <td class="column-2">Partnership/LLP: £12 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £24 a month + VAT</td> <td class="column-3">Accounting (includes invoicing and cash flow management): £12 + VAT for 6 months; then £24 a month + VAT</td> <td class="column-4">Simple Start is £6 per month, rising to £12; Essentials is £10 for the first six months, rising to £20; </td> <td class="column-5">Standard £24pm</td> <td class="column-6">Standard: £12pm – as Basic except up to 500 contracts, 3 users and bills, vendor credits, reporting tags, purchase approval, budgeting, Twilio integration</td> </tr> <tr class="row-20 even" readability="16"> <td class="column-1"></td> <td class="column-2">Limited company: £14:50 a month + VAT for 6 months, then £29 a month + VAT</td> <td class="column-3">Sage Business Cloud Payroll starts at an additional £6 a month</td> <td class="column-4">Plus is £15 a month for the first six months, rising to £30.</td> <td class="column-5">Premium £30pm includes Starter functionality plus handling multiple currencies</td> <td class="column-6">Professional: £18pm – as Standard with up to 500 contacts, 10 users plus purchase orders, sales orders, inventory and custom domain</td> </tr> <tr class="row-21 odd"> <td class="column-1"></td> <td class="column-2"></td> <td class="column-3">*in online compliance</td> <td class="column-4"></td> <td class="column-5"></td> <td class="column-6"></td> </tr> <tr class="row-22 even"> <td class="column-1"></td> <td class="column-2"></td> <td class="column-3">**bank feed only</td> <td class="column-4"></td> <td class="column-5"></td> <td class="column-6"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span class="tablepress-table-description tablepress-table-description-id-42">Source: SmallBusiness.co.uk</span><br /> <!-- #tablepress-42 from cache --></p> <p>First, make a list of what you need to do in terms of bookkeeping and accounting.</p> <ul> <li>Do you need to track inventory and purchase ordering?</li> <li>Do you need to invoice payment deadlines?</li> <li>Are you a sole trader and do you plan to do self-assessment?</li> <li>Do you have staff and a payroll to run?</li> <li>Do you need foreign currency transactions?</li> <li>Do foreign currency transactions convert to sterling?</li> <li>How many users will need to use the accounting software?</li> </ul> <h3>How much can you afford?</h3> <p>Although there are free options available, when it comes to UK small business accounting software – and especially something as sensitive as financial information – it’s probably wise to pay for a package. Back in the 1970s, the US television industry coined the phrase, “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.” These days that means that the software provider sells on your data.</p> <p>The other change that has happened is the rise of monthly subscription as opposed to a one-off software licence. On the plus side, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) means your tech is always up to date. The downside is that, as the months roll on, you eventually end up paying more than if you’d bought a one-off licence.</p> <h3>4 questions you need to ask your UK small business accounting software supplier</h3> <ul> <li>How do you back up data?</li> <li>Tell me about customer support. What are your hours and how quickly should I expect a response if I raise an issue?</li> <li>Can you tell me about a similar client who’s signed up to your software?</li> <li>Does your platform support foreign currency payments and convert them into sterling?</li> </ul> <h3>Pick a small business accounting software solution that will grow with you</h3> <p>Don’t be tempted to buy the most basic licence only to find you’ve outgrown what’s provided within a year. Ask your would-be supplier to explain how its small business accounting software can scale with your growing business.</p> <h3><a href="https://www.freeagent.com/">FreeAgent</a> – best for freelancers</h3> <p> </p> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/freeagent-logo.png?ssl=1"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2548851" src="https://i1.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/freeagent-logo-1024x207.png?resize=584%2C118&ssl=1" alt="Best UK small business software 2019" width="584" height="118" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/freeagent-logo-1024x207.png?resize=584%2C118&ssl=1 1024w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/freeagent-logo-300x61.png 300w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/freeagent-logo-768x155.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px" data-recalc-dims="1"></a></p> <p><strong>Overview:</strong></p> <p>FreeAgent calls itself “mission control for your business” and they’re not joking.</p> <p>UK FreeAgent began life over a decade ago in 2007 when three freelance developers, frustrated with the mess and inefficiency of bookkeeping, decided to create their own digital bookkeeping solution.</p> <p>Today, FreeAgent employs a team of 170 and has helped over 70,000 small businesses, freelancers and their accountants with bookkeeping chores.</p> <p>Its model proved so attractive that Royal Bank of Scotland bought the founders out for £53m in 2018.</p> <p>Features include:</p> <ul> <li>Emailing estimates and invoices</li> <li>Recording expenses</li> <li>Time tracking</li> <li>Self-assessment filing</li> <li>Making Tax Digital VAT</li> <li>Corporation tax calculator</li> <li>Bank account connectivity</li> <li>Dashboard overview of cash flow, live profit and loss, HMRC deadlines and an invoice timeline.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li>FreeAgent is a good option for project-based small businesses and freelancers who need to invoice billable hours and expenses to their clients.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Its inventory management features may be too basic for businesses that sell multiple product lines.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Price:</strong></p> <p><strong>Sole trader:</strong> £9:50 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £19 a month + VAT</p> <p><strong>Partnership/LLP:</strong> £12 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £24 a month + VAT</p> <p><strong>Limited company:</strong> £14:50 a month + VAT for 6 months, then £29 a month + VAT</p> <p><strong>Mobile:</strong> iOS, Android</p> <h3><a href="https://quickbooks.intuit.com/uk/">QuickBooks</a> – best for fast-growing businesses</h3> <p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/icom-logo-ecosystem-lockup-2line.jpg?ssl=1"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2548852" src="https://i2.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/icom-logo-ecosystem-lockup-2line-1024x423.jpg?resize=620%2C256&ssl=1" alt="Best UK small business software 2019" width="620" height="256" srcset="https://i2.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/icom-logo-ecosystem-lockup-2line-1024x423.jpg?resize=620%2C256&ssl=1 1024w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/icom-logo-ecosystem-lockup-2line-300x124.jpg 300w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/icom-logo-ecosystem-lockup-2line-768x317.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px" data-recalc-dims="1"></a></p> <p><strong>Overview:</strong></p> <p>Parent company Intuit was founded in 1983 and the QuickBooks brand was introduced in 2002, with QuickBooks Online following two years later. Today, QuickBooks has 2.2 million users across 225 countries.</p> <p>Nifty features include a client portal, where customers can view, print and pay invoices and a customer relationship management (CRM) system, which helps you keep on top of your customer database.</p> <p>Where QuickBooks stands out is the quality of its reporting, with punchy snapshots of how your business is performing financially. Its reporting facility is ahead of rivals such as Xero when it comes to customisation.</p> <p><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li>QuickBooks’s user experience (UX) is easy to understand and pleasing to the eye</li> <li>QuickBooks is mindful of scaling businesses and its software can have anything up to 25 users</li> <li>Professional accountants rate the professionalism of QuickBook’s reports and its bank reconciliation features</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons:</strong></p> <ul> <li>QuickBooks can be difficult to navigate with some features hidden in settings</li> <li>It’s a steep learning carver for anybody who’s not technically literate</li> <li>There have been complaints that QuickBooks online is still buggy with long waiting times for telephone customer support</li> </ul> <p><strong>Price:</strong></p> <p>Quickbooks is offering a 50pc discount for the first six months.</p> <p><strong>Simple Start</strong> is £6 per month, rising to £12.</p> <p><strong>Essentials</strong> is £9 for the first six months, rising to £18.</p> <p><strong>Plus</strong> is £14 a month for the first six months, rising to £27.</p> <h3><a href="https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/accounting/">Sage Business Cloud Accounting</a> – best for micro businesses with limited stock</h3> <p><strong>Overview:</strong></p> <p>Another UK-based payment-processing platform, Sage began life in 1981 when its founder got in touch with Newcastle University students asking them to help him develop an automatic accounting processes program. Jump forward nearly 40 years and Sage now has 13,000 employees across 23 countries serving over three million businesses using its software. Sage says that every month it helps UK firms create over 500,000 invoices, process 700,000 transaction and sell 1.5 million products.