Steadfast Training offer a comprehensive package of pre-employment and in-work support, including non-accredited training and accredited qualifications in Employability; ICT and Social Media; Customer Service; Business Admin; Warehousing; Health Care, Mental Health & Wellbeing; LGBT in the Workplace, as well as Team Leading & Management.
All training we deliver to support young people develop their skills in the workplace is fully funded and comes at no cost to the employer.
Training can be offered as block provision (Monday – Friday) or 1 day per week over several weeks
For more information please contact 0845 223 2401 or email us on [email protected]
TaxAssist Group directors hosted a series of nine virtual interactive meetings to update franchisees with network developments.
With COVID-19 still preventing face-to-face regional meetings, Group Operations Director, Sarah Robertson; Group Commercial Director, Daren Moore and Group Business Development Director, James Mattam recently completed a second series of virtual regional meetings.
Regional meetings are a chance to provide a network update, detail new initiatives, discuss future plans and opportunities and receive feedback, to ensure that every franchisee is engaged, informed and supported, so that they can take full advantage of all of the help and services on offer to them through the Support Centre.
James explained: “It was great to catch up with the network, and we’ve had productive questions and comments plus some good feedback that has really highlighted how effective these events are.”
The following key topics were covered during the meetings:
Software and Practice Management – The continuing move to full digitalisation and automation, as well as the opportunities that are available to the network coming from the next phase of HMRC’s Making Tax Digital initiative.
Future service lines – Supporting clients with our expanding range of services including the introduction of ‘Business Insights’, which provides valuable help and advice to businesses as we start to move past Covid-19 and look to the future.
In-House teams – Development of existing payroll and tax insourcing teams to support the network – and the imminent roll out of new services including, Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and personal tax.
Winning new business – The increase in new business start-ups and established businesses looking to switch accountants due to lack of service and reinforcing the plans for marketing spends for the year ahead.
Amersham-based TaxAssist franchisee Bari Singh, who attended the South East meeting said: “The regional meeting was an eyeopener. I was particularly interested in ‘Business Insights’ to help clients. This combines the three accounting activities for a good modern finance function, Compliance, Business Partnering and Financial Planning Analysis. I can see all three elements in the way we have bundled our services in this offering. This is the best way to help businesses achieve long term success.
“The overall takeaway for me, is that change is coming, but that if we can work together and adapt and use the change to our advantage, then there is a great opportunity to come out of what is an uncertain future, better than we went in.”
If you share a passion to help local businesses, a TaxAssist franchise provides the systems and support you need to be successful. Regular Virtual Discovery Days are available to attend, where you can find out more about the technical, marketing and business development support on offer. Call 0800 0188297 to register your interest.
As applied acoustic engineering (aae) has always known, industry diversification and changes in standards and practices, often necessitate an adjustment in the outputs of associated technology providers. The award winning manufacturer of marine geophysical survey systems long ago identified the shift in business activities of its core customers from traditional offshore oil & gas projects to the burgeoning global offshore wind industry, and has spent time channelling their experience in marine survey practices to remodel and enhance their product portfolio to better serve the needs of this industry. Realigning the highly regarded range of Dura- Spark geophysical sound sources, the UK based company now offers a complete array of systems in tune with the specific requirements and demands put in place by the offshore wind operators.
New for 2020, two lightweight sparkers have been added to the Dura- Spark product line, complementing aae’s existing systems and creating an extended family of negative discharge sparkers. Featuring twin banks of 40 electrode tips, the Dura- Spark L80 can operate in 40 or 80 tip mode, offering energy outputs of either 100 Joules or 200 Joules per shot; ideal for very shallow areas, and coastal & estuarine surveys. Its uniquely small footprint and low power consumption makes it particularly useful on board smaller survey craft with limited deck space and minimal lifting equipment.
The Dura- Spark L200 features twin banks of 100 electrode tips that can be fired at up to 500 Joules per shot concurrently, independently, in flip-flop mode or with a combination of fire delay or split fire delay. This flexibility, together with selectable source depth, allows the sound source to be used in both shallow and deeper waters for multiple marine geophysical data gathering applications.
