Monthly Archives: July 2021

News

Self-employed women lost almost DOUBLE the income of male counterparts during pandemic, yet remain more optimistic about the future

Self-employed* women surveyed lost almost double the income of their male counterparts during the course of the pandemic, but remain more optimistic about the future of their business. This is according to new research released today by Superscript, the SME insurance provider.

Research of over 2,000 sole-traders, freelancers and micro-business owners** showed that women lost 20% of their income, compared to men who only lost 11%. The news comes after academics said that the female self-employed have been ‘overlooked’ by government support schemes, with female take-up of the SEISS grant lower than male take-up.

Overall, the self-employed lost an estimated 15% of income. The primary factor for the drop in income was not because of the closure of physical premises, of which only 14% of respondents attributed the primary reason, but because demand for products and services dropped (35%).

As a result of the drop in income, self-employed women have also suffered a greater mental toll than self-employed men. Over half (53%) of women surveyed say that their mental wellbeing has been negatively impacted by the pandemic, compared to 38% of men. The primary reason for this is due to concerns about providing for themselves and their families (28% overall). Lack of human interaction with colleagues, friends and family (23%) and concern over the future of the business (14%) were the other primary factors. Only one in ten (12%) said that their drop in mental wellbeing had nothing to do with work.

Despite a difficult period, now that restrictions are lifting and the road to recovery is clearing, ‘optimism’ is the prevailing state of mind for the self-employed (29%) currently. With female respondents (30%) slightly more optimistic than their male counterparts (29%), despite being more heavily impacted. Additionally, enthusiasm for being self-employed and running micro-businesses has not dimmed, with half (50%) of respondents agreeing that they love doing what they do so much that they don’t see it as work at all.

The research also showed that the most significant motivations for becoming self-employed were: greater control over schedule (27%); the satisfaction of building something themselves (19%) and following their passion (17%). Does being your own boss appeal to you? Take Superscript’s quiz to see what kind of boss you’d make.

Cameron Shearer, co-founder and CEO of Superscript, said:

“There’s rightly been a lot of focus on mental health in the workplace during the pandemic. So we wanted to explore the human impact on the self-employed and micro-businesses, who make up 95% of registered businesses in the UK, and don’t have access to resources like HR departments for support.

“It’s been a tough time for the self-employed as they have tried to keep their business, which they have worked so hard to build, above water despite demand for products and services dropping off a cliff. Self-employed women have been disproportionately impacted, which illustrates that society still has a way to go to encourage female entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, now that the fog is clearing, it is inspiring to see the resilience and adaptability that the self-employed have shown, and they will benefit from that in the long-run. We are seeing more demand for business insurance as confidence and optimism returns and more people look to set up on their own. There will be a lot of opportunities in the next 12 months for small businesses to grow and thrive, and I expect this to be a very fruitful period as the economy returns even stronger than before.”

Emma Maslin, money mentor, Founder of The Money Whisperer, said:

 “Like a lot of other self-employed women who took on a disproportionate amount of the homeschooling responsibilities during lockdown, keeping a service-based business running wasn’t easy. It was a challenging time, but those of us who choose self-employment thrive on challenge. I never want to go back to paid employment again so I kept my initial motivation for working for myself – freedom – at the front of my mind, and pivoted my business. Now it is more successful than ever.

“The self-employed have shown great resilience over the past year, often with little or no financial support from the Government. Small business is the lifeblood of the UK economy and for a strong recovery, we need to see entrepreneurship supported from all angles going forward. Certainly, the availability of flexible business service offerings, including insurance, is critical to enable small businesses to recover, grow and then thrive.”

About Superscript

Superscript provides business insurance designed specifically to meet the fast-changing needs of small businesses. Underpinned by proprietary technology, expertise in emerging risks and threats, and partnerships with some of the world’s biggest underwriters, it delivers bespoke, subscription-based insurance cover for all types of risk. Superscript shapes business protection around businesses’ individual needs, from essential cover through to complex risks. It delivers a personalised customer experience that supports the ever-evolving needs of small to medium-sized businesses.

Superscript was originally founded as Digital Risks in 2015 by Cameron Shearer, CEO, an accomplished marketer, entrepreneur and tech expert, and Ben Rose, Chief Underwriting Officer, an experienced broking, risk management, underwriting and claims specialist. Its investors include BHL Holdings (owner of Compare The Market), Beazley Group and Concentric.

