Chamber News

Commenting on the Queen’s Speech opening a new session of Parliament, Dr Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce said:

“Our message to government is simple: put the economy at the forefront of your agenda. These are unnerving times for businesses facing Brexit uncertainty, global headwinds and a UK economy in stasis. The government’s economic plan must be grounded in reality, taking into account the conditions facing firms and the need to minimise further disruption.

“Amidst the ongoing political turbulence, businesses can’t afford for government to lose sight of its responsibility to create conditions that support growth and boost investment – much of which doesn’t require new primary legislation. That means action to lower the upfront costs hitting firms, boosting investment in infrastructure and skills, and providing considerable investment incentives to companies.

“We’re at a critical juncture in the Brexit process, but the voice of business has been constant and unwavering since the referendum: a messy and disorderly Brexit must be avoided. To avert an overnight change in trading conditions and damaging economic consequences, all sides need to do everything in their power to find a way forward in the coming days.”

On immigration:

“Business is looking for government to commit to a clear and consistent future immigration system that is based on economic need. Firms that rely on overseas workers to plug local shortages need clear detail on the rules for continuing to access these skills in the future. At a time of critical recruitment difficulties, companies need to be able to hire workers from aboard all levels and functions without masses of red tape, high costs or long delays.”

On trade:

“UK businesses need a properly-funded trade strategy that gives firms the support and confidence they need to sell their goods and services around the world. Prioritising continuity of trade for UK businesses and minimising the potential for any disruption in the turbulent times that may lie ahead should be the goal of this government. Alongside that, we need more ground-level trade promotion and guidance to take advantage of the opportunities that new trade agreements may present.

“Businesses are also still waiting for the government to legislate for a long-term Trade Remedies Authority to protect UK businesses and interests against dumping and unfair practises.”

On infrastructure:

“For the UK to prosper post-Brexit, we have to get the basics right, including a fully integrated and modern infrastructure network. The proposed National Infrastructure Strategy must engage closely with business communities to set out feasible measures for improving the road and rail network and boosting the reliability of broadband connectivity in all parts of the country.

“The message from government and ministers should be full-throated support of the major infrastructure projects that our businesses need and that send a strong message to global partners that the UK remains a great place to invest. There can be no further dithering on the delivery of all phases of HS2 and a third runway at Heathrow.”

On devolution:

“Business communities will welcome the commitment to a Devolution White Paper. Any proposals must have a clear purpose, a strong role for business, and a defined replacement for EU funding. Business will support greater devolution of spending decisions when it’s clear that money intended to boost local growth is actually spent on local growth.”

On the environment:

“The government’s ambition to position the UK as a global leader on the issue of climate change is laudable. For many firms the path to achieving this could bring growth across a range of sectors, technologies and markets. Together with business communities, the government should build a plan for how we will work across the four nations to reach net-zero by 2050, while also maintaining security of energy supply and stable prices.”

The construction industry contributes £90billion a year to the UK economy (6.7% of the total) and is set to grow by 5.6% over the next 5 years. As part of an ongoing project aimed at readying SMES to bid for major supply chain work Norfolk Chambers of Commerce, Norfolk County Council, New Anglia Growth Hub, and Vattenfall held a Gearing Up To Grow workshop in Swaffham on Wednesday 9th October. The half-day session gave delegates the tools and insights they might need to win such pieces of work.

First up was Saul Humphrey who covered a Tier 1 Construction Perspective, he gave an overview of the UK construction industry, the strategy in the region, minimum requirements for winning work from a Tier 1, the crisis facing the industry, and what the future looks like. Saul highlighted the major positive impact the construction industry has on the UK economy and the various ways it contributes. He gave delegates a number of tips for working with Tier 1s including checking out their individual requirements and coming up with an almost standardised approach to bidding for work. There are a number of factors threatening the industry from the housing crisis to climate change, Saul suggested that the responsibility for solving these lies with everyone involved in the sector. The skills shortage is also having an impact and he suggested a number of ways that companies could work with young people to get them interested and considering construction as a viable career path. His final point was that companies need to “modernise or die” and that the best thing companies can do is embrace change.

