28/07/2007 by admin.

Businesses in Wrexham town centre have helped to raise £500 for Cancer Research UK in support of the recent Relay for Life.

The initiative was prompted by the Wrexham Town Centre Forum, and saw various shops and businesses donate goods or vouchers which were raffled in aid of the charity.

Events took place at the Farmers’ market in June and at the 24-hour Relay for Life at Queensway Sports Centre on July 7.

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28/07/2007 by admin.

The series of strikes announced by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are over a two week period which started last Wednesday and is due to end at 12 noon on Wednesday 8th August. The action will not take place on a National basis, but at different Royal Mail sites at different times across the country. There will be limited delivery services today (Saturday).

Collections today will be limited to a single collection from Post Boxes outside of Post Offices and these collections may be earlier than the normal advertised times.

A leading business group warns that the strikes are putting jobs at risk and are urging the Government to intervene in the postal workers dispute.

The Federation of Small Businesses said small firms are being “caught in the crossfire” of the row over pay and jobs. Read more…

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27/07/2007 by admin.

Friends of the Earth has put a spoof version of Tesco’s ‘Every little helps’ ad on You Tube to demonstrate the destructive effect it claims the retailer has on local shops.

The ad features a voiceover by comedian Alexei Sayle and it urges shoppers to use local stores, even if they spend a few more pounds, to prevent them disappearing.

The ad is part of a Friends of the Earth campaign that calls on the Competition Commission to reduce Tesco’s dominance in the grocery market.

The environmental charity strongly opposes government plans to change retail-planning policy so that it is easier for supermarkets to build out-of-town stores.

Tesco defended themselves by arguing that via its regeneration partnerships with local groups, some stores help to revitalise communities blighted by social problems. Last month the retailer suffered a slowdown in sales which it attributed to repeated rises in interest rates.

Watch the spoof ad here.

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26/07/2007 by admin.

Loss of computer data can have serious implications for small businesses. Yet despite the risk, almost two-thirds of small businesses don’t back-up their data on a daily basis, according to a Dell/FSB Computer and Data Security Survey.

Some recommendations from Dell:

• Always backup data every day – there’s no way of knowing when systems coucld go down and what valuable information may be lost.
• Don’t forget external memory – notebook computers, flash disks etc – remember to back these up as soon as you can.
• Only save what needs to be saved – not all information is critical. As well as avoiding wasting storage space you will get faster access to relevant data.
• Choose the method that’s right for your business – smaller set-ups won’t necessarily need the same types of storage technology as larger firms.

Storage solutions which are particularly effective for small to medium sized businesses include external devices such as disk storage and tape backup drives, and entry level SANs (Storage Area Networks).

Match your backup solution to your budget, business model and needs. However remember to take into account possible business growth and subsequent technology needs.

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25/07/2007 by admin.

Jobcentre Plus carried out a survey of 4,500 employers and the researchers found that more than two in five Welsh businesses were looking to hire new staff last year. Read more…

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24/07/2007 by admin.

Wrexham financial planner Lee Gould has become the first chartered financial planner in the town.

The Chartered Insurance Institute introduced the status as its highest level of qualification for financial planners in 2006.

Lee is technical services manager at Williams Financial Planning.

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24/07/2007 by admin.

A morning meeting of the NEWI business & Community Network was held yesterday and members had the opportunity to meet Andrew Wang, Professor of International Trade and Director of the International Affairs Office at Zhejiang Gongshang University.

Professor Wang is visiting Wrexham as a guest professor at Wrexham Business School’s summer school.

His presention focused on emerging opportunities for UK businesses, and also considered the potential risks.

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23/07/2007 by admin.

The universities of Bangor, Aberystwyth and Swansea are to launch an £8.5m service this week at the Royal Welsh Show aimed at companies in Wales looking to improve their profitability and environmental sustainability.

The Welsh Institute for Sustainable Environments is designed to assist companies in Wales Objective 1 areas to access specialist knowledge at the three universities to develop the environmental goods and services sector.

The project has received £4.7m from the Welsh Assembly Government under the European Union’s Objective 1 Programme, with the balance coming from the universities.

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23/07/2007 by admin.

Hardcore broadband users spend more time on virtual networking than they do on real life socialising according to research by uSwitch.com. The survey of 10,500 adults found that the average Britain spends 15.8 hours per week online – equivalent to 34.2 days per year.

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23/07/2007 by admin.

Aspiring Welsh entrepreneurs expect to earn up to £40,000 annually from their business, this is above the £28,000 that is actually earned by the average UK entrepreneur, according to a study by Nat West Bank. Read more…

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