Ulster Business - December 2015

TM

DECEMBER 2015 Price £2.30 (€3.75)

Leading from the front How First Trust are helping prepare tomorrow’s leaders

Public Sector: Winning business from NI’s biggest customer

Cross-Border Trade: How will a Brexit impact business with our neighbour?

ISSN 1363-2507

9 771363 250005

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Contents 6 News

52 Public Sector

80 Word from the Wise

The best of the month’s business news from across the region

All you need to know about tendering for public sector work

Owen Lamont, the managing director of Equiniti, offers some sage advice

14 Cover Story

62 Outsourcing

82 Motoring

We catch up with First Trust’s Director of Business and Corporate Banking Richard Ennis

Outsourcing can save time and money, but is it right for your company?

Pat “Fast Lane” Burns brings us the best offering from the forecourts this month

22 ICT Quarterly

71 Roundtable

88 Appointments

Employment minister Stephen Farry reveals what he’s doing to address the IT skills gap

We gather some cybersecurity experts together with insurance experts ABL

The who, what, why, when, and where of the recruitment world. It’s all here

40 Cross-border Trade

76 Business Breakfast

102 Travel

Economist John Simpson asks what a Brexit will mean for Northern Ireland

We keep it healthy with A&L Goodbody boss Peter Stafford at Home

The latest attempt by the editor to get his pilot’s license at the BA simulator

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22 62

40

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EDITOR’S COMMENT

Brexit, public sector and, of course, corporation tax

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elcome to the December issue of Ulster Business. In this magazine we take a look at some of the biggest issues impacting business across Northern Ireland at the current time.

From the great Brexit debate and what it means for cross-border traders here to one of the biggest threats to businesses large and small, cybersecurity.

We jump into the world of the public sector to find out how you could tender for a slice of smaller, but nevertheless considerable, slice of a very important pie, talk to Employment Minister Stephen Farry about the future for skills in the IT sector and even get time for some corridor lobbying with Alastair Campbell.

There’s no doubt the Executive’s dithering arrested the momentum of inward investment to Northern Ireland in the last few months but, with a definite pathway laid out for the business tax, hopefully those international business which had been patiently waiting on the sidelines will sign on the dotted line and offer the economy here a much-needed boost.

The Executive has pledged to get on with the business of running the country and after a heroic effort by all involved to get this unique selling point for Northern Ireland implemented – particularly by the late Sir George Quigley who came up with the idea many years ago – we must now make sure we make the most of it.

The offering is tempting, by any means.

And we can’t help joining in the cheering to be found in the wake of the revelation of a “rate and date” around the devolution of corporation tax to Stormont.

April 2018 may be a year later than we expected, but to get it at all in the face of such political instability is a huge achievement and means we can all get planning.

David Elliott

Publisher Greer Publications 5b Edgewater Business Park Belfast Harbour Estate, Belfast BT3 9JQ www.ulsterbusiness.com Tel: 028 9078 3200

Editor David Elliott

Art Editor Stuart Gray

Manager Sonia Armstrong

Production Manager Stuart Gray

Printer W&G Baird Greystone Press, Caulside Drive, Antrim BT41 2RS www.wgbaird.com

Deputy Manager Sylvie Brando

Cover Photography Brian Morrison

Greer Publications © 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of Greer Publications.

DECEMBER 2015

A highly-skilled, low tax economy with a relatively low cost of living which is part of Europe (at least for now) and part of the UK is an inward investors dream.

Sure why wouldn’t you?

Sales Executive Susan Simpson

Free to download. Free to read. ulsterbusiness/app 5

NEWS

The Big Numbers 12.5 The percentage to which corporation tax in Northern Ireland will drop to once power is devolved to Stormont in April 2018. The setting of a “date and rate” was said to be crucial in persuading overseas companies to invest here.

VAT still top of the agenda for hospitality sector

20 The percentage of corporation tax on profits which is currently charged to companies in Northern Ireland and in the rest of the UK.

£95m The annual manufacturing exports from Northern Ireland to China in the most recent year, an increase of 58% on four years ago. Animal hides are one of our biggest exporting products but a contingent of local companies on a trade mission to the region last month was hoping to expand that to other, more high tech products.

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The annual savings which a second NorthSouth Interconnector would make to annual electricity “curtailment” costs.

ut VAT for the hospitality sector and 2,200 jobs will be created each year.

That was the carrot which industry body Hospitality Ulster dangled in front of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee in Westminster last month as it lobbied for value added tax for the sector to be dropped to 9% from 20% currently.

£485

Such a move would bring it in line with the tax structure in the Republic and allow hospitality businesses here to compete on an even footing.

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The annual full time average weekly earnings for workers in both the private and public sector in Northern Ireland, up 5.4% on last year but below the £501 average for the UK as a whole. Average private sector only earnings in Northern Ireland stand at £429, while in the public sector earnings stand at £577.

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As well as the additional jobs, a tax cut would also boost the tourism industry by some £25m annually, Colin Neill, the chief executive of Hospitality Ulster said.

“There is no doubt the potential impact of a reduction in tourism VAT in Northern Ireland is significant. Based on the experience of the Republic of Ireland we can predict

the growth a reduction in tourism VAT would have in Northern Ireland over a similar timeframe of three to four years.

“The potential to increase current total visitor numbers to around 5m, increase total revenue to over £850m, and increase employment within tourism to over 50,000 is a real one.”

The Republic cut VAT to the sector in 2011, along with a number of other EU states.

“Currently 25 of 27 EU countries have reduced tourism VAT. The UK’s current rate of 20% is almost twice the European average which undermines competitiveness against countries with lower rates of VAT.” “The UK is ranked 140 out of 141 countries for price competitiveness in tourism. The price sensitive nature of the tourism industry means tourist businesses in the UK are losing out to our European counterparts due to the high level of VAT.”

NEWS

Diageo raises a glass to Baileys production

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iageo’s early Christmas preparations saw the drinks giant set a new Baileys production record at its Mallusk site.

On 2 September 2015 the site at Mallusk had its best daily output of the cream liqueur since the plant opened 12 years ago, producing 494,415 bottles for export around the globe.

The factory is the biggest producer of the drink, pumping out around 70% of all Baileys sold worldwide. Of the total produced in Northern Ireland, only a fraction stays here with 97% of the liquid made at Mallusk being exported.

Manus Rogan, Operations Manager at Baileys Mallusk, said the site is an essential cog in the company’s wheel. “Diageo is a significant contributor to the economy here both in terms of the great people who make and distribute Baileys to the world, and also the companies who supply us,” he said. “We source most of our ingredients and materials from local suppliers.”

South Antrim MP Danny Kinahan visited the production facility to witness first-hand the world’s fastest liqueur filling

Jorge Lopes, Country Director, Diageo Northern Ireland (right) and Manus Rogan, Operations Manager at Baileys Mallusk (left) are pictured with Danny Kinahan MP at Diageo’s Bailey’s facility in Mallusk.

line and meet with some of the plant’s 51 employees.

“Businesses like Diageo and its facility here at Mallusk must be recognised for the work it does in exporting indigenous produce on a global scale,” he said.

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NEWS

Quotes of the month

BT spends £81m a year on local suppliers

“Instability is devastating. Northern Ireland has a great deal to offer as an investment location. It is a great place to live and it can be a great place in which to do business.

We cannot afford to damage and disrupt our future any longer.”

Tony Nicholl, Chartered Accountants Ireland President

“Assuming responsibility for these powers will provide the Executive with the ability to take radical steps to transform the performance of the local economy and enhance the lives of all our people.”

Finance Minister Arlene Foster responds to the ‘rate and date’ for devolution of corporation tax setting powers in last month’s Fresh Start deal at Stormont.

“As a region, we have been working to build a skilled labour force, and introducing a lower rate of corporation tax than the rest of the UK will provide an added incentive for leading global companies to locate here, which in turn will deliver thousands of jobs and support the local supply chain.”

Linda Brown, Director of the Institute of Directors.

“With a rate and date now in place, businesses can plan for growth and Invest NI can start selling the proposition to potential inward investors across the world. The delay caused by the impasse has impacted negatively on business confidence but it is hoped that it will not have an impact on proposed FDI projects.”

Stephen McCully, President of Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

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ommunications giant BT spent £81m with Northern Ireland suppliers in 2014, according to an independent report commissioned by the company.

a total employment income of £99m.

• Provides work for a further 1,970 people through BT’s spending with businesses that supply its equipment and services, and the spending of employees.

That’s up £16m on 2013, Regeneris Consulting said in the research paper ‘Social Study 2015 – The Economic Impact of BT in the United Kingdom’, an analyses of the role BT and its employees play in economic, business and community life of the four UK regions.

Alex Crossan, manager director, Networks, BT Northern Ireland, said the report highlighted the significant contribution the company makes to the Northern Ireland economy.

It also calculated that BT generated £432m in gross value added (GVA) during the year for the Northern Ireland economy, up £20m on the previous year and an equivalent of £1 for every £75 of the region’s GVA. “Our analysis confirms the sheer scale and reach of BT’s ongoing economic contribution to Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole,” Tim Fanning, associate director at Regeneris Consulting, said. “BT makes a contribution to every community across the UK. At the UK level, £1 in £80 of wealth created is attributable to BT – this is one of the single largest contributions to the UK economy by any firm.”

The report also shows BT: • Is responsible for the employment of 3,110 people in Northern Ireland – 2,440 direct employees and 667 contractors – with

“We are one of the region’s largest private sector employers and investors – our investment in fibre broadband in Northern Ireland alone amounts to millions of pounds – and the services that we provide are a vital part of every community.

“The facts and figures shown in this report highlight the full extent of BT’s contribution to the local economy as we go about the daily business of keeping people connected and introducing new technologies, which are creating fresh opportunities and transforming lives.

UK-wide, BT’s total GVA contribution is assessed at £18bn. The company supports 217,000 jobs directly and indirectly and last year spent £6.5bn with UK-based suppliers. As a result of the full economic impact of BT, the firm supports £1 in every £80 of GVA in the UK economy and one in every 110 UK employees.

NEWS

Hats off as Law Society raisies £73k for local charity

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t’s Hats off to the Law Society of Northern Ireland who have raised nearly £73,000 in aid of local charity TinyLife. Dancers from the Society’s Strictly legal event were outside the High Court last month to present the cheque to TinyLife.

DECEMBER 2015

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NEWS

New businesses spring up at pace

IoD launches register of non-executive directors

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he number of new businesses starting up in the Northern Ireland grew by 12% in the year to March 2015 to reach a total of 67,000, according to the Barclays and BGF Entrepreneurs Index, a bi-annual series tracking the UK entrepreneurial lifecycle.

The new report pointed to Northern Ireland’s ongoing drive to improve innovation as a contributing factor, with more than 700 companies in the information, communication and technology sector and over 20,000 people working in this area. In addition to the Belfast-based Northern Ireland Science Park at the Titanic Quarter, Northern Ireland also has a newly created innovation centre in the North-West.

From left: Jeremy Fitch, Invest NI’s Executive Director of Business Solutions, Laura Jackson, Partner, Paul Terrington, Chairman of the IoD NI, and Caoimhe McGuinness, the UU student who wrote the report.

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ompanies in Northern Ireland in need of a non-executive director (NED) will be able to take advantage of a new database of suitable names compiled by the Institute of Directors (IoD).

The boom in the number of businesses echoed a trend seen at a national level, where the number of active companies rose by 3.86% – the biggest rise since the Index began in 2012.

UK-wide, the number of company dissolutions was also lower than in the previous six months – the first time this has happened since the Index began – reversing a three-year trend.

It will provide a list of potential candidates with different competencies, skills and experience to match individual company’s needs and will be offered as a free-of-charge service.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing in Northern Ireland as the report found that the region had only 9 deals resulting in wealth creation of £200,000 or more over the 12 months to the end of June 2015, a decline on the 10 deals secured during the same period in the previous year. The report also showed that the proportion of companies in Northern Ireland meeting the high-growth threshold fell by 0.8% in the year to December 2014.

Sponsored by BDO, it interviewed local companies and offered up advice to firms which have a NED in place or are thinking of getting one.

The IoD NED Register was launched in conjunction with new research from the Ulster University Business School which looked at the value of NEDs to businesses in Northern Ireland.

The respondents said that NEDs should be involved in strategy and strategic planning rather than become too heavily involved in the running of the firm, should have their roles clearly mapped out, should be refreshed every five years and should challenge other directors and the board.

The IoD NED Register and UU research are both part of the IoD NI’s ‘Building Better

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Boards’ campaign, which aims to provide support to companies seeking a nonexecutive director as well as to individuals seeking to improve their competency as a director or aspiring director.

“The report has not only established the value that the non-executive director can bring to an organisation, it has also provided recommendations for enhancing board effectiveness and suggestions for further research which the Institute and Ulster University will take forward together,” Paul Terrington, Chairman of the IoD NI said.

He said the IoD wants to hear from potential NEDs from suitably qualified, high-calibre directors who are committed to ongoing professional development and to delivering in line with IoD standards.

Laura Jackson, Partner at report sponsors BDO Northern Ireland, said NEDs can fill knowledge gaps and challenge normal function.

“The study helps those of us involved in advising businesses and driving the economy to assess the role of non-executive directors, the advantages they can bring to a company, and whether, overall, nonexecutive directors have indeed improved the performance of individual businesses and the overall economy in Northern Ireland.”

NEWS

Davy snaps up PFC as buying spree continues

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ealth Management company Davy Private Clients has bought Belfast-peer Pension & Financial Consultants Limited (PFC) for an undisclosed sum.

Davy said the move makes it the biggest wealth manager in Northern Ireland when its £1.25bn assets under management are combined with PFC’s £600m.

PFC’s directors and staff will move to Davy’s new Northern Ireland headquarters in Donegall Square North, Belfast, following completion of the deal which is subject to regulatory approval.

The purchase is the latest for the Dublin-based company, which earlier this year bought Graham Corry Cheevers. PFC is independently owned by its directors and was established 20 years ago. It has around 4,000 clients.

Brian McKiernan, Chief Executive of Davy Group, said he was looking forward to growing the business in Northern Ireland.

“We have identified a growing need for high quality and increasingly sophisticated financial advice and wealth management in Northern Ireland. Davy has invested heavily to ensure that

DECEMBER 2015

Pictured with Stephen Felle (centre), Chief Executive of Davy Private Clients UK are (l-r), Shauna Ellis and Andrew Campbell, Davy, Jonathan McAlpine, William Doggart and Paul Taggart, PFC, Stephen Warke, Managing Director, PFC, and Brian Hunter, Davy.

we are in a position to make a difference to our clients through the quality of our people and our advice. By adding PFC we will integrate a team of directors and staff who are of like mind and ensure that we have the scale and resources in Northern Ireland to meet the evolving needs of our growing client base”.

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Employment practices liability: be prepared

By Louise McMahon, Client Director, Willis Insurance and Risk Management

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mployment-related legal actions are a growing concern for employers of all sizes. As costs for litigation and damage awards climb, experts predict that employment liability will only become more complex.

As a result, it is critical for employers to understand their exposures and options to manage the risk.

Two effective risk management strategies include solid human resources practices and employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) cover, a policy used to cover your risk due to the ever-changing legal and employment environment.

Insurance Solution Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) works hand-in-hand with your employment practices to provide the necessary resources to defend your company against a legal action or to pay a claim.

To best understand how to cover your EPLI risk, it’s important to know the potential sources: • Working time directives • Discrimination (race, gender, religious belief, age, disability, etc) • Equal pay • Actual or alleged wrongful dismissal or termination • Wrongful failure to employ or promote • Wrongful discipline EPLI will provide cover for damages, judgements, settlements and defence costs in respect of claims from present and past employees for a wide range of entity employment practice violations.

Insurers will apply a policy excess (or self-insured retention) typically between £2,500 to £7,500 and depending upon the insurer, this may be waived if: • you have a formal written grievance procedure in place; and • in the event of a dispute you follow the advice of the Insurers legal advice team from the date the formal written grievance is first invoked.

It is vital you engage with the Insurers nominated legal advice team as soon as you commence your formal written grievance procedure and not wait until you receive a formal claim by way of an ET1 form or Solicitors letter. This is the only way Insurers will agree to waiving the policy excess.

Human Resources Practices Limiting your exposures and engaging in solid human resources practices is an important strategy in reducing your company’s liability.

Willis Consulting, a division of the Willis IRM Group, can provide practical HR and employment services advice and support, to ensure that your business is legally compliant and up to date with best practice.

Employment law is often complex with many changes annually, both through legislation and case law. Keeping current with the changes can be a heavy burden on employers. Well-organised and credible documents can demonstrate fair treatment, deter litigation, ensure employee honesty and, should litigation occur, demonstrate the employer’s actions.

As with all of your risk management needs, Willis IRM is committed to assisting you in assessing your employment-related policies and helping you to develop best-practice solutions.

For further information contact Louise McMahon on 028 9032 9042 or email: louisem@willisinsurance.co.uk

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COVER STORY

From lending to leadership First Trust proves it deserves the ‘challenger’ tag, and then some

Richard Ennis

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COVER STORY

a reflection of a new dynamism and confidence in the economy here.

number of different products, making sure to find the right one to fit individual client needs.

“It shows demand is there for finance because there is plenty of investment going on and businesses want to grow. It also shows confidence has returned and it is great that we’ve been able to deliver the necessary finance to meet that need.”

It also makes sure it fully understands the company’s business and the sector it operates in, something which might sound obvious, but which is not always apparent.

Proof the lender has been delivering comes from its credit approval ratings which are sitting at 95% of all applications for funding, an impressive rate in anyone’s book.

But really encouraging for both the bank and the economy are the reason why businesses are using the money.

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t’s a year since Ulster Business was last in First Trust Bank’s Belfast headquarters, and just over a year since Richard Ennis took over as Director of Business and Corporate Banking.

Back then, he and head of First Trust Des Moore hoped the revitalised lender could become a “challenger bank” in Northern Ireland, one which could earn its fair chunk of the commercial funding market here.

It’s therefore natural that we find out how far down the road to achieving that aim the bank has come right from the off.

Very far, it would seem.

“We’ve approved over £600m of new business lending since then and that’s a very strong indicator that we’re back and very active in the market,” Richard said. “Lending year-on-year is up 120% and we’ve seen really strong demand for the likes of invoice financing and asset financing.

Such a performance is not just good news for First Trust, he said, but also

DECEMBER 2015

“The noticeable thing over the last year is the type of request for finance is very much investment and capital driven.

That’s very much different from just two or three years ago when it was needed to fund working capital and cash flow.”

“For us, it’s very satisfying to see that level of confidence returning so strongly amongst our existing and new customers.”

The boost to First Trust’s lending book has been apparent across the spectrum of businesses, Richard said, from startups right up to some of the biggest companies operating on these shores.

And as the bank has been growing, it’s particularly keen to partner with some of those in the latter group.

“We had identified the corporate market as a key target, an area where we’d been under-represented in the past. We spent a lot of time getting out and talking to the corporate market, listening to their needs and as a result we’ve been winning lots of business.”

To help facilitate that, it has built a larger corporate team with a broader depth of experience and has focused on a number of key factors.

As well as competitive rates, it has majored on a speedy delivery of funding through a

“From a banking perspective, you can’t underestimate the value of really getting under the skin of a business, as well as understanding their sector,” Richard said. “We’ve built a relationship with the Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre and that is giving us really strong economic data for us to build our sectoral understanding. We have built on this by developing a thorough understanding of the dynamics of each business and the motivations of the people behind it.”

That understanding has flagged up a major issue for Northern Ireland businesses, not just for corporates but for those of all sizes: future leadership.

Richard said there’s a growing need for investment in future leadership to make sure the business world is equipped with the right skills at the top to take the economy to the next level of growth.

To tackle the shortfall, First Trust has teamed up with the William J Clinton Leadership Institute at Queen’s University to develop a bespoke Corporate Leadership Programme.

The programme is specifically aimed at middle to senior management in larger SMEs and corporate organisations who are looking to accelerate their development in the leadership space.

Initially, 10 fully-funded bursaries will be made available for participants on the programme with an independent panel of judges evaluating applicants.

“Northern Ireland has got some fantastic indigenous companies but some of our research has shown we‘re below average in terms of investment in leadership. If we can improve those leadership skills we think it could add £150m-£300m a year to economic output, so it is hugely >

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COVER STORY

important. It is one of the few economic levers that are totally within our control and we should seek to maximise it.”

“The one thing all great leaders have in common is they can all articulate a very clear vision and that kind of strategic view and strategic implementation is why they’re so successful.”

A key part of the programme will be focused on exporting, and that’s another area which First Trust it helping businesses across Northern Ireland to focus on.

“We want more of our businesses to think about exporting,” Richard said. “The market in Northern Ireland is small and if we are to rebalance the local economy and grow the private sector, naturally we need to grow markets outside of here.

If a company’s exporting it has more ambitious investment plans so nurturing that desire is really important for us.”

One such customer of the bank which has been exporting its products around the world is the Deluxe Group.

“They secured a contract to help bring to life five visitor attractions at a major new Hollywood movie inspired theme park motiongate currently under construction in Dubai. They are an amazing company

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producing sets, props and special effects packages which form part of rides and exhibits based on movies produced by Sony.

We have been delighted to support them on their recent expansion plans and look forward to seeing the completion of their work.”

over and expand an already successful proposition and had the skill set to carry out the vision. We were very pleased to back them as we got very comfortable with the team and their vision for the business.”

More are needed for sure, and with a range of specialist treasury services within the bank, Richard said his team is ready to help more companies to export.