Next came Steve Grace from Adept Supply Chain Solutions who encouraged delegates to ensure business health by employing his tools.  He explained that a business cannot thrive unless it is built on the solid foundation of health and the same can be said for the supply chain, it’s only as strong as its weakest link. Customer satisfaction and meeting their expectations should be the main driver of business growth, to ensure this he said businesses should consider Quality, Cost, and Delivery to keep customers happy. As part of a business plan leaders should consider a growth plan that incorporates a culture of change management, which is constantly being measured and evolving. Steve then introduced a number of tools that can be used to measure growth and ensure waste is eliminated. Steve’s key message? Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, and cash-flow is reality!

Focusing on skills we had Martin Frost from Norfolk County Council, who introduced the council’s ambitions for combatting the skills gap through: driving skills progression, providing agile response training, and equipping young people for success. He used Netmatters as a case study as they found it very difficult to recruit enough developers to support their business growth, to answer this they developed their own in-house programme which brought in inexperienced candidates and gave them the opportunity to gain skills on the job. A degree course gives students about 150 hours coding experience over 3 years, Netmatters’ programmes gave 850 in six months. Martin invited businesses to give their thoughts on what other support Norfolk County Council could provide to tackle their own skills needs.

For most businesses accessing funding is part of the growth process, Nigel Best from New Anglia Growth Hub took delegates through the various types of funding to consider in the penultimate session of the day. New Anglia Growth Hub has awarded £28million in grants since it started through a variety of grant schemes, they are also able to signpost to other organisations and funding streams that may be suitable for your business. Nigel also highlighted that “traditional” funding such as grants and via the bank are not the only options available to a business and that they should consider the option that works best for them.

Our final speaker was the excellent William Bridgman from Warren Services, a family owned engineering firm, who gave their story about embracing IT to help streamline processes and create efficiencies that previously did not exist. He explained how embracing IT and incorporating it into their existing processes increase efficiencies without resulting in job losses. One clear example of this was their accounts department which had just over 3 people in it previously, through the introduction of new systems they reduced this to 1 but instead of making people redundant they encouraged them to retrain. One of the team who used to be in accounts and had years of experience is a now a developer who looks after their system! It was a really interesting lesson in how IT can have a very positive impact on your business and by working with suppliers and customers you can actually encourage them to do the same thereby streamlining the entire supply chain.

There were some informative stories told throughout the day and lots for delegates to go away and think about around innovation and collaboration.  Every presenter had their own examples of when they themselves have had to innovate or collaborate with another company to thrive, showing that the way forward is to work together.

A big thank you to all our speakers: Saul Humphrey, Steve Grace, Martin Frost, Nigel Best, and William Bridgman for being with us. If you are interested in hearing about upcoming workshops please contact [email protected] who can ensure you are informed.

All slides from the session can be found here.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and Bibby Financial Services (BFS) have revealed that uncertainty around Brexit, tariffs and exchange rate volatility are holding back the potential of many UK exporters.

The recent survey included 1,140 internationally active UK businesses, and found that general uncertainty around Brexit was considered the top barrier to export, listed by almost half (47%) of businesses, followed by specific concerns around tariffs and exchange rate volatility, listed by 35% and 33% respectively.

Administrative requirements or regulation were considered a barrier by 30% of businesses and the lack of free trade agreements by 23%. Only 7% of internationally active businesses said that they do not face any exporting barriers.

It is not only internationally active UK businesses that being held back from exporting. Among businesses that currently only trade in the UK (338 respondents), just 17% say that they do not face any barriers to export. Therefore, 83% face barriers to reaching their potential.

The lack of clarity around the UK’s future trading environment is clearly taking its toll. General uncertainty around Brexit is considered the top barrier to export by UK-only businesses (listed by 31%) as well.

As a result, amongst businesses currently trading only in the UK, just 7% per cent expect to begin importing or exporting over the next three years.

