The Nationwide Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme

The Nationwide Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) represents a £67 million investment in faster internet connections.

Small or medium sized businesses will be able to get vouchers worth up to £3000 to help with the costs of connecting to full fibre broadband.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said: “We’re backing Britain’s small businesses by investing £67 million to bring full-fibre broadband to more businesses up and down the country.

“This means faster, more reliable broadband access as we build the digital infrastructure we need to make our economy fit for the future.”

The scheme forms part of the Government’s commitment to make full fibre broadband available to at least 10 million homes and businesses by 2022.

It will be available initially in just four areas – Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Bristol, Coventry and Warwickshire, and West Yorkshire and York. However, the Government plan to roll out the scheme nationwide by the end of March 2018.

Going Full Fibre

The Government says that full fibre connections are faster, more reliable and cheaper to operate than traditional copper lines, and are capable of supporting not only gigabit, but terabit and even petabit speeds, which will serve the UK far into the future. Currently only around 3% of UK premises have access to a full fibre connection.

You must use a registered supplier to install your full fibre broadband. Suppliers can offer vouchers to both new and existing customers. The scheme will be open until March 2021 or until all available funding has been allocated.

DCMS secretary of state, Matt Hancock said: “Small businesses are the backbone of the British economy and now they can turbo-charge their connectivity with gigabit speeds.

“By building a full fibre future for Britain we are laying the foundations for a digital infrastructure capable of delivering today what the next generation will need tomorrow.”

Interested? Visit the scheme’s website to find out more. You can also check your business’ eligibility and search for a registered supplier.

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The pressures of small business

OK, let’s cut the background music and get rid of the soft lighting, because often, that’s not the reality. Small business employees may have to handle a lot of responsibility due to the small size of the business, and the pressure can be huge.

Working in a small team can be intense and there’s often little metaphorical or literal space to separate you from colleagues you don’t get on with. Plus, some small business owners are much better at running a business than being a boss.

Luckily, the 2018 Employee Sentiment Poll from Investors in People provides some insight into how you can keep your employees happy.

Offer flexibility

Flexibility was one of the top three things that workers liked most about their current job, so consider how you could offer more flexibility to your employees. Of course, practicality has to be a consideration. You can’t offer an evening shift to an employee if their work involves interaction with clients or fellow employees who work 9-5, and if they will be at your business premises by themselves in the evenings, there are energy costs and security to consider.

However, if you can offer some degree of flexibility in hours and an option to sometimes work from home, your employees will thank you for it. It can make handling family and household commitments easier and less stressful. Nobody wants to use weeks of annual leave waiting for the RAC, the washing machine repair company, large deliveries and that 3 p.m. appointment for little Jimmy to have the cast removed from his leg.

Build a good team

Another top three pick for things workers like most: a good team. Ensure you listen to your employees’ grumbles and stay aware. Is everyone pulling their weight? Is there subtle or not-so-subtle harassment or bullying going on?

Ensure your expectations of everyone are the same and that you and any other staff with positions of authority are treating employees fairly. Look for ways to bring the team together and new recruits that will best complement your existing staff.

Make work enjoyable

Enjoyable work was the other top three entry for things workers like most and it topped the table of characteristics that employees look for in a new job.

If you run a plumbing company and one of your employees decides they hate everything about being a plumber and want to become a vet instead, there’s not much you can do about it.

However, it’s worth asking your employees what parts of their job they do and don’t enjoy, and then pinpointing the reasons. They may be things you can fix. To break it down to its simplest level, if you employ two brilliant plumbers and one loves fixing boilers while the other excels at fitting bathrooms, you’re more likely to retain them if you try to allocate them the work they enjoy wherever possible. It will also help them gain expertise. On the flipside, though, you need to ensure your staff are competent at whatever they may be asked to do.

Pay a fair wage

Their pay was the thing that most respondents liked least about their current job, and the second biggest reason for current unhappiness in their role. The amount you can afford to pay employees obviously depends on your business performance and profit, and minimum and living wage laws are ensuring more realistic minimum rates.

However, being paid minimum wage can be demoralising. Whatever you can afford to pay, make sure your pay scheme is transparent and fair, and that it reflects more than just one factor, i.e. not just qualifications or length of service or experience.

Be a good manager

The top grievance among respondents was poor management. Management is a skill within itself, and there’s no shame in getting yourself some training in this area – it’s far more shameful not to care how well you manage your employees, or to believe you were born the perfect manager!

The third biggest grievance after poor management and pay was not feeling valued, so a final bonus tip is to ensure your employees know how much you appreciate them and their work. This should ideally go beyond a simple ‘thank you’ or ‘well done’ – take a tip from good teaching practices and make your praise specific.

“Great job on that quote, John, it was very thorough” or “Thanks for getting that report to me so quickly, Mandy,” lets John and Mandy know you’re taking notice of what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and the effort they’re putting in.

Don’t we all feel better for knowing that what we do is noticed and appreciated?

The post Small Business Owners: Five Ways to Keep Your Employees Happy appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

Chatbots

If you ever feel like you’re chatting with a computer, you probably are – but with good reason. Online chatbots save time, streamline processes, and make customer service easy. If customer service takes up a big chunk of your time it may be time to get a chatbot helping you out.

Cobots

If not chatbots, then cobots are worth watching in 2018. In short a ‘collaborative robot’ is designed to work alongside actual real life employees. We’re probably not going to see them mainstream in 2018 but don’t discount these clever little dudes – they are gaining ground.

Reality Shifts

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AT) are set to continue making inroads in to business life. Being made possible by more powerful mobile tech, we’re going to see both VR and AR making more of an impact in marketing and sales.

Facial Recognition

Apple’s iPhone X is changing the way we manage our tech security. No more trying to remember twenty gazillion passwords with varying numbers, characters and symbols – your face will do it for you.

Mobile Payments

Over the last few years there’s been a dismantling of the barriers to payment and now it’s simple and involves just a few taps. Mobile payments continue to make things easier for customers to buy. If you don’t enable them, your customers may just go elsewhere.

Blockchain

We’re not convinced Blockchain will completely take off in 2018, but it’s definitely looming on the horizon and making waves. Blockchain is a way of recording transactions which are made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. Talking gobbledygook? Get Googling!

The Internet of Things

Yes it’s a buzz phrase that’s doing our nut, but the reality is that it’s actually kind of important for small businesses. By using smart technology to cut out the additional and laborious processes that take up our time (such as reordering printer ink), you can see why it makes sense to use the IoT to your advantage.

Tech in Transportation

This is definitely one to watch in 2018. The Government has pledged millions for electric car development as well as driverless vehicles. Alongside this there’s tougher rules being put in place on companies such as Uber with various cities not giving them a licence to operate. Transport solutions are therefore changing.  Perhaps your business will be at the frontline of the next development?

Automation in Food Ordering

Walk in to a high street McDonalds and you’re more likely to be welcomed by an iPad than a person. This is a trend set to continue in many dining establishments. It’ll become increasingly the norm to be able to order your food on a screen or on your mobile. With this comes more opportunity for customisation. For businesses this cuts down on labour and streamlines ordering and transactions. If you’re in the food business, take note.

Which tech trends will you be part of in 2018?

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