And while it might seem like competition, Richard said was pleased to work alongside private equity and other funding types in doing the deal. A trend he said should be welcome for the good of the Northern Ireland economy.

“You can’t underestimate the value of really getting under the skin of a business, as well as understanding their sector.”

On the subject of mergers and acquisitions, Richard said the bank was very pleased to help fund, along with private equity partners, the purchase of Mexican restaurant chain Boojum recently by Andrew and David Maxwell.

“That’s a great example of a management team identifying an opportunity to take

“Northern Ireland needs more than just bank debt, but other sources of finance including venture capital and private equity.

They all play a part supporting business growth and in driving the economy.”

It appears Richard has packed a lot into the last 12 months, but has he enjoyed it?

“It’s been very positive and I would say it’s exceeded my expectations in terms of the performance of the business. In terms of the quality of the team I’ve been working with, I couldn’t have asked for more, but I can assure you we are not finished yet and we are certainly hungry for more.”

With that Ulster Business are off, looking forward to catching up with the bank in a year’s time.

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PROFILE

Campbell in the thick of it at accountant’s dinner Business leaders in Northern Ireland should stop complaining about local government and stand for election themselves

questioned how far up Prime Minister David Cameron’s priority list Northern Ireland stands.

“One thing I do hear a lot about is that people don’t feel the UK government has it’s hand on the tiller the way it should. It’s difficult to get the balance right but I’m not sure it’s a priority.

“Does David Cameron take this place seriously? I don’t know. For Tony (Blair) and for John Major it was right up there but for David Cameron it’s like ‘it’s been sorted so there’s no need to worry’.”

Reflecting on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Mr Campbell said the two years of negotiation were difficult.

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hat’s the view of Alistair Campbell, the former press secretary to Tony Blair, speaking ahead of the Chartered Accountants Ireland annual dinner in Belfast last month, where he suggested more business people should put themselves up for political election.

Asked what strategy and communications advice he would give to the Executive, Mr Campbell said: “Rather than give the Executive advice, maybe I should be saying to these guys tonight and to the broader business community in Northern Ireland that more of them should be thinking about doing it.

“One of the problems we have is that so few people want to go into politics but everyone is willing to complain about politicians and that’s a real problem.

And he praised the Executive for coming to agreement last month after months of stalemate.

“Any legislation will have some people who are highly intelligent, some who are highly motivated and some who you wouldn’t want to run a bus stop, but I think that in a way the Executive has acted has been really encouraging because they looked like they were on the precipice and they managed to sort it out.”

However, the former aide, who worked with Tony Blair during negotiations around the Good Friday Agreement in the late 90s,

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“It was very intense, it was very up and down, it was very difficult and at times it was incredibly stressful, but ultimately we got where we were hoping to get to most of the time.

“Even now it is hard to explain how it came about because right up until it was signed I didn’t think it would happen. There were so many things which were falling apart but there was something magical going on at the time.”

And even he was impressed by a congratulatory call on the day the agreement was signed.

“I’m not much of a monarchist but afterward we were flying back to London - we were getting dropped off in London and Tony (Blair) was going on to rejoin his family in Mallorca - Jonathan Powell said ‘the palace are on the line. The queen wants a word.”

“She was just phoning to say well done but it made it real.”

Mr Campbell spoke to over 400 guests at the dinner, where Chartered Accountants Ireland President Tony Nicholl called on politicians here to “engage in economic politics.”

“I know that I am not alone in calling for our leaders to put the years of brinksmanship and division behind us. Northern Ireland has to make a shared future work, and a shared future committed to peace and prosperity, needs to start now.”

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ICT QUARTERLY

Narrowing the skills gap?

A shortage of IT skills are a much talked-about issue in Northern Ireland so what is government doing to tackle the issue? David Elliott spoke to Employment Minister Stephen Farry to find out

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average salaries and, provided they meet the right criteria, pick from a wide range of companies to work for across the country.

investors around the world to great effect, with names such as Citi, CME Group and Allstate setting up bases here and hiring IT talent.

Those with the right coding, development or other specialities can command above-

Much of that is down to the fact we’ve been selling ourselves as an IT hub to inward

Meanwhile, indigenous companies such as Kainos, First Derivatives and Path XL have

hat skills in the IT sector are at a premium in Northern Ireland is without question.

22

NITEC.COM | 028 9442 7000 | SOLUTIONS@NITEC.COM

ICT QUARTERLY

also been building up their own businesses and eating into that talent pool.

While the demand for skilled workers may be good for those individuals, if demand exceeds supply by too much and for too long, it could start to impact the growth of the sector, deter further inward investment or even reverse past inward investment.

So what is government doing to address what could be a very serious issue?

Employment minister Dr Stephen Farry said it is something he is well versed in and one which he has been working hard to address.

“Over the last three-and-a-half years we’ve >

Minister Stephen Farry launching the Skills Barometer.

DECEMBER 2015

23

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ICT QUARTERLY

had a working group in place to look at the issue and it has been implementing an action plan,” he told Ulster Business at the Belfast Metropolitan College. “Because of that, we’ve seen a significant increase the number of places in our colleges and universities focused on computer science, we’ve been developing higher level apprenticeships and we’ve introduced a new A-level in software development.

“What we have now is a really attractive offering to overseas companies and that’s been demonstrated by the list of firms which have made Northern Ireland their home over the last few years.”

That’s all very well but it is still difficult for IT companies to hire the right talent at the right price.

Is government really being effective in easing that bottleneck?

“Like everywhere else, there’s a pressure point in terms of skills,” he said.

“Northern Ireland is not unique in that sense with virtually every economy in the world facing that challenge.

“But, one of the benefits of devolution is that we have the capacity to have a hands-on approach. That means that I, as a minister, can sit down with our businesses, universities, colleges, invest ni and our businesses to map out what we need to do to ensure we have a pipeline of skills coming through the system.”

But the minister said more needs to be done to make an IT career more attractive.

“If I was to highlight one particular intervention which could help, it’s career advice to encourage more young people to think of it as a lucrative career and see it as a profession, that it delivers good results in terms of income as well as making a positive impact on the economy.”

“Within that we need to be encouraging more females to consider IT. The balance is still very much skewed toward males but if we had the same number of participation from women as from men then we would increase our skills base by 40%.”

24

And the minister said he’s in no doubt how crucial it is to makes sure the education system is producing the right type of IT worker, particularly in attracting inward investment.

“I’ve been out in the US talking to blue chip companies which have an interest in coming to Northern Ireland and now we have clarity around corporation tax we’ll see that increase further.

“I’m very mindful that the skills pipeline is probably the single most important determinate of their investment decisions and that’s why it is so important to work with our colleges and universities.”

The minister was speaking at the launch of The Skills Barometer, which has been developed by Ulster University to estimate the future skills needs here as far out as 2025.

It claims to provide a clear indication of current and future skills issues with a level of detail that no other macro-economic model has been able to provide for the Northern Ireland economy previously.

And proving that IT is an area which needs further work, it found that for the economy to remain competitive, there is a need for higher level skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), a grouping which includes IT.

Ulster University’s Skills Barometer also found that: • It is based on the creation of 96,000 jobs in Northern Ireland over the period 20152025, bringing Northern Ireland closer to UK average levels of economic activity; • The top five sectors displaying employment growth in Northern Ireland will be ICT; Professional, Scientific and Technical; manufacturing; administrative; hospitality and retail; • At both mid-level skills (NQF Level 4-5, equivalent to Foundation Degree) and high level skills (NQF Level 6 and above, equivalent to degree level) the largest supply gaps are forecast in the STEM related subject areas; • The demand for formal qualifications across all areas of the economy will increasingly impact the employment prospect of people with low or no skills. Only 16% of the demand will be for those with below NQF Level 2 qualifications (i.e. less than 5 GCSEs Grades A-C); • 58% of graduate employers would be unlikely to recruit a candidate with no work experience; • The skills shortage will be most acute in mid-tier skills levels i.e. NQF Level 3 (A-Level equivalent) and NQF Level 4-5 (Foundation degree/Higher Level Apprenticeship equivalent), across most subject areas. An annual supply gap of almost 3,400 individuals is forecast; • By continuing into further and higher level education, individuals can greatly increase their earnings potential. e.g. individuals with a Masters or PhD earn on average £652 per week, those with a degree earn on average £603 per week and those with a Foundation degree or Higher Level Apprenticeship earn on average £484 per week; and • An individual’s employment prospects are significantly enhanced with the acquisition of higher level skills. e.g. 85% of those with a Masters or PhD are likely to be in employment. Similar rates are reported for those with a Degree (86%) and Foundation degree or Higher Level Apprenticeship (79%).

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ICT QUARTERLY

Cybersecurity talent can reduce risk and costs

By Roisin Byrne, Director at Hays Northern Ireland

by businesses across Northern Ireland.

According to research from Grant Thornton, one-in-six companies state they have suffered a cyber-attack in the last year, with cybercrime costing Northern Ireland a whopping £100m per year.

O

ver the past decade we have witnessed an explosion of interconnected technology into every area of our private and business worlds. However, we are adopting technology faster than we are learning to protect it.

Online fraud is one of the biggest threats facing businesses today. The impact of this type of crime is increasingly being felt

For this reason, we at Hays are seeing high demand for candidates versed in cyber-incident response, ethical hacking and penetration testing, vulnerability management and DevOps. Employers are increasingly seeking candidates capable of demonstrating risk-management evaluation and remediation in order to provide a proportionate approach to implement the controls, procedures and policies to secure the critical assets of the business.

balanced with rewards on offer for those that can demonstrate the right skills and experience.

For candidates seeking to upskill, organisations like global information security community ISACA are useful. According to ISACA Ireland academic director Sean Hanna: “We maintain many of the key certifications in this field like CISM and CISA. In fact we have 88 people sitting one of our industry certified exams this December alone and I have no doubt that some of these will be looking to fill one of the many currently open positions across the province.”

For employers, the advice is to be aware of the weakest entry points to your networks and deploy controls necessary to close these down.

You are only as strong as your weakest link.

For further information about Hays

The level of competence demanded by employers is high but this of course is

in Northern Ireland log on to www.hays.co.uk/northern-ireland/

Start Planet NI lifts off

Bill Liao, SOSventures European Venture Partner is joined by Start Planet Programme Manager, Wayne Murphy (both seated centre) with the participant teams in the Start Planet NI Accelerator programme.

N

orthern Ireland’s only equity-backed start-up accelerator programme, Start Planet NI, has had lift off with nine knowledge-based start-ups from Northern Ireland and international markets beginning a three-month intensive workout to deliver successful high growth businesses.

26

For the last three months the team at Start Planet NI, a partnership between Xcell Partners and Start Planet, has been attracting start-up teams from across the world that were competing to join the programme.

Following a highly competitive application process where over 300 companies from across Northern Ireland and 44

international countries vied for the places, the successful participants will now use the programme to fast-track their technology based ideas for global markets.

Successful teams in the first intake have come from Brazil, Russia, Scotland and Republic of Ireland and they are joined by five Northern Ireland teams.

Mimecast email security solutions

M

igrations to Office 365 continue as more businesses decide to move their email and other applications to the cloud.

This decision is prompted by the increasing awareness of the benefits Office 365 can offer businesses. For example, use of the same familiar Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel and Outlook but with these being delivered more cost effectively from the cloud. Or there is the fact that IT Managers no longer need to worry about the costs and complexity of managing an on premise exchange server.

As we know, Office 365 is highly scalable with an ability to support microbusinesses right through to companies with tens of thousands of employees.

Even with the many benefits delivered

by Office 365, some businesses may require specific solutions in key areas to complement these benefits. One such area is often email security and management.

The Mimecast unified email management solution works seamlessly with Office 365.

It allows businesses to tailor a perfect

solution for their risk free move to the cloud, making email safer and easier to manage.

Mimecast removes the clutter and reduces the cost of email infrastructure by delivering resilience, security, data leak prevention and branding and disclaimer controls all in one package. This saves bandwidth, resource and the time it would usually take to manage these services individually.

The data archiving service fully encrypts data and stores it in triplicate, in real-time.

This means you always have a secure record of all sent and received emails.

Business continuity is assured thanks to the 100% email up-time guarantee, and zero loss of information.

Mimecast Benefits • Mimecast protects against data leakage, provides email encryption tools and offers content controls.

• 100% up time SLA guarantees users 24/7 email access from multiple devices, even when outlook cannot connect to Office 365.

to meet stringent security requirements providing email and file data storage.

• Strengthens data archiving options to ensure compliance requirements are met. Users can access these archives from multiple devices.

• Provides central control of email branding compliance and disclaimer management.

• Facilitates secure large file sending and receiving.

Whilst Mimecast integrates well alongside the Office 365 solution, it is not just limited to this product. Mimecast is the perfect email management solution whether your email is on premise, hosted, hybrid or in the cloud.

Regardless of how your email services are delivered, Mimecast will improve your email environment’s productivity and security.

For more information contact P2V Systems on 028 9252 8528 or

• Works with Office 365 and MS Outlook

email: info@p2vsystems.com

ICT QUARTERLY

Tommy Kelly, eShopWorld

eShopWorld scoops Fast 50 Award with 9,900% growth

W

ith a growth rate of more than 9,900% over the last four years, the future is bright for Dublin and Newry based eShopWorld, last week named by Deloitte as the fastest growing indigenous tech company in Ireland. Providing a clear indication of the ambition that has propelled the company to the top of this year’s Fast 50 rankings, CEO Tommy Kelly says, “We’re just getting started”.

A leading name in global cross-border eCommerce and logistics management, eShopWorld offers a modular solution that allows retailers to sell globally, but feel local to cross-border shoppers. eShopWorld targets and eliminates the key challenges for cross-border commerce that often lead to shopping cart abandonment: “Being able to present shoppers with information that’s relevant to them, when it matters, can be instrumental in whether they complete the purchase or not. Having the best delivery and payment method options, being able to choose in-country pricing, or whether to pay

28

the duty & taxes at the time of checkout, and offering localised return services. It just makes for a superior shopping experience and ultimately increases conversion rates for our retailers,” Kelly says. eShopWorld focuses on providing a superior retailer experience too. Retailers don’t have to opt in all at once – a modular structure means they can sample from a suite of different solutions. eShopWorld works with retailers whether they need help on their international checkout, payments, shipping, returns management, or marketing insights. “Our ability to give retailers the specific solutions they need and the data to make better business decisions, is what truly gives them full control of the entire customer journey,” Kelly says. This is where eShopWorld excels–not only do they improve day to day functionality and sales, they also provide companies with a stream of customer feedback and data analytics.

“We strive to provide a hyper local shopping experience in each country we

operate in,” says Kelly. “We support more than 95 currencies, including all of the fraud and foreign exchange risk. Freight movement is also critically important, and we’ve developed a number of hubs around the world with which we work for both inbound and outbound deliveries.” eShopWorld also pride themselves on being ‘carrier agnostic’: they’ll find the best deal available, a pricing advantage over many of their competitors who are owned by logistics companies which monopolise their deliveries. eShopWorld monitors developments around the world, and is able to inform retailers when the time is right to move into new markets. Currently, bricks and mortar retail is down while online shopping continues to grow apace, so to think about eShopWorld’s next move is to consider the future of retail itself. “There are many exciting new developments in retail, but globally, the organic growth of online shopping is sufficient to drive our growth for quite some time to come.”

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PROFILE

Hallmark: from board game to board room Human Resource Management software company Hallmark Solutions is 25 years old so we caught up with founder Helen Hall to hear more about the Carryduff business

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PROFILE

H

elen Hall was always going to run her own company.

An engineering graduate, she initially worked in industry before moving into the consultancy business with PwC (then Price Waterhouse) as one of the first non-accountants the company hired and, despite progressing through the ranks, an entrepreneurial streak wouldn’t be kept down.

“I always wanted to work for myself,” Helen told Ulster Business. “I went to French classes after Queen’s University and the first thing I learnt to say was ‘I want to work for myself’ (je veux travailler à mon compte, in case you were wondering).”

So it was that in 1989 Helen and her husband found themselves in front of Ledu looking for suport for an idea they had spent six months developing.

It was a board game, Conundrum Challenge, and although the pair were devastated when the agency pointed out that for every 10 board games developed, nine are failures and subsequently declined any help, fate had other plans.

“I was distraught, but in the middle of my tears I happened to say to the client executive I’d like to go out on my own in computers,” Helen said. “That was the key word and the conversation changed suddenly.”

Within a month Ledu gave Helen a letter of offer and after handing in her notice at Price Waterhouse (and losing three night’s sleep) Hallmark Solutions was born.

Helping make the jump less of a sleep-losing process was the fact her old boss felt she was making the right decision and because she left on good terms, the consultancy passed on small pieces of work which was enough to get the company going.

Within a year new fair employment legislation had come into force which obliged businesses to keep closer tabs on the makeup of their workforce and opened up a niche for Helen and the burgeoning firm.

Any company with more than 25 employees had to produce statutory returns every year on headcount and had to split it down by community background and other criteria, so Hallmark wrote a software package which could take the effort out of the extra workload.

“Within six weeks we had sold the programme to FG Wilson and had found our niche in a changing market. Really, we identified and then satisfied a need.”

The business then grew into the provision of recruitment and personnel solutions.

“We were gathering the information and thought we might as well do something with it, that’s how we became involved in the full human resources suite of software,” Helen said. “We don’t give HR advice but we provide software which helps companies manage their day-to-day business.”

One of Hallmark Solutions’ main packages is its eRecruit product which around 90 large

DECEMBER 2015

organisations use, so if you’re applying for a job in a council or a major company then you will more than likely be using its software.

It has also been instrumental in introducing ESS – employee self service – which allows managers and employees to fill in and change many of their personnel details, easing the burden on human resource departments.

In terms of geography, 70% of Hallmark Solutions business is Northern Ireland-based, with the rest in the other parts of the UK or the Republic.

Now celebrating 25 years in business, it has its sights set on growing further in the future by providing a “top-class product and top-class support”.

“We’re giving customers something they need and something which saves them time and money,” Helen said. “We have nearly 200 clients who can ring in at any moment of the day and get immediate support from knowledgable people.

“We have thrived over the last 25 years because we’ve got good clients, a good client base and because we keep those clients close.”

Being able to adapt to changing client demands is also a key part of the company’s ethos.

“These days we need to keep our products up to date to make sure we’re getting our upgrades to the market quickly. We keep our same core products but are constantly developing them further to make sure our customers are always up to speed.”

In the future, further expansion is planned to grow the Hallmark team and the possiblity of a move to bigger premises is on the cards.

It’s a far cry from starting out 25 years ago and a far cry from the world of board games but there’s no doubt Helen is glad she made the move into IT.

31

Top 10 ranking for Intellicom at Fast 50 awards “They have responded very positively to our evolving, unified communications technology across many industry sectors including retail, insurance, healthcare, public sector and agriculture.”

Intellicom continues to add new customers. Its team of highly accredited engineers designed and deployed the hosted contact centre solution, which supported the launch of the Republic of Ireland’s postcode system, Eircode.

L-R: Neil Wisdom, managing director, Intellicom Ireland; Liam Duggan, business development director, Capita; and Cian Maher, CTO, Intellicom Ireland.

I

ndigenous unified communications service provider Intellicom was ranked in sixth place at this year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards.

At a recent awards ceremony attended by the cream of the country’s crop of technology companies, Intellicom recorded a staggering 842% revenue growth over the period 2011 – 2014.

Commenting on the win, Neil Wisdom, managing director with Intellicom said: “Number six is like number one for us. We’re delighted to achieve such a high ranking at these prestigious awards and it’s all down to the loyalty of our customers.

Following a competitive tendering process, Intellicom’s Intelligent Communications Platform (ICP), an enterprise-class, multichannel telephony solution was chosen by Capita Ireland, the company licensed by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to build and operate Eircode.

Intellicom secured the high profile contract despite stiff competition from some of Ireland’s biggest and best known telecoms service providers.

Commenting on the project, Liam Duggan, business development director with Capita said: “Several parties responded to our tender request, but Intellicom put in the best solution with the most flexibility and at the best value for money. That’s why it got the business.”

www.intellicom.ie

DELOITTE TECHNOLOGY FAST 50 AWARDS in association with

Tara Simpson, CEO, Instil and David Crawford, Deloitte.

Instil Software claims NI top spot in 2015 Deloitte Fast 50 ranking

A

Belfast-based developer of mobile, desktop and enterprise software solutions has claimed the highest ranking for Northern Irish companies in the 2015 Deloitte Fast 50, Ireland’s bestknown technology growth index.

Instil Software, which also provides expert software development training to blue chip clients across the globe, was one of 11 companies from Ulster to feature in this year’s ranking.

The awards, now in their sixteenth year in Ireland, demonstrate the strength of the indigenous technology sector in Ireland. Cumulatively, the 2015 Fast 50 winners generated approximately €480m in total annual revenues in 2014. The average revenue of companies featuring on the ranking was €9.5m, while the average growth rate of the companies over the last four years was 540%.

Speaking of the achievement, Matthew McComb, Principal Developer at Instil Software, said: “We are delighted to be

DECEMBER 2015

named the 14th fastest growing company in Ireland. It’s a huge honour for us and it reflects how well the company has done in the last four years. We have a great team at Instil and that is what is driving the company forward and helping us to enhance our growth. Our work isn’t confined to Ireland.

We have companies using our software in North America and all over the world. It is nice to be recognised for this growth.” eShopWorld secured the top spot in the ranking, which measures Ireland’s fastest growing indigenous companies in the tech sector. The company, a new entrant to the ranking this year, achieved a strong growth rate of 9909% over the last four years. The company is a leader in global eCommerce and logistics management, with a world class modular solution that gives online retailers control over the end-to-end customer journey – from global checkout to returns.

