business first november-december 2015

BUSINESSFIRSTnorthern ireland’s business magazine

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2015INFORM CHALLENGE INSPIRE

Thought LeaderGuest Columnist Challenge Best PracticeSinead Dillon, Fujitsu, argues that gender diversityis the key for innovation inNorthern Ireland.

Colin Anderson, co-chair,shares thoughts on the report of the Heenan - Anderson Commission.

Briana McAteer, AMH,beleives that employerssupporting mental health,support the economy.

Linda Brown, IoD,outlines what she believesshould be your prrioritiesfor good Governance.

MCL INSURANCE

TAKING INSURANCE ONLINE

PLUS: Striking the Balance Report - page 64

1www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

Subscribe to BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITAL

Subscribing to a complimentary copy of BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITALMagazine couldn’t be easier and we’ll send your copy of the magazine directly to your mailbox every time we publish.To subscribe, visit our website at www.businessfirstonline.co.ukand follow the easy links to our subscription page.

PUBLISHED BY: The Wordworks Partnership (Limited)Suite 60. Enterprise HouseBalloo Avenue, Bangor BT19 7QTTel: 028 9147 2119 [email protected]

YOUR BUSINESSFIRST TEAMEditor Gavin Walker

[email protected] Jenny Belshaw

[email protected] Margaret Walker

[email protected] Studio Tw2

[email protected]

What’s inside this issuePutting yourBusiness First

Just as we go to press the BBC has announcedthat for teh first time since its establishmentin 1921, a woman has been appointed as HighCourt Judges - in fact two women have beenelevated to the Bench.

Denise McBride QC and Siobhan Keegan QChave officially risen to the top of what isrecognised to be one of the more conservativeof our professions and will bring a new andpositive perspective to future deliberationsfrom those benches and I look forward toseeing how they might work to change thesocial face of Northern Ireland in the future.

But their success is equally as important tothe business world where women alsocontinue to have to work hard to be given therecognition they deserve. There is no questionthat we have seen great changes in attitude towomen in the workplace over the past fewyears, but they remain underrepresented inour Board rooms.

You need look no further than the pages ofBusiness First to see that women are makingthemselves heard throughout the businesscommunity. And with over 50 per cent of oureditorial contributions from women we prideourselves in being fully supportive of equalityin business. But further progress needs to bemade and these appointments in the legalworld will have positive repercussionsthroughout all sections of our society.

See you on the frontline!

Gavin

Breaking through theglass ceiling

FRONT COVER IMAGEGary McClarty, MCL InsuranceSee page 12 for the Cover Story

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & COMMENTARY

Northern Ireland ispre-occupied with

short-termism Roseann Kelly

Women in BusinessNorthern Ireland

Page 10

The report of theHeenan Anderson

CommissionColin Anderson

Commission Co-Chair

Page 28

Gender diversityis key for

innovation Sinead Dillon

Principal ConsultantFujitsu

Page 44

Do we have anobsession with a

fear of failure? Simon Bridge

Visiting Professor#Ulster University

Page 52

BEST PRACTICE

Employers mustbe proactive to

avoid legal pitfalls Rosemary Lundy

PartnerArthur Cox

Page 14

Talent reviews &the leadership

pipelineAnne Phillipson William J Clinton

Leadership Institute

Page 18

Priorities for goodgovernance ofyour business

Linda BrownInstitute of Directors

Northern Ireland

Page 19

Successionplanning in family

businessesMaybeth Shaw BDO Northern

Ireland

Page 20

FEATURES

The changing faceof insolvency inNorthern Ireland

Ken RutherfordPartner

C & H Jefferson

Page 27

Devolution couldfree renewables

investment Richard MurphyEnergy Partner Pinsent Masons

2

Is bad debtspoiling good

business? Andy McBurney

Business DevelopmentAtradius

Page 49

Striking theBalance - Report

What impact doesbecoming a parent haveon employment, working

life and career?

Page 66

CONTENTS

In our Digital Issue you can click on any square to be taken directly to the article. Download it from businessfirstonline.co.uk

CLICK ANY PAGE TO BE TAKEN STRAIGHT THERE

http://www.businessfirstonline.co.uk


mailto:[email protected]






YOUR EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

Sinead DillonFujitsupage 44

Roseann KellyWomen in Business NI page 10

Linda BrownInstitute of Directorspage 19

Laurie ScottVisit Belfastpage 68

Nigel SmythCBIpage 16

Dr Alan BlackBalackwell Associatespage 60

Richard MurphyPinsent Masonspage 32

Alan EignerPowerNIpage 36

Phil DavisonNegative Equity NIpage 41

Bill BeersChair, IoD BusinessEnvironment Committeepage 38

Rosemary LundyArthur Cox page 14

Brian MurphyBDO NIpage 20

2 www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

In our Digital Issue you can click on any picture to be taken directly to the article. Download it from businessfirstonline.co.uk

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO BE TAKEN DIRECTLY TO THE ARTICLE.

Articles from some of Northern Ireland’s most influential business leaders that will inform, challenge and inspire your thinking.



Arthur Cox strengthens Partnership Team

Newly-appointed Partners atleading law firm Arthur Cox, (L-R)Matthew Howse and William

Curry, are congratulated by Alan Taylor,Managing Partner of Arthur CoxNorthern Ireland.

Matthew Howse, a Partner in theLitigation and Dispute Resolution team,joined Arthur Cox in 2010 and hasrecently advised on some of the largest,high-profile, contentious cases inNorthern Ireland.

William Curry, a Partner in theCorporate and Commercial Department,has been with Arthur Cox for almost adecade and advises both public andprivate sector bodies. With more than100 Partners, Arthur Cox is Ireland’slargest law firm and the newest Partnerappointments further strengthen itsoffering in the north where it isregarded as one of the foremostCorporate and Commercial practices.

IN THE HEADLINES

Ulster Carpets begin building on new Dyehouseand Energy Centre

Chairman of Ulster Carpets, EdwardWilson today officially launched thebuilding process of the company’s new

Dyehouse & Energy Centre by overseeing thebreaking of ground for its foundations.

Edward Wilson commented. “This is the

first phase of a major re-generation of all ourOperation Facilities in Portadown. I amdelighted to take the first step of this veryexciting period of the company’s ongoingdevelopment.”

Ulster Carpets is widely acknowledged as

the world’s leading supplier of Axminster andWilton carpets, to both residential andcommercial markets. This investmentprogramme and regeneration schemesignifies yet another considerablecommitment to continued Northern Irelandmanufacturing as the company grows andprogresses. Ulster Carpets have seensustained demand for their product aroundthe world and also expansion into new exportmarkets. To keep up with this demand, Ulsterrecently boosted its permanent employmentlevel underpinning its commitment to thelocal community.

Once the new Dyehouse and Energy Centreis completed, the Company will benefit fromnew state-of–the-art dyeing technologyimproving capacity by over 20 per cent aswell as increasing the efficiency of the wholeprocess providing faster response times andmaximising control.

With its own dedicated steam productionplant and advanced heat recovery system, thecentre will be able to match supply to demandleading to a significant reduction in theenvironmental impact of the process, in linewith Ulster’s ambitious environmental goals.

The building, which is due for completion atthe end of 2016 has been designed andconstructed by local businesses; this is adeliberate strategy by Ulster Carpets,supported by Invest NI, to continue to investin Northern Ireland’s economy and to supportlocal jobs.

Peter McGuckin Architect (RMI), Robert Mackey MSM, Edward Wilson Ulster Carpets Chairman (indigger), Norman Wilson Ulster Carpets Dyehouse Project Team, Raymond McKeown Ulster CarpetsDyehouse Project Team, Billy McCombe Site Foreman MSM andColin Hyndes Ulster Carpets DyehouseProject Team



The search is on to find the stars of thelocal enterprise sector with the launchof the Northern Ireland Enterprise

Awards 2015The awards aim to showcase the work done

by the Northern Ireland small businesscommunity and the efforts of the localenterprise agency network to supportbusiness development.

Taking place in Belfast on 26 November thespecial guest speaker for the evening will beTom Griffiths founder of gapyear.com,regarded as the creator of the modern gapyear industry.

Aged 26 he secured £1.26m in venturecapital funding for gapyear.com and alsolaunched Gap Year Magazine. He now runs theAcorn Incubator to help entrepreneurs getbusiness ideas off the ground and survivethrough their first tough years.

Chief Executive of Enterprise NorthernIreland, Gordon Gough, said: “EnterpriseNorthern Ireland is the voice of localentrepreneurship and we’re very pleased tocelebrate great examples of local ingenuityand talent. Helping to develop strongcompanies that create employment andexport across the world is an important partof what we do.

“These awards are an excellent chance torecognise hard work and dedication ofbusinesses and members of the EnterpriseNorthern Ireland network.

“Whether it is through offering businesssupport or highlighting access to finance

initiatives, our network of enterprise agenciesis playing an important role in stimulatingNorthern Ireland’s economy.”

Keith Liggett from Legacy Wealth, theheadline sponsor of the Awards said: “We areproud to support the awards again this yearto show our commitment in helping toencourage innovation and entrepreneurshipcollectively if we are to improve NorthernIreland’s economic performance.

Entrepreneurial tenacity and determinationis alive and well and the 2015 NorthernIreland Enterprise Awards is the place to beto showcase Northern Ireland’s brightestbusiness talent.”

Award Categories include: 1. Business Adviser of the Year 2. Business Start Up of the Year 3. Business Support Initiative of the Year 4. Exploring Enterprise Programme

Personal Development Award 5. Growth Business of the Year 6. Innovation Award 7. Social Enterprise of the Year 8. Young Entrepreneur of the Year 9. Special Recognition Award; Indigenous

Business

Search is on tofind stars of localEnterprise

Gordon Gough, CEO Enterprise Ni, Keynote Speaker Tom Griffiths and Keith Liggott, Legacy Wealth

media partners for theEnterprise NI Awards

Entrepreneurs to take over St George’s Market

Young Enterprise and Belfast CityCouncil are working together to giveNorthern Ireland’s young

entrepreneurs their biggest ever salesplatform at St George’s Market on Wednesday2 December from 10am - 2pm.

The Big Market will host more than 60businesses which have all been started byyoung people aged between 10 and 25 years.

Young Enterprise chief executive CarolFitzsimons commented “The Big Market willbe a fantastic opportunity for these youngpeople to gain experience in trading in a livemarket environment, whilst developing theirskills and confidence for a successful futurein life and in work.”

We invite everyone in the city centre andbeyond to show their support for theseyoung people by calling in to see the futureof entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland.

Young Enterprise 201415 company Sonus, from Wallace High School, Lisburn



Belfast gets a real SPARK!

With a new Hatchery for entrepreneursopening in the heart of Belfast…theworld's largest free business

accelerator for early stage and growingventures is coming to Northern Ireland.

Attendees at a recent Ulster Bank-hostedevent were encouraged to showentrepreneurs from across Northern Irelandhow they could benefit from the innovativeprogramme. Powered by Ulster Bank, theEntrepreneurial Spark Hatchery will providefree space for up to 80 entrepreneurs.

Based in Lombard Street, the newaccelerator and growth hub is now open toapplications from new and existingbusinesses with exciting growth potential andwill add to seven other Entrepreneurial Sparklocations that are already open in Scotlandand England.

The completely free Enablementprogramme sees entrepreneurs, or ‘Chiclets’,based in the Hatchery as they benefit fromintensive support, as well as essential start-upnecessities such as superfast broadband,office space and telephones – removing manyof the day-to-day obstacles toentrepreneurship and fostering a like-mindedcommunity of exciting young businesses.

Successful applicants will form part of thefirst intake for the new Hatchery in February2016, embarking on a six-month programmeof business acceleration.

Richard Donnan, Regional ManagingDirector, Corporate and Commercial NorthernIreland at Ulster Bank, welcomed the move.He said: “Ulster Bank was founded by a groupof local merchants who saw the chance tobuild an institution that would serve thebanking needs of their local community.

“Entrepreneurship is in our DNA, and we’reexcited to see the new and innovativecompanies that will be developed through

this venture.“Creating a culture that is supportive and

welcoming towards entrepreneurs isessential in developing the local privatesector. This new hatchery will bring creative,like-minded people together under the sameroof and I look forward to seeing the results.”

Jim Duffy, Chief Executive Optimist atEntrepreneurial Spark, said: “I am reallylooking forward to opening our BelfastHatchery in partnership with Ulster Bank andto what we hope will be a collaborativeapproach to supporting the entrepreneurialcommunity in Northern Ireland. Belfast has agreat start-up culture and we can’t wait to bepart of it.”

For more information on the Belfasthatchery and details of how to apply visitwww.entrepreneurial-spark.com

IN THE HEADLINES

Graduation comesearly for BITC

Nine people have graduated fromBusiness in the Community’s Buildingon Talent programme.

The initiative, supported by BT, seeks tohelp businesses identify talented individualswithin their organisations and channel theirdrive and enthusiasm through tailored short-term projects within the community andvoluntary sector. The programme is endorsedby the Institute of Leadership andManagement (ILM).

If you’re business is committed todeveloping its people, find out more aboutBuilding on Talent by [email protected], visitwww.bitcni.org.uk or call 9046 0606.

So what do you getwhen you use Tailored Appointments?

Building and maintaining a sales pipelineis critical to any business’s futuresuccess. It’s a well-known and accepted

fact. But it is this still one of the biggesthurdles a business faces in achieving growth;and taking the decision to outsource any partof your business is also a big decision. That’swhy at T.AP we provide you with your ownaccount manager who will work with you andyour team to ensure we become a seamlessextension to your business.

You might just be after a supply of targeted,qualified B2B or B2C leads and the nurturingof your pipeline; or attendees to your trainingcourse or exhibition stand; maybe you’retesting the water with online sales and need ateam to close the deal – TailoredAppointments can be there with you,efficiently driving your ROI.

We also believe in using every ounce of ourcombined 40 years experience in thisbusiness, so when all those leads we generateproduce the need to increase your field salesteam, come talk to us. We’re in the businessand we know the business, and the peopleout there who can do the business!

Contact us now for an informal chat on howwe may help. Call 028 9099 4820.

Richard Donnan, Ulster Bank Regional Managing Director, Corporate & Commercial, LynseyCunningham, Entrepreneur Development Manager, Ulster Bank, and Ken Whipp, Entrepreneurial Spark

Entrepreneurial Spark is theworld’s largest free businessaccelerator for early stage and

growing ventures from all sectors thatis completely free for the entrepreneurand takes no equity in supportedbusinesses.

Located across seven Hatcheries inGlasgow, Edinburgh, Ayrshire, Bristol,Brighton, Leeds and Birmingham, withfurther UK locations launching overthe next 18 months, EntrepreneurialSpark’s vision is to develop anentrepreneurial revival across the UK.

AboutEntrepreneurialSpark


http://www.entrepreneurial-spark.com


http://www.bitcni.org.uk


IN THE HEADLINES

Introducing eir… the new name forIreland’s largest telecommunicationscompany. The new face of the company

formerly known as eircom reflects thedynamism and confidence of one of Ireland’smost recognisable brands. The distinctivebrand reveal is a major milestone for thecompany, revitalising and modernising thelook and feel of the Group.

In Northern Ireland, the company has beenoperating locally as eircom BusinessSolutions NI. Since entering the market in2007, it has experienced continued success,growth and expansion, investing £20 millionand creating over 50 full-time jobs. The newrebrand will see the company adopting thename 'eir Business NI' supported by animpactful new look and feel.

General manager at eir Business NI, DarrenLemon, said: “The new identity reflects notjust how far we have come but our real

ambition to continue to deliver to the localeconomy through progressive ICT solutionsas well as unlocking opportunities forenterprise businesses and public sectororganisations. We’ve grown, we’ve investedand we’ve upskilled - the time is right tomodernise our brand.”

Now known as eir Business NI, thecompany today announced annual profits forits UK business of £4.9 million for the yearending June 2015, placing it in a strongposition as one of Northern Ireland’s topperforming companies, grown organically injust eight years.

Introducing eir

• 96% of employers say attitude trumps skills in candidate hunt

• 60% of employers say we won’t fire you for CV lies but you better be good

• 60% of interviews will throw curve balls• Half of companies now banning social

media in the workplace• Practical experience is vital for students

Dublin and Belfast based company Cpl, thelargest recruitment agency on the island ofIreland, has today released its EmploymentMarket Monitor report for the third quarter2015.

The survey highlights that with a shortageof some skills, particularly in the tech sector,nearly all employers today are choosingattitude over experience. 96 per cent ofnearly 500 employers who responded to theCpl Employment Market Monitor believe thatstaff with a great attitude can be taught theskills they need.

The survey also found that 60 per cent ofemployers will turn a blind eye to CVembellishment or lies, so long as thecandidate performs well. A further 60 percent of employers throw curved balls ininterviews – asking impossible questions toassess the candidate’s reaction to thechallenge.

Nearly all employers (95 per cent) needstudents with practical experience duringtheir education. Theoretical know-how nolonger cuts it: they want students who havepractical experience of their chosen fieldbefore landing their first job.

Fifty per cent of employers are nowbanning social media in the workplace.Previous Cpl Employment Market Monitors

showed employers estimating productivitylost to social media at approximately 10hours per week per employee. However, it isyet to be seen how easy such a ban will be topolice since staff can use their own devices atwork.

“This Quarter’s Employment MarketMonitor shows that with continued jobsgrowth in the FDI sectors, companies arefinding it more challenging to locate all theskill sets they would like in candidates. As aresult they’re opting for will over skill,”commented Áine Brolly, chief executive, CplNorthern Ireland.

“We’re also seeing that when a jobcandidate tells a little white lie aboutexperience, they can get away with it so longas they are good. However, high performanceis required for an employer to let the lie go,”she added.

CPL Q3 Employment Market Monitor Business First andBill McCartneypartner with International Academy of DigitalMarketing for 2016

Northern Ireland’s Social Media Trainerand Business First, Northern Ireland’sbusiness magazine, are partnering

with the International Academy of DigitalMarketing to bring a series of DigitalMarketing Workshops, Diplomas and onlinetraining to Northern Ireland in 2016.

Speaking at the announcement of thepartnership Gavin Walker, managing editor ofBusiness First, said that this was a veryexciting step for the company.

“We have been working with Bill for anumber of years now bringing his expertisein all aspects of digital marketing to many ofNorthern Ireland’s businesses. So it is veryexciting for us to be partnering with both himand the Academy to provide an educationalframework for 2016 and beyond.

“Over the past three years digital marketinghas become an invaluable part of everymarketers toolkit.

“With many of the participants at ourworkshops expressing a desire to expandtheir knowledge and levels of expertise, webelieve that this new partnership will allowus to provide that at a level not previouslyoffered in Northern Ireland.”

Bill added that he was very much lookingforward to the new challenge and hoped to beable to offer the first of the courses in thenew curriculum from February 2016.

International Academy ofDigital Marketing

OFFICIAL PARTNER



Remember to old BCC television sit comAllo Allo set in a small-town café inGerman-occupied France during the

Second World War and the key line ”Listenvery carefully I will say this only once.”

Well I guess once is not enough in aNorthern Ireland occupied by Short-termism.

I attended a business breakfast event lastweek and the usual talk about corporation taxcame up and how it would attract foreigndirect investment.

Don’t get me wrong I support the reductionof corporation tax but I was delighted when aventure capital investor challenged the sliverbullet perception of corporation tax reductionand said that an extra 7.5p in the pound wasnot a key factor for him, in fact in a list of thetop 12 reasons why companies invest in acountry, tax was number seven in the list. Thenumber one attraction is its people, a skilled,talented workforce.

So I hark back to some earlier comments Imade last year regarding education:Innovation is certainly an area we need tofocus on if we are to rebalance and grow oureconomy.

The evidence is clear: innovative businessesare successful. But what is an innovativebusiness? It is a business that has innovativepeople.

When asked about innovation key speaker’s

talk about confidence and curiosity, thecharacteristics of a two year old? I would addanother “C” to that, creativity.

Are our young people leaving schoolwith these characteristics?

As with any system of manufacture, if weare to produce innovative people we musthave an innovative process. Our educationsystem needs to innovate, it needs root andbranch change if we are to reach our fullpotential as a business community, as asociety, as Northern Ireland.

Our current education system does notfacilitate the production of innovators. Whathappens to our two year olds? How can wekeep and nurture their three Cs. I am surethere are educationalists looking at this andthat they have studied and researched manysystems all over the world. So why do we nothave what we deserve?

Is there a real desire to overhaul thesystem, and to give Northern Ireland the mostinnovative education system in the world?

I am sure there are many who will say wecan’t do it; no funds, political reasons….. Lotsof reason why we can’t! But like the two yearold with a confident curiosity we shouldrepeatedly ask “Why not”? Remember the oldphrase “where there is a will, there is a way”.

As I have also said before Northern Ireland

is small, so we should be flexible, our smallsize is an opportunity to be innovative.

Imagine a world class education system,Northern Ireland the key destination forinternational educationalists. Imagine the farreaching impact such a system would havechildren’s confidence curiosity and creativitynurtured. Imagine a system that deliversinnovative and entrepreneurial young people.Imagine confident young people, who do notfear failure, who are not threatened by othercultures, who are creative and who have beeneducated about a healthy life style.

As with any good innovation, idea or planyou need to start with a blank page, we needto go back to the start; the start for anysociety is its children.

I sat on minister Farrys Expert panel forthe review of Apprenticeship and YouthTraining and I was very disturbed andsaddened by a statistic that was shared. Nowlisten very carefully I should only need to saythis once…. 30 per centof our young peopleleave school with NOTONE qualification!

Education is thefoundation of athriving economy , thisI will say again andagain and again.

Northern Ireland is pre-occupied withShort-termism by Roseann Kelly, CEO Women in Business Northern Ireland

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

“Innovation is certainly an area we need to focus on if we are torebalance and grow our economy. The evidence is clear:innovative businesses are successful.” Roseann Kelly


COVER STORY


Digital innovation in the insurancesector delivers major growth forMCL Insurance Services


Gavin Walker talks with MCL Insurance Services managing director,Gary McClarty, about the company’s decision to go online and how 2016will see the launch of an exciting newservice to serve Northern Ireland’squickly expanding SME market.

You might not yet have come acrossthe name MCL Insurance Services, butthere is a very good chance that you

have interacted with the company in one ofits online guises.

Under the brand titles of its4women.com,25+.ie and BoxyMo, MCL Insurance Servicehas conquered the internet and developedbrands that now serve many of Ireland’smotorists including one in three Irishwomen drivers - and is writing £50mworth of cover per year. This is a NorthernIreland company that has taken a standardbusiness model (motor insurance) andturned it into a digital business for the 21stcentury.

Based in Coleraine and employing 92people, many of whom are employed in thecompany’s customer experiencedepartment, MCL has enjoyed a 100 percent growth in business over the past 12months now hosting in excess of 80,000policy holders across Northern Ireland andthe Republic of Ireland. And as Garyexplained, “We have always been based inColeraine and it’s where I hope to continuecreating more jobs for local people over thenext 12 months as the company goes fromstrength to strength.”

From a company that does digital to adigital company

Up until 2006 MCL Insurance was atraditional insurance brokerage servingbusinesses and individuals in a provincialtown. But with a determination to grow thebusiness, Gary began to investigate thepossibilities of ‘going digital’.

“We were very aware of the possibilitiesof the internet to change our businesscompletely and began looking around forthe proprietary software that would allowus to move our business online.

“We wanted to provide an online servicethat would reflect our existing commitmentto customer service and didn’t want to bejust another online insurance provider.”

After a lot of research it became obviousthat the software simply did not exist and itwas at that point that the company wouldmove from an insurance company thatembraced IT to an IT company that soldinsurance.

“When it became obvious that thesoftware we wanted didn’t exist, we tookthe decision to hire five developers tocreate our own to our specifications,” Garyexplained.

“We formed a new IT company, Dotsys,and gradually developed the system thatled to the launch of Its4Women.ie in 2007

which moved us from a regional to anational insurance company.”

On the back of the phenomenal growth ofthe Its4Women brand the company hasgone on to launch 25Plus, (2010) providingcar insurance to the 25 year old plusmarket, and most recently Boxymo (2013),which has introduced telematic technologyto the Northern Ireland market servingyounger drivers who are prepared to havetheir insurance premiums determined bythe care with which they approach theirdriving.

“The BoxyMo product has proven verysuccessful in this market as it reduces therisk factors for us in what has traditionallybeen a very high-risk, high cost market,”Gary explained.

“We are presently looking at the productfor the car fleet market where thetechnology can help improve driving abilitywhile reducing fuel and maintenance costsby up to 20 per cent. It’s a very attractiveproposition for Northern Ireland business.”

Back to basics to best serve NorthernIreland business

The company is now looking at a newmodel of business to offer NorthernIreland’s SMEs from 2016.

“We know that the vast majority ofbusinesses in Northern Ireland are smaller,family run companies and we are presentlydeveloping a new suite of services andproducts specifically for that market,” Garysaid.

These new services will be built on thecompany’s established commitment togreat value and outstanding customerservice, but interestingly will not be basedexclusively online.

“Because of the demands of smallbusiness, we know that they prefer apersonal rather than simply an onlineservice. So the model we are developing isbased as much on our establishedcommitment to great customer service as itis on technology.

“By bringing them both together, webelieve we can offer Northern Ireland’ssmall businesses an approach to insurancethat they simply won’t have previouslyexperienced.

“It’s a very exciting time for us here atMCL Insurance and with the economybeginning to move again, we know there isa lot of opportunity to use the expertiseand market knowledge we haveaccumulated over the past seven years tocontinue to provide new services andproducts that will serve our customers.”




BEST PRACTICE

Almost every employee will have felt theurge to vent frustration about their bossor company – or both – at some stage.

Traditionally, this has meant letting off steamat the water fountain in the office, over lunch inthe canteen or over a coffee after work.

However, given the prevalence of socialmedia in people’s lives, many employees arenow turning to Twitter and Facebook to airtheir workplace complaints.

A growing number of employers aresuffering at the hands of individual staffmembers posting critical – and sometimesextremely offensive – comments about theirline managers specifically, or their companiesin general.

Advising clients on how best to navigate thepotential minefield presented by social mediahas become an increasingly important aspectof the work of the Human Resources andEmployment Law team at leading law firmArthur Cox.