About the research

*Those who described themselves as sole-traders, freelancer or micro-business owners, and were either ‘self-employed’; ‘employed full time’ or ‘employed part time’.

**The research was conducted by CensusWide, with 2,015 Micro-business owners (1-10 employees), sole-traders/self-employed and freelancers (with even quotas) between 03.06.2021 – 16.06.2021.

News, Property

Bedfordshire site manager wins leading industry award

A site manager building new homes for Bellway has been awarded a prestigious industry award for his work at a development in Wixams, Bedfordshire.

Bellway’s Sean Howard, site manager at Brook View, has won a coveted Quality Award in the National House Building Council’s (NHBC) 2021 Pride in the Job awards programme.

Sean, who has been site manager at Brook View since building work began in September 2019, has now won his first NHBC award.

The winners of the 2021 Quality Awards were announced on Friday 18 June, following a year-long judging process by NHBC officials.

Now in its 41st year, Pride in the Job remains one of the most highly regarded competitions in the industry, recognising site managers who demonstrate best practice and excellence on-site to build homes of the highest quality.

Sean’s attention to detail and exceptional customer service at Brook View has meant that all customers who’ve moved into new homes at the development so far this year and completed customer satisfaction surveys with the Home Builders Federation (HBF), would recommend Bellway to a friend.

Sean said: “I was so happy and also quite relieved to have won the award. It just shows that all the work we’ve put in has paid off.

“This award is the biggest thing you can achieve as a site manager and not everyone can win one, so I’m really pleased.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my team. Everyone has done their bit – there are some really good lads on site, and everyone has collectively earned this award.

“You have to keep a good standard throughout the whole build process because the judges could turn up at any time, so you have to treat every day as an inspection – in terms of both build quality and customer service.

“This is only the first site I’ve had with Bellway, and I’ve had great feedback from the directors and everyone who has visited the site, so it’s great to have won an award already.”

Sean will now progress to the next stage of the competition, which will see the winners of the Seal of Excellence and overall Regional Award announced.

Iain Hunter, Head of Construction for Bellway Northern Home Counties, said: “To be recognised by the NHBC is the biggest accolade you could achieve as a site manager, so we are all very proud of Sean and his team on receiving a Quality Award in 2021.

“In a year which has tested everybody in so many ways throughout the construction industry and beyond, Bellway’s commitment to building the highest standard of home remains paramount to our success and Sean has demonstrated that consistently through this most challenging of periods.

“The dedication of all our site managers and their teams is a vital part of Bellway retaining its five-star status with the Home Builders Federation (HBF) for the last five years in succession. Their commitment to delivering homes on time while maintaining the highest level of customer service is a key reason why nine out of 10 Bellway buyers would recommend us as a developer of choice.

“We congratulate Sean and wish him the very best of luck for the Seal of Excellence stage of the awards later this year.”

For more information on homes being built by Bellway, visit bellway.co.uk.

CAPTIONS

  • Sean Howard, Site Manager at Bellway Northern Home Counties Brook View development
News

Tech company appoints powerful female leadership to launch ethical dating app

A tech company, Ethical Social Group has appointed two powerful women as co-founders, heading up the group’s senior leadership team as it prepares to launch its ethical dating app Fluttr.

Ethical Social Group, based in Macclesfield, was created with a vision to transform the landscape of social media, to give people the safety and control they deserve. The company is rebuilding social platforms by taking the parts that are fun and exciting and putting them in a trusted space within the apps it is developing.

New CEO Rhonda Alexander, who is also a Board Member of Ethical Social Group, is a native New Yorker. Now living in central London, she earned an MPhil in Sociology, Politics and Economics of Development at the University of Cambridge and has a wealth of experience operating in different global markets.

Rhonda served as International Director and Senior Vice President of World Congress in the ‘90s driving its expansion into Europe and Asia. She is also the Co-Founder of The Chemistry Club, forging business connections for members fundamentally powered by the chemistry between people. She led initiates aimed at bringing together top venture capitalists, investors, government ministers, industry leaders and screened technology sector entrepreneurs, and also helped launch The Climate Change Forum and Networking Master Classes.

Her more recent roles have included Chief Connections Officer at The WealthiHer Network, Partner at The Ballistra Group and Advisor at Cherry London.