This year’s ranking saw 26 new entrants, nine of which featured in the top ten. These included Vearsa in second place, which connects publishers and readers around the world through smart technology, with a

growth rate of 3007%, in addition to CWSI, which took third spot with a growth rate of 1300%. The company is a dedicated mobile IT integrator, delivering mobile data solutions via traditional mobile operating systems.

Announcing the winners of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 programme, David Crawford, Partner at Deloitte, said: “The awards showcase the agility, innovation and strength of the industry. The winners epitomise these characteristics. Throughout the course of the awards, we have witnessed companies and indeed the technology sector, grow in stature throughout Ireland.

We have seen expansion and export to new markets; we have witnessed continuous innovation as businesses augment and develop their product range and of course we have seen many go on to dominate global markets. We have also witnessed new companies display meteoric growth as Ireland continues to churn out innovative businesses that continue to distinguish Ireland TMT sector on a global basis.”

He added: “What’s really encouraging is the ambition that is apparent amongst

>

33

DELOITTE TECHNOLOGY FAST 50 AWARDS in association with

Deloitte Fast 50 Ranking 2015 them. On average 58% of turnover amongst the winners is generated by exports.

Rank

Region

Company

1

ROI

eShopWorld

2

ROI

Vearsa

3

ROI

CWSI

4

ROI

Vizor Ltd

5

ROI

Clavis Technology Ltd

6

ROI

Intellicom Ireland Ltd

7

ROI

Agile Networks

8

ROI

Valentia Technologies Ltd

9

ROI

Tickets.ie

10

ROI

Asystec Ltd

11

ROI

Wolfgang Digital

12

ROI

Asavie

13

ROI

Inhance Technology

14

NI

Instil Software

15

NI

Ozaroo.com

16

ROI

Spearline Labs Ltd

17

ROI

Action Point Technology Ltd

18

ROI

Sales-Promotions

19

ROI

Milner Browne

20

NI

Seven Technologies Holdings Ltd

21

ROI

Voxpro Ltd

22

ROI

Fenergo

23

ROI

Impedans Ltd

24

NI

Seopa Ltd

25

ROI

ITQuotes

26

ROI

EssentialSkillz

27

ROI

CarTrawler

28

NI

PathXL Ltd

29

ROI

AspiraCon Ltd

30

ROI

Emydex Technology

31

ROI

Nostra

32

NI

Leaf Consultancy Ltd

33

NI

Tascomi

34

ROI

Creme Global

Rising Star awards

35

ROI

Topfloor Systems Ltd

Two companies have also been awarded Rising Star awards.

This category recognises younger companies with the fastest growth in turnover over the past three years. Flint Studios, the web, software development, digital and creative communications agency, was Northern Ireland’s winner.

36

ROI

LoftusWorks

37

ROI

Phorest

38

ROI

AccountsIQ

39

ROI

Welltel

40

ROI

Integrity360

41

NI

First Derivatives Plc

42

ROI

Medserv

43

ROI

TheIrishStores.com

44

ROI

CareWorks Ltd

45

ROI

Roomex.com

46

NI

Neueda Consulting Ltd

47

ROI

IOTA Localisation Services

48

ROI

Strata3

Details of the final Technology Fast 50 ranking list are available

49

NI

Novosco

to download at http://www.fast50.ie/

50

ROI

Learning Pool Ltd

Furthermore, on average, over a quarter of turnover is spent on R&D. The winning companies are making their mark internationally and investing in their companies’ future.”

In recognition of the importance of collaboration between the multinational and indigenous technology sectors in Ireland, this year’s Fast 50 programme sees the introduction of five new Deloitte 2015 MNC Patron Awards, in association with leading technology multinationals. Belfast company Path XL Limited – a global pioneer in the use of web-based solutions for digital pathology – collected the Research & Development award, in association with Groupon.

Mark McCann, Flint Studios and James Greer, Ulster Business.

Mark McCann, Director of Development at Flint Studios, said: “We have put in a lot of hard work and to get this recognition is a great honour. Our company has grown very quickly in the last four years, expanding from five employees to twenty. We have plans to grow even more in the years to come and take advantage of the opportunities we are seeing every day within the tech sector.”

34

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DELOITTE TECHNOLOGY FAST 50 AWARDS in association with

Tommy Kelly, CEO, eShopWorld and Joan O’Connor, Deloitte.

David Crawford, Deloitte and Kevin Gallagher, Learning Pool.

Paddy Benson, Groupon; Junior Nelson, PathXL and Joan O’Connor, Deloitte.

Neil Wisdom, MD, Intellicom Ireland Ltd and David Crawford, Deloitte.

Ross Kelly, Joint CEO, Vizor Ltd and David Crawford, Deloitte.

The team from Tascomi celebrate their placing on the Fast 50.

Junior Nelson, Finance Director, PathXL and David Crawford, Deloitte.

Tara Simpson CEO, Instil; David Crawford, Deloitte and Junior Nelson, PathXL.

38

Cross-Border Trade

CROSS-BORDER TRADE

The Brexit cross-border conundrum Economist John Simpson says the sooner a Brexit referendum is held the better, no matter what the result

U

nintentionally, but inevitably, the plans by the UK Government to hold a referendum on the future membership of the European Union for the UK have created a degree of negative uncertainty about how this referendum will impact on the economies, north and south, in Ireland.

Even if, ultimately, the UK referendum results in continued membership of the EU, there will now be a two year period of uncertainty and instability until a decision is made. The sooner the referendum is held the better and, on a more fundamental level, from a Northern Ireland business perspective, a vote to leave the EU should be strongly discouraged.

40

Fluctuations in euro-sterling exchange rates play a big part in influencing crossborder trade. In different periods the euro has traded at lows down to about 65p and briefly at highs where there was some transient concern that the euro and sterling might find parity. Currently, in late 2015, one euro is trading at about 71p. In the business world, current euro-sterling rates are regarded as over-valuing sterling.

Even though both the UK and Ireland are full members of the EU and are beneficiaries of the well advanced single market, the one feature that quickly illustrates the potential to disrupt or destabilise cross-border trade has been the impact of changes in the €/£ relationship. Cross-border travellers

will all have memories either of car parks in Northern Ireland filled with southern registered cars as the euro gained in relative value. Alternatively, but less frequently, the flow of shopping and holidaying from north to south has infrequently offered transient incentives to enhance trade and travel.

This island is a small trading area. Crossborder shopping and holidaying are, or can quickly become, major behavioural responses.

Information on cross-border prices and costs is widely known, possibly because of welldeveloped cross-border communications, media circulation and advertising. Unlike some political divisions, on this island there is extensive homogeneity in use of language, cultural interests and extended family relationships.

CROSS-BORDER TRADE

These features tend to reduce the impact, whether real or perceived, of the political institutions and, in recent years, have helped the development of easier use of the euro, north as well as south.

A second related factor, contrasting with the seamless nature of much cross-border household shopping and travel, has been the changing market determined relationship between sterling and the euro. The market value of the euro is a reflection of the financial experience of the whole group of euro-zone countries, not greatly influenced by the Irish experience. The recent concerns caused by the apparent instability of the finances of the Greek Government have had more impact than specific Irish challenges. >

DECEMBER 2015

David Cameron’s pledge to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU has big implications for Northern Ireland.

41

CROSS-BORDER TRADE

A consequence of this more complex market relationship is that the euro to sterling relationship is more volatile than if only UK and Irish features predominated.

There should therefore be some concern that if the present market relationship of the euro and sterling is made more volatile by a UK exit from the EU, this would hold the prospect of greater changes in the sterling-euro exchange rate.

Whilst normal household spending patterns have proved to be very sensitive to changing cross-border exchange rates there seems to be a much less direct impact on northsouth trade affecting the wider range of businesses in the manufacturing sectors.

Both because the economy of this island is relatively small and because manufacturers are more likely to have vertically integrated links with related businesses outside either Northern Ireland or the Republic crossborder trade in intermediate products is a small part of intra-island trade.

Many of the larger multinational businesses on this island are well integrated into wider international supply chains for their materials and products. There is little evidence of

42

these businesses developing, or having the potential to develop, intra-island supply networks. There is some evidence that a few of the larger multinational investors in the Republic of Ireland have extended their activities either upstream or downstream.

Where that happens, parallel operations in a stable euro-currency area may be advantageous. To that extent, northsouth supply networks are less likely.

North-south trade in locally manufactured products accounts for only a small part all manufacturing output. Whilst this is a subject for easy comment, in reality it should not be a surprise. The trade is concentrated more in food and drink products and less in industrial goods.

There is a stronger prospect that, on an intra-island basis, the businesses providing services might be expected to become more integrated. As yet there is inadequate information on how crossborder trade in services has been growing.

Into this argument should be added the conclusion of the recent study by senior staff of the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin. They have

reviewed the relevant literature and provocatively summarise the impact of a UK exit from the EU as possibly reducing bilateral trade flows between Ireland and the UK by 20% or more.

For Northern Ireland this should be an excessively pessimistic conclusion. Initially, leading up to the referendum, markets will be destabilised, a little. However, if the expectation is that, whatever the outcome of the referendum, most of the factors influencing cross-border trade and payments will not be radically changed, fears for commercial disruption, new trade tariffs and quotas, and even currency constraints will all dissipate.

The sooner the referendum is held the better, whatever the outcome. Better still, the outcome should secure the continuing long-term future of the EU, with the UK remaining a member, and creating a sensible relationship with the Eurozone.

With some assurance of stability, crossborder trade and payments for intraisland business would have the potential to be re-enforcing in a continuing period of economic recovery.

Doing cross-border business for the first time

Thomas Hunter McGowan

Discover what’s possible

Sales Growth On Your Doorstep

O

ne of the biggest challenges currently facing small business owners is dealing with the decrease in demand in their home market. Exporting is clearly one option, which can significantly help increase turnover and enhance business performance. For a first-time exporter, trading in Ireland is the perfect place to begin, writes Thomas Hunter McGowan, CEO of InterTradeIreland.

Ireland holds many advantages for businesses based in Northern Ireland (and vice-versa). It is geographically closer than our other European neighbours, and there are no language barriers. Cross-border trade is currently valued at circa €3bn – so substantial opportunities exist in both jurisdictions.

Here are some tips to get you started: 1. Take stock of your performance in your home market.

2. Discuss with your team the opportunities and challenges of entering a new market.

3. Visit your target marketplace.

4. Engage an experienced market research consultant based in the target marketplace.

5. Pull together all your information and research.

6. Proceed to draw up a market entry plan.

Supports available from InterTradeIreland InterTradeIreland can help your business capitalise on the extraordinary possibilities that exist right here on our doorstep.

• If you own an established business, and you want to explore your export options within the island, Acumen can help fund key sales and marketing personnel in the cross-border territory.

• If you have a micro-business looking to identify cross-border markets and customers to win new business, funding for specialist consultancy support is available through Elevate.

• The Trade Accelerator Voucher scheme provides small businesses with financial support towards professional advice in relation to cross-border trading and regulation, such as legal, accountancy, marketing and other business services.

• The free Simple Guide to Cross-Border Business can help business owners with simple and practical advice on all aspects of cross-border trading.

If you would like more details on any InterTradeIreland export

Looking to grow and develop your business?

New markets may be closer than you think.

InterTradeIreland can help you to identify new sales opportunities in Ireland.

A significant market right here on your doorstep.

HOW? We can provide you with salary support up to £15,000 to fund the right person to develop your sales in Ireland, consultancy support worth £5,000 to help you develop a winning sales plan and financial support towards professional cross-border advice. We have also published a FREE guide - ‘Simple Guide to Cross-Border Business’ available from our website.

Interested? Talk to us today.

For more information visit: www.intertradeireland.com/salesgrowth

Intelligence

•

Funding

•

Contacts

intertradeireland.com

supports, including eligibility criteria and application details, please visit www.intertradeireland.com/salesgrowth.

DECEMBER 2015

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CONFERENCING & EVENTS

Waterfront extension promises economic boost linked by the covered walkway. To a lot of the conference organisers that’s really important, particularly for the convenience factor.”

And he said the Waterfront will also benefit from its association with the global hotel chain.

“The Hilton group is huge and has a significant sales and marketing team which will be able to sell Belfast and the Waterfront as a conference centre option to their contacts.”

That sell shouldn’t be too difficult if global conference buyers can be brought here.

T

he extension to Belfast’s Waterfront Hall will allow Belfast and Northern Ireland to compete for major conferences and conventions against some of the world’s biggest cities and offer a boon to the local hospitality industry.

That is the view of Mark Walker, Area General Manager for Hilton in Northern Ireland, as the project nears competition.

The veteran hotelier said the Waterfront’s relaunch will be a game changer for Belfast and will have major benefits for hotels such as his and those further afield, restaurants, bars, taxi companies and many more firms involved in the hospitality industry.

“Conference buyers want purpose built modern facilities in cities with good technology where conventions haven’t been to before; they want something slightly different,” he told Ulster Business.

“We mustn’t underestimate Belfast’s draw: we are a capital city, have great access through two good airports and we just have to sell it.”

Hilton’s Belfast hotel is adjacent to the Waterfront and as part of the redevelopment, the two will be linked by a new walkway.

“It is about getting the convention buyers to Belfast to show them what we have to offer. Once they come it’s up to us to deliver a great showcase experience, which we did in June when we linked up to give show of the city and the locality.”

Mark said Belfast can stand out in a crowded market place.

“You’re not just selling space, you have to understand what they need,” he said. “For many of them coming to Belfast is a new experience and very often we can go the extra mile.

“These international conventions can go to New York or Paris and be lost but if they come to Belfast they are the focal point and are made to feel welcome. Again, that’s a big draw.”

Meanwhile, he said the Waterfront has already tied up a number of significant events.

He pointed to the World Credit Union Conference planned for next year which will bring 2,000 delegates for five nights in July, a month when Belfast hotels normally struggle.

That Belfast follows on from Vancouver and Sydney in hosting the conference is testament to its increasing allure, Mark said.

It will link the hotel’s main bar and the main foyer as well as the exhibition centre of the Waterfront and will be beneficial for both organisations, Mark said.

He also pointed to the International Surgical Congress of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland planned for May, again drawing 2,000 delegates and estimated to generate £2.2m for the local economy.

“The link is important to both parties. In many cases, we will be seen as the headquarters hotel as we’re right next door and will be

With the new Waterfront offering, there is huge conference potential for the city.

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Leading the mobile revolution “The Deloitte Fast 50 Awards recognise the excellence in Irish technology and the forging of connections between the multinationals and the indigenous tech industry,” Ronan Murphy said. “We are delighted to be awarded third place in this year’s awards. We’re only in our fifth year in business, but we’re very proud of everything we have achieved to date.”

Ronan Murphy, CEO, CWSI and Joan O’Connor, Deloitte.

CWSI’s clients span the UK and Ireland, both north and south of the border.

C

WSI is a mobile IT integrator based in the UK and Ireland.

It helps organisations manage and secure mobile devices, mobile applications and associated content, providing support for all major EMM and MDM vendors on an agnostic basis.

“People need to stay connected and able to communicate wherever they are,” CEO Ronan Murphy, said. “Established companies are now being outpaced by faster-moving businesses which have embraced their ambition to make their organisations truly mobile.

Our role is to enable the fast developing mobile workforce to become increasingly efficient and productive, while ensuring vital company data is protected and secure”.

CWSI work with company leaders to bring to life the benefits from such business transformations with its unrivalled experience in mobile security.

They have the knowledge and expertise to understand not only how a company’s workforce can best operate whilst on the move, but to ensure it operates with efficiency and protection of important company information.

CWSI are experts in knowing the latest technological advancements and what to look out for regarding mobile security threats on the landscape.

It is such specialist knowledge and excellence in providing the bestin-class solutions for clients which has enabled CWSI to benefit from this fast growing area of IT. Recently awarded third place in the Deloitte Fast 50 Awards, the accolade reflects CWSI’s commitment to addressing its clients’ challenge in securing, integrating and managing mobility within enterprises.

They work across all industry sectors and have an impressive client list: two out of the three main airlines, three out of the five banks, six out of the seven leading legal firms, five out of seven insurance firms – the list goes on. But how do CWSI keep ahead of this fast-paced industry?

“Consultancy is at the forefront of our offering. We work closely with our clients to deliver tailored programmes specific to each individual company. We choose carefully which partners we work with.

We do not have a large array of solution providers but prefer to work closely with a small, trusted group of leaders in their industry who provide the best-in-class solutions. Being at the leading edge of this technology allows us to provide the utmost service for our clients.” explained Philip Harrison, Technical Director, CWSI. CWSI are also members of the GEMA global network which enables them to leverage expertise and resources through their international partners and work globally and effectively.

cwsi.co.uk

PROFILE

Pictured (L-R): Maurice Stewart; Rebecca O’Flaherty; Orla Hanna; Ciaran McAlinney; Judith Brown; Louise Bailey; Aisling Owens; and Sinead Stewart.

Laying down the banking law A&L Goodbody Partners Judith Brown, Louise Bailey and Ciaran McAlinney tell Ulster Business how they have grown the firm’s Banking & Finance team to respond to changing market conditions

W

ith the largest standalone team of banking lawyers in the local market, the partners say of A&L Goodbody they truly are specialist banking and finance practice. “We are an all-island team, working closely with colleagues in our Dublin office and this, when coupled with access to our international network of lawyers in our Palo Alto, New York and London offices, really sets us apart from other firms and is a big attraction to clients,” says Judith Brown.

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It is the only banking team in the local legal market to be ranked ‘Tier 1’ by leading legal publication, Chambers UK – testament, according to the three partners, to the solutions-driven and commercial approach it takes when working with lenders and borrowers in Northern Ireland.

“Banking and finance and the structure of transactions are constantly evolving. The transactions we work on in this space can be very complex and require a high level

of specialist expertise in banking law – be that because of quality, size, international reach or value,” Brown continues. “Work of this nature therefore requires a very highlyskilled team of specialist lawyers who are exclusively dedicated to banking law.”

The partners explain that one of these key evolving issues for local financial institutions is the area of regulation. For regulated financial institutions, the pace, volume and complexity of regulatory developments both

PROFILE

domestically and internationally continues to present significant challenges at all levels and across business lines. In the current ‘post-crisis’ environment, legal and compliance teams are faced with a mosaic of regulatory requirements and initiatives.

Louise Bailey said: “Financial institutions as a whole, and senior management teams in particular, are subject to increasingly intense focus from regulators and market participants with regards to compliance. Monitoring and managing regulatory change is, and will continue to be, an absolutely crucial function for all regulated firms so regulatory advice is very much in demand.”

A&L Goodbody has recently recruited an Associate from London, Christopher Jessup, who will specialise in this complex area of the law. Bailey continued: “Whilst banks in Northern Ireland would previously have had to go to London for regulatory advice of this nature, Christopher’s appointment means that we can now provide it locally. This further enhances the service we can offer our clients and, since his experience and expertise are unrivalled in the local market, we are already seeing a high demand for his service.”

According to the three partners, the team is also expanding in response to a notable pick up in the local market – driven by a high volume of transactions based on loan on loan sales and refinancing activity, as well as a high level of renewing activity with local banks.

Ciaran McAlinney said: “As always, we have seen a good international side to the business based on M&A transactions relating to Northern Ireland, having acted on the refinancing of a number of major local assets in the past year.

“We have also seen a real pick up in activity based around shopping centres and retail complexes, and in real estate financing generally,” he said. “In the energy sector, meanwhile, a surge of activity in project finance in recent months has been driven by the anticipated changes to the Renewable Obligation Certificate scheme [ROCs] and their replacement, the Contract for Difference [CFD].

“We are working with all of the major financial institutions in the UK and Ireland and further afield, as well as the magic circle law firms and Wall Street firms, on all of these transactions. Whilst the majority of this work is on the lender side, we also act for a significant portfolio of local corporate borrowers, with the team regularly being asked to advise on financing for major Northern Ireland companies.”

The partners agreed their team of specialist banking and finance lawyers is the strongest it has ever been. They conclude by saying that, as market demand for their service continues to increase, they will remain committed to growing and upskilling the team to ensure that they continue to offer the high quality service for which they have become reputed.

DECEMBER 2015

Christopher Jessup

C

hristopher Jessup has joined the Banking team at A&L Goodbody as an Associate, with responsibility for advising banks, payment institutions, investment firms and other financial services providers on a variety of UK and EU regulatory and transactional matters.

Before joining the Belfast office this year, Christopher spent seven years working in the banking and financial services teams at international firms Sidley Austin LLP and King & Wood Mallesons LLP in London. His regulatory experience includes advising a broad range of clients on the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and subordinate legislation, EU financial services directives, consumer credit, compliance issues, e-money, anti-money laundering, data protection and payment services regulation.

He also has experience of advising clients undertaking group reorganisations and in relation to regulatory capital requirements, financial promotion rules, listing requirements, market conduct issues and selling/marketing restrictions.

His transactional practice involves advising banks, payment institutions and other regulated and non-regulated firms on commercial and contractual matters including the acquisition, setting up and/or operation of regulated businesses in the UK and advising on secured and unsecured transactions involving different classes of assets.

Recently, Christopher has advised the UK branch of a major EU bank with regard to its regulatory requirements in connection with a group reorganisation and regularly advises financial institutions on the implications and requirements arising from CRD IV, EMIR and the implementation of the UK’s Banking Reform Act.