The research also highlighted the issues that businesses are increasingly facing in relation to stockpiling, payments and the transportation of goods. When asked about business changes experienced over the past 12 months:

• around a third (31%) of businesses reported that they had increased the volume of inventory held;
• 15% reported that it already takes longer to transport goods to and/or from overseas, even before the UK’s exit from the European Union; and
• almost a third (29%) reported that it takes longer to get paid by customers.

Commenting on the results, Dr Adam Marshall, BCC Director General said:

“UK businesses are facing unprecedented levels of uncertainty on multiple trading fronts – and, unsurprisingly, they’re holding back on importing and exporting.

“Just this week, the government finally provided some certainty around tariffs – but, the damage of uncertainty was already done for many firms.

“While international trade always involves an element of risk for businesses, government should be working to lower barriers rather than increasing them. Preventing a messy and disorderly Brexit is the immediate priority, but ensuring continuity of trade with third countries and providing firms with clear and timely information about future trade processes, would go a long way to removing unnecessary obstacles.”

Edward Winterton, UK Chief Executive, Bibby Financial Services, added:

“Chronic uncertainty resulting from Brexit is undoubtedly stifling international trade amongst UK SMEs. Importers and exporters are in limbo, and many are postponing investment decisions, while they await further information. Many others are focusing resources on ensuring they’re prepared to deal with the potential impacts of a no-deal scenario.

“SMEs are telling us that they need clarity over the detail, and it’s imperative that the Government looks to provide this as soon as possible to enable businesses to trade with confidence, both domestically and internationally.”

The B2B Exhibition 2019 kicks off next week at its new venue: Norfolk Showground. Welcoming hundreds of local businesses, this free to attend event will be a day full of face-to-face networking, relationship building, expert knowledge and problem solving.  Opening doors at 10am on Thursday 17th October, The B2B Exhibition is a showcase of how brilliant business is in Norfolk and across the East of England. 100 exhibitors will be displaying their products and services at the show, giving you solutions to your business needs. On the day we’ll be welcoming a wide range of sectors from banking and charities, to consultants and software developers.  At B2B our exhibitors are very generous with plenty of exclusive offers, discounts, competitions and giveaways to take advantage of. Some of our picks from this year include Norwich Sunblinds who are doing 3 for 2 on own brand sunblinds, 10% off new websites with Unity.Online and the opportunity to win an overnight stay with Maids Head Hotel. Take a look at our exhibitor offers page to see a full list of what’s up for grabs! Click here.  Visitors to the show also have the opportunity to win big in our B2B treasure trail. When you arrive, you’ll be given a stamp card. Visit the 10 stands in the trail, get your card stamped, hand the completed card back in when you leave and you’ll be entered to win £75. However, if you visit the stands in a randomly, pre-generated, secret order, you’ll instantly win £5,000!   We have an exciting line-up of knowledgeable workshops running throughout the day, with everything from customer service on social media to building trust within your business. For 2019 we are also introducing speed networking sessions, led by networking, energy expert Ian Hacon of Energise.me. View our full programme here. When the time comes and you need to take a break from the madness of the show, visit our café area where you can purchase drinks from the Green Farm Coffee Van, and lunch items and snacks from The Feed. Or if you’re feeling really hungry, pop outside the exhibition where The Bucket List will be set up with their Norfolk famous loaded fries.  Don’t forget to also visit our amazing sponsors at the show. Our Media Partners Archant will be giving out their classic EDP goody bags on stand 26, and close by will be Birketts LLP on stand 29b with their expert team. Desira Group who have sponsored the exhibition entrance will be bringing a fleet of vehicles to create an outdoor display to welcome you to the exhibition, as well as welcoming you inside on stand 27.   Look out for our event guide in the EDP on Wednesday 9th October, and make sure you book your free tickets to attend The B2B Exhibition 2019 today! Booking advance tickets means you can skip the queue and be entered into our prize draw. Book today: www.norfolkchamber.co.uk/b2b

At our flagship Economic Breakfast on Wednesday 2nd October we were joined by British Chambers of Commerce’s Economist Suren Thiru. We also had two of our lovely Chambers Business Award regional winners with us: Gnaw Chocolate who won Export Business of the Year, and Indigo Swan who scooped the Workplace Wellbeing award. They were presented with their awards by Chris Sargisson, Norfolk Chambers CEO, who praised the excellent work that both companies do.

