Have you Started Planning your Christmas Party?

Make sure it is just that, and not a reward!

Unlike entertaining customers, some of the costs of entertaining employees are generally allowable against business profits.

Generally speaking, as long as the total costs of your parties and other social functions, which you have attended in a tax year, are less than £150 (inclusive of VAT) per person attending, there will be no tax implications.

However, if the event is deemed to be a reward, bonus or incentive then employer would NOT be able to reclaim the VAT, and the employee will be liable for income tax as a benefit in kind.

Beat the tax man, by ensuring that everyone from the office invited to your Christmas party. Keep a good track of all the costs and ensure that they are below the HMRC threshold of £150 including VAT per person attending. This includes all the costs, i.e. room hire, meal, drinks, transport and accommodation.

Our Clarity365 project tracking functionality is perfect for tracking costs for each event. You can allocate all of the party costs and employee expenses, along with electronic copies of the receipts, so that you can demonstrate you are compliant with the HMRC Ruling. Helping you to enjoy the party without the risk of a tax hangover. ​

Tax Relief and Incentives for Business

Investing in Business has rapidly grown over the past years, particularly with the rise in cloud based business solutions and ideas.

Therefore there is a growing amount of diverse finance, as opposed to the traditional loan from the bank. Examples of this would be crowd funding and peer to peer lending.

Crowd funding has taken a huge rise as of late, everything from business propositions all the way to a very recent one where the Neath Community need to raise £11,000 so they can have their Christmas Lights switched on. In fact, thanks to Crowd Funding they have now raised £16,500 so it really does show an online support for new businesses and incentives whatever they may be!

The good news is that actually if your new business meets specific requirements then you may also be entitled to help with business rates or tax relief for research or development. This is all thanks to the wonderful people at Business is Great.

So why not check out their links and see what you could be entitled too today:

• Business rate reliefs

  An overview on which properties are eligible for discounts on their business rates, and how to apply for these reliefs
  

• Enterprise Zones

  There are currently 24 Enterprise Zones across the UK and they support new businesses through a range of incentives
  

• The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS)

  This aims to encourage investment in small and early stage companies by reducing the risk to investors of investing in these types of companies
  

• Employment Allowance

  Employers can reduce the amount of National Insurance contributions (NICs) they pay for their employees by up to £2,000.
  

• Annual Investment Allowance

  Currently stands at £500,000. How to claim, what is covered and how to calculate it
  

• Capital Allowances

  A tax relief designed to allow the cost of certain of your company or organisation's assets to be written off against its taxable profits
  

• Enterprise Investment Scheme

  Helps small companies raise finance by offering tax relief to investors who buy new shares in their companies. Check here to see if your business qualifies
  

• Venture Capital Trust (VCT) Scheme

  Designed to help smaller companies raise finance by offering a range of tax reliefs to investors who invest in VCTs, who in turn onward invest or lend to small and medium sized businesses
  

• Capital Gains Roll-over Relief

  You may be able to delay paying Capital Gains Tax if you either sell (‘dispose of’) some business assets or use all or part of the proceeds to buy new assets. This relief means you won’t pay any tax until you sell the new asset
  

• Research and development tax credits

  Small businesses can get 225 per cent tax relief on their research and development spending
  

• Patent Box

  Eenables companies to apply a lower rate of Corporation Tax to profits earned after 1 April 2013 from its patented inventions and certain other innovations.
  

• Social Investment Tax Relief

  This provides a range of income and capital gains tax reliefs which can be claimed by individual investors for investments they have made in social enterprises, with a view to helping people and communities. It is in place for investments made or capital gains arising in the period from 6 April 2014 to 5 April 2019
  

• Tax reliefs for the creative industries

  A group of five corporation tax reliefs that allow qualifying companies in the creative industries to claim a larger deduction, or in some circumstances claim a payable tax credit when calculating their taxable profits
  

• Entrepreneur's Relief

  When an entrepreneur sells or closes their business, they need only pay ten per cent Capital Gains Tax on any qualifying profits
  
  
  
  (source: http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/tax-relief-and-incentives-for-businesses-and-investors/)
  

Never Lose a Receipt Again with Clarity365

Lego Vs group interviews

I used to love Lego as a child, I could build an awesome tower using all the bricks out of the bucket fobbing off any of the instructions to build an airport or submarine as that was dull, no instead I'd make some Picasso style creation which in my eyes, was simply amazing and another bonus was how quickly you could swallow one and then end up in A&E (mine was within approximately thirty seconds, and it was a red specific brick).