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COMMUNICATIONS

Broadband speeds of light, or treacle?

Broadband speeds in Northern Ireland have increased again but the focus has now turned to reaching harder to reach, mainly rural areas, writes Ofcom’s James Stinson

W

e used to talk about house prices, now it’s broadband speeds. And that’s not surprising given the increasingly important part communications now play in our daily lives.

increase further but it is also apparent that providing better services to the still significant number of homes and businesses that can’t get even basic broadband requires further government intervention.

But there are a great many people in Northern Ireland who aren’t getting the faster broadband service they want.

For economic and technical reasons, these are usually in rural areas. It’s easier and cheaper to provide superfast broadband, delivered through a cable, to 100 apartments in the centre of Belfast than to a similar number of dispersed houses in rural County Fermanagh.

During our everyday work as a regulator, we collect lots of information about coverage and availability of communication services, including broadband.

James Stinson

speeds have increased by 19% to 28.3Mbit/s and average upload speeds of 4.5Mbit/s are the highest in the UK. The focus has now turned to those that don’t have good broadband. Our report shows that some 6% of premises in Northern Ireland are still getting speeds of less than 2Mbit/s.

Our recently launched Connected Nations Report has plenty of information that will help industry, the UK government, and the Northern Ireland Executive better understand what’s good and not so good about communications services in Northern Ireland and right across the UK.

As expected, the research shows the highest proportion of these properties is in the Fermanagh and Omagh, Mid Ulster, Newry Mourne and Down council areas. Indeed average download speeds in rural areas are roughly half those in urban areas.

Northern Ireland was ahead of the pack in investing in broadband infrastructure and well placed with some 77% of premises having access to superfast broadband services (>30Mbit/s). 86% have access to download speeds of at least 10Mbit/s.

It’s important to stress this urban / rural split exists in England, Scotland and Wales too.

However, there are unique challenges in Northern Ireland where our more dispersed rural population, means the problems of poor broadband are more acute here.

Over the last year, average download

Ongoing investment will likely see speeds

Significantly, the UK government recently signalled its intention to introduce a broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) by 2020 that will entitle everyone, no matter where they live, to a basic broadband service delivering minimum speeds of around 10Mbit/s. Ofcom will assist the Government in this work.

This and other initiatives will deliver better services over time but consumers can often improve the service they currently have. We estimate that as many as 20% of homes could get better speeds just by moving their wireless router and we have launched a new app for tablets and smartphones, which allows people to find out if their Wi-Fi signal is working as it should.

And there’s more we can do. Ofcom plans to map the actual broadband connection speeds for every address in the UK next year, telling people what service they can expect from different providers, and helping them to shop around.

Ofcom wants to see the widest possible availability of communications services, particularly in areas which are harder to reach.

Ofcom’s Connected Nations report can

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be viewed at www.ofcom.org.uk

Thanks to everyone involved in Enterprise Week

Especially the 1,700 businesses we connected with.

#LetsConnectNI for growth. bankofireland.co.uk/businessacademy

Northern Ireland’s Enterprise Bank

Bank of Ireland UK subscribes to the Lending Code. Bank of Ireland UK is a trading name of Bank of Ireland (UK) plc which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Registered in England and Wales (No. 7022885), Bow Bells House, 1 Bread Street, London EC4M 9BE. 10100151102

Experience is key to shaping our top people

By Neal Lucas, Managing Director of Neal Lucas Recruitment

I

n my experience meeting successful leaders of client companies or when I interview great senior level candidates, they all say pretty much the same things about what influenced them the most in order to make them an effective leader.

The first is early work experience. This may have been a part time job whilst at school or one of their first career steps. For some, the tedium or monotony motivated them to seek better work. Others came across a work style or process that they adopted and retained all their lives.

Many people have false starts or early failures that establish how their interests match their abilities and talents. They may have their eyes opened to timewasting or see the distrust between staff and management. At this early juncture; such memories stick.

The second factor is the influence of other people. This is nearly always about an immediate boss, but it can be about a colleague.

Such figures are almost always remembered as very bad or very good. Both types teach lessons; either what to do or not to do.

Some vow never to repeat the negative, humiliating irrationality of an early boss whilst others try to copy the mentor or manager who motivated or taught them so much.

The third factor is short term assignments or acting up. As this takes people out of their comfort zone and exposes them to problems they have never before confronted, they learn quickly. For some it is the lucky break, providing an opportunity to find a new skill or passion.

Here is the bottom line, to the extent that leadership is acquired, developed and learnt, rather than gifted, it is achieved mainly through work experiences. Inevitably some experiences are better than others because they teach different lessons in different ways. Some people have acquired these valuable experiences despite, rather than as a result of, company policy.

Learning from experience takes time. It’s not a steady, planned accumulation of insights and skills.

But three factors conspire to defeat the ‘learn from experience’ ideal. First, young managers and their bosses want to speed up experience. They want to learn faster, cheaper and better, hence the appeal of the one-minute manager and the short course. Second, many HR professionals see learning from experience as disempowering them because they want to be in charge of a leadership development programme. Third, some see experience as a test, not a development exercise.

Reflecting on this, I think that leadership potential and talent should be defined as the ability to learn from experience. Every move, promotion or challenge should be assessed for what it can teach an aspiring leader. By recognising and executing this; aspiring leaders will develop the skills to enable them to turn vision into reality and sustain it.

Neal Lucas is Managing Director of Neal Lucas Recruitment, Northern Ireland’s leading executive search and recruitment business. They specialise in the appointment of Director and Senior Management level roles. He, or a member of the team, can be contacted on 028 9268 8818, followed @NealLucasRec or connected with on LinkedIn

Fourth, is the first big assignment. This is often the first promotion or foreign posting. It is often cited as important because suddenly the stakes were higher and everything was more complex. There was more pressure – the buck stopped with you; you were accountable.

Suddenly the difficulties of leadership and management became real.

The fifth is hardships of various kinds. Hardship teaches many lessons: how resourceful and robust some people can be and how others panic and collapse. It teaches some to admire a fit and happy organisation when they see it. It teaches how to distinguish needs from wants. It teaches a little about the virtues of stoicism as well as a tough mental attitude.

Finally; comes management development. Some remember and quote their MBA experience or a specific course. More recall a coach or mentor, either because they were so good or so ineffective.

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Public Sector

PUBLIC SECTOR

The public sector tendering 101 Public sector spending may have been cut, but there’s still plenty of business to bid for. We take you through some of the basics with the help of the Department of Finance

What are public sector buyers really looking for?

Buyers want to ensure that you offer a competitive price, have the skills required to deliver the contract; have adequate resources in place; are financially stable and managerially competent; reliable, reputable and easy to deal with. The specific needs of the client are always outlined in the tender documentation.

For some larger contracts, the buyer will host a pre-tender information day for prospective suppliers to hear about the needs of the client, and raise any queries.

How do I know if this is the right tender opportunity for my business?

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Start by fully reading the tender documents – ensure you understand exactly what the client is asking for, and the technical, skill and experience requirements involved.

Consider if your organisation can meet these essential criteria – if not, then it is not the right opportunity for you. Only submit a tender for a contract you are certain you have the people, time and money to deliver.

Next do a quick business analysis: • How much will it cost to prepare your bid?

• How much profit would you make on the contract if successful?

• Is taking on a contract this size commercially viable for your business?

• Would the contract put dangerous

pressure on staffing levels and cash flow?

• What will be the impact on the service you provide to your existing customers?

Be careful not to put the organisation in jeopardy! Starting with a modest contract is sensible. If you are unsure then perhaps you should defer preparing tenders until the business has grown further and you have clear ideas about your long term goals. Why not look for a business mentor, or make connections with some larger companies in your sector to learn from their best practice?

If the tender opportunity still seems beneficial for your organisation, then think about your position in the wider market – what

PUBLIC SECTOR

value can you add that your competitors could not? How many other companies will be potentially interested in this opportunity? Ensure that your completed tender reflects the unique selling points you offer, and be as innovative as you can!

What should I focus on as I prepare my tender?

Make sure you fully understand what is being sought by the buyer – ask for clarification if necessary using the online messaging function of the eTendersNI website, and check your messages for the reply.

Focus on the evaluation criteria as you complete the tender documentation. If you

DECEMBER 2015

do not provide enough evidence for each criterion then you will not be awarded the contract. If you are asked to, then ensure you include examples of relevant past experience.

Check that you have completed all the necessary parts of the documentation, including signatures in each place required.

Now ask a colleague to check again before you submit. Ensure you leave enough time to meet the submission deadline.

Which information and supporting documents will be required as part of the tender?

Any documentation you are asked to provide will be specific to the tender opportunity.

Examples may include accreditation documents, insurance certificates, examples of company and key personnel experience.

Check from the outset what is requested and ensure you have this information ready in time to submit with your bid.

How do I ask for clarification for wording in the tender I don’t understand?

Use the clarifications option within the eTendersNI portal to submit queries to the buyer. Ask as many questions as you need to ensure clarity on the client’s needs. Check your messages so you don’t miss out on the reply. If you wish the response to be private, mark your message as ‘commercial in confidence’. >

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PUBLIC SECTOR

What if I am unsure if my organisation could meet all the mandatory requirements in the tender?

Preparing tenders is time-consuming, and ties up valuable staff resources. All the time spent is wasted if you don’t get the contract! Only tender for contracts you are certain you have the people, skills, experience, time and money to deliver.

cost of tendering, and ensures everyone faces the same tendering process.

How do I complete the pricing schedule?

Read the tender documentation carefully to ensure you understand what the client needs. Consider what price you can offer, bearing in mind you need to at least break even over the duration of the contract.

Check the footnotes about VAT inclusion.

After registration for it is important to save information to your eTendersNI profile, indicating the categories of goods, services or works which your organisation is interested in providing. eTendersNI will then issue your organisation with an email alert whenever a relevant tender opportunity is published.

Do I need to complete all of the documentation or just the key sections?

Follow the guidance in the ‘Instructions to Tenderers’ document carefully – for example number your responses according to the question numbers. This guidance will explain how to complete all the documentation.

How important is the deadline – will they accept late submissions with a valid reason?

Tender submissions after the deadline will not be accepted. For example, if the deadline is 3pm on a particular day, then at exactly 3pm the functionality of the eTendersNI website changes, to stop any tenders being accepted.

How do I find out about opportunities to do business with the public sector in Northern Ireland?

Public sector tender opportunities in NI which are over £30,000 in value are advertised online on a web-based procurement portal provided by CPD, known as eTendersNI. Potential suppliers must register for eTendersNI to respond to tender opportunities (registration is free). Each organisation should only register once, providing full information about the organisation during the registration process (such as number of employees, whether you are a registered charity or business etc).

How does the eTendersNI portal work?

Using the eTendersNI portal helps public sector organisations to reduce the time and

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Suppliers can view current opportunities on the eTendersNI portal and then, if interested, respond to a particular tender online. Always read the tender documentation fully before making a decision about whether to submit a tender.

“Preparing tenders is time-consuming, and ties up valuable staff resources. Only tender for contracts you are certain you have the people, skills, experience, time and money to deliver.”

What is a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire?

A Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) is the way that buyers across the EU find out information about potential suppliers, in order to ascertain that they are suitable for public sector opportunities, and have the capacity and capability to deliver a contract. The information gathered usually includes financial status and previous experience of the organisation.

For certain types of contract (usually larger value contracts) the ‘Call for Tender’ on eTendersNI will show the full tender documents; however only the first section of the tender will actually be available for completion (this is the PQQ information).

An initial selection process then takes place to ensure that suppliers meet the

minimum standards for the contract.

The highest performing suppliers at this stage are then invited to log-in to eTendersNI again to complete and submit the full tender (this was previously known as the ‘Invitation to Tender’).

What is Constructionline?

Constructionline (www.constructionline. co.uk is the UK’s largest register for pre-qualified contractors and consultants for construction works.

If you hope to tender for construction works then you should register for Constructionline. Registration is free and instructions are available on the website.

What about opportunities less than £30,000 in value?

Where a contract is estimated to be less than £30,000 in value, it does not need to be publicly advertised in the same way as larger contracts.

For supplies and services contracts, public sector buyers can search online through eTendersNI for suppliers in the relevant category and contact them directly for price quotations.

How do I find out about public sector tender opportunities outside of Northern Ireland?

In addition to eTendersNI, there are a number of other tendering portals advertising opportunities that may be of interest to your organisation.

Learn how to access opportunities outside Northern Ireland.

Factfile • Around 80% of public sector contracts were awarded to suppliers based in Northern Ireland.

• Around 50% of public sector contracts were awarded to suppliers with less than 50 employees.

• Around 20% of public sector contracts were awarded to suppliers with less than ten employees.

PUBLIC SECTOR

The tender approach, from one who knows...

Ulster Business wanted to find out the best way to make sure you’re in with a chance to win a public sector tender. We turned to Noel Brady, founder of Nb1

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hen it comes to finding somebody in Northern Ireland who knows about the strange “art” of winning public sector tenders, Noel Brady is your man. Over the years he has led, or been heavily involved in, some of the biggest public sector contracts awarded in the Province.

Noel, through his consultancy practice Nb1, brings to what many see as a tedious and flat process the same colour and flair he brings to his business attire (which always seems to coordinate with the colour of the spectacles he is wearing). This ingredient is the ability which requires a thorough understanding of the process and an overwhelming focus on making sure you answer the requirements laid out in tender.

That sounds simple, but in practice it is much more difficult, so we asked Noel for an insight into the process; gafas a gafas, as the Spanish might say. Luckily he wasn’t shy in sharing his 35 years of knowledge, something he agreed is much more important now that the process of public sector procurement has become so much more competitive.

That’s down in part to the very base fact that austerity has put the brakes on public sector spending and left much less goods and services for the private sector to fight over.

But it’s also a result of increased use of technology by the Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) and the seven other

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Centres of Procurement Expertise (COPES) centred around the new EtendersNI system provided by the Department of Finance and Personnel at the website www. entenderssni.gov.uk. For suppliers this is the key source of information of public sector tenders which emerge on a daily basis.

Whereas previously potential suppliers had to search through a number of different websites and sources to find out about upcoming tenders, nowadays they are all gathered together on one website, a factor which makes it more accessible for potential suppliers to find and therefore ramps up the number of applications.

However, according to Noel, waiting for tenders to appear shouldn’t be your plan of action if you want to grow your business with public sector bodies.

“You’re not going to have much success if you wait until the tenders are already out,” he told Ulster Business. “The companies who are doing well are doing a lot of research by making contact with people in government departments to try and find out as much as possible about their needs and gather information about tenders which are planned in the future.

“Most departments are happy to meet with you provided the tender process hasn’t already begun so use this time to get more familiar with their needs and to get your name known. Participate in events where you can set out your

products and services, for example, meetthe-buyer days, such as those hosted by InterTradeIreland or the NICON annual showcase which targets the Health Sector.”

“This type of business development activity is essential if you want to keep up with the pack and be in with a chance of winning tenders.

Raise your profile any way you can, whether that’s in Ulster Business or by other means, but make sure you get your name out there.”

Not having forced Noel to quote this esteemed publication, we were slightly taken aback by the unprompted praise and felt we should hide our blushes and quickly move on.

And that’s exactly what you should do if a tender isn’t right for your company. Noel said it is essential to have a good qualification process in place so you don’t waste time and money applying to supply goods or services which you have very little chance of winning, or which won’t represent profitable business for your company.

“You should at least have a set of internal questions which test whether you’re likely to be successful in each tender,” he said.

For example, “Do you have any existing relationships with the department? Does your service or product completely meet the requirements? “If a client wishes to buy equipment which has a specific specification and your offering does not meet that specification then you’re completely wasting your time, you should qualify

out of that opportunity immediately.”

Once you’ve decided that you definitely want to tender, the real art begins.

“Tender writing is an art form,” Noel said. “The best tenders are like a good book and should have the reader thinking ‘this is exciting, they’ve got some really good products, the price is good and I really want to do business with them.

“The tender should be structured exactly in line with the “Instructions to tenderers” and all sections and responses must heavily underline why the client should select your proposed.”

To some people that might seem like a daunting task but for Noel, it is definitely not a chore.

“I love writing tenders. I like sitting down with a tender document and really getting stuck into it to understand what is being procured and then how the company I’m working with can deliver on those needs.”

Reverting back to the advice given to school children before exams is also good practice, according to Noel.

“Read the question, read it again and make sure you understand all the different parts contained in the question. Tenders have a very strict evaluation process and will have a checklist making sure your response covers all aspects outlined in the requirements. “If the question has four parts, then make sure you answer all four parts. If you don’t you could be missing out on a significant number of points, particularly if that response is weighted.”

It is not unusual that competitors in a tender process are offering basically the same thing so Noel said it pays to add your own “secret sauce”.

“For example, If the requirement is to provide a particular service response within 24 hours of the request then of course you must say you will do so, but perhaps you could consider is there some added value you could offer – e.g. free access to our client advice desk.

DECEMBER 2015

“Add a little bit of value which doesn’t cost you much but makes you stand out from the competition.”

Some of Noel’s most salient advice comes in the aftermath of the tender process.

“If you win, great news, but don’t forget to ask for a de-brief. Find out what made you stand out from the crowd. That’s valuable information and will help you win another day.

And he said it pays to ask the expert.

“The other obvious thing is if you’re going to spend a lot of money on tendering, get some advice, pay for a bit of professional help on tender process and then you’ll not waste your time and money.”

With that the public sectoring tendering expert is off to weave his magic, having lifted the lid on a process which can be daunting to many.

So, don’t fear the tender, embrace it.

“It’s even more important to ask for a de-brief if you lose. Then you can find what you did wrong, rectify it and win the next time.”

Noel Brady can be contacted at Nb1, noel@nb1.co.uk. www.nb1.co.uk

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PUBLIC SECTOR

Small businesses mean big business the idea that shopping locally should be at the forefront of consumers’ minds.

“Through this event, Holywood Arches Business Association wanted to remind the local community of the importance of supporting local businesses in the area by shopping local. We wanted to create a real sense of community spirit and ensure that the doors of each business remain open. There are plans to regenerate and substantially redevelop the area over the next five years, which will create many opportunities for new business. Our hope is that the local East Belfast community will benefit from this large investment.”

Pictured from left are Alan Martin from the Holywood Arches Business Association and Cllr Howard from Belfast City Council

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n initiative to help boost the fortunes of independent retailers in the run up to Christmas got off to a bumper start last month.

Small Business Saturday is a nationwide campaign which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to shop locally and support small businesses in their communities.

The day itself takes place on the first shopping Saturday in December and aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses.

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One East Belfast business organisation organised a host of activities.

Holywood Arches Business Association hosted a day of free activities for the local community to enjoy with special prize giveaways and exclusive retailer promotions. The aim of the event was to generate increased footfall into the Holywood Arches area, create a fun atmosphere and attract interest to local businesses ahead of the Christmas period.

Local businessman and Chairman of the Holywood Arches Business Association, Alan Martin, said the initiative reinforces

The mission of the Holywood Arches Business Association is to give the local businesses a voice, to help develop the area further and discuss any issues that may arise; with the overall aim to increase footfall. It is for this reason that the Association has played an important role in the past, present and most importantly, will play in the future of this thriving community.

“2016 is shaping up to be a great year for East Belfast with new developments, including the opening of the visitor centre,” Alan said. This will offer endless opportunities to attract increased footfall and shoppers to the Holywood Arches area that will boost business in the area and create a buzz in the community.”

PUBLIC SECTOR

Chancellor performs fiscal escapology but austerity isn’t over yet Richard Ramsey, Chief Economist, NI, Ulster Bank, takes a look at the high and low-lights of last month’s Autumn Statement

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he Chancellor has developed something of a reputation for over-promising and under-delivering when it comes to fiscal austerity. He certainly didn’t shed this image in the first all-Conservative Spending Review since the mid-1990s.

It was anticipated that he would be fiscally embarrassed as it was thought borrowing would have to be higher than projected in July, due to tax receipts being lower during recent months. This raised the prospect of him failing to meet his fiscal rules and compromising a planned £10bn surplus by 2020. He was also under pressure to phase in the cuts to Tax Credits, with the latter potentially being replaced by cuts to welfare elsewhere. Outside of welfare spending, departmental spending was expected to be subjected to sizeable cuts.

However, once again, the Chancellor has embarked on some fiscal escapology, with plans to cut Tax Credits shelved altogether. Meanwhile the scale of departmental spending cuts, whilst severe for some departments such as Transport, overall were not as bad as anticipated.

Northern Ireland departments will see a cumulative decline of 5% over the next four years in their resource budget. In terms of capital spending, funding available for infrastructure investment via the block grant through to 2020-21 will rise by 12% in real terms, meaning over £600m more than if it had been held at 2015-16 levels.

So how did the Chancellor do all of this?

First of all, he had more than a little help from the fiscal anoraks and tax modelling gurus in the Treasury who were able to gift him around £34bn in additional revenue before he even started. There was also a greater emphasis on raising taxes.

We were provided with detail on the Apprenticeship Levy – which is intended to create three million new apprenticeships by 2020.

This levy will come into effect in 2017 at a rate of 0.5% of an employer’s pay bill. The levy will only be paid on employers’ pay bills over £3m, and less than 2% of UK employers will pay the levy. Nevertheless, these employers may see this as corporation tax by the back door, with the Chancellor taking back what he has gifted with the forthcoming cut in corporation tax to 18% by 2018. Indeed The new Apprenticeship Levy charged on

DECEMBER 2015

Richard Ramsey

business will raise a massive £3bn per annum, which is equivalent to raising corporation tax by almost 4%. And it is a new tax for potential foreign direct investors to Northern Ireland to consider.