Suren gave a very honest view of the state of the UK Economy including factors affecting businesses, the UK’s place in the global economy, and how the East of England is faring in comparison to other regions. He outlined a number of factors affecting businesses and the wider economy such exchange rates, employment costs, and late payments. He also acknowledged that uncertainty in the wider economy has a real impact, including Brexit, the global economic slowdown, and the possibility of a forthcoming general election.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom though as he highlighted the fact that the UK is not alone, across the globe economies are slowing down. There was good news for the East specifically as we are in the top 4 of regions in the UK for productivity. Overall it was a very frank assessment of the current climate and provided delegates with some good food for thought on what they can do to strengthen their business positions.

We also heard from Richard Bailey from Steeles Law, who sponsored the morning, on their year of aspiration, growth and celebrations as Steeles Law turns 50! Delegates also heard about the excellent work that the featured charity, OPEN, do supporting the local youth community.

The British Chambers of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey – now in its thirtieth year as the largest UK private sector survey of business sentiment and a leading indicator of UK GDP growth – found that UK economic conditions weakened in the third quarter amid a significant deterioration in manufacturing sector activity.

• The balance of Norfolk manufacturers reporting increased export orders lowest levels since before EU Referendum
• The balance of manufacturers reporting improved cashflow drops once again into negative territory

The latest results of the survey of 6,600 UK firms, including those from Norfolk, that employ roughly 1.2 million people, point to an economy sagging under the weight of relentless uncertainty, another looming Brexit deadline, and deteriorating global economic conditions amid heightened trade tensions.

In the Norfolk manufacturing sector, there was a marked downward shift in many indicators in the third quarter. The balance of firms reporting increased domestic sales remained weak and domestic orders also remained in negative territory – indicating more businesses saw a decrease than increase. The balance of firms reporting increased export sales dropped to its lowest level since Q1 2016 and the balance for export orders went negative and also stood at its lowest level since Q1 2016.    Business confidence in turnover and profitability among manufacturers continued to fall.

The dominant Norfolk services sector saw a decrease in the balance of firms reporting increased domestic sales and orders, and export orders. The balance of firms confident in turnover and profitability improvements also fell in the quarter, as did the balance for investment in training.  

Manufacturers reported that their cashflow position – a key indicator of the financial health of a business – has deteriorated. In the services sector, cashflow held steady, but remains extremely low by historical standards.  

Responding to the alarming findings, the BCC is imploring Westminster to take urgent action. In the coming weeks, both government and parliament must do everything in their power to avoid a messy and disorderly Brexit, while at the same time taking bold action to incentivise investment and to cut the high up-front cost of doing business in the UK. In an unwanted no-deal scenario, additional targeted measures will need to be taken by government to support businesses through unprecedented times of turbulence and change. 

Reacting to the results, Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy for Norfolk Chambers of Commerce said:

“This is a reality check, not scaremongering or politicking. These are some of the worst Norfolk figures we’ve seen in sometime – and Norfolk  jobs, businesses, and the future success of our local communities are on the line. 

“Behind each and every one of these statistics sit thousands of real businesses, who are feeling the cold harsh winds of Brexit uncertainty and global trade turbulence right now.  

“We need to see immediate action to avoid a messy and disorderly Brexit on October 31st, alongside bold measures to stimulate investment and confidence across the UK and Norfolk. The government must also make urgent preparations to support business cashflow, where the strains of acute uncertainty are hitting businesses, and particularly manufacturers, hard.” 

Suren Thiru, Head of Economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“Our findings point to a worrying drop-off in UK economic activity, with unrelenting uncertainty over Brexit and a notable slowing in global growth prospects dragging down almost all the key indicators in the quarter.  

