Where are the IT Companies in the Virgin Fast Track 100?

There was a time when Hi Tech companies dominated the Virgin Fast Track 100 - I worked for Eyretel for a while when they won it on the back of their growth in the digital voice recording business sold in the City.

This Sunday, the list published by the Sunday Times shows a very different landscape with only online retailers qualifying as Hi Tech and there are barely a half a dozen of those in the Top 60 while there are a couple of phone retailers and just one Telco reseller scraping in at 60th in the Top 60.

No software companies, no computer maintenance companies, no online computer vendor, no computer resellers, no accessories companies, no Apple App producers - in fact, the first computer associated company comes in at 62 and it's an ink cartridge recycling company.

Refreshingly, there are plenty of recruitment companies in there although I understand the Hi Tech recruiters are suffering while Telecom resellers starts to sprout up with growing frequency after 60th place. 

After Robert Peston's program last night, it was chilling to see that one of the fastest growing companies in Britain is an Equity Release broker as we all struggle to manage debt and provide for our retirement somehow.

It is perhaps a sign of the times that Hi Tech companies are missing from the Fast Track 100. Amongst computer resellers, insolvencies are up, gross margins are getting tighter and competition remains fierce. The PC market is dropping like a stone as the client device markets change, server shipments are static if lowering - what can a struggling reseller do to change its fortunes?

On page 8 is a small article by a very good friend, former colleague and business partner of mine, Scott Dodds who is now GM of business strategy and marketing at Microsoft UK. Scott points out how smaller companies are embracing the Cloud to help them grow faster and he highlights one of the Fast Track Companies called Gritit who unsurprisingly are making hay while we experience harder winters.

What Scott points out is that small companies can save on IT costs and scale their business faster by effectively outsourcing their IT to the Cloud so that small companies can focus on what brings in sales rather than back office issues like IT.

I think there is a step further to go. Companies like independenceIT go beyond just putting a few applications like email, back up and CRM into the Cloud but allow SME businesses to push the management of their entire IT infrastructure and applications into the Cloud and have it served back to them at a single monthly cost per desktop. As traditional hosters like Rackspace or Fasthosts really offer just the renting of resource, independenceIT offers a true managed service that allows SME companies to scale not just their resources but their applications for as single monthly charge.

There are no capital outlays, just single monthly fee per desktop - all the rest is taken care of using Tier 1 datacenters and giving the highest availability and support.

Scott and I agree, the Cloud is definitely the best way a small business can grow its IT base and I think independenceIT has a unique and compelling proposition for this. For resellers who want to get back into growth mode and be able to offer a true managed service to customers without all the massive outlay, independenceIT have a fantastic solution to help get growth back in your business - profitably.

Please get in touch with me for more information on +44 (0) 207 193 2356.

Lack of Role Models?

It is fair to say that young people are sometimes wrongly led by modern role models. In a recent survey, careers at the top of young people's lists are no longer doctor or lawyer but singer or sports star.

I'm not sure how such careers got to the top of the list but certainly there is a growing belief, it seems, that success comes on a plate ala X Factor or scouts just arrive from Premier League clubs at your municipal sports ground. It appears that hard slog is no longer on the agenda - and some would say this a direct result of our 'Can Have' rather than a 'Can Do' culture of materialism and new found affluence, perhaps fuelled by the credit boom years since 1997. I don't know.

So scouring the Sunday Times on the weekend, I came across an article in the Appointments Section which intrigued me. Under a general article on the Law as a career, there was a pull out biography of a Mike Pullen, described as a 'Class Warrior'. Mr. Pullen has no doubt had an extraordinary and hard career, having not attended school until 12 as a fairground child. The rest you can read for yourself but suffice to say he is now at the top of his profession and he advises countries on how to deal with the EU and the World Trade Organisation. He cites that he gets on well with Iraqis as he also comes from a 'tribal society', having not lived in a brick building until he was 26. A great 'rags to riches story', it appears - the stuff of role models.

He claims he fought the class system as his accent was a negative for getting into the City, but he did. Pity for us Welsh too but we each have our cross to bear. Then it all goes belly up as he says, "If you want to be controversial, you would say the most disadvantaged minority is the white working class male. They've no role model, apart from drug dealers and footballers."