The buy-to-let market has attracted the Chancellor’s attention again. On top of previous measures, a 3% stamp duty increase was announced today to take effect from April next year for people purchasing additional properties such as buy-to-let properties and second homes.

Another key theme was the devolving of more powers to the regions, with Cardiff and Glasgow set to secure city deals. Is Belfast or Derry~Londonderry lobbying for the same treatment? If not, why not? Raising revenue at a local level is also a key theme in today’s Autumn Statement.

While, overall, the Spending Review, from both a Northern Ireland and UK perspective, is better than anticipated, the next five years still represent a challenging fiscal environment.

Furthermore, it is all based on the assumption that robust rates of economic growth continue. Indeed, any downturns in the global economy will impact on these forecasts and would require corrective fiscal surgery. And the cuts in public spending levels will require further significant reductions in public sector employment. Fiscal austerity wasn’t to the fore today, but it certainly isn’t over yet. Instead it remains a work in progress.

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PUBLIC SECTOR

The full circle of connected health

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echnology is set to revolutionise the future of health and social care, and with over 100,000 health apps now available in the UK this transition is already well underway.

In its simplest form, connected health refers to solutions that use technology to deliver healthcare remotely, allowing more efficient monitoring, patient identification and behavioural analysis.

Digital technologies can empower patients and carers by giving them more control over their own health, however if you look at the solutions available at the moment they are a bit like islands without an ark.

So much data is being created on a daily basis but there is no link to bring all of this information together to make sure that appropriate actions are prescribed and delivered upon.

globally who suffer from a chronic disease.

They predict that by the end of this year

organisation that promotes engagement within forward thinking companies in

the global telehealth industry will be worth $18bn, with a rapid rise anticipated in the years to come. One forecaster from market watcher Machina Research has estimated that by 2020 this figure will have increased to $69bn.

Northern Ireland has been invaluable to our own R&D as we develop solutions.

Companies in Northern Ireland have been very proactive in this field and a lot of exciting research is taking place at our universities, health trusts and the Northern Ireland Science Park.

The focus is on a ‘full circle’ approach. We want to get people back out of hospital, living independently in their homes with monitoring devices in place to ensure that data is being sent to the relevant people at the right time. This is particularly important right now in the United Kingdom as the stretched National Health Service searches for efficiencies to tackle a predicted £30bn funding gap by 2018.

Connected health has the potential to remove voids in medical history, but not in its current form.

The Connected Health Innovation Centre (CHIC), a local organisation, is playing a key role in facilitating collaboration and innovation between home-grown companies. CHIC is leading transformational research which aligns care needs with technology providers, researchers and clinical experience. It has already attracted membership from well-known companies including Randox and academic institutions such as Ulster University, who are working alongside smaller companies to develop new ideas.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are almost a billion people

The connected health sector is still in its early stages and having access to an

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By Gareth Morrison, CEO of Lava Group

Working as part of a consortium, The Lava Group has secured £100,000 of funding from CHIC to invest in R&D for our latest piece of behavioural analysis technology, a new product which will monitor agitation levels in dementia and autism patients within the home or residential care environment.

The funding will support the development of a non-obtrusive system to provide long-term assessment of the environment and physiological metrics of the patient. Through repeated monitoring during periods of agitation we hope that our device will have the potential to forewarn carers that agitation is likely and identify the root cause ahead of the behaviour change in order to reduce the influence of triggers.

Around the world companies like ours will be bringing solutions to the market in the coming years and we will experience big changes in how we receive medical treatment. We are likely to see multiple items of technology used to provide data which can then be analysed. Symptoms will be discovered earlier, weight increases will be monitored and blood pressure changes will be detected and reported.

Connected health is a sector which is moving forwards quickly and we are looking forward to being a part of helping it to discover its full potential.

Flags, firebombs & flashbacks

Outsourcing

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OUTSOURCING

The in-house alternative Trying to carrying out all the functions your business needs in-house is laudable but can sometimes get in the way of the core business. With the help of nibusinessinfo.co.uk, we look at why it can sometimes be a good idea to outsource some of the functions which could be done better by others

O

utsourcing is when you contract out a business function – a particular task, role or process – to a third party over a long period of time. This third-party organisation takes control of the function and becomes responsible for its success.

Remember – anything done on behalf of your business will reflect directly on it.

Outsourcing may save you money, help you be more flexible and manage growth effectively. It also allows your business to gain access to outside expertise and technologies.

Why outsource?

However, you will need to decide whether the benefits of outsourcing outweigh the costs. The process will have to be properly managed and monitored.

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This guide shows you how to decide if outsourcing is right for your business, how to find the right partners and how to get the best from the process.

The benefits of outsourcing can be substantial. As well as cost savings, there are other gains your business could make.

However, giving up direct control of a business function comes with certain risks.

Advantages of outsourcing Some of the benefits of outsourcing include:

• Outsourcing can free up your business to focus on its strengths. This can benefit your business by allowing your staff to concentrate on their main tasks and on the future strategy.

• Outsourcing could improve your efficiency or customer service. You can choose an outsourcing company that specialises in the process or service you want them to carry out for you.

• Your business gain a competitive advantage through outsourcing.It can bring flexibilityto a business, turning fixed costs into variable costs and freeing up capital. It can also give your business the edge when adapting to changing market conditions.

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OUTSOURCING

Disadvantages of outsourcing

in-house to look after the outsourced business processes.

Outsourcing comes with risks. Some pitfalls of handing over direct control of a business function may include:

Types of outsourcing services

• Service delivery may fall below expectation.

• Confidentiality and security not may not be respected.

• The outsourcing contract could prove too rigid to accommodate change.

• Management changes at the outsourcing company could lead to friction.

• The outsourcing company could go out of business.

• There could be problems if you don’t provide the right management resources

DECEMBER 2015

Many businesses now outsource many of their non-strategic activities or more complex tasks in order to access industry best practice and cutting-edge technology.

This enables the business to benefit from the outsourcing company’s economies of scale and investment in highly trained staff while it concentrates on core business activities.

Processes you could consider outsourcing include: IT functions – you can outsource most IT

functions, from network management to project work, website development and data warehousing. You may benefit from the latest technology and software upgrades without having to invest in expensive systems or keep up with industry trends.

Business processes and HR – outsourcing activities such as recruitment, payroll and secretarial services gives you access to specialist skills, but you only pay when you need to use them.

Finance – you already outsource auditing, so why not do the same with your entire accounting function, including bookkeeping, tax management and invoicing? >

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OUTSOURCING

Sales and marketing – many organisations use a consultant or an agency to handle marketing communications. Smaller businesses, or those in specialised markets, can also outsource sales to specialist agencies.

Health and safety – there are consultants who specialise in health and safety compliance tasks. They may be able to ensure you meet all the requirements, including those for complex risks, more cost-effectively than you can.

You could also outsource tasks such as: cleaning, catering, facilities management, deliveries, installation, after-sales service and repairs.

Seven top tips to outsourcing success 1. Consider carefully: Take your time making decisions and make sure you are clear about the terms on which you and the supplier are working together.

See outsourcing considerations.

2. Good relationship management: This calls for constant communication and flexibility. Make the most of online project management and collaboration tools to help you stay on top of projects and in control

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of the company. Remember that although the supplier takes responsibility for the process, you still need to actively manage the relationship. Nominate a member of staff to take responsibility for liaison.

“You are likely to get the best results if you can stay with your supplier for several years. Switching suppliers can be disruptive.”

to get the best results if you can stay with your supplier for several years.

Switching suppliers can be disruptive, so it pays to commit to building a longterm relationship from the outset.

5. Be flexible: You may need to renegotiate the contract before the end of the term.

A flexible contract benefits both parties, allowing the supplier to innovate and you to react to changing circumstances.

6. Measure success: There should be financial benefits, but other reasons for outsourcing are harder to quantify. These could include improving customer service, reducing errors or increasing speed to market.

Include these factors in your assessment and consider how you’ll measure them.

3. Communicate internally: It’s equally important to establish effective and regular communication within your business. Staff may have particular concerns about their own jobs, so keep them informed. If staff are being transferred to the outsourcing provider under the arrangement, as sometimes happens, you will need to consider the relevant employment law. See responsibilities to employees if you buy or sell a business.

7. Plan a clear exit strategy: The relationship might end prematurely or may simply have run its course. Either way, make sure that your service level agreement contains a clear exit strategy. It should detail how the outsourced functions should be brought back in-house. It should clarify who owns what assets and specify when compensation is due, and how much.

4. Commit long term: You are likely

For more information visit nibusinessinfo.co.uk

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OUTSOURCING

Forward-thinking business support Cathal Geoghegan, Managing Director of the Mount Charles Group, looks at how outsourced business support services can help firms manage their operations, and reflects on the Group’s stellar growth and success over the last 12 months

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icture the scenario. You are driving into work and your car breaks down. Or your boiler develops a fault and will need to be serviced. Or maybe your computer has crashed and refuses to start up.

It probably isn’t too difficult to imagine, as these are basic problems that arise all too often in our daily lives, and the chances are you’ve encountered one if not all.

Equally, there is a strong likelihood that we would all take a similar course of action in the face of these issues too.

Whether it is a problem with your car, boiler or computer, we tend to turn to experienced professionals or specialists for support, as it is almost always easier, faster and cheaper in the long run.

Even if you have a basic knowledge of the issue or are able to make a diagnosis of the problem, we fall back on those who earn a living solving these tasks and the end result is usually far more reliable than our own efforts would have been.

In essence, this is outsourcing at its very simplest. We take a job or a service that we need completed and hand it over to a more experienced organisation or individual, freeing our minds to focus on other things.

Significantly, while this may only be a very basic definition, it highlights this

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fundamental principle, of turning to experienced professionals for support, which is exactly the same for businesses.

In some rare cases firms may encounter the basic scenarios described above, but outsourcing tends to be a little bit more complex for businesses as rather than a one off service or repair, it can include a long-term contract for the provision of services or fulfillment of duties, and it can offer a much wider range of benefits.

At the Mount Charles Group, outsourcing has been a key part of our offering for more than 25 years, so we’ve seen first hand

how important and effective it can be for firms of all sizes, across all sectors.

It is a key part of our commitment to firms and allows us to help ease managerial and administrative pressure by taking control of their basic amenities, ensuring they run seamlessly in the background, just as a mechanic or technician would be trusted to repair your car or boiler.

We’ve established ourselves as Ireland’s largest locally-owned food service and business support solutions provider, and our offering is continually diversifying to meet the outsourcing

A year of success

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t’s been a busy 12 months for the Mount Charles Group, with a number of major new contracts, senior appointments and a host of national awards just some of the highlights in what has been a stellar period for the firm.

• Named by Deloitte’s Best Managed Companies as one of the top 20 companies in Ireland for a fifth consecutive year.

• Secured £5m in new contracts across the UK and Ireland.

• Received two Janus Awards from the Institute of Hospitality NI for their Hospitality Management Team and for Business Development Manager of the Year.

• Winner of the prestigious Public Service Buildings Award at the 2015 Kimberley-Clark Professional Golden Service Cleaning Awards for their contract at Titanic Belfast.

• Expanded its presence in Ireland with a major new appointment, introducing Larry McGrath as Operations Manager for Ireland.

• Named the UK’s fastest growing independent foodservice company in the Foodservice Growth Report 2015, prepared by AlixPartners and EP Business in Hospitality.

Cathal Geoghegan

OUTSOURCING

needs of local businesses and help them efficiently manage their operations.

It’s one of the reasons why we can now provide a range of business support solutions including vending, retail catering, cleaning and security, alongside contract catering, which has been at the core of the company since we first started out back in 1988.

We also offer a number of integrated business support services including reception staff, maintenance, portering, waste management and a remote switchboard service.

It was in response to the rapidly increasing demand from our clients that we introduced our ‘bundled’ service contracts, which combine the unique set of support services required by each business into one, tailored package.

Outsourcing with one of our ‘bundles’ allows firms to consolidate their core business support solutions, so whether it’s a catering and cleaning option, or vending facilities and the provision of reception staff, we can develop a value for money package to meet their requirements. We don’t have a ‘one size fits all approach’ and that’s what sets us apart, as we look at each business individually.

The only thing that remains the same is the outcome, as by allowing us control of the basic services, businesses can save valuable resources and ensure that you have more time to focus on your operations and driving the company forward.

Of course, there are unique challenges to each contract and every client will have different needs and requirements, but we’re passionate about the service we provide and with an experienced team of over 1,800 people, we’re well positioned to respond to any challenge.

Fundamentally, our services allow businesses to reduce their operating costs while still improving quality, and that’s really why outsourcing is such a valuable tool for firms in Northern Ireland.

It’s also a model that we believe is strongly suited to the Republic of Ireland market

DECEMBER 2015

as well however, and the ROI market is one that we feel is full of potential and significant opportunities for local firms.

That’s why we’ve been working throughout the last year to expand our presence throughout Ireland and our goal now is to reach out to businesses in the ROI market using the same foundations that we did in Northern Ireland.

By using local suppliers and local staff to provide the highest possible standard of service to local firms, we believe that we can offer something different, and add a personal touch that we feel the Irish market is lacking at present.

It’s the latest development in what has been a fantastic year for Mount Charles, and it’s an exciting time for the company. We’re looking forward to developing our offering to build on the success we’ve enjoyed throughout the last year, throughout the UK and Ireland.

We’ve got some big ambitions, but we also know our limits, so should anything ever go wrong with your car when you’re on your way to work, then it’s probably best just to leave that to a mechanic. At least for now, anyway.

For more information on the Mount Charles Group visit www.mountcharles.com

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PROPERTY ANALYSIS

Listen up landlords!

Martin McDowell, Managing Director at Osborne King, needs to get something off his chest. Buckle up...

Why does it take for ever to get responses to straightforward valuation queries?

Why is it necessary to incur legal costs to prepare a Lands Tribunal case before any offer of settlement is forthcoming?

And why does the LPS appear to have constrained their valuers to a point where they appear scared to make any recommendations regarding rental uplifts for fear of annoying their political masters?

Martin McDowell

S

ometimes I feel the need to shout to get a point heard. The office market is now provably on the move and commercial landlords need to be aware of what they can achieve by negotiating effectively.

limited commercial understanding of the property market in Northern Ireland, Invest NI is aware and completely understands that for property developers to provide grade A office space, and indeed funders to support the developers, developments must be viable”.

For far too long our market has been constrained by the public sector dominance of office space and its determination to drive rentals to entirely uneconomic levels, but today as I write this article I am optimistic that our persistence in highlighting public sector policy disincentives has started to pay dividends. In an article published in Ulster Business in April 2015 we highlighted unhelpful comments existing on Invest NI’s website at that time, principally the statements that “prime office rents are among the lowest in Western Europe” and “office space costs are easily affordable with Northern Ireland maintaining the lowest net rent in the UK”. With thinly disguised irritation, INI responded in a press statement on 16th June 2015 saying, “Contrary to a recent article that stipulated that we have

Furthermore it commented “Invest NI is aware of recent transactions within Belfast city centre that have completed at more than £15 per sq. ft. and asking prices continue to increase. Grade A rentals are reported to have increased by 19% in the past year and are now moving towards the £17/18 per sq. ft. required to make development viable”.

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Imagine our relief that finally the public sector was acknowledging commercial reality, recognising the need for development viability and that acceptance of undeniable rental growth in the sector was being openly confirmed. So why has no one yet informed the Land and Property Service that the market has moved? Why are we still facing the same old “this looks like a nil increase to me” mentality regarding every rent review?

In my view it has never been more important for landlords to seek out good representation to deliver rental growth to their assets. Unless landlords are effectively represented they will face delay, frustration, disappointment and usually the threat that the occupier will leave if rent is pushed too hard. Landlords do not have to accept this any longer, but they do need to utilise experts within the sector to deliver returns. Our own experience of recent dealings with the LPS has proved conclusively that unless you push hard, are well prepared and not easily intimidated, the LPS will try and “nickel and dime” every negotiation.

Northern Ireland needs new Grade A stock but cannot deliver it until rental levels justify the risk of speculative development.

Landlords of existing stock need to realise that growth exists but still have to fight to achieve settlements especially with public sector occupiers. I urge all commercial landlords/institutional funders to realise that the market needs more backbone and that to achieve real growth requires experience of the sector and a winning mentality. It is time for landlords to realise that they are off the back foot and now is the time to maximise the value of their office assets. It is time to take on the unrealistic public sector approach to occupation and rental; it is time to move forward!

CYBERSECURITY ROUNDTABLE SPONSORED BY

Roundtable: the cybersecurity lowdown Cybercrime has quickly become one of the biggest threats to businesses throughout the world. To gauge the threat and to find out how you can protect your firm, Abbey Bond Lovis and Ulster Business brought together some of the pre-eminent experts in the field at a roundtable discussion at The Lyric theatre in Belfast

Maurice Boyd, Managing Director at Abbey Bond Lovis Patrick McMillen, Sales & Marketing Director of Business Development at Abbey Bond Lovis Peter Kilcullen, Associate Director Commercial Sales at Allianz David Gallagher, Development Underwriter at Hiscox Darrel McCartan, Senior Market Underwriter at Zurich Kim McCourt, Manager, Forensic Investigations at Grant Thornton Paul Kelly, Manager, Cyber Security at Grant Thornton David Elliott, Editor at Ulster Business

David Elliott: How serious a threat is cybercrime to business in Northern Ireland?

Paul: We have quantified the costs to the Northern Irish economy at £100m per annum.

We are starting to see more frequent cases of cybercrime both in Northern Ireland and in the Republic in relation to criminal proceedings and that is a trend which is ongoing.

Kim: In addition, the Information Commissioners’ Office is levying large fines both on local and national businesses in relation to the loss of data, whether or not there has been a financial impact on a company or the individuals affected.

DECEMBER 2015

Patrick: Would it be fair to say that any business, particularly businesses which hold a lot of client details, are vulnerable?

Paul: All facets of business are vulnerable, not just those which are web based or have front end services. Any business which has data that is of value. The important thing to stress is that business owners should, at the very least, focus on protecting their confidential data, or their crown jewels.

Darrel: One of the key fundamentals of cybersecurity is what the business does, what data they hold. Is the data medically orientated? Is it financial orientated? Black-

market data, for example, can be hugely valuable. A credit card record is only 50p, but if you can account for someone’s complete data history, i.e. from their date of birth, place of birth, their mother’s maiden name, their job history, their credit history, their credit card history, their credit rating, where they have lived – that’s worth £300 on the black-market. The reason there is such a disparity in the difference is the longevity of what they can do with that information.

Once they have taken that information and got it, they can keep that for a couple of months before anybody knows anything about it, and obviously the volume of the return on that is much greater. So you have >

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CYBERSECURITY ROUNDTABLE SPONSORED BY

to look at it from the theft attractiveness of the business. How attractive is my data to the thieves out there? The sooner people become more aware then the better prepared they will be for this sort of thing.

Kim: It is important to note that here in Northern Ireland the police are making an investment in cybersecurity. If a cybercrime is reported through their portal – if it is reported as a non-emergency – they will get back to you with a specialist cyber investigator within a number of hours.

The PSNI are recruiting heavily and have invested heavily. This might appear to be a borderless crime but there are actual geographical focuses to this and through some of the cyber forums it’s apparent there are a number of notable attacks which have happened only recently. There was one in Newry involving a particular type of malware, because it was posted on a forum the attacks stopped happening and they moved on to Scotland. The PSNI here are actually taking action and are working very closely with the National Crime Agency, Europol and Interpol. Businesses here have a lot more support than perhaps businesses abroad.

David E: Do the high-profile attacks on Talktalk or JP Morgan recently help raise awareness?

Kim: Yes, absolutely. I think more and more businesses are definitely becoming aware of the threat, even if they don’t have an online presence.

Patrick McMillen

Darrel: I actually think there hasn’t been as much uptake amongst small businesses as there should be. There’s definitely more awareness but a lot of the SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and smaller clients know it’s there but are not actually taking action.

Kim: What do you think that we as an industry could do to try and help raise awareness and bring it to the attention of the SMEs here?

Darrel: It’s not just about awareness, it’s also about acceptance. This isn’t really an area which companies can pass down to the IT department, the board have got to take control of it. The CEOs, the CFOs have got to manage this and take Maurice Boyd

responsibility and not throw it down through the company. There was good publicity recently about certain cases, but there is just a real lack of awareness of the real impact that it can have on SMEs. I know some insurance companies are in a position where they are offering products, others are looking at coming up with solutions.

Peter: At this point in time we are not selling the product locally. We have a global specialty division which is looking at providing a solution to our larger clients, but it’s not the first line of defence for companies. If anything, it is complementary and has to augment whatever corporate governance structures are in place. There has to be a cybersecurity culture within the organisation and it has to be taken seriously by the board, there is no doubt about it. So what we are looking to do effectively is engage with the intermediaries to try to understand what’s really happening because at the end of the day a lot of this is foreseeable and it’s more a matter of when it happens, rather than if. The organisation has to have its first line defence put in place in the first instance – such as disaster recovery plans – and then test it in a robust way. The insurance proposition thereafter is designed to respond to different situations and provide the expertise to help deal with the situation.

Darrel: From an insurer’s perspective, the issue we have is the aggregation of loss because of the sharing of data and the multifaceted nature in which data travels over

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CYBERSECURITY ROUNDTABLE SPONSORED BY

multiple parties. You can get caught for huge capacities of data that you are not actually wanting to cover on the initial proposal.