</p> <p>Like all the other small business accounting software packages listed here, Sage is cloud based and links seamlessly to your bank account for real-time reporting.</p> <p>Features it offers include:</p> <ul> <li>Estimates and invoicing</li> <li>Payroll</li> <li>Corporation Tax calculator,</li> <li>Multi-currency support</li> <li>Bank account connectivity</li> <li>Stock management</li> <li>Linked to Stripe payments processing system.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Sage Business Cloud Accounting’s bottom Accounting Start tier is well priced, simple and easy to navigate.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Sage Business Cloud Accounting’s user experiences looks dated compared with other small business accounting software and some of the terms it uses are clunky, better suited to accountants than small business owners</li> <li>Its inventory app is not the best choice if you have a business dealing with hundreds of product lines</li> </ul> <p><strong>Price:</strong></p> <p><strong>Accounting Start</strong> for sole traders and micro businesses: £6 a month + VAT for three months; then £10 + VAT a month.</p> <p><strong>Accounting</strong> (includes invoicing and cash flow management): £13:20 + VAT for then months; then £22 a month + VAT.</p> <p><strong>Mobile:</strong> iOS, Android</p> <h3><a href="https://www.xero.com/uk/">Xero</a> – best for larger SMEs with multiple users</h3> <p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/Logo-Blue.png?ssl=1"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2548855" src="https://i0.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/Logo-Blue-1024x576.png?resize=568%2C320&ssl=1" alt="Best UK small business software 2019" width="568" height="320" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/Logo-Blue-1024x576.png?resize=568%2C320&ssl=1 1024w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/Logo-Blue-300x169.png 300w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/Logo-Blue-768x432.png 768w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/Logo-Blue.png 1183w" sizes="(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px" data-recalc-dims="1"></a></p> <p><strong>Overview:</strong></p> <p>Winner of Accountancy Software Provider Of the Year at this year’s <a href="https://smallbusiness.co.uk/lendingcrowd-and-thrive-win-big-at-british-business-awards-2019-2548768/">British Business Awards 2019</a>, Xero describes itself as “beautiful accounting software” offering unlimited users with free upgrades.</p> <p>Established in 2006, New Zealand-based Xero has over 1.8m users in 180 countries and is used by over 16,000 accountants.</p> <p>Like FreeAgent and QuickBooks, Xero offers the following as standard:</p> <ul> <li>Connects straight to your bank account enabling automatic reconciliation</li> <li>Generates quotes and invoices that customers can pay online</li> <li>Manages purchase orders, bills and supplier payments digitally</li> <li>Helps track stock</li> <li>Keeps your account up to date as you buy and sell</li> <li>Customisable reports</li> <li>Range of apps in marketplace including Shopify, Stripe, PayPal and Square</li> </ul> <p>However, you have to pay extra as bolt-ons if you want to do your payroll on Xero or enable staff to submit expenses, track expense claims.</p> <p><strong>Pros: </strong></p> <ul> <li>As voted for at this year’s British Business Awards 2019, Xero is popular with small businesses and especially sales-oriented businesses that need basic stock management built in.</li> <li>Its usability, features, extendibility, and network of “Xero certified” accountants make it one of the best small business accounting websites available.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons: </strong></p> <ul> <li>The Starter plan is extremely limited, offering an improbably low allowance of monthly invoices and quotes.</li> <li>The drop-down menus on Xero can be a bit clunkier than, say QuickBooks.</li> <li>And its reporting functions can be more difficult to navigate. For example, Unlike QuickBooks, Xero lacks any facility to bunch together creditors and debtors by name in its reports, an omission which mystifies some accountants.</li> <li>Xero has improved its functionality dramatically but these improvements have come at the cost of dropping built-in payroll with its monthly subscription plans. And you must subscribe to its most expensive £30 a month tier if you want multicurrency transactions.</li> <li>There is no telephone customer support and users complain that the online-only support has deteriorated, despite the monthly subscription hike.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Price: </strong></p> <p><strong>Starter:</strong> £10pm allows you to send 5 invoices and quotes, enter 5 bills, reconcile 20 bank transactions, submit VAT to HMRC for Making Tax Digital and offers automatic calculations and reports; there are optional bolt-one for payroll, expenses, projects and submitting CIS returns from Xero.</p> <p><strong>Standard:</strong> offers all of the above for £24pm with unlimited invoicing, bills, bank reconciliation. As with Starter, there are bolt-ons for payroll, expenses, projects and adding a CIS contractor.</p> <p><strong>Premium:</strong> only the top tier Premium option handles multiple currencies for £30pm but payroll, expenses, projects and adding a CIS contractor are all paid-for bolt-ons.</p> <p><strong>Mobile:</strong> iOS, Android</p> <h3><a href="https://www.zoho.com/uk/books/">Zoho Books</a> – best for micro businesses on a budget</h3> <p> </p> <p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/zoho-logo-512px.png?ssl=1"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2548854 size-full" src="https://i2.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/zoho-logo-512px.png?resize=512%2C177&ssl=1" alt="Best UK small business software 2019" width="512" height="177" srcset="https://i2.wp.com/s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/zoho-logo-512px.png?resize=512%2C177&ssl=1 512w, https://s17026.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/11/zoho-logo-512px-300x104.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" data-recalc-dims="1"></a></p> <p><strong>Overview:</strong></p> <p>Indian tech company Zoho has 45m users worldwide for its Google-like suite of business products, which include email and word processing.</p> <p>Zoho Book is its MTD-compliant cloud-based accounting package that integrates with 44 other apps in the Zoho family such as its popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program.</p> <p>In terms of functionality, Zoho equals or surpasses its UK small business accounting software brethren, connecting with your bank accounts and generating estimates and invoices, enabling you to reconcile turnover and payments. Its standard features are rare to find in entry-level accounting suites.</p> <p>One special feature is that Zoho throws in multicurrency conversions – only available on the top tier of Xero – enabling you to invoice overseas customers in their currency and convert payments back into your own currency for accounting purposes.</p> <p>Another nifty feature is its auto-scan function, which allows you to scan and upload invoices directly. Other small business accounting software packages often have you buying add-on software to enable scanning and uploading.</p> <p>Zoho’s company logo is a set of child’s building blocks and there’s something simple and childlike about the Zoho Books user experience and interface. It’s intuitive and equals more expensive rivals when it comes to UX. The opening dashboard displays graphs and charts that show you an overview of your cash flow, receivables, payables, expenses, projects and bank accounts.</p> <p>Like Xero, which puts you in touch with Xero certified accountants, Zoho Books offers a similar scheme whereby those who watch a one-hour webinar are certified as a Consulting Partner.</p> <p><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li>It’s good value for money with its top Professional tier costing £18 per month compared with £30 for its equivalent in Xero and £27 per month for QuickBooks Plus.</li> <li>Multicurrency support, only available at the highest tier on Xero, is available on its entry-level tier, which is great for microbusinesses with overseas customers.</li> <li>Unlike Xero, Zoho Books does offer telephone support as well as online.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons</strong>:</p> <ul> <li>Zoho’s biggest drawback is that it does not handle payroll.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Price:</strong></p> <p>Free 14-day trial for new customers, after which you can upgrade to:</p> <p><strong>Basic:</strong> £6pm offers two users up to 50 contacts and covers bank reconciliation, invoices, expense tracking, projects and timesheets, recurring transactions and sales approval.</p> <p><strong>Standard:</strong> £12pm offers three users up to 500 contacts and everything covered in the Basic plan plus bills, vendor credits, reporting tags, purchase approval and budgeting.</p> <p><strong>Professional:</strong> £18pm offers 10 users over 500 contacts and everything contained in the Standard plan plus purchase orders, sales orders, inventory and a custom domain.</p> <p><strong>Mobile:</strong> iOS, Android and Windows</p> <p> </p> <p><!-- --></p></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/best-uk-small-business-accounting-software-2019-review-guide