“The manufacturing sector continues to toil under the weight of diminishing cashflow, weakening global demand and disrupted supply chains, and the data indicates that the sector was a drag on UK GDP growth in the quarter. Although the slowdown in a number of the key service sector indicators was relatively modest, slowing activity in the sector is a concern given its dominant share of overall UK economic output. A stuttering services sector coupled with a worrying downturn in manufacturing activity indicates that any bounce back in UK GDP growth from the contraction in the second quarter is likely to be underwhelming at best. 

“Looking forward, weakening orders, confidence and investment intentions suggest that unless action is taken the UK’s current weak growth trajectory could drift markedly lower over the near term.”   

Key findings in the Q3 2019 survey:  

Norfolk Manufacturing sector:  

• The balance of firms reporting increased domestic sales rose from -13 in Q2 2019, to 0, whilst those reporting increased domestic orders rose, but remained in negative territory from -19 to -11.
• The balance of firms reporting improved export sales fell from +23 to -6  and the balance of firms reporting increased export orders dropped from +15 to -24.
• The balance of firms reporting improved cashflow fell into negative territory from +25 to -5.
• The balance of firms increasing investment in plant/machinery rose in the quarter from -19 to +10 remaining historically weak, and investment in training rose from -6 to +10.
• The balance of firms confident that turnover and profitability will increase in the next 12 months fell from +50 to +38 for turnover and from +19 to +14 for profitability.

Norfolk Services sector:  

• The balance of firms reporting increased domestic sales fell from +12 in Q2 2019 to +8. Those reporting increased domestic orders fell slightly from +4 to 0.
• The balance of firms reporting improved export sales fell from +4 to -5.  Those reporting increased export orders continuing in negative territory fell still further from -4 to -5.
• The balance of firms reporting improved cashflow rose very slightly from -5 to +2 but remains weak by historic standards.
• The balance of firms looking to increase investment in plant and machinery drastically fell from +2 to -14 and fell slightly from +10 to +7 in training.
• The balance of firms confident that turnover and profitability will improve over the next year decreased from +30 to +10 for turnover from +12 to -5 for profitability.

Are you standing comfortably? Arms by your side and breathe…

There was a buzzy, warm atmosphere as our members chatted over their early coffees, and we welcomed lots of new faces to our South Norfolk breakfast at Barnham Broom. The diversity of businesses that attend our events was definitely on show, ranging from Mark Fraser Valuations covering Probate Insurance, Cruise Ship travels with Maxine Smile to the Amazing Anthony, Magician and Mind reader. 

One guest, who was invited along by one of the Customer Experience Team asked, ‘Do I have to stand up and talk? I’m not sure what I have to do?’

After reassuring them there is no standing up and talking (unless, of course you are our guest speaker), helping them to a coffee and introducing them to other members, they could see how relaxed and informal our networking events are. As Account Managers, our role is to support you and your business in your membership from your first event to

Our Guest speaker Paul Ward was witty and refreshingly open as he explained the motivational route that led him to Director and founder of Solace Coaching.

He took us on a journey that had us searching for a head up the midnight hills of Dartmoor, back to the offices of retail giant Argos!

Paul created Solace Coaching with a focus on improving business performance, and has led projects on improving customer service, introduced coaching into retail management and supported the transition of management within retail to that based on coaching, removing limits on the traditional model. In other work, Paul has worked within the charity and non-profit sector where he was responsible for staff satisfaction at all levels from those who volunteer within retail environments, to chief executives and directors. We heard about two of the tools he uses; NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and Motivational Maps – if you would like to hear more about these you can contact him here.

Our feature charity was New-U Enterprises, with Sue Buffin and Caitlin Searle coming along to talk about their wonderful charity.  New-U offers individualised work experience placements in a flexible and supportive environment, to long term unemployed young people to help them progress towards work, training or volunteering.