The team is led by Partner Rosemary Lundy,who has extensive experience in all aspects ofemployment law, with a particular specialismin equality from her previous role as an in-house lawyer with the Equality Commissionfor Northern Ireland.

Rosemary commented: “The EmploymentLaw team at Arthur Cox regularly deliversbespoke training and seminars to our clients.As part of our added value ethos, in addition

to in-house seminars, our clients receiveregular updates on current topics of interestand employment law developments. We alsoregularly publish articles in a range ofjournals and provide a monthly, web-basedemployment clinic dealing with the fullspectrum of employment issues.

Social media“One of those issues which has assumed huge

significance in recent years is, of course, socialmedia. Indeed, there’s hardly a day goes bywhen our team does not have to advise clientsabout a social media problem.

“Many employees are now used to sharing somuch of their life through social media thatcomplaints about a boss or company, which usedto be confined to the water fountain or canteen,are now being posted on Facebook and Twitteralmost instantaneously via smart phones.

“What a lot of people seem to forget is thatthey have their company’s name referencedon their profile and, given the nature of thesocial media platform, any negativecomments about their job can become a verypublic discussion.

“Thankfully, most employers are starting toappreciate the importance of incorporatingsocial media into their company policies. Wehave drafted social media policies for a rangeof high-profile firms’ company handbooks.

“This is an area which more and moreemployers are going to have to get up tospeed with and realise the potential damageto their business of not putting theappropriate measures in place beforeincidents happen.”

Travel timeEmployment law is such a fast-moving,

dynamic area of law that social media is onlyone of an extensive range of new topicsconstantly coming to the fore.

These include sickness absence, holidaypay, developments in family oriented leave,travel and working time and statutoryminimum pay levels.

Rosemary continued: “Travel time formobile workers is one aspect of theemployer-employee relationship which hascome under increased scrutiny recently.

“This is following a recent ruling by theEuropean Court of Justice (ECJ) that traveltime is working time in the case of ‘mobile’workers who don’t have a fixed place of work.

“The decision will have implications for

employers in Northern Ireland with mobileworkforces, such as sales teams, fieldmaintenance staff and care workers. However,its impact is not as dramatic as some recentmedia reports have suggested as theDirective, to which the ruling applies, is notrelated to pay.

“Pay is an entirely separate matter which isgoverned by the contract of employment andnational legislation, namely the UK NationalMinimum Wage (NMW) legislation.

“Employers should consider route planningand daily schedules – it’s best to ensure thatassignments start and finish near employees’homes – and, importantly, continue to keep awatching brief on this issue as there are likelyto be ongoing developments.”

The much-discussed Shared Parental Leave(SPL) changes which have been in force sinceApril are still very much a hot topic andRosemary insists that it is critical foremployers to communicate notice periodpolicies around SPL to ensure that businessperformance doesn’t suffer.

She is also reminding employers that theymust continue to be mindful of the recentrulings around holiday pay, as they could havesignificant ramifications on how employers inNorthern Ireland should calculate holiday paygoing forward.

National Living WageTwo other burning issues which Arthur Cox

has been advising clients on in recent weeksand months are the National Living Wage andjudicial cautions for HR managers in terms ofdealing with disciplinary processes.

Rosemary continued: “In July 2015, the UKgovernment announced the introduction of apremium, over and above the NationalMinimum Wage (NMW), for workers aged 25and over, known as the National Living Wage(NLW). Set to be introduced in April 2016,this new development will effectively result ina prescribed premium on the minimum wage,taking the level to £7.20 for those over 25.

“At the start of September 2015, a packageof measures was also introduced which isintended to improve compliance with theNMW and the NLW when the latter isintroduced in April 2016. Employers inbreach of the new rules will face higher finesand potentially be disqualified from holdingcompany directorships.

“While it was unclear at first, it is nowevident that these measures will apply across

Employers can side-step legal pitfalls by being proactiveRosemary Lundy, Partner and Head of Employment at leading law firm Arthur Cox, outlines the current hot topics in employment lawand urges employers to seek advice – before it’s too late.


the UK, meaning that employers in NorthernIreland need to be aware of the changes overthe coming months. Certain industries arelikely to feel the changes more than others,with the biggest impact expected in the retailand hospitality sectors.

HR’s role“Meanwhile, a recent decision by the GB

Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) hasprovided a useful reminder on the scope ofthe HR role in disciplinary investigations.

“The key lessons from the case for HRpractitioners is that, while their role inproviding support and guidance to decisionmakers during disciplinary investigations is avital one, HR personnel must now be moremindful of the limitations of their role andinfluence during such investigations.

“HR should ensure that its advice is limitedto matters of law and procedure, such asensuring that all necessary issues have beenaddressed clearly. It should not advise onculpability or the appropriate sanction to beimposed, apart from addressing issues ofconsistency.

“It’s imperative that the report of a managerinvestigating a disciplinary matter is theproduct of his or her own investigations. Inthe wake of this case, HR practitioners wouldbe well-advised to record in writing asummary of their advice and assistance, so asto provide evidence that they haven’t crossed

any lines or influenced the decision makers.”

In-depth knowledgeWith one of the largest advisory teams in

Northern Ireland, Arthur Cox also hasinternational talent in its Dublin and Londonoffices for clients to tap into, which has seenthe practice become recognised as experts incross-border and UK-wide issues as well aslocal cases.

Arthur Cox advises clients on a wide varietyof employment law and personnel issues,providing specialist advice on areas such asdiscipline, grievances, whistleblowing,discrimination, recruitment and selection,pay and benefits, long-term sickness absence,Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE), commercialtransactions and industrial disputes.

Rosemary believes that developing an in-depth knowledge of the client’s day-to-daybusiness operation is key to delivering themost effective legal advice.

Rosemary commented: “Our team acts for awide range of public and private sectororganisations, including many major localemployers and local authorities as well asmulti-national corporations.

Pedigree“Our first-class pedigree is built on our

service delivery ethos of proactivity andpartnership – we make it our mission tounderstand our clients’ needs, develop a close

relationship and make ourselves entirelyfamiliar with all relevant aspects of theirbusiness.

“We become an extension of theirorganisation, enabling us to identify potentiallegal pitfalls and provide advice on how toavoid these, where possible, before they arise.

“An issue such as TUPE or redundancy mayseem daunting and complicated at the outsetfor an employer, but it’s our job to guide themthrough every stage, ensure all statutoryrequirements are met and help remove thestress from their shoulders.

“It’s important for law firms not to beprecious about their expertise andknowledge. We have it all at our fingertipsand aim to arm clients with as muchknowledge as possible to enable them todevelop effective strategies which are easilyimplemented.

“We also keep a close eye on market trendsand have excellent visibility of the full rangeof employee benefits which employerscurrently offer to attract new talent andimprove retention rates. We are happy toshare this knowledge with our clients.”

The Employment Law team at Arthur Cox iswell positioned to advise on how employersneed to amend policies, procedures andpractices to ensure they are compliant with allemployment laws. Call +44 28 9023 0007 forfurther information.


“Travel time for mobileworkers is one aspect ofthe employer-employeerelationship which hascome under increasedscrutiny recently. This isfollowing a recentruling by the EuropeanCourt of Justice (ECJ)that travel time isworking time in thecase of ‘mobile’workers who don’t havea fixed place of work.”Rosemary Lundy

Rosemary Lundy and her team at Arthur Cox regularly deliver bespoke training and seminars to clients



“In the long run, our private sector needs togrow very substantially, maybe even to doublein size for Northern Ireland to have a trulysuccessful economy. The first step towards thisgoal must be political stability. It is thereforevital that the current political talks have asuccessful outcome.”

These were the words from CBI Chair,

Colin Walsh, at the CBI Gala Lunch in

September, which captured the mood of

CBI members in the room perfectly.

But what is the successful outcome? CBI

Northern Ireland members have made it very

clear that they regard Northern Ireland as

being better off with devolution and they do

not want direct rule. In the same regard, they

do not want the old Executive back either.

What we need is a restructured, properly

functioning Executive, with new mechanisms

and procedures that deliver results and bring

an end to the recent never-ending series of

standoffs, logjams and showdowns.

The people are tired of a Stormont that

staggers from crisis to crisis. Our political

leaders must deliver political stability as this

is the foundation for building a more

prosperous Northern Ireland.

Once the political foundations are in place, a

new economic vision is required. This new

vision must recognise that Northern Ireland

competes within a global marketplace for

investment and talent, appreciates the value

of investing in infrastructure, and above all,

understands that tough economic choices

cannot remain undecided forever.

To chart a path

towards greater

prosperity for

Northern Ireland,

the CBI have

launched its

2016 Assembly

Manifesto in

Northern

Ireland,

‘Punchingabove ourweight: 12Steps tocreate a moreprosperous Northern Ireland’.

At its core, our manifesto argues that the

economy must remain the primary focus of

the next Executive, and calls on political

leaders to focus on developing a long term

economic vision that recognises that Northern

Ireland’s future prosperity is dependent on a

successful enterprise sector.

The CBI’s 12 Steps Manifesto is businesses’

view of what a new economic vision for

Northern Ireland should focus on.

Increasing competitiveness, encouraging

innovation, raising education standards,

investing in infrastructure and instituting

widespread public sector reform are each a

part of the solution to the overarching need to

rebalance our economy and increase

opportunities for all.

The future economic prosperity of Northern

Ireland will in a large part depend on the

Restructured Northern Ireland Executiveneeded to deliver better future

COMMENTARY

What we need is arestructured, properlyfunctioning Executive,with new mechanismsand procedures thatdeliver results and bringan end to the recentnever-ending series ofstandoffs, logjams andshowdowns. Nigel Smyth

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA at the CBI Annual Lunch



decisions taken during the next Assembly

mandate. These decisions will often be tough,

but are ultimately necessary to secure a

successful economic future for Northern

Ireland.

The next Executive has a historic

opportunity to put in place far reaching

measures that will close the economic gap

with other regions and nations and deliver

the prosperity that Northern Ireland so

desperately needs.

Achieving a more sustainable economy and

providing many more, and better

opportunities for all, will require leadership,

co-operation and partnerships.

The prize of successfully resolving this

latest political impasse is tremendous, and

the opportunities enormous. The alternative

is an anaemic economy, dependent on

handouts from Westminster, and perhaps

most critically, an entire generation resigned

to the prospect of an era of lost opportunities

We urge political leaders to adopt the

policies set out in our Manifesto, and ensure

that Northern Ireland punches above its

weight. CBI chairman Colin Walsh with First Trust’s Des Moore and Minister for Health SimonHamilton

1Implement all aspects of the

Stormont House Agreement to unlock

Corporation Tax powers, setting a

‘date and a rate’ no later than the end of

May 2016.

2Speak with one voice in arguing that

Northern Ireland’s economic future is

best served by continuing to be a

member of a reformed European Union.

3Continue to prioritise the economy

ensuring a strong focus on

supporting enterprise, increasing

investment in the knowledge economy and

focusing on growing Northern Ireland’s

exports. Continued support for the ‘Access

to Finance’ initiative will be essential in the

short-term, whilst raising awareness of

alternative sources of funding is now a key

priority.

4Complete a strategic review of our

employment laws by the end of 2016,

with subsequent legislation focused

on ensuring our laws are competitive with

those of the UK and Ireland, reducing the

consultation period for collective

redundancies to 30 days and increasing

the qualifying period for unfair dismissal

rights to two years.

5By the end of 2017, agree the

purpose of educational outcomes and

reform our school and college

systems to deliver rigorous, rounded and

grounded young people, including

requiring the study of maths and English

up to age 18, offering separate sciences as

a study option at GCSE, and revamping

current ICT study options by making

computing, including coding, a core subject

in school teaching.

6Complete a review of funding for

higher education by March 2017 with

a view to a new settlement having

effect from 2018/19. In the interim

increase university tuition fees to at least

£6,000 to ensure a high quality university

education remains widely available.

7Address our energy challenges by

prioritising the delivery of the second

North-South Interconnector, levelling

the playing field on energy supply by

restructuring electricity tariffs, and

develop a longer-term strategic energy

vision to attract investment in energy

infrastructure to deliver competitive

prices.

8Set clear timescales for the delivery

of key infrastructure projects,

including the A6

Belfast/Derry~Londonderry road, through

a new draft Investment Strategy by the end

of June 2016.

9Create a new procurement and

delivery agency by the end of 2017

with responsibility for all public

sector capital projects other than those

under the remit of the new Department for

Infrastructure. The Executive’s pipeline of

works should also be laid before the

Assembly quarterly for review and debate

from autumn 2016.

The CBI want to see the next Northern Ireland Executive deliver on The 12 Steps To Prosperity

10Review the Strategic Planning

Policy Statement by the end of

2017 to achieve a clear

economic ‘golden thread’ throughout that

helps address our competitiveness

challenges around housing, office space

and telecommunications.

11After the election, the parties

entitled to Executive seats

should agree a draft and more

strategic, outcomes focused Programme

for Government and Economic Strategy by

the end of May 2016 – and before runningd’Hondt.

12Include the development of a

strategic and comprehensive

public service reform strategy

as part of the Programme for Government

and publish the strategy by the end of

September 2016.



BEST PRACTICE

Adisciplined approach to assessing your

talent, understanding their career

aspirations and factoring that into

assignment decisions can significantly

improve retention and build your leadership

pipeline.

More and more businesses are realising

that managing and retaining talent is critical

to the future of the organisation, and if not

done right, can become a real business risk.

Organisations need to review their talent

annually, identify which are the critical roles

and develop people to step into these roles.

If there is no internal person ready to step

into a critical role, then businesses have to

look outside. This is a costly and lengthy

process with no guarantee that an external

candidate, however good on paper, will fit

into the organisation, get up to speed, and

perform.

A much safer bet is to develop a healthy

talent pipeline from within, where you take a

known good performer and help prepare

them for the future.

Succession and developing talent doesn’t

happen by chance, and requires a rigorous

process to achieve good outcomes. HR can

certainly lead this process, but it requires the

buy-in and support from the entire executive

team throughout.

Four steps to take1. Leadership Talent Review: discussions

with individuals to understand their career

interests, and assess their current

performance against a leadership profile.

Typical rating criteria include: performance &

values–not just ‘what’ they achieved but ‘how’

they achieved it; leadership potential –could

they be promoted one or two grades above

their current level?, and readiness –with

focussed development, could they be ready

for promotion in the short-medium term?

2. Identification of Critical Roles forSuccession: The top team identifies the roles

that, should the current post-holder leave for

any reason, would need an immediate

replacement. These are roles where the

business would suffer significantly should the

post be vacant for any length of time.

3. Talent Review Meeting: Taking each

mission-critical role, and reviewing with the

entire Executive Team the potential

succession candidates. This open discussion

not only provides an opportunity to gain

additional insights and perspectives on the

individual, but also gives the entire executive

team exposure to the talent across the

organisation. The discussion culminates in a

ranked list of potential successors.

A framework, such as the Nine Box matrix

(with performance on the ‘x’ axis and

potential on the ‘y’ axis), provides a snapshot

of the talent pipeline. The ratings for boxes

1,2 and 3 are typically the top performers

who then receive development to help

prepare them for the future positions.

4. Targeted Development Plans. Each

individual will have their own development

needs in order to prepare them for these

critical roles, and the benefit of conducting

such a thorough review is that you can begin

to target these needs in a structured way.

For example, perhaps the individual

requires a broader perspective on the

business and a stretch assignment or lateral

move to a larger role or new location would

expose them to new areas of the business. Or

they may require relationships with key

external stakeholders, and introductions can

be made. Or, if there are specific knowledge

and skills gaps, training may be identified.

Whatever the need, a targeted development

plan should follow the review process, after

the individual has been given their feedback

and can be involved in shaping their own

development plan.

What are the benefitsInvesting in succession and talent manages

risks and brings about many benefits:

• The individuals identified through the

process are the top talent in the

organisation, and should know that they are

being treated as such; that the executive

team believe in them and are willing to

invest in them for the future.

• This helps to retain your top people. After

all, if we don’t tell them they’re valued,

there’s a risk they will go somewhere else.

• It sends a very positive message to the

rest of the organisation when a key position

is filled from within.

• The knowledge and experience that the

internal candidate has is retained within

the company.

• The learning curve is less steep, and you

know the cultural fit is there.

• Not to mention the reassurance that

comes from having a plan in place and not

feeling vulnerable should a key position

become vacant.

All business leaders need to look to the

future, not only to spot new markets,

products, customers and opportunities, but

also to develop the talent that will deliver that

future, and put plans in place now to ensure

that talent is ready and able to step up. The

future will be here sooner than we think.

Succession and talent reviews arecritical to developing your Leadership PipelineBy Anne Phillipson, Programme Director – William J Clinton Leadership Institute



Commenting earlier this year on the

priorities for the incoming UK

government, the Institute of Directors

highlighted the need for greater stewardship

and ownership behaviour from the

investment management industry.

With the changing environment in funding

for growth – particularly noticeable in

Northern Ireland - that has emerged from the

banking crisis, external investors in the form of

angel investors, venture capitalists, fund

managers and so on have the ability to exercise

a long-term ownership role that will be crucial

to the performance and legitimacy of UK

corporate governance in the years ahead.

The purpose of corporate governance is to

facilitate effective, entrepreneurial and

prudent management that can deliver the

long-term success of the company.

Over two decades of constructive usage, the

UK Corporate Governance Code has

contributed to improved corporate

governance in the UK. As part of a framework

of legislation, regulation and best practice,

the UK listed market has one of the best

development governance frameworks in the

world.

Investors who make decisions based on a

short timeframe can, however, cause

considerable disruption and uncertainty for a

business. The Institute of Directors has urged

the UK government to build on the success of

the UK Code and make strides towards

promoting more long-termism in the equity

markets.

The IoD also wants government to attach

greater importance to the training and

development of non-executive Directors

through recognised training providers, such

as the IoD, and to work with investors to

ensure they understand their roles and

responsibilities as stewards of listed

companies.

Director training can also create greater

Boardroom diversity - without the need for

excessive and costly regulation.

However, governance – aka riskminimisation – is not confined to big

companies or PLCs. Governance has a vital

role to play in every business from start-up to

eventual sale.

Any business owner seeking funding for

growth, planning to appoint a non-executive

Director or looking to sell the business on,

should be aware that potential investors and

cautious non-executives will carry out due

diligence on the company before making any

decisions. Putting in place the elements of

good governance from the very outset places

the company on a strong foundation for long-

term success.

Many Directors fall into the role almost by

chance. Some will have come up through the

company and then been promoted to the

Board based on their success in a functional

role – so the Sales Executive rises to Sales

Manager and then to Sales Director.

All too often the move is made without any

training in what it means to be a Board

Director – the key difference between the

functional and the strategic role, not to

mention the legal responsibilities and

liabilities attaching to a Board role.

Similarly anyone starting up a new business

– University spin-outs, young entrepreneurs,

etc – will know all about their product or

service, they will do their market research

and their business plan, but will they have

thought about good governance? It’s unlikely.

This is the rationale behind the NewDirectors Boot Camp created by IoD

Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland

Science Park’s NISP Connect programme.

The Boot Camp provides a ‘light touch’

introduction to the legal role and

responsibilities of a Director and Board, but

perhaps more importantly introduces

delegates to a panel of experienced Directors

who can talk about the highs and lows of their

Boardroom careers.

Another important element of the Boot

Camp is an interactive case study where

delegates take on the role of the Board

members faced with a tricky situation.

Delegates can experience how easy it is to

become embroiled in a spectacular

governance failure!

It has been accepted that the behaviour and

culture within corporations (particularly in

banking) did indeed contribute to the last

financial crisis.

Boards have a crucial part to play in

remedying this issue and have in particular a

crucial part to play in setting the culture and

ethos of the business as a whole.

An effective Board is at the heart of good

governance so the IoD will continue to lobby to

improve the governance of all organisations –

whether big or small, or in the private, public or

third sectors – and will provide training and

development opportunities to support leaders

who are committed to being the best Directors

they can be.

Priorities for good Governanceby Linda Brown, Director IoD Northern Ireland

The purpose ofcorporate governanceis to facilitateeffective,entrepreneurial andprudent managementthat can deliver thelong-term success ofthe company.Linda Brown



The importance of family businesses to

the local Northern Irish as well as the

wider UK economy has long been

established with more than three quarters of

UK businesses estimated to be family owned

and managed.

Regardless of the exact percentage, it is

clear that family businesses represent a key

part of the private sector. However, estimates

suggest that the majority of family businesses

fail to adequately plan for or manage the

succession of their business to the next

generation, particularly in earlier-stage family

companies. Problems in the succession process

will, as a result, often lead to the company

either being sold or not surviving at all.

Such an outcome can be avoided with

careful planning and indeed, there are

numerous examples of companies that have

found the keys to longevity and prospered

over several generations.

We have found that there are a variety of

sources which can enable family businesses to

make better decisions, keeping the family and

its business better aligned and thereby

allowing for a smoother succession.

The Problems with SuccessionDoing nothing about succession can often

prove disastrous for family companies but it is

a situation that many find themselves faced

with. The process of successfully transferring

family businesses to the next generation

raises complex and emotion-laden problems.

Many business owners are reluctant to give

up control and preferring to live with

ambiguity, decide that avoiding the issue is

the best course for them.

Some of the factors that can lead to this

position are fear of retirement or loss of

identity, resistance to change, a lack of

forward financial planning or an inability to

chose among family members to “take over

the reins” of the business.

Managing the TransitionSuccession may be an organised and

gradual process, in which case a trained

successor grows into the role under the

owner’s supervision and guidance. Or,

instead, it can take place abruptly and

unexpectedly when the owner becomes ill or

dies, in which case an unprepared family

member can suddenly find the job forced

upon them.

We would always recommend that planning

should be started early and ideally the

owner’s transition from managing director to

chairman of the board or full retirement is so

gradual that it is seamless and therefore

easier to adjust to. In our experience, this

allows the founder of the business to

gradually separate his or her identity from

that of the business and become accustomed

to a new role or retirement by increments.

It is important for families to establish

formal mechanisms, rules and procedures as a

way of helping them to avoid (or at least

manage) tensions and divisions which, if left

unchecked, interfere with the effective

functioning of the business.

Setting up a family council and drawing up a

written family constitution (recording the

family’s agreed policies on the business and

other issues) tends to provide a structural

framework that helps family members focus

on the important issues, progress through

problems and find ways of working with each

other.

For similar reasons, we have found that

developing a written succession plan that

incorporates a step-by-step approach to

dealing with the practical and psychological

aspects of the transition process is often

invaluable.

As a minimum, the plan should cover:

- A leadership and skills development

programme for potential successors. This

would include outside work experience and a

preliminary outline of a planned career path

within the business

- The process for choosing a successor – for

example, the business criteria to be employed,

whether the decision is given to an

independent board or a committee of family

members.

- A detailed timetable that charts each

phase of the owner’s reduced role in the

business.

- A timetable mapping out the chosen

successor’s expanding role and

responsibilities.

- The plan for organisational succession,

covering the structure and functioning of the

management team after the transition.

Another vital component is to make sure to

be inclusive. Input from family members and

management as well as other key

stakeholders can help clarify their concerns,

interest and priorities. In our experience, we

have found that communication is key in any

process that involves such diverse, and

potentially conflicting, opinions.

Selecting a successorA fundamental question is often who is the

best person to succeed to a key position in the

business. This can often present a number of

practical and emotional difficulties.

Sometimes the choice isstraightforward

There may be a single successor who is both

capable and committed and who, during the

succession planning process, grows naturally

into the role. But some families define ‘logical’

to mean that the eldest son is automatically

the first choice. Although this eliminates

uncertainty and reduces the likelihood of

rivalry among the children, such a rule may

result in the appointment of a leader who is

less qualified or capable than other

candidates. No matter what the role, family

members should be recruited into the firm

only if, on business grounds, they possess the

skills needed to carry out the job effectively.

Exactly the same principle should apply to the

recruitment of a new managing director, even

if this offends the family norm that all

children must be treated equally.

If, after an honest assessment, the

conclusion is that there’s little chance of a

successful management transition to the next

generation, founders should begin to look for

some alternatives.

ConclusionBDO has been serving family business for

more than 20 years and we are well placed to

help deal with the myriad of complex issues

which often prevent businesses successfully

transitioning to the next generation.

We can facilitate discussions at an early stage

between all relevant parties, helping alleviate

any fears or apprehensions that they might have,

both from a family and a business perspective,

and put in place formal procedures and steps

that can help facilitate the change.

Succession planning should not be such a

taboo topic amongst business owners. If dealt

with early, it is possible to get both family and

business stakeholders aligned in a way that

will help usher in a new era and foster a

family business that can continue to succeed

for generations to come.

Succession Planning inFamily BusinessesSuccession planning requires careful consideration if it’s to avoid pitfalls, says MaybethShaw, Partner at BDO Northern Ireland

BEST PRACTICE



Appointment Setting

Lead Generation

Telesales

Project Management

Recruitment

Event Management

Sales Training

Nisoft House. Ravenhill Business Park, Ravenhill road Belfast BT6 8AWTelephone: 02890 994820

Email: [email protected] Web: www.tailoredappointments.co.uk



http://www.tailoredappointments.co.uk


We are living in a time of unprecedented

change. Whole industries are being

transformed as the rise of mobile, the

automation of processes through machine-to-

machine communication and the shift to the cloud

become mainstream. While this change

empowers business and end users everywhere, it

puts an ever-increasing strain on the network, the

underlying super-highway connecting people, data

and things.

Even if your network can cope with your

enterprise needs now, can it handle the pressures

that lie ahead? Change is here and the pace isn’t

slowing down, in fact, it’s only getting faster. In

2010 12.5 billion devices were connected to the

internet; Cisco says this figure will have doubled to

25 billion by the end of 2015, and in just five years

will double again to 50 billion. The nature of these

devices will change too.

Employees in today's workplace use an average of

three different devices during the day, according to

Gartner. As technologies like wearable devices and

the Internet of Things become mainstream, Gartner

expects this figure to jump to five or six devices.

And BYOD is likely to become more ingrained;

Gartner says that, by 2017, 50 per cent of

organisations will require their employees to

supply their own device.