In 2016, Rhonda founded The Maven Group, offering consultancy and advisory services at board and shareholder level specifically to start-ups, SMEs and non-profits. As a fierce advocate for diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities, Rhonda currently serves as a board member for a number of not-for-profit organisations, including Perform Workshops, Rambert and is supporting the establishment of the She’s That Woman Foundation.

Rhonda, whose appointment as CEO became effective as of 1st June 2021, said: “I am thrilled to be stepping into the role of CEO for this exciting new digital platform grounded in purpose, with the ability to affect real change and have meaningful social impact. Fluttr represents an opportunity to bring together all of my experience in curating meaningful connections to help shape building everything that a dating app should be. Fluttr will be a fun and safe space where people can be their authentic selves and find what they are looking for. I can’t wait to help introduce Fluttr to the world!”

Appointed as Chairperson of the Fluttr Board is powerhouse Louise McCarthy, a widely recognised, award-winning industry leader, who champions results-driven, innovative and ground-breaking transformational work with businesses and organisations of all sizes.

Currently serving as a CXO board advisor and Non-Executive Director for companies such as Recognise Bank, Louise has guided numerous complex organisations through creating their Global Digital IT transformation strategies. Louise is a renowned architect at board level for her strategic design of complex technology and digital transformational policies which enable multifaceted organisations to align their digital transformation plans with their commercial business objectives. Louise’s background in finance powers her deep ability to see the wider picture and inject commercial creativity into the process. Louise is a role model for women in tech across industries.

Louise, whose appointment as Board Chairperson for Fluttr became effective as of 1st April 2021, said: “I am thrilled to be taking on the position as Chairperson of the Board for Fluttr. Having worked for many established, corporate businesses, I relish the opportunity to join the company at this exciting time of growth and expansion. I look forward to working closely with the team and its stakeholders, as we together deliver an app anchored in a safe ecosystem that will represent the new benchmark for online dating.”

Fluttr is an exciting new dating app launching in 2021 with integrated ID verification required to join so that members really are who they say they are. It will create a community of members who feel safe and protected, wherever they are on their dating journey, as they seek out the chemistry of connection.

News

SpeechWrite teams up with OGL Computer Services Group as official IT and cybersecurity partner

Birmingham-based SpeechWrite, provider of dictation and voice recognition technology to businesses in the legal, medical, finance and professional services sectors has announced that OGL Computer Services Group is now its ‘Official IT Solutions and Cyber Security Partner’.

OGL and SpeechWrite believe now is the perfect time for the partnership and look forward to improving the cyber security of scores of businesses across the Midlands region, and beyond.

SpeechWrite is offering OGL’s IT and cyber solutions to protect its client base and encourage digitalisation of businesses.

SpeechWrite specialises in innovative voice recognition and dictation workflow solutions. Using voice technology dramatically speeds up document turnaround and helps employees boost their efficiency, even when they are on the move.

OGL, which encompasses CyberGuard Technologies and OGL IT Solutions, has been providing IT solutions for 45 years from its headquarters in Kidderminster, and added cyber security to its portfolio in 2017.

SpeechWrite’s 800 customers – from the legal, medical, finance and professional services sectors – could be especially attractive targets for cyber-criminals because of the highly sensitive and personal data they hold. CyberGuard Technologies has an enormous amount of expertise in mitigating this threat by utilising and deploying a whole range of tactics, techniques and procedures to defend and protect networks and systems.

A surge of cyber-attacks during and since the pandemic created a need for SpeechWrite to offer their clients secure IT infrastructures on which to operate their dictation software. OGL was the obvious choice because of their reputation in the area, plus its customer base of 1,200, which includes many law firms, NHS trusts, accountants, estate agents and surveyors, meaning OGL already has vast experience of working with the types of customers SpeechWrite attracts.

The UK Government states in its ‘Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021’ that four in ten businesses (39%) experienced security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months. Furthermore, of that 39%, 21% ended up losing money, data or other assets.

Alongside heightening cyber security threats, businesses are also feeling the pressure to digitalise their operations, a result of the pandemic. OGL IT Solutions support organisations to make the shift into the digital era and take advantage of the many benefits technology can bring to their industries.

Talking about the new partnership with SpeechWrite, Lee Reece, Senior Manager at OGL said: “We’re dedicated to ensuring businesses are protected, because we want to see the UK economy thrive, and to do so companies need cyber security in place. SpeechWrite customers are already choosing to use best-of-breed dictation software, so the next step is to get in a place a best-of-breed IT infrastructure to support it, that’s fully cyber secure. Something we love working with businesses to achieve.”