Best UK small business accounting software 2019 – review guide

As every entrepreneur knows, with everything going digital, more and more is being pushed onto the poor small business owner.

This year, HMRC rolled out its Making Tax Digital initiative, compelling 1.2 million VAT-registered businesses which earn £85,000 plus in turnover to file returns online. Those businesses now must submit their quarterly VAT returns under the new system.

However, it’s not going to stop there – MTD will be widened to include income tax and corporation tax from 2021 onward.

Given that moving to small business accounting software is inevitable for every SME, surely, it’s time to put away your paper and pencil (or your standalone Excel spreadsheet).

To help you decide, we’ve looked at the best UK small business accounting software packages on the market.

Best UK small business accounting software

Every small business is different. Most small businesses can make do with basic functions like invoicing, bank reconciliation, income and expense tracking and financial report generation.

Indeed, most UK small business accounting software offers the same features, it’s just that you may feel more comfortable with how one is designed over another – and then of course, there’s the cost.

Best accounting software for UK small businesses 2019

  FreeAgent Sage Business Cloud Accounting QuickBooks Xero Zoho Books Estimates and invoices x x x x x Expense tracking x x x x x Billable time tracker x x x x Self assessment x x* x x MTD compliant x x x x x Corporation Tax x x* x x Multi-currency support x x x x x Connect your bank x x x x x Reporting x x x x x Stock management x x x x x Purchase orders x x x x Payroll x x x x PayPal x x** x x x Stripe x x x x x Cloud-based x x x x x Mobile iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android iOS, Android, Windows Cost (monthly) New users get a 50% discount for first six months, then it goes full price. Sole trader: £9:50 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £19 a month + VAT Accounting Start for sole traders and microbusinesses: £6 a month + VAT for 3 months; then £12 + VAT a month Quickbooks is offering a 50% discount for the first six months. Starter £10pm allows you to send 5 invoices and quotes, enter 5 bills, reconcile 20 bank transactions Basic: £6 with up to 50 contacts, 2 users, including bank reconciliation, invoices, expense tracking, projects and timesheets, recurring transactions and sales approval Partnership/LLP: £12 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £24 a month + VAT Accounting (includes invoicing and cash flow management): £12 + VAT for 6 months; then £24 a month + VAT Simple Start is £6 per month, rising to £12; Essentials is £10 for the first six months, rising to £20; Standard £24pm Standard: £12pm – as Basic except up to 500 contracts, 3 users and bills, vendor credits, reporting tags, purchase approval, budgeting, Twilio integration Limited company: £14:50 a month + VAT for 6 months, then £29 a month + VAT Sage Business Cloud Payroll starts at an additional £6 a month Plus is £15 a month for the first six months, rising to £30. Premium £30pm includes Starter functionality plus handling multiple currencies Professional: £18pm – as Standard with up to 500 contacts, 10 users plus purchase orders, sales orders, inventory and custom domain *in online compliance **bank feed only

Source: SmallBusiness.co.uk

First, make a list of what you need to do in terms of bookkeeping and accounting.

Do you need to track inventory and purchase ordering?

Do you need to invoice payment deadlines?

Are you a sole trader and do you plan to do self-assessment?

Do you have staff and a payroll to run?

Do you need foreign currency transactions?

Do foreign currency transactions convert to sterling?

How many users will need to use the accounting software?

How much can you afford?

Although there are free options available, when it comes to UK small business accounting software – and especially something as sensitive as financial information – it’s probably wise to pay for a package. Back in the 1970s, the US television industry coined the phrase, “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.” These days that means that the software provider sells on your data.

The other change that has happened is the rise of monthly subscription as opposed to a one-off software licence. On the plus side, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) means your tech is always up to date. The downside is that, as the months roll on, you eventually end up paying more than if you’d bought a one-off licence.

4 questions you need to ask your UK small business accounting software supplier

How do you back up data?

Tell me about customer support. What are your hours and how quickly should I expect a response if I raise an issue?

Can you tell me about a similar client who’s signed up to your software?

Does your platform support foreign currency payments and convert them into sterling?

Pick a small business accounting software solution that will grow with you

Don’t be tempted to buy the most basic licence only to find you’ve outgrown what’s provided within a year. Ask your would-be supplier to explain how its small business accounting software can scale with your growing business.

FreeAgent – best for freelancers

  Overview:

FreeAgent calls itself “mission control for your business” and they’re not joking.

UK FreeAgent began life over a decade ago in 2007 when three freelance developers, frustrated with the mess and inefficiency of bookkeeping, decided to create their own digital bookkeeping solution.

Today, FreeAgent employs a team of 170 and has helped over 70,000 small businesses, freelancers and their accountants with bookkeeping chores.

Its model proved so attractive that Royal Bank of Scotland bought the founders out for £53m in 2018.

Features include:

Emailing estimates and invoices

Recording expenses

Time tracking

Self-assessment filing

Making Tax Digital VAT

Corporation tax calculator

Bank account connectivity

Dashboard overview of cash flow, live profit and loss, HMRC deadlines and an invoice timeline.

Pros:

FreeAgent is a good option for project-based small businesses and freelancers who need to invoice billable hours and expenses to their clients.

Cons:

Its inventory management features may be too basic for businesses that sell multiple product lines.

Price:

Sole trader: £9:50 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £19 a month + VAT

Partnership/LLP: £12 a month + VAT for 6 months; then £24 a month + VAT

Limited company: £14:50 a month + VAT for 6 months, then £29 a month + VAT

Mobile: iOS, Android

QuickBooks – best for fast-growing businesses

Overview:

Parent company Intuit was founded in 1983 and the QuickBooks brand was introduced in 2002, with QuickBooks Online following two years later. Today, QuickBooks has 2.2 million users across 225 countries.

Nifty features include a client portal, where customers can view, print and pay invoices and a customer relationship management (CRM) system, which helps you keep on top of your customer database.

Where QuickBooks stands out is the quality of its reporting, with punchy snapshots of how your business is performing financially. Its reporting facility is ahead of rivals such as Xero when it comes to customisation.

Pros:

QuickBooks’s user experience (UX) is easy to understand and pleasing to the eye

QuickBooks is mindful of scaling businesses and its software can have anything up to 25 users

Professional accountants rate the professionalism of QuickBook’s reports and its bank reconciliation features

Cons:

QuickBooks can be difficult to navigate with some features hidden in settings

It’s a steep learning carver for anybody who’s not technically literate

There have been complaints that QuickBooks online is still buggy with long waiting times for telephone customer support

Price:

Quickbooks is offering a 50pc discount for the first six months.

Simple Start is £6 per month, rising to £12.

Essentials is £9 for the first six months, rising to £18.

Plus is £14 a month for the first six months, rising to £27.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting – best for micro businesses with limited stock

Overview:

Another UK-based payment-processing platform, Sage began life in 1981 when its founder got in touch with Newcastle University students asking them to help him develop an automatic accounting processes program. Jump forward nearly 40 years and Sage now has 13,000 employees across 23 countries serving over three million businesses using its software. Sage says that every month it helps UK firms create over 500,000 invoices, process 700,000 transaction and sell 1.5 million products.

Like all the other small business accounting software packages listed here, Sage is cloud based and links seamlessly to your bank account for real-time reporting.

Features it offers include:

Estimates and invoicing

Payroll

Corporation Tax calculator,

Multi-currency support

Bank account connectivity

Stock management

Linked to Stripe payments processing system.

Pros:

Sage Business Cloud Accounting’s bottom Accounting Start tier is well priced, simple and easy to navigate.

Cons:

Sage Business Cloud Accounting’s user experiences looks dated compared with other small business accounting software and some of the terms it uses are clunky, better suited to accountants than small business owners

Its inventory app is not the best choice if you have a business dealing with hundreds of product lines

Price:

Accounting Start for sole traders and micro businesses: £6 a month + VAT for three months; then £10 + VAT a month.

Accounting (includes invoicing and cash flow management): £13:20 + VAT for then months; then £22 a month + VAT.

Mobile: iOS, Android

Xero – best for larger SMEs with multiple users

Overview:

Winner of Accountancy Software Provider Of the Year at this year’s British Business Awards 2019, Xero describes itself as “beautiful accounting software” offering unlimited users with free upgrades.

Established in 2006, New Zealand-based Xero has over 1.8m users in 180 countries and is used by over 16,000 accountants.

Like FreeAgent and QuickBooks, Xero offers the following as standard:

Connects straight to your bank account enabling automatic reconciliation

Generates quotes and invoices that customers can pay online

Manages purchase orders, bills and supplier payments digitally

Helps track stock

Keeps your account up to date as you buy and sell

Customisable reports

Range of apps in marketplace including Shopify, Stripe, PayPal and Square

However, you have to pay extra as bolt-ons if you want to do your payroll on Xero or enable staff to submit expenses, track expense claims.

Pros:

As voted for at this year’s British Business Awards 2019, Xero is popular with small businesses and especially sales-oriented businesses that need basic stock management built in.

Its usability, features, extendibility, and network of “Xero certified” accountants make it one of the best small business accounting websites available.

Cons:

The Starter plan is extremely limited, offering an improbably low allowance of monthly invoices and quotes.

The drop-down menus on Xero can be a bit clunkier than, say QuickBooks.

And its reporting functions can be more difficult to navigate. For example, Unlike QuickBooks, Xero lacks any facility to bunch together creditors and debtors by name in its reports, an omission which mystifies some accountants.

Xero has improved its functionality dramatically but these improvements have come at the cost of dropping built-in payroll with its monthly subscription plans. And you must subscribe to its most expensive £30 a month tier if you want multicurrency transactions.