There was a bit of 'lawyer speak' up front so that you cannot say it was his real opinion but it is clear that it is by glancing at his background. It's the kind of comment that would appeal to Nick Griffin and the BNP Party - successful white lawyer fought prejudice to get to the top and it is a story tinted with colour. White working class men are at a disadvantage - and they don't even have role models.

I think his comment is both dangerous and laced with racial connotations and is not worthy f a successful person. You only have to look at people Lord Sugar or Sir Philip Green to see how people who come from a working class background can get to the top. I am always moved by the story of Bruce Oldfield who came from a Barnardo's Home to rise to the top of his profession - ah, but he was more advantaged because of his colour? There are many, many stories of not just sports people but business people who have made a great fist of their lives yet came from a working class background - and they would be people of any race, sex, colour, or disability. We might find that most people from a working class background who have made success are white - we may not. I would be more interested to know if coming from a working class background is a disadvantage at all - the opportunities are there for those with the commitment to to better themselves. I would suggest there are sectors of society far worse off than white working class males - if Mr. Pullen wants one great role model, look to Simon Weston. Neither his accent or his horrific burns or lack of education has held him back when any one of those could.

I don't see why white working class males should have a role model who is the same as them in terms of colour of their skin - what has that to do with it? I doubt if Tiger Woods thought about his origins when rising up to become the most brilliant golfer in the world in a sport dominated by white people, nor Arthur Ashe or Barack Obama for that matter but in professional careers and business we can all think of many people who rose to the top from working class backgrounds. Looking across the array of successful business or legal people, I suspect that there is a whole array of stories of hardship to get to the top, and it would have involved all sorts of race, sex and disability stories to go with it.

I come from a working class area although my father, a man with no degree, worked his way up from a working class background to become a highly rated professional in the oil business that gave me an advantage in life that I was very grateful for. He was always my role model because he worked hard for what he got and he developed skills and expertise of his own to become an invaluable commodity to his company, BP. It killed him in the end but that is a different story.

It also taught me that you may think you are disadvantaged in life but if all you do is wallow in your situation then it is highly likely that you will stay there. In my final year at college, I was the only graduate in my class who had got a job before my course ended. There was a good reason for that as we were in the turmoil of miner's and steel strikes - the same time as Mike Pullen was graduating the 'University of Life' - I applied to 72 companies, got 55 first interviews, made 23 second interviews and got offered two jobs. I went to work for Hewlett Packard, about who I had no idea when I applied, and the interviews were with real managers who were looking for something different in what was then, and now, a company that held talent in high regard rather than looked at your home background. My accent or background never held me back.

I think Mike Pullen is doing himself a disservice but he is definitely doing a disservice to others. I fail to resonate with his point and I think it is remark savoured by the wrong sort of people and serves as little inspiration to any working class person let alone white males. It is the kind of remark that is at the heart of the BNP's illogical ideal - if you are a white working class male, blame everyone else for your plight except yourself as you are disadvantaged.

How you better yourself has plenty to do with race, colour, age and disability and Britain has a track record of prejudice in all those areas. But to say that white people are discriminated against in Britain is worthy of the BNP only and it's why it is representative of the 'blame culture' that is growing in our society.

We are in a modern world and opportunities to grow ourselves abound. Mike Pullen could be a role model but he didn't have to be white to be one. If he wants to see what disadvantage is all about, take a trip to Africa and see at first hand. His eyes may just get opened.

Litigious Britain?

They say we are becoming a litigious society.

Perhaps the scandal of MP Expenses and daft Government policies would suggest we are not litigious enough. Between the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, where it is clear we are sending troops into dangerous situations without adequate numbers, armour and transport, a few hundred have lost their lives while we do not even get a sense of how many have been maimed, badly injured, wounded and psychologically affected by the wars. Already it is legally dubious under UN rules that we ever should have invaded Iraq while our participation in abetting torture of those captured has put our leadership into the spotlight but no one seems to have the guts to challenge them legally.

On top of this we hear that slack immigration rules as reported in the Sunday Times has meant that we have almost certainly allowed in potentially dangerous people into Britain without proper checks. It could be a ticking clock as to the next homeland atrocity but would the Immigration Service and the Government be legally culpable for negligence?