I think there needs to be a more rigorous procedure in how we actually look at what the client is doing and how they are doing it.

Patrick: To put it into perspective, the £20m of estimated premium income in the cyber security area relates to about £45bn as the total premium in the UK general insurance market.

Maurice: Purely from the broking perspective, I think there is a lack of knowledge. And when you have lack of knowledge then you are not prepared to actually talk about it, therefore it is maybe not flagged as well as it should be with clients. There is an education required at the broking level.

Patrick: From an insurer point of view, is the deluge of cases we’re hearing about worrying underwriters when it comes to the amount of risk they are prepared to take on?

David G: From Hiscox’s point of view, our US arm has been writing this product for a lot longer than we have in the UK and Ireland. The product was originally about 27 pages long but when we saw the market emerging we revamped it and now it’s down to seven pages. We’ve got a bit more comfort from our US office on the claims statistics and felt we were in a good position to go for it. We haven’t seen any backlash yet and hopefully we won’t.

Patrick: On the basis of cover for client firms, the cover is on what’s called in the industry a “claims made” basis, and I think that is a very important factor for the insurers and their willingness to underwrite cyber business and should make sure cyber doesn’t become the new “asbestosis”. I wonder if one of the insurers around the table could explain what “claims made” means and how does it affect clients?

Paul Kelly

occurs in that year and you make a claim then the policy picks it up. However, when somebody decides to put a personal injury claim in three years after the policy has expired, the policy will still activate and deal with the claim. On claims made it is very different. The risk goes forward because you have to have a policy in place when the claim is notified, immaterial of when it occurred. So, for example, if a claim occurred in 2000 and isn’t reported until 2005, the 2000 policy is off scot-free and the 2005 policy has to pick it up.

Patrick: So it’s really important in terms of brokers advising their clients to get this right and it is not just something you buy off the shelf like people might buy house insurance or private car insurance.

Paul: The important thing also to bear in mind – and this is the scary bit – the underlying activity – the hack – could be embedded for weeks and months before it is actually detected. Back to the earlier point about the retro-date, it is quite important when the contract is being put in place initially that it is not from that date forward. There is some residual exposure that needs to be taken into consideration.

David G: I think it’s important to note it’s not just a hack; it’s a lost laptop, it’s lost paper files. So you don’t actually have to be hacked to have a data breach and end up with a claim against you.

Darrel: There can be other inadvertent breaches – where people just inadvertently >

Darrel McCartan

Darrel: Claims made is a fundamental principle of financial lines insurance, which makes it very different from other insurance.

If you take motor insurance, for example, if you take a policy out for a year it covers a year period, so if an accident or an incident

DECEMBER 2015

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David E: Is there an insurance product which can protect against the reputational risk to a company’s brand from a cyberattack?

Kim McCourt

Paul: I think most insurers around the table will have a specialist panel and who they use as a result of a cyber breach or a data breach. We would have a PR firm within that who would immediately act on behalf of the insured to try and mitigate the damage from a reputational point of view.

Peter: Another related consideration is in terms of legal advice, particularly if there is a regulatory issue around data breaches.

send an email to the wrong person – which can seem minor but which can be catastrophic if they go to the wrong person.

Again this comes down to people having awareness of cyber security ingrained in their everyday actions. Then there’s the data breach, the aggressive attack where somebody is deliberately out to target you.

Phishing is probably one of the biggest areas which people are becoming vulnerable to, especially solicitors. And it’s not even just on a databases, it’s by sending an invoice. Anybody can print off an invoice template from the internet of a firm and present it to a client.

A particular building firm, was attacked by a phishing scam and they paid out something like £750,000 for delivery of steel. As soon as bank account details are to be changed there should be a rigorous control procedure set in place by a business to audit that. There should be a control file kept detailing who you pay to, when you pay it, and how you pay it and a verification number beside that so if anything is changed that is the person you ring and check. Simple procedures like that can help businesses stop this.

Peter: For SMEs, in the first instance prevention might be a simple list of do’s and don’ts, because I can imagine for a small business this is scary territory. For a corporate entity, they are used to having the appropriate controls, governance, structure and appropriate resources whereas somebody who is running a small shop is merely looking to provide their customer with a service and the last thing that’s on their mind day-to-

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David Gallagher

Obviously the product is not designed to pay for fines because realistically some of those fines are not insurable. But certainly defence costs and getting the right sort of legal advice when the moment occurs are covered.

Patrick: Are fines not payable by insurers in any circumstances?

Peter: I think it probably depends but certainly in our contract there is a qualifier around the fine. If the fine, or if the incident arises from gross negligence, well clearly you are not going to expect a contract to pick up on those circumstances. Each contract will have a different view, but it’s not designed to respond to illegal activity on the part of the client.

day is worrying about what’s happening out there in cyber land. So maybe as part of the education we could offer some some practical tips which at least heightens the awareness of the threat and then ultimately see where that conversation leads. It’s not going to lead to selling protection there and then because the governance controls have to be put in place before you can go to that second stage.

Kim: A quick and easy test is to set up an email address which is similar to your managing director’s, put a link into it and say: “I really need you to check this out, it’s urgent” and send it round your firm.”

It’s something that would be similar to a phishing attack and statistics show 95% of senior management will click on the link.

David G: As an example, we had a small local construction firm down in Cork which wouldn’t be especially high risk from a data breach point of view. They got an email, clicked on the link and it was Cryptolocker, which is a virus which gets into your system and shuts it down. Next thing they get another email telling them pay €25,000 or risk having their data wiped and being locked out of their system. Incident response came in, we paid the ransom on behalf of the insured company, the hacker then sent in the data encryption key. We had to investigate that to make sure it wasn’t an extra virus and it turned out it was restoring most of their data, but not all their data. They had an extra £15,000 in costs to reimburse all their data back up to where it was before the cyberattack.

Patrick: The amazing thing about that is that the small construction firm had the insurance.

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Peter Kilcullen

better idea, of where the insured is at. And we can also then give them a couple of tips to get them to the place they want to be.

Peter: The application process will also glean the information if the company is answering the questions in a way that gives you confidence or it is highlighting where they have gaps in their armour.

We use that information as well as the wider network of services we can bring to the table. It is about helping them up their game, to focus and identify their weaknesses in the first instance and then gives them some direction on how they can realistically address those issues.

To me, full credit to their advisor, their broker or whoever advised them, because obviously they did a really good job.

David G: It is about starting to educate our brokers more and more and we are trying to sell more of those products as well because we see the exposure. It’s true, probably technology clients are the ones buying more, obviously because they are a bit more tech savvy and are aware of data exposure. But yes, we have a small pre-price proposal which has low limits and a low premium, which is also available in Northern Ireland. It’s very affordable and you can do interest free direct debits, etc. The broker did do well. Then we have another one which was kind of a cybercrime. Our cybercrime element has to result, the trigger is a hack, so this one hacker hacked into the CFOs email, checked his diary, saw where he was that day, rang up the office and said can you transfer £10,000 to this fund here. They said are you sure and he was like yeah, yeah, I am in Amsterdam can you just transfer that money. Lo and behold they went off and transferred the money, it wasn’t anything to do with the CFO. The CFO came in the next day and was, where did that £10,000 go?

David E: Is there any way from your point of view of being able to override the Cryptolocker?

DECEMBER 2015

Kim: Depending on the industry and how recently you have backed up your server, there may be an opportunity to backup. If you happen to back-up at twelve o’clock and Cryptolocker hit at one o’clock, there might be something you can do, but it depends on the individual client.

Darrel: Much of what we’re talking about stems back to the fact this is a new market to everybody and everybody around the table is learning. I think we need to establish a network of people and support mechanisms for local businesses to learn from each other.

Maurice: Yes, it is a matter of getting a network of people who can actually provide the help.

Patrick: I think you are absolutely right.

Education for brokers is very important and as well, could insurance company surveyors advise clients in terms of the protection required on the cyber security side?

Paul: Yes, we would have that kind of option available to clients if they wish, so if we come across a risk which we’re not completely savvy with, we have a firm who we partner with that will do half an hour telephone survey, go through 10 or 12 questions with the insured in detail about their data encryption policies or their data security and disaster recovery plans. Then we will have more comfort, or a

Maurice: So an SME that is looking at the possibility of buying cyber insurance will be helped to protect itself in the first instance by carrying out the very process of going through that checklist?

Peter: Absolutely, but the application process they may find very intimidating, so it’s a partnership. The intermediary is going to have to understand the proposition better, but the application process will help highlight some of the underlying points.

David E: If I were a small business owner and hearing this, I would be agreeing with what you are all saying but I would want to know how much it is going to cost.

David G: We have the pre-priced statement of fact proposal form so in a case of a turnover of about £10m and data records of 100,000 your premium probably starts from about £250 to £500. So it varies obviously on the complexity but if you are complying with the statement of fact the premium won’t be too costly. For the majority of SMEs, the pre-priced statement of fact is very straightforward and is not tens of thousands of pounds but hundreds/ early thousands depending on the industry.

Patrick: It’s as much as about the first party intervention, as it is about the insurance.

The insurance coverage should be a great comfort to clients and, as David has pointed out, for a lot of businesses it’s actually a relatively modest cost and probably more affordable than people might imagine.

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REVIEW

Business

Breakfast

By David Elliott

Peter Stafford, Chair of A&L Goodbody’s Belfast office.

The term “lashing” has been used to describe many things in the past but on the morning Peter Stafford and I meet it was meant in the meteorological sense rather than in the manner Enid Blyton would adopt to describe a surfeit of ginger beer in a Famous Five novel.

Truly, the rain was torrential, and necessitated a un-umbrellaed run across Belfast City Centre to ensure your reporter arrived both late and sodden for breakfast at Home.

No, that’s not a misplaced capital letter and no, we didn’t meet in my kitchen or indeed Peter’s, rather the restaurant-cum-café of the same name on Wellington Place in Belfast.

Only having visited the eaterie in the past for lunch, I was pleasantly surprised to find its deli at the front of the restaurant offers up a wealth of breakfast options in the Nu Yoirk style and I made a mental note to come back on a morning closer to weekend to justify a more unhealthy option.

On this occasion we both opted for a fruit bowl – mostly melon, but ripe melon, with a sprinkling of mint to keep your taste buds on their toes - and lashings (sorry) of coffee.

Very self-righteous, I hear you cry, but it was a Monday morning and opting for the pancakes and bacon so early in the week would have left less to look forward in the run up to the weekend.

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But enough with the odd playoffs in the mind of this particular editor and on with a bit of insight into the Chairman and Corporate Partner of A&L Goodbody.

A legal eagle through and through, Peter hails from the home of the Cheshire Cat and the Queen, Hillsborough but now lives in Belfast, presumably so he can be closer to the Kingspan Stadium where he can be found every other Friday night supporting Ulster Rugby in their quest for world dominance.

He attended Cambridge to read law as an undergraduate before heading to Guildford to earn his legal stripes.

London beckoned where Peter took up a post with Herbert Smith for four years before returning to Northern Ireland in the late 90s to work in banking.

He stayed there until 1st May 2007 when he, along with now Head of Office Mark Thompson, started the first Northern Ireland arm of Dublin-headquartered A&L Goodbody.

On the face of it, that date – pretty much the start of the global economic meltdown – was a ominous time to start up a business reliant on the health of the economy, but in reality it proved a masterstroke.

“We benefited from starting off quite small and could be flexible on the areas we decided to focus on, such as corporate, banking and litigation,” Peter said. “What we were doing was interesting and exciting and the people who came to work with us were really interested in making a difference in the Northern Ireland market.”

It has been those people who have made the business a success, with headcount up to 100 from nine on the first day of operation and workflow continuing to increase, he said.

“It’s been the quality of the people we’ve been able to take on that has made the business. They just got it. They got that it was an opportunity to do something different and quite exciting and, although it was challenging, they were really up for it.”

And as far as the future is concerned, there doesn’t seem to be a slowdown in work.

“Year-on-year we keep getting more of the big international transactions and the local domestic work. Looking into 2016, we have a strong pipeline of work and there’s a sense of a return of liquidity back to the market as well as that vital ingredient, confidence.”

“I’d be very positive going into 2016.”

Certainly Peter’s going to be busy – he also chairs Crimestoppers in Northern Ireland and sits on the Chamber of Commerce Council –but hopefully he’ll have time for a rerun of breakfast when we can lean our loading at Home more to carbohydrates and crispy bacon rather than melon.

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Ulster University Business School celebrates 40 years

T

he Ulster University Business School has celebrated its 40th anniversary in style with a gala lunch at Titanic Belfast. Over 450 alumni and friends of the Business School gathered to mark its past, present and future.

Dean of the School Professor Marie McHugh was joined by Ulster University’s Chancellor James Nesbitt and the ViceChancellor Paddy Nixon to welcome guests throughout the UK, Ireland and from as far away as China and Switzerland.

In his keynote address the Chancellor paid tribute to the many achievements of the School saying that it had “grown to have over 6000 full and part time students, and had become one of the

largest, most entrepreneurial and dynamic business schools in Britain and Ireland.” He added: “Ulster University Business School is at the heart of key policy issues in business and management education and research, and reflects the University’s mission of supporting, facilitating and inspiring regional economic development.”

Guests also heard from a panel of distinguished alumni who talked about the School’s influence both at a personal level and on a Northern Ireland basis. The Master of Ceremonies was veteran business journalist Jamie Delargy who is also an alumnus of the School.

The event was sponsored by Danske Bank, Noonan, Microsoft, NI Connections, Keystone and Titanic Belfast.

The panel (from left) Helen Kirkpatrick MBE, Director, Kingspan Group and UTV Media; Jill Minne, Director of Organisational Development, Belfast City Council; Colin Walsh, CBI Chair; Professor Marie McHugh, Dean of Ulster University Business School; Ian Larmour, MD, HTMi Switzerland and CEO, Swisstouches Hotel Group, China; and Jamie Delargy, UTV.

Professor YAO Yuan, Director of Institute of Management Science and Engineering, Henan University; Professor Marie McHugh; Vice-Chancellor Professor Paddy Nixon; Associate Professor CHEN Junhua, Deputy Director of R&D Center of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Southwest Petroleum University.

Lynn O’Hara, Danske Bank; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Mr Shaun McAnee, Danske Bank.

Ross Gillanders, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Dr Danielle McCartan-Quinn, Ulster University Business School.

Dr Laura Wells and Karolyn Gaston with student volunteers from BSc International Hospitality Management, Ulster University Business School.

Nuala Harden; Alison Hamilton; Joanne Ferguson and Kate Duffy from CME Group Belfast pictured with Chancellor James Nesbitt.

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Professor LI Guozhu, Vice-Dean; Professor LIU Dezhi, Dean of School of Economics and Trade, Shijiazhuang University of Economics; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Professor Marie McHugh; Professor Gillian Armstrong, Ulster University Business School.

Jane Wells, JPRNI; Kirsty McManus, Centre for SME Development at Ulster University Business School; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Dr Laura Wells and Nick Read, Ulster University Business School.

Ross Gillanders; Jeremy Fitch, Invest NI; Dominic Fitzpatrick, Irish News; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Eamon Mullan, Ulster University; Lynn Wilson, Belmont Primary School; Dr Danielle McCartan-Quinn; Moya Neeson, Morrow Communications.

Charles Hains, Hospitality & Tourism Management Institute Switzerland; Professor Marie McHugh; Ian Larmour; Professor Paddy Nixon; Anthony Lack, Hospitality & Tourism Management Institute Switzerland.

Jeremy Stewart, Danske Bank; Lynn O’Hara, Danske Bank; Chancellor James Nesbitt.

Tom Jackson, Microsoft; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Karl O’Leary, Microsoft.

Chancellor James Nesbitt; Judith Owens, Titanic Belfast.

John O’Donoghue, Noonan; Lynn O’Hara, Danske Bank; Chancellor James Nesbitt.

Mrs Vanessa Gstrein; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Dame Mary Peters CH DBE; Professor Paddy Nixon; Professor Marie McHugh.

Maureen Fox, Ulster University Business School; Chancellor James Nesbitt; Professor Marie McHugh; Margaret Byrne, Sunderland AFC.

DECEMBER 2015

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PROFILE

Name: Owen Lamont Position: Managing Director – Equiniti

A word from

The Wise How did you start out in business?

I started in sales - working here in Northern Ireland. I loved it, got to meet lots of great people (also known as customers – they’re nice, you should talk to them), understood what they wanted and made sure the company delivered it.

A career in sales and marketing is a wonderful starting point for general management.

Satisfying customers is everyone’s job, in every business.

After a career working for others - that included starting NTL in Ireland, which as a group grew from £26m revenues in 1995 to £2bn revenues in 2000 - I decided to start a few great companies of my own. Gem, SLA (Stirk, Lamont and Associates), Northern Innovation, OLAM were all mine, all have prospered and all still exist today - though I am now only actively involved with OLAM. What did you find the most challenging during your years in business?

Lack of clarity from those setting strategy.

When you get into that leadership position, helping everyone to understand what the goal is really helps.

My mother used to say: “If you don’t know where you are going, don’t be surprised if you end up somewhere else.”

How would you describe your management style?

Relaxed, clear, fair and with an absolute determination to deliver agreed objectives.

No one likes working for an unsuccessful company, success isn’t optional, so I like to

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The column with an ear for experience...

hire great people, be clear about expectations and, frankly, leave them alone.

What would you change if you could go back and do it all again?

I’d be smarter sooner. Experience and particularly mistakes are great teachers (if you learn from them). I might also have trusted my instincts about potential start-ups sooner but I’m a bit of a serial entrepreneur anyway, so there’s a limit to how often you can ‘bet the farm’ on new ventures (especially if you’re married – Hi Mary).

Have you done it all on your own?

Definitely not. In business, its team work that delivers success. In my personal life, it’s the lovely Mary (my missus), who helps me understand that the world is full of very different people and that I shouldn’t expect others to always react exactly as I do to any given situation.

Mind you, I started with nothing and I’ve still got most of it left.

How would you like your business career to be remembered?

Totally unimportant – it’s not about me.

My delight is in seeing the people I have hired develop and prosper. At NTL, which became Virgin Media, I hired a wonderful collection of individuals, every single one of them has gone on to achieve great things in their business life that makes me feel super satisfied.

What piece of advice would you give a 20-year-old you?

Think happy thoughts. Choose a career that you will enjoy and not one that will make you rich.

Live by these three things (I do/did).

Flags, firebombs & flashbacks

Executive Motoring

By Pat Burns

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New Bentley SUV in production

T

he very first production Bentley Bentayga, the catalyst for one of the biggest investment programmes in the company’s history, recently left the assembly line at Bentley’s iconic headquarters in Crewe.

Four years on from the initial concept stage and part of an £840 million investment programme, the Bentayga will now enter full production, with deliveries to customers starting in January 2016.

Wolfgang Dürheimer, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors, said: “Bentley Bentayga will be the benchmark against which all other SUVs are measured, defining a new segment – the luxury SUV. “This car is a celebration of UK manufacturing at its very best, not only reinforcing our commitment to industry in this country, job creation and significant investment, but to our home in Crewe. This is an important moment in our history, where we reflect and celebrate, but also look ahead to delivering this extraordinary car to our customers.

The first production Bentayga, finished in paint colour Anthracite – was handcrafted across 130 hours. During the assembly process, the car passed through a new bodystore, a new paint shop and a new assembly line, all part of this substantial investment.

Michael Straughan, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Manufacturing, addressed the company’s 4,000-strong workforce as the car was driven from the final production stage. He said: “This is a proud moment for the entire company. It’s been four years in the making and is a celebration of a sector-defining British handcrafted car.

“Bentayga is the Bentley of SUVs, with a level of attention to detail only achievable thanks to the outstanding skill of a British workforce that blends exceptional craft and skill with modern production techniques and materials.”

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EXECUTIVE MOTORING

Lightweight Astra is a big hitter! emergency response notification and stolen vehicle recovery alert.

The Astra is also one of the first vehicles from a mainstream manufacturer to get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, available through a new version of the IntelliLink infotainment system.

The new model is up to £2,200 less expensive than the outgoing model with a simplified range. The new Astra range includes Design, Tech Line, Energy, SRi and Elite, with Nav versions of the SRi and Elite trims also available.

B

uilt just across the Irish sea at Ellesmere Port, the Astra is a household name across the UK. With almost three million sold in the UK over the last 36 years, including 50,000 in the last 12 months, over 25 per cent of British motorists have either owned or driven an Astra.

The latest Astra is based on an all-new lightweight vehicle design along with new powertrains and built-in technology.

Depending on the model and trim level it is up to 200kg lighter than its predecessor. Every component was checked for compact design and lightweight materials. The bodyshell weight alone was reduced by 20 per cent from 357kg to 280kg.

Additional, chassis-related measures resulted in a further 50kg weight loss. These include high-strength and ultra-high-strength low-weight steels, compact subframes as well as weight reductions to the front and rear axle.

The powertrain choice features petrol and diesel units ranging from 100PS to 200PS, including an all-new 1.4-litre (150PS) ECOTEC Direct Injection Turbo and the recently-launched 1.6-litre CDTi Whisper Diesel.

The new Astra is also the first Vauxhall to feature OnStar, the ground-breaking connectivity technology now available across Europe. OnStar includes high-speed 4G LTE mobile network,

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Range highlights include the 1.0-litre three-cylinder Turbo Start/Stop ecoFLEX model priced from £15,995 on-the-road. With an Easytronic five-speed automatic transmission, the same model achieves a classleading 96g/km CO2 emissions. The range-topping 1.6-litre (200PS) is available in SRi trim priced from £20,435 on-the-road. The diesel offering includes the 1.6-litre ‘Whisper Diesel’ (110PS) Start/Stop ecoFLEX model (prices start at £17,495 on-the-road) that achieves 91.1mpg and class-leading CO2 emissions of 82g/km (provisional).