There is no telephone customer support and users complain that the online-only support has deteriorated, despite the monthly subscription hike.

Price:

Starter: £10pm allows you to send 5 invoices and quotes, enter 5 bills, reconcile 20 bank transactions, submit VAT to HMRC for Making Tax Digital and offers automatic calculations and reports; there are optional bolt-one for payroll, expenses, projects and submitting CIS returns from Xero.

Standard: offers all of the above for £24pm with unlimited invoicing, bills, bank reconciliation. As with Starter, there are bolt-ons for payroll, expenses, projects and adding a CIS contractor.

Premium: only the top tier Premium option handles multiple currencies for £30pm but payroll, expenses, projects and adding a CIS contractor are all paid-for bolt-ons.

Mobile: iOS, Android

Zoho Books – best for micro businesses on a budget

  Overview:

Indian tech company Zoho has 45m users worldwide for its Google-like suite of business products, which include email and word processing.

Zoho Book is its MTD-compliant cloud-based accounting package that integrates with 44 other apps in the Zoho family such as its popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program.

In terms of functionality, Zoho equals or surpasses its UK small business accounting software brethren, connecting with your bank accounts and generating estimates and invoices, enabling you to reconcile turnover and payments. Its standard features are rare to find in entry-level accounting suites.

One special feature is that Zoho throws in multicurrency conversions – only available on the top tier of Xero – enabling you to invoice overseas customers in their currency and convert payments back into your own currency for accounting purposes.

Another nifty feature is its auto-scan function, which allows you to scan and upload invoices directly. Other small business accounting software packages often have you buying add-on software to enable scanning and uploading.

Zoho’s company logo is a set of child’s building blocks and there’s something simple and childlike about the Zoho Books user experience and interface. It’s intuitive and equals more expensive rivals when it comes to UX. The opening dashboard displays graphs and charts that show you an overview of your cash flow, receivables, payables, expenses, projects and bank accounts.

Like Xero, which puts you in touch with Xero certified accountants, Zoho Books offers a similar scheme whereby those who watch a one-hour webinar are certified as a Consulting Partner.

Pros:

It’s good value for money with its top Professional tier costing £18 per month compared with £30 for its equivalent in Xero and £27 per month for QuickBooks Plus.

Multicurrency support, only available at the highest tier on Xero, is available on its entry-level tier, which is great for microbusinesses with overseas customers.

Unlike Xero, Zoho Books does offer telephone support as well as online.

Cons:

Zoho’s biggest drawback is that it does not handle payroll.

Price:

Free 14-day trial for new customers, after which you can upgrade to:

Basic: £6pm offers two users up to 50 contacts and covers bank reconciliation, invoices, expense tracking, projects and timesheets, recurring transactions and sales approval.

Standard: £12pm offers three users up to 500 contacts and everything covered in the Basic plan plus bills, vendor credits, reporting tags, purchase approval and budgeting.

Professional: £18pm offers 10 users over 500 contacts and everything contained in the Standard plan plus purchase orders, sales orders, inventory and a custom domain.

Mobile: iOS, Android and Windows

  Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

5 Ways CMOs Can Take Advantage of the Current Business Landscape https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-188.png <p> Now is the time for CMOs to nurture relationships with the rest of the c-suite and trumpet revenue-generating results. </p> <div id="articleAdd" readability="159.58494208494"> <p> <time datetime="2019-11-06 18:34:00" itemprop="datePublished" content="2019-11-06T18:34:00Z"><br /> November<br /> 6, 2019<br /> </time><br /> 6 min read </p> <p> Opinions expressed by <em>Entrepreneur</em> contributors are their own. </p> <p> <small class="grey-text text-darken-1"><br /> </small></p> <p>After years of clamoring for more recognition, chief marketing officers finally have their seat at the table.</p> <p>Not so long ago, CEOs and CFOs tended to view marketing departments strictly as a cost center where artsy people sat around coming up with pretty pictures and creative ideas. That’s all been turned on its head as the top leaders i<a href="https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/16/almost-70-of-ceos-now-expect-cmos-to-lead-revenue-growth/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ncreasingly look to CMOs as vital engines of growth</a>.</p> <p> This new-found recognition means they are under more pressure than ever to prove their value to CEOs and CFOs in terms of revenue and profits, as well as justify the rising spend, especially on marketing technology.</p> <p>There’s simply no place for <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239563" rel="follow noopener noreferrer" target="_self">CMOs</a> to hide anymore. And they shouldn’t want to. The question is how they can take advantage of the opportunity and mitigate the outsized blame they receive when the company isn’t hitting the numbers. I believe the heart of the problem is that CMOs lack visibility into their marketing activities and can do a better job of creating metrics that show how their activities are generating revenue for the company.</p> <p><b>Related: <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/327094" rel="follow noopener noreferrer" target="_self">Why the CMO — Not CEO — Should Create the Company Mission</a></b></p> <p>To begin to change all of this, CMOs need to nurture their relationships with the rest of the c-suite, and in particular the CFO. If the CMO isn’t working hand-in-glove with the CFO, the finance leader ends up operating in a vacuum when trying to quantify marketing’s contribution to the growth forecast.</p> <p>Without clear data and metrics from marketing, the CFO’s assumption might be that growth is coming from elsewhere, severely discounting marketing’s contributions when judgment time comes.</p> <p>CMOs have worked too hard to get that seat at the table to risk wasting it by failing to win the CFO’s understanding of exactly how the marketing department contributes to success.</p> <p>But there are things the CMO can do to forge a stronger partnership with the CFO and transform marketing’s reputation from a cost center to a profit driver.</p> <h2>1. Get on the same financial page.</h2> <p>Collaboration between a CMO and CFO will only work if they are using the same source of truth for their data on budgets and planning. Most of the time that isn’t the case, resulting in a lack of mutual transparency on budgeting and tracking spending. Even as marketing departments’ budgets have soared in recent years, they’ve stuck with the same antiquated budget and planning methods that contribute to their low visibility in the organization. While the CFO is logging into Netsuite or Oracle, the CMO is often grappling with spreadsheets and has no visibility into the CFO’s world. At best, marketing is using a separate system from finance; at worst it has no system at all. CMOs should figure out how to get on the same system as the CFO, even if that just means using the same spreadsheet.</p> <p><b>Related: <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/322499" rel="follow noopener noreferrer" target="_self">This CMO Took Her Love for Hard Science and Made It Work for Her</a></b></p> <h2>2. Get smart about your spending.</h2> <p>One sure way to get in your CFO’s good graces is by becoming more disciplined about the marketing spend. In recent years, marketing departments have spent big on marketing technology. And often it is done so haphazardly that marketing departments are drowning in a sea of poorly matched technology solutions. With martech spending expected to hit <a href="https://www.marketingtechnews.net/news/2018/sep/24/global-martech-spend-estimated-100bn-according-warc/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">$100 billion this year</a>, the pressure is on from CFOs to rein in the costs or at least justify the spending with hard numbers. This means that CMOs may need to re-assess their spending processes, perhaps borrowing best practices from the IT/CIO department, which have a stronger track record on technology purchases.</p> <h2>3. Speak the same language as your CFO.</h2> <p>It seems like an obvious point, but marketing departments were in the wilderness for so long that they still use language and yardsticks that mean little to the CFO or CEO.<b> </b>As CMO, you may be proud of your recent MQL numbers or your latest campaign that harnesses social media influencers. Both could draw blank stares from your CFO unless they are linked to KPIs that he or she uses to measure success. CMOs need to know what KPIs actually move the needle for the CFO and align their metrics accordingly so they are not talking past each other.</p> <h2>4. Spend on people, not just programs.</h2> <p>As marketing budgets grow, the temptation for CMOs is to pour resources into program spending because it seems easy to scale. If you put a dollar into your Google search spend and get $3 back, why not repeat it as many times as possible? That’s fine until it starts to cause bottlenecks in your process because you haven’t invested in hiring good people to run the program. Spending money on people can be a hard sell, but in order to get those scale programs to work, you need to be willing to make some unscalable investments in people.</p> <h2>5. Declare war on waste.</h2> <p>Reducing wasteful spending, both externally and internally, is a sure-fire way to make friends with your CFO. One <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/marketers-waste-about-one-fourth-of-their-budgets" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">survey</a> found that marketers waste about a quarter of their spending, so there’s plenty of excesses to trim. A major culprit is the big chunk of marketing spending that has traditionally gone to external agencies, which tend to be both expensive and inefficient. Reliance on agencies can become a long-term crutch for marketing departments, leading to complacency and overspending. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/04/firms-are-taking-more-marketing-functions-in-house-heres-why.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Increasingly,</a> marketing departments are moving to bring a lot of those functions in-house, helping to reduce costs and giving them more control over the content. Targeting internal inefficiencies and waste can be just as fruitful. Perhaps you have a creative services team that needs a revamp because it isn’t working efficiently, whether that’s due to technology, process, or people.</p> <p><b>Related: <a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/330212" rel="follow noopener noreferrer" target="_self">This CMO Thinks of Marketing Like a Brad Pitt Movie</a></b></p> <p>By taking most or all of these steps, CMOs can build a much stronger relationship with their CFOs and establish marketing as a well-integrated, profit-driving department. In doing so, CMOs can flip the usual dynamic in which they’re on the defensive, having to justify every dollar spent.</p> <p>Instead, the CFO might actively spend money on marketing because it’s demonstrably a central growth engine for the business. </p> <p> </p> </p></div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/5-ways-cmos-can-take-advantage-of-the-current-business-landscape

5 Ways CMOs Can Take Advantage of the Current Business Landscape

Now is the time for CMOs to nurture relationships with the rest of the c-suite and trumpet revenue-generating results.