The digital universe will more thandouble every two years

With more devices and apps, comes increased

usage and data. IDC predict that the digital

universe will grow by a factor of 10 – from 4.4

trillion gigabytes in 2013 to 44 trillion in 2020 –

more than doubling every 2 years.

Data from embedded systems, a major

component of the IoT, will grow from two per cent

of the digital universe in 2013 to 10 per cent in

2020. As more and more useful data becomes

available, the greater the opportunity for

enterprises to use it – to learn about customers,

improve operations, identify new market gaps –

and the more they will need to take advantage of

analytics technologies and new data sources.

In addition to multiple, diverse devices entering

the workplace and generating massive amounts of

data, enterprises are increasingly moving their

business, including mission critical apps, into the

cloud, fuelling demands for higher bandwidth and

mobility. According to IDC, by 2020, more than 40

per cent of the data will be either stored or

processed in some way by the cloud, up from 20

per cent in 2013.

Your network is no longer just acommodity, it’s the heartbeat of yourbusiness

So reliant have we become on our network

connection that it has shifted from being a good-

to-have to must-have, as vital as heat, electricity

and water. Just like we flick a light switch and

expect light, workers of today expect to be able to

connect to their enterprise network from

anywhere and any device without having to think

about it.

An average enterprise network is expected to

run email, internet access, cloud applications,

customer communications, printing needs and

meetings and a host of other mission critical

applications that your business just cannot

function properly without.

But clogged with devices, overloaded with

applications and data, managed by staff with many

other commitments, this average enterprise

network may be experiencing more than a few

cracks. Keeping this network in a condition where it

can support the new way of working will become a

full-time job for your IT team, if it’s not already.

As IDC point out, the digital universe isdoubling every two years in size but thenumber of IT professionals on theplanet may never double again – or atleast not for 20 years.

A fully-managed network for the futureWe’ve seen some enterprises realise the value in

outsourcing their network; handing the

management of this utility to experts who can

make sure it runs at peak performance. By taking

this step, they’ve been able to return to the high-

value tasks of using technological developments to

achieve their business’ strategic goals.

With eir Peerless Networks, we offer you

something that your future business deserves: the

most attentive, proactively managed network

you’ll find anywhere.

We design your network to make it work harder

for you. We manage your network to ensure it’s

always running at its peak – optimum performance,

minimal downtime. We continuously monitor your

network to stay one step ahead and recommend

how to make it work smarter.

Rather than worrying about the challenges that

this future digital universe will present, be ready

for the opportunities it will bring. These changes

can be exciting, adding read value to your

business, as long as you are prepared for them.

If you believe your IT team have got better things to

do than manage your network, let someone else help.

To find out how Peerless Networks can help yourbusiness, contact Shane atuk.linkedin.com/in/shanehaslem or call the eirBusiness NI team on 0800 039 2000www.eir.co.uk twitter.com/eirbusinessnilinkedin.com/company/eirbusinessni

Are you confident your enterprisenetwork is ready for what’s next?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Shane Haslem is Head of NetworkEnabled Design, eir Business NI.

We are living in atime ofunprecedentedchange. Wholeindustries are beingtransformed as therise of mobile, theautomation ofprocesses throughmachine-to-machinecommunication andthe shift to the cloudbecomemainstream. Shane Haslem


http://www.eir.co.uk

For those with extra cash to spare, now

may be a good time to invest in risk

assets. The UK market in particular

holds opportunity for investors looking to

make long term gains.

With markets having taken a dip globally,

stocks offer a better return on investment

than gilts or other savings vehicles.

Markets have fallen so significantly in fact

that they are back to 2011 levels, with the UK

market having dropped by more than 10 per

cent and certain Asian markets seeing falls of

more than 50 per cent. When it comes to the

cause of the dip, there are a number of factors

at play, the most significant being the recent

slowing of China’s economy.

Concerns about the health of the Chinese

economy led to global stock markets falling

sharply in late August. This, combined with

reports that the US Central bank was looking

at raising interest rates imminently, caused

share prices to tumble, with the UK FTSE 100

falling by 363 points over the course of five

days.

China’s economy has been hitting the

brakes for some time. In part, this is a

deliberate policy from authorities who want

the country to rely less on exporting and

more on domestic consumption.

This transition also coincides with a

reduction in capital investment and

infrastructure spending which China had

begun in the aftermath of the global financial

crisis in order to shore up the economy.

Thus, gross domestic product (GDP) growth

of over 10 per cent per annum has now

slowed to around seven per cent.

The reason for the jitters in the City,

however, is the suspicion that actual growth is

below the figure reported.

Recent data showed that exports fell by

eight per cent in the year to June* and this

was followed by a “mini-devaluation” of the

Chinese currency, the yuan.

The recent decision by the Federal Reserve

to further delay the first increase in US

interest rates since 2006, because of concerns

about global economic growth, have added to

the uncertainty.

While it’s easy to see how global-economic

factors such as China’s slow-down have had a

negative impact on Asian, European and US

markets, the catalyst for the drop in certain

sections of the UK market is less obvious.

There appears to have been an indiscriminate

sell-off that has, unjustifiably, hit a range of

sectors that are domestically focused. For the

investor, this opens up opportunities to take

advantage of low price stocks in specific

market sectors that have felt the greatest

impact of the dip.

Investments to considerIt is certainly worth considering the

following sectors in terms of good value

investment potential:

• retail sector

• house-building sector

• property sector

Across the board, the UK market has fallen

so low that it is currently delivering a yield of

3.5 per cent and this is growing at a rate of

eight per cent. When compared against the

very low interest rates offered by banks at

present and gilts delivering yields of around

1.8 per cent, stock market investment clearly

leads the pack in terms of value.

To give a long-term view, at current

valuations, if you were to invest historically at

this level you would have achieved over five

per cent per annum growth for the next ten

years.

The strengthening UK recovery should

result in gains for equities purchased now

while prices are low. The UK economy is in

good shape, with jobs being created, a

recovering housing market and low inflation

leading to more money in the average pocket.

The country is expected to achieve growth of

around 2.5 per cent this year*.

Investing your spare cash in the UK markets

certainly seems prudent then, when you

consider the value represented. Of course, it is

important to remember that stock markets are

notorious for falling far below where they are

expected to and it may well be that current

valuations fall further in the short term.

Over the longer term, though, there could

be good value to be had. For those wishing to

grow their wealth, this current weakness

offers an opportunity; and investors shouldn’t

be afraid of taking advantage of the recent

drop in prices to build their portfolio where

possible.

Understanding how this type of investment

can carefully sit as part of a diversified

portfolio, how much weight to attribute to it

and having a clear understanding of its pros

and cons is key to achieving a successful

return - which is why it is best left in the

hands of the experts.

Quilter Cheviot, part of Old Mutual Wealth,

is one of the UK’s largest discretionary

investment firms and has 12 offices across the

UK, Jersey and Ireland. For more information

contact Nigel Crawford in Belfast on

028 9026 1155 or

[email protected].

Investors should remember that the value

of investments, and the income from them,

can go down as well as up. Investors may not

recover what they invest. Past performance is

no guarantee of future results. This document

is not intended to constitute financial advice;

investments referred to may not be suitable

for all recipients.

*Source: Quilter Cheviot Limited

Nigel Crawford, Head of Belfast Office, Quilter Cheviot talks about taking advantage of the stock market dipand why now is a good time to invest spare cash.

Taking advantage of the dip



BDO Northern Ireland – back to thefuture for its advisory departmentThe Changing Market

Surveys have suggested that Northern

Ireland suffered a deeper and longer lasting

recession than other parts of the UK, largely

due to the dramatic decline in property values.

Despite such a bleak climate, businesses in

Northern Ireland have risen to the challenge,

adapting to the new economic environment

and forging their own paths to recovery.

Recent reports confirm that economic activity

is rising and job growth has been strong.

Although the economy has some way to go to

return to pre-recession levels, current signals

are certainly positive, with 2015 expected to be

the strongest year for the Northern Ireland

economy since the financial crisis.

The Changing Demand for ourServices

This period of sustained Economic Growth

is resulting in a change in nature of the type

of advisory services requested by our clients.

Whilst we continue to provide restructuring

and/or refinancing advice to clients as they

manage the legacy issues of the downturn, we

are being instructed by an increasing number

of clients who are already reaping the

benefits of recovery and require assistance in

business and strategic planning, finance

raising and the preparation of sales mandates.

Notwithstanding this change, the recovery

that we are currently experiencing presents

its own challenges and once again we are

ready to assist businesses through these

times of change. We will continue to facilitate

the rebuilding of trust and the development

of strong partnerships within the local

business community. We will foster strong

relationships to ensure businesses are fully

advised, have access to key contacts and can

communicate effectively with stakeholders

including current or potential funders. Most

importantly, we look forward to combining

our skill set and commercial expertise to

assist our clients to achieve sustainable,

profitable growth.

The Advisory TeamHaving developed an extensive commercial

skill-set over the last 25 years, we currently

have a team of 24 business advisers within

the Advisory Team, offering clients a

combined total of in excess of 200 years of

consulting experience.

Through our own professional expertise

and by working directly with client

organisations and the entrepreneurs behind

them, we have developed a unique

understanding of the key business influencers

and the macro economic factors that directly

impact on local businesses.

The Evolution of our ServicesPrior to the economic downturn, our work

predominately focused on restructuring for

growth which included areas such as

refinancing, strategic business planning and

M&A work. When the Northern Ireland

economy went into recession, our hard

earned experience and practically based

commercial skill sets were put to good use in

assisting businesses through the challenges of

the downturn, with a focus on operational

and financial restructuring.

In our work with local businesses over the

last eight years, we have sought to avoid formal

restructuring appointments where possible,

instead favouring informal, consensual

agreements, where all stakeholders needed to

work in partnership to achieve the best

outcome for all. This partnership approach

was not always readily achievable, as its

essential foundation, trust, had often dissipated

between the stakeholders as a result of the

pressures of the downturn.

In many cases our focus has therefore been to

facilitate the rebuilding of this trust and the

relationships that had previously existed. In

favouring such consensual processes, we are

proud to have been able to assist in the

preservation of over 4,000 jobs.

We have also conducted numerous business

reviews where we worked in partnership

with the Borrower in order to add value and

provide an objective view of the business.

During this process, we focus on the

identification of key issues for the business

and the remedial actions that must be

implemented to achieve sustainability.

Although it is often viewed negatively during

a downturn, this is essentially a performance

improvement exercise; an exercise which

should be welcomed by all businesses

whether they are operating during a

downturn or within a recovering market.

Unsurprisingly, following the collapse of the

property market, we also undertook

numerous projects involving property-backed

Balance Sheets. Whilst many might assume

that such assignments are focused on asset

disposal, there are a multitude of alternative

options available, depending on the individual

circumstances of the Company and indeed the

asset(s).

Our solutions have included a combination

of Refinancing, Debt Restructuring, Joint

Venture Build-Out Schemes, Partial Asset

Disposals, Profit Sharing and Site Fine

Arrangements. Our key objective in all such

projects is to maximise value, applying

objectivity and lateral thinking to the specific

circumstances of each case.

RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY

About usBDO is one of the leading local

accountancy firms in Northern Ireland. We

specialise in providing a full range of

accounting, taxation and advisory services

to local businesses, whether indigenous

start-ups or overseas multinationals. The

Advisory Department within the firm

encompasses a multi-disciplinary team that

enables BDO to provide a wide range of

consultancy services, including:

Performance Improvement : Profit

Maximisation and Strategic Planning;

Business Valuations : To underpin M&A

Activity and Forensic Reviews;

(Distressed) Acquisitions and TradeSales: Due Diligence Investigations;

Strategic Planning : Business Planning,

Financial Modelling and Refinancing;

Turnaround : Stabilisation &

Consolidation and Working Capital

Management;

Financial Restructuring and DebtAdvisory : Debt & Equity Restructuring

and Crisis Management;

Creditor Initiated Procedures : Formal

& Informal Restructurings and

Insolvencies;

Structured Exits : Solvent Exits and Tax-

Driven Restructurings; and

Asset Tracing and Investigations :Tracing, Securing and Managing Asset

Portfolios.

Brian Murphy, Advisory Services Partner atBDO Northern Ireland



The changing face of insolvency inNorthern Ireland

On 1st October 2015 the Insolvency Act

1986 (Amendment) Order 2015 came

into effect in England and Wales, which

increased from £750 to £5000 the bankruptcy

level, namely the minimum level of debt

below which it is not possible to petition to

have a debtor made bankrupt.

This means that a creditor must be owed

£5000 or more before a bankruptcy petition

or a winding up petition can be lodged in that

jurisdiction. This change has not yet been

made here to our primary legislation, the

Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.

Whilst there has always been a desire to

maintain parity between the insolvency

regimes in England and Wales and Northern

Ireland, they are separate jurisdictions and

traditionally the implementation of reforms

in insolvency legislation in England and Wales

tends to occur here some time later.

The advantage of this delay is that there is

an opportunity to review the effects of the

relevant changes in England and Wales, give

consideration to the potential impact on the

system here and conclude whether such

changes would be beneficial.

In light of the recent reform in England and

Wales, the Department of Enterprise, Trade

and Investment Northern Ireland has

commenced a consultation period to review

whether the bankruptcy threshold should be

increased here from £750 to £5000.

Debt campaigners have lobbied the

government arguing that the bankruptcy

threshold of £750 is too low, particularly

given the draconian consequences of

bankruptcy for an individual or winding up

for a company.

The necessity for the review is based on the

need to strike the right balance between

ensuring that the insolvency regime does not

impose overly punitive measures on the most

vulnerable people while at the same time

safeguarding the rights of creditors to

repayment.

Proportionality is a key consideration -

should an individual potentially lose his home

for the sake of a small liability? Invited

consultees include a broad range of

stakeholders including banks and credit

unions, lawyers, accountants, insolvency

practitioners, consumer associations, the

Insolvency Service, the Chamber of

Commerce, the Federation of Small

Businesses, HMRC, universities and the

judiciary. The consultation period concludes

on 12th November 2015.

It is anticipated that the insolvency

threshold will increase here too and if so, it

will have significant implications for debtors

and creditors in Northern Ireland.

It is predicted that an increase in the

bankruptcy level to £5,000 would lead to 105

fewer bankruptcy orders per year in

Northern Ireland.

The service of a statutory demand, which is

the precursor to the issue of a bankruptcy or

winding up Petition, will no longer be

available for use by creditors to prompt

debtors to pay debts under £5000 having a

direct impact on the available debt recovery

options for a creditor seeking to recover a

debt under £5000 and affecting credit control

and cash flow for businesses.

Creditors will have to litigate in the Small

Claims’ Court to recover debts under £3000

and in that court there is no provision for an

award of legal costs against the debtor save

for the application fee paid.

For debts between £3000 and £5000 a

creditor can issue a Civil Bill in the District

Judge's Court where an award of costs may be

obtained. Once a creditor has obtained a

judgment from either the Small Claims’ Court

or the District Judge's Court, enforcement of

that judgment can then be pursued via the

Enforcement of Judgments Office but the

costs of judgment enforcement can be

significant and sometimes prohibitive.

Businesses will need to factor in the

additional time that may be incurred for

payment of invoices where recovery

proceedings are necessary.

Most businesses operate on a 30 day

payment system for their invoices. In the

absence of the bankruptcy threat being

available, if a creditor needs to issue Court

proceedings for a debt under £5000, it is very

likely that recovery will take longer, having a

profound impact on cash flow.

An individual or a company in financial

difficulties should seek early advice from an

insolvency practitioner or solicitor in relation

to the obligations of an owner or director of

an insolvent business and the implications of

bankruptcy or winding up. If early advice is

sought then there is also greater scope for a

business rescue or restructure.

C & H Jefferson Insolvency and Restructuringteam advise individuals and businesses infinancial difficulty and insolvencypractitioners. Please contact Ken Rutherford,partner at C & H Jefferson, Solicitors if youneed advice or guidance.

by Ken Rutherford, partner at C & H Jefferson

RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY

In light of the recent reformin England and Wales, theDepartment of Enterprise,Trade and Investment hascommenced a consultationperiod to review whetherthe bankruptcy thresholdshould be increased herefrom £750 to £5000.


C & H Jefferson is one of Northern Ireland’s oldest and

largest legal practices offering a broad range of skills

and expertise to an extensive base of local and

international clients.

We have a dedicated team of solicitors with a wealth of

expertise in dealing with all aspects of insolvency,

business recovery and restructuring.

We have advised businesses, banks and insolvency

practitioners throughout the recessions of the 1990’s

and more recently during the post Lehman downturn in

the economy, each recession having its own unique

features and challenges.

At present, we are actively involved for banks and

borrowers alike in workouts, restructurings and loan

sales as the banks continue their transition from “bad

bank” asset recovery to “good bank” business lending

and the private funds seek quick returns on their loan

acquisitions.

We have longstanding and trusted relationships with

major banks, leading accountants and insolvency

practitioners and the firm’s expertise in the fields of

banking and associated specialist disciplines of

insolvency, recovery and restructuring, in tandem with

our excellence in property and corporate matters, has

been recognised through commendation in Chambers

UK Legal directory and Legal 500.

With a reputation for integrity, straightforward advice

and reliability, C & H Jefferson should be the first port of

call for any client seeking commercial advice.


Last month saw the launch of the final

report of the Heenan AndersonCommission, which was established to

examine the causes of the current levels of

economic marginalisation and deprivation in

Northern Ireland, with specific reference to a

legacy of poverty which is being handed down

through generations of people here.

What was compelling to me was the fact we

had over 600 submissions and responses

from people across the length and breadth of

Northern Ireland, ranging from academics,

politicians, charities, community groups and

those labelled with that very negative term,

NEET (Not in Education, Employment orTraining).

Listening to and seeing what is going on at

Stormont at the moment fills me with

disappointment. The one thing that came

across from the consultation process that we

went through was the need and the desire for

people to achieve a better life for themselves.

The big problem is that they don’t know how.

Through the Commission’s engagement

across Northern Ireland, we saw that there

are some pockets of really good work and

there are some superb individuals at

community, political and business levels.

The issue is that there is duplication, a lack

of co-ordination and too many agendas. It

seems that many of us are either going round

in circles or off at a tangent. What we need is

a shared direction of travel.

People here want to be involved in a

country that is successful, peaceful and

prosperous. They are looking for leadership

and a constructive way forward. It has

become very evident that this is missing and

desperately needed if we are going to move

ahead.

As the Executive was collapsing, our

universities were busy showcasing

themselves for next year’s intake. Who could

blame the young people who went on record

to say that instead of staying here, they want

out of Northern Ireland? Many people at the

margins of our communities here don’t have

this choice – they’re stuck, they’re

disillusioned and this can’t be good for a

society’s morale.

Looking at this from my perspective as a

businessman, the solution should be

business-like and quite simple: the board of

directors of any company have a

responsibility to run that company well. In

fact, a company director has to make a legal

declaration that he or she will do the best for

that company. As a politician, you are elected

by a public mandate, you’re given the

responsibility by your voters to run the

country and to make sure your citizens (just

like your employees) live in a society that

looks after their needs and is prosperous. We

are not being shown that kind of leadership.

Leadership is one of the overarching themes

of the Commission’s report. Northern Ireland

needs to encourage and foster leaders at all

levels of society who are willing to take risks

and develop innovative solutions. We tend to

be good at identifying problems but less

skilled at identifying solutions.

Tied in closely with this is a need for a

shared vision for Northern Ireland. We

proposed developing a long-term vision for

2050 with agreed interim objectives. This will

require an inclusive and honest discussion

about our country; acknowledging strengths

and weaknesses.

We need to work together to produce an

attainable road map for Northern Ireland in

order to galvanise government, business, civil

society and communities to aim towards

collective goals.

In terms of addressing poverty and welfare,

the Commission recommends that we must

start right from birth: we must support

positive parenting, ensure proper early years

provision for under 4’s and when it comes to

education, we must address a schools system

which still divides our children into two tribes

and then expects employers to provide equal

opportunities and fair employment – it’s

bizarre.

If we want the creation of a better Northern

Ireland, we need to make it “easy to buy” and

by that I mean, making us more competitive.

We recommend devolving Corporation Tax

but we must also make sure that the benefits

come in terms of new jobs and growth which

will directly reduce the current level of

worklessness.

The past 17 years have shown that at many

levels, we’re all pretty good at getting on with

life but for some, the bright future they hoped

for simply hasn’t materialised.

Those areas of Northern Ireland which were

the worst off 20 years ago are still at the

bottom of the pile. This is totallyunacceptable.

Instead of looking inwards and backwards,

we must look upwards and outwards towards

a brighter future, which is what we all want

and could be well within our grasp if we get

our act together.

Together is what this is all about.

Colin Anderson on the report of theHeenan Anderson Commission

COMMENTARY

The issue is that there isduplication, a lack of co-ordination and too manyagendas. It seems thatmany of us are eithergoing round in circles oroff at a tangent. What weneed is a shared directionof travel.Colin Anderson



Building a brand in today’s

hypercompetitive marketplace is a

highly complex process. Like a ship at

sea it is at the mercy of the prevailing

elements, trade winds if you like. Trends and

perceptions are large swells which can push

you forward but, take your eye off the forecast

for a moment and all can be lost.

Products and services have to appeal to

customers, they have to meet their needs but

they must exceed their expectations. The

customer must like the brand, no, they must

love the brand.

Organisations must stimulate and sustain

an emotive response to their products and

services through their marketing

communications. Brands identify the maker,

they infer quality, they create barriers to

entry and they serve as a competitive

advantage.

They instill the sense of belonging within

their customer group and they position

themselves to occupy a distinctive place in the

mind of the target market.

The 21st century consumer is looking at the

company's ethics and want demonstrable

corporate social responsibility. The

company's organisational reputation and the

image of outward benevolence are factors

that will shape a successful customer

relationship. Google’s ‘do no evil’ mantra is a

case in point.

Integrity is of the utmost value to the

consumer. However, we have been

bombarded with stories about global

organisations that have spent decades

building a trustworthy, well recognised,

dependable brand only to destroy and

damage this in the blink of an eye.

As Marx commented, ‘The secret of life is

honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that,

you've got it made’, that’s Groucho Marx by

the way. For the perils of faking ideals we

need look no further than FIFA and

Volkswagen, two very different entities but

both lauded worldwide as brands associated

with integrity, trustworthiness and

dependability.

The Fédération Internationale de Football

Association (FIFA), slogan : ‘For The Game, ForThe World’, has faced doubtless counts of

corruption and bribery. It has been portrayed

as a gravy train driven by greed and

underhand activities, not the image a

worldwide football organisation that

promotes the beautiful game should be

striving to portray.

On the other hand Volkswagen (VW), literal

translation ‘The People’s Car’, has been

charged with diesel emission violations.

Interestingly one of the first statements from

the company stated that they were worried

about damage to the brand as opposed to

damage to the company.

The multi award winning VW brand is

presented as a symbol of engineering quality

and reliability throughout the world,

internationally recognised and praised in

equal measure.

This damage to the VW brand has been

compared in the press to the damage caused

to the BP brand in 2010 following the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident in the

Gulf of Mexico.

This was an environmental disaster which it

is believed was caused by gross incompetence

and serious carelessness on behalf of BP. It

was however a shocking accident.

In contrast, Volkswagen’s behaviour was

deliberate, they practiced false advertising,

deliberately misled consumers through false

representation of product features, they were

deceitful, they did not deliver what they

promised. They lied to their customers. They

polluted their brand.

Customers need to be at the heart of every

organisation, they must be cherished and

valued. Companies must exercise a fresh and

meaningful marketing approach, they need to

communicate with their audiences as people,

rather than consumers. They need to employ

ethical marketing practices that accentuate

transparent, trustworthy and responsible

organisational marketing policies and actions

which exhibit integrity as well as fairness to

consumers and other stakeholders.

The customer must never be taken for

granted and the brand must deliver what it

promises. It’s a company’s ballast which, if

mishandled, will ultimately sink the ship.

Brands go overboard by Dr Mary Boyd, Course Director B.Sc HonsMarketing, Ulster University Business School

“Companies must exercise a fresh and meaningful marketingapproach, they need to communicate with their audiences aspeople, rather than consumers.” Dr Mary Boyd



Access to finance and funding for growth

continues to be a major issue for small

firms and for the local business

community in general.

Our survey of over 300 Chartered Accountants

shows that local demand for finance is

increasing… but is supply keeping up with

demand? What about non-traditional sources?

How is the property overhang affecting the

funding market?

Fifty five per cent of local Chartered

Accountants feel that the demand for business

finance is increasing. Only 27 per cent feel that

the supply of finance is increasing to keep up

with that demand.

Perhaps more worryingly, 54 per cent of our

members believe that viable investment plans

are being put on hold because businesses cannot

access the finance they need to grow.

This figure has fallen since 2014, but it’s still

alarming. Meanwhile, many local business

lenders feel that they have money to supply, but

have difficulty finding the right proposition.

There is therefore something of a disconnect

between what banks are telling us in the market

and what our members are experiencing on the

ground.

Where does the problem lieSo where does the problem lie – is it

perception? Is it reality? Is it as simple as

bringing those two sides together and making

their expectations clear?

What about the role of business advisers such

as Chartered Accountants, surely they must be

in a great position to help write the business

plans and loan submissions which secure the

funding out there waiting to be allocated?

I’ve posed a lot of questions over the last few

paragraphs. As always, answers are more

difficult to come by.

On November 10th, Chartered Accountants

Ulster Society will be holding the Funding forthe Future Conference at the Europa Hotel in

Belfast in partnership with Danske Bank,

IntertradeIreland and the Northern Ireland

Chamber of Commerce and Industry. We’ll be

hoping to find the answers to some of these

questions, or at least inform the debate.

Helping us to get a comprehensive summary

of the current funding landscape will be

Professor Russel Griggs, chair of the

independent Access to Finance Implementation

Panel and currently reviewing the Lending Code

in the UK ; Angela McGowan and Kevin Kingston

of Danske Bank; Aidan Gough of

IntertradeIreland; Aidan Doherty of MOAT; Liz

McCrory of UK Export Finance; Paul Millar of

Whiterock Capital; Tom Smyth of Broadlake

Capital and Rory Quirke of MML Capital.