OGL also plans to introduce its customer-base to the benefits of SpeechWrite technology.

Aleron Cawser, Operations Director at SpeechWrite, commented: “We’ve known of OGL and the services they offer for a while – and we’re delighted to have them on board as our Official IT and Cyber Security Partner. Cyber security has always been a top priority for SpeechWrite and our clients, making the partnership a natural strategic fit. With the ongoing cyber threats to all UK businesses it makes sense for us to bolster our offering and expertise in this critical area of IT security.

Lee concluded: “Myself and team are thrilled to launch this partnership and look forward to meeting SpeechWrite customers and seeing how we can help each one tackle the huge problem of cyber-crime and the challenge of embracing the new digital era. Plus, of course, we’ll be pointing our customers in the direction of SpeechWrite if they have not yet utilised digital or cloud dictation in their organisation.”

Charity & CSR, Healthcare, Hospice News

Thankful patient celebrates doubling her fundraising target

A patient at Nightingale House has said a ‘big thank you’ after raising double the amount of money she originally planned.

Denise Cross set out to raise awareness about the facilities and treatments that Nightingale House Hospice provide, while raising 5K to support vital care for those with life-limiting illnesses by undertaking a sponsored head shave.

Within hours she hit her 5K target and the donations have continued to flow in ever since. She recently found out she had doubled her original target, with a total of £10,000 and the figure is still rising.

Denise wanted to thank everyone for their support. She said: “I am absolutely over the moon we have broken the £10k target. I’d just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me with their kind donations and to my daughter Katherine for kickstarting our Just Giving campaign. We’ll be leaving the page open for a little while if anyone would like to donate.”

The 62-year-old was diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer whilst in Gibraltar visiting her daughter in September 2020. She received radiotherapy in Malaga and chemotherapy in Wrexham but was given just days to live. After an initial stay at Nightingale House Hospice back in February for pain symptom management she was able to return home to her daughter, Katherine, and she received physiotherapy sessions and complementary therapies through the hospice. She was then readmitted in May 2021 and has been there ever since.

Katherine Williams, Denise’s daughter commented: “I was upset at first when they said mum’s care would be better served at Nightingale House but I’m really grateful to the hospice team who recognised the complexity of her needs. I get to spend quality time chatting to mum now whilst making special memories.”

Denise’s fundraising page can be found at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/katherine-williams33

Climate, News, Sustainability

Green Vans and Buying British – What makes the most eco-friendly tradesperson?

Ben Dyer, CEO of Powered Now, discusses the support Britain’s tradespeople need to aid the nation’s task in achieving net zero carbon

In April, the Government set into law the world’s most ambitious climate change target, cutting emissions by 78% by 2035, hoping to bring the UK more than three-quarters of the way to net zero by 2050. From September, businesses will be required to commit to net zero by 2050 and publish clear carbon reduction plans before bidding on major government contracts, as well as reporting levels of carbon emissions for projects to clients.

Companies will be required to report emissions on transportation, distribution, and waste from their operations. This includes suppliers too, which are often take up a large proportion of an organisation’s carbon footprint. To support this, the Construction Leadership Council – made up of leading, high profile industry figures – has confirmed a vast array of businesses, major contractors, top manufacturers and  distributors have committed to share their experience en-route to hitting net zero.

Further to this, companies such as Galliford Try and Henry Boot have become the most recent additions of construction firms to set tangible targets for achieving net-zero greenhouse emissions across their own direct operations by 2030.

Away from the commercial giants in the industry, SMEs within construction and the trades are witnessing an overhaul of the industry, placing a far greater emphasis on sustainability. Ranging from digitisation to a generation of green transportation, the field service management software Powered Now has given their top 3 tips that tradespeople can do today to make their business more eco-friendly.

Green Vans:

The White Van is symbolic of the UK’s fleet of tradespeople, but with the Government banning the sale of almost all petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030, Britain’s builders are in need of a transportation overhaul. Although electric vans are a relatively new fixture on the UK’s roads, research from Confused.com found that the Iveco Daily Electric was the best model on the market right now, with a range of 174 miles on a full charge.