Lego is still just as popular as it was back in my youth, I visited a friend who has a five year old boy and this young whippet had recently moved on from the big Lego bricks to the small ones (growing up you know) and I found myself losing all sense of time and reality working alongside him, then I suddenly thought; I have done this before in adult hood and no, I didn't choke on one.

Adult Lego

So where have I, as a fully fledged adult toyed with Lego before. I had this terrible flashback to when I was about 18 and I went for a interview for an established company (a'hem) which began with an initial "telephone interview", you know where they used to ask you:

"If you had an angry customer would you...1. punch them in the face, or 2. relax because remember, the customer is ALWAYS right

I was passed onto the secondary stages. However just to digress, how could anybody fail those interviews...the only thing I can think of is that a large amount of cats are applying for jobs, as they blatantly couldn't press the right button on the keypad. I look back now and it almost felt like I was going for the final stages of Britain's Got Talent, all for a call centre role on minimum wage and not forgetting the 24 hour, 7 day a week shifts I'd have to start forcing myself to go too.

Second stage

In I walk, all fresh faced and nervous about what was about to happen, and suddenly I find myself surrounded by other people whilst quickly being split into teams. This was new to me, and I did feel like I was enrolling to the Army. "Sit down and be quiet" squawked a particularly Alpha female manager, if she'd asked us to do ten sit ups...we probably would have done.

Then, said Lego was slammed by said Alpha female onto the table into our pathetic groups, with some straws. Our objective was to...well build something. There I am, as a mortified teenager suddenly realising I was never going to get this job as: A: I used to literally build towers and B: Swallow them so all in all, not good.

In the end

I look back and think who does this anymore in such an excruciating manner? Well tons still do, as I know a friend that went to a interview recently for a very well known shoe brand, and he was told, at the prime age of 39 to sit on the floor in a circle and in pairs, paint a picture to express how he "felt about the brand" needless to say he didn't stay. Though I did argue that at least they had glitter pens as well as paint so why not get creative? He didn't find that funny.

Yes, I've had other interviews that were excruciating, for example I was asked "how would you sell this pen" I mean come on...and I answered terribly as I started listing its qualities, like it was a fine wine but it wasn't, it was a bic.

Here at Data Clarity we don't do anything like that. We don't ask people to build Lego or to pretend they were dealing with a difficult person. Nope, because we actually want to learn about the persons history and soul, as that's all that matters to us - not if they can build a bridge with Lego. If the person wants to become part of the Data Clarity team then we'll happily have them on board for their personality as if the attitude is right, the rest can be taught. We'll always expand in the right way.

With Clarity365 you'll Be Able to get on with your Day - Try Us For Free!

Here at Clarity365 we know how busy you can be, and with that in mind we've spent the last three years developing this software, we love it and that's why we're offering you a free trial! check us out today, you won't be let down!

Avoiding the Graduate Employability Crisis

All hail students, graduates and employed graduates – if you hadn’t noticed from the news, things are beginning to look rather grim. For the younger amongst us, if you want to get a job (or for the managers, keep one) it is time we woke up and smelt the roses – we are now facing an unprecedented ‘Graduate Employability Crisis.’

Tertiary education, which has enjoyed a steady rise in popularity since the 70s, has for the first time reached a tipping point – there is now a huge oversupply of graduates (Papadopolous, 2014), coupled with the lowest number of jobs for graduates (Dodd & Tadros, 2014). Add to this the fact that 49% of graduates say they are unprepared for the workforce (Huynh, 2014), some are, for the first time in decades, wishing that they simply started working after high school as they believe their university course was a ‘waste of time.’ (Kimmorley, 2014). Given the potentially imminent exponential increase in fees, university could be about to become an extremely expensive waste of time (Knott & Gilmore, 2014).

I’m not about to give up on degrees altogether, though. After all, they are a minimum entry requirement for many professions, and can provide an opportunity for fun times and a great lifestyle (yes, I was a marketing student). However, completing your degree with decent academic grades is simply not enough. What do you need to do? Well, let’s start with a great resume and cover letter…

NO

I’m joking.

I barely glance at peoples CV and Cover Letter.

I’m serious.

Read on for some real advice.