In addition, we’ll have case studies from local

firms EMS, Automated Intelligence, Conveyortek

and Lowe Refrigeration, as well as two expert

panels on banking and debt resolution so that

delegates can get some answers to their own

questions.

If that lot can’t provide a clearer picture of

funding availability and how local businesses

can get hold of it, then we really are in a tight

spot!

What is evident is that the general business

climate has improved since the longest

recession in living memory finally surrendered

to slow recovery. Even if sometimes it’s hard to

notice. Historical debt from that period still

hangs over many, particularly in certain sectors

such as construction.

Businesses need cash to fund working capital

requirements. The difficulties over debt

resolution, combined with a general lack of

awareness of alternative finance offers can leave

many feeling that their options are narrow. The

impact of the NAMA loan book sale is certainly

still being felt, and raising even more

uncertainty.

Where can you turn if funding is hard to find?

What are the key reasons that applications for

credit are turned down? How can you give your

application the best chance of success?

So many questions which local businesses

(and their advisers) need answers to. The

Funding for the Future Conference will provide

some perspective, as well as showing the

experience of local business owners who have

dealt with ‘alternative’ lenders or private equity,

or been through the debt resolution process.

The economic recovery still has some

significant way to go, and business finance for

growth has a vital role to play, especially with

Government cuts and uncertainty over local

politics.

We need to make sure that the correct

structures are in place, and that businesses

know where they are and how to access them.

The saying goes that if you don’t ask then you

don’t get. But before approaching lenders,

businesses and their advisers need to ensure

that they are well prepared with a proper

business case which meets the expectations of

the prospective lender. Those lenders will

certainly have a lot of difficult questions of their

own.

The first step is knowing the funding

landscape, and having an adviser in your corner

that you can trust. Then perhaps we can get

more of those viable funding plans into

operation and provide some real growth, jobs

and prosperity for everyone in our community.

Some big questions about fundingby Patrick Gallen, chair, Chartered Accountants Ulster Society

COMMENTARY

On November 10th,Chartered AccountantsUlster Society will be holdingthe Funding for the FutureConference at the EuropaHotel in Belfast inpartnership with DanskeBank and IntertradeIreland.We’ll be hoping to find theanswers to some of thesequestions, or at least informthe debate. Patrick Gallen


When minister Jonathan Bell recently

announced the early closure of the

Renewables Obligation Certificate

Scheme for onshore wind in Northern Ireland

(ROCs), it came as no surprise.

In fact in addressing the Northern Ireland

Energy Forum a fortnight before the minister

made the announcement I had already told

the industry to leave some braking distance

because there could be a u-turn ahead. It may

have seemed like a bold thing to predict but in

reality no crystal ball was required, just a

calculator.

In proposing to extend support for onshore

by a year beyond England and Wales, the

bean-counters in Whitehall had already

responded by saying the cost differential

would have to be borne by Northern

Ireland. The difficulty in achieving clarity

around the shortfall drew the ire of the

Enterprise Trade and Investment Committee

and the proposal was halted.

With a now frustrated ETI committee

unwilling to approve the legislation, and a

Utility Regulator who proved to be no push-

over in previous decisions, any attempt to ask

Northern Ireland consumers to pick up the

tab was really a non-starter.

With no extra money in a departmental

budget already stretched, financial reality

kicked in, and to his credit the minister made

his announcement quickly with a short

consultation to provide the certainty that

industries such as renewables require.

So where does that leave theindustry today?

Under ROCs, any scheme that meets

particular criteria and can get the necessary

planning and connection approvals is eligible

for support.

In July, the Northern Ireland Renewables

Industry Group (NIRIG) estimated a further

£480m pipeline of investment was placed in

jeopardy due to the failure to secure an

extension for the status quo.

Great Britain is proposing the replacement

of generator subsidies under ROCs by the

Contracts for Difference (CFDs) mechanism.

Having adopted a wait and see approach

towards Great Britain, we are now behind the

curve in preparing for the new mechanism

and dealing with transitional issues.

The key issue is that the new mechanism

places Northern Ireland energy developers in

a competitive scenario for support against

larger scale projects in Scotland and the rest

of the UK. In those circumstances there is no

guarantee any new developments in Northern

Ireland will be able to compete against larger

schemes in more mature and efficient

markets.

A decision as to whether Northern Ireland

will transition to CFDs remains to be taken.

A region the size of Northern Ireland cannot

afford to leave an investment pipeline of

almost half a billion pounds blocked, but

thankfully we are not without our own tools.

For years we have largely had a copy-and-

paste energy policy that was steered by the

whims of Westminster.

But in exposing the limitations of this

approach the present challenge presents an

opportunity to wholly re-think how we

support the renewables industry.

Northern Ireland was a relatively small

voice in the debate over the future of the UK

industry, but if we were to maximise our use

of devolution and seek to capitalise on the

Single Electricity Market with the Republic of

Ireland, we could create an all-island

mechanism much more fit for purpose.

The challenge we have is not to simply

patch up the pipeline, and allow those

projects already conceived to come to

fruition, but to create the conditions for a new

generation of projects long into the future.

The intention of devolution is to pursue

different policies when they are of benefit to

the local region.

For the future of our renewable energy

sector the time has come to use it or lose it.

Devolution could unlock £480mrenewables investment pipelineWith a Westminster policy blocking an estimated £480m local renewables investment pipeline Pinsent Masons Energy Partner RichardMurphy says devolution could be the tool to unlock it.

“A region the size of Northern Ireland cannot afford to leave aninvestment pipeline of almost half a billion pounds blocked, butthankfully we are not without our own tools.” Richard Murphy



According to various sources less than

500 of the approximately 14,000

organisations that are required to

comply with the Energy Savings Opportunity

Scheme have registered their compliance.

There is only one month to go before the 5th

December deadline, albeit there has been

notification that there will be no enforcement

until 29 January. However, organisations still

have to notify that they are going to be

completing late.

Apologies to those who know about ESOS

but for the purpose of this article we’ll

assume that there are still organisations out

there who have been in hiding for the last 12

months or who have maybe…just maybe,

missed all the hype surrounding ESOS.

It all started on the 2 May 2007 when the

Council of the European Union published the

Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels

European Council (8/9 March 2007,) this

concluded that there needed to be an increase

in energy efficiency in the Union in order to

achieve the objective of saving 20 per cent of

the Union’ s primary energy consumption by

2020.

It stated that; “The European Council

underlines the vital importance of achieving

the strategic objective of limiting the global

average temperature increase to no more

than 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and “an

integrated approach to climate and energy

policy is needed to realise this objective.”

Fast forward through several European

Council conclusions and resolutions and we

arrive at Article 8 (4-6) of the EU Energy

Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU). It was

decided that EU countries were required to

transpose the Directive's provisions into their

national laws by 5 June 2014 and from this

the UK Government’s approach was to

implement ESOS.

The UK’s ESOS scheme applies to “large

undertakings” that employs 250 or more

people; or has an annual turnover in excess of

£38,937,777, and an annual balance sheet

total in excess of £33,486,489. The scheme

requires these “large undertakings” to

produce detailed reports on their energy use

and efficiency of their buildings, transport

and processes.

So the question is “Has anybody notheard about ESOS?”

Well, contrary to earlier indications from

other surveys compiled by the Department of

Energy and Climate Change, research now

suggests that in June 2015, 89 per cent of

businesses had heard of ESOS.

But is having heard about ESOSenough?

If you are in the scope of ESOS but are not

taking steps to comply then what next?

Apologies to those that are probably sick to

the back teeth of ESOS and may even have

submitted your declaration of compliance to

the Environment Agency and have your feet

up relaxing ready for phase two!!

If not it’s important to consider your route

to compliance, there are a few, but I suspect

that 80 per cent of those captured in reality

only have one option. Let’s consider the three

that didn't make the grade... Or maybe have a

better fit outside of ESOS?

The Green Deal - yes the green deal is a

route to demonstrating ESOS compliance -

sorry DECC, nobody is interested! Time to

move on.

ISO50001 - I'm a big advocate of Energy

Management Systems, I've written before

about how organisations can really benefit

from having a full EnMS (and there is a big

knowledge gap in what that actually means!)

which is why I'm pleased that it’s a route to

compliance for ESOS. And now with no

enforcement if you achieve your ISO50001 by

mid 2016, it might not be a bad option.

Display Energy Certificates - Again, a big

fan of this less than perfect approach to

Energy Benchmarking. DEC's may not be

perfect but are engaging and provide a very

simple way to give everyone an

understanding (at a high level) of

performance. I had to stop saying that "even

my mum understands that a Green A is better

than a Red G" as she got wind of it and wasn't

keen on being referenced!

DEC's for ESOS however, unless you already

have them (which is the case for

Universities for example), don't really offer a

valuable solution to achieving compliance. If

you are going to commission a DEC and its

accompanying Advisory Report (AR) its more

worthwhile to consider a more specific

survey for ESOS - or mix and match, maybe

commission a few DEC's first and see what

you think.

So the final option and in reality the only

option for most of us is to carry out specific

audits on assets (buildings and transport) to

identify opportunities for reduction. You may

already have some (those carried out in the

last five years can be submitted as evidence).

Or as is the intent of ESOS, you might benefit

from commissioning new ones. A specific

audit, if carried out to best practice BS

EN16427 would identify areas to reduce

energy and yes, save money! Who wouldn't

want to save money?

Appointing a Lead AuditorIf you’re struggling to identify your best

option for compliance, appoint your Lead

Auditor first and they can help and advise. If

you've decided already, appoint a Lead

Assessor and then agree how it’s going to be

implemented.

On the assumption that you’re going down

the survey route then contrary to the belief of

some, your Lead Assessor doesn't have to

carry out the surveys. Surveys can be carried

out by internal staff, specialist consultancies

or a mix of both - of course your selected Lead

Assessor may be an expert in the field. My

advice (as a Lead Assessor) is mix expertise to

best match your overall compliance.

Your Lead Assessor might not have to carry

out surveys but does need to audit them to

make sure they are fit for the purpose of ESOS

compliance.

The most important role your Lead

Assessor should take is one of project

management and overall auditing - ensuring

that you, as the ESOS participant, face no

riskfrom non-compliance - after all the Lead

Assessor doesn't run the risk of fines, you do!


Don’t miss the Energy SavingsOpportunity Scheme deadline

ENERGY

by Stewart Curtis, The Energy Desk

www.theenergydesk.co.uk

Ian Edwards, managing director,The Energy Desk


http://www.theenergydesk.co.uk


Senior representatives from the

renewable energy sector, supply chain,

investors and commentators from across

these islands came together recently to

discuss the future of renewables in Northern

Ireland.

Renewables have grown rapidly in recent

years, providing skilled jobs and investing in

the regional and local economy. The sector,

however, has also faced unprecedented

upheaval over the last six months.

A series of consultations and

announcements made by the Department of

Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) and

the Department of Energy and Climate

Change (DECC) have led to renewables policy

reaching a crossroads in Northern Ireland.

Energy is simple: it needs to be secure,

sustainable and affordable. The balancing act

between these three aims is where policy

complexity arises. When we look at Northern

Ireland, we see a partial success story in

energy policy.

A Strategic Energy Framework that laid out

objectives for the period 2010-2020 provided

a clear direction for policy-makers and

industry to align with, and the result is that

one fifth of all of entire electricity needs now

comes from renewables, mostly onshore

wind.

This has come alongside the benefits of

skilled local jobs and investment from a fast-

growing global industry. According to a

recently-commissioned NIRIG report

Northern Ireland benefitted to the tune of £32

million in 2014 through the local onshore

wind industry.

This includes a return of over £9 million to

the local areas where onshore wind

developments are located and represents half

of all Northern Ireland wind farm spend.

Another way of putting it is that a single

turbine from an average wind farm

represents £2.7 million investment in the

local economy throughout its development,

construction, and operations and

maintenance (O&M) phases.

DETI’s own cost-benefit analysis, published

earlier this year, highlights that increasing

renewables development will benefit

Northern Ireland economically, apart from the

substantial environmental benefits.

The benefits include a reduction in fossil

fuel use and costs, reduced carbon dioxide

emissions, air quality improvements,

employment opportunities and increased

security of supply.

The analysis did not include business rates

(in 2015 alone the value of wind farm rates to

local Councils is in the region of £10 million)

and nor did it include local community

benefits or landowner leases.

The local supply chain also relies heavily on

this growth sector, particularly West of the

Bann. Many companies across Northern

Ireland are reliant on the continued

sustainability of the wind industry to support

local employment and the wider economy.

Recent policies, however, have focused almost

exclusively on energy consumer costs, while

almost ignoring the wider benefits and need for

long-term strategies to deliver our energy.

We are now in the situation where

investment has slowed due to the uncertainty

surrounding support for renewables in both

Noorthern Ireland and across the rest of the

UK. At the NIRIG Energy Summit a leading

European investor noted that in a risk

analysis for a recent renewables project in the

UK, its risk level had increased to the extent

that it was on a par with investment risk in

Nigeria.

The damage caused by rapid and ever-

changing government policy has also led to

the UK slipping out of the Ernst & Young top

10 ranking of countries’ attractiveness to

investors in renewables for the first time. EY

stated that DECC’s recent policy changes and

cuts to renewables lacked "any rationale orclear intent", were destroying investor

confidence in renewables, and could also have

a knock on effect to investment in other parts

of the UK energy sector.

Ensuring the futureSo how do we move forward from here to

best ensure that this sector can continue to

act as a catalyst for jobs and investment for

the future? How do we ensure that short-term

concerns do not destroy the long-term

viability of a secure, sustainable and

affordable energy supply?

Northern Ireland must first lay out its

policy intentions. With a target of 40 per cent

renewables by 2020 shortly up for review

through the mid-term review of the Strategic

Energy Framework, we must recommit to this

ambitious target.

By doing so we will ensure that we remain

focused on utilising our natural resources to

their full advantage. This will also send a

strong signal to innovators and investors that

we are open for business.

We must set out targets to 2030 in order to

allow long-term planning for infrastructure

and investment in energy. We must look to

the future of all industry and seek to create

the conditions that have seen Apple and

Facebook announce investments of hundreds

of millions of Euros across the border, based

on securing energy supplies from renewable

sources. We must not allow ourselves to be

blinded by the fears of the nay-sayers.

The onshore wind sector has grown in

recent years, and it is a vital part of the

Northern Ireland economy. Cheaper than

other renewable sources, its sustainability

will nevertheless rely on tapered support so

that by 2020 it will become cheaper than new

gas generation and therefore competitive on a

cost basis for consumers and businesses alike.

Political support now will lock Northern

Ireland consumers into a low cost future.

Ending support now leads to a future of price

volatility and risk for the economy.

The industry is committed to ensuring that

benefits continue to flow into the local

economy. Today more than ever, you can

stand at the base of a turbine in Northern

Ireland and be confident that the majority of

investment flows back into the local economy.

What is the future ofrenewables inNorthern Ireland?Commentary from the Northern Ireland Renewables Industry Group



Price, Performance and Payment:‘three Ps’ to consider before you cantick your energy box with confidence

The fall in petrol prices has grabbed the

headlines recently, but the reduction in

electricity prices slipped under the

radar and has gone almost unnoticed by

commentators and the media.

At the time of writing, wholesale electricity

prices are at a three year low and the majority

of Northern Ireland’s small and medium sized

businesses are paying less than they were in

2008!

Of course this doesn’t mean that everything

is rosy in the energy garden. While for the

majority of businesses here prices are similar

to those in the Republic of Ireland and close

to the EU average, for a small number of very

large users a significant price gap exists

between here and in the Republic of Ireland.

This is one of the big issues exercising the

minds of energy policy makers on both sides

of the border at the moment.

Energy remains a significant overhead for

many businesses and unless you apply the

same rigour as you do to other costs, you risk

becoming uncompetitive through lack of

knowledge, bad choices or just plain

complacency.

There are ‘three Ps’ to consider before you

can tick your energy box with confidence;

they are Price, Performance and Payment.

PriceLet’s start with Price. At contract renewal

time how many of us take the time to shop

around to make sure we are getting the best

rate? And what type of deal is best for your

needs? Is now a good time to fix prices, or do

you take your chances with a market tracker

product? Does green energy offer any benefits

over traditional brown energy? If you switch

supplier how will it impact on bill clarity and

after-sales service?

As with all decisions in business there is an

element of risk involved, but at least if you go

in with your eyes open and ask the right

questions you are in with a better chance of

getting a good deal.

PerformanceNext is Performance, the way that you use

the electricity in your business.

We all know that being energy efficient can

make a big difference to our bills. Low energy

lighting, wall and loft insulation and energy

efficient appliances are all tried and tested

ways to save the pounds . But for many, being

switched on to saving energy is no longer

enough.

There has been a huge increase in the

number of homes, farms and businesses

embracing renewable technology and

generating their own electricity by fitting

solar PV panels, wind turbines or digestors.

In addition to reducing their bills, many of

these savvy operators are also able to take

advantage of generous government incentives

and earn extra money from selling energy

certificates (ROCs).

However, recent changes in legislation have

brought an end to incentives for new wind

turbine installations.

PaymentThe last P is Payment. Like most other

utilities, energy suppliers prefer Direct Debit

as it ensures that payments are almost always

made in full and on time.

Most suppliers offer incentives to

customers who pay this way, so if you aren’t

already paying by Direct Debit you are almost

certainly missing out on discount. Some

suppliers also offer additional discount for

online paperless billing.

Looking forward, despite the growth of

renewable energy locally, most of our

electricity is still generated from fossil fuels

and we remain a small island, at the edge of

Europe, exposed to price fluctuations on

volatile world fuel markets.

So enjoy this period of lower prices while it

lasts, shop around to get the best deal for your

electricity and use it as efficiently as possible.

Power NI supplies 30,000 businesses and is

the largest energy provider in Northern

Ireland. They have produced a free ‘BuyersGuide to electricity’ at

www.powerni.co.uk/largerusers

by Alan Egner, Commercial Sales and Marketing Manager at Power NI


http://www.powerni.co.uk/largerusers


The review of the 2012-2020 Department

for Enterprise, Trade and Investment

(DETI) Strategic Energy Framework,

which is currently underway, provides the

ideal opportunity to define a strategy for

energy infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

Energy infrastructure is the essential

backbone to how our economy and therefore

society will be shaped until 2030 and beyond.

It is imperative that the Strategic Energy

Framework covers a period which reflects the

time taken to implement strategic energy

infrastructure projects.

Strategy Timeframe The World Energy Council has highlighted

the fact that unclear and unstable policies are

considered as one of the biggest risks to

developing more sustainable energy systems.

Five years is too short a time span for a

strategic framework document on energy

infrastructure. The immediate five years must

therefore be about optimising the

implementation plan which fits into the 10-20

year strategic plan.

In terms of the Strategic Energy

Framework, the horizon which must be

defined should be for the next 15-20 years.

Such is the implementation timeline for

investment that the private sector needs

clarity of policy and certainty of regulatory

intent if investment is to be forthcoming.

Furthermore, with planning requirements,

consultations, potential public enquiries and

delivery on equipment, etc., it is clear that

preparation for strategic projects takes time;

as is evidenced by the current delays in the

North/South Interconnector and the time

taken to bring the Moyle Interconnector back

to full capacity.

Key Issues the Energy Strategy mustaddress

Several issues that the Energy Strategy

must address include the lack of an up-to-

date co-ordinated, prioritised,

all-encompassing energy strategy for

Northern Ireland with a 15-20 year horizon,

as well as the security of supply of electricity

and natural gas.

The Maximum Import Capacity constraints

throughout the province (electricity grid)

consitute a serious issue for the economy and

is already constraining investment of

indigenous companies, never mind the

negative impact on Foreign Direct

Investments (FDI).

The issues surrounding the costs of

electricity within the Single Electricity Market

(SEM) and cost differences which continue to

exist between both Northern and Southern

Ireland as well as Northern Ireland and North

America have meant that the largest

industrial users in the country are putting in

place a strategy which will see them follow

the Bombardier route and come off-grid.

Consideration must be taken to the lack of

fossil fuel generating capacity within

Northern Ireland post 2020 and our

increasing dependence on imported

electricity from jurisdictions without our

legislature.

Whilst a lower carbon footprint is

important, with 20 per cent renewables

already installed, any future increase in

renewables must be viewed in the context of

cost and where it fits into the overall

affordable cost of our Energy Strategy. No

single energy related decision should be

viewed in isolation.

Major Opportunities and ChallengesThe North South Interconnector planning

process and speed of delivery must be

prioritised given the time taken to move

things to the current stage and the risks

associated with delivering this ‘no alternative

solution’ approach.

Given the current status on the North South

Interconnector and the fact that Northern

Ireland will be reliant on 49.4 per cent of

peak fossil fuel generating capacity being

supplied by the interconnection, the Kilroot

Closure in 2021 is a concern. When Kilroot

closes, Northern Ireland will be 100% reliant

on natural gas for the remaining fossil fuel

generation capacity.

The Moyle Interconnector coming back to

full capacity in 2016 is positive; however the

re-use of the inner core of the old cable does

raise risks and concerns about the reliability

of the 450MW interconnector in the medium

to long term.

Due to the security of supply and the

constrained capacity on the electricity grid,

targeting grid enhancing investment in areas

aligned with the economy and jobs will be

essential, as will signalling to the market how

the necessary energy infrastructure will be

paid for. It is crucial that we optimise grant

funding that is available from Europe.

Changes needed to existingFramework

Northern Ireland already has 20 per cent of

electricity generated from renewables. To go

much further is a significant cost burden to

consumers and must be rigorously challenged

and justified.

To say a strategic aim is to ensure that

‘much more’ of our energy is from renewables

is simply making a commitment which

constrains the economy and punishes

customers already faced with higher costs

than our competitors. No consideration has

been given to the total cost and grid impact of

such a strategy.

Much more thought must be put into

‘economy proofing’ energy strategy.

Specifically, where are the jobs coming from?

What Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are we

targeting and, if successful, where on the

energy grid can we facilitate the investments

in factories, data centres, etc.?

The speed with which we can build the

necessary infrastructure for investment must

be reviewed. Strategic investment in

infrastructure must be undertaken in advance

and in line with Invest NI strategy, ahead of

securing FDI.

The revised strategy must incorporate a

vision as to how we will meet the increasing

demand for electricity generation in the future.

Given the increasing dependence on natural

gas, the ever more urgent requirement for Gas

Storage must be incorporated.

‘The What’ and ‘The How’ The revised Strategic Energy Framework

must deal with 'the what’ and 'the how’.

‘The What’ covers the key aspects of

strategy which are critical to building our

energy infrastructure.

• What are the main projects/requirements;

• How do they fit in the overall

infrastructure model;

• How much will they cost;

• How will they be afforded; and

• Where does each project sit in the

prioritised strategic requirements?

‘The How’ relates to the departments and

bodies responsible for implementation and

how DETI co-ordinates and delivers strategy

as effectively as possible.

The minister has set up an Energy

Stakeholder Group to improve and optimise

on how each of the key delivery partners

work together.

Energy Infrastructure: Strategy 2030Bill Beers, director of Beers Engineering Consultancy and chair of the IoD Business Environment Committee, discusses the overwhelming need for a co-ordinated strategy forEnergy Infrastructure in Northern Ireland which will deliver for society and the economy, andthe key components of any such strategy.



The ‘silent killer’Even in today’s world of new energy

sources, most homes and

businesses still use appliances

that burn fuels such as gas, oil

and coal, peat and wood.

If these appliances are

not installed, maintained,

and used properly,

carbon monoxide (CO)

can build up to

dangerous and even

deadly levels,

particularly in poorly

ventilated areas.

CO is produced by

the incomplete

combustion of solid,

liquid, and gaseous

fuels. It is a highly

poisonous gas which is

impossible to see, taste or

smell and is often known as

the ‘silent killer’.

Early symptoms of CO

poisoning can mimic many

common ailments and may easily be

confused with food poisoning, viral

infections, flu or simple tiredness.

Symptoms to look out for include: • headache

• nausea

• breathlessness

• dizziness

• collapse

• unconsciousness

Best protection The best way to protect against

carbon monoxide is to make sure

all fuel-burning appliances are

properly installed by recognised

and established engineers, and

serviced by competent companies

or individuals - at least once a

year.

Always follow the

manufacturer's instructions for

boilers, stoves, gas fires and solid

fuel room heaters.

Don’t forget that chimneys

and flues should also be inspected

annually and swept, if required, by a

registered technician.

As a back-up measure, you should also

install an audible carbon monoxide alarm –

these are widely available in supermarkets

and DIY stores.

Some of you may have CO alarms fitted in

your home for a number of years now.

However, CO alarms have a limited life

span, so please check yours to see if it

is working properly. It might be time

to buy a new one.

Away from homeWe normally associate CO

with domestic fossil-fuel

burning appliances and

most of us are aware of its

dangers in the home.

However, incidents and

fatalities relating to CO can

also occur in holiday

homes, caravans and on

board boats where faulty

gas cookers, appliances or

petrol-powered generators

have led to carbon monoxide

poisoning. So, make sure all

appliances that you use are

properly installed and are serviced

regularly.

For more information contact HSENI

on: 0800 0320 121 or visit the ‘Watch Out.

Carbon Monoxide Kills’ website:

www.hseni.gov.uk/watchoutDuring Carbon Monoxide Awareness

Month this November, please help raise

awareness about the dangers of CO by

sharing safety messages posted on HSENI’s

Twitter and Facebook pages.

Facebook: healthandsafetyexecutive

Twitter: @Hsenigov

November is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Month and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, as part of the NI CO SafetyGroup, is reminding readers of Business First of the dangers from deadly carbon monoxide.

Watch Out – Carbon Monoxide Kills

HSENI

ENERGY


http://www.hseni.gov.uk/watchout


As firmus energy approaches its 10th

birthday, we look back on the local

company’s key achievements and

investment to date. With over 1000km of

natural gas pipeline in more than 26 towns,

cities and villages across Northern Ireland,

firmus energy has invested around £100

million to bring the benefits of natural gas

to more than 76,000 customers.

Strategic planning remains a priority for

Antrim-based firmus energy and its 100

strong team who are planning the

development of the network for today,

tomorrow and the future as the demand for

this versatile, convenient and

environmentally-friendly fuel continues to

rise.