November 6, 2019 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

After years of clamoring for more recognition, chief marketing officers finally have their seat at the table.

Not so long ago, CEOs and CFOs tended to view marketing departments strictly as a cost center where artsy people sat around coming up with pretty pictures and creative ideas. That’s all been turned on its head as the top leaders increasingly look to CMOs as vital engines of growth.

 This new-found recognition means they are under more pressure than ever to prove their value to CEOs and CFOs in terms of revenue and profits, as well as justify the rising spend, especially on marketing technology.

There’s simply no place for CMOs to hide anymore. And they shouldn’t want to. The question is how they can take advantage of the opportunity and mitigate the outsized blame they receive when the company isn’t hitting the numbers. I believe the heart of the problem is that CMOs lack visibility into their marketing activities and can do a better job of creating metrics that show how their activities are generating revenue for the company.

Related: Why the CMO — Not CEO — Should Create the Company Mission

To begin to change all of this, CMOs need to nurture their relationships with the rest of the c-suite, and in particular the CFO. If the CMO isn’t working hand-in-glove with the CFO, the finance leader ends up operating in a vacuum when trying to quantify marketing’s contribution to the growth forecast.

Without clear data and metrics from marketing, the CFO’s assumption might be that growth is coming from elsewhere, severely discounting marketing’s contributions when judgment time comes.

CMOs have worked too hard to get that seat at the table to risk wasting it by failing to win the CFO’s understanding of exactly how the marketing department contributes to success.

But there are things the CMO can do to forge a stronger partnership with the CFO and transform marketing’s reputation from a cost center to a profit driver.

1. Get on the same financial page.

Collaboration between a CMO and CFO will only work if they are using the same source of truth for their data on budgets and planning. Most of the time that isn’t the case, resulting in a lack of mutual transparency on budgeting and tracking spending. Even as marketing departments’ budgets have soared in recent years, they’ve stuck with the same antiquated budget and planning methods that contribute to their low visibility in the organization. While the CFO is logging into Netsuite or Oracle, the CMO is often grappling with spreadsheets and has no visibility into the CFO’s world. At best, marketing is using a separate system from finance; at worst it has no system at all. CMOs should figure out how to get on the same system as the CFO, even if that just means using the same spreadsheet.

Related: This CMO Took Her Love for Hard Science and Made It Work for Her

2. Get smart about your spending.

One sure way to get in your CFO’s good graces is by becoming more disciplined about the marketing spend. In recent years, marketing departments have spent big on marketing technology. And often it is done so haphazardly that marketing departments are drowning in a sea of poorly matched technology solutions. With martech spending expected to hit $100 billion this year, the pressure is on from CFOs to rein in the costs or at least justify the spending with hard numbers. This means that CMOs may need to re-assess their spending processes, perhaps borrowing best practices from the IT/CIO department, which have a stronger track record on technology purchases.

3. Speak the same language as your CFO.

It seems like an obvious point, but marketing departments were in the wilderness for so long that they still use language and yardsticks that mean little to the CFO or CEO. As CMO, you may be proud of your recent MQL numbers or your latest campaign that harnesses social media influencers. Both could draw blank stares from your CFO unless they are linked to KPIs that he or she uses to measure success. CMOs need to know what KPIs actually move the needle for the CFO and align their metrics accordingly so they are not talking past each other.

4. Spend on people, not just programs.

As marketing budgets grow, the temptation for CMOs is to pour resources into program spending because it seems easy to scale. If you put a dollar into your Google search spend and get $3 back, why not repeat it as many times as possible? That’s fine until it starts to cause bottlenecks in your process because you haven’t invested in hiring good people to run the program. Spending money on people can be a hard sell, but in order to get those scale programs to work, you need to be willing to make some unscalable investments in people.

5. Declare war on waste.

Reducing wasteful spending, both externally and internally, is a sure-fire way to make friends with your CFO. One survey found that marketers waste about a quarter of their spending, so there’s plenty of excesses to trim. A major culprit is the big chunk of marketing spending that has traditionally gone to external agencies, which tend to be both expensive and inefficient. Reliance on agencies can become a long-term crutch for marketing departments, leading to complacency and overspending. Increasingly, marketing departments are moving to bring a lot of those functions in-house, helping to reduce costs and giving them more control over the content. Targeting internal inefficiencies and waste can be just as fruitful. Perhaps you have a creative services team that needs a revamp because it isn’t working efficiently, whether that’s due to technology, process, or people.

Related: This CMO Thinks of Marketing Like a Brad Pitt Movie

By taking most or all of these steps, CMOs can build a much stronger relationship with their CFOs and establish marketing as a well-integrated, profit-driving department. In doing so, CMOs can flip the usual dynamic in which they’re on the defensive, having to justify every dollar spent.

Instead, the CFO might actively spend money on marketing because it’s demonstrably a central growth engine for the business. 

  Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation in 2019 [Quick Tip] https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/nmprofetimg-160.png <div id="hs_cos_wrapper_post_body"> <p><em>“Lisa has recommended you!”</em></p> <p><!--more--></p> <p>Awww, she has?!</p> <p>When I get a LinkedIn recommendation from someone I respect and admire professionally, I feel both honored and encouraged to return the favor. But for some reason, I always get writer’s block. I never know how to start or what to say — only that I like this person’s work and I want others to know it.</p> <p>Unfortunately, simply writing “Lisa is the best!!!!” isn’t reflective of Lisa’s skills — plus it makes you look like a total goon.</p> <p>Luckily, in the past few weeks I’ve written a couple of LinkedIn recommendations that I think turned out pretty well, and they reflected a pattern that’s easy to replicate in subsequent recommendations. I thought I’d share that pattern with others that suffer the same writer’s block.</p> <h3><a href="//offers.hubspot.com/how-use-linkedin" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Download our ultimate guide to LinkedIn here for more tips about how to use LinkedIn for professional networking.</a></h3> <p>Here’s a quick little “template” you can use that makes for a LinkedIn recommendation that’s specific, honest, succinct, and helpful for the person you’re recommending.</p> <div class="hsg-featured-snippet"> <div class="hsg-featured-snippet__wrapper"> <h2>How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation</h2> <div class="hsg-featured-snippet__wrapper--content" data-type="ordered_list"> <ol> <li>Explain the nature of your professional relationship.</li> <li>Provide details of the position for which you’re recommending the person.</li> <li>Explain how they’ve grown at the company.</li> <li>Indicate how their contribution helped grow the team or company.</li> <li>Explain what these achievements reveal about that person.</li> <li>End with a note about the personal aspect of working with him/her.</li> </ol> </div></div> </p></div> <h3>1. Explain the nature of your professional relationship.</h3> <p>That sounds really serious, but it’s simply a helpful piece of context that acts as an “intro” for your recommendation. Whether it’s a coworker you’ve worked closely with for years, a manager, a direct report, a point of contact at an agency, or something else entirely, it sets the stage for the reader to learn why you’re writing this recommendation.</p> <h4>For Example:</h4> <p><em>I’ve worked alongside Lisa for close to two years now.</em></p> <h3>2. Provide details of the position for which you’re recommending the person.</h3> <p>Are you recommending this person for their work in one position? Or are you writing about their work across multiple jobs they’ve held while you worked with them? Either way, a great next step is to explain some of the notable parts of their job(s). It may feel strange — kind of like you’re listing out their job description. But this is very helpful for anyone reading the recommendation, looking to get a feel for what precisely it is they did in their job.</p> <p id="last">Resist the urge to create a laundry list of their job duties. If they’ve really worn that many hats, I recommend contacting them to see if there’s a certain part of their role they’d like emphasized over others.</p> <h4>For Example:</h4> <p><em>In those two years, I’ve seen her not only excel at the core elements of her job — like copywriting and copyediting — but also learn other tasks that extend well beyond the scope of her role, like email marketing, event planning, and even championing our company’s internal communications.</em></p> <h3>3. Explain how they’ve grown at the company.</h3> <p>If this person reports (or once reported) to you, this aspect of a LinkedIn recommendation can go a long way. Explaining how the person you’re recommending has grown — either in their role or from one role to another — can demonstrate an ability to adapt as the organization expands.</p> <p>Just be careful not to overstate any low points in the person’s career that can dilute the value of the growth you’re trying to highlight.</p> <h4>For Example:</h4> <p><em>Lisa has grown as quickly as our business has, and her willingness to learn and take on these new responsibilities is something to be desired in any professional.</em></p> <h3>4. Indicate how their contribution helped grow the team or company.</h3> <p>This could be an explanation of how their performance helped hit hard metrics, or it could demonstrate a contribution toward more esoteric things, like leading their teammates or fostering new initiatives.</p> <h4>For Example:</h4> <p><em>Lisa’s mastery for both her core role, and the projects that extend beyond it, have been critical to the company’s growth. In fact, her taking on internal company communication aligned with a sharp increase in employee happiness.</em></p> <h3>5. Explain what these achievements reveal about that person.</h3> <p>By now, you’ve included some specifics — so let’s explain what those specifics mean for the larger theme of your recommendation. Do the examples you’ve detailed reveal that person is hard-working? Ambitious? Great for team morale? Connect their accomplishments with their attributes.</p> <h4>For Example:</h4> <p><em>This rare mix of productivity and ambition sets a great example for the rest of the team, and explains why everyone loves working with Lisa — no matter where they fall on the org chart. </em></p> <h3>6. End with a note about the personal aspect of working with him/her.</h3> <p>In this section, hit the message home with a mention of how you felt working with the person, your hopes for their career, or simply a prediction about their future.</p> <h4>For Example:</h4> <p><em>While Lisa’s work has continued to pay dividends long past her tenure here, I certainly miss working with her every day. I have only optimistic predictions for her career trajectory.</em></p> <h2>LinkedIn Recommendation Examples</h2> <h3>Recommendation From an Employee</h3> <p>In the recommendation below, a person discusses how their supervisor progressed at the company and how this person mentored them so they too could grow as an employee. </p> <h2><img src="https://i0.wp.com/blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2490.png?w=600&ssl=1" alt="Team Lead LinkedIn Recommendation" srcset="https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2490.png?width=300&name=image-2490.png 300w, https://i0.wp.com/blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2490.png?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2490.png?width=900&name=image-2490.png 900w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2490.png?width=1200&name=image-2490.png 1200w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2490.png?width=1500&name=image-2490.png 1500w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2490.png?width=1800&name=image-2490.png 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" data-recalc-dims="1"></h2> <h3>Recommendation from an Employer</h3> <p>In this recommendation, an employer explains how an employee progressed and executed on projects that made a big impact on their company:</p> <p><img src="https://i2.wp.com/blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2491.png?w=600&ssl=1" alt="Manager's Recommendation on LinkedIn" srcset="https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2491.png?width=300&name=image-2491.png 300w, https://i2.wp.com/blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2491.png?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2491.png?width=900&name=image-2491.png 900w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2491.png?width=1200&name=image-2491.png 1200w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2491.png?width=1500&name=image-2491.png 1500w, https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-2491.png?width=1800&name=image-2491.png 1800w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" data-recalc-dims="1"></p> <h2>LinkedIn Recommendation Sample (for a Manager)</h2> <p>Now, writing a LinkedIn recommendation can seem easier said than done. What if the employee you’re recommending is your <strong>superior</strong>? This can make it more difficult to recommend the person — even if you’re saying stellar things about them.</p> <p>To avoid sounding patronizing or tone deaf when addressing a higher-level professional, here’s a sample LinkedIn recommendation — written in full — that a manager would be proud to receive (notice how it embraces every step outlined above).</p> <p><em>I’ve worked for Lisa for two years, and in those two years, I’ve seen her quickly take on new responsibilities while having the time to teach this information back into her employees. By inheriting tasks like campaign analytics and email A/B testing — both of which extend beyond the scope of our team — she’s made our department much more agile, and set me up for a promotion last month. Lisa is as great a person as she was a manager, and her next employer will be lucky to have her.</em></p> <p>Now proofread, and hit send. Remember, the recipient has the opportunity to review and request changes to your recommendation, so if you’re concerned you haven’t written a recommendation in the most helpful way possible, they can still get in touch with edit requests.</p> <p><em>Editor’s note: This blog post was originally published in July 2018, but was updated in November 2019 for comprehensiveness.</em></p> <p><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-085a035c-7b64-44ff-bb85-63e3718da96e"><span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-085a035c-7b64-44ff-bb85-63e3718da96e" id="hs-cta-085a035c-7b64-44ff-bb85-63e3718da96e"><!--[if lte IE 8]> <div id="hs-cta-ie-element"></div> <![endif]--><a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/53/085a035c-7b64-44ff-bb85-63e3718da96e" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-085a035c-7b64-44ff-bb85-63e3718da96e" src="https://i0.wp.com/no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/085a035c-7b64-44ff-bb85-63e3718da96e.png?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="free guide to using linkedin" data-recalc-dims="1"></a></span></span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --></p> <div id="slidebox"><a class="close"> </a> <!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --> <span class="hs-cta-wrapper" id="hs-cta-wrapper-41ec2dca-fd0f-4a1b-a2da-e338ec222e84"> <span class="hs-cta-node hs-cta-41ec2dca-fd0f-4a1b-a2da-e338ec222e84" id="hs-cta-41ec2dca-fd0f-4a1b-a2da-e338ec222e84"> <!--[if lte IE 8]> <div id="hs-cta-ie-element"></div> <![endif]--> <a href="http://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/53/41ec2dca-fd0f-4a1b-a2da-e338ec222e84" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-41ec2dca-fd0f-4a1b-a2da-e338ec222e84" src="https://i0.wp.com/no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/41ec2dca-fd0f-4a1b-a2da-e338ec222e84.png?w=1200&ssl=1" alt="free guide to using linkedin" data-recalc-dims="1"></a> </span><br /> </span> <!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --></div> </div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/how-to-write-a-linkedin-recommendation-in-2019-quick-tip

How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation in 2019 [Quick Tip]

“Lisa has recommended you!”

Awww, she has?!

When I get a LinkedIn recommendation from someone I respect and admire professionally, I feel both honored and encouraged to return the favor. But for some reason, I always get writer’s block. I never know how to start or what to say — only that I like this person’s work and I want others to know it.

Unfortunately, simply writing “Lisa is the best!!!!” isn’t reflective of Lisa’s skills — plus it makes you look like a total goon.

Luckily, in the past few weeks I’ve written a couple of LinkedIn recommendations that I think turned out pretty well, and they reflected a pattern that’s easy to replicate in subsequent recommendations. I thought I’d share that pattern with others that suffer the same writer’s block.

Download our ultimate guide to LinkedIn here for more tips about how to use LinkedIn for professional networking.

Here’s a quick little “template” you can use that makes for a LinkedIn recommendation that’s specific, honest, succinct, and helpful for the person you’re recommending.

How to Write a LinkedIn Recommendation

Explain the nature of your professional relationship.

Provide details of the position for which you’re recommending the person.

Explain how they’ve grown at the company.

Indicate how their contribution helped grow the team or company.

Explain what these achievements reveal about that person.

End with a note about the personal aspect of working with him/her.

1. Explain the nature of your professional relationship.

That sounds really serious, but it’s simply a helpful piece of context that acts as an “intro” for your recommendation. Whether it’s a coworker you’ve worked closely with for years, a manager, a direct report, a point of contact at an agency, or something else entirely, it sets the stage for the reader to learn why you’re writing this recommendation.

For Example:

I’ve worked alongside Lisa for close to two years now.

2. Provide details of the position for which you’re recommending the person.

Are you recommending this person for their work in one position? Or are you writing about their work across multiple jobs they’ve held while you worked with them? Either way, a great next step is to explain some of the notable parts of their job(s). It may feel strange — kind of like you’re listing out their job description. But this is very helpful for anyone reading the recommendation, looking to get a feel for what precisely it is they did in their job.