Contrary to the views of most university careers professionals, advice columns, books and websites, success as a graduate these days is not about the best CV and cover letter. Nor is it about the best answers to interview questions, or the best psychometric testing results. Succeeding in these areas certainly helps, however, gathering experience in a number of key areas will increase your employability far more than a well-crafted cover letter. Yes folks, I’m about to let the cat out of the bag in terms of graduate success. Read on if you dare.

i) Fail, fail often, fail repeatedly – and live to tell the tale: It was said once that you can’t understand success until you’ve experienced failure and this, more than ever, is true of graduates. The workplace is often, and especially when you are young and inexperienced, far from peachy and in fact littered with challenging and frustrating obstacles. It goes without saying that the more times you have failed in your pre-work life, the more resilience you will have built and the better equipped you will be deal with workplace challenges (including tough interview questions!). So fail, fail, then fail again, and hone your coping mechanisms and emotional control, whilst developing a healthy and positive attitude towards setbacks.

ii) Start a business – or get involved with one: Even if you aren’t studying business – you will no doubt be employed in one when you finish, so you will need to accumulate a reasonable amount of business and commercial acumen. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to start your own business whilst at university. The product or service is irrelevant, the important part of the exercise is that to start a business, you will need to consider how to create a strategy, market and sell something, manage finances, and possibly even manage people. Doesn’t that sound like…yep, that’s basically what any business, large or small, tries to achieve. Learning these lessons early will put you light years ahead of your peers in terms of ‘big picture’ business understanding. This is your lightbulb moment! Clarity365 would help you actually develop your acumen with our easy, simple business management solution. Don't go excel if you do go it alone, speak with us!

iii) Learn how to sell: I feel like ‘sales’ has turned into a slightly dirty word, and many students avoid jobs of this description like the plague – but I can tell you, nothing influenced my interview skills, and later influencing skills, more than having a challenging sales jobs. Because it goes without saying if you can sell a substandard product that you don’t believe in to people you don’t like, that you will be able to translate this skill into selling yourself and your services. So the next time you see a job advertisement for telemarketing…think about it.

iv) Say Yes to Everything : This is simple mathematics. The more activities you participate in the more people you meet, the higher chance you will meet someone that will give you your ‘lucky break.’ Furthermore, having a diversity of experiences makes you a more interesting person, and also increases your chances that you will be able to make better conversation and have more in common with more people, including the hiring manager sitting in front of you. Party? YES. Travel? YES. Volunteering? Yes. Yes. YES YES YES.

v) Go it alone: I turned up to a final interview once, and the hiring manager had screwed up my interview guide. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked, perplexed. ‘I don’t need that,’ she responded. ‘The only question I need to ask the graduate is what is she is doing to be independent from her parents.’

It was an extreme reaction, but one that had an undertone of truth. How are you meant to function as an independent adult in the workplace, if you have never cooked a meal, cleaned your bathroom or made your bed? Despite the emphasis placed on teamwork in modern workplaces, at the end of the day you are paid a (base) salary for your individual performance. You will have to make decisions, take responsibility, and generally function as an independent being. It’s better to ‘practice’ being independent then before you are forced to – by moving out, and taking responsibility for your own life and decisions. Also – remember that you are Generation Y, and the hiring manager staring at you on the other side of the table probably was married with children at your age. So it helps to show them you are an established, independent adult.

vi) Believe in Something: The amount of young people I meet that can’t identify a passion (outside of their studies, which I believe they are sometimes programmed to say) is truly startling. My sibling is one of these people, she went to University, studied fine art and now...well what does she want to do? what does she believe in? If you don’t believe in anything, is life even worth living? Having a passion is absolutely key, both whilst studying and when at work, as it shows you have balance. Also, if you can convince a hiring manager you believe in something, or ultimately, inspire them to share your belief, they will have every reason to believe you will bring that same passion to your work and career. So – what do you believe in?

Friends, the Graduate Employability Crisis is amongst us — but don’t let it apply to you.