Stakeholder consultation is an important

part of these plans and firmus energy

recently undertook a series of information

events in local council areas across the

province. The aim was to update elected

representatives regarding proposed

development plans for its natural gas

network. Two-way communication and

feedback with local elected representatives

has helped to shape the network

development plans which have been

submitted to the Utility Regulator to cover

the 2017-2022 price control period.

Between June and October this year, the

company’s Directors met face-to-face with

Council Chief Executives, planning officials

and elected representatives including MLAs

and Councillors across its network areas.

Following liaison with six Supercouncil areas,

briefings were set up and a drop-in session

for MLAs in Stormont was held.

Michael Scott, managing director, explains:

“Our strategy is a three strand approach and

modelled on a “WIN” basis, which means that

we “Work” our existing assets (pipes in the

ground) to maximise connections to the

network, “Infill” the gas network to areas in

close proximity to existing mains, making gas

available to other potential customers in new

residential areas and finally look at

opportunities for “Network” extensions to

bring gas to others outside our current

licensed areas.

Consulting with elected representatives

allows us to align our company goals with

those of our local communities.”

More than 300 contractors, installers and

agencies work to deliver firmus energy’s

network plans and engaging with

representatives from each specific area

enables the company to provide even more

opportunities for suppliers.

Michael continues: “Having connected our

first major business, Michelin in Ballymena,

back in 2005, we have continued to develop

our major gas user customer base and today

more than 90 per cent of major industrial

users along the routes of our pipelines are

now customers. Our goal is to bring even

more companies, public buildings, schools

and households etc. on-board, meaning

cleaner air for more areas as natural gas is a

low-emission fossil fuel.

“We are continuing our residential

customer development, bringing natural gas

to more and more areas and, working with

the office of the Utility Regulator, we

regularly apply for licences to extend our

network to new locations. For example, we

recently started working to bring natural gas

to customers in Richhill, where the uptake

has been extremely encouraging. In the near

future, we plan to develop the network to

Moy, Loughgall, Benburb and

Blackwatertown.

“The future of natural gas in Northern

Ireland is bright as we continue to invest in

bringing the advantages of this convenient

and environmentally-friendly fuel to as many

customers as possible.

“This is great news for the Northern Ireland

economy, the associated contractors, gas

installers and trade along with the

environment and local consumers,” he added.

firmus energy – today, tomorrow and into the future

ENERGY



Question – and with this being

Halloween it’s a suitably scary one:

could the light at the end of your

interest-only mortgage tunnel be an on-

coming train rather than the illuminations of

the station at which you were hoping to

disembark?

It’s a timely question in another sense, too,

now that house prices are increasing in

certain parts of Northern Ireland. Where that

applies, obviously it is a very welcome and

long overdue positive for the many in

negative equity.

But there is a downside, too, and at this

stage no-one is quite sure how all of this is

going to play out.

One thing we do know, however, is that

there are still many parts of Northern Ireland

where prices continue to lag quite a distance

behind which means those whose homes are

in negative equity remain in a still-tricky

situation.

Those who have negative equity AND

interest-only tracker mortgages face two

huge problems. Potentially it’s a real double-

whammy, a fact of which - based on

experience - Negative Equity NI director Phil

Davison is all-too-well aware.

“These unfortunate people fall into a

number of different categories,” he explained.

“I say ‘unfortunate’ because they are victims

of circumstances not of their making at all.

“They did nothing wrong, so they are in no

way to blame for the total collapse of house

prices in 2008 and beyond. That crash was

due to factors beyond their control or

influence, so you really feel for them.”

Citing examples of some of those victims, he

said: “There’s the first-time buyers, the young

professional couple who bought a two-up,

two-down in south or east Belfast or Greater

Belfast for a couple of hundred thousand

pounds at the height of the market.

“Currently it’s worth £100,000 or £110,000,

but they need to move on because their

family situation has changed.

“Then there’s the family who remortgaged

to raise capital to do something else.

“Or the family who moved from the three-

bedroom semi to the four or five-bedroom

dream home and have been caught in

negative equity.

“People’s circumstances change, too,” he

pointed out. “Take the man whose income has

been cut as a result of there being none of the

overtime he used to get. His earnings haven’t

kept pace with inflation - and credit is harder

to get these days.

“And then there’s the person who is coming

towards the end of his working life. He has an

interest-only tracker mortgage that takes him

beyond the end of his working cycle. There

are lots of people who were put in that

situation,” he warned.

It all sounds frighteningly bleak. But Phil

Davison was keen to stress that despite those

grim scenarios, there is light – and it’s not in

the form of an out-of-control, hastening-to-

crush-you negative equity locomotive.

Speaking from his Mount Charles office, just

off Botanic Avenue, he explained:“We’re

seeing these people all of the time; currently

we’re dealing with over 400 clients and we

getting things resolved for them.

“I’d simply say to anyone in this situation

that we understand their concerns. But I’d

stress that their problems aren’t unique, nor

are they insurmountable. And we have a

proven track record in terms of achieving

positive outcomes.

“I’d simply encourage anybody who is

worried to seek help. Get in touch, talk to us

and let’s see what can be done. They’d

probably be pleasantly surprised to discover

the options they have.”

In view of what undoutedly is coming down

the track, that’s a timely piece of advice for

the thousands whose interest-only tracker

mortgages are destined to leave them facing a

sizeable shortfall. In many ways it’s a re-run

of the old endowment mortgage fiasco faced

by a previous generation of home-buyers.

As Phil Davison put it: “The big question is

this – what actually is going to pay the capital

on your interest-only loan? At the end of the

cycle you could find yourself having paid an

awful lot of money, but still have no house to

call your own at the end of it. That’s the crux

of it.

“Those are problems we’re helping people

solve right now. They need to know that there

is help and there are options. We’re FCA-

regulated to do this sort of work and I’d

advise anybody seeking help to ensure that

whoever they consult is fully qualified and

accredited in this field and has a history

which proves their credentials.”

Don’t be a victim of negative equityBusiness first talks to Negative Equity NIDirector Phil Davison

IN CONVERSATION



SCIENCE & IT

Awise man recently told me that ‘if you

do the right thing, the right way, you’ll

get the right result’. Now this statement

may be somewhat of a truism but it reminded

me that in order to be recognised as an IT

Professional it’s not just about having a job

that needs special training and a high level of

education (the Oxford Advanced Learner’sDictionary definition), it’s also about doing the

right thing, in the right way and getting the

right result.

So with this in mind, it was particularly

pleasing to see the BCS Belfast Branch select

John Healy from Citi and Gareth Workman

from Kainos as Northern Ireland ‘IT

Professional’ and ‘Young IT Professional’ of

the Year 2015, respectively.

Northern Ireland IT Professional ofthe Year Award

John Healy is a well-known and highly

respected member of the Northern Ireland IT

community and was awarded the Northern

Ireland IT Professional of the Year Award for

2015 because of his exceptional dedication to

the technology sector in Northern Ireland

over the past decade and, most recently, his

work as chair of the Panel that developed the

MATRIX ICT and Digital Foresight Report

2015.

As the head of Technology at Citi’s new

Technology Centre of Excellence in Belfast he

has been pivotal in growing it from nothing to

a delivery centre with almost 2000

employees.

John has a passion for finding talented IT

professionals and giving them the best start

to their careers. Having established Citi’s

Technology Academy some 37 students

successfully graduated from the academy in

2010.

Not satisfied with a busy day job he is also

an IT Ambassador for Northern Ireland’s

‘Bring IT On’ campaign and is regularly called

upon to speak at conferences both locally and

internationally. He was responsible for Citi’s

sponsorship of Coderdojo Belfast and

provided verbal evidence to the Committee

for Employment and Learning in May 2013 on

the Digital Strategy for Northern Ireland.

John Healy has exhibited the personal

characteristics, commitment, dedication and

willingness to go that extra mile in support of

the IT industry in Northern Ireland that sets

him apart as a true IT Professional and a

worthy recipient of the Northern Ireland IT

Professional of the Year Award 2015.

Northern Ireland Young ITProfessional of the Year

Gareth Workman is Northern Ireland Young

IT Professional of the Year 2015

Gareth has worked in the IT industry for

over nine years and is a Principal Architect

with Kainos, based in their Belfast office.

He is the youngest Principal Architect in

Kainos and is considered a role model in the

company for the younger members of their

technical community, where he understands

the importance of coaching and mentoring

the next generation of aspiring WebOps

professionals.

Over the last three years, Gareth has also

championed the use of DevOps to establish

high performing multi-skilled teams

delivering digital solutions for the UK

Government. He has been involved in shaping

the direction of the GDS ‘Government as a

Platform’ service and has led teams of

engineers on a number of the GDS exemplar

projects and other high volume government

transactional services, which are now being

used by millions of UK citizens.

Notably, Gareth has played a crucial role in

delivering a large scale and highly complex

cloud migration project for the new DVSA

MOT service. As a Principal Architect Gareth’s

achievements have extended beyond his main

role of delivering successful digital solutions

to customers. Within the IT industry in

Northern Ireland, Gareth has built a profile as

a WebOps guru having presented at

conferences such as BelTech.

At this early stage in his career, Gareth has

shown outstanding commitment and

professionalism in sharing skills and building

digital capability within departments, thus

enabling the UK Government to deliver more

cost effective and user focused public services

that are positively impacting the lives of

millions of UK citizens. He is a deserving

winner of the Northern Ireland Young IT

Professional of the Year Award 2015.

BCS Belfast Branch would like to also

recognise sponsorship by BrightwaterNI and

publicity provided by Business First

Magazine.

Worthy winners of Northern IrelandIT Professionals of the Year 2015

Gareth Workman is Northern Ireland Young ITProfessional of the Year 2015, with BillMcCluggage

Northern Ireland IT Professional of the Year, JohnHealy, with Bill McCluggage

The Turing LectureReturns to Belfast in2016

Given the outstanding success of the

Turing Lecture’s first ever visit to Belfast

during this year’s Northern Ireland

Science Festival, and an audience of 450

people at Belfast City Hall, the event

committee have agreed that it should

return to Belfast as a keynote feature of

the 2016 Festival.

The Turing Lecture is jointly organised by

both the BCS and IET, and in 2016 will be

held in London, Cardiff and Manchester

before arriving in Belfast on Thursday 25

February 2016.

Belfast City Council have kindly agreed

to host it in the Great Hall, so make sure

the Turing Lecture is in your diary and it

should prove once again to be both

informative and enjoyable.



So much talk in business is around using

digital or online channels. Seen as a cost-

effective means of contacting large

numbers of customers, some might suggest

that this is becoming the primary way to

communicate with your market. Sending

hundreds of emails in a working week, using

blogs and social media to target and

communicate with customers has become a

norm. Is there still a place for the humble

telephone in communicating with customers?

Telephony still dominates the business to

business marketplace as the first tool of

communication with customers. Even in the

consumer market most people still choose the

phone first when there is a problem. Critically,

it’s direct & personal, making online

communication seem slow.

Whilst many companies have already

secured an online presence and are

increasing their digital footprint using blogs &

social media, many have not considered a

voice contact plan & strategy. This may be

more relevant to contact centres, but given

the ubiquitous, one to one, direct nature of

the phone, all companies should focus on how

calls are handled.

A small business could easily spend ten

thousand pounds on a website that doesn’t

sell a product online, they could spend time

and effort discussing search engine

optimisation, but would they spend the same

money and time on how calls are made?

Well planned online communication &

response mechanisms do work, but are they

are faster in getting resolution than taking 5

minutes to talk through a query? Can you pick

up buying signals from an email as easily as

over the phone?

Despite the advantages of digital platforms,

after face to face conversations, the best

means of communication is to speak to a

person directly by phone. If you have ever

had long email conversations, resulting in a

phone call to resolve the issue, then the

power of the telephone is evident.

It is vital to find the balance between the

communications tools your business uses. We

see a lot of adverts, seminars and promotions

about doing business online but rarely see

government agencies running sessions

promoting the use of the telephone to secure

deals. The digital and voice worlds

complement each other, not replace. Yet, how

many companies consciously review their call

handling regularly?

Making voice an integral part of an overall

communications strategy is key. Digital &

online communication is seen as low cost, but

in business it’s not just the cost of contact

with the customer, it’s the value derived from

it and for many local businesses, the

telephone is still king.

Atlas provides inpremises and hosted dataand telephony solutions to businesses acrossNorthern Ireland and can be contacted at028 9078 6868.

The telephone is still Kingfor businesses by Richard Simpson, managing director,

Atlas Communications.



According to the Northern Ireland

Equality Commission, advanced posts in

Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths

(STEM) currently constitute over 11 per cent

of the workforce here, with men

outnumbering women by nearly three to one.

This is in contrast with the overall

employment situation in Northern Ireland,

where women comprise 47.3 per cent of

those currently in employment.

The Social Market Foundation also recently

estimated a 40,000 per year shortfall in the

number of STEM graduates in the UK.

The need for more STEM graduates is well

known in Northern Ireland as we seek to

further strength the Knowledge Economy.

We have seen efforts being made by

government, educational providers and

businesses to encourage more students into

these areas and to help them recognise the

benefits that come from a career in these

related industries.

The National Skills Forum has reported that

the limited number of women entering STEM

fields is exacerbating skills shortages in STEM

sectors - reducing the productivity of related

organisations and making it harder for them

to compete on the international stage.

Increasing the number of women entering

the ICT sector will enhance the pool of

knowledge and improve innovation as well as

productivity.

At Fujitsu, our aim as a business is to

increase the percentage of female employees

and increase representation at all levels. Our

gender diversity initiative, ‘Women at FujitsuNetwork’, is a collaborative programme open

to everyone, not just female employees. It

celebrates the achievements of the women

employed at Fujitsu and showcases the

benefits that come from a more diverse

working environment.

Women should be encouraged to embrace

ICT and companies recognise the wealth that

comes from having dynamic and passionate

employees – no matter what their gender.

While there are a number of groups

dedicated to promoting the role of women in

business and in ICT, achieving a gender

diverse sector is something to be encouraged

throughout primary and secondary education.

It is important to foster an inclusive

learning environment where all young people

can access technology and ICT skills across

the curriculum.

At a business level, mentoring - both to

those in the organisation and through

schemes for young people - can help ensure

the value of gender diversity in the workplace.

At Fujitsu, as well as our Women at FujitsuNetwork, we support employees with

mentoring and offer graduate programmes

and apprenticeships for those looking to the

enter the ICT sector.

For pupil and students, to showcase the

value of a career in ICT, we visit schools,

attend career fairs at colleges and

universities, offer work experience and

support coding workshops and ICT

competitions.

Additionally, at a corporate level, Regina

Moran, the new CEO of Fujitsu UK and

Ireland, will be taking the time to share our

gender diversity best practices and benefits at

a STEM Business Group and Equality

Commission conference in Belfast.

The conference will examine gender

diversity to promote good practice in STEM

industries. This is a great opportunity for

companies to come together and share their

thoughts on how to tackle the shortfall across

STEM sectors.

A collaborative approach – between

industry, government, schools and parents –

will help ensure gender diversity is

recognised.

At Fujitsu, we have seen how a collaborative

workforce, made up of talented men and

woman, create innovative approaches and

products to support our customers’ growth

and that of our own organisation.

Northern Ireland currently has the second

fastest growing Knowledge Economy in the

UK with the latest figures suggesting that the

sector now represents 10 per cent of the local

economy, delivering around £3.4 billion in

value annually.

Fujitsu believes that having the widest

talent pool of STEM graduates across all

genders will help enable innovation and

growth in the ICT sector.

Gender diversity is keyfor innovation by Sinead Dillon,

Principal Consultant, Fujitsu



NORTHERN IRELAND BUSINESSESlearn how you can comply with oilstorage regulationsA

re you in business in Northern Ireland

and have fuel or oil storage tanks? If so,

you may be aware that time is running

out for your organisation to comply with the

environmental safety regulations that went

into effect back in 2011.

If your company is not using “bunded” fuel

and/or oil tanks by December 2015, you

could be hit with a non-compliance fine as

high as £20,000.

What is a “bunded” storage tank?A “bund” is simply a double-walled storage

tank that seals the primary tank. This “tank

within a tank” design will help prevent oil

spillage and protect the environment.

The Northern Ireland Environmental

Agency released the legislation in efforts to

promote better oil storage, protect the

environment against contamination from

single skin oil and fuel tanks, and minimise

the risk of oil loss and spillage. (To read moreinformation about the new regulations visit theDepartment of Environment website:www.doeni.gov.uk).

Until recently few businesses were aware of

the new regulations coming into force,

indeed, 70 per cent of those surveyed by

Kingspan Titan to date are unprepared for the

enforcement.

It’s not just old single skin steel tanks that

don’t meet the new law, business owners

need to be aware that, no matter how modern

a plastic tank may look if it is not double

skinned it is not complaint.

Additionally, for commercial premises such

as garage repair shops that are likely to store

fuel and oil in barrels, if they are storing over

200 litres they will be falling foul of the law.

Non-compliance can be a costly business

with fines of up to £20,000 or even

imprisonment. It is the case too that few

business owners are aware that they are

liable for spillages from storage tanks on their

premises with clean-up costs running into in

the tens of thousands.

Kingspan Titan can help you comply with

the new standards. We are the leading

manufacturer of “bunded” tanks in the UK.

We manufacture a wide range of

compliance-ready “bunded” storage tanks

from 1,000 to 60,000 litres, each equipped

with a remote Watchman oil level monitor

and theft alarm.

We also offer fuel storage and dispensing

tanks including steel “bunded” tanks for large

storage capacities.

Our team of experts will provideyou with full support

We can offer a one stop shop solution which

includes a free site survey, guidance on which

fuel/oil storage tank best suits your specific

organisation and the decommissioning of

your existing storage tank.

We will also provide you with a certificate

of compliance after installation, so you can be

worry free!

Kingspan Titan prides itself in its customer

service levels and guarantees a simple and

cost effective solution for your business.

When it comes to changing your tank, make

sure to come to the industry experts. We make

it our business to keep you right.To speak with our experts and/or schedule

your site assessment, contact our Portadown

office on 0333 456 4455 or email:

[email protected].

BEST PRACTICE

http://www.doeni.gov.uk




Northern Ireland’s largest independent

law firm Carson McDowell has

bolstered its litigation practice by

bringing an expert team of liability lawyers in

from Belfast firm McCloskeys Solicitors.

Five lawyers specialising in insurance

defence litigation and six support staff from

McCloskeys have joined Carson McDowell.

The firm now has 40 lawyers in its litigation

team working across a number of disciplines,

making it the largest litigation team in

Northern Ireland.

Carson McDowell recently announced it had

taken over another floor of its city centre

office building Murray House to

accommodate more than 30 new staff

recruited over the past year at Partner,

Associate, Solicitor and Trainee level.

The company currently employs 133 staff,

including 78 lawyers and expects to recruit

for a further six jobs before the end of 2015.

McCloskeys, which will now become part of

Carson McDowell, was formed in 1965 and is

one of Northern Ireland’s leading defence

litigation practices.

It specialises in the defence of professional

negligence claims in Northern Ireland and in

defending insurance litigation claims brought

against individuals, partnerships, companies

and government bodies in Northern Ireland.

Michael Johnston, Managing Partner of

Carson McDowell, said: “McCloskeys is a firm

with an established pedigree in the

professional indemnity field and we are

delighted they are to become part of Carson

McDowell.

“The solicitors who are joining us are at the

top of their field, acting on behalf of London

underwriters, blue chip insurance companies

and local insurers.”

He added: “Our expansion this year comes

as a direct response to the increase in

demand from our clients who are investing in

their own growth, making acquisitions and

moving into new markets.

“We are the law firm of choice for many of

Northern Ireland's Top 100 companies as

well as international companies doing

business here and as they grow and adapt so

will Carson McDowell.”

Hugh McGrattan, head of Carson

McDowell’s professional indemnity team and

former partner of McCloskeys, said: “This

group of solicitors who are joining Carson

McDowell bolsters an already very strong

litigation team and adds considerable

expertise in professional indemnity and

defence insurance litigation.

“McCloskey’s has developed specialist

expertise over a number of years and will

make a big contribution to the firm.”

Carson McDowell expands LitigationPractice with McCloskeys deal

FEATURE

Hugh McGrattan (previously of McCloskeys), partner and head of the professional indemnity team, Claire Harmer, partner and head of the defence insurancelitigation team and Michael Johnston, managing partner of Carson McDowell.



Something that a business should never

have to worry about is getting paid.

However, in an increasingly challenging

trading environment bad debt continues to be

a significant issue and is described by many as

the single biggest risk faced, with the

potential to undermine the ability of a

company to do business.

Chasing payment to reduce trade debt can

be daunting, is often time consuming and can

be an administrative burden – resource which

could be more constructively directed

towards growing the business. Overdue

payments put strain on cash flow, and for

some, unpaid invoices can break the business

altogether. SMEs in particular can be

vulnerable as often they have less breathing

space to withstand the financial pressure.

The latest Atradius research into payment

practices reveals that an average of 41per

cent of B2B invoices are paid late. This trend

has risen over the past two years with British

businesses now waiting an average of 10 days

longer for overdue invoices to be paid. In

addition, around seven per cent of all sales

become delinquent – that is, unpaid 90 days

after the due date with 1.2 per cent of trade

receivables entirely uncollectable. Nearly half

of businesses surveyed said that delays were

due to their customers having insufficient

funds, with around 11per cent of creditors

insolvent.

As the economy emerges from recession

confidence is rising and quite rightly British

businesses are ambitious for new

opportunities. However, even in a recovery

period the risks and challenges can be tricky

to manoeuvre and strong credit management

remains an essential tool. Few businesses can

sustain a portfolio that includes bad debt but

implementing a positive risk strategy need

not be complicated.

Be focused: The first step is to focus on your

market – you will have much more success

directing your energies to specific markets.

Understand the regulatory and legal regimes

and focus on your distribution channel and

building strong relationships.

Know your customer: Credit checks will

allow you to find out vital financial

information about your customer, including

how good they are at paying suppliers and

their credit rating. This will help you to decide

if you can do business with them on credit.

Set your payment terms: Make sure that you

have a written agreement on the costs and the

payment procedure. Can you offer an early

payment incentive to reward timely payment?

Stick rigidly to your side of the deal and

invoice promptly.

Be clear about the service or productyou’re selling: Because nearly one in five

invoices are unpaid because the customer

disputes the quality of the service or goods

provided. Don’t let this become an issue.

Get your admin right: 15 per cent of bills are

unpaid because the invoice has the incorrect

information. A further 13 per cent are sent to

the wrong person. Don’t take the basics for

granted – check it’s correct.

Stay on top of billing: Create aged debtor

reports to monitor which invoices are unpaid

after the due date and follow up swiftly with

reminders.

Spot the warning signs: A business almost

never fails overnight. Red flags include

frequent failure to pay on time, permanently

taking advantage of full credit lines, asking to

prolong overdue bills, changing banks or

offering bills of exchange in lieu of payment.

Collect your debt: If your bill still hasn’t been

paid, send a final warning letter and turn the

debt over to a collection agency. You may not

have the resource but, for example, Atradius

has specialised collections teams on the

ground in countries across the world ready to

take action and you pay nothing if they do not

successfully collect the debt.

Don’t be embarrassed: You may have a long-

standing relationship with your customer but

you cannot let this hamper your business

sense. Don’t let any customer over-extend

usual payment boundaries and you can’t

afford to be shy about sending payment

reminders, conducting credit checks or taking

out trade credit insurance against their

orders.

Protect yourself: Trade credit insurance is

the simplest, most cost effective way to

protect your business against not getting paid.

If your customer fails to pay, becomes

insolvent, or is affected by political risk,

Atradius will pay your claim – reducing the

need for bad debt provision and releasing

money back into your business.

While the general business horizon is

looking brighter, there are still significant

trading risks with different sectors and

businesses continuing to face specific

challenges.

The risks of not getting paid are ever

present and Trade Credit Insurance which is

tailored to the needs of your business is one

way to manage bad debt risk out of your

business.

Andrew McBurney

028 90 275 192

[email protected] or www.atradius.co.uk

Is bad debt spoiling good business? by Andy McBurney Atradius



http://www.atradius.co.uk


As a vibrant global centre for art, culture,

fashion and finance, New York offers

endless avenues for visitors to explore.

From the bustle of Wall Street to the hidden

speakeasy bars, this destination has

something for everyone and United Airlines

provides the best way of getting there.

From Belfast Airport, United provides the

only year-round nonstop flight to its New

York hub, Newark Liberty International

Airport.

Famed as the city that never sleeps, you

won’t want to waste a moment of your NYC

experience; located just 25 kilometres from

downtown Manhattan, Newark Liberty

airport offers the fastest surface transfer

journeys to many parts of the city, including

the AirTrain service to New York Penn Station

in midtown Manhattan, with a journey time of

less than 30 minutes.

Before you know it you’ll be shaking hands

with a key client or taking your seat at the

latest show on Broadway.

Fly to the city in style with UnitedBusinessFirst and enjoy a flat-bed seat and

Cowshed brand premium skin-care products

as well as a multi-course menu accompanied

by a sommelier-chosen selection of wines –

letting you arrive in NYC refreshed.

Alternatively, United Economy Plus offers

up to six inches of extra legroom and includes

personal on-demand entertainment, whilst all

United Economy customers can enjoy

complimentary beer and wine as part of a

new, high-quality inflight dining service.

In this high-tech age, people want and

expect to be connected at all times and in all

places. United was the first U.S. carrier to

offer onboard satellite-based Wi-Fi and with

installation of the technology more than 85

percent complete, the airline now has Wi-Fi

on more than 700 of its mainline aircraft.

Bob Schumacher, Managing DirectorSales, U.K. & Ireland at United, said: “We

really appreciate the support for our Belfast

service from customers across Northern

Ireland.

“Our flights not only provide non-stop,

convenient access to New York from your

local airport, but also a top quality product

for our business customers, and connections

to more than 300 destinations throughout the

Americas.”

From Belfast to the Big Apple withUnited Airlines

United BusinessFirst WiFi Connectivity in BusinessFirst


Ahigh rate of business start-ups is

generally good for an economy. It may

be accompanied by a relatively high

rate of business failures but, if the start-ups

outnumber the failures, then the economy

grows.