Resist the urge to create a laundry list of their job duties. If they’ve really worn that many hats, I recommend contacting them to see if there’s a certain part of their role they’d like emphasized over others.

For Example:

In those two years, I’ve seen her not only excel at the core elements of her job — like copywriting and copyediting — but also learn other tasks that extend well beyond the scope of her role, like email marketing, event planning, and even championing our company’s internal communications.

3. Explain how they’ve grown at the company.

If this person reports (or once reported) to you, this aspect of a LinkedIn recommendation can go a long way. Explaining how the person you’re recommending has grown — either in their role or from one role to another — can demonstrate an ability to adapt as the organization expands.

Just be careful not to overstate any low points in the person’s career that can dilute the value of the growth you’re trying to highlight.

For Example:

Lisa has grown as quickly as our business has, and her willingness to learn and take on these new responsibilities is something to be desired in any professional.

4. Indicate how their contribution helped grow the team or company.

This could be an explanation of how their performance helped hit hard metrics, or it could demonstrate a contribution toward more esoteric things, like leading their teammates or fostering new initiatives.

For Example:

Lisa’s mastery for both her core role, and the projects that extend beyond it, have been critical to the company’s growth. In fact, her taking on internal company communication aligned with a sharp increase in employee happiness.

5. Explain what these achievements reveal about that person.

By now, you’ve included some specifics — so let’s explain what those specifics mean for the larger theme of your recommendation. Do the examples you’ve detailed reveal that person is hard-working? Ambitious? Great for team morale? Connect their accomplishments with their attributes.

For Example:

This rare mix of productivity and ambition sets a great example for the rest of the team, and explains why everyone loves working with Lisa — no matter where they fall on the org chart.

6. End with a note about the personal aspect of working with him/her.

In this section, hit the message home with a mention of how you felt working with the person, your hopes for their career, or simply a prediction about their future.

For Example:

While Lisa’s work has continued to pay dividends long past her tenure here, I certainly miss working with her every day. I have only optimistic predictions for her career trajectory.

LinkedIn Recommendation Examples

Recommendation From an Employee

In the recommendation below, a person discusses how their supervisor progressed at the company and how this person mentored them so they too could grow as an employee. 

Recommendation from an Employer

In this recommendation, an employer explains how an employee progressed and executed on projects that made a big impact on their company:

LinkedIn Recommendation Sample (for a Manager)

Now, writing a LinkedIn recommendation can seem easier said than done. What if the employee you’re recommending is your superior? This can make it more difficult to recommend the person — even if you’re saying stellar things about them.

To avoid sounding patronizing or tone deaf when addressing a higher-level professional, here’s a sample LinkedIn recommendation — written in full — that a manager would be proud to receive (notice how it embraces every step outlined above).

I’ve worked for Lisa for two years, and in those two years, I’ve seen her quickly take on new responsibilities while having the time to teach this information back into her employees. By inheriting tasks like campaign analytics and email A/B testing — both of which extend beyond the scope of our team — she’s made our department much more agile, and set me up for a promotion last month. Lisa is as great a person as she was a manager, and her next employer will be lucky to have her.

Now proofread, and hit send. Remember, the recipient has the opportunity to review and request changes to your recommendation, so if you’re concerned you haven’t written a recommendation in the most helpful way possible, they can still get in touch with edit requests.

Editor’s note: This blog post was originally published in July 2018, but was updated in November 2019 for comprehensiveness.

Kestrel Digital Media

[kdm-posts]

Boeing Max Return Has More Layers Than an Onion <div data-reactid="43" readability="94.141139240506"> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Boeing Co.’s 737 Max may be&nbsp;inching toward a return, but&nbsp;the crisis is far from over." data-reactid="44">(Bloomberg Opinion) — Boeing Co.’s 737 Max may be inching toward a return, but the crisis is far from over.</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="The airplane maker said Monday that it continues to aim for Federal Aviation Administration certification of updates to the troubled Max in the current quarter, which could allow it to start delivering the jets&nbsp; in December. It could take several more weeks to finalize pilot-training requirements, which would mean airlines wouldn’t technically be allowed to fly the planes until January at the earliest. And then airlines would need more time on top of that to bring planes out of storage and implement said training. Southwest Airlines Co. and American Airlines Group Inc. said last week that they weren’t planning to fly the Max as part of their fleets until early March, nearly a full year after the second of two fatal crashes prompted a worldwide grounding of the plane." data-reactid="45">The airplane maker said Monday that it continues to aim for Federal Aviation Administration certification of updates to the troubled Max in the current quarter, which could allow it to start delivering the jets  in December. It could take several more weeks to finalize pilot-training requirements, which would mean airlines wouldn’t technically be allowed to fly the planes until January at the earliest. And then airlines would need more time on top of that to bring planes out of storage and implement said training. Southwest Airlines Co. and American Airlines Group Inc. said last week that they weren’t planning to fly the Max as part of their fleets until early March, nearly a full year after the second of two fatal crashes prompted a worldwide grounding of the plane.</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="This is a shift from Boeing’s forecast of a fourth-quarter return for the Max. While Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg had warned the Max’s return may be “phased” in across geographical jurisdictions&nbsp;amid greater scrutiny from the European Union, it now appears that the FAA’s approval process will have multiple steps as well.&nbsp;In hindsight, there was a subtle wording shift in Boeing's third-quarter earnings materials to "regulatory approval for the Max&nbsp;return to service" in the fourth quarter, versus its language in July, which mentioned an unqualified&nbsp;"return to service."" data-reactid="46">This is a shift from Boeing’s forecast of a fourth-quarter return for the Max. While Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg had warned the Max’s return may be “phased” in across geographical jurisdictions amid greater scrutiny from the European Union, it now appears that the FAA’s approval process will have multiple steps as well. In hindsight, there was a subtle wording shift in Boeing’s third-quarter earnings materials to “regulatory approval for the Max return to service” in the fourth quarter, versus its language in July, which mentioned an unqualified “return to service.”</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="Still, investors viewed the news of December deliveries as a positive, and it&nbsp;has a clear appeal for Boeing. The debate over pilot-training requirements has the potential to get contentious with families of the victims of the two Max crashes and Canada Transport Minister Marc Garneau among those who have advocated for much more rigorous (and expensive) simulator training. And Boeing doesn’t have a lot of time to wait. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that it has two months’ worth of parking space left before it will have to explore other storage options for a glut of undeliverable Max jets. In the worst-case scenario, continuing&nbsp;delays to the Max’s return could force it to reduce or halt production." data-reactid="47">Still, investors viewed the news of December deliveries as a positive, and it has a clear appeal for Boeing. The debate over pilot-training requirements has the potential to get contentious with families of the victims of the two Max crashes and Canada Transport Minister Marc Garneau among those who have advocated for much more rigorous (and expensive) simulator training. And Boeing doesn’t have a lot of time to wait. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that it has two months’ worth of parking space left before it will have to explore other storage options for a glut of undeliverable Max jets. In the worst-case scenario, continuing delays to the Max’s return could force it to reduce or halt production.</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="Why the FAA would be willing to throw Boeing a bone like this is less clear. I will note that in the company’s&nbsp;news release updating investors on the timeline for the Max, Boeing&nbsp;says it’s “possible” the FAA will allow it to start delivering jets in December. Still, this is the most detailed plan yet for the Max’s return to commercial flight and can&nbsp;be taken as a sign that Boeing feels confident there won’t be further snags as it enters the final stages of winning the FAA’s approval for its fixes. That will be a relief after reports last week that regulators found Boeing’s documentation for a proposed software fix lacking and requested that the paperwork be resubmitted." data-reactid="48">Why the FAA would be willing to throw Boeing a bone like this is less clear. I will note that in the company’s news release updating investors on the timeline for the Max, Boeing says it’s “possible” the FAA will allow it to start delivering jets in December. Still, this is the most detailed plan yet for the Max’s return to commercial flight and can be taken as a sign that Boeing feels confident there won’t be further snags as it enters the final stages of winning the FAA’s approval for its fixes. That will be a relief after reports last week that regulators found Boeing’s documentation for a proposed software fix lacking and requested that the paperwork be resubmitted.</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="Getting the plane back in the sky may be Boeing’s most pressing task, but it certainly isn’t&nbsp;the end of this story. Even with the potential to deliver Max jets before pilot training is finalized, attempting to deliver 30 to 40 planes per month while holding on to the current 42-a-month production rate could be a “logistical nightmare” in terms of costs and human capital, SunTrust analyst Michael Ciarmoli wrote in a report this week before Boeing’s timeline update. Then there’s the matter of compensation for the airlines. With major executives signaling they aren’t happy with what Boeing has offered so far, the company’s estimate for $5.6 billion in customer concessions, net of insurance, is likely to rise. Airlines may also want to be compensated for the public-relations pushes they are planning to help convince the flying public that the Max is safe to fly. American CEO Doug Parker said last week that the cost of the damage to his airline from the Max grounding&nbsp;“should be borne by the Boeing shareholders because this was their failure, not ours.”" data-reactid="49">Getting the plane back in the sky may be Boeing’s most pressing task, but it certainly isn’t the end of this story. Even with the potential to deliver Max jets before pilot training is finalized, attempting to deliver 30 to 40 planes per month while holding on to the current 42-a-month production rate could be a “logistical nightmare” in terms of costs and human capital, SunTrust analyst Michael Ciarmoli wrote in a report this week before Boeing’s timeline update. Then there’s the matter of compensation for the airlines. With major executives signaling they aren’t happy with what Boeing has offered so far, the company’s estimate for $5.6 billion in customer concessions, net of insurance, is likely to rise. Airlines may also want to be compensated for the public-relations pushes they are planning to help convince the flying public that the Max is safe to fly. American CEO Doug Parker said last week that the cost of the damage to his airline from the Max grounding “should be borne by the Boeing shareholders because this was their failure, not ours.”</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="All of this is before you get to the lasting consequences of the Max crisis, which could range from tougher regulatory reviews to a reconsideration of the rampant consolidation governments have allowed in the aerospace industry. Also on Monday, the EU stopped the clock on its review of Boeing’s purchase of a majority stake in Embraer SA’s commercial-jet program amid concerns that it will wipe out the only remaining viable competition to Boeing and Airbus SE’s duopoly. It’s hard to fathom similar concern in the U.S., where Boeing is regarded as a national champion and lawmakers are concerned about the risks posed by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., or&nbsp;Comac. Indeed, no lawmaker pressed CEO Muilenburg on antitrust during his two days of testimony before Congress last month. But there is room to push back on Boeing’s consolidation of its supply chain. It’s not healthy for one company to have so much power and the Max crisis should force the U.S. to reckon with that. &nbsp;" data-reactid="50">All of this is before you get to the lasting consequences of the Max crisis, which could range from tougher regulatory reviews to a reconsideration of the rampant consolidation governments have allowed in the aerospace industry. Also on Monday, the EU stopped the clock on its review of Boeing’s purchase of a majority stake in Embraer SA’s commercial-jet program amid concerns that it will wipe out the only remaining viable competition to Boeing and Airbus SE’s duopoly. It’s hard to fathom similar concern in the U.S., where Boeing is regarded as a national champion and lawmakers are concerned about the risks posed by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., or Comac. Indeed, no lawmaker pressed CEO Muilenburg on antitrust during his two days of testimony before Congress last month. But there is room to push back on Boeing’s consolidation of its supply chain. It’s not healthy for one company to have so much power and the Max crisis should force the U.S. to reckon with that.  </p> <p><button class="read-more-button Td(n) Cur(p) D(ib) Fw(b) Fz(14px) Fz(15px)--lg W(180px)--sm Bdc($c-fuji-blue-1-a) Bdrs(4px) Bds(s) Bdw(2px) Bgc($c-fuji-blue-1-a):h C($c-fuji-blue-1-a)! C(#fff)!:h Lts(.3px) Px(30px) Py(10px) Lh(1)" data-reactid="52"><span data-reactid="53">Story continues</span></button></p> <div class="Ov(h) Trs($transition-readmore) Mah(0)" data-reactid="54" readability="17.27027027027"> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="To contact the author of this story: Brooke Sutherland at [email protected]" data-reactid="55">To contact the author of this story: Brooke Sutherland at [email protected]</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="To contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at [email protected]" data-reactid="56">To contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at [email protected]</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners." data-reactid="57">This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="Brooke Sutherland is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies. She previously wrote an M&amp;A column for Bloomberg News." data-reactid="58">Brooke Sutherland is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.</p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content='For more articles like this, please visit us at <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">bloomberg.com/opinion</a>' data-reactid="59">For more articles like this, please visit us at <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">bloomberg.com/opinion</a></p> <p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" type="text" content="©2019 Bloomberg L.P." data-reactid="60">©2019 Bloomberg L.P.</p> </div> </div> Kestrel Digital Media