In service since 2016, the workhorse of the Duraspark range of sparkers continues to be the Dura- Spark UHD 240/400. These proven sound sources can be found across the globe, acquiring the high resolution seismic data required for renewable energy installations, offshore oil & gas surveys and for the research and study of areas of scientific interest. With the ability to operate at energy levels of up to 2000 Joules per shot, these are extremely flexible tools with the capability of working within many project scenarios.
Making its first appearance during the second half of 2019, the Dura- Spark UHD 400 + 400 sits at the head of the Dura- Spark family and is the most sophisticated system in the range. Consisting of twin decks of 400 electrode tips, the operator is able to tune the source from the vessel to fit the required function and data requirements. Each deck can be fired independently from the CSP power supply, in flip flop mode, combined with fire delays or a split fire delay. Utilising the fire delay functions, the signatures from the 2 decks can be combined to bubble form the acoustic signature, creating an extremely clean pulse at high energy outputs, resulting in sparker data of the highest quality and resolution.
All Dura- Spark systems from aae feature negative discharge, long life electrodes designed to provide the consistently stable, repeatable sound pulses required for high resolution sub-bottom geophysical surveys, while keeping operational maintenance to a minimum.
Applied Acoustic Engineering (AAE) has announced the launch of their next generation USBL system, Pyxis USBL. Taking its name from the constellation Pyxis Nautica – the mariner’s compass – Pyxis USBL takes the best of AAE’s subsea acoustic tracking technology with a highly advanced inertial navigation system (INS) from one of the most respected names in the industry, to create a state of the art, inertially aided Ultra Short Baseline system capable of accurate subsea tracking with survey grade performance.
The combination of AAE’s Sigma 2 acoustic protocols and SBG Systems high precision Navsight Apogee Marine INS brings together two leading names in the field of marine technology, resulting in AAE’s most accurate and long range positioning system to date, and in the process providing many time, cost and performance benefits to global survey operators.
As a tightly coupled, factory fitted package, Pyxis USBL is a portable, calibration free system able to immediately operate from any vessel as soon as the work site has been reached. The MEMS based INS does not fall under ITAR regulations, and the range restricted option means the whole system can be shipped unhindered and without export control to almost anywhere in the world. A feature of the Pyxis system is the ability for the operator to deactivate the range restriction in the field under an export-controlled regime.
A spokesperson for SBG Systems commented “AAE and SBG Systems have collaborated for several years on different projects and have established an excellent relationship. We are thrilled that Applied Acoustics has selected our Navsight Apogee OEM high performance system to be integrated into the first-ever USBL to embed a MEMS INS”.
Available with short range omni-directional or long range directional transceiver options, the versatility of Pyxis USBL makes it ideal for very shallow operations such as diver monitoring, for deeper applications where ROV’s and AUV’s might be deployed, and for tracking short or long range towed sensors such as magnetometers and side scan sonars.
The Eastern Landlords Association (ELA) has formed a strategic partnership with Abate Pest Management to support its members with pest control services. The ELA has 1,400 members located throughout the Eastern region and Abate is perfectly located to support them on a proactive contract basis, making regular visits to properties or on an ad-hoc emergency call out service. Abate is already responsible for servicing more than 25,000 residential properties for private landlords, letting agents and housing associations.
ELA members will receive qualified discounts from Abate Pest management for work carried out by quoting their membership number.
Abate Pest Management are experts in domestic and commercial pest control and have been controlling and eliminating pests throughout the Eastern region for over 19 years. They are accredited with ISO 9001, 18001, 14001, CHAS, Safecontractor and are full servicing members of the BPCA (British Pest Control Association).
From their operations centre near Wymondham in Norfolk they manage a team of Technicians and Field Surveyors covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.
In this weeks episode of Impromptu Business Chat James and Mark share their professional experiences on the key traits of successful family businesses. They reflect on the recent Meghan and Harry “debacle” and end with 3 top tips whilst drawing inspiration from industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, thrash metal band Anthrax and US comedy smash Modern Family.
If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Whilst you are there, please like us, and leave a comment. We would love to hear what you are enjoying about the podcast, and it helps others to find us!
TaxAssist Accountants has announced a strategic partnership with Receipt Bank, the award-winning bookkeeping automation platform. The software and services provided by Receipt Bank will ensure that TaxAssist franchisees and their clients are prepared for the latest advances in technology and legislative developments. The partnership comes as TaxAssist Accountants seeks to equip its franchisees with best-in-class software to ensure their services remain valuable, profitable and scalable. Receipt Bank offers a quick and easy way for clients to send their transaction data directly to their accountant’s operating system, via app or email, with no paper and no data entry required.