While every start-up does not contribute in

the same way, between them they provide

things like employment, a nursery for new

ideas, support and sub-contracting for bigger

business and a productive outlet for

independent minds. It is like an ecology: if an

economy does not have a continuing supply of

a variety of new life there will be no evolution

of new forms and eventually everything will

age and die off.

But Northern Ireland has a relatively low

rate of start-ups and it is often said that one

of the reasons for this is that we suffer from a

fear of failure which deters people from

starting a business because that is perceived

to be a risky thing to do. That may sound like

a simple conclusion – but what is the

evidence for it and is it helpful and realistic?

The only research of which this author is

aware which appears to look at a fear of

failure is the Global Entrepreneurship

Monitor (GEM). It regularly surveys attitudes

to entrepreneurship across many countries

and, in its reports on Northern Ireland, it has

often stated that when, it comes to starting a

business, a greater proportion of people in

Northern Ireland have fear of failure than the

UK average.

But, instead of concluding from those

reports that people in Northern Ireland have

a high fear of failure, it is worth examining

GEM more closely.

For instance its data are derived from

telephone surveys with simple yes/no or

multiple choice questions and with no

interpretation or follow up.

Further, while those surveys have asked

respondents if a fear of failure would prevent

them from starting a business, the previous

question asks them if they think they have the

skills necessary to start a business.

Apparently in Northern Ireland a greater

proportion of people than the UK average

think they do not have those skills – but, in

that case, surely it is not surprising if the

same people then say they fear that if they

were to start a business it might fail.

So the anticipation of failure is likely to be

because they think they lack the necessary

skills rather than because they have a general

fear of failure. This would suggest that GEM is

not a good source for substantiating the fear

of failure hypothesis.

A second point to be made about references

to a fear of failure is that they imply that

successful entrepreneurs do not have a fear of

failure – and that is not the case.

Successful business venturers are not risk

junkies and are instead usually risk averse.

Saras Sarasvathy , when she explored the

attitudes of ‘expert’ entrepreneurs (people to

had started a business and taken it to the

stage of a stock market flotation), found that

they sought to reduce the risk and, for

instance, would limit their investment in a

new venture and not put at risk more than

they could afford to lose.

There is a school of thought that


THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

by Simon Bridge,visiting professorat Ulster University

Do we have anunhealthyobsessionwith afear offailure?



distinguishes between risk and uncertainty

by applying the word risk where the odds are

known, or can be estimated, and uncertainty

when they are not – so uncertainty is

unquantified risk but that is not necessarily

high risk.

Businesses are supposed to try to assess

the risk in potential new ventures through

market research but Sarasvathy’s ‘expert’

entrepreneurs didn’t think you could reliably

predict the future and didn’t trust market

research.

So they didn’t try to quantify the risk –

instead they accepted the uncertainty and

operated accordingly.

It is also worth recognising that ‘trial and

‘error’ is the route to success in almost every

field of human progression – and of course

‘error’ is not really the right word because

error implies making an avoidable mistake

whereas what the process involves is trying

something, observing where it doesn’t work,

changing it and then trying again.

Explorers know they will probably have to

explore several routes in order to find one

that works and map makers have to explore

and survey the territory before they can make

their maps.

Oil companies expect that they will have to

drill several trial wells before they find a

productive one and Edison described finding

many substances that didn’t work as a

filament for a light bulb as a success, because

they could then be eliminated from his

investigations.

So, when innovating, finding what doesn’t

work is often an essential part of the route to

success and therefore should not be seen as a

failure – although we often call it that. Trial

and error is the established method and the

only one that works - provided you haven’t

put at risk in the trial more that you can

afford to lose.

So, instead of talking about a fear of failure,

we should encourage an eagerness to

experiment combined with a readiness to

admit when something isn’t working plus an

ability then to see other options and a

willingness to try them.

Is it the case that, in saying we havea fear of failure, those concernedare not helping but instead areactually doing one (or both) of twothings?

Are they, and this applies particularly to

officials and policy makers, in effect offering

an excuse for why economic and/or

enterprise policies aren’t working – instead of

admitting they are the wrong policies?

And are they implanting in people’s minds

the idea that they should be frightened of

failure and that business venturing is a risky

business – thus making them more frightened

and discouraging them from doing it?

We tend to believe what we are told,

especially when it comes for supposedly well-

informed official sources so, by telling us that

we don’t start businesses because we have a

fear of failure, does that tend to increases our

fear of failure and further deter us for doing

what the officials want us to do.

Another result of encouraging people to

fear failure is that it can also encourage them

to avoid recognising failure when it does

occur. On the route to business success,

evidence that things are not going according

to plan, which some might consider to be

failure, should be welcomed because such

feedback is necessary if corrections are to be

made.

The trial and error route to making things

better involves accepting that sometimes

things don’t work well and could be done

better - but if people are frightened of failure

they may refuse to accept that it might be

occurring. In his book Adapt, Tim Harford

describes how in Stalinist Russia one of its

weaknesses and sources of significant waste

was a refusal at the top to believe that its

grandiose projects, such as the Lenin Dam on

the Dnieper River and the steel mills of

Magnitogorsk, might not be working or that

there might be better ways of doing them.

Therefore evidence of failure which, if

accepted, might have led to corrections and

improvement, was rigorously spurned by the

officials concerned because failure was not

officially permitted – and the projects turned

into disasters.

Suggesting that our fear of failure is holding

back our enterprise may, at least in part, be

offered as an excuse for the failure of

enterprise development programmes, but is it

also an example of a tendency we seem to

have, especially in government circles, to

assume that in Northern Ireland local ideas

and abilities are not going to be as good as in

other areas?

Such a belief justifies the role of agencies

because it implies that without their help our

thinking and approaches are always going to

be limited and therefore higher-level

intervention is needed.

Thus, because we are supposed to have a

fear of failure, we can’t be expected to start

businesses for ourselves and so we need help

to do it.

So is it for that reason also that we are

reminded of our supposed limitations - and is

that then likely to become a self-fulfilling

prophesy?

Therefore, instead of bemoaning our

supposed fear of failure, we should change

our approach.

We should recognise both that we may not

be more frightened of failure than others and

that a lot of what might be labelled failure is

instead an inherent part of the route to

success.

We should encourage exploration and

welcome the ‘failure’ that that involves - and

realise that problems arise, not when we try

something uncertain which might not work

initially, but when, like the Russians, we can’t

admit that we didn’t get it right the first time

and that there could be other better ways of

doing it.

Northern Ireland has a relatively low rate of start-ups and it is often said that oneof the reasons for this is that we suffer from a fear of failure which deters peoplefrom starting a business because that is perceived to be a risky thing to do.Professor Simon Bridge



The Control of Pollution (Oil Storage)

Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 is

aimed at ensuring local businesses store

their Oil and Fuel appropriately and in a safe

and environmentally friendly manner.

Recent changes mean that companies must

be storing oil and fuel in a double bunded

system by the end of December this year.

Minister Durkan attended an event at Fast

Engineering’s Antrim Base to raise awareness

of the changes in legislation and launch the

company’s incentive to assist local businesses

in complying with the regulations.

Fast Engineering Ltd was established in

1981 to manufacture FASTANK, a patented

liquid storage container for use in a number

of sectors including oil and chemical spill

clean-up, Aid Agency, firefighting, military,

fish-farming, and animal rescue.

The Minister enjoyed a tour of the factory

where Fast Engineering designs and

manufactures a range of innovative products

under its FASTANK brand and from where it

exports to over 100 countries worldwide

On hearing of the company’s ambitious

plans for growth across both UK and

International markets, Minister Durkan

commented, “It is encouraging to see a local

company investing in new and innovative

products and successfully competing

worldwide under challenging market

conditions”.

Seamus Connolly MBE, Fast Engineering

Managing Director commented “It was a

pleasure to welcome the Minister to our site

here in Antrim and to witness his enthusiasm

for our products. His support for our

aspirations to continue to grow worldwide in

the Environmental Sector is stimulating.”

Seamus Connolly MBE explained to Minister

Durkan that many Northern Ireland

companies could be in breach of the Oil and

Fuel Storage Regulations and need to take

swift action to avoid fines of up to £20,000

and even imprisonment in severe cases. After

a high level of oil related pollution events, the

regulations will apply to all ground storage

facilities more than 200 litres capacity.

Adam Holland, General Manager for Fast

Engineering explained, “The regulations

effectively mean that older single skin tanks

must be replaced with more expensive double

skinned tanks or placed in a secondary

containment system designed to capture any

leaking fluid and with a 10 per cent more

capacity than the tank itself.

“ Most notable though is the deadline on

companies to reach compliance by 31st

December 2015.” Fast Engineering have

developed a

product that

provides a

simple solution

to the problem.

The FASTANK®

BUND can be

placed

underneath

existing non-

bunded single

skinned tanks

providing

robust and

durable

secondary

containment in

compliance

with the

regulations.

The Bund is a

cost effective alternative to a replacement of

the tank with a double skinned system.

Mr Holland added, “The bund is a

multipurpose rapid installation, secondary

containment system designed to catch oil, fuel

or chemical leaks and spills. Most recently we

have seen an uptake in the building sector

due to the increasing environmental

guidelines and restrictions that construction

sites must adhere to.

“The Bund can be employed as secondary

or emergency containment for equipment,

plant or material storage areas. It is versatile,

reusable and unlike semi-permanent concrete

bunded areas or lined excavations, the

FASTANK BUND can be cleaned, packed and

taken to the next site on completion of work.

“As a company committed to helping our

customers to deliver sustainable and

environmentally sound containment

solutions, we’re building on our 34 year

heritage of excellence to expand our reach

and help our customers meet the challenges

of the future.

Construction is only one area of growth

identified in Fast Engineering’s 4 year

expansion and growth strategy which is

underpinned by the company’s long term

commitment to innovation, research and

development.

Minister Durkan welcomed the

environmental benefits of Fast Engineering’s

most recent product, the FASTANK® BUND

and congratulated the company on its

ambitions plans for growth.

Seamus Connolly announced that, “In order

to assist with what we perceive to be a

significant and immediate problem for local

businesses, FASTANK will offer a discountfor all Bunds purchased in November2015”

FASTANK raises awareness ofoil storage regulation changes

FASTANK will offer a discount for allBunds purchased in November 2015

Minister of the Environment Mark H. Durkan MLA visited Fast Engineering Limited to launch the company’s Environmental Protection Initiative for Northern Ireland’s business community

®



Expert witnesses provide vital

assistance to the courts in litigation

cases. Whether you are pursuing a

clinical negligence claim or defending a

commercial oil spill case, the courts will rely

heavily on the input of those who have an

expert insight into that area.

There are many experts who classify

themselves as such, but the quality of their

work and oral evidence can vary

significantly. Finding an expert who has the

appropriate qualifications, experience and

who will be respected by the judiciary

requires a solicitor with an in-depth

knowledge of their practice area.

Millar McCall Wylie LLP (MMW) are a

regional leader in commercial litigation and

we often recommend, appoint and manage

expert witnesses on behalf of our clients.

In practice, experts may not be required to

give oral evidence as many cases are

resolved prior to court hearings . Most of

their work is in the form of reports and

determinations.

Nevertheless, experts must be prepared to

provide oral testimony to support their

findings and opinions. The right expert will

be sufficiently robust to withstand

challenges to their evidence during the

course of cross examination.

It is therefore of crucial importance to

engage the correct expert in the first

instance. This is illustrated by the fact that

in many commercial cases, once you have

outlined the identity of your expert you are

directed to share their report together with

any other maps or plans which are

associated with same. Obviously the

ramifications of an unhelpful report are

significant.

Recent case law has established a right for

expert witnesses to be sued under certain

circumstances where they have not met the

standard of a reasonably competent expert.

This has gone some way to compensating

clients who have suffered loss as a result of

negligent advices..

A predictable consequence of this has

been that some experts have taken a more

conservative approach to their evidence

rather than try to enhance a client’s case

and risk being sued.

A new Practice Direction issued by the

courts in Northern Ireland in 2015 carries

with it an expectation that experts will be

suitably qualified.

This often means that they will have to be

professionally accredited in some way –

usually through the Academy of Experts.

Having an expert who is capable of

effectively liaising with the other side’s

team can lead to a swifter resolution of

technical matters in dispute, and thus

reduced costs for plaintiffs and defendants

alike. The Court also promote greater use of

concurrent evidence or so called ‘hottubbing’.

Many clients do not realise that the

primary duty of an expert in any case in

Northern Ireland is to the court and not the

client. Experts are required to sign a

declaration for each report which confirms

this duty.

An experienced solicitor with sufficient

litigation expertise will know the experts

which have the best understanding of the

issues involved in your case.

MMW will choose the right expert for your

case to ensure a successful outcome.

If you have a complex legal matter or are

unsure about who to speak to contact us

today.

Millar McCall Wylie [email protected]

028 9020 0050

www.mmwlegal.com

Getting it right first timeby Caroline Prunty, Partner Millar McCall Wylie Solicitors

BEST PRACTICE

things you should know about instructing expert witnesses

Recent case law hasestablished a right forexpert witnesses to besued under certaincircumstances. This hasgone some way tocompensating clientswho have suffered losswhen an expert has notacted in a reasonablycompetent manner.

This material is intended for general information purposes only. It is not provided for any specific purpose(s) or persons and is not

intended to be relied upon as legal advice. No liability is accepted by Millar McCall Wylie LLP Solicitors for any actions taken in reliance

upon the information provided. It is recommended that appropriate professional advice should be obtained regarding any specific legal

problem or matter. Should you require such advice or assistance please contact us.



http://www.mmwlegal.com


Spotlight on Director Disqualifications byIan Finnegan, director, ASM CharteredAccountants, Newry and Dundalk.

In this article, leading accountancy practice,

ASM Chartered Accountants, which has six

offices in Newry, Dundalk, Dublin,

Dungannon, Magherafelt, Dublin and Belfast,

outline the changes to the law surrounding

director disqualifications, in a bid to better

educate affected individuals and their

businesses.

Ian Finnegan, Licensed Insolvency

Practitioner and director at ASM, Newry

commented:

Change is afoot in the law ondirector disqualifications.

The Small Business, Enterprise and

Employment Act which obtained Royal Assent

on 26 March 2015 will bring some very

significant changes for directors of insolvent

limited companies. The New Act applies in

Northern Ireland with the director

disqualifications provisions having come into

effect on 1 October 2015.

Up to now the main piece of legislation

dealing with directors’ conduct is The

Company Directors Disqualification

(Northern Ireland) Order 2002. The new Act

widens the scope of the law and makes the

consequences of falling foul of it potentially

more painful.

In addition to extending the time allowed

for the DETI to take action against directors,

the main changes are summarised below:

The new provisions mean that a director’s

conduct in companies registered outside of

Northern Ireland can be taken into account

here.

This is obviously particularly significant for

directors of Republic of Ireland companies

who may have had difficulties with the Office

of the Director of Corporate Enforcement in

Dublin.

There are new provisions aimed at stopping

the appointment of “puppet” directors.

This is the practice of companies appointing

“named” directors, for example, spouses,

where the original directors are either

bankrupt or subject to Disqualification Orders

or Undertakings but still effectively in control

of the company.

The new provisions apply to individuals

under whose influence, instruction or

direction the “named” directors act.

Penalties can be imposed on those deemed

to be controlling the company and also on the

named directors.

Finally and perhaps most significantly the

new Act gives the DETI the power to hit

disqualified persons where it hurts the most,

their pockets.

Where a person is subject to a

disqualification order or a disqualification

undertaking and that persons conduct has

caused loss to a creditor or a group of

creditors the DETI will be able to apply to the

High Court for a Compensation Order against

that person.

The Compensation Order is potentially a

massive weapon in the war on rogue directors

for whom a disqualification is seen as nothing

more than a rap on the knuckles, now they

face the prospect of also have to pay financial

compensation to the creditors.

However it will also cause potential

difficulty for all directors of insolvent

companies.

It is envisaged these orders will be provable

in bankruptcy and could therefore see

directors made bankrupt for the debts of an

insolvent company where up to now they

have been able to walk away.

Effectively the benefits of limited liability

will only be available to those deemed to have

acted properly.

ASM Snapshot Since its launch in 1995, ASM has grown

rapidly and today stands as one of the largest

accounting and management consultancy

firms in Ireland, with offices in Belfast,

Dublin, Dundalk, Dungannon, Magherafelt

and Newry.

The firm, employing 160 people, specialises

in a range of accountancy disciplines that

include: corporate finance, audit and

accounting, internal audit, consultancy

services, taxation, hotels, tourism and leisure,

insolvency and forensic accounting.

For further information on this topic or for

one-to-one consultancy contact Ian Finnegan,

ASM Newry on 3026 9933 or email

[email protected]. A full range of ASM’s services can be viewed

here: www.asmaccountants.com

DIRECTORDISQUALIFICATIONS

Sabrina Donnelly, Licensed Insolvency Practitioner at ASM, is pictured with Ian Finnegan, director, ASMand Fiona Fearon, Insolvency Manager at ASM.



http://www.asmaccountants.com


With Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs)being the most common kind of work-relatedillness in the UK (NI Direct, 2015), theirappropriate treatment and managementshould be increasingly important toorganisations.Dr Alan Black, Director of one of NorthernIreland’s longest established occupationalhealth providers, Blackwell AssociatesLimited, outlines what employers need toknow.

The term ‘MSD’ refers to any injury of the

joints, or other soft tissues in the limbs

or the back.

Spinal and muscle/joint pain accounts for

over half of all reported work related illnesses

in Northern Ireland, with around 20 per cent

of all reported injuries related to sprains

associated with manual handling (HSENI2013).

In addition, almost 33 per cent of all

absences from work in Northern Ireland

councils are due to back and neck problems,

with the average duration of such absences

around two weeks (NI Direct 2015).

What are the main causes?While it’s easy to assume that these

disorders only affect those engaged in labour

intensive roles, MSD doesn’t discriminate.

From the young to the elderly, sedentary to

physically active - anyone can experience

musculoskeletal pain and it is most often

caused by an injury to the bones, joints,

muscles, tendons, ligaments, or nerves.

The disorder can be caused by a number of

activities including repetitive and heavy

lifting, bending and twisting, working in an

uncomfortable position, repeating something

too often, and using the wrong tools for a job.

However, there are a number of other

causes which are perhaps less obvious.

Working long hours without breaks, or even

working in environments that are consistently

too hot or too cold, can contribute to

employees falling victim to this illness.

Even the way employees sit at their desks

can trigger MSDs. For example, 63 per cent of

office workers complain of aches and pains at

their work station which more often than not,

can be alleviated by adopting an improved

posture and utilising a range of ergonomic

solutions such as providing chairs with

lumbar support (CIPD, 2014).

How can companies identifyemployees with MSDs?

As with many workplace illnesses, MSD may

not be immediately visible. However, due to

the primarily physical nature of MSDs, there

are some symptoms employers can look out

for in their workers.

For instance, has there been an increase in

the number of injuries to backs or limbs in the

last few months or years? Have managers

reported that their teams have made such

complaints?

If you are in manufacturing or production,

ask yourself, has overall product quality, or

productivity, reduced?

If you take a walk around the premises, are

you noticing employees resorting to DIY

improvements to counteract uncomfortable

working environments, such as padding on

seats, wearing bandages or splints?

How can companies mitigate therisk?

The first step is to identify which tasks

present a serious risk of chronic injury. For

instance, do any of your employees have a

role which requires frequent bending or

lifting? This risk assessment should be carried

out across the entire organisation, from the

head office to the factory floor.

Employers may wish to also engage safety

representatives directly with employees or

trade unions to understand first hand what

workers experience on a day to day basis.

Where changes are possible and practical,

these should be introduced and clearly

communicated to your employees. However,

where mechanisation is not possible, other

reasonable measures should be taken. For

example, in the case of a physical role,

frequent job rotation to a different work

station area will reduce the risk of a worker

repeating an action (such as lifting) too often.

Your occupational health provider can assist

with any risk assessments to ensure that the

correct questions are asked and that any

issues can be correctly identified and

addressed. They can also manage the

recovery of employees by ensuring correct

diagnosis and development of a return to

work plan.

The team at Blackwell Associates Limited

are strongly positioned to work with you to

ensure that all workplace illnesses, including

MDSs, are appropriately identified and

managed. Call 028 9065 6131 to speak to a

member of the team or email

[email protected] or

follow us on @BwellAssociates or

www.facebook.com/BlackwellAssociatesLtd

MANAGINGMSDs

FEATURE



http://www.facebook.com/BlackwellAssociatesLtd


ROCO is an online interior and lifestyle

Magazine covering the UK and Ireland.

ROCO appeals primarily to affluent,

sophisticated women in the ABC1

demographic.

Since launch, ROCO has already entertained

over 120,000 readers from around the world

with the UK and USA as top locations.

Showing that our users readily interact with

the site and trust the brand, whilst providing

advertisers with a target, captive audience.

“We provide online advertising and

exposure for business to reach markets locally

and in the UK, ROI and USA,” Rachael

explained, “ Examples of products offered to

clients range from full-page adverts,

advertorials, film, product placement,

competitions, banner website advertising,

business directory advertising.”

It was paramount from the beginning to

create a magazine online that would provide a

guide to stylish modern living, showcasing

creative, quality design and providing readers

with superior features and breathtaking

imagery.

“By working with top designers we created

a brand and brand identity that instantly

began attracting large companies that wanted

to advertise in ROCO. Including Laura Ashley,

IKEA, Sofa.com, Sofa & Chair Company etc,”

Rachael said.

Top interior designers began to seek us out

for features in the magazine including Dragon

Dens Kelly Hoppen and Kishani Perea interior

designer to A-List celebrities to name a few.

“We set out to use the best technology

practices, website design and usability

available to ensure we where able to compete

on an international stage.

“We worked with one of the UK's top

website developers (who has worked on

brands such as Ted Baker) to help us create a

new website, that provided daily news feeds

whilst housing the magazine. This was

launched only six months ago to rave reviews.

“We took our innovation further and also

launched a dedicated app for reading the

magazine available on iTunes, Amazon and

Google Play. We researched the software and

worked with Invest NI innovation to create an

app that software is also used by the top

worldwide publications including Forbes. It

allows readers to crop images in the magazine

and share clips through all social media

streams, this is currently not available on

another magazine software.

“On our first day of launch we featured on

the home page of iTunes Newstand in the

USA. Somewhere that normally only features

top worldwide publications like Vogue or Elle.

With sales only starting full time in

December 2013, ROCO export market stands

at 85 per cent in mainland UK alone and this

is predicted to rise to 95 per cent by the end

of 2014. We have increased our turnover in

the last six months by 350 per cent

“We wanted to grow readers organically

who would trust the brand, interact and view

ROCO as their one stop guide to interiors,”

Rachael added.

“We have achieved this by now having

120,000 readers to the site and magazine, our

newsletter subscribers total over 12,000 and

social media streams have over over 9,000

followers.”

With the re-launch of the new site and app,

teh comapny ran a TV commercial over UTV

demonstrating high-end CGI techniques of the

magazine within an tablet.

“We are seeing an increase in sales outside

GB in countries France, The Netherlands and

India. We plan to increase our sales figures

over these regions paying attention to the EU

companies exporting to the UK. We have new

planned marketing strategy in place to grow

our readership and subscribers within the

next 12 months and new products for

advertisers to avail off.”

ROCO was the first online interiors

magazine in Northern Ireland, we embraced

new publishing techniques and sought to

align ourselves as expert in the world off

interiors. We are dedicated to showcasing

good design and work hard with both our

advertisers and readers to ensure all their

needs are met. We constantly research new

techniques and ways to interact and readers

whilst trying remain innovative with out

content.

ROCO really is a one woman team, who

showcases what hard work, determination

and drive can achieve. Within a short period

of time the company has been able to compete

on an international stage.

Gaining readers from around the world, one

hundred and twenty thousand of them, whilst

being able to grow revenue and attract large

international advertisers.

It is the perfect example of a local female

business woman creating a business that has

gained international recognition and a worthy

winner of the Northern Ireland Digital Hero

Award 2015.

eir DIGITAL HEROES 2015

Digital Heroes 2015 - The WinnerGavin Walker meets this year’s Northern Ireland Digital Heroes winner Rachael Colton, Founder and Editor of ROCO Magazine

in association with



Don’t let your home become thenext target!

Domestic burglaries have both financial and

emotional impacts. It is common to feel

violated, insecure and angry after a domestic

burglary, particularly if the items taken were

of a sentimental nature. But what if you’re

overriding emotion was one of regret? Regret

that something could have been done to deter

the thieves, or at worst, detect the intrusion

before personal belongings were dislodged or

taken?

How can an Intruder Alarm Systemprotect your home?

According to Directgov, the Government’s

digital information service, a home is five

times more likely to be targeted if it has no

apparent security measures in place. Studies

have shown that a well-installed intruder

alarm system will significantly reduce your

chances of becoming a victim of burglary.

As well as protecting your home when

unoccupied, modern intruder alarm systems

can also be “part set” to protect you and your

family, even when you are at home.

Does the quality of your homesecurity reflect the value of yourassets?

When you have made the decision to

purchase an intruder alarm system, it is

important to choose a reputable and

experienced firm to install the system.

Selecting an alarm company accredited by the

National Security Inspectorate, NSI, will

ensure that your intruder alarm system is

installed to a high level of quality, to offer you

and your family the protection you deserve.

You may even be entitled to a discount on

your home insurance if you choose an NSI

accredited company to install and maintain

your home alarm system.

Choose Quality, Choose DiamondSystems for all your Home Securityneeds

Diamond Systems offers a range of home

security solutions, each one tailored to your

exact requirements. We have over 25 years’

experience installing and maintaining

security alarms and as an NSI Gold accredited

company, you can be sure that your intruder

alarm system will be installed and maintained

by skilled, professional engineers. We never

compromise on quality when it comes to

selecting the right manufacturer for our

products and we are renowned for quality

alarm systems that stand the test of time.

More than a Home Security SystemUsing the very latest technology, an

Intruder Alarm System from Diamond

Systems not only protects your home, but

integrates with your lifestyle and provides

you with complete control of your system,

from anywhere in the world.