REFERENCES

Dodd, T & Tadros, E (30 July 2014) Graduate Employment Worst Since 1992 Recession. AFR. http://www.afr.com/p/national/work_space/graduate_employment_worst_since_cgxKIHNeXZ5nvpl0jB85y

Huynh, M. (Aug 11 2014) Australia’s University Graduates not cut out for the workforce? Start Up Daily http://www.startupdaily.com.au/2014/08/australian-university-graduates-cut-workforce/

Kimmorley, S. (Aug 7 2014) Graduates are Leaving University Feeling Underprepared Saying Working Would Have Been Better Than a Degree. Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com.au/graduates-are-leaving-university-feeling-underprepared-say-working-would-have-been-better-than-a-degree-2014-8

Knott, M & Gilmore, H. (May 14, 2014) Graduates Could Pay Up to $120,000 in debt, HECS architect warns. SMH. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/graduates-could-pay-up-to-120000-in-debt-hecs-architect-warns-20140514-zrctv.html

Papadopolous, T. (11 July 2014) Overqualified and Underemployed – Meet Australia’s Graduates. Business Spectator.http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/7/11/education/overqualifie in d-and-underemployed-meet-australias-graduates 

republished by medium

 

Is B2B Better at Social Media than B2C?

B2B marketing can be tricky, time consuming and sometimes unrewarding, and according to the 2011 Global Marketing Effectiveness Program by the Fournaise Marketing Group 73% of CEO's believe that a good old marketer is not able to prove that their strategies to increase sales and improve the organisations market growth will actually work.

Is this true? I don't actually think so! 

B2B historically was all about the trade, and cold calling trade customers or sending informal, discount driven direct mail. For example, buy now and get extended credit until December. Brilliant.

However now we must feel empowered, and realise our potential for B2B marketing and allow the B2C marketer's to do the front facing branding. Stop trying to do it. Now I am a slight hypocrite because I have always been in the commercial B2B market, where now; I believe, there has been a transitional shift. No longer is it trade only, you have to appeal to the end users too.

So lets ask ourselves some questions:

Internal social Media, but why?

You get it, most brands have jumped on the "our team is totally awesome, look at how awesome we are, we wear hoodies" band wagon, so now on a ton of websites you get to "meet the team".  For example meet Janice from HR who loves dogs, and mugs of tea but she also loves her job. Insert picture of her possibly with said dog/mug of tea/or a benign smile proving her adoration for the role she's been in for fifteen years. However, it does appear to work in the B2B market, people actually feel that a value proposition is getting to know the organisation properly, almost becoming a member of the family. Whereas within B2C - the consumers just want the shiny product, and strong advertising to prove their buying worth.

So what's my worth?

Think about what your values are, and stick by them. A question to ask is do you have the resources available to be successful? What I mean by that, is most social networking platforms are free so in the purest of senses it should be cheap to add social media to your marketing mix.

Fact is guys and gals, we know it isn't cheap. It's time consuming and sometimes can be uneventful. I suppose a lot of B2B companies use social media as an experiment. I struggled massively with Facebook, when I was in the commercial B2B market not so much however specialist B2B markets are flat in responding when interacting so was difficult to sustain a following.

Your worth, is quite simply realising that social media is non linear within your market. Your aim is to deliver a website with personality and core values, show leads and customers based on relationships.Be transparent. Be trustworthy.

Its all in the maths

Tell a great story, and analyse it! So story + data analysis = you're awesome! A great B2B marketer should be a fantastic story teller, and no it shouldn't all just be buy my product stories, and aren't we great - it should be informative, interesting and very very quietly pushing your business into their mindset. There are so many great software houses out there, such as Hubspot which will track anything you do social media wise. It really is worth a go.

At data clarity we offer a range of services to suit a vast array of B2B users, from web development, data management to SEO so in retrospect we're extremely versatile so in order for us to have succeeded, we did the above first and we're winning so can you!

Change the way you think about Facebook

When a new social network is born

Since its birth in 2004, Facebook is now eleven years into their social media dominance, and fundamentally nothing has even come close to the continued growth it has.

(source http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/feb/04/facebook-in-numbers-statistics)

Back in its embryonic state, it smashed the quarter  of a million users in its first quarter, toppling to 1 million by the year end, Facebook suddenly had a sense of meaning and value which as we know is something the likes of MySpace had struggled with.

MySpace had no perceptual value to its users as it was so unstructured and non consistent. The layering was wrong, full of jumpy bugs and bad coding. Users were bored, and looking for something new.

To just say quickly, one thing MySpace did bring out of the woodwork, was that most profile pages were mirrored egotistical dreams of what people wanted to be perceived as, not who they actually are. Facebook saw this, and by simplifying the user experience dominated the market immediately.

