Just heading back from Qatar and the GCC – it was interesting to speak with clients about the new economic environment there [post oil price slump] and consider the implications for HR and People Management Strategies. The attached article was published recently in People Management Middle East which summarises our thoughts and perspectives on more enlightened clients. We are currently working with a downstream oil and gas company to revitaise and re-focus their leadership development programme. Give me a call or drop me an email if of interest: [email protected]
Bluemoon Investigationsare a long established company, specialising in covert inquiries for both public and private concerns. From providing evidence to the court in cases of fraud, to tailing cheating spouses across the globe, Bluemoon have had over thirty years experience in getting to the truth. They also run a College training people how to become professional private investigators. They came to Naked Element with a desire to have a better and more efficient client-facing web presence for the College.
SEO specialistSean Clarkhad been working with Will Clayton, Director ofBluemoon, to improve their web search rating, and recommended Naked Element to him for a new website. “Our old website wasn’t branded, slow and not working for us, we needed a whole new design to improve communication, speed and our web presence to potential business.” Our designer Shelley took on the challenge and worked closely with Will to get the result Bluemoon wanted. “The process was easy and straightforward – Shelley made design suggestions, and we approved those we liked, and the build was quick and painless! We’ve received prompt help and support for the small changes we’ve requested since the site went live too. There were some style changes I wanted to make, which Shelley explained could be difficult, but Naked Element worked hard to resolve them and give me what I wanted.”
The result is a responsive website that welcomes potential clients and provides Bluemoons’ service details in a clear and user-friendly way. From Shelley’s point of view the process was mostly plain sailing. “The only challenge I had was super tiny – it was to do with text layout on one page. Most people approach web design like magazine design (which has a fixed size and layout), so they assume you can be pixel perfect. Due to different screen sizes, that’s not always possible, but there are always workarounds so it was a case of trying to get the right balance across all screen sizes.”
“Will can be a bit of a perfectionist, which is really nice actually – he’s not at all picky but is great at noticing detail. Working with him was nothing but a pleasure.” And from Will’s point of view? “I haven’t had to be involved much with Naked Element in all honesty – the whole process has been painless and relatively easy, which is exactly how it should be.”
Steve Jenkins Design have worked with Schäffer in the UK for the past two years on their Marketing and Advertising material, contributing to a growing market share in the UK. SJD’s successful approach has even been adopted by the German parent company. We have just created the new 2017 campaign to reach across all medias including journal advertising, social media and exhibitions.
When it comes to articulated telescopic loaders, Schäffer machines are the most successful in their class with the widest range worldwide. Precision performance on any terrain, with lifting heights and loads that you will not find in comparable machines from the competitors. The compact design, which is characteristic of all Schäffer loaders, makes them easy to use particulary in hard-to-reach areas, where size matters! Add to this the renowned Schaffer reliability, built in user friendly controls, modern and purposeful styling and you have the perfect material handling solution.
You know what it is like. You buy a car. Your dealer may give you half a tank of fuel with the deal. It’s only going to take you so far before you have to fill up again. This is pretty much the same with a website. You need to fuel it up every so often. If you don’t it is like putting a Ferrari on the Autobahn with a Skoda engine inside it: It will look fantastic, but it will never perform to its full potential.
Until now companies have(typically) relied on an SEO agency to ‘fill up’ their website, on a monthly basis and have commited to beingin a long-term contract. This may be good for some, but invariably the process becomes stale and the impetus is lost as nothing really changes. Filling up your website means that you need to have the right ‘juice’ to gain improvement online. But, it is likely your competitor will change their ‘additives’ (content on page and off) and therefore likely that you will have to too. So, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is likely to fail.
SEO is a methodical process. It takes time, understanding of your market, and skill in changing and replacing code to satisfy the cravings of the engines. It is up and down – like fuel prices! The needs and requirements of the search engines are also up and down.
At Metalfrog we have always tried to do something a little different.
So what makes us different? Well, Metalfrog is on page 1 Google UK and .com for a number of major searched key phrases covering SEO services and associated practices. There are testimonials and endorsements across the Internet and stored at its offices too.