Alex Smith, from TaxAssist Accountants Plymouth, describes the effect Receipt Bank has had on his business: “The service we offer enables clients to submit expenses using the phone app and/or email-in. “With this high use of automation, I envisage my team being able to serve a much higher number of bookkeeping clients than our previous approach permitted, and without additional software costs, this means additional work at a high margin. “In six weeks, we have rolled ‘Real Time Bookkeeping’ out to around 10 clients who were not previously buying bookkeeping from us. Clients also value this service more than much of our routine compliance for them, presumably as it’s a way of taking away what has been a pain point for them.” This partnership will allow other TaxAssist franchisees to focus more on their clients’ business needs, instead of manual processing, explains Group Operations Director Sarah Robertson. “Our members are embracing new technologies at all levels in order to pass on the benefits of their experience and expertise to their clients,” she explained. “As practices prepare for the arrival of Making Tax Digital, tools like Receipt Bank will be essential for implementing digital processes and improving efficiency.” Receipt Bank CEO Alexis Prenn, added: “The role of an accountant in a business has never been more important, helping them understand new technology and processes. We’re excited to combine our best-in-class technology with TaxAssist Accountants expertise.”
Series one of the Tourism Business Chat podcast is now wrapped up. In the spirit of the podcast itself, we’re taking time to look back on the themes and key points that have come from this first batch of fascinating conversations.
2020 was a tough year on the sector, and each of our guests had a unique insight into the last 12 months, and how to succeed in the sector. The series launched with guest Andrew Hird, from Woodland Holiday Park, who chose the path of optimism throughout. The park was financially secure, so he focused on staff wellbeing and planning for the future. Phillip Turner, MD of Chestnut, spoke about leaders’ frustrations with the Government handling of restrictions; Richard Hughes, from The Assembly House, hoped that the perception of jobs in the sector would change, and he also questioned whether Eat Out to Help Out was the right thing to do.
Ruth Knight, from Norfolk Broads Direct, has an infectious love for the sector and the Broads, which demonstrated how success comes from having a passion for what you do; and Richard Turvill, Managing Director of Camplings, spoke openly about Brexit and how it continues to provide obstacles, and how, alongside dealing with lockdown restrictions, there’s been a focus on staff.
Each guest opened up about how they coped personally and professionally at the start of the first lockdown. Andrew Hird spoke of the worry that came with not being able to honor promises, how they had to ‘lick their wounds’ and write a new plan; Philip talked about his fear of the ‘long-term sick note’, the aftermath for furloughed staff, many of whom he fears may struggle to come back full time; Richard talked about retaining staff into the future, and how having confidence in the business was key for coming out the other side; Ruth spoke about how the worry was in the ‘not-knowing’, and the technology changes that were needed in order to operate; and Richard Turvill described how tourism essentially crashed, and having to tell people there might not be any work for them to come back to, was one of the worst things he’s ever had to do.
There were other hot topics discussed including the reduction of VAT; importance of planning; engaging with Destination Marketing Organisations; wellbeing of teams; the lifeline that was the furlough scheme; and interestingly, the opportunity that leaders in the sector have seen in the downturn of retail and how they can recruit from the job losses. Each episode finishes with their top-tip in business, and their message to those looking to get into the sector ̶ invaluable to all, from budding entrepreneurs to managers and future maître d’s!
The aim of this series of discussions was to help others in the sector know that they weren’t alone in how they were feeling, and to inspire them in the battle for survival. All our guests predicted a boom in ‘staycations’, all are positive that the sector will recover, and that the public will look at the industry through new eyes, appreciating the businesses on their doorstep more than ever before. We all know now what it’s like to live without the opportunity to enjoy a day out, someone else cooking for us, weekends away or a quick pint after work. This series has highlighted that business leaders are working hard to make sure that jobs are secure, offerings better than ever, and that they are ready to welcome us all back. “You can always do more,” says Richard Turvill, “but we’ve tried hard.”