However Facebook began to grow into a multi usage platform, basically it had/has a personality disorder, and this has grown to a climax in recent years. To some users its an angel, and to some it became a demon; to some an opportunity for maintaining relationships, and to others - to broadcast narcissism.

Recently I've noticed a huge spike in blogging regarding Facebook privacy rights, advertisements etc. I have to firstly say that its my choice to "like" certain pictures or comments that my friends, whom again - I have chosen therefore whats the issue?

Yesterday I understood the issue for the first time, I hit a final straw attitude with the chaps and chappettes at Facebook, and here is why - sponsored adverts are the bane of my life, not only are they not relevant and I would never click on them, but secondly WHY would they think I would? Here's some examples of today's sponsored links:

• Disney Mobile Games - Why why why? I don't have children for starters, and oh...wait, I liked my friends Frozen share....damn 
• JCB - Seriously, no seriously? I am not interested in JCB's at all so....ah, nope that's right I liked my friends Digger land photo.
• Perfect365 - A "make yourself look really pretty app" I can't believe these apps exist and nope I haven't downloaded anything of similar caliber so, oh no wait I'm a woman so I must want this app!! no, no i don't.

These streams dominate my news feed, so I miss out on my friends actual stories which when the sponsored links are totally non relevant really winds my bobbin up.

How to have a more natural Facebook

STOP liking things, yes that's correct - no matter how much you are tempted to like your friends share of a funny cat advert, don't! Write instead "oh how I lol'd at your funny cat video" or something of similar high intellect.

I did this, I completely stopped myself from liking my friends shares of where they've been, specific comments linking to organisations or brands, or to give an example, my friend is getting married and in the midst of this she would write most days about said wedding plans, boom my page explodes with wedding suggestions, and I can tell you as a fact, I'm always the bridesmaid, never the bride so well done Facebook for giving me a complex.

After a week, something beautiful happened....I started to see hardly any sponsored links or suggestions and actually saw what my friends were up too. It was awesome, I call this the organic Facebook and its much, much better. Try it!

The Problem with Excel

The Problem with Excel…

We all know that Excel can do an awesome amount of tasks for you to ease your working day and of course, most businesses use it in some manner. Though the ever changing updates and constant self-training involved can often lead to more issues down the line so yes its sturdy however it often leads to mistakes.

As a person who has used Excel for many years, from holidays to mileage forms I have lost track of my own path numerous times, and whilst managing other employees expenses made something sturdy, inconceivable to use.  

Showing the pitfalls in big business

A prime example of this would be JP Morgan, an American finance organisation whom, as others in the financial sector used Excel on a daily basis.

Fundamentally, a simple copy and paste plus a faulty equation made them a loss of $6 million dollars, with possible fines of $600 million. This is an extortionate mistake for a company of such stature.

Ok, so no I have never lost a company that much money but I may hold my hands up and say that I might have signed off a private expense inadvertently as there are so many loop holes, from general errors, to managing holidays and expenses you can make mistakes from all angles. 

The issue with using Excel as an accountancy package

1. Everybody studied I.T in school/college but how much do we actually know about it as a product and service. As mentioned the updates, confused ribbons and changing formats means that without an Excel Bible glued to your hip, chances are you’d miss a trick.

2. Setting up your accounts through Excel is time consuming and can often lead to a general lack of understanding of how it can help you in the long term. However the huge catch-22 is that it’s free so you balance its ease of use (or lack of it) with the fact it’s free. Actually you waste time and money by trying to work out how to use it.

3. In Excel, there is no flexibility, once you’ve set it up you can’t change or reconfigure later on. So you’re limited to its usability.

4. Yes we all know this, Excel is massively susceptible to fraud. I can remember working for a organisation where managers in separate departments used the same spreadsheet to compile and edit their own departments expenses, who’s to say that a colleague didn’t change £150 to £15000, we wouldn’t really know and fundamentally this could break your business.

5. Performance issues are a huge thing with Excel, when you start putting in large amounts of data onto your worksheets Excel simply has a nervous breakdown. Accounting software will integrate everything for you.

6. Hello road block, as Excel doesn’t track anything for you. Its down to you to monitor and understand your accounting software.

Why software is a better solution for you

It’s easy! The cloud based super secure network leaves you in control, with real time dashboards and data information, and you’ll wonder why you never have used it before as it’s so simple and puts you in control. 