The new Astra is the first Vauxhall to get glare-free IntelliLux LED Matrix headlights. Bringing premium technology to the mainstream, these new LED headlights provide outstanding night time performance enhancing safety for the driver and other road users.

Consisting of 16 LED segments (eight on each side of the vehicle) the LED matrix system automatically and constantly adapts the length and distribution of the light beam to every traffic situation.

It works in conjunction with the front camera system which detects the presence of other vehicles and then switches off the individual LED segments, preventing other road users from being dazzled.

As soon as the vehicle exits urban areas, the high-beam lighting is automatically switched on and it always remains on. This leads to a considerable increase in safety, as confirmed in a study conducted by the Technical University of Darmstadt and the European LightSightSafety Initiative.

The study showed that at driving speeds of 50mph, drivers detect objects at the side of the road around 30m to 40m sooner than with conventional Halogen or xenon dipped-beam lighting. This gives them around 1.5 seconds more time to react, for example when an animal walks into the vehicle’s path.

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EXECUTIVE MOTORING

Revised 208 moves upmarket

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hough an advanced and highly innovative vehicle when it was first launched in 2012, the Peugeot 208 has now been revised in many key areas.

With a more assertive design and new ultra-efficient Euro 6 engines, the re-invigorated model boasts a much enhanced specification, with extra safety equipment and improved comfort and convenience features – all the right ingredients for today’s discerning customer.

Key to the appeal of the new 208 is its efficient engine range.

The Brand’s critically acclaimed BlueHDi technology is the most effective emission control system on the market today and means every diesel 208 has CO emissions of below 95g/km.

2

New PureTech three-cylinder units – either 1.0-litre 68hp or 1.2-litre 82hp – are both now available in the 208.

Expected to prove popular and now available to order is the 1.6-litre 75 S&S (Stop and Start) diesel engine, mated to a fivespeed manual gearbox. It’s capable of an astonishing 94.2 mpg on the Combined Cycle – a segment record – with CO emissions 2 of just 79 g/km.

The list of new equipment on the 208 is headed by Active City Brake, which makes it possible to avoid an accident or reduce its seriousness, in urban conditions, at speeds of less than 20mph. Park Assist and a reversing camera are available as a combined option from the Allure trim level too. All versions of the 208 now come with manual air conditioning and Bluetooth connectivity as standard.

Petrol engines remain a popular choice with retail customers and the revised line-up promises high mileage and low running costs.

Prices for the new 208 start from £11,695, with the most popular Active and Allure models priced from £12,495 and £14,195 respectively.

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DECEMBER 2015

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EXECUTIVE MOTORING

XEcstasy

J

aguar’s new small saloon is badged the XE. Around the size of a Mondeo, the XE offers superb comfort, sharp styling and a range of fuel efficient engines in this aluminium bodied executive express.

The rear-drive XE is the only vehicle in its class to use an aluminium-intensive monocoque. This extremely robust yet light structure, together with double wishbone front suspension and an Integral Link rear axle, is fundamental to the XE’s excellent vehicle dynamics.

Jaguar’s world-leading expertise in aluminium structure engineering enables exceptional fuel consumption and emissions figures: with the new Ingenium diesel engines, the XE can achieve 75mpg and 99g/km CO2 – the most efficient Jaguar ever. Powered by the supercharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine from the F-Type, the XE S is capable of 0-60mph in just 4.9 seconds.

The cabin offers outstanding levels of comfort and spaciousness. Exquisite materials and finishes combined with Jaguar craftsmanship make this a class-beating interior that’s unlike anything else in the segment. Jaguar’s new InControl infotainment system takes centre stage: its innovative 8-inch touchscreen brings fast, intuitive access to all features and functions – and iOS and Android smartphone apps.

The XE has some of the most advanced driver assistance systems available. All Surface Progress Control (ASPC), developed through decades of Jaguar Land Rover experience in off-road traction systems, can electronically gain traction in seconds and is ideal for use on low-grip surfaces, such as snowcovered roads.

Laser projection technology enables the XE’s optional head-up display (HUD) to generate sharp, high-contrast colour graphics (such as vehicle speed and navigation) from a module smaller and almost a third lighter than existing systems, retaining clarity even in direct sunlight.

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A forward facing stereo camera is mounted behind the front windscreen to give the XE a 3D view of the road ahead: this highly accurate data is used for functions including autonomous emergency braking and a lane departure warning system.

The XE is the stiffest, most aerodynamic Jaguar saloon car ever built. It is also the first Jaguar to be equipped with electric power steering, tuned to provide exceptional responsiveness and feel but with lower energy consumption than hydraulic systems. The XE also offers the lowest cost of ownership and most environmentally sustainable credentials of all Jaguar models.

Each XE is designed to offer an unrivalled combination of steering response, ride comfort, refinement and performance.

These attributes are matched to the sleek, perfectlyproportioned exterior styling and the premium materials and meticulous attention to detail defining the interior.

Jaguar is launching the new XE with an equally new engine family – Ingenium. This advanced modular design will provide petrol and diesel derivatives and was started from a cleansheet to deliver performance, efficiency and refinement without compromise.

The first Ingenium engines in the Jaguar XE are 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesels with a choice of two power and torque outputs: 163PS/380Nm and 180PS/430Nm. The 163PS version makes the XE the most fuel-efficient Jaguar ever, achieving 75mpg and 99g/km CO2 on the European combined cycle.

The entry-level to the XE range, the SE model features Satellite Navigation, cruise control, 17” alloy wheels, DAB digital radio and multi-function softgrain leather steering wheel.

Prices for the XE range start from £26,990.

CHARITY

This Christmas help us make every minute count

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s you reflect upon 2015 would your company consider celebrating your success by giving a very special gift to Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice this Christmas?

A donation to help care for a life-limited child over the Christmas period. A child like Sophia, who is an adorable three year old and sadly suffers from a rare brain condition called Polymicrogyria (PMG).

As a result of her condition, Sophia has regular seizures as well as very low muscle tone which means she cannot walk or sit unaided and her hips have also become displaced.

Sophia is one of the children cared for at Children’s Hospice and her pain and discomfort

make it difficult and rare for her to sleep through the night. Sometimes her mum and dad have to move her every twenty minutes, day and night, to comfort her. They are dedicated to doing the best they can for their child, and never complain, but, caring for her can be exhausting both emotionally and practically and they need support.

The Children’s Hospice is often the only means of support for families like Sophia’s and, thanks to the support of people and companies across Northern Ireland, they are able to help.

Sophia’s mum, Nicole, explains why Children’s Hospice makes a difference: “We can’t leave Sophia with anyone else as her needs

are just so complex. Over the last while we’ve got to know Pamela, our Children’s Hospice nurse so well and she has got to know Sophia. Pamela knows just what she needs and we’ve built up a great relationship and trust. She is like part of the family. Sophia can now go and stay at the Hospice and we know she will be safe and cared for just the way we care for her”.

Your support can make a vital difference to the 300 local families who need the care that only Children’s Hospice can provide. Your company can make every moment count for these children and help give them a very special Christmas.

Thank you.

When you think about Christmas gifts, please consider the gift of hospice care for a local child with a lifelimiting illness.

Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice relies on the support of local businesses to continue caring for almost 300 children every year.

£100 will pay for one night of hospice care for a local child in Northern Ireland providing much needed rest for parents and carers.

Nicole and Matt with Sophia

Thank you for your gift this Christmas.

Donations will be supported with an e-card to circulate to staff, customers and friends.

To make a donation contact Ellen Hillen, Corporate Fundraising Manager

Telephone: 028 9078 1836 Email: fundraising@nihospice.org

Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice, Head Office: 18 O’Neill Road, Newtownabbey BT36 6WB

nihospice.org Registered Charity No: NIC102337

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APPOINTMENTS

Lana Cairns has been appointed Marketing Manager at Find Insurance NI. She will be responsible for devising, implementing and managing all aspects of Find Insurance NI’s marketing and communications strategy.

Deborah Archer has been appointed a director in the Company Commercial Department at Cleaver Fulton Rankin.

Deborah will specialise in the area of Banking and Finance.

Kathryn Laverty has joined Cleaver Fulton Rankin as a trainee solicitor.

Kathryn advises clients on a wide range of corporate, commercial and employment law issues.

Peter Lockhart has been appointed a solicitor in the litigation department at Cleaver Fulton Rankin, working in the procurement, construction, mortgage repossession and dispute resolution teams.

As the newly appointed Commercial Manager at PRM Group, Michael Stewart is responsible for managing the Sales division throughout Ireland.

Lisa Muldoon has been appointed as Trading Manager at PRM Group. Lisa will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the company’s supply base.

Patrick Black joins the team at PRM Group as the new Project Marketing Manager. Patrick is responsible for managing marketing projects.

Niall Harkin has been appointed as Head of Mortgage Intermediary Business at Danske Bank. He joined Danske Bank in 2009.

Thomas O’Doherty has been appointed Associate Partner at Simon Brien Residential. Thomas has worked in the residential estate agency business for over 25 years.

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APPOINTMENTS

Aaron Russell has joined Simon Brien Residential as an Associate. He has 12 years’ experience in residential estate agency, including owning his own business Cucuo.

Tiffany Brien has been appointed Valuer at Simon Brien Residential and will be responsible for assisting in the development of the company brand in the resale sector in South Belfast.

Declan Leonard has been appointed as a Chartered Surveyor at Lambert Smith Hampton. He has four years’ experience as a surveyor in the commercial property industry.

Visit Belfast has appointed Laurie Scott as its director of business development having worked for Visit Britain in New York for more than seven years.

Patrick Tinnelly has been appointed General Manager at Germinal NI. Patrick will be responsible for overseeing all business operations.

Stephen Chambers has been appointed Associate Director in Lisney’s Investment department. He will be involved in providing advice on investment sales and acquisitions.

Shaun McAnee has been appointed as Managing Director of Corporate Banking at Danske Bank UK. He is currently Head of Corporate Banking.

Kevin Kingston has been appointed chief executive at Danske Bank UK. He was previously deputy CEO and Managing Director of Business Banking and takes over from former CEO Gerry Mallon.

Richard Caldwell has been appointed as Managing Director of Business Banking at Danske Bank. He will have responsibility for Finance Centres, Agribusiness, Small Business and Business Acquisition.

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PHOTOCALL 1. The team from Downtown Radio and Cool FM’s Cash for Kids is calling on the public to buy an extra gift as they shop for Christmas this year for Mission Christmas. Launching the scheme are Gary Myles, Downtown Radio, Mark Corry of Harry Corry, Rebecca McKinney and Pete Snodden, Cool FM, with the Cash for Kids mascot Courage the Cat. 2. County Antrim business The Present Tree has been awarded gold at the Bank of Ireland Startup Awards in the ‘Franchise/Retailer of the Year’ Category. Catherine Cunningham is pictured collecting her award from Barry Gray, head of marketing, BOI Payment Acceptance.

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3. Electric Motor and Electrical Engineering company JJ Loughran is putting plans in place to create 37 new jobs in Cookstown as part of a £2.2m investment supported by Invest Northern Ireland. Pictured (left) is Brian Dolaghan, Invest NI, with Kevin and John Loughran of JJ Loughran.

4. A total of 14 new jobs are being created in an Ulster Bank-supported investment of around £600,000 in Bangor.

Julie Morrison (centre) of the Red Brick House is pictured at the new nursery in Bangor. She is with Jayne Foote (left) and Tracey Morrow of Ulster Bank.

5. Helping Supervalu/Centra Trading Manager, James McLornan (second right) launch the new additions to its premium spirits offering are (l-r) Jarlath Watson of The Echlinville Distillery, Stuart Hughes of Hughes Craft Distillery and David Boyd-Armstrong of Rademon Estate Distillery.

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PHOTOCALL

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6. Muskesh Sharma, Selective Travel Management is pictured with Jackson Maxwell and Brooklyn McCann enjoying their new computer room at The Gareth Morrison Young People’s Project which the children helped to re-decorate in time to receive the delivery of their new computers.

Also in the pictured are Lauren Morrison (left) sister and Sharon Morrison mother of Gareth.

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7. From left: Alex Bunting, FASA; Elisha McCallion, Mayor of Derry City & Strabane District Council; Sorcha Dunne, Business in the Community and Thelma Abernethy, Addiction NI, celebrate the Drink, Work & Me programme during Alcohol Awareness Week.

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8. Claire Scott-McAteer (right) and Clodagh Hegarty, both lecturers in Accounting at the Ulster University Business School, welcome ACCA Global President Anthony Harbinson to Magee. Mr Harbinson is the outgoing global President of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and gave a lecture at the school.

9. Armagh-based Button Farm Mushrooms is to create four new jobs after investing over £1.5m in a new high tech mushroom processing and packing facility. David and Jonathan McKew, Directors of Button Farm Mushrooms are pictured with David McCurley (centre), Senior Investment Manager at WhiteRock Capital Partners.

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10. The Irish Football Association and Tennent’s NI have teamed up to announce that the drinks company will be the Northern Ireland football team’s official beer partner. Pictured kicking off the new deal are Jeff Tosh, Sales Director, Tennent’s NI; Michael O’Neill, Manager of the Northern Ireland Football Team; and Brian Beattie, Marketing Director, Tennent’s NI.

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PHOTOCALL

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11. Pictured is Clair Gheel, of IT3Sixty, which is targeting experienced professionals from across Europe to fill Northern Ireland’s IT skills gap.

12.The CEO of Northern Ireland data and analytics software company, Datactics, has been named as the 2015 Halo “Business Angel of the Year.”

Stuart Harvey receives his award from Director of Halo Alan Watts, Deputy Lord Mayor Guy Spence and award sponsor Nick McCafferty from Keys Commercial Finance.

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13. Security company Mercury Security Management has been reappointed to provide a complete security solution to CastleCourt. Making sure that the centre is safe and secure are (l-r) Mercury Security Director Liam Cullen, CastleCourt Security Manager Stewart McConnell and Mercury Marketing Director Grainne Elliott.

14. Dermot Doyle (left) and Joe McAllister from Oakleaf Contracts Europe study plans for Northern Ireland’s newest live entertainment venue, Lanyon Hall in Cookstown, which is set to open its doors in December.

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15. Tool manufacturer and injection moulding company IPC Mouldings (IPC) has been awarded Bronze in B/E Aerospace’s Supply Chain Programme.

Pictured from left are David Quin, Joanne Liddle, Hugh Henry, and John McPherson.

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PHOTOCALL 16. Castlewellan-based Alternative Heat is planning to expand its manufacturing facilities and create 23 new jobs with support from Invest Northern Ireland. Pictured (left) is Damian McAuley, Invest NI, with Connell McMullen, Alternative Heat.

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17. Hungarian Ambassadors from both London and Dublin were in Belfast recently to present a tribute to the Hungarian Doctor who tended the survivors of the Titanic disaster. Pictured left to right; Ken Belshaw, Honorary Consul of Hungary in Northern Ireland; HE Peter Szabadhegy, the Hungarian Ambassador in London; Deputy Chief Executive of Titanic Belfast, Judith Owens and István Pálffy, Hungarian Ambassador to Dublin.

18. A local company which helps develop entrepreneurs is investing £450,000 with the support of Ulster Bank in new premises that will include workspace for around 20 startup businesses. Anne Morgan, Ulster Bank is pictured with Diane Roberts from Xcell, and Simon Seaton, Ulster Bank, at Xcell’s new premises at 112 Donegall Street Belfast.

19. Coffee chain Ground Espresso Bars are serving up a double expansion this month with two new stores in Enniskillen and Magherafelt. Pictured are Jenny Taggart, Store Manager, Ground Espresso Bars and team member Eimear Birt.

20. Pictured at the 9th NIFDA Annual Dinner are (l-r) NIFDA Chairman, Dr David Dobbin CBE; Tesco Chief Product Officer, Jason Tarry; and Head of Food and Agriculture UK for HSBC, Allan Wilkinson.

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PHOTOCALL 21. High-end bakery Patisserie Valerie is set to open its first Northern Ireland outlet in Belfast. The Belfast store will open early next year and will be located in the empty unit vacated by Jaeger at Donegal Square West.

Pictured is Ryan Kee from Lambert Smiths Hampton.

22. As part of the European Waste Reduction Week, Gareth Moore (left), Franchisee Operations Consultant for Paul Connan’s McDonald’s restaurants, and Gavin McDonagh (right), of waste management company RiverRidge Recycling, are calling upon businesses across Northern Ireland to rethink waste, reduce and recycle.

23. The North West Regional Science Park has been named as the winner of the European ‘Sail of Papenburg’ Cross-Border Regions Award for 2015. Pictured from left to right are Paul Hannigan, President of LYIT, and Philip Maguire from the Northern Ireland Science Park.

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24. On the hunt for missing Santa with elves Paula and Patrick are (left to right): Amelie and Jessica Gibney, Sophie Wagstaff (back), Amelie and Ciaran Goodall and Abigail Gallagher.

25.Respresentatives from Moy Park including Brian Moreland and Briege Finnegan celebrate Planting Hope for Children with Cancer at Cancer Fund for Children’s Daisy Lodge helped by Angela Rodgers and Joan Burden from Cancer Fund for Children and the McKee family including parents Georgina and Anthony and children Eoghan and Shauna who have recently benefitted from a stay at Daisy Lodge.

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ADVICE

Don’t let your hair down too much Christmas parties are a time of celebration, but don’t get carried away with the festive spirit, warns legal human resource firm HR Legal Services

excessive alcohol consumption, the use of illegal drugs, inappropriate behaviour, sexist or racist remarks or harassment and comments about sexual orientation, disability, age or religion will not be tolerated.

Explain that disciplinary action may be taken for unacceptable behaviour.

6. In the email prior to the event itself, include advice about not drinking and driving - an employer may still be responsible for its employees driving home from an office party. Ask employees to plan their journey home before attending the party.

Top 10 tips for a trouble free Christmas party: 1. Do not insist that all staff attend the office Christmas party.

Christmas is a Christian holiday, so do not pressure someone to attend if they do not want to on religious (or any other) grounds.

2. If the event is out of hours, remember also that some people have family responsibilities that may prevent them attending.

3. Employers need to be sensitive to employees who don’t drink alcohol or who don’t eat certain foods. Ensure that there are nonalcoholic drinks available for non-drinkers and alternative food options.

4. Employers should be mindful that allowing employees to bring their partners must not discriminate on the ground of sexual orientation. It should not be assumed that all partners are of the opposite sex and any invitation should be opened up to all.

5. Send an email that provides clear written guidance to all employees about acceptable standards of behaviour and reminding them that the party is an extension of the work place. Make it clear that fighting,

DECEMBER 2015

7. If you are considering offering a free bar, remember that this will encourage excessive alcohol intake. You may therefore want to consider restricting the amount of free alcohol available and should be prepared to ask individuals to take it easy if they appear the worse for wear. Making plenty of food available early on and serving a meal may also assist. Putting on entertainment, such as a disco, also prevents employees from simply propping up the bar.

8. Managers should avoid conversations about performance, promotion, salary or career prospects. Promises made at a Christmas party, even when made under the influence of alcohol, can later become issues.

9. Consider appointing a “sensible” person to remain sober at the party who can intervene if things start to get out of hand. Do not discipline any employees at the party itself. Send them home if necessary and deal with the incident when you are back at the office.

10. Be clear about your expectations regarding absence the next day - but don’t expect miracles from those who do turn up for work.

Ensure that all staff know the extent to which you will be lenient about coming to work late and that, if your expectations are breached, disciplinary action may be taken.

Finally, try and have fun!

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AWARDS

Marketing Excellence Ireland Awards shine a light on the brightest and best

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The winner of the CIM Marketing Excellence Ireland Awards 2015 Marketer, Marketing Team (in-company) or Freelance of the Year, sponsored

by PML: Danske Bank. Darren Jackson from PML presents the award to the team of Kathryn Brown, Claire Harris, Nicola McCleery and Amanda Kennedy.

he hottest marketing campaigns from every business sector were recognised at the 16th annual Marketing Excellence Ireland Awards 2015, which took place at Titanic Belfast.

Fourteen companies were honoured by CIM in a record-breaking year that saw more than 100 entries.

“As marketers, we have faced many challenges over the past few years; we have dealt with tight budgets, pressure on consumer spending and increased “buyer power”. This has meant that our profession has had to be more creative, agile and responsive to the market, and to embrace new technologies in order to win the support of our customers,” said Nick Read, Chair of the Ireland Board at CIM. “In Ireland, we have many examples of great marketing practice, from bespoke agencies and large marketing departments, to entrepreneurs who spot an opportunity and pursue it. These awards showcase the best marketing campaigns, shining a light on what we can achieve,” he added.