Buying British:

The recent materials shortage that has been so well documented has hastened builders’ merchants to bring more of their supply chains to the UK. The implications of Brexit meant that the prices of supplies rose sharply, but a lack of materials due to the pandemic has compounded issues further. Therefore, not only is it financial prudent to bring supply chains back to the UK, but with reduced transportation involved, it makes for a more environmentally-friendly best practice too.

Going Digital:

Any tradesperson will tell you that sorting out paperwork ranging from invoices to certificates was the largest bugbear they had to deal with. Of course, record client demand and a scramble for resources since the pandemic has been ubiquitous, but the issue of vast paperwork still has tradespeople working into the night. Digitalising their paperwork so that admin work is completely organised not only saves vital time for tradespeople, but helps to cut down paper waste and sustaining natural resources.

Ben Dyer, CEO of Powered Now, has commented on the importance of the trades becoming more environmentally friendly:

“Because 15 per cent of the UK’s total carbon emissions and two fifths of our total energy output come from the way we use and heat our homes, the importance of implementing sustainable renovations is more crucial now than ever.

“Low carbon technologies and their deployment will go beyond simply designing new products, it needs a fully joined up strategy that delivers a low carbon heating revolution for the UK. It has to start now.

“We are also encouraged that the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced a cash boost of £44m towards its heat and buildings decarbonisation strategy, which is a great addition to the government’s net zero construction techniques.”

Automotive, News

Triple-digit growth for Cheshire online motor retailer

Digital-first used car business Motor Connect is set for 100% growth in the coming year following the launch of its new industry-leading digital platform and increased nationwide sales capacity.  

The independently owned business based in Northwich, Cheshire has already driven a 50% rise in turnover during its latest financial year by shifting its strategy to focus on online sales and scaling up its innovative motor retail marketplace that is based on collaboration not competition with other UK used car dealers.

Owner Stephen Corwood, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the used car sales market, switched from the traditional route to used car retail at the beginning of the first lockdown as auction prices soared and customers looked for contact-free online sales.

He bought a transporter to deliver nationally and quickly developed his online platform MotorConnect.co.uk as a marketplace for UK dealers to advertise stock (free of charge).

The innovative business model sees Motor Connect taking ownership of any vehicles sold via the site where its team then handles the whole customer experience, from vehicle preparation to delivery to their door. MotorConnect.co.uk also enables customers to arrange finance, part exchange and warranties for a complete hassle-free process.

Stephen explains: “In May last year it became clear that the traditional paths to used vehicle retail were going to become expensive – coupled with consumers looking for a single digital touchpoint to buy, sell and finance a car. We changed what we did internally and it’s worked so well for us.

“For us it’s also been about being different and not putting ourselves in the same boat as some large dealer groups and supermarkets that sit on stock.

“Our business model means we can scale at pace – and this is what we’re doing now. Rapidly expanding our dealer partner network to increase vehicle volumes on the site. We’re also operating in a much more efficient and data-led way that’s of huge benefit. We can add new digital features with ease and invest in getting our platform and cars seen.

“The new platform is a win-win for both the customer and our approved dealer partners.

“Our strategy is about managing the full customer journey across all touch points using smart tech, customer insight and our experienced personnel. As the process is so streamlined and connected, often, customers can buy a vehicle online, put their finance in place, and get a vehicle delivered to their door within just two days.

“Working with a select network of dealer partners, we provide an additional route to market and, by taking ownership of vehicles to see through the whole customer-service process, dealers can benefit from faster stock turnover and reduce their staffing costs.

“While the industry average stock turnaround is 44 days, we’re achieving 23 and under. And we’re championing the independent dealer, so that our partner’s stock gets seen, gets sold and that they can benefit from our investment in digital technologies as well.

“Our enquiries can be car led, finance led or for a part exchange quote – the important thing is that when they reach us that they can choose from our services and be well looked after.”

Stephen continues: “There is a significant shift to online sales in our industry, and we’re at the forefront of this with a digital platform baked in consumer insight and digital know-how.

“We’ve partnered with some of the best digital professionals in the industry to develop our new site, which ensures the whole customer journey is a smooth one. More and more industries are using digital to offer consumers a more personal, concierge style service – and this is what we can offer too. Meeting customer expectation to be able to use one platform to manage their purchases.

“While COVID-19 accelerated the shift to consumers buying cars online, we were on the front foot of this swing ahead of the pandemic having already begun our digital-first approach to used car retail.