They do this in our clothes and accessories swap shop in Castle Mall, Norwich

If you are interested in finding out more, or how you could help Sue and Caitlin then please email Sue Buffin who would love to hear from you

You can read some case studies, and more about New-U in the attached file.  

The United Kingdom will leave the European Union on the 31 October 2019 and your business will need to take action to get ready.

Join a free Brexit Business Readiness Event in your area to meet government advisers and to find out what actions your business needs to take to prepare.

The events will combine a keynote address, interactive support, advice stands and in-depth sessions led by subject matter experts. They will provide you with specific business-focused advice and help.

Events will be taking place across the UK and new locations will be added to this website as they’re confirmed.

https://registration.livegroup.co.uk/brexitbusinessreadinessevents/

The Government is accelerating Brexit preparations so that it is ready to leave the EU on 31st October. Join the Department for International Trade in the East of England for a lunch session to discuss how to best prepare your business for Brexit.

During the session you will hear from Jim Fanshawe from Your Export Department, who has a wealth of international experience working for UK Trade & Investment and other commercial organisations, and have the opportunity to speak with local partners during the networking lunch.

What will you learn?

You’ll leave the event with information on how to create a personalised action plan covering:

• paperwork needed to continue exporting
• impact to supply chains
• changes to regulations and contracts
• where to find tariff information, commodity codes and duty rates
• what you might need to speak to customers and employees about
• moving goods across borders
• business travel to the EU
• providing services to EU clients
• how to treat personal data

Who is this event for?

All exporters, particularly those exporting to the EU. There are several events like this running across the country. Please visit the main page to see the full list of events.

Please note places are limited to 2 delegates per company across the whole series of events and offered on a first come, first serve basis.

This year’s Talking Tech on 18th September, one of Norfolk Chambers flagship events, got off to a great start with over 160 business professionals attending at The Space, Norwich. We hosted 18 expert speakers who shared their, knowledge, experience, and key tips on the theme of ‘Myth Busting’ within the tech industry.

The conference was a platform to share; cost-effective, new innovative concepts, business initiatives, and current issues facing the business community with technology. As well as, dispelling the myths behind technology held in the workplace. The morning offered constructive solutions for all of us to take back to our teams and businesses.  

Throughout the whole conference, Rebecca Osbourne document all the speakers with her fantastic live event graphic recording.

Tom Broome, Creative Director from Creative Quills, kicked off the event and was the first speaker of the morning. Tom highlighted some great points on how to use marketing to make ‘making the technical accessible.’ He emphasised how important it is to pitch your marketing message at the right level; when to use video, infographics, written content, and photography. All helping to strengthen your brand for the viewer, and client.

Juliana Meyer, founder and CEO of SupaPass followed with a glimpse into the key future trends that are emerging and happening online, and how as businesses, we can take control of our content, and data. She also discussed how we are consuming information; such the rise of the podcasts, which is up by 36%. Juliana also shared the four key digital trends surfacing, all of which are often consumed on our mobile phones through; apps-subscriptions, video consumption, subscriptions (which is a growing trend and not to be ignored), and podcasts.

Up next our Cyber Security panel including Kitty Rosser, Birketts LLP, Peter Cubbins, Cyberfen, Tash Hales, Ladies Hacking Society, discussed several questions from the audience. One of the first questions was ‘the idea it won’t be me as a data target.’ The panel gave several ways to tackle this issue of a data breach, for businesses of all scales, and an individual level too. One key point we should take from the panel discussion was; it is good to share these experiences if it happens to your business and to report the issue too. It is also important to consider training staff in clear procedures, as this can be a valuable use of time, investment, and help to reduce future breaches.

Paul Maskell, Dardan Security, then took us on a journey about our relationship and interaction with technology. Paul highlighted ways in which we can maintain a healthy sense of wellbeing with technology, how we can approach our daily narratives with tech in the workplace and our personal life’s. Paul, gave some very positive solutions for us all to find a happy equilibrium.