The Diamond Intruder Alarm system

provides remote access to your home security

system via the Home Control app which can

be customised to offer you the following

benefits and flexibility:

• Check the current status of your system,

set or unset your system remotely, or receive

notifications via SMS to inform you that a

family member has arrived home safely

• Investigate activations or faults on your

intruder alarm system, and allow remote

maintenance of your intruder alarm system

by Diamond Systems’ engineers

• Integrate your home appliances such as

lights and heating with your home alarm

system to also control these via your smart

phone

To discuss your home security

requirements, call the Diamond Team today

on 02890 207 207 or visit

www.diamondsystems.co.uk.

Home Security Solutionsfrom Diamond SystemsDomestic burglaries in Northern Ireland are on the increase. Recent PSNI crime statistics report an average of 16 homes per day aretargeted in domestic burglaries – that’s one home in Northern Ireland every 90 minutes.

Belfast Giants help launch new Diamond Systems App enabled home security solution


http://www.diamondsystems.co.uk


The most comprehensive independent

study of small businesses in recent

years, that has been launched by the

Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)

Northern Ireland has revealed that small

businesses in Northern Ireland employ more

people than large companies and the public

sector combined.

Launched at a 30th Anniversary to mark the

presence of FSB in Northern Ireland, ‘The

Contribution of Small Businesses to Northern

Ireland’ is an in-depth, piece of research

gauging not only a current capture of the SME

landscape, but also their primary issues and

concerns.

The research, conducted by the Ulster

Business School at Ulster University and

commissioned by FSB Northern Ireland,

reveals that in Northern Ireland, small

businesses contribute 75 per cent of turnover,

75 per cent of employment, and 81 per cent of

the GVA generated within the private sector.

Furthermore, 80 per cent of SMEs plan to

grow their business over the next two years,

and nearly all of the SMEs surveyed (95%)

plan to remain within their local area, with

around a quarter of SMEs indentifying

employing and hiring a local workforce as one

of the most important ways they contribute to

the local economy.

When asked what the main concern for the

future of small businesses were, the majority

of respondents agreed that political

instability was the primary concern followed

by cash flow and the availability of skilled

employees.

The SMEs surveyed identified a numberof barriers to doing business, with thetop issues being

• reduction in business rates and

corporation tax,

• Better broadband provision,

• More help with online/marketing activity,

• Better availability of skilled staff,

• reduction in bureaucracy and regulation,

• VAT reduction, and

• Action to address late payments.

Small businesses are vital not only to

economic contribution in Northern Ireland,

but also social contribution. Additionally,

‘The Contribution of Small Businesses toNorthern Ireland’ reveals the substantial

socio-cultural contribution of small

businesses, in terms of the role they play in

their local communities and wider society.

Of the 200 small businesses surveyed, a

significant number employ staff who were

previously long-term unemployed, engage

with schools, colleges and community groups,

and volunteer time and services to local

charities.

As the voice of small business, this research

will drive the support FSB NI provides for its

members, as a business organisation, that

was identified as the main source of business

support, by the respondents who were

independently selected by Ulster University

and comprised of both FSB and non-FSB

members.

Wilfred Mitchell OBE, FSB NI Policy Chair

explained; “In the FSB’s 30-year history in

Northern Ireland, the importance of the self-

employed, small and micro business to the

economy has never been greater.

“Northern Ireland has the highest

concentration of SMEs of all the UK nations and

research conducted by the Ulster University

clearly evidences that it is small businesses

which make the greatest contribution to

turnover, employment and GVA.

“This vital research not only provides an up

to date capture of the SME led private sector

in Northern Ireland but also an in-depth

study on how small businesses contribute to

the socio-cultural fabric of their communities

through charity, volunteering and community

participation.”

Mr Mitchell outlined that the research will

provide a foundational basis for future work

of FSB NI.

He continued: 'This innovative research

will form the basis of FSB NI’s work going

forward, as we act upon what small

businesses have highlighted to us,

commencing with the FSB NI Assembly

election Manifesto which will be launched

next month.

"As identified in the survey through a free

text option, with no response prompts, the

primary concern and barrier to growth of our

largest economic contributor is the current

unstable political situation. FSB NI will be

continuing to highlight this in our political

engagement in the coming weeks."

He concluded; "We hope this substantial

piece of research will be used by

policymakers as the foundation document for

all small business policy in the next

Programme for Government"

Professor Marie McHugh, Dean of the Ulster

University Business School, said, “This is the

most comprehensive research of SMEs in

Northern Ireland for some time, and has given

them a voice to raise their concerns.

“More importantly, it reminds us just how

significant small businesses are to our

economy, and it is a challenge to all of us to do

more to support them. Our call to

Government is that our report forms the

foundation for shaping the next Programme

for Government and Economic Strategy, to

help our SME economy grow, prosper and

compete on the global stage”.

Copies of 'The contribution of SMES toNorthern Ireland' will be available online with

hard copies available through request by

emailing [email protected].

Report confirms value ofSMEs to Northern IrelandFSB Northern Ireland

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Wilfred Mitchell OBE, FSB NI Policy Chair




FAMILY FRIENDLY EMPLOYER AWARDS 2015

Over recent months the concept of

‘Family Friendly’ has become

increasingly popular with the

introduction of a number of family friendly

initiatives in Northern Ireland, such as the

introduction of shared parental leave, and a

number of major international employers,

such as Netflix and Virgin, hailing the

importance of facilitating working parents.

To celebrate local employers who show

commitment in prioritising Family Friendly

policies, local charity Employers For

Childcare Charitable Group held the fifth

annual Family Friendly Employer Awardson Thursday 8 October at Belfast City Hall.

At the ceremony Employers For Childcare

also launched the new ‘Striking the Balance’report which outlines the challenges that

working parents in Northern Ireland face

today, and explores the real impact that

becoming a parent has on a person’s

employment, working life and career

prospects. (see page 66).The awards celebrated employers who have

acknowledged the true value of being family

friendly. This annual award ceremony

recognises organisations as some of the best

family friendly employers in Northern

Ireland. From flexible working policies to

employee benefits like Childcare Vouchers,

these organisations are committed to

initiatives that make it easier for parents to

balance their work and family life.

The judging panel for the Family Friendly

Employer Awards 2015 were Julie Taylor,

Integrity NI and Board Member of Employers

For Childcare Charitable Group; Gavin Walker,

Business First; Maxine Orr, Worthingtons

Solicitors; John Simpson, Economist and

Sarah Uprichard, CIPD Policy Committee.

Winners of the FamilyFriendly EmployerAwards 2015 Public Sector Organisation of the Year –Queen’s University Belfast

A forward-thinking organisation, the judges

felt that Queen’s University is innovative in

their approach to family friendly practices.

Queen’s were one of the only entries to use

social media to promote and implement their

abundance of family friendly policies,

including the provision of crèche facilities for

their employees.

Queen’s has demonstrated dedication to

staff through the introduction of a new

website for international staff members;

helping signpost them to find new homes and

schools. They demonstrated evidence of

thinking ahead to see what else they can

provide to help maintain a satisfied

workforce.

The judges felt that Queen’s tick every box

and is a model of good practice.

Large Private Sector Company of theYear – Coca-Cola Hellenic

Coca-Cola resonates family friendly!

Coca-Cola Hellenic Northern Ireland

provide a comprehensive range of enhanced

family friendly policies which have resulted in

increased engagement levels throughout the

entire organisation. One of Coca-Cola

Hellenic’s core values is ‘Caring for their

People’ and they pride themselves on

listening to employees’ feedback to develop

family initiatives of worth.

As a result, a noteworthy initiative

implemented earlier this year was ‘Make my

life easier’ that include no meetings on

Fridays and no emails after 6.30pm to

encourage down time from work to spend

time with family; providing a healthy work-

life balance.

Micro Business of the Year – AdhausMedia

With limited resources and small in size,

Adhaus Media is keen to listen to their team;

as what works for the business may not

always work for the individual. Adhaus’s

initiatives are based around their staff and

what works for them and can help the most.

They have demonstrated excellence in

meeting their individual employee needs for

example moving home time from 5.30pm to

5.15pm, making the commute home quicker.

Allowing 15 minutes earlier is a small thing to

do but makes a massive difference for arents.

Adhaus have also adopted a rotational 4pm

leaving policy in July, each day except for

Friday a team member gets to leave at 4pm to

enjoy some quality family time as the children

will be off school. In addition in December

they provide each staff member a 2 hour

lunch to assist with Santa shopping to avoid

the frantic rush.

Small Medium Enterprise of the Year –Edwards and Co. Solicitors

Edwards and Co Solicitors do an amazing

amount for their employees and it is evident

that they are truly family friendly, clearly

enhancing the quality of their workforce.

They offer an array of family friendly

initiatives, including providing enhanced

maternity/paternity packages including 100

per cent pay for the first six weeks then half

pay for the next six months rather than SMP;

Childcare Voucher Scheme; group income

protection, group death plan and their flexible

leave policy which encourages staff to take as

much time off as required!

Education Sector Organisation of theYear – Aisling Daycare and Afterschool

Aisling Daycare is a worthy winner,

demonstrating excellence in their approach to

meet the needs of each of their individual

employees.

They have a child focused and family ethos

in values, providing a variety of initiatives

including family friendly working hours,

‘come in and have a chat day’ whereby one

day is set aside each term where staff are

invited to come into the office and discuss any

topic that is important to them including

family life; providing a sense of community in

addition to a staff forum to listen to all of the

staff needs.

Charity Social Enterprise of the Year –Joint winners: MACS SupportingChildren and Young People and ActionCancer

MACS Supporting Children and YoungPeople has a number of established family

friendly initiatives! They aim to be an

organisation that wholly embraces flexible

working, where it is the norm! They offer and

heavily promote flexible family friendly

initiatives including working from home,

having business meetings in the home,

compressed hours, all staff finish at 4pm on a

Friday, paid time off for anti-natal

appointments, bring your children to work

and hosting family work events.

Action Cancer believes that their staff team

is the most valuable asset to their

organisation. They monitor, trial, change and

keep an eye on employees’ work patterns,

particularly those with families, to ensure

that they maintain the right work-life balance

and are happy in their work.

Action Cancer’s leadership believe in “an

environment where their people are valued

and where they can realise their full

potential”.

The award winners and highly commended

companies will feature in Employers For

Childcare’s 2016 Calendar, which is

distributed to over 2,500 companies across

the UK.

For more information about the launch of

the Striking the Balance report visit

vouchers.employersforchildcare.org/media/striking-the-balance.pdf or call

0800 028 3008.

Family Friendly Employers AwardsStrike the Balance!



Asdon Golf Day

Laura Lynch Queen's University Belfast and Laura Hourican CIPD Bronagh McAllister & Una Dougherty Aisling Day Care. Diane Hill

Steven Johnston from Adhaus Media with Gavin Walker Eileen Tunney from Coca-Cola with Maxine Orr

Teresa Curran from Edward’s & Co Solicitors with Laura Hourican Mary Ryan and Maxine Orr Worthingtons Solicitors.

Julie Taylor (left) Judging Panel Chair with all of the winners of the Family Friendly Employers Awards 2015


Employers For Childcare Charitable

Group has released a new report called

‘Striking the Balance’ which uncovers

the challenges that local working parents face

in balancing work and family.

The ‘Family Friendly’ Movement The topic of work-life balance has become

popular issue over previous months. From a

government perspective, 2015 has seen the

introduction of a number of family friendly

initiatives in Northern Ireland, such as the

introduction of shared parental leave. A

number of large international companies have

also dominated the media promoting the

support they provide to parents, such as

Netflix which earlier this year extended its

parental leave programme, allowing

employees to take unlimited time off.

Other major organisations such as Virgin,

Goldman Sachs, Barclays and Nestlé have also

joined the trend. These companies have

prompted international debate on the need to

support working parents and send out a

message that work-life balance is achievable,

desired and an issue that employers must

support.

In Northern Ireland, an at-a-glance look at

the labour market will reveal that many

companies are now offering enhanced

maternity and paternity pay, providing

support with the cost of childcare and

offering a range of family friendly working

Striking the Balance - Report


FAMILY FRIENDLY EMPLOYER AWARDS 2015

What impact does becoming a parent have on employment, working life and career?



arrangements. These are companies like

those which are represented in Employers

For Childcare’s annual Family Friendly

Employer Awards, companies who are

celebrated for implementing innovative and

forward thinking policies.

Looking from the outside in, it would

appear that working parents have never had

it so good. However, amongst the discussions

about work-life balance, the propaganda

machines and the government initiatives are

some less heartening statistics, such as the

rise in maternity discrimination and the

number of parents who are denied their

rights. There is still progress to be made.

The Impact of Becoming a Parent onEmployment and Working Life

Trying to accommodate the changes

involved in caring for a child into everyday life

can be a challenge, and when it comes to

employment trying to reach a balance

between work and home can be difficult. The

‘Striking the Balance’ report puts the focus

back onto parents, and explores the impact

becoming a parent has from their perspective.

During 2014 Employers For Childcare

surveyed 4,200 parents from across Northern

Ireland, both mums and dads, working in a

range of roles and levels of responsibility.

Of these parents, 63% made changes to the

way they worked after becoming a parent,

such as altering the nature of their

employment, changing their working hours or

choosing a different pattern of work.

Yet, despite the majority of parents making

changes to their employment to

accommodate family responsibilities, 77%

commented that it was more difficult to

progress or develop a career after having

children.

For many the choice to make changes to

employment is taken at the expense of career

development, and indeed the report details

many quotes from parents which discuss how

they felt forced to give up their career

ambitions, or were side-tracked into another

path and find themselves unable to progress

any further. More mothers than fathers find

themselves in these situations.

Many respondents also discussed the daily

challenge of being a working parent. A

staggering 91% of parents commented that it

is difficult to combine work with family

commitments and responsibilities.

When suggesting solutions which could

help make this easier, parents commented on

government interventions, such as new

polices for working parents, and better

information on financial support, working

rights and childcare. However, although these

are important asks, the role of the employer

in better supporting parents was paramount

in the results - when it comes to creating a

suitable work-life balance, the employer is at

the front line, they are crucial in facilitating

and encouraging work-life balance.

How can employers better supportworking parents?

There are five main ways respondents

suggested as to actions which could be taken

to better support working parents:

1. Practice increased flexibility This could be through the provision of

policies, such as flexitime, home-working or

job-share. However, a flexible approach could

simply include facilitating parents when they

need to take time off to deal with

emergencies. Some parents suggested

allowing parents to work at home when their

children are ill, or allowing the build-up of

TOIL to facilitate other commitments.

Flexitime in particular helps parents with

school or childcare pick-up and drop-offs,

which can reduce the childcare bill and ease

the stress of rushing into work.

2. Ensure equality of opportunity Numerous parents commented that once

they were on a part-time contact they were

no longer eligible to apply for senior roles, or

conversely managers or senior officials felt

that they could no longer request flexibility. A

number of respondents suggested solutions

to this such as home-working or job-share.

3. Provide better information Many respondents asked that their

employers provided better, up-front,

information on the policies which are

available to them, both statutory entitlements

and company policy. A number of means in

which this could be communicated were

suggested, for example using the staff

intranet, company newsletters, during

inductions and staff workshops.

4. Offer Childcare Support The cost of childcare can cause a significant

financial burden for families, finding

affordable and suitable childcare can also be a

challenge. Many parents suggested that their

employer could help with childcare through

providing the Childcare Voucher Scheme,

which helps parents save up to £1,800 per

year on their childcare bill.

Other parents suggested that employers

make available onsite childcare for their

employees. This is convenient for parents,

and can also help save money on the cost

though the Workplace Nurseries Scheme.

5. Be more understanding Aside from all other asks, many parents

simply called for their employers to be more

understanding of working parents and their

needs. A number of respondents commented

that they wished for their employer to be

more approachable and open to supporting

parents and discussing flexibility.

Many parents commented that they

understood why in some cases permanent

flexible working arrangements were not a

viable option, but asked that their employers

could be more flexible in certain

circumstances, for example in emergencies or

for school appointments.

For those employers who offer family

friendly work practices, parents called for

employers to respect the policies in place, for

example looking at the workload of part-time

employees and managing their work

expectations better, or not organising

meetings during non-working hours.

Overall…The report shows that many local parents

are struggling to find a suitable work-life

balance, but with right support it is

achievable.

The role of the employer is crucial – the

parents in the survey who were most satisfied

with their work-life balance were those who

worked for supportive employers. Research

shows that when employees can strike a

suitable balance they are more motivated,

productive and more likely to stay with the

company – all of which also benefit the

employer.

Employers For Childcare has always

encouraged the use of family friendly policies,

and on the back of the findings of the ‘Striking

the Balance’ report it is clear that much more

needs to be done, the group have already

started working on developing a package of

support for employers. This will be rolled out

in the coming months.

It is hoped that the findings of the report

will act as a catalyst for change and that they

will encourage employers, and government,

to better support parents today and lay a

better foundation for those employees who

will become working parents in the future.

The ‘Striking the Balance’ report is available

to download from

www.employersforchildcare.org.

The role of the employer is crucial – the parents in the survey who weremost satisfied with their work-life balance were those who worked forsupportive employers.Striking the Balance Report


http://www.employersforchildcare.org


Belfast is on track to deliver one of its most

successful tourism years to date, with

hotel occupancy, visitor interest and

tourist enquiries all at record levels for the nine

months of 2015 and the body responsible for

promoting its tourism credentials across the

world is confident of further growth –

particularly in the business tourism arena.

“Belfast has established itself as an award-

winning business tourism destination and

concurrently developed strategy to secure more

high-profile conferences and events for future

growth – this success is further assured by the

commitment being shown to developing the

sector, the investments being made and the

dedicated industry focus on a quality hospitality

offering,” said Laurie, who joins Visit Belfast

from Visit Britain, where he spent more than

seven years as Business Development Manager,

then Partnership Development Manager, based

in New York.

Scottish-born Laurie, who studied hospitality

management and tourism management at both

Napier University and Glasgow Caledonian

University, is looking forward to the challenges

ahead.

“Belfast may be a small city but it can really

pack a punch on the international meetings,

incentives, conferences and events sector. Sales

success and direct experience have shown that

the city can deliver and I fully expect this to

continue.”

Further adding that new Belfast Waterfront,

which opens next year following a £29.9 million

expansion and refurbishment programme by

Belfast City Council will make a significant

difference to the future growth of conference

and business tourism in the city and that much

work has already been done to secure major

events for the exiting, innovative new space.

“The facilities available at the Belfast

Waterfront will help place the city in a new

league of opportunity, allowing us to compete

for more international business and for events

with delegate sizes that were previously out of

reach.

“That job has already been started - Visit

Belfast, along with our partners, look forward to

continuing that good work in securing new

leads and conference wins for the city.”

The Waterfront's expansion will see the

venue's event space double in size as well as

provide a wealth of support services and

additional event space. Its impressive 2,000-

seat auditorium will host the plenary sessions,

whilst two new multi-purpose halls spanning

over 2,500m2 are ideal for exhibition space and

the gala dinner.

Earlier this year, following a joint bid, Visit

Belfast and Belfast Waterfront revealed that

they had secured the annual International

Surgical Congress of the Association of

Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI)

as the first conference to use the Waterfront`s

new 7,000m2 facility. The event take place in

May 2016 and it is anticipated that the event

will generate £2.2m for the local economy.

There are many more on the horizon.Earlier this year, Visit Belfast unveiled its

strategy for the next three years and outlined

plans to more than double overnight stays in the

city to 690,000 by 2018 as it looked to extend the

city’s year-round and city-break appeal to

business and leisure visitors from the UK, Ireland

and overseas.

Business tourism will have a significant role to

play in delivering that growth, Laurie said.

“Belfast has already secured many major and

high profile conferences which have made other

cities really sit up and notice,” said Laurie.

“Conferences such as Routes Europe,

announced earlier this year, will bring key

decision-makers from airlines, airports and

tourism authorities to Northern Ireland, an

event which is the right fit for the city on many

levels.

“Not only will it bring welcome visitor

revenue, it will generate a wider, longer-term

economic impact, and creates positive

advocates.

“Most importantly, it provides Belfast and

Northern Ireland with an opportunity to

showcase our strengths and abilities to a new

international audience. The importance of

events such as these can’t be overstated.”

Laurie is excited about the future.“It’s a great pleasure to be heading Visit

Belfast’s business tourism team at such an

exciting time and I look forward to working

with industry partners to ensure that Belfast

and Northern Ireland continues to build on its

reputation as a quality conference and meetings

destination.”

Visit Belfast is a public-private sector

partnership, representing over 500 tourism

business. Funded by Belfast City Council and

supported by the Northern Ireland Tourist

Board, Visit Belfast has strategic partnerships

with Translink, Diageo Northern Ireland and

Value Cabs, as well as corporate partnerships

with Hastings Group, Victoria Square and

Titanic Belfast.

Putting business tourism firstBusiness tourism is an integral part of the tourism mix, attracting overnight visitors for meetings, events and conferences - for an urbandestination like Belfast, it often delivers a greater impact to the overall tourism performance of the city. With city wide investment andthe opening of the extended Belfast Waterfront, the prospects for growth have never been greater, according to Laurie Scott, VisitBelfast’s newly-appointed Business Development Manager.

Belfast may be a smallcity but it can reallypack a punch on theinternational meetings,incentives,conferences andevents sector. Salessuccess and directexperience haveshown that the city candeliver and I fullyexpect this to continue.Laurie Scott



When planning an event or meeting,

one of the most important aspects is

Location, Location, and Location.

You may have to consider that delegates will

be travelling from different regions of

Northern Ireland to attend your event.

When considering a venue, then look no

further than Maldron Hotel Belfast. Located

in the heart of Northern Ireland, only a two-

minute walk from Belfast International

Airport and just 20 minutes outside Belfast.

The Maldron Hotel Belfast the perfect

location for your next meeting or event!

Easily accessible from the M1 and M2,

making Maldron Hotel Belfast, the ideal

meeting point for any regional businesses.

Maldron Hotel Belfast is perfectly located for

corporate meetings when you are bringing

people together from different parts of the

region or even from further afield.

Avoid the traffic and parking issues of

Belfast City Centre with stress-free access to

Maldron Hotel Belfast. All conference guests

can avail of complimentary Parking and WiFi.

At the Maldron Hotel Belfast you will find

there is a conference room to suit any event

or budget! The hotel offers 10 impressive

conference rooms with capacity for up to 250

delegates. Each suite can be tailored for any

event such as training, product launches,

networking, interview or exhibitions.

Maldron Hotel Belfast is renowned for high

standards, outstanding service and a keen eye

for detail.

So think of Maldron Hotel Belfast when you

are planning your next meeting and take

advantage of our great facilities.

Our conference team offers a highly

personalised approach to meetings and

events, trained to offer you a tailored and

professional service. Contact them with your

meeting requirements and will provide a

bespoke quote to match your needs.

Or visit our website

maldronhotelbelfast.com

Contact 028 9445 7000 or email

[email protected].

Maldron Hotel Belfast – the perfect conference partner!



Local organisations will soon benefit from

having new world class event facilities

right on their doorstep. The opening of

the newly extended Belfast Waterfront in May

2016 will bring an impressive range of spaces

and services unique to Northern Ireland.

For almost 20 years the venue has built an

outstanding reputation for all kinds of

business functions. Long-standing client

Gillian McKee, Deputy Managing Director at

Business in the Community NI explains:

“Belfast Waterfront is a fantastic venue. I

would recommend the Waterfront to anyone

requiring a first class event or conferencing

service. The location is ideal and the venue

offers a unique space, superb catering

facilities and a highly professional staff, who

have always gone out of their way to ensure

our events were a tremendous success.”

The new 7,000m2 facility will continue to

elevate Northern Ireland’s finest onto the

world stage as well as attract more

international conferences – an estimated

70,000 delegates are already destined for the

stunning riverside venue.

Recognising the valuable contribution

events make to the local economy Belfast City

Council, Tourism Northern Ireland and the

European Regional Development Fund

together invested £29.5m in the new

development to further enhance the city’s

ability to accommodate conferences on a

larger scale.

The newly extended Belfast Waterfront

promises not to disappoint. In keeping with

the venue’s contemporary style, it will house

two new interconnecting multipurpose halls

spanning over 2,500m2; three large meeting

rooms, each accommodating up to 200

delegates and a new riverside entrance

leading to a 660m2 reception area. And

boasting stunning exterior terraces, delicious

local produce and service that’s second to

none, clients are guaranteed something

extraordinary every time, no matter the size

or type of event.

The Ulster HallIn contrast, for businesses seeking a truly

alternative venue steeped in history, the

legendary Ulster Hall fits the bill.

‘The Grand Dame of Bedford Street' exudes

elegance and charm that continues to win the

hearts and minds of its guests.

This classic beauty is the perfect venue for

fashion shows, weddings, drinks reception,

gala dinners or exhibitions.

This 19th century masterpiece features

elegant Victorian architecture, diverse spaces

and the striking Mulholland Grand Organ.

The venue can cater for up to 1,000

delegates and boasts an impressive client list

including Tourism Northern Ireland, EY and

Arts and Business Northern Ireland.

Alternatively, the Group Space seats up to

100 and is ideal for an intimate wedding

ceremony or reception or a private art

exhibition.

Whether you chose the Grand Hall, Group

Space or one of its five meeting rooms, the

space can be fitted with AV technology and

managed by an experienced team - delivering

the wow factor.

There’s no denying, both Belfast Waterfront

and the Ulster Hall have what it takes to put

the extra into extraordinary events!

For more information on both venues

contact the Waterfront and the Ulster Hall

sales team. Call 028 9033 4400, email

[email protected] or visit

www.waterfront.co.uk and

www.ulsterhall.co.uk.

Putting the extra into extraordinary events


http://www.waterfront.co.uk

http://www.ulsterhall.co.uk


[1]Grant Thornton Northern Ireland has

appointed Kim McCourt as Forensic and

Investigation Services Manager. Her role will

include developing Grant Thornton’s Forensic

Accountancy and Investigation Services in the

Northern Ireland market place. Kim has 10

years’ experience conducting financial and

non-financial investigations and drafting

expert witness testimony and is a member of

Chartered Accountants Ireland as well as an

Associate Member of the Association of

Certified Fraud Examiners.