We know that there are many companies out there offering the kind of services we do, but we’ve never seen this particular type of offering before.
If this interests you please get in touch and we can tailor make a package for you and against your competitors. We look forward to speaking to you soon.
Following on from Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to CBI Annual Conference 2016, Naked Element explains that Industry 4.0 is a revolution individuals and organisations must be aware of in order to prepare themselves for the big changes that lie ahead.
When people hear the words ‘Industrial Revolution’ images of brick built factories come to mind, plumes of black smoke billowing from their chimney stacks, the working men with their faces stained with grease and grime. An image of a bygone age, where the combustion engine and manual labour transformed our world.
Compared to this smog-filled revolution that most ordinary people will be familiar with, the fourth industrial revolution will seem like a work of futuristic science fiction, conjuring up images of Skynet and robots that can think for themselves. Aptly named ‘Industry 4.0’ this forthcoming revolution, like the ones before it, promises to dramatically change how industry works. There is some debate about what the previous three revolutions where, with some focussing on IT related changes only from the 1970s onwards, but most include all major upheavals to manufacturing processes from the end of the 18th century.
The rise of two things in particular can be attributed to powering the tech revolution – cloud computing and the Internet of Things. In simple terms cloud computing enables individuals or companies to work anywhere there is connectivity, to access and share their data by accessing ‘the cloud’ of information, rather than relying on files stored on a work server only. The Internet of Things is exactly what it sounds like. ‘Things’ (your car, your fridge, your central heating system) are connected to the internet and can be controlled remotely through that connection. The combination of these two could mean great things for manufacturers. In fact companies in Germany are already leading the way.
Production machines that can connect to the internet can be monitored remotely. They can also connect to the other machines on the production line. Give that machine access to the cloud and it can access data gathered from the rest of the factory. A connected ‘workforce’ that has real-time production data available to it can monitor itself, has the potential to self-diagnose and adjust its actions accordingly. This may all sound a little far-fetched but it’s more of a reality than one might think.
There are companies already taking advantage of the advance in data collection brought about by the Internet of Things. Identifying where improvements can be made to processes to increase yield, or using 3D printing to reduce production time and increase profit margins, or simply analysing data to pinpoint exactly what customers desires are, and how much they’re willing to pay to have them met, to increase turnover. These are all real world examples of how Industry 4.0 is already changing how industry works.
How should businesses prepare for these big changes though? For many the biggest obstacle is cost. Updating technology, replacing machines and employing developers is expensive and the investment may just be too much for some. For those that can afford to make changes, it is essential that there is a strategy in place. It’s all well and good collecting lots of data, but how is it to be used? What advantages can it give and how are changes to be implemented once improvements have been identified? The way companies do business is also something to be considered, as the manufacturing process is changing so does the market place and business must be prepared for competitors to emerge. The other point to take into consideration is once data has been collected, and used to its potential, how will that data be managed? Is the cybersecurity up to scratch? And, just as importantly, is the tech and development team? One thing that is agreed upon is that there is no stopping Industry 4.0. It will have a revolutionary impact on the way we manufacture and business needs to be prepared. Let’s just hope we don’t need John Connor’s help in our futuristic landscape.
Lovell Makes Strong Start in Year-Long 11,000-Mile Charity Challenge
Leading housing developer, Lovell, has officially kicked off its ambitious ‘Lovell-y Coast Challenge’– a year-long event aiming to cover 11,072 miles, the equivalent of Britain’s coastline. Since starting on 1st January 2025, the team has already made an impressive start, clocking up just over 2,000 miles in the first two months.
Participants are running, cycling, and walking, with distances tracked via Strava and recorded monthly until the target is reached. Money raised from the challenge will be distributed equally between The Big C, Priscilla Bacon Lodge and Norfolk & Waveney Mind.
Michael Saunders, operations manager at Lovell said:“We regularly take part in charity events but wanted to create something fun and inclusive for our team. It’s fantastic to see such a strong start, and we’re excited to keep the momentum going and track our progress throughout the year.”