Taking the stage ahead of our break was Jim Palmer, Head of Digital, at Netmatters Ltd. Jim gave an interesting insight into the eight-year-long journey of how his company, have transformed their business to become paperless! (Yes, that’s no paper!) He gave several very useful tips of how to take the changes into our businesses, such as digital ‘to-do lists’ a clear inbox policy, dual screens, writing on digital tablets, dual-screen and requesting all invoices to be emailed- not a hard copy or posted.

Following the break Bradley Lawernce, Head of Sales at UBISEND, discussed the role chatbots have within our businesses, customer experience, how we use them, the business cases and myths surrounding the chatbot.

Brandley then joined our AI Panel (Artificial intelligence) – the second panel of the morning, to discuss the opportunities for small businesses to be using AI. James Russell, Co-founder and CEO, Brisk, Linford Bacon, Data Scientist and Senior manager at Aviva,  Bradley Lawernce, Head of Sales at UBISEND, ( https://www.ubisend.com/ ) all shared several ways we can successfully use these technologies, with governance.

With the continuing developments of technology within Farming, Fiona Rust from Agri-Tech East then came on stage and demonstrated the innovation within this sector, the importance of engagement with the younger generation, and how the industry is tackling issues with a growing population.  

When talking about the Games Industry there are often some misconceptions, however, Robin Milton, from Access Creative College and Norfolk Game developers gave a clear picture of how this industry is thriving and used within our everyday life’s. Do you know the UK is the 6th largest video game market, with a spend of £5.7bn in 2018 (Ukie), Wow!

The last keynote speaker of the morning was Kris Jones, CEO of Tech Velocity Ltd, who talked about ‘Plastic innovation’ and looked at how we can re-imagine ways in which you can be more ‘innovative’ in business in a true manner, helping build continues success. 

Lightening talks– with only 3 minutes to talk about their topics focused on meetup and networking groups. Paul Grenyer, Naked Element kicked off the first talk about nor(DEV): who run events throughout the year, to support software development professionals, developers, and software business owners. Next up was Tom Haczewski, from The User Story, who talked about Hot Source a meetup group for ‘forward-thinking creatives.’ Co-organiser of Sync Norwich Sean Clark of Clark St James then took the stage. Sync Norwich is Norwich’s tech and start up community supporting and enabling tech business growth through a series of events, including Sync the City which is a 54 hour start up event taking place annually. Last up was Mark Williams-Cook from Candour, talking about Search Norwich this is a meetup for anyone interested in search marketing. All of these group offer a great opportunity for networking and building community in Norfolk.

The groups then remained on stage together to take part in a panel discussion focusing on the tech community of Norfolk. The main takeaway was the group encouraging all businesses, not just tech focused organisations, to come along to their groups to get involved in the thriving community we have in Norfolk.

After lunch, Mark Williams-Cook from Candour, ran a workshop focused on ‘why your website content is rubbish and you don’t rack in Google.’ Mark gave a practical survival for the audience to take away. This was the last speaker of the day and brought the event to a close.

A big thank you to our sponsors, without their support events like Talking Tech would not be possible. Thanks to Barclays Digital Eagles, Breakwater IT and Naked Element.

A big thanks to our exhibitor too; Breakwater IT, Naked Element, 101, Bigfork, CSS Cloud, Develop EBP, EIRA, Empresa, Omnis Software and VMIT.

Thanks to everyone who attended too, we look forward to 2020 Talking Tech!

Today, two prominent businesses in Norfolk have been recognised as the East of England Regional Winners for the prestigious British Chambers of Commerce Business Awards 2019.

The annual Chamber Business Awards have entries from businesses across UK. And we are delighted to announce that two Norfolk Chambers of Commerce members, Gnaw Chocolate and Indigo Swan have been selected as winners for this region. The East of England region covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex.

Chris Sargisson, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chambers of Commerce said:

“This is a great achievement for the winning companies and reflects the innovative and progressive nature of our members, their staff, and their businesses. It is clear that Norfolk is a thriving area to work and run a business.”