Tourism Business Chat will return in April 2021, with another exciting group of guests; including the team behind the hugely popular Thursford Christmas Spectacular; the breakout vegan stars Hanks Deli; and many more!
You can catch up with all episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you find your podcasts, or you can listen through our website at www.larking-gowen.co.uk/tourism
We at Breakwater IT are excited to to be bringing cloud-based CCTV management to our service offering through our new partnership with CamCloud.
Who are CamCloud? CamCloud was founded on the idea that video surveillance solutions are complicated, expensive, and difficult to manage. They’ve made it their mission to deliver a solution that is easy-to-use, reliable and completely cloud-driven. Therefore, it requires no specialised on-premise systems. A direct connection is set up between the camera to the cloud with 24/7 recording. In addition, all footage recorded is encrypted. The CamCloud portal then allows you to access your CCTV footage at any time, wherever you are. This can be done via desktop or mobile app. Our new partnership As a CamCloud partner, you can gain access to their solutions and support directly through us, your local IT provider. We can therefore deliver cost-effective CCTV solutions to suit your needs and budget. We’ll be offering a range of packages based on how long you would like the footage to be stored for. Additionally, we will also be offering packages that include CCTV camera. If you choose to purchase a camera through us, we’ll spread the cost over 36-months with no upfront cost. Here are the key points: By choosing cloud CCTV, you’ll experience a range of benefits including:
Cost-effective CCTV to keep your premises safe
Expected uptime of 99.9% via Amazon Web Services
24/7 access to footage via a desktop or mobile app
24/7 encrypted recording
Software is always up to date and secure
No on-premise hardware needed
Choose a package to suit your budget, including cameras
Special Offer Until Friday 28th May, if you purchase a CamCloud package with us, we’ll cover the setup fees! This includes setup of the portal and installation of the cameras*. Our packages start from as little as £9.95 per month for the CamCloud management portal. For further details on pricing and specification, download our product brochure below or get in touch for a chat today! Download Product Brochure01603 709300 | [email protected] | Visit our website *Camera installation is included in the offer where cabling is already in place. Any additional cabling will be charged at an hourly rate.
Series 2 launches with a real treat – a behind the curtains look at Thursford, famous for its Christmas Spectacular show, weddings and more. A favourite of locals, tourists, and celebrities alike!
Looking back on March 2020, brothers Charlie (General Manager) and George (Project and Marketing Manager) Cushing were positive and thinking, “Thank goodness the pandemic isn’t happening at Christmas!” Cut to December 2020, and they’ve had to plan and orchestrate a completely new, and equally thrilling, theatre-esque experience for their loyal fan-base.
They have a fascinating story to tell. They set out on a journey where they could continue to support other local businesses by minimising the knock-on effect that cancelling their annual event would have on the local economy, and the team of professional performers they hire. The arts have been hit massively by lockdown, and they were determined to provide much needed opportunities where they could.
They also reflect on the history of Thursford, and how it started with steam engines and broken down fairground rides; what life on furlough was like, whilst keeping future plans in mind; the lessons they have learned about communication, keeping the ‘family feel’ to the business, playing to peoples strengths; and how to diversify quickly! Whilst they are planning for the worst, and hoping for the best for 2021, their youthful energy and fresh ideas are infectious, providing a much-needed jolt of hope for the future of the arts, and tourism in Norfolk.
If you are enjoying Tourism Business Chat, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss out on upcoming episodes! Series 2 is shaping up to be a game changer, with Hanks Deli, Adnams, Wivenhoe House Hotel and more, coming soon!
Proeon are pleased and proud to receive a Highly Commended Award in the closely contested Business Growth category. Cllr Lisa Neal presented the award to Proeon’s Directors at our Hethel Engineering Centre facilities. Thank you to South Norfolk Council for running another very successful cohort of their Business Awards in 2020 despite the current pandemic situation.
“Proeon is delighted to have received this award as recognition of the hard work and dedication that the team here have given in what has so far been a challenging year. Focusing on our clients and projects we have maintained our plan for the business and we are so far succeeding in moving the company onto the next chapter where we will continue to develop our team and broaden our skills here in South Norfolk”
Proeon were commended for demonstrated an excellent performance, providing engineering solutions for a variety of business sectors including Utility, Gas Turbines, Oil & Gas #BSNBizAwards.