[2] Grant Thornton Northern Ireland has

appointed Emma Brannigan as Associate

Director. Her role will include managing a

portfolio of audit clients, with responsibility

for delivering audits and fulfilling regulatory

and statutory obligations. Emma has 11 years’

experience and has worked across a vast

range of industries including media,

manufacturing, software and internet related

services. She is a member of Chartered

Accountants Ireland.

[3] Hugh McGrattan has joined Carson

McDowell as partner and head of the firm’s

professional indemnity team. He was

previously partner in another leading Belfast

firm for over 20 years. Hugh specialises in

Professional Indemnity and Defendants’

litigation, acting on behalf of insurers and a

range of professionals. He has developed

considerable expertise defending solicitors,

accountants, architects, engineers, surveyors,

estate agents and insurance brokers in

Professional Negligence actions.

[4] Naomi Gaston has joined the Banking and

Finance team at Carson McDowell as an

Associate in 2015 from her most recent

position as Senior Associate in an

international law firm. Naomi is dual-qualified

to practice as a solicitor in Northern Ireland

and in England & Wales. She advises all

aspects of non-contentious banking and

restructuring including secured and

unsecured lending, acquisitions and

refinancing.

[5] Una Mackle has joined the Commercial

Litigation Team at Carson McDowell. Una

works closely with Partner, Hugh McGrattan

and Associate, Kirsten Magee in defending

professional indemnity claims on behalf of

solicitors, architects, valuers, engineers,

accountants and other professionals and their

insurers. She joins from another Belfast firm

where she acted in a wide range of litigation

cases.

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

[6] Enya McKenna has joined the

Healthcare team at Carson McDowell. She

acts for a number of Medical Defence

Organisations representing the interests of

medical practitioners in Clinical Negligence

claims. Enya also acts on behalf of various

insurance companies in relation to the

defence of employers liability and public

liability claims including slipping/tripping

claims, industrial disease and manual

handling claims in both the County Court

and High Court.

[7] Lighthouse Communications has

appointed Mark Sterling as Senior Client

Manager. A former journalist, Mark has more

than six years’ experience in delivering

successful corporate, consumer and crisis

management campaigns on behalf of high

profile clients. Mark will manage and

implement communications strategies to

achieve specific objectives for clients such as

Arthur Cox, HeartSine, Montgomery

Transport, Huhtamaki and Mary Peters

Trust.

[8] Ian Wolfendale has ben apppointed

Northern Ireland Client Engagement

Manager at Jumpstart, the UK’s leading

specialist in Research and Development

(R&D) tax relief. In his role, Ian will look to

develop stronger engagement with clients in

Northern Ireland and increase uptake by

firms across the province. With strong

existing relationships with professional

advisers and company directors in NI, Ian

will ensure that any interested parties are

educated on the advantages to be gained

from R&D tax relief. investors throughout

the United Kingdom.

9. Flora Delargy has been appointed Client

Executive at Lighthouse Communications.

With experience in professional services and

corporate finance Flora will be

implementing PR and communication

strategies for clients such as George Best

Belfast City Airport, Donnelly Group, Grant

Thornton, Lisney and Omexom.

Business First celebrates your success


2 Padel Tennis courts6 Motorbike SimulatorsSoccer Pool

Coming to Eddie Irvine Sportsjust in time for Christmas

BUSINESS IN COMMUNTY

Arts & Business NI’s Professional

Development Programmes match local

businesses with cultural arts boards

through initiatives such as Board Bank and

Young Professionals, believing that a strong

board and outstanding governance is vital to

any organisation’s success.

It is also an excellent opportunity for staff in

their own personal development capacity in

gaining experience as a non-executive

director or trustee and in developing key

skills including: strategic management,

leadership, influence, problem solving,

creative thinking, confidence building and

developing networks.

Arts & Business NI undertook the

rewarding challenge in bringing new talent

onto the exceptionally accomplished current

board and is delighted to announce the

appointment of five new Directors to the Arts

& Business NI Board.

The new appointments are: Martin Bradley

MBE, chair, Millennium Forum Theatre and

Craft Northern Ireland; Maureen McLaughlin,

Operations Director, Diamond Corrugated;

Thérèse Rafferty, Head of Regeneration for

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon

Borough Council; Jaime Steele, Managing

Director, Pale Blue Dot and Gráinne Walsh,

Head of Consulting, Stratagem.

Martin Bradley MBE is

a former Mayor of Derry

City Council, was chair of

Culture Company 2013,

the body responsible for

the delivery of the first UK

City of Culture in

Derry/Londonderry.

He has extensive connections with the arts

community in the city and wider region. He is

currently Chairman of the Millennium Forum

Theatre and Craft Northern Ireland as well as

former Chair of the Ormeau Baths Gallery

Belfast and former vice-chair of the Arts

Council for NI. He was awarded an MBE in

January 2008 for services to the arts in

Northern Ireland.

Maureen McLaughlin is

Operations Director of

Diamond Corrugated and

an industrial professional

with over 20 years’

experience in

manufacturing. Maureen

graduated from the

University of Strathclyde in Glasgow with an

honours degree in business and a post

graduate diploma in marketing.

She travelled to the United States and lived

and worked in Florida until returning to

Ireland spending time in both Dublin and

Limerick. From her first taste of the

packaging Industry as a fresh graduate,

Maureen continued to work in the industry

and found herself in packaging roles

wherever she travelled.

On returning to the North West, Maureen

joined Diamond Corrugated in 1998 as

Business Development Manager. In 2001 she

became General Manager and in 2004

assumed the role of Operations Director.

Maureen sees the Arts very much as an

industry as well as a personal pleasure and it

is her industry experience that will support

the “business” of Arts & Business NI in her

role as director.

Thérèse Rafferty lives

in Banbridge and is Head

of Regeneration for

Armagh City, Banbridge

and Craigavon Borough

Council. She leads and

directs a wide range of

strategies within the

Council’s Corporate Plan and enables the

economic and regeneration strategy of the

district including developing and promoting

tourism and EU programmes. Thérèse advises

on regional and local policy as it affects the

Council.

She is a former school governor and holder

of a ministerial appointment. Previously, she

managed the Regional Development Office

within the Ulster University including the

establishment of the NI Centre for

Entrepreneurship in partnership with

Queen’s University, Belfast.

Jaime Steele is

managing director of

award-winning marketing

and advertising agency,

Pale Blue Dot Creative. He

is a digital and brand

strategist, creative thinker

and marketer. Jaime

brings over fifteen years’ international

experience to the board, having worked with

clients throughout the world, including start-

ups, charitable organisations, political parties,

professional athletes and global blue-chip

companies.

Gráinne Walsh is head

of Consultancy advising

some of Stratagem public

affairs’ longest-term

clients and has provided

project management to

organisations working in

complex legislative and

regulatory environments. She plays a key role

in all aspects of the business, including

pioneering Stratagem’s award winning

corporate social responsibility activities.

In her time with Stratagem, Gráinne, a

native of Dublin, has developed an expert

knowledge and understanding of politics,

policy and governance both in Northern

Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, providing

high level public affairs support and advice

for clients in the energy and public health

sectors in particular.

The current board members of Arts &

Business NI chaired by Dr Joanne Stuart OBE

(Chair), Director of Development at the

Northern Ireland Science Park are excited to

work with the new members in driving the

organisation forward and in continuing to

support the local arts sector whilst working

alongside the business world.

Dr Joanne Stuart OBE, Chair, Arts &

Business NI and director of Development at

the Northern Ireland Science Park remarked:

“The new appointments to the Arts &

Business NI board have brought great

strength and talent, increasing the skills set

and complementing the existing board.

“I look forward to working with the board

to strengthen and build upon the excellent

reputation of Arts & Business NI.”

Current board members are: Dan Gordon, Actor, Director and Writer;

Michael Johnston, Managing Partner,

Carson McDowell LLP;

Cecil Russell, ASM Financial Planning,

Neil Holland, Head of Sales & Marketing,

Arc Applied Sciences in the UK;

June McCluskey, Finance & Governance at

HSC South Eastern Trust and

Tony Kennedy OBE, Chair, The John Hewitt

Society.


Five new appointments to Arts & Business NI board



Sustainable consumption is about society

using resources at a rate that the planet’s

systems we rely on can sustain, and at a

rate that does not jeopardise the needs of

future generations.

In practice, this means people living more

sustainable lives. One key aspect of this is the

products/services consumers buy and how

these are used. Sustainable consumption is

wholly integrated with and dependent upon

its sister concept of sustainable production

(which describes the design,

development, production and supply

of goods/services in a sustainable

manner).

Resource Efficiency aims to

maximise the use of materials

with minimal waste

production. Resource

efficiency has traditionally

emphasised minimising

waste disposal by

preventing its production,

reusing and recycling

materials and products,

and recovering energy

from remaining material.

However, a resource-led

approach is increasingly the

aim of companies today, based

on reducing the intensity of

resource use through

stewardship, improving

performance and avoiding the

negative environmental impacts

associated with certain materials.

Until relatively recently, resource security

has not until been a primary concern for

many businesses, however increasingly there

have been issues of supply and rising costs

across a wide range of raw materials – not

only oil and minerals but everyday resources

such as timber.

Associated with this is the increasing

imperative to responsibly source materials to

avoid negative environmental and social

impacts. Companies that are under pressure

are increasingly forced to consider resource

replacement, using substitutes, replacing

virgin materials with recycled materials and

stopping the use of others.

Looking forward, however, approaches

based on resource management – maximising

efficiencies, re-using products and utilising

closed loop systems – may offer an alternative

route.

What is a Circular EconomyA Circular Economy is an alternative to a

traditional linear economy (make, use,

dispose) in which we keep resources in use

for as long as possible, extract the maximum

value from them whilst in use, then recover

and regenerate products and materials at the

end of each

service life.

Those companies that are working towards

a circular approach seek to maximise the

potential for their products to be reused,

returned for remanufacture or easily recycled,

keeping the materials within the circular

economy. Opportunities are sought for

developing closed loop value chains,

extending product life, product reuse,

remanufacturing and repair – and product

and service design which allows these to

happen.

The Circular Revolution - an Imperial

College London report commissioned by

Veolia (who head up Business in the

Community’s National Environment

Leadership Team) indicates that adopting a

Circular Economy could contribute £29

billion (1.8 per cent) of GDP and create

175,000 new UK jobs.

The McKinsey Centre for Business and

Environment, authors of Growth Within: aCircular Economy Vision for a CompetitiveEurope, point towards the need for a shared

agenda across all sectors and policy domains.

Recognising the clear potential to address

growth and job creation whilst

simultaneously tackling key environmental

impacts, the move towards a Circular

Economy is at the heart of the

European Union’s resource

efficiency agenda established

under the Europe 2020 Strategy

for smart, sustainable and

inclusive growth, and the

European Commission aims

to present its new,

ambitious Circular

Economy Strategy late in

2015, to transform Europe

into a more competitive

resource-efficient

economy.

With global mega-trends

including increased

connectedness, increasing

transparency for businesses

and the decline of blind

consumerism, there is space for

businesses to really improve the

quality of the conversation with

citizens around sustainable living.

Businesses that engage with consumers

around sustainability and sustainable

consumption will be the market leaders of the

future, will gain strong consumer loyalty and

trust, boost reputation and create competitive

advantage.

In the coming months, Business in the

Community will be focusing on the Circular

Economy and how to best engage Northern

Ireland companies with this issue. Find out

more at Business in the Community at

www.bitcni.org.uk.

Sustainable consumptionand the circular economy


http://www.bitcni.org.uk


The 6 series BMW has always been a big

car since it first appeared in the 80’s as

the loved Batmobile.

Fast forward to 2015 and the BMW 6 series

is in its third generation. Available with petrol

or diesel engines and in three body styles:

gran coupe which has a longer wheelbase,

coupe and convertible.

I tested the 640D Convertible which was

fitted with a twin Turbo 313 bhp 3.0 litre

diesel engine driving the rear wheels through

an 8 speed auto gearbox. The first thing I

noticed was the sheer bulk and size of this

handsome car, some subtle changes to the

exterior including all day LED running lights

and really just a few tweaks here and there.

Once on board you do realise that the long

nose housing the engine takes getting used

too as you sit quite far back in chassis. The

interior itself is –well just BMW.

The driving position is comfortable and the

passenger seat is roomy and although it’s

considered a four seater the passengers in the

back are squeezed a bit for legroom. So for

such a big car the interior is surprisingly

compact.

Meanwhile the boot is adequate although

the roof – which is simple to operate with the

push the button folding it away beautifully –

takes up a lot of space.

Out on the road the Big Six will hit 60mph

in about 5.5 seconds, the power delivery is

smooth and once on the move it really does

not feel as big as it looks.

The suspension systems have been honed

to the character of the individual models and

can now be further personalised through

options like Dynamic Damper Control, which

varies its responses electronically according

to where and how the car is being driven;

Adaptive Drive, which includes roll

stabilisation; and Integral Active Steering,

which introduces an element of rear-wheel

steer to reduce the amount of turning effort

needed while enhancing agility. I felt that

when I set the suspension in sport or sport +

mode it really was too hard and it crashed out

over every pot hole, but not to worry comfort

mode was good and the 6 Series handled well.

The diesel engine also returned a very

respectable 40 miles per gallon.

It may not be the most practical car in the

world, but on a long journey, maybe on the

AutoRoute’s across Europe the BMW 6 series

would really come into its own, easily

covering 500-600 miles in a day and leaving

its passengers fully refreshed and its driver

very happy.

The 640D Convertible comes with a starting

price tag £62,295.00 add on a few extras and

the car I tested was £81,000.01 it’s a lot of

money.

by Ian Beasant, BUSINESSFIRSTMAGAZINEmotoring correspondentBMW GRAND TOURER



We live in a world of austerity where

people with money do not even want

to show it. Rewind ten years and if

you had any money at all you were driving the

latest, fastest flashiest car on the road where

Bling was king.

Today people are buying cars that are

practical, useful, economical and which raises

no undue interest.

So I Introduce you to a five-door medium

sized car that is extremely well built with 367

bhp; yes that’s right, 367bhp making it

capable of 174 mph, 0.60mph in 4.3 seconds

complete with four-wheel drive that offers

over 35 miles to the gallon. Not only that it is

great fun to drive at all speeds, it is

comfortable, has adjustable suspension and a

super sweet DSG gearbox. It is the new Audi

RS3 Sport back and it is a great car.

On the outside it looks little different from

the Audi Sportback you meet on the road

every day. But look a little closer and you

notice the give-away Red RS3 badge in the

honeycomb grill. From behind also you will

notice the subtle diffuser below the back

panel housing the exhaust from the five-

cylinder turbocharged engine.

Inside you find the excellent quality of build

and materials that Audi do so well. But it is all

done very subtly, there is nothing garish or

blingy inside where it is classier and the

sports seats are just perfect. Push the start

button and oh what a sound - a deep grumble

that is music to any car lover.

Select Drive and off you go. Now find a

straight piece of road and floor the RS3 –

there is a tiny bit of turbo lag as the engine

noise grows even sweeter and your kidneys

are left in the back seat as the car eats the

road like it’s not there.

It takes a little time to get used to but I

reckon it would take years to get bored with.

With Audi’s now well tried and tested Quattro

drive system the RS3 stays well stuck to the

road and the brakes are brilliant and it stops

as quickly as it goes all with no sense of

drama.

The RS3 has hit the spot where you can

have a supercar and use it every day. It will

accommodate four people with ease and the

boot space is far from shabby either. I drove it

on various roads in and around the city and it

was easy to achieve 35 miles per gallon. The

five-cylinder engine makes it perfect for town

driving as it is so torquey but you have power

available when you need making it as good on

a twisty road as it is on the motorway.

The RS3 starts at around £40,000 –yes a lot

of money but this is a lot of car. Most buyers

are expected to spend another £8-10,000 on

extras from Audi’s extensive extras menu

which was on my test car that came in at

£51,500. Even so it is some car and so

understated other road users will love you.

Audi RS3 SportbackUndercover Supercar



The Vauxhall Viva is back. The original

Viva was on the market from 1960 and

Vauxhall took it through three

evolutions before the name and production

was called to a halt in 1979.

Vauxhall has designed the original Viva to

be a small fun to drive, practical car. It worked

and was a massive seller – now 36 years on

can the new Viva do the same?

Well, in short the answer to that would be

yes. The new Viva is powered by a 1.0

3cylinder 75 horse power petrol engine and it

is a little beauty. The five–speed gearbox that

drives the front wheels has a lovely slick

super smooth change. The Viva is aimed at the

city car market and it certainly ticks all the

boxes. It is extremely well equipped with all

the safety and comfort features you could

think of.

From the outside the Viva looks good it sits

quite high for a car but is definitely not a cross

over. And it is slightly shorter than the

Vauxhall Corsa - although it does not look it.

The interior is well equipped and

comfortable and with the ability to adjust the

steering column and height adjustment on the

driver’s seat it is easy to find a comfortable

driving position. You could also have enough

room for four passengers as well. It’s a bit like

a Tardis inside – extremely roomy and very

practical.

The boot is not over generous, but then

again it is a city car and offers enough space

to do all the jobs you need. I even found when

cruising at 70mph on the motorway the car

was quiet and comfortable. And even on a

more twisty and bumpy B road the Viva

showed its qualities and handled nicely and

precisely. The ride was excellent with neither

thumps nor bumps from the suspension.

The 1.0 litre engine revs freely if you want

to push on a bit and during my test averaged

62 miles per gallon which is not to be sniffed

at. If you really want the Viva will do a

106mph – but what I liked about it most is

that the Viva is so easy and effortless to drive

yet still engaging. Its practical and I think it is

true what they say “simple is efficient”.

The Viva does everything so well it is

probably one of the best cars I have tested

this year. It is competitively priced at £7,995

on the road putting it right at the heart of the

most competitive place in the market where

all manufactures are looking a slice of the

cake. Vauxhall maybe a little late in joining,

but I think it will have been worth the wait.

Suzuki have gone back to the drawing

board to produce the new Vitara. This

rugged, strong, well built and extremely

well priced car is now a contender with any

budget off-roader available on the market at

present. After spending a week with the new

Vitara, I think Suzuki is right on the mark

and it offers two engines both 1.6litre one

petrol the other diesel -120bhp for the petrol

engine and 118bhp for the diesel – not much

between them.

The petrol engine is a beauty with a free

revving and fluid power delivery that never

feels short of power. It is refined –so refined

in fact whilst sitting on traffic I had to check

it was still running. The ALLGRIP

transmission is driven through a five–speed

gearbox which was light and easy to use. The

AllGRIP system is really unnoticeable on

normal day-to-day driving and is very

sophisticated offering features like hill

descent control, hill hold control, and a

feedback function. This works by sending

more torque to the rear wheels if it detects

wheel spin at the front.

The option is there to set the transmission in

three modes, Sport – really good for a twisty

road, Snow – do I need to say anymore other

than you will not get stuck and Auto where the

Virtara does it all for you .

Suzuki has designed this Vitara to be as

good on the road as it is off and on a twisty

road it really handles well for a vehicle of

this size. In fact the handling is similar and

nearly as sharp as the much acclaimed Swift.

Inside the Vitara is well equipped,

comfortable and definitely built to last. There

may be some hard plastics but they are in the

right places and the Vitara is a SUV that is

usually chosen by customers who like

something strong, rugged and practical.

The good news is it’s easy to spruce up the

Suzuki’s cabin because all models come with

a customisable body-coloured strip that runs

almost the length of the dashboard. And you

also get equipment such as a seven-inch

touchscreen and a big panoramic glass roof

that floods the cabin with light.

The transmission is excellent offering

features that would normally be seen on

high-end, high-cost SUVs. With prices from

£13.999 it really is hard to go past.

Suzuki Vitara

Viva the Viva! by Ian Beasant, BUSINESSFIRSTMAGAZINEmotoring correspondent



Over the past 12 months, I have spoken

to many business owners and fleet

managers who have expressed a desire

to reduce the cost of vehicle usage in their

businesses.

A simple review of the company’s historic

vehicle requirements has highlighted areas

where significant cost has been unnecessarily

incurred.

Take, for example, the IT company which

committed to a three year contract hire deal

but had to downsize during the recession.

Having to lose staff was hard enough but the

company also found itself tied in to a contract

for vehicles which it had no longer any

requirement for.

When business picked up, the company

chose a risk free monthly rental solution for

the newly appointed Account Executive,

intending this to run for the employee’s three

month probationary period. Sound judgment

as it turned out - the new executive left the

business within a week!

Needless to say, the company now routinely

rents vehicles for new recruits.

It’s worth mentioning that those days when

companies simply went down to the local

garage to purchase their cars or vans for the

business, with little thought for depreciation

or the impact this had on cashflow, are long

gone.

Savvy business managers now pay as much

attention to business costs as they

traditionally have to income.

For many businesses, the less risky fixed

term and cost of a leasing arrangement has

become more preferable.

Some employers also offer perceived

incentives such as salary sacrifice schemes

and fuel allowances for staff who have access

to company vehicles or who use their own

vehicles for business purposes (also known as

“grey fleet”).

But are any of these options really the right

solution for your business?

For the SME Sector, in particular, flexible

fixed cost vehicle rental is fast becoming the

preferred solution for the business.

The ability to hire and off-hire the latest

fuel-efficient vehicles according to business

needs can not only reduce vehicle

expenditure but will often enhance the

company’s image. It is the flexibility and

accessibility to cars and vans which can very

often keep your business moving in the right

direction!

If you suspect that you are spending too

much money on running vehicles in your

business, it is highly likely that you are. The

simple question is: “What are you going to do

about it?”

Europcar is officially Northern Ireland’s

Best Short Term Rental Provider 2015 (asvoted by Business Eye Fleet Industry Awards).

We don’t try to sell you a service you won’t

need – we try to save you money and time on

using a service which you do!

If you would like to find out more about

how Europcar can help your business save

time and money, please call Mark Maguire on

07969 109425 or email me at

[email protected].

Finding the right mobility solutionfor your business



The Final Word


The CBI in Northern Ireland has set out its

plan for the economic regeneration of

Northern Ireland (see page 16). At the heart

of its demands lie two projects – the A6 upgrade

to improve Derry’s connectivity with Belfast and

the A5, which runs between Derry and Dublin.

The significance of these two projects for the

economy of the North West was made absolutely

clear at the recent Danske Bank/LondonderryChamber of Commerce North West BusinessDebate. Those attending were not just insistent

that there is a good quality road, in particular,

between Derry and Belfast, they were angry that

it is not already in place.

In private, many of Northern Ireland’s most

senior decision-makers say similar things. ‘Why,’

they typically ask, ‘is there not a good road

between Belfast and Derry?’ Yet their dismay at

the absence of an adequate road connection

between Northern Ireland’s two major cities has

not translated into the action needed to build it.

That gap between recognising what needs to be

done and taking the necessary decisions is

symptomatic of the culture of government in

Northern Ireland that causes serious problems

for our businesses.

At that North West Business Debate there was a

clear call from the audience for action. The

people in the room have invested their money

and time in setting-up and running businesses in

Derry-Londonderry. They understand what needs

to be done to make their firms more successful.

For transport and logistics companies, the

delays at Dungiven, Moneynick, Castledawson,

the Glenshane Pass and elsewhere delay their

journeys, adding cost and unreliability. For

owners and managers, it means that a short

meeting in Belfast can require almost a full day

out of the office. For potential investors, it can

produce a reaction of surprise – and not making

the visit to see what our city can offer.

That message was emphasised at the NorthWest Business Debate by recent arrival, professor

Paddy Nixon, the new vice chancellor of Ulster

University. Professor Nixon was forthright in his

criticisms not only of Derry’s road connections,

but also of the gaps in telecommunications

coverage in parts of the route between the West

and the East. Fellow panellist and finance

minister Arlene Foster listened carefully.

The distance between Belfast and Derry is

about 70 miles. On a motorway, that would take

about an hour. Yet a normal journey time

between the two cities is an hour and 45 minutes.

At some times of the day the journey can take

significantly more than two hours. Some of our

members report regular delays at Moneynick that

can last an hour at peak times. If there is a worse

road connection between the two major cities of

any other nation in Western Europe we would be

surprised.

As the CBI recognises, improving the road

connectivity for Derry is not merely of absolutely

central importance for the economy of the North

West – it is actually also essential for the

economic well-being of the whole of Northern

Ireland. The UK National Infrastructure Plan puts

it perfectly: “The quality of a nation’s

infrastructure is one of the foundations of its rate

of growth and the living standards of its people.”

To rephrase this in the negative, the poor quality

of the infrastructure of the North West of

Northern Ireland is a key reason for poor growth,

high unemployment and significant deprivation.

The UK Government’s recent road strategy

went on to spell out even more clearly the

importance of a high quality strategic road

network. It, said the strategy, “drives local

economic activity – it enables new housing and

business developments, encourages trade, and

attracts investment to local areas”. The report

gave examples of how road improvement

schemes had generated specific new investments

and major economic projects in parts of England.

We, in the North West, demand the same for our

economy.

What would an improved A6 mean for us? Our

businesses would become more productive; it

would increase the travel-to-work area and so

make the labour market more efficient; it would

extend market size for businesses not just in the

North West, but also in the East; and it would

help to make our sub-region financially

independent. In addition, a major road

improvement scheme would of itself help to

revitalise the construction industry – and not just

to the benefit of the North West.

So why has it not happened? It is possible that

some decision-makers in Belfast are simply

unaware of the poverty of the road connection. It

became clear during Derry’s year as City of

Culture that lots of Belfast residents had never

before visited Derry. Others perhaps visit the city

seldom, so do not dwell on our road

infrastructure problems. For businesses in the

North West, however, it is a daily problem that

cannot be ignored.

Ministers and MLAs in Stormont have a

responsibility. They must make government here

work and make the essential decisions. When

they do, we have a strong message. Improvingthe BelfastDerry road is essential for oureconomic health.

Northern Ireland’s poorinfrastructure is costing jobsby Sinead McLaughlin, chief executive, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce

The gap betweenrecognising whatneeds to be doneand taking thenecessary decisionsis symptomatic of theculture ofgovernment inNorthern Ireland thatcauses seriousproblems for ourbusinesses. Sinead McLoughlin


business first november-december 2015

Documents