A new national programme which will focus on helping small and medium manufacturing businesses to grow has launched.

The new Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) is now available to all manufacturing businesses across England. It will be delivered by the MAC, which is comprised of Grant Thornton, Pera, WM Manufacturing Consortium Ltd and SWMAS Ltd. It has been estimated that the new MAS will help to generate £1.5 billion in economic growth, 23,000 jobs and safeguard 50,000 jobs.

Businesses interested in finding out more about the programme can find out more by visiting www.mymas.org.

Business Minister Mark Prisk said: “Manufacturing contributes half of Britain’s exports and has much higher productivity than the rest of the economy so it is essential to our plans for growth. That is why we are taking steps to ensure our industrial base is thriving as part of a strong and balanced UK economy.

“The new Manufacturing Advisory Service will play a key role, providing tailored advice to businesses helping them to grow and thrive, with a specific focus on helping SMEs improve competitiveness and unlock their growth potential.”

Karl Eddy, head of government infrastructure advisory at Grant Thornton and head of MAS, said: ”This type of programme is vital to support Britain’s businesses and economy in growth. MAC is driven by a passion for dynamic, innovative business and has proven experience in delivering advice for growth. As we drive this historically successful programme in to a new era we encourage business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs in the manufacturing sector to contact a local adviser to find out more about how MAS can deliver real benefits for their business.”

Small manufacturing businesses will also have access to a new initiative recently announced by the Government to improve the global competitiveness of UK advanced manufacturing supply chains. The up to £125 million fund will cover the whole of England and will help to support the UK supply chain, encourage new suppliers to invest in the UK and support economic growth.

Tax breaks designed to help small firms invest in new equipment are too complicated and are failing to boost spending, according to research supported by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) as part of the Open University’s Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain1.

The survey of 950 businesses asked whether the capital allowances rules were clear enough. Only 8 per cent of SMEs thought they were easy to understand. (19 per cent rated them acceptable, 31 per cent thought they were complicated, and 42 per cent didn’t know and/or left it to their accountants).

Under the capital allowances system, firms investing in new equipment pay less tax on their profits.

The survey also revealed that for 80 per cent of firms, capital allowances had no impact on their investment decisions, which suggests that the allowance is not acting as an incentive for growth. The risk for the economy is that small businesses do not have the latest equipment that means they can compete for new business in global markets.

For many small businesses the answer is to lease equipment. Firms which are not yet profitable can benefit by using asset finance (leasing or hire purchase) to get business equipment. Leasing companies then claim capital allowances and pass on the benefit through lower rental payments. The latest FLA figures show that asset finance lending increased by 25 per cent to £1.7 billion in May compared to the same time last year, with around 1,000 small businesses taking out equipment finance every day.

Julian Rose, head of asset finance at the FLA, explained:

“If small firms are to drive the economic recovery, they need tax investment incentives that are simple to claim. The Open University report shows that the capital allowances system is over-complicated and falls short of providing the support that UK businesses need to encourage them to invest. But the Government must simplify capital allowance to help many more of Britain’s SME’s to invest in new equipment or upgrade their existing equipment.”

In light of the Government’s new report which states that UK cyber crime costs the UK economy £27 billion a year, research by specialist small business insurer Hiscox reveals that nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of SMEs are concerned about e-risks and cyber crime.

Hiscox SME insurance expert, Alan Thomas, commented: “In light of these latest Government figures and the importance of data to businesses, it is essential that SMEs have strategies in place to mitigate online risks. Our research reveals businesses are now more concerned about cyber crime (22 per cent), such as hacker attacks and electronic ID theft, than having cash (eight per cent) stolen from their premises.”

“Our research also revealed that over a third (38 per cent) believed that their businesses are more likely to be a target of burglary since the start of the financial downturn which makes it all the more important to put in place robust security measures.”

Hiscox offers the following security tips to help SMEs to protect against online and offline risks:

Protect information with a need-to-know policy with employees. If storing information on a central file server, manage who has access to files. This can help prevent data loss whether accidental or deliberate

Running an enterprise is a full-time activity and if you do not have online technical expertise seek professional advice on security. This can both save time and ensure the security measures cover the business needs

Encrypt important information for extra security so that only authorised users will be able to access them

Using the internet and email to conduct business means that data loss becomes a risk. Develop a clear email policy and raise online security awareness and issues with employees

Back up your files and check your insurance cover so that you can get business up and running again quickly in the event of an incident

Items like laptops and computer monitors are common targets for thieves and the real cost of a stolen IT asset isn’t just the hardware, it’s the lost data and the lost productivity. Lock servers in a room and move laptops into a secure drawer at the end of a working day .

If your company permanently lost all data, it would have a 60 per cent chance of going under. Did you know on average, it takes 21 days and £12,000 to recreate just 20MB of lost accounting information? It is crucial to your business’s survival to back up data and form a disaster recovery plan, now more than ever.