This week we also learned that last year over 39,000 serious assault offences which would normally carry up to 5 years in prison for the offenders, if found guilty, have been allowed to go by with mere cautions - no wonder the crime figures seem so low. What if the next victim of one of those cautions is not so lucky to be seriously injured or even killed by lapse rules and target-led policing?

I am not one for a litigious society but some policies are just barmy and are asking for trouble. Perhaps ministers should be exposed to the power of the law for their most stupid of mistakes that leave people in direct danger?

Anthony Holmes - Management Idiot?

According to his biography in today's Sunday Times Appointments Section on page 6, Anthony Holmes describes himself as an international corporate turnaround specialist and transitional leadership expert. Sounds good.

His article is about the Postal Strike and situation at the Royal Mail asserts how a leader is required and not a manager. It is his opinion that Winston Churchill would be the ideal man for the job to solve the current stand off between Union and management as his wartime 'quintessential leadership' would help take the situation by the scruff of its neck.

Anthony Holmes is no doubt an intelligent man but Churchill, while indisputably a fantastic wartime leader who led Britain to survival and victory at our direst hour, had previous form when it came to strikes.

Churchill solved the General Strike by sending in troops - an action that arguably strengthened the resolve of workers and unions in Britain for the best part of 90 years. His actions were despised so greatly that someone as mild as my grandmother could not speak his name without invoking the dire days of his methods to solve the strikes which profoundly affected the people in South Wales in particular. It even tarnished his undoubted genius of wartime leadership in her humble eyes.

If Holmes had bothered to look into Churchill's past, he would have realised that Churchill would have had only one method of solving the stand off - to send in troops to break the strike and force the workers to accept whatever their fate was deemed to be by a truly incompetent and overpaid management. What a super idea that would be.

Perhaps those employing Mr. Holmes for his specialism and expertise aren't actually too worried about his experience, qualifications, knowledge of his subject or historical characters. Like Ron Sandler, his price is reassuringly expensive enough to not ask questions.

Green Shoots And Leaves?

An article on the web this morning tells us that bank trading volumes are up for the first time in two years, giving some clear signs of a recovery. It does point out that pensions and life insurance products still remain depressed, which I would argue are the better long term indicators, but the point is taken.

However, a cursory glance at the familiar barometer of the employment situation, The Sunday Times Appointments Section, revealed that confidence is still at rock bottom. Firstly, you would be hard pushed to find a single private sector job advertised in there. Secondly, the number of Non-Executive jobs and Public Sector jobs seems to be dominating all aspects of the section. Indeed, I had a good chuckle seeing a nice advert for a well sponsored, 'Non Executive Director of The Year Awards' night which was to celebrate the outstanding achievements of these people who wear similar ties. No doubt Tom McKillip and the army of NXDs who sat on the boards of banks and other financial institutions getting fat and rich while doing nothing, will be right up there in the award ceremonies showing the way.

Getting back to the Appointments Section generally, it is clear that the Public Sector seems to be propping up the high end recruitment sector with companies like Odgers and Tyzack prominently and expensively displaying pretty naff Public Sector jobs. It seems the Private Sector has gone to sleep for a long while as the Section had been like this for around a year. I cannot recall a time in the two or three recessions I have sat through when the Times was so thin on Private Sector jobs. The hunt for good talent has gone underground at minimum, but it more likely reflects business conditions.

Meanwhile, in my layman's observationary mode, my wife and I ventured into London on Saturday and caught the final hour of shops around Oxford Circus. There were no shortage of shoppers - it seemed very busy. But the shop assistant I spoke to at Libertys pointed out that the credit cards were mostly not from the UK but are tourists enjoying the almost perennial sales we seem to have at the moment. We went for the early supper at a really superb restaurant on Poland Street, Vasco's, and had the pre-theatre meal of two courses for £19.50 each. The food was outstanding and the owner, observing that we were the only people in the restaurant, berated the fact that business has been like this for months - no early diners for the theatre anymore, but clogged full from 8 o'clock. He was right, Soho seemed absolutely empty and getting a drink with a group of friends at the Argyll Arms was easy, they even allowed us to fully occupy the upstairs dining area as only one family were in.

Pubs and restaurants are good barometers of the times we are in. On a Saturday night in early Autumn, with pleasant if windy weather, the eating and drinking places were nowhere near full or empty. London is no different from most cities. The green shoots are not so evident.