For more information, go to www.cimirelandawards.net and keep in touch by following @CIMInfo_Ireland

Professional Services: Ulster University

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The winners were: • Public Sector, sponsored by Nimms: Genesis/Invest NI • Charity, Community, Voluntary and Not-for-Profit, sponsored by Corporate AV: Lough Neagh Partnership • Construction, Engineering, Automotive, Transport and other Manufacturing: Engage/Cosy Roof • Hotels, Leisure, Events, Travel and Tourism, sponsored by Titanic Belfast: Irish Greyhound Board • Professional Services, sponsored by Ulster Business: Ulster University • FMCG and Retail, including Online, sponsored by LIBRA Events: Moy Park • Food and Drink: White’s Oats • Technology, including Software: Forza Direct Marketing • Creative Industries, sponsored by McGowan’s Print: Irish News • Life Sciences (human and veterinary) and Agriculture: Devenish Nutrition • Marketing Exporter of the Year – International Sales and Marketing: CDE Global • Chair’s Award – Marketing Agency of the Year, including Digital: Genesis • Chair’s Award – Marketing Impact with Limited Resource: Crescent Arts Centre • Marketer, Marketing Team (in-company) or Freelance of the Year, sponsored

by PML: Danske Bank

Hotels, Leisure, Events, Travel and Tourism: Irish Greyhound Board

Chair’s Award – Marketing Impact with Limited Resource: Crescent Arts Centre

Public Sector: Genesis/Invest NI

Construction, Engineering, Automotive, Transport and other Manufacturing: Engage/Cosy Roof

Charity, Community, Voluntary and Not-forProfit: Lough Neagh Partnership

FMCG and Retail, including Online: Moy Park

Technology, including Software: Forza Direct Marketing

Food and Drink: White’s Oats

Creative Industries: Irish News

Life Sciences (human and veterinary) and Agriculture: Devenish Nutrition

Chair’s Award – Marketing Agency of the Year, including Digital: Genesis

Marketing Exporter of the Year – International Sales and Marketing: CDE Global

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EVENTS

Canapés and cocktails The cream of the last month’s business events

NICC President’s Banquet

Cancer Focus NI Award

Actor James Nesbit holds court at the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NI Chamber) annual President’s Banquet while Colm O’Neill, BT; Stephen McCully, President of NI Chamber and Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell listen. He was the main speaker at the dinner which included over 550 members of the local business community which also included the Ministers for Enterprise, Trade and Investment; Social Development and Health, Social Services & Public Safety as well as U.S. Consulate Daniel Lawton and Invest NI Chief Executive Alastair Hamilton. Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

Naomi Thompson, from Cancer Focus Northern Ireland, received a prestigious award on behalf of the charity from Lord Kamlesh Patel, vice president of the Royal Society for Public Health recently. The coveted award is in recognition of Cancer Focus NI’s cancer prevention work and care services, particularly for its Well Aware project, which brings health checks to older people in the community and raises awareness of the signs and symptoms of the disease.

PRCA National Awards Heart of Peninsula Awards Rosemary Watson has won the Heart of Peninsula Awards, which acknowledges and rewards the staff and clients of the multi awardwinning Peninsula Care Services, Northern Ireland’s leading domiciliary care, nursing and recruitment agency. Pictured with Rosemary Watson is Jonny Cook, MD of Peninsula Care Services, comedian Gene Fitzpatrick and UTV’s Julian Simmons.

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A public relations agency based in Holywood has been named the UK’s Best New Consultancy at the PRCA National Awards in London. Clearbox, which delivers PR for clients such as Amazon, Universal Pictures, Digital DNA and Its4Women.ie, was honoured at the glittering awards ceremony in London’s Hilton Park Lane, hosted by TV presenter, Rachel Riley. Pictured are PRCA Director General, Francis Ingham, Clearbox Associate Director John Megaughin, Managing Director Anna Morris and Rachel Riley.

EVENTS

Crimestoppers Regional Manager Susan Brew and Vice Chair Val Smith from Bondelivery.

Crimestoppers Quiz There was a packed house for the Crimestoppers Annual Quiz held in Belfast Harbour Commissioners last month. Teams from some of Northern Ireland’s biggest companies fought it out for the top spot in aid of the Crimestopper charity which is run by a board of voluntary directors alongside Regional Manager Susan Brew.

Women In Business Awards Tracy Hamilton from Mash Direct has won the top Award at the 5th Annual Women in Business Awards held month at the Culloden Estate & Spa. The Women in Business Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year 2015 was presented by Women in Business CEO Roseann Kelly and Kate Marshall. Also pictured are award winners Deirdre Vaugh Daly (Former Staff Commissioner for Education and Library Boards), Maria McDonagh (Adventures Day Nursery), Jacqui Walsh (Kitchenmaster NI LTD), Shauna Burns (Ulster Bank Limited), Lynsey Redpath (Argento), Adrienne Hanna (Right Revenue), Sinead Murphy (Shnuggle Ltd), Kate Burns (Ocean Veg Ireland Ltd), Marion Rybnikar (Chain Reaction Cycles), Tina McKenzie (Staffline Group Ireland), Katie Waddell (Spoon Street). Nearly 400 people from the business community attended the awards ceremony, which saw Tracy pick up the Award for Outstanding Businesswoman of the Year in recognition of her “business acumen, entrepreneurial vision and inspirational work ethic.”

John Keane from Ardmore Advertising, a patron of Crimestoppers, Regional Manager Susan Brew and Crimestoppers Chairman and head of A&L Goodbody Peter Stafford are pictured at the event.

Belfast Metropolitan College

The teams line up for the Crimestoppers Annual Quiz held last month.

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Belfast Metropolitan College celebrated the achievements of over 1,000 higher education learners at its annual Graduation which was held in Titanic Belfast last month. Belfast Met conferred an Honorary Fellowship Award to Brian Ambrose, Chief Executive of Belfast City Airport who was awarded for his outstanding contribution to tourism and economic development in Northern Ireland. He’s pictured receiving his award from Marie-Thérèse McGivern, Principal and Chief Executive of Belfast Metropolitan College.

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TECHNOLOGY

The tech lowdown

By Adam Maguire

Reviews - just think of how long it took the firm to move the iPhone into the realm of the 4” LCD. So while the company debuted a ‘mini’ version of its iPad some time ago, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the ‘maxi’ variety took a little while longer.

But the firm is keen to push the message that the iPad Pro has more to offer than a 12.9” screen - and it has a point.

The device also boasts a display with the quality to match its size, plenty of battery and processor power, some extremely precise stylus support, custom detachable keyboards and even some software tweaks like split screen apps.

APPLE IPAD PRO As the name suggests, Apple’s iPad Pro is squarely targeted at the professional user - but is more than just a tablet with an oversized screen?

Apple has often been slow to engage in the screen-size arms race

All of this adds up to a powerful piece of kit that is likely to find a home in many on-the-go business types - but it comes at a price, especially because it is far from the laptop killer some may desire.

The Apple iPad Pro starts at £679

MICROSOFT LUMIA 950 Microsoft has had plenty of false starts in the mobile world - could its Lumia 950 mark the start of a new dawn?

On the surface, there’s nothing remarkable about the Lumia 950 - it looks like most other smartphones and has a fairly standard (though higher-end) set of internals powering its performance.

What makes it stand out from the crowd is its use of Windows 10 Mobile - the latest operating system from Microsoft. At its core is the concept of uniting phone, tablet and computer software under one common theme - and the Lumia 950 is at the fore of this experiment.

Some of the resulting features will not be hugely innovative to Apple and Android users - such as the automatic syncing of files across devices. But in some other ways it is potential ground-breaking - such as Continuum, which effectively lets the phone work as a pseudo-PC when connected to a screen, keyboard and mouse.

The standard Microsoft phone warning needs to be made at this time - the Lumia 950 suffers from a stark lack of apps. But with Windows 10 Microsoft is also trying to make it easier for developers to publish to the platform, so maybe this is an issue that could be resolved in the near future.

The Microsoft Lumia 950 is available from most major networks

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TECHNOLOGY

Previews SAMSUNG GEAR VR The market is set to be inundated with virtual reality products - but Samsung has managed to be one of the first out of the traps with its Gear VR. Many have tried and failed to make virtual reality a real-world reality Nintendo’s Virtual Boy being perhaps the most iconic disaster of its kind.

In recent years, however, the technology appears to have matured and a lot of money is now backing VR - not least that of Facebook, which last year bought Oculus VR for $2bn.

And it’s Oculus’ technology that powers the Samsung Gear VR. In principle the Gear VR works quite simply - the headset matches your own

head movements with what it displays on the screen - which makes it feel as though it’s what you’re really looking at.

Cleverly, though, Samsung uses its Galaxy smartphone as a display for the Gear VR, which makes the headset

a cheaper option than those with a dedicated screen of their own.

Samsung Gear VR has just been released in the US and is ‘coming soon’ elsewhere

ASUS CHROMEBIT The slow march of miniaturisation continues as Asus launches a desktop computer that’s little bigger than a USB dongle.

Calling the Asus Chromebit a desktop computer is somewhat misleading, though. The device is essentially a low-powered engine that you need to hook up to a range of other objects to make it functional.

It connects to a monitor or TV via its HDMI cable, and a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth - while internet connectivity is made possible over WiFi. Even with all of that hooked up don’t expect a full-blown PC experience - as it runs Google’s Chrome OS, which is a stripped down and internet-dependent operating system.

That’s not to downplay how novel the device is, though, and it could easily offer a role for web browsing, social media and even some video streaming. All for a low price, too.

The Asus Chromebit is set to cost around £90

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for business

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TRAVEL

BA First Officer Nick Kerridge, Belfast City Airport Chief Executive Brian Ambrose and BA Partnership Manager Brenda Morgan in the Dreamliner simulator.

The 20-minute pilot British Airways brought its Boeing 787 Dreamliner mobile simulator to Belfast last month and David Elliott was lucky enough to have a go…

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he chance to sit in the pilot’s seat of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner is not one which comes up every day.

And the chance to actually fly the Dreamliner – taking off from London Heathrow, looping into The City and landing again – is definitely not one which is included in this reporter’s daily diary.

So it was with the kind of affirmative reply only ever heard in Ulster Business towers in response to the first coffee run of the day that I agreed to British Airways’ offer of a scoot in one of their hallmark flying machines.

Granted it was in a simulator, but it is still a chance to pretend to be a pilot for a few

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minutes and is much safer than actually letting me behind the wheel of the real thing, as it were.

So it was that on a sodden November morning in Belfast I found myself hurtling down the Heathrow runway at the controls of the marquee-covered mobile Dreamliner simulator with only a BA co-pilot and the jeers of my business journalist peers to keep me off the grass.

back on the controls and before you could say “I’ve got a Mig on my tail”.

Off course, those are the words of an idiot novice and don’t take into account the array of switches and levers which my co-pilot was controlling, but it seemed much easier than landing.

It was surreal, it was exhilarating and it was brilliant.

After a quick circle of the Big Smoke where yours truly bored another BA crew member with tales of where he used to live, we settled on what I believe is called in aeronautical terms the final approach.

Taking off, it would appear, isn’t the issue because after powering up the runway we were airborne with only the slightest lean

From eight (or it could have been 12, I was panicking too much to hear) miles out the runway looked like a distant river, and indeed

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it turned out that’s exactly what it was as I was focusing on an early tributary of the Thames.

Sights readjusted to the rapidly approaching Tarmacadam – the Heathrow runway could be made of concrete but this wasn’t the time to investigate rapidly approaching hard surfaces – we started what I like to term the “Elliott Wobble”.

Charity provides aspiring athletes with a boost of £18,000

It consists of the airplane’s slow swing from side to side, a direct consequence of an inept struggle to keep the runway dead ahead.

As it turns out, a passenger jet has a very slow response time to small adjustments of the control column and that can prove a bit of an issue, even for someone who is used to driving a VW estate car.

We rolled from side to side as the runway, getting bigger all the time, veered wildly, and although we eventually touched the tarmac, it was a brief kiss of the wheels before hurtling onto the grass amid shouts of “mayday” from the co-pilot.

Actually, he wasn’t quite so cruel but kindly put it down to first-go nerves before letting me have more than my fair share of reruns at landing the beast.

Eventually the wobble abated and we put in, if not a text book landing, an acceptable touchdown which only spilt half a bottle of champagne in First.

This 20-minute burst at the controls of a Dreamliner was enough to reaffirm the belief in this reporter that he should have trained to be a pilot.

BA First Officer Nick Kerridge – on hand to make business journalists regret their life decisions – was very kind and said it wasn’t too late for me to retrain, but deep down it’s clear that tapping out words is a more likely for me than tapping out flight coordinates.

It was only then that I could admit I had already had a go on BA’s A380 simulator in Heathrow a year or so previously and Nick did well not to suggest that practise should have made this particular landing a bit more professional looking.

With that it was off, Nick to show patience as another tapper missed the runway and Ulster Business to experience the Passat Estate wobble again.

The Dreamliner simulator was in Northern Ireland for the first time but with any luck it will return, if only to satiate the childhood dreams of business journos.

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Pictured at the recent Mary Peters Trust Podium Programme event, supported by George Best Belfast City Airport, are fencer Rosie McGonagle; Eilish Rutherford, Chairman of the Mary Peters Trust; tennis player Dylan Leeman; Stephen Patton, Human Resources Manager at George Best Belfast City Airport; and tennis player Jessica Leeman.

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ver 30 local sportsmen and women have benefitted from an £18,000 funding boost from the Mary Peters Trust Podium Programme. The funding was announced at a recent Podium Programme event, supported by George Best Belfast City Airport, which provided the athletes, their parents and coaches with the opportunity to enhance their career by learning from industry experts.

Held bi-annually, the Podium Programme event included seminars in health, communicating with the media, managing their online presence, nutrition and strength and conditioning.

Attendees heard from Tom Crick, Director of Coaching and Athletic Development at Athletics NI, Jim Gracey, Group Sports Editor of Belfast Telegraph, Stephen Patton, Human Resources Manager at George Best Belfast City Airport, and Carly Rodgers, Digital Communications Manager at George Best Belfast City Airport.

The Mary Peters Trust Podium Programme was funded by the airport’s Community Fund, a unique CR initiative which has invested more than £200,000 into local projects aiming to strengthen community relations, sport, education, environmental responsibility and social development.

Stephen Patton, Human Resources Manager at George Best Belfast City Airport, said: “Everyone at Belfast City Airport is committed to making a positive impact in the local community and on the development of young people in Northern Ireland.

“Through our Community Fund, we aim to benefit the lives of local people in Northern Ireland and we are delighted to support the Mary Peters Trust Podium Programme. We recognise the positive impact sport has on young people, and look forward to seeing all the incredible athletes we have met through the Trust reach their goals and become the next generation of sports ambassadors for Northern Ireland, like Rory McIlroy and Carl Frampton before them.”

For more information on how your school, group or project can apply to the Belfast City Airport Community Fund, please contact: communityfund@belfastcityairport.com

103

SPORT

Don’t ignore the sporting law

By Geoff Wilson

E

vent organisers involved in the hosting and management of sporting events must consider a range of legal and commercial issues to ensure an appropriate balance is achieved between maximising the returns from investment, and minimising risk.

Firstly, event organisers should consider carefully the rights that are intended to be granted under commercial arrangements, whether it be sponsorship, broadcasting, ticketing or other commercial rights. Key decisions include whether to appoint a ticketing agent (such as Ticketmaster), and whether the grant of sponsorship or broadcasting rights will be on an exclusive basis. Depending on the nature of the event, it might also be necessary to enter into a host city agreement.

Secondly, the use of intellectual property (IP) is a key consideration. IP deriving from sporting events might include (but not necessarily limited to) logos; mascots;

104

merchandise; broadcasting rights; fixture lists; and official programmes. Event organisers should develop a clear IP strategy in order to fully understand what IP exists (by way of an IP and rights audit) and ensure it is adequately protected. Stakeholders should also be prepared to enforce their IP rights should any third parties attempt to infringe them, and should give clear strategic thought as to how effectively they can be exploited.

Whilst not an IP right per se, the value attached to data generated by sporting events also presents a huge opportunity for event organisers, but raises important statutory data protection and data privacy issues which event organisers must be alive to.

Thirdly, an increasingly relevant issue is the risk of brands who have no official ‘link’ to the event seeking to exploit, or associate with, the goodwill of the event without securing official sponsorship or commercial association rights. In order to minimise the risk of ambush marketing, rights holders should put in place proactive steps pre-event,

which might include registration of trade marks, ensuring the terms of commercial agreements such as ticketing are drafted appropriately, and developing close working relationships with other key stakeholders involved in staging the event, such as relevant local authorities or national governing bodies.

Finally, the importance of ensuring spectator safety at venues should be prioritised. Event organisers should ensure that local legislation relating to both the safety of sports grounds and health and safety are complied with.

Andrew Nixon and Jonny Madill are lawyers in the Sports Group at Sheridans, and advise sports clients including event organisers, governing bodies, rights holders, sports clubs, sports tech companies, sports agencies and individual athletes.

Andrew and Jonny can be contacted on anixon@sheridans.co.uk and jmadill@sheridans.co.uk, or on twitter at @sheridanssport

Business Diary

January 2016

DATE

EVENT

VENUE

CONTACT

January

Aer Lingus Viscount Awards in association with Ulster Business Call for entry Organiser: Aer Lingus

IOD, Pall Mall, London Awards to be held on 24 May 2016 Cost: Table of ten £1000 + VAT Single: £150 + VAT Includes 3-course meal + return flights to London for shortlisted winners

For further information contact: rachel@gatekeeperpr.com Tel: 028 9521 6444 www.viscountawards.ulsterbusiness.com

12 January 9.30-12.30

All About Mentoring Organiser: Women in Business Speaker: Aine Mitchell

Crash Services, Newry Cost: Member £10 + VAT Non-Member £35 + VAT

For further information or booking details visit: www.womeninbusinessni.com/events

14 January 8.30-11.30

Communication Skill Masterclass Organiser: Women in Business Speaker: Andrew Toogood

Malmaison, Belfast Cost: Member £10 + VAT Non-Member £35 + VAT

For further information or booking details visit: www.womeninbusinessni.com/events

19 January 9.45-12.00

Employment Law and Health and Safety Seminar Organiser: Peninsula Business Services

Belmont Hotel, Banbridge Cost: commentary

For further information or to book, call 028 9031 4222

20 January 8.45-17.00

Role of the Company Chairman Organiser: IoD Northern Ireland

Riddle Hall, Belfast Cost: Member £450 + VAT Non-Member £500 + VAT

For further information or to book, please contact IoD Northern Ireland on 028 9068 3224 or visit www.iodni.com

21 January 9.30-12.30

Talking Success Speaker: Moya Doherty Organiser: Women in Business

Stranmillis College, Belfast Cost: Member £15 + VAT Non-Member £35 + VAT

For further information or booking details visit: www.womeninbusinessni.com/events

28 January 8.00-12.30

Mind Your Own Business Organiser: IoD Northern Ireland

Riddle Hall, Belfast Cost: Member £55 + VAT Non-Member £75 + VAT

For further information or to book, please contact IoD Northern Ireland on 028 9068 3224 or visit www.iodni.com

If you would like to promote an event or conference please contact Sonia Armstrong (soniaarmstrong@greerpublications.com) Ulster Business will be closed 25, 28 December 2015 and 01 January 2016.

We will be here to answer your queries as usual on all other WORKING days.

MY DAY

Uncovering the 9-5

to clear e-mails and work on anything that requires detailed concentration such as strategic property reviews, valuation reports, or expert evidence. I tend to find that there are fewer distractions earlier in the day, my phone rings less and my office door isn’t darkened as often by a member of the team. This is good thinking time and I feel at my most inspired.

10:00am Our business like so many in the service sector relies on information, and good quality market intelligence is of critical importance in the world of property. For this reason I believe in keeping in regular contact with industry colleagues and clients so this period of the day is frequently spent out of the office at meetings.

Name: David McClure Position: Director, Osborne King Commercial Property Consultants

6:45am Every day starts with 15 minutes of yoga followed by breakfast consisting of natural homemade granola with soya milk washed down with a nice cup of Chai tea….yeah right! It’s a mad rush generally my wife, Louise, has been up for at least half an hour before I enter the fray and the teamwork kicks in as we organise our two kids (Erin 10 & James 8) for school.-packed lunches, kit for whatever sports activities are on that day etc… etc…

7:30am I leave the house for work in a what seems an ever more vain attempt ‘to beat the traffic’; anyone travelling from the east these days will no doubt appreciate the disruption the closure of one little bridge has caused for the past nine months or more!

7:45am Breakfast time at Ross’s Café – a quick takeaway Americano and a few words with John or Paul before heading in to the office.

8:00am I arrive at the office, and the next couple of hours often comprise my most productive spell of the day. I generally use this time

11:00am Nowadays, I like to spend late morning in the office if possible. I think one of the most important things as a director in the business is accessibility both to staff and clients. My key clients need to know that they can reach me and that I can react immediately to their requests. We have a talented, multifaceted and enthusiastic team so client instructions can be carried out in a timely and professional manner at all times which is critical.

12:45pm Lunch is generally a takeaway sandwich from one of the local eateries and then back to the office. I believe socialising with the wider team is important so the kitchen at Osborne King provides an opportunity to get to know members of staff on a more personal level. The recent merger with Ardmore Commercial has introduced a fresh dynamic and I have found this to have been a very healthy experience all round.

13:45pm The afternoon normally brings appointments and an opportunity to do some actual ‘surveying’. My job has evolved considerably throughout the recessionary period and there is now arguably a lot less emphasis on the traditional skills. I have found myself straying more and more into the realms of accountancy and financial reporting and have genuinely enjoyed the challenge the downturn has posed. In essence this evolution has been the very ethos of Osborne King and the key reason for our success throughout the most severe property crash ever witnessed.

17:00pm I like to try and round off the working day as it began with e-mails being attended to and reports/written documents drafted. Then it’s home at around 18:00 for dinner with the family, followed by my second job as an unpaid taxi driver and lifts to football, Irish dancing, swimming, gymnastics, Cubs, and so on and so on….

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