Have as many or as little users as you’d like, remembering that you are able to control who sees what within the dashboard, giving you the knowledge that your secure information isn’t being viewed by employees whom don’t need to see such sensitive information. You’re guaranteed maximum up time of the software, and backups are done nightly in highly secure, offsite servers, giving you peace of mind. It also takes the pressure off your business to provide adequate storage, which can be costly.

No chance of fraud here, our solution is double SSL encrypted so exactly the same but even more secure then online banking, which is something we do every day and we put our complete trust that we’re never going to get hacked. 

Reporting should be easy, and take you no time at all. From profit and loss, balance sheets, tax returns, reporting for management and much more, it’s all there under one simple click.

Reasons why accounting software is better than Excel

1. Feel confident from the start

With our easy to use dashboard, you’ll feel confident in the knowledge that you are on the right track with your business straight from the word go!

2. The data is always correct
    Real-time financials are always kept in one central place, no longer do you need to worry about being glued to your desk, access our solution anywhere as we’re fully mobile integrated whilst maintaining the highest level of security.

3. Live information
   Panic stations over, if you’ve got a big investor coming to visit you, its no problem as you can get all the information you’d require in minutes. Think of how accurate your finances will be, leaving you in control and giving you the time to grow.

4. You’ll have a clean audit trail
   All of the historical information that your investors might need is available at their fingertips. A proper audit trail ensures your data cannot be compromised. It also records a document of every business transaction. This includes sales contracts, payments to employees, and more. Having a complete audit trail reassures investors about the validity of the company and meets the tax department’s needs.

5. Access to data anywhere, anytime
   Give any member of your team access your data online anytime, anywhere (as long as you grant them permission to do so.) Cloud software enables you to share your financial information with your employees, accountant, bookkeeper or financial advisor.

It’s about letting your business grow

I know, it's a tricky one about letting go of something you feel is tried and tested. However fundamentally change is for the positive in this case,  you'll feel in control, and save yourself time, effort and money in the long term. Try clarity365 for free today.

Expenses - The Mileage Issue

In the past, I have looked down at my desk, and there were receipts everywhere across the table alongside my mileage forms which I STILL needed to fill out and compile, but alas the month had slipped away from me, and quite frankly the lack of effort on my part deserves a good old slap on the wrist.

Why do we, as professional people have the inability to do this effectively and proactively?
I have discussed this so many times with employees over the years, one example was when I was working for a medium sized organisation I was finally promoted and with that, given a van (I know, life was good) which in turn meant I was then given one of the most complicated mileage forms known to man kind.

I had to tally up my mileage and where I'd been since the previous month, divide it by apples and multiply it by the number of monkeys that could fit in a Mini, which should give me a balanced form to submit back... needless to say it blew my mind and one very nice accountant took it off my hands otherwise my brain would have exploded with numbers... And monkeys.
Second to that, the years (pulls hair in frustration) I have spent going to one location, writing down the mileage, then invariably forgetting to restart the clock, which effectively means you've messed up the whole journey therefore an evening of sitting on Google Maps plotting the journey again, thus creating an evil sense of Déjà vu. That's where the stacks of overdue mileage appears, you get home, put your feet up and wham! Your desk is covered with unfilled mileage reports at the end of the month.

The point of this is, why don't we help ourselves more? Wouldn't it be brilliant if not only we could find something to simplify our lives whilst at home and on the go? The answer here is yes.
Imagine that, a mobile app that not only does the hard work for you, it consolidates your information to what has been paid or what is due from your employers. This keeps you in control. It also helps your employers track your expenses, making it so transparent you can't go wrong again (unless the monkeys come and get you).
Powered by data clarity; Clarity365 is the ONLY system to include full end to end Human Capital Management from mileage to absences and holidays.

Its all in the Cloud!

Cloud computing is moving into mainstream businesses

It doesn't seem long since the expected reaction to talking about ‘the cloud’ was a mixture of befuddlement and skepticism.

