B-North, the Manchester-based firm building an SME lending bank for the UK, has grown its team again with three new audits, accounting and marketing hires. The move comes as the lender – which will bring fast, efficient funding to the under-serviced SME market – counts down to its Q2 launch of lending activities, following further infrastructure and services construction in 2019.

Paul Sleney joins as Head of Internal Audit and brings with him more than 25 years’ financial services experience in audit, conduct, risk and regulatory assurance at some of the UK’s biggest banking names.  At Lloyds Banking Group Paul was Head of Internal Audit for Customer Services, Credit Operations and Consumer Banking; he provided internal audit and risk management advice for one of the UK’s largest charitable organisations, The Royal British Legion; and he led the Internal Audit function at GE Capital Bank Ltd. covering the consumer lending businesses in both the UK and Ireland.  Paul’s CV also includes time at OakNorth Bank, HSBC and Arthur Andersen.

A Chartered Management Accountant who holds an MBA from the Manchester Business School, Paul joins from Grant Thornton, where he was Associate Director.

Marika Shand, Senior Management Accountant, was in the Controlling and Management Accounting division at npower for three years before joining the B-North team. Experienced in financial forecasting, business partnering and financial appraisals, Marika will work on B-North’s cash flow forecast, budget and financial management as the company moves through its licencing process and launch. She is a fully qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Sophia Ramsbottom, Marketing Manager, joins B-North as the company prepares to reach borrowers and brokers alike. She was previously at Citation Professional Services, a Health & Safety and HR and Employment Law firm, and before that, at NCC Group, the software escrow and cybersecurity firm, for five years. Sophia is responsible for developing B-North’s online presence and will work alongside the sales team to communicate the B-North proposition and drive its entry into the challenger bank space. She will also lead on new product launches and services between B-North’s different regional pods, the first of which will be in Manchester, (followed by Leeds, London and Birmingham). This highly localised, technology-enabled, ‘pod model’ will allow loans to be made available to SMEs in as little as 10 working days.

Jonathan Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO, said: “At B-North, we are implementing a leading market solution for essential lending to SMEs. To deliver it successfully, we are growing in numbers and bringing on talented team members who are instrumental to the delivery and infrastructure of our product. At this critical time, as we move closer to launch, to have Paul, Sophia and Marika join us is a huge boost to our capabilities and what we can achieve. They are invaluable additions to our highly experienced banking team, which originates from legacy and challenger banks and offers deep insight into the lending market.

“2019 was an extremely successful year for our growth and we are excited to be entering 2020 with our scheduled launch imminent, having fulfilled each step in our development plan over the past twelve months.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post B-North Strengthens Its Infrastructure Team Further Ahead Of Launch appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Engineering companies in the UK are potentially missing out on over £10 billion of R&D funding each year, new research has revealed.

The study, commissioned by innovation specialists MPA for Advanced Engineering 2019, found that one in five (21%) innovation active engineering firms are not taking advantage of the government’s R&D Tax Credit scheme, which allows companies to claim back up to 33p for every £1 spent on R&D activity.

On average, engineering companies invest £386,000 a year on R&D activity, meaning they are potentially able to claim £100,360 in funding. With over 100,000 UK engineering firms not claiming, despite describing their company as innovation active, a staggering £10.2 billion is going unclaimed each year.

Reasons for not claiming the funding vary, but the most common answer given by engineers is that they don’t believe their companies are eligible (10%).

However, the research revealed that many engineering companies probably qualify without them realising. Some examples of indicative qualifying activities are, if your company develops new processes to improve efficiency, quality or performance; overcome unplanned technical difficulties or create bespoke solutions for clients.

Two-thirds (67%) of workers think that their firms are ‘innovation active’, which is the most accurate indicator that a company is eligible for the R&D Tax Credit scheme. Despite this, only a third (37%) say that their companies claim the available funding.

Another barrier blocking engineers from claiming is a lack of awareness about the initiative. Nearly a quarter (24%) of the surveyed engineers who aren’t claiming admitted that they didn’t even know that the scheme exists. Even among those who think they are innovation active, one in fourteen (7%) said that they were completely unaware of R&D tax credits.

While many are yet to take advantage of the scheme, engineering companies in the UK are planning on investing heavily in research and development. Over the next year, over one in five (22%) businesses in the industry are planning on spending over £1 million on innovative projects.