For the second year in a row, Gnaw Chocolate, the luxury chocolate brand has been crowned this years’ regional Export Business of the Year award.  Gnaw, now, an internationally renowned brand is going from strength to strength, with several awards under their belt.  Last year they scooped the National Chamber Business Awards for ‘Small Business of the Year 2018’ but were runners-up for the National Export of the Year award.   

Commenting on his regional win, Matt Legon, Director at Gnaw Chocolate said:

“We’re absolutely delighted to win the regional Export Business of the year! I think many businesses will agree that the past 12 months have presented some unique challenges and that we’ve managed to work through these and keep moving forwards is testament to the brand and the team of eighteen that we’ve built here at Gnaw.”

The winners of regional Workplace Wellbeing Award, Indigo Swan, the Independent energy consultants based in Norwich, clearly put staff and client wellbeing at the forefront of their business, the recognition of this demonstrates a very forward-thinking business. The company currently employs twenty one staff.

James Groves, Managing Director at Indigo Swan said:

“Wellbeing in the workplace has always been of the upmost importance to all of us at Indigo Swan. With ‘Happiness First’ as one of our core values it is imperative that we give the team a safe habitat to be themselves and to be able to be open and honest about their wellbeing on a daily basis. The wellbeing fund, Ron’s Runners and our Pilates group are just some of the ways we are taking wellbeing seriously but making it fun at the same time. We are extremely proud to be recognised by the Norfolk Chamber as a shining light in our area for workplace wellbeing and we will continue to put it right at the very top of the agenda.”

All regional winners are now finalists for the National Awards and are invited Chamber Business Awards Gala Dinner in London on Friday 28th November 2019 where the National winners will be announced. They will also have the chance to win Business of Year and be battling for the prestigious national finalist categories against all the UK Chambers.

The British Chambers of Commerce today publishes an evaluation of official UK Government guidance to businesses on critical operational issues in the event of an unwanted ‘no deal’ exit on 31st October.  

The leading business group has found that, at the time of publication, 31 of 36 business-critical areas are still marked amber or red, indicating that firms have incomplete or insufficient information available to plan thoroughly for a ‘no deal’ outcome.   

The BCC does not believe that the impact of a messy and disorderly exit can be fully mitigated. Some of the key questions facing businesses depend on negotiation or some level of coordination between the UK and the EU. However, wherever possible, businesses need government guidance that is visible, clear, complete, timely and actionable to address key risks and prepare as much as possible for all scenarios.   

With just weeks until the October 31st deadline, of the 36 questions most frequently raised by companies, the leading business group’s assessment is that:

• 5 are marked green – the top rating for available information based on our quality criteria;
• 21 are amber – indicating that some information is available, but there are gaps and/or other quality issues still to be addressed;
• 10 are red – indicating little or no concrete information is available to help businesses to plan.

While government has noticeably ramped up the volume of communication, advice and engagement around a possible ‘no deal’ scenario in recent weeks, significant improvements are still needed to the level of detail and specificity in order to assist business contingency planning. The BCC continues to meet with government to discuss business readiness and government has committed to work with the business group to address the issues raised in the evaluation. As new and improved information becomes publicly available, the dashboard will be updated. 

On issues such as the UK successor to the EU Structural Funds, access to an official UK market access database on tariff levels, rules relating to staff transfers between the UK and EU, and cross-border trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, there is no clear information on which firms can base their future plans. 

 The research is not an assessment of the economic impact of a no-deal exit, or a judgement on the desirability of the policy change in each case. Instead, it is intended to evaluate whether official guidance is clear enough for business decision-making and forward planning. 

 Dr Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:  

“While the government has ramped up communication to businesses in recent weeks, there are still big gaps in the guidance available to help businesses to prepare for Brexit, with just weeks to go until October 31st.  

“Our business communities don’t want to see a disorderly ‘no deal’ exit on October 31st, which would lead to an overnight change in trading conditions. The guidance, information and advice available to businesses is not specific enough to enable firms to plan for an abrupt change. 

“Averting a messy and disorderly exit is still critical. Businesses across the UK want politicians on all sides to come together and find a way forward – fast.”