Lovell is a partnership housing expert and a leading provider of innovative and high quality residential construction and regeneration developments across the UK, building homes, sourcing land and investing in communities. It is a trusted and reliable partner, with great people trusted to deliver great homes, developing long term partnerships with housing associations, local authorities and other partners for over 50 years.
For more information on Lovell visit www.lovell.co.uk or follow Lovell on social media.
I wanted to start this review simply with “Wow! Just wow!”, but that’s not really going to cut it. It’s true to say that when I first learned that there was going to be a book published called “Test-Driving JavaScript Applications” I was sure it was going to be the book I had been waiting for since at least late 2007 when I was forced to write JavaScript in production for the first time. It’s publication date was pushed back and back, so it really felt like I was being made to wait. However, I wasn’t disappointed and this book was everything I hoped it would be and more.
We all know JavaScript is evil, right? Why is it evil? It’s the lack of a decent type system, the forgiving nature of the compilers and an inability to write meaningful unit tests, especially for the UI (User Interface). It’s difficult to do a huge amount about the first two points, but now JavaScript can be meaningfully unit tested, even in the UI context, with Karma, Mocha and Chai. Test coverage can be measured with Istanbul and System Tests (referred to by Subramanian as Integration Tests – this is my one bugbear with the book) written with Protractor. All of this is described in Test-Driving Java Applications.
I think it’s important to read all of part 1, Creating Automated Tests. The chapters cover everything you need to know to get started writing unit tests for both server side code and UI code, how to test asynchronous code (very important in JavaScript) and how to replace dependencies with test doubles such as fakes, stubs and spies. It’s all demonstrated with a completely test first approach with excellent commentary about how this leads to good design.
I cherry picked from part 2, Real-World Automation Testing. I was only really interested in how to write automated tests for the DOM and JQuery and how to write ‘Integration’ tests. Other chapters included how to write tests for Node.js, Express and two versions of AngularJS. The DOM and JQuery chapter was excellent showing me exactly how to take advantage of test doubles to write fully tested JavaScript without having to fire up a browser, resulting in something I can make immediate use of.
The Integrate and Test End-to-End chapter, which describes how to use Protractor, was almost enough to encourage me to abandon Java (Selenium) for System Tests and move to JavaScript. However, while looking at the latest version of Selenium, there are some other things I want to investigate first.
The final chapter, Test-Drive Your Apps is the equivalent of Pink Floyd playing Run Like Hell at the end after Comfortably Numb. It’s still good, but is really there to help you wind down from the climax and could just as easily have been omitted, but it would feel a bit odd if it was.
If there was one more thing I could get from this book it would be how to send test and coverage results to SonarQube.
If you want to use JavaScript, intend to use JavaScript or are forced to use JavaScript, get this book and automated the testing of your JavaScript.
Would you like to improve your health in 2017 but find lack of time a barrier to making changes?
Take part in the Active Lunch 8-Week Challenge by adding some bite size activity into your day and you could win some great prizes this January and February!
Every week you log activity during the challenge – online or using the Workplace Challenge Mobile App – you will be entered into a prize draw to win some great prizes including cinema tickets, shopping vouchers, annual gym memberships and a helicopter flight!
Every minute counts in Active Norfolk’s Active Lunch 8-Week Challenge running from Wednesday 4 January – Tuesday 28 February.
Not currently active? Why not begin by making small changes and building in 10 minutes of physical activity into your day. You could swap a desk-based lunch to an active lunch by taking a quick walk with your colleagues – making the most of the lightest, brightest, part of the day.
Are you the competitive type? If so, you can challenge your colleagues and other workplaces through the Workplace Challenge leaderboards or create your very own leaderboard to compete with friends, family and colleagues.
Visit www.activenorfolk.org/challenge for more bite size activity ideas or to download posters and content to promote the Active Lunch Workplace Challenge in your workplace.
Attleborough-based renewable heating expert Finn Geotherm, is celebrating 10 successful years of installing ground and air source heat pumps across the region.