“We’re disrupting the ‘competitive nature’ of car sales opting for collaboration instead where we facilitate sales and apply our first-class customer service. We look at the whole customer journey and customer experience – and this is where our skill lies, in using data and insight to continually adapt and meet today’s expectations.”

Motor Connect’s current track on turnover is £9.6m with a target of £20m in the next 20 months in line with its strategy.

https://www.motorconnect.co.uk/approved-dealer-network

Accounts and Accountancy, News

Azets’ Regional CEO eyes quadruple growth

Paul Clifford is celebrating 12 months in post

Azets, the UK’s largest regional accountancy and business advisor to SMEs, with 14 offices across the Midlands, Shropshire, and the Welsh Borders, is targeting quadruple growth in the region within the next five years as part of ambitious plans set out by Regional CEO Paul Clifford.

Paul is celebrating 12 months in the role having been handed overall responsibility for Azets’ Central region at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Azets has continued to invest in people, technology, and infrastructure, and has significantly expanded its regional presence and expertise under Paul’s leadership.

This year, Azets has celebrated a record level of activity in its tax and corporate finance teams, employed 40 graduates and school leavers, and announced 100 new roles in the Midlands, available over the next 12 months, as Azets aims to increase national revenue by 50% by 2026.

Earlier in July, Azets, which rebranded and launched in September 2020, was named Accountancy Firm of the Year 2021 at the prestigious City of Birmingham Business Awards (COBBA) for its accelerated growth and regional impact.

Paul Clifford, Regional CEO with Azets, said: “I’m immensely proud to have led Azets’ in the region for one year, during which time we’ve overcome significant challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, brought a new top 10 accountancy firm to the market, and rebalanced our regional presence to position the business for continued growth. Our strategy now is to quadruple in size within the next five years, both organically and acquisitively.

“I was honoured to be given the role of Regional CEO last year whilst working from home, and I’d like to thank both the Azets’ senior leadership team and my teams across the region for all their support. We’ve welcomed some talented new people into the business, including several graduates and school leavers, and created a fully digitised, mobile-enabled hybrid working environment, enabling staff more choice and the flexibility and encouragement to work from anywhere.

“We’re in the middle of a national recruitment drive, with 100 new roles available in our Central region in the next 12 months, and we’re also proactively looking to expand our regional footprint in to areas where Azets is not currently represented. It is an exciting time for Azets, and I am looking forward to leading the team through the next phases of our regional growth strategy.”

Home Working, Hybrid Working, Remote Working, Return to Work, Tech

SME’s Urged to Not Neglect Their Homeworker’s Needs

19 July (England) and 9 August (Scotland) have been heralded as ‘return to the workplace’ milestones, but with many major businesses continuing to meet the preferences of the three out of four workers who still want the flexibility of working from home1 Zen Internet is urging small to medium sized firms not to neglect their homeworker needs.  

Zen’s survey of UK businesses highlighted that despite nine out of 10 (86%) employers questioned professing they were willing to offer hybrid working, few felt prepared in achieving this – with one in five businesses (17%) claiming to be unprepared for long-term flexible working.

The research also highlighted the key challenges SMEs in particular were facing in realising the infrastructure needed to support flexible working practices.

  • Almost half (46%) of SMEs claim poor internet connections in staff homes is a major challenge.
  • One in five SMEs (21%) said staff were unable to access the company system from home.
  • One in 10 (12%) SMEs vs. one in six (17%) large businesses referenced poor integration of communication systems as barriers to a smooth remote working process.

While the government is promoting its ‘back-to-work’ message, the reality is that many small businesses are still facing the same issues of catering for new hybrid and home working cultures.

This is being compounded against a backdrop of large employers who are enabling employees to continue to work in a flexible way.  TUI, which last week told its UK staff that they only need to work from the office one day a month, is just one of thousands of major businesses enabling more flexible working longer term.

And according to the latest employee surveys, consensus is towards the continuation of home working. A recent study by CV-Library shows that in a poll of more than 1000 people, half felt anxious about returning to work and three out of four said they preferred the flexibility of working from home.

Whilst some businesses are geared up for longer term remote working (half of UK businesses are already using a cloud-based solution for integrating their communications channels), when figures are broken down it is clear that smaller sized firms are lagging behind, with only two fifths (40%) of SMEs having already transitioned to a cloud-based model.

Perhaps unsurprisingly over a third of business owners cited budget constraints as a hurdle to cloud adoption. However over half (53%) of SMEs and 38% of large businesses who don’t currently use a cloud-based solution claimed to be considering it.