What is remote data back up?

It’s essentially an insurance policy for your company’s day-to-day and organisational information. As you work, your data is sent over a secure line to a protected databank, and can be retrieved in part or in whole, at a later date.

You have a 1 in 25 chance of having your laptop stolen, broken or destroyed, every year.

No matter how careful you are, it can and does still happen. When an MI5 agent’s laptop was stolen in 2009, the counterintelligence agency assured the public that the data was encrypted. Aside from password protecting and backing up data, it’s a good lesson to use a virtual private network (VPN). The laptop would act as a terminal, not holding vital data as it would securely log-in to the company’s network after authentication.

50 per cent of critical corporate data is stored unprotected on desktops and laptops.

Without password protection or even encryption of the data, the possibilities of damage aren’t just caused by undercover spies and petty thieves, but users on a network with access to files in the common drives.

The cost and time to recover a typical SME’s data.

One Megabyte (MB) is about 500 pages of text. With this in mind, think of the costs:
19 days and £10,700 to recreate just 20 MB of lost sales data
21 days and £12,000 to recreate just 20 MB of lost accounting data
42 days and £61,000 to recreate just 20 MB of lost engineering data

10 years later and 500 times larger…

Did you know your computer stores 500 times more data compared to 10 years ago? This increased capacity amplifies the impact of data loss. If your company uses computers and servers older than five years old, with today’s demands on the hard drive and CPU, the chances of disk failure are higher.

Only 34 per cent of companies actually test their tape backup.

Of the 34 per cent of companies that test their tape backup, 45 per cent find failures in recovering data. Think of the 66 per cent of companies that have never tested the system they trust to recover their company from disaster. When was the last time you checked tape drive?

60 per cent of SMEs collapse after losing their data.

According to a recent report by the National Computer Security Association, within six months, 60 per cent of SMEs dissolve after permanently losing their data. It’s a sad and avoidable statistic that can be combatted with a disaster recovery / business continuity plan.

Only one third of companies have a disaster recovery plan.

Does your company have one? It should form part of your systems and training process within the company. You can start today by jotting down the following considerations: how can the company continue to operate without data (do you have backup, printouts, etc?); what information is essential and what can be replaced?; how much money does the company lose every day it’s down?; How can you decrease the likelihood of a disaster (how often is the equipment checked and tested)? What steps should you take to resume business as normal after a flood, server failure, etc? Remember, essential data is more than just documents and spreadsheets. Think of the configuration settings, user names, passwords, serial codes and licenses, to name a few.

Tape backup went out with Windows 98.

It’s widely agreed by businesses to be unreliable, prone to failure and not secure. Added to this, how often is the tape changed, duplicated for contingency, taken off site, stored in a secure place, password protected and tested? An automated off-site online backup system also removes the chances of human errors.

66 per cent of small businesses are worried about their disaster recovery plan.

The 66 per cent of small businesses that have a disaster recovery plan and data backup are worried that it has significant vulnerabilities. The concerns include equipment reliability, security of data, and staff. It’s not wise to make one person responsible for the entire recovery of your IT infrastructure. If they were to leave or go on holiday, it would cost your company a lot in wasted time and money.

22 per cent of computer users would like to back up their data.

22 per cent of computer users would like to backup their data and won’t get around to it. With over 17years experience in writing disaster recovery plans for our clients, we know the best time to back up your data will always be now.

Research supplied by On Line Computing

Small business owners must take precautions in order to prevent fridge or freezer malfunction due to a loss of power during the hot summer months, says insurer RSA.

Even a small incident or power cut lasting only a few minutes could potentially prove costly for business owners.

UK consumers spend £5 billion on frozen food every year, with caterers using a further £2.5 billion of frozen goods. Small businesses, including grocers, petrol station owners and newsagents all rely heavily on fridges and freezers to store goods on site.

It is crucial for business owners to have and maintain back-up generators for all fridges and freezers, in order to prevent goods from being ruined if the main electricity supply is cut or damaged in any way.

To reduce the risk of having a large fridge or freezer related loss, business owners should:

• install and maintain back-up generators;
• install temperature controls and alarms with remote signalling to inform the owner that the unit is gaining or losing temperature.  Alarms are available to ensure temperature range is sufficient for the type of stock being stored;
• if practical, keep a spare storage fridge or freezer to transfer goods into in the event of a problem;
• train all staff how to respond in the event of a refrigeration unit breaking, including how to start the back up generator; and
• determine at what stage of defrosting stock is considered beyond use.

David Greaves, SME trading director at RSA, said, “Businesses need to take precautions, especially during the hot summer months to ensure they are maintaining all electrical equipment on their premises. If a fridge or freezer breaks down, they may have to throw away stock and then replace it all. Following RSA’s risk assessment guidelines could save small businesses significant unnecessary cost.”