Established in 2006 by David Alston, Finn Geotherm is the UK’s only approved installer of Lampoassa heat pumps, which are made in Finland. David, who is half Finnish himself, spotted the opportunity to bring this technology to the UK and set up Finn Geotherm to do just that, utilising his degree in Engineering. David ran the business part-time while he worked shifts in an engineering role in the food industry. It quickly became clear that the skills needed from subcontractors to install heat pumps weren’t available in the UK so David took everything in-house to start building a reputation for Finn Geotherm as the renewable heating experts. The business quickly grew and soon became a full-time job.
David was joined in 2009 by commercial director Guy Ransom. The pair met over an air source installation at Guy’s home. Guy quickly recognised the great potential of Finn Geotherm and, with a background in corporate finance, was well placed to help drive the business forward to where it is today. The company has not missed a single sales target in the past seven years and has achieved just under 40% growth annually since then.
In the past 10 years, the company has gone from a team of three installing 10kW heat pumps to 20 staff installing 350kW systems. Other key milestones from the past 10 years include:
600+ projects installed to date for all types of building, from churches and cottages to offices and even the zoo.
A total of around 600km of ground loop installed – enough to reach from Finn Geotherm’s offices in Attleborough to Edinburgh!
Secured £10m in Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments for customers
12MW of heating has been installed for customers
By switching to ground and air source, in the past year alone, Finn Geotherm has saved 24MWh of heating energy and around 16,000 metric tonnes of C02.
David Alston, technical director at Finn Geotherm, said: “Although heat pump technology has been around for more than 150 years (the first large scale ground source heat pump was installed in 1945 for Norwich City Council’s electrical department), it’s still relatively new in the UK. When I set up Finn Geotherm ten years ago, I could see the great potential of renewable energy and felt passionately that this was the best, most sustainable technology for heating and hot water. Finn Geotherm has continued to grow as more and more consumers and businesses recognise the fantastic benefits delivered by heat pumps.”
Guy Ransom, commercial director at Finn Geotherm, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2016 and what a year it’s been. We’ve been shortlisted for more than 10 awards and have scooped the titles of Rural Enterprise of the Year in the EDP Business Awards and Small Business of the Year in the Chamber of Commerce Awards eastern heats and been made a member of Future50. We have a great team on board here at Finn Geotherm who have completed a hundreds of innovative, highly efficient and money-saving heat pump systems for customers across the region. It is an exciting time to be in this industry and we’re certainly looking forward to the next 10 years!”
Chartered accountant and business adviser Price Bailey has appointed Martin Simons as Business Development Manager for Norfolk.
Previously Corporate Relationship Director with HSBC Bank, Martin has more than 37 years banking experience, with the last 10 years working with corporate businesses across Norfolk and Waveney Valley.
This experience involved working with business leaders to obtain a good understanding of their business, their challenges and strategies, advising on appropriate financial and funding solutions and providing introductions to relevant external skill providers to help achieve their business and personal goals.
“I am delighted to be joining the Price Bailey team,” said Martin. “I look forward to working with everyone and to putting my experience to good use to help the firm achieve its growth plans,”
“Martin brings a huge amount of local knowledge and technical expertise to the firm,” said Daren Moore, Price Bailey Partner. “He joins Price Bailey at an exciting time. We have grown considerably over the last few years and are poised to grow and develop even further, Martin will be instrumental in achieving our strategic aims.”
If you are looking to move your cyber security software or trial a new system, but are bound by an existing contract that still has time remaining, then we can help you.
Switching mid-contract can leave you feeling out of pocket, as you may have to pay for both your current service and a new one. To ease this transition, we are excited to offer a competitive promotion on our security stack until 15th December. With this promotion, you won’t lose out by making the switch, or simply trialling our security software alongside your current provider!
Our Offer
We can provide you with our equivalent security solution FREE until the end of your current paid contract, for up to a maximum of 12 months. This allows you to seamlessly migrate to our advanced security system without losing any valuable time.