business focus 13
Chartered accountants Haines Watts presents a series of articles based on its blogs. It offers analysis, reviews and comments and welcomes your feedback at
www.hwca.com/blog
of the month Grow strong by planning well writes Colin Fletcher, partner at Haines Watts
Economic growth in the UK looks strong despite issues in the Eurozone and other parts of the world so, hopefully, SMEs can look to the future with renewed confidence and increasing demands for their products. However this brings its own challenges, which are worth considering:
• Recruitment – falling levels of unemployment mean fewer in the jobs market. A shortage of skills can make recruitment extremely difficult so plan to ensure there is a long enough lead time to complete the process. Also be innovative on how/where you recruit and how you attract/retain staff. Flexible benefit packages and share option schemes should be considered.
• Cashflow management – whilst cashflow often improves when business slows down, once the business starts to expand it may become strained. For example, production volumes will be increasing and contracts/services will need to be delivered, which often require funding before payments from customers are made. To avoid being under- capitalised, it’s vital to plan how you will deal with the implications of the projected growth beforehand.
• Additional funding may be required and various sources are available to businesses these days. Many, quite understandably, will start with their bank but look at other options too, including any government schemes which may be appropriate.
Building trusted partnerships to deliver quality facilities services
Providing a ‘one-stop shop’ for all facilities services takes away the headache of worrying about the day-to- day issues in running an office, whether it is for grounds maintenance, support staff, waste management, security or catering, writes Lorraine Gibson, managing director, Brayborne Facilities Services
At Brayborne Facilities Services, we have been supplying regular cleaning and associated services since 1986. With over 160 major annual contracts for daily and specialist cleaning contracts across southern England, we are one of the major providers to offices, schools and shopping centres.
Following a growing demand from our customers to deliver a whole range of facilities services through one point of contact, we have set up a network of trusted partnerships to deliver a wide variety of quality specialist services.
Our customers have said they value the quality service that we provide and when we sought to
expand our services we looked for the same high standards of reliability and consistency in our specialist partner companies. We now provide the sole point of contact to deliver a portfolio of facilities services, seamlessly using our own staff or those of our partner companies as required.
Our list of partners is growing and wide ranging, reflecting the broad range of facilities services that are needed in offices today. Five of the companies with whom we are proud to work are Wilson James, Blue Apple, Thirst Link Consulting, Urban Planters and Swift Clean, all of whom have all demonstrated the high levels of quality and reliability that customers demand.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – DECEMBER14/JANUARY15
• Interest rates are currently low and look like remaining so until well into 2015 but they will go up at some point. When considering finance for longer periods ensure that potential increases in the cost of borrowing are factored into the decision-making process.
• As new customers are won ensure you have proper processes in place to check that they are credit worthy and also set realistic credit limits. When identifying new prospects remember that a number of smaller projects
can be more profitable and less disruptive to the business and its financial well-being than one very large contract which dominates everything.
It’s worth paying careful attention to the above to reap the rewards. Businesses which achieve good profitability and stable cashflows can look to grow and perhaps even acquire other companies or open in new locations to access a wider customer base. And, from there, real growth comes …
Details:
www.hwca.com
products for offices. Swift Clean offers specialist cleaning for legionella control, duct, kitchen extract and water tank cleaning.
To deliver the ‘one-stop shop’, our area management team liaises closely with the customer to scope the work so that we can smoothly and efficiently fulfil the day-to-day operations.
Wilson James is a specialist security and front-of-house business, who take pride in getting to the heart of the businesses they work with to mitigate risks and threats. Blue Apple has established a reputation over the past 15 years for developing and managing bespoke staff catering solutions. Specialist vending and water cooling services are provided by Thirst Link Consulting and Urban Planters design, source, install and maintain indoor and outdoor plants and other plant-related
Although some companies may initially see outsourcing as a disadvantage because they might feel they are losing management control, we work hard to overcome this by ensuring that we run a transparent professional partnership between the customer and ourselves. Our comprehensive management system gives a real time view for customers of the facilities services being provided and makes sure all elements of the customer account are fully met.
Details: Lorraine Gibson 0118-9789428
www.brayborne.co.uk
www.businessmag.co.uk
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