Nigel Urquhart, Senior Technical Analyst at MPA, said: “Engineering companies in the UK are respected all over the world for their quality and innovation, but a worryingly low number of them are claiming the R&D funding they are entitled to.

“Our research has highlighted that more work needs to be done to raise awareness of the R&D Tax Credit scheme, as these innovative companies could save themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds. This money could then be reinvested to fund further innovation, which would ensure UK engineering stays at the forefront of the industry.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post UK Engineering Companies Are Potentially Missing Out On £10 Billion Of R&D Funding Each Year appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

UK businesses are unaware and unprepared when it comes to protecting themselves against cyber-attacks. That is what a new research of IT employees working in UK companies has revealed, with 43% of those surveyed saying that they don’t know how to defend their company from a security breach.

Used as an umbrella term, ‘cyber attack’ is used to cover everything from a simple phishing email, right across to a server attack, however, many IT workers have never seen or understand what the actual detail of an attack actually looks like.

A survey of 1,032 IT workers in full or part-time employment, carried out by technology services provider Probrand has revealed that more than one in five (21%) don’t actually know what a ‘cyber-attack’ constitutes.

Almost half (43%) of the IT workers surveyed admitted to being unaware of how to defend their company from a cyber-attack, with one in three (32%) relying on external agencies for crisis support.

Furthermore, only one in ten (12%) of respondents admitted to knowing what their company’s business continuity plan fully constitutes.

As stated by a recent survey carried out by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, this year only, 32% of businesses and 22% of charities have identified breaches or attacks. Among these organisations, the most common attacks were phishing emails (80% of businesses and 81% of charities experiencing breaches or attacks); others impersonating their organisation online (28% and 20%) and viruses or other malware, including ransomware (27% and 18%).

Matt Royle, marketing director at Probrand comments: “The term, ‘cyber-attack’ is firmly set in business vocabulary, and rightly so as cyber threats present the greatest risk of crisis to most organisations. However, it is worrying to discover many do not know the details of what a threat looks like, so have little chance of protecting themselves from it. Where no IT team exists, business leaders are exposed to threats without knowledge of how to protect themselves. Where IT teams do exist, managers are hampered by end user issues, lack of budget or time to truly focus on IT strategy, which includes security.”

And he went on: “Business leaders need to take another look at prioritising investment in people, technology and employee training to combat cyber security and protect the continuity of their business.”

Probrand is a leading technology services provider, with a marketplace to save users time and money buying IT, and a market leading portfolio of IT services that help businesses run, manage and transform operations by cutting cost and risk from their IT .

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Revealed: UK Businesses Are Unprepared When It Comes To Protecting Against Cyber-Attacks appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The short-term political future of the UK may be uncertain, but its long-term technological future looks bright, if the UK team’s entry into the FIRST Global Challenge 2019 in Dubai is anything to go by.

“It’s tense, it’s real tense, especially because we’re due to travel on January 2020 – Brexit deadline day,” says 16-year-old Patrick Jordan, Coder for Team UK, about the atmosphere in his country before his team flew out to Dubai for the event.

“Having the distraction of designing, building and coding the robotics for this event is a refreshing break from all the noise in the news,” he adds with a maturity well beyond his years. Patrick and his team could be directly affected by the Brexit fallout as they travel home on the day slated for the UK’s exit from the European Union.

“Events like this, on platforms like the one Dubai has provided, tell the story that we should be really be focused on,” says Muktar Ali, the 29-year-old mentor of Team UK and former robotics and engineering teacher of the five-member team.

“What we need to be focusing on is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and where we’re going with that. Look at the impact of AI and robotics already – this is where the future is headed. Instead of talking about ‘this is what we should be doing’, we should be focusing on what we can achieve with tech and AI.”

This is the team’s second shot at the FIRST Global Challenge. At last year’s event in Mexico City, they finished a valiant third, which has left them hungry for a first-place finish at this year’s tournament – the first to be hosted in the Middle East.

“Last year’s event was all about power, so we had wind turbines, reactors to place cubes inside slots, which was really relevant to us because so much of the UK’s trash is exported. This year is all about oceans, which is something that’s important not just for us – being an island nation surrounded by water – but also the wider world,” Patrick adds.