Looking at how businesses are overcoming the other homeworking issues, the Zen Internet survey revealed that more than a fifth (22%) of businesses claimed that they planned to look to invest in providing / subsidising the cost of better home connectivity for their employees that work from home on a regular basis. Meanwhile, two fifths (39%) of businesses will invest in laptops and smart devices.

Georgina Lord, Managing Director of the retail division at Zen.co.uk, said: “As the government gives the green light for workplaces to return to normal, businesses which take their eye off the ball when it comes to catering for long-term homeworking will do so at their peril – especially as a flexible workplace and systems to support hybrid working will be high up on many job hunter’s wish list.

“There are clear indicators that it’s not a time to ditch digital advancement programmes that cater for homeworking.

“While poor internet in prosumers’ homes may have them rushing back to faster broadband speeds in the office, some sectors where there is high demand for talent, such as the digital industries, may find that employees will choose to work with firms that have focused on homeworking needs – as this is how many employees want to be able to work.

“As workers finally begin to consider the return to centrally located work spaces, or not, now is the time for organisations once again to re-evaluate their systems, IT and comms; it’s paramount that investment continues in remote working capability that truly meets the needs of their valued staff longer term.

“Where successful hybrid working is happening is where IT has become a core part of a business’ organisational strategy and a board level focus.

“From an employee perspective the crucial thing moving forward is investing in the systems and infrastructure that mean they can work seamlessly from any location – moving to cloud-based solutions, upgrading employee broadband connections and ensuring that they have the right technology and devices to do their job from anywhere. In particular, the rise of the prosumer has meant that reliable, ultrafast connectivity in the home is absolutely an essential commodity.

“And it’s not just about getting the infrastructure right for employees – customers and suppliers also demand a seamless experience when dealing with remote workforces. Taking a holistic business and board level view to remote working will continue to be vital.”

Georgina added:

“As hybrid and more digitised working models continue to be the norm, businesses of all sizes will need to adapt to this cultural shift in modern working practices by taking a pragmatic approach and adopting new technologies which can support the ongoing, long term transition to remote working. This will ensure businesses can continue to communicate effectively with their customers, clients and colleagues.

“Organisational culture will become increasingly important. Culture has always been central to digital transformation but getting the culture right and ensuring it permeates into employees’ homes is essential in looking after employee welfare and helping build a sense of community and purpose.

“It is clear that the next two to five years will be crucial for many businesses when it comes to adapting to the so called new normal and being agile to adopt to new ways or working and new customer habits. Those organisations who embrace these new requirements will flourish, while others who revert back to old practices could struggle and lose their competitive edge as well as valued staff.”

  1. Survey by CV-Library June 2021
  2. Survey by Zen Internet of  1000 SMEs

More information on homeworking can be found here https://www.zen.co.uk/business/large-business/challenges/remote-working-solutions and https://www.zen.co.uk/the-great-british-switch-off

 

News, Software Development, Tech Thought Leadership

How organisations can react in real-time with event-driven APIs

Written by Dakshitha Ratnayake, Associate Director of Technology at WSO2 

Where is my cab? What time will my train arrive? Was there a price drop in the stock that I invested in? Today, users increasingly demand ever more interactive experiences, and they expect to be automatically informed when something has changed without having to hit the refresh button.

Receiving notifications about someone liking your picture or reacting to your story on Instagram, or your Facebook news stream showing the latest updates about what your friends have been up to, are just a few examples of how frontend applications react to events in the backend. This is all made possible through event-driven APIs, which are supported through various modes of asynchronous event-driven communication between the client application and the backend.

So, the question is how do you build apps that require (near) real-time updates based on remote events? How should developers and architects who create reactive web applications or expose APIs for the consumption of such applications, handle asynchronous or event-driven communication in the world of APIs where synchronous communication is predominant, and most firewalls block non-HTTP traffic?

The answer?  This is all about having an event-driven backend, choosing an asynchronous web API technology based on exact async requirements, and a client that can work with remote events.

Synchronous APIs versus asynchronous web API technology

Many APIs that make up the web today are synchronous APIs, where the client initiates all communication between the client and the backend by sending a request to the backend and waiting for a response. However, these request/reply API calls happen one at a time, in a pre-arranged sequence, and each interaction blocks the progress of the process until its completion.

