Archive - January, 2010

Fashion Fun at Women’s Networking Evening at Harvey Nichols

January 26, 2010 in Bristol, Event with Comments Off

In for the Spring / Summer Season 2010, the Scuba Dress (Design shown by MaxMara).

GWE Business West welcomed over 50 business women, representing a diverse mix of sectors, to our first women’s networking event of 2010, which was held at Harvey Nichols in Bristol.

General manager, Sue Stones, provided an overview of the key trends for the Spring Summer season, including some new styles such as the Silky T, the Contour Panel Pant and the Scuba Dress, as well an old faithful of any fashionista’s wardrobe, the Trenchcoat.

Sue Stones said “It was lovely to welcome over 50 fellow business women to the Harvey Nichols Second Floor Restaurant, hopefully everyone managed to take away something from my trend talk which they can apply for this season and on a personal level I made some really good contacts on the night.”

The event was held in Harvey Nichols fabulous gold dining room, where ladies enjoyed a superb meal including options of seared squid, fillet of bream and a special chocolate mousse which went down a treat.

Sue Stones, General Manager at Harvey Nichols, Amanda Davey, Head of Events & Training at GWE Business West, and raffle winner Penny Tombs, Finance Director at Farpoint.

Delegates also had the chance to take part in a raffle to win £25 worth of Harvey Nichols vouchers, which was won by Penny Tombs, Finance Director at Farpoint, based in Bath.

Harvey Nichols run fashion shows twice yearly, with the next one in Bristol to be held in March. To receive information about the fashion shows, simply log onto www.harveynichols.com and go to the sign up page, enter your details and select your nearest store as Bristol.

GWE Business West’s next women’s networking evening will be held on Brunel’s ss Great Britain on 16th March, with guest speaker Tina Coulsting Carter, director at Mentor Consultancy. Tina is a renowned specialist in presentation and communication skills, as well as the author of Get the Presentation X-Factor. The evening will include a two course meal and a glass of wine.  BOOK HERE

Weather Resistant Business Continuity

January 13, 2010 in Guest Blogger with Comments Off

Snow-bound UKGuest Blogger: Member, James Geldart, Nuvola Ltd

We’ve having the worst snow in decades according to the statistics. We’ve been brought to a standstill. According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), lost employee productivity could cost the UK £600m per day.

The good news for our clients is there are no excuses for an extended holiday since their custom-built business management systems can be accessed from anywhere there is an internet connection.

It might be a stretch to say we are making local businesses productive, but clients using our software have a much better chance of working undisrupted if staff can continue to access the systems they rely on during the current weather conditions.

Our web-based systems have business continuity built in – even if you can’t get to your office, you can still use the software. Grant Smith, Director of one of our long standing clients, AzteQ Solutions Ltd, found this out recently: “The snow has been particularly bad where we are, and many of my team have struggled to get into work. The fact that the system Nuvola developed is not tied to our office, though, has made it a lot easier for people to work from home. This has certainly saved us time, money and a lot of frustration in recent weeks.”

And of course, this technology makes businesses more robust at any time. If your office is flooded or you’re a victim of fire or theft, you can still access your data, and back-ups are taken care of without you having to think about it. As well as this built-in stability, the ability to work flexibly from anywhere, all year round, is clearly an advantage in today’s world.

For any businesses out there still using traditional software instead of cloud applications, this is a good time to talk to Nuvola. Until February 2010, you can receive 20% off your initial order quoting SNOW.

Contact: James Geldart
 james@nuvola.co.uk
www.nuvola.co.uk  
07968 210 725

What is Social Media and Why Should You Care?

January 5, 2010 in Guest Blogger with 1 Comment

Guest blogger: Member, Simon Newing, MD at Focus New Media

2009 has seen the proliferation of a whole range of words and phrases that may have left many business owners scratching their heads – and we now find ourselves needing to Twitter, to ‘poke’ and to ‘ LinkIn’.

All of these strange terms are generally thrown under the umbrella of “social media”, which can be thought of as the use of a series of (mainly) internet based applications to spread ‘word of mouth’. They allow the sharing of opinion, thought, comments and – this is where it can get interesting for businesses – recommendations, ratings and referrals. If you’re not using these applications to talk to your customers, it’s a fair bet they’re already using them to talk about you.

Here’s a quick overview of how some of the most fundamental elements of social media can be used by businesses to communicate with customers and colleagues:

  • Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Facebook has over 300 million users and a business profile page can help some of them become “fans” of your organisation or your products. Nike currently has over 825,000 fans. Fans include links to your profile page as part of their profile, which can then spread to their friends, and their friends – and for very little effort you’ve hit upon an effective ‘viral’ method of spreading awareness of what you’re up to.
  • Twitte r is a popular ‘micro-blogging’ service that essentially allows you to climb to the top of a big hill and yell things at those who have chosen to listen. Helped by celebrities such as Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross, Twitter usage has risen dramatically this year and we at Focus New Media have just over 310 ‘followers’. Twitter also includes useful built-in tools that help you identify when your organisation is being talked about and by whom.
  • Founded in 2003, LinkedIn has become a leading site for online networking – acting much like a Facebook for businesses. The site now has over 53 million users in 200 countries and it can be used for connecting with past and present colleagues, posting projects and business opportunities, finding industry experts and according to some reports has become a crucial resource for HR departments.

That’s just a very quick overview of some of the core blocks that make up this new world of social media and they form an important part of your organisation’s digital strategy.

Simon Newing, MD Focus New Media 0117 9498008
simon.newing@focusnewmedia.com
This is an edited version of the full article which can be seen at our web site: http://www.focusnewmedia.com/blogs/social-media-and-why-you-should-care-about-it