The robot Team UK has developed this year has a distinctively British look and feel to it – it’s a bulldozer with expandable wings that have red London buses attached. The aim of the wings is to push the balls into the goal nets to score points in the FIRST Global Challenge Olympics-style events.

“You get bonus points for clearing the entire floor, so we’ve designed something with the bonus points in mind – we’re here for the win,” Patrick says.

Touching on the importance of the FIRST Global Challenge, he adds: “Not everybody can be a footballer, and what’s the future for football and sports? This kind of work is the future: space exploration, automation – these are areas that offer careers. And it’s so important to give that a platform.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Team UK At FIRST Global Challenge in Dubai: “Tech innovation is the real issue in the UK” appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The phenomenal increase of scaleups in recent years has seen the UK make great advances in support of high-growth businesses. In light of this, John Duckworth, Managing Director at Instant Offices delves into the rapid growth of a Scaleup Nation and what the key factors are to help SMEs step up to the next stage of development.

Scaleup Index reports that the number of visible scaleups in the UK has increased by more than 500 scaling businesses since 2017, and that the sector “added billions of pounds to the economy and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

According to the 2018 Scaleup Index, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester have the highest concentration of scaleups outside of London, and 2017 saw a record level of investment into these ventures at almost £2.75bn. Tech Nation reports that investment in UK scaleup digital tech firms grew 61% in 2018, ranking the UK fourth after the US, China and India.

Supporting High-Growth Firms

No different to a ‘high-growth firm’, a scaleup is a relatively new term used to describe the link between starting and growing a business. Typically, a scaleup will have an average annualised return of at least 20% in the past three years, with at least ten employees at the beginning of those three years. These companies have generally already proven themselves viable, as opposed to startups, which are still in the process of establishing themselves.

According to a report by the Scaleup Institute, two core challenges for scaleups include access to markets, including overseas customers, and talent acquisition.

It’s all about the Location

The decision to locate a business in a specific area is often a very significant moment for a scaleup business, as it can define a brand and its ability to attract and retain the best talent.

Often, due to cost restrictions, startups and scaleups choose locations situated far from central or ‘glamorous’ parts of town. This can make attracting talent in the initial growth period very difficult, and also dissuade clients from making regular visits.

Growth in Scaleups Supported by the Flex Market

Interestingly, the biggest growth area of the London flex market over the last two years has been the demand for 20+ desk enquiries, which has increased by 45% year on year since 2016. This size of the requirement is typically representative of corporate demand, particularly scaleup firms looking to evolve beyond the startup phase of growth.

Several flexible workspace providers have started offering products better tailored to this new type of demand, helping firms adapt and grow into custom office space without the initial investment headaches and challenges associated with renting workspace.

By 2020 and beyond, this is a trend that is expected to continue into, with increasing demand from scaleups and corporates seeking alternatives to traditional office space. The flex market is adapting to the way work is changing, driving a wider appetite for the flexibility, agility and utilisation needs embodied by scaleups.

Getting the Tech Right

Having reliable and robust systems in place that allow a company the ability to expand or “scale up” is crucial. Robust IT systems are incredibly important to any business and are a vital consideration as processes become more complex, and speed is required.

Fortunately, the rise of cloud-based platforms and new tech means the tech problems that many small companies might historically have struggled with are no longer a key concern.

A Scaleup Economy

Much has been made of the need to encourage entrepreneurialism in the UK, and various governments have tried to claim the victory of having recognised the startup economy. But the reality is that not enough in the past was done to foster the development of these companies.

Finding the right space, the best talent, and proximity to clients, are all vital requirements for the scaleup.

Three Key Factors to Scaling up

• Perfect the Basics

It’s essential to get the fundamentals right before attempting to scale. Ensure all resources can scale and perfect basic processes before introducing new ones.

• Focus on Agility

Speed and agility are critical to any growth strategy, and to juggle the peaks and lows it’s essential to be able to grab opportunities fast. Many scaleups supplement core office space with flexible and coworking spaces on short leases to sample new markets and increase headcount when needed.

• Hire Multi-Skilled Talent

With automation becoming the norm across most businesses, hiring multi-skilled talent is crucial to success. Hiring innovative and creative people is an invaluable investment for long-term growth. A 2018 report found that AI is expected to generate 7.2m jobs in the UK, outstripping those that will be lost as a result of automation.