New Post has been published on https://kestreldigitalmedia.com/blog/boeing-max-return-has-more-layers-than-an-onion

Boeing Max Return Has More Layers Than an Onion

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Boeing Co.’s 737 Max may be inching toward a return, but the crisis is far from over.

The airplane maker said Monday that it continues to aim for Federal Aviation Administration certification of updates to the troubled Max in the current quarter, which could allow it to start delivering the jets  in December. It could take several more weeks to finalize pilot-training requirements, which would mean airlines wouldn’t technically be allowed to fly the planes until January at the earliest. And then airlines would need more time on top of that to bring planes out of storage and implement said training. Southwest Airlines Co. and American Airlines Group Inc. said last week that they weren’t planning to fly the Max as part of their fleets until early March, nearly a full year after the second of two fatal crashes prompted a worldwide grounding of the plane.

This is a shift from Boeing’s forecast of a fourth-quarter return for the Max. While Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg had warned the Max’s return may be “phased” in across geographical jurisdictions amid greater scrutiny from the European Union, it now appears that the FAA’s approval process will have multiple steps as well. In hindsight, there was a subtle wording shift in Boeing’s third-quarter earnings materials to “regulatory approval for the Max return to service” in the fourth quarter, versus its language in July, which mentioned an unqualified “return to service.”

Still, investors viewed the news of December deliveries as a positive, and it has a clear appeal for Boeing. The debate over pilot-training requirements has the potential to get contentious with families of the victims of the two Max crashes and Canada Transport Minister Marc Garneau among those who have advocated for much more rigorous (and expensive) simulator training. And Boeing doesn’t have a lot of time to wait. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that it has two months’ worth of parking space left before it will have to explore other storage options for a glut of undeliverable Max jets. In the worst-case scenario, continuing delays to the Max’s return could force it to reduce or halt production.

Why the FAA would be willing to throw Boeing a bone like this is less clear. I will note that in the company’s news release updating investors on the timeline for the Max, Boeing says it’s “possible” the FAA will allow it to start delivering jets in December. Still, this is the most detailed plan yet for the Max’s return to commercial flight and can be taken as a sign that Boeing feels confident there won’t be further snags as it enters the final stages of winning the FAA’s approval for its fixes. That will be a relief after reports last week that regulators found Boeing’s documentation for a proposed software fix lacking and requested that the paperwork be resubmitted.

Getting the plane back in the sky may be Boeing’s most pressing task, but it certainly isn’t the end of this story. Even with the potential to deliver Max jets before pilot training is finalized, attempting to deliver 30 to 40 planes per month while holding on to the current 42-a-month production rate could be a “logistical nightmare” in terms of costs and human capital, SunTrust analyst Michael Ciarmoli wrote in a report this week before Boeing’s timeline update. Then there’s the matter of compensation for the airlines. With major executives signaling they aren’t happy with what Boeing has offered so far, the company’s estimate for $5.6 billion in customer concessions, net of insurance, is likely to rise. Airlines may also want to be compensated for the public-relations pushes they are planning to help convince the flying public that the Max is safe to fly. American CEO Doug Parker said last week that the cost of the damage to his airline from the Max grounding “should be borne by the Boeing shareholders because this was their failure, not ours.”

All of this is before you get to the lasting consequences of the Max crisis, which could range from tougher regulatory reviews to a reconsideration of the rampant consolidation governments have allowed in the aerospace industry. Also on Monday, the EU stopped the clock on its review of Boeing’s purchase of a majority stake in Embraer SA’s commercial-jet program amid concerns that it will wipe out the only remaining viable competition to Boeing and Airbus SE’s duopoly. It’s hard to fathom similar concern in the U.S., where Boeing is regarded as a national champion and lawmakers are concerned about the risks posed by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., or Comac. Indeed, no lawmaker pressed CEO Muilenburg on antitrust during his two days of testimony before Congress last month. But there is room to push back on Boeing’s consolidation of its supply chain. It’s not healthy for one company to have so much power and the Max crisis should force the U.S. to reckon with that.  

Story continues

To contact the author of this story: Brooke Sutherland at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at [email protected]

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Brooke Sutherland is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Kestrel Digital Media