If the client application wishes to know about an update, it must continuously invoke the API for updates at a regular interval. This is known as polling and has been a common approach for client apps that need to become aware of new data. But this method is largely inefficient and less reactive than if the backend immediately notified the client when an event occurs. The term “polling madness” was coined because most of these polling calls are wasted because the data has not changed.

When should you use event-driven APIs?

Event-enabling APIs is a relatively recent phenomenon compared to event-driven architecture (EDA), and it uses EDA to support scalable, real-time or near-real-time, push-based communication in APIs published to third parties. Being event-driven is about taking advantage of events as they happen, and consumers can subscribe and register their interest and react to events. Making APIs event-driven or asynchronous (along with an underlying server-side event-driven architecture) can eliminate the need for inefficient polling requests and send updates to the client or event subscriber as soon as they occur. This provides a much better experience for users.

So, in a nutshell, event driven APIs should be used if:

  •    The application needs to push changes from the server to the client rather than waiting for a client request.
  •    The application must provide users with a highly active two-way communication channel.
  •    The application requires many continuous interactions between the client and the backend that create scaling issues for the backend if synchronous APIs are used.
  •    The application needs to be able to monitor system-wide events.

 

Choosing asynchronous API technology

Event-enabling APIs do come with multiple complexities, starting from what frameworks and networking protocols to choose, to building the reliability of delivery, and ensuring the scalability of the solution. The asynchronous protocols commonly used today solve the problem of real-time communication, but they solve different aspects of this problem in different ways which means that some protocols serve different purposes better than others:

  •    For multiplexed, bidirectional streaming and for applications that need a considerable number of messages from both ends of the connection, WebSockets is ideal.
  •    Server-Sent Events are especially useful in cases where a browser client is just interested in subscribing to a stream of data, without needing to communicate back with the server in the same connection.
  •    Webhooks can be used for a simple implementation of pushing notifications to one or a small number of servers.
  •    The newer async variants of GraphQL (Subscriptions and Live Queries) come with the benefits associated with GraphQL, however, the implementation is relatively complex and entails a considerable learning curve.
  •    gRPC and Kafka are generally used for communication between internal microservices.

 

Understanding what the backend architecture should look like

While the client architecture must subscribe to state changed events that originate from the backend, the typical backend architecture can be extended to create remote event connections with the clients via:

  •    Event-driven APIs (ideally exposed through an API management platform that supports eventing semantics).
  •    A message broker (if one is not already present).
  •    Microservices that publish and process state changed events.

Although event-driven APIs do not explicitly require a broker, using an intermediary between event producers and consumers helps to implement the required patterns to deliver more manageable and scalable solutions. The broker receives events from IoT devices, change data capture (CDC) tools, other backend systems and services, and from client applications if two-way communication is enabled. It can then alert the services that subscribe to those events. A scalable microservices architecture (MSA) is the optimal architecture for complex event-driven backend services. These event-driven microservices can act as event subscribers or publishers to process events, handle errors, and persist event-driven states.

The remote event connection between the backend and web clients can be established through event-driven APIs powered by various asynchronous API technologies — such as Webhooks, WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, GraphQL subscriptions, etc. The backend uses these APIs to send events pertinent to the clients and receive events that originate from clients.

 

Managing event-driven APIs

An event-driven backbone will manage the overall real-time data flow securely and at scale, while asynchronous APIs can be managed for external and internal consumption with a traditional API management solution that comes with inherent or extended capabilities to support event-driven semantics. Most organisations have basic event processing infrastructure, but many do not have the capabilities to design, develop, test, and manage event-centric APIs. Essential API management capabilities — particularly governance, access control, monitoring, analytics, and monetisation — provided by API management solutions can be used to manage asynchronous and REST APIs. Some API management solutions already support Webhooks or/and WebSockets.

 

Expanding business reach and adoption

Synchronous APIs are ideal for many scenarios, particularly if you need an instant response. In other cases, when clients need to be informed of events or the processing required for the response happens at a different time, ordinary synchronous messaging becomes tricky and event-driven APIs can aptly address such needs.

EDA is flexible enough that you can start with simple notifications or combine two-way event communication with a synchronous approach to deliver an optimal architecture. So, using an event-driven design alongside a traditional request/response design for your APIs gives you the best of both worlds to build highly scalable and reactive web applications. Furthermore, combining traditional API management capabilities with an event-driven architecture provides tremendous value additions to expand business reach and adoption.