But this emerging technology, once viewed as niche and a little ‘out there’, is slowly but surely starting to become a normal part of our business world.
This is one of the findings of research carried out by the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) into the adoption of cloud services by companies in the UK.
The cloud is a general term used to describe accessing data, services and applications from external servers – rather than needing to be stored on your PC or handheld device.
The CIF survey, based on interviews with 250 British companies, found that 79% had now ‘formally’ adopted at least one cloud-based service – an increase of 15% on previous figures.
But the figures also indicate the move to the cloud is happening gradually and rather cautiously rather than a dramatic shift – as some analysts had predicted.
Most of the businesses, 45%, said they were currently using just one cloud service, with just 14% saying they were using four or more.
The most popular uses were for web hosting and data backup, followed by collaboration tools, business apps and video conferencing services.
At the moment, therefore, most organisations are adopting a hybrid approach; integrating traditional on-site IT set-ups with these new cloud based services.

Alex Hilton, chief executive of CIF, says that:

“Nine out of 10 companies will continue to invest in on-premise IT alongside and integrated with cloud solutions. In other words, we are in-fact seeing the normalization of cloud in the hybrid IT market.”

The adoption of cloud services allows companies to significantly reduce IT spend with no need for internal servers or software maintenance. Users can access cloud services from any device with an online connection.
Clarity365 is one of a new generation of business tools using the technology to transform the way organisations operate – replacing manual, paper-based expenses with more efficient digital processes.
The growing use of cloud services is allowing companies to explore new mobile working methods with a move away from the traditional reliance on a 9-to-5 office based approach.

Managing Absence in the Workplace

How Clarity365 can improve attendance

Clarity365 collects absence data on individual employees, meaning managers can find out exactly how many days staff are taking off.
Clarity365 gathers information with great accuracy, removing all potential for disputes with staff. If they have an attendance issue, it will simply need to be addressed.
Managers will be able to quickly identify absence trends among their staff.
As a result, all of the time usually spent debating the validity of absence claims is eliminated. Counter-arguments such as "I came in late that day", or "I was at a conference" will no longer work. In the long term this method will ensure that both the staff and employees are structured within the workplace, and importantly won’t cause frustration within the workplace.

Opening up dialogue to tackle absence
Once dialogue is opened between manager and staff, the root issue of absence can be investigated and tackled properly.
It may be the case that employees are encountering personal issues at home, or they have an illness they do not want to disclose to senior members of the team.
A sensitive, diplomatic approach is then necessary from managers. Depending on the severity of the problem, it may be wise to sanction a period of leave for the person in question in order for them to return to work fully motivated.

Confidentiality
If the absence is a result of a personal issue, confidentiality is key. Staff may not want other members of the business to learn about the issue and it is vital to keep the information private.
Thanks to our software, businesses can identify when employees have worrying absence patterns, open up personal dialogue and improve their relationship with staff.

Self-service: more productivity!
In an age where businesses see new technologies constantly emerge, it is easy to dismiss trends as nothing more than novelty gimmicks.
If enterprise owners were to adopt every technology suggested to them, it is likely they would be left with no cash and an office overflowing with hardware and installation disks.
After all, smart glasses were meant to revolutionise all our lives in 2013, but the world seemingly declined the invitation to look like Robocop.
However, Clarity365 is a trend that is here to stay and really could have a positive impact on your workforce and your wallet. Rather than tasking employees with arranging absences, Clarity365 can do it for you, improving productivity and eliminating the tedius job of sorting through spreadsheets.

Data Clarity Moves to Derby!

After three years of hard work and preparation, we've finally made it to our new premises on Pride Park in Derby. Originally based in Nottingham, we moved across to Derby not only the fantastic local amenities such as the train station being a five minute walk away, plus direct links to all major roads – we did it because we wanted our space to:

• • Attract and retain world-class talent
• • Encourage productivity and connectivity between multi-disciplined teams
• • Accommodate future growth with flexibility
• • A quality build and enduring fit-out for the length of our lease
• • Represent our organisational values
• • Most importantly – show financial responsibility by exhibiting cleverness and impact without extravagance

Here are some images of our new offices, from flat pack to awesome!

Our new offices covers two floors which we’re really excited about. This means that you the customer can come and visit us in a spacious and welcoming environment.  We wanted to create an open space, no management offices here as we’re all a team. We feel it’s incredibly important to not distance management as the more we work together, the better the business will run.

We also wanted the staff to have a breakout area, where they can go and relax and unwind after a busy day in the office! Of course, our customers can have a play too!

 We have excellent meeting room facilities too
 
We also have our clarity365 training room, we are extremely excited to welcome people in, yes we have a bit left to do, but as you can see we’re here and looking good, so why not pop and see us today or give us a call: 0333 1111 00