Scaleups are driving growth and helping to strengthen the UK economy, so it’s important to shift focus to these dynamic companies as their numbers continue to grow.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Scaleup Nation: The Rise Of Scaleup Businesses In The UK appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The UK’s most rapidly emerging industry – artificial intelligence (AI) – attracted $1.3 billion in VC funding this year alone. This is almost a seven-fold increase in just 5 years, where in 2014 the sector attracted $200 million.

The findings come from a new report – Harnessing the Power of AI: The Demand for Future Skills – from global recruiter Robert Walters and market analysis experts Vacancy Soft.

The pace at which AI has infiltrated business and industries has been quick – with promises of a productivity boost and opportunities to bring about new and revolutionary products and services.

In fact, the emergence of AI is expected to create 133 million new roles globally, and impact 10.5 million roles in the UK alone.

Ollie Sexton, Principal at Robert Walters comments: “Across Industry, businesses are exploring the potential of AI and wondering how they can tap into this for their own advantage. With this, we are seeing the emergence of a new niche sector within the technology industry – of specialist companies dedicated to just AI. The establishment of a dedicated AI sector is accompanied by significant VC funding into the sector.”

Demand for AI specialists

The take-up of AI across industry is leading to an explosion in recruitment into specialist researchers into artificial intelligence.

Tom Chambers, Manager – Advanced Analytics and Engineering at Robert Walters comments: “Where this area was once an obscure niche, now hundreds of technology businesses are actively recruiting for specialists in developing AI algorithms. As a result, the job market has shifted significantly where demand is now outstripping supply.”

The report highlights substantial growth in specialist positions within the AI ecosystem –  including machine learning, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), geospatial analysis, AI research, and applied data science vacancies – where there has been job vacancy increases from 445 in 2015 to over 4,000 estimated this year (+897%).  For the rest of this year, vacancies within the AI-specialist firms are on track to grow by 37%.”

Tom Chambers adds: “Edge AI is having a huge impact on AI investment as businesses cater for real-time decision making – from facial recognition on smartphones, to driverless vehicles responding to the road in real-time, to instantaneous medical imaging. These real-time needs are leading businesses to make the leap into the international hiring pool in search of specialist AI and machine learning skills.”

“On the one hand, Brexit threatens the freedom of movement necessary for businesses to attract people from across the continent. On the other hand, the new Prime Minister has stated that the policy of the government will be to make it as easy as possible for business to attract the scientists and engineers needed to keep the UK at the forefront of R&D,” Chambers concluded.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post The Power Of AI: VC Funding Boosts Artificial Intelligence Startups In The UK appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

UK business leaders are abandoning long-term strategy and development, with time being directed towards managing their day-to-day workload, according to new research.

Hampered by time “wasted” on admin, Priority Software found that if time-strapped business leaders had more hours in the day, they would spend them on:

• Strategy and planning (30 per cent)
• Growing the business (28 per cent)
• Personal development and self-training (28 per cent)

Instead, more than half of senior decision makers in the UK are wasting the equivalent of a working month on administrative tasks, while 50 per cent of C-Suite executives are spending over a quarter of the working week in meetings.

Lunch breaks are a rare occurrence with almost a third of senior decision makers stepping away from the desk less than once a week.

Working through lunch, combined with wasting time on inefficient tasks, points to poor time management, and can result in an unhappy and inefficient workforce.

“If business leaders are wasting this much time on admin, it’s fair to say this problem will run right through the organisation,” said Andres Richter, CEO of Priority Software. “The concern from our findings is that because of this, managers are not spending enough time on long term planning and strategy.  

“Business leaders should conduct an audit of where they’re spending their time to build an honest picture of where improvements could be made. Whether it’s deploying collaboration tools, transferring core functions into the cloud for real time progress reports or simply appraising wellbeing culture, this will put firms in a stronger position when weathering an unpredictable economic climate.”

The state of business mobility survey targeted 650 senior decision-makers in UK businesses using an online survey. The study, conducted by Atomik Research, analysed the perceived productivity of participants and their businesses. Respondents’ insights were further broken down based on demographic qualifiers, location, age, job level and sector. Priority Software completed this study to help businesses gain a better understanding of the challenges to maximising productivity in the workplace.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post UK Business Leaders Abandon Long-Term Strategy and Development, Finds New Survey appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.