That said, the number of placards outside houses marked 'For Sale' seems to be on the rise in my area although I know some people who have had their houses on the market for 18 months with not a single viewing. It would be a shame if the biggest feature of a recovery is another housing boom as that would be a sure-fire indicator we put our money in the wrong place as they are precisely the kinds of stupid asset inflations that got us into trouble last time around. But that's another story.

For me, the green shoots are not yet in evidence in the right places.

Small Businesses - The Forgotten Masses

Mighty big talk came from the newly manufactured peer, Lord Mandelson, regarding the great steps he was taking with banks to guarantee loans for small businesses. Just how much of that mighty big package of help that is filtering through is pretty minimal, it looks like.

Over the weekend, it was reported that banks are allowing around 120 small businesses go bust every day while large scale ones get bailed out completely. The so-called Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) was set up by the Government with £1.3bn capital in the form of loans or overdrafts which would be 75% guaranteed by the Government. If you have a small business like mine, then my overdraft has been cut back and last year I was not allowed to flex it for a single month even though I had a capital bond with the same bank worth over 5 times the lending required for just a 30 day period.

Banks did not seem to want to lend even when you had cash and security at the very same branch.

The Scheme That Never Was

As with so much lately, the EFG was set up as a knee jerk reaction to the recession and credit crunch and as a sound bite to ward off criticism and show that the Government cared about small businesses while wasting billions on larger ones.

As has been the case with most things, it was mighty big talk without any action to show for it.

36,000 businesses will go bust this year according to BDO Stoy Hayward and that will cause the loss of over 150,000 jobs, and many affected by this squarely blame the banks. One firm of accountants claims that every single one of his clients who applied for a loan under the EFG had it turned down and that he had not yet heard of any firm that had been granted such a loan. Often the whole thing does not get past a first meeting with the bank.

A Sunday Times report shows that in fact many of the loans granted under the scheme are not new money at all but merely the transferring of an existing overdraft or loan facility with a small top up. In other words, banks have used the opportunity to protect current loans and get a 75% guarantee on them by transferring old loans under the scheme and making them qualify by offering a small bit more.

As has been the way in the this whole banking fiasco, it is the implementation of talk and plans which have lacked precision and diligence and then the Ministers involved either blame those below, the banks or anyone else they can think of when the schemes go wrong.

It is the attention to detail of such plans and their execution that determines their success not the assertive soundbites and words used at the journalistic launches.

The Real Facts

As this week Lloyds are planning to pay hefty bonuses to staff and executives after being bailed out by the taxpayer and despite our owning a decent chunk of them, it really does beggar belief that banks like Lloyds are letting businesses down.

The bail outs and daft schemes have had little or no effect other than to preserve the status quo and small businesses have been just left with the echoes of words from the likes of Mandelson to pull them through.

What companies need is action on these ideas. Banks should be compelled to instantly review cases for loans and answer them in a minimum period of time, certainly less than 6 but ideally 4 weeks from initial contact. Realistically, no small business puts in such a request unless it is urgent so there should be a mechanism to get bridging loans in as soon as the request is made.

To add to this, many businesses who apply for such loans are still being asked for security like their homes, yet up to 75% of the loan is being guaranteed by the EFG scheme - banks should step up to their side of the bargain and take the 25% risk themselves. In order to get faster decisions, the local branches should be given more authority to make the calls on these loans - the faster, the better. Too often such requests are lost in the system and people who know nothing of the business or bank relationship make the decisions in the ether.

Bank terms are changing rapidly and there should be far more notice for small businesses and more proactive help. Too often the first we know of change is after the first new statement is received.

Finally, it would really help if people like Mandelson and bank managers show more knowledge and understanding about the plight of small businesses. Soundbites are only a starting point - to make this work there has to be a flow of commitment and understanding down the entire process chain so that at each step and for each decision made, the goal is understood and the sympathy lies with the business concerned.

The speed at which this recession has struck is frightening and while I have pleaded in this blog with executives to plan ahead, too often businesses can turn from buoyant sales with upward growth to downward with 20 to 30% declines. For small businesses, it is hard to legislate for such incredible swings even with good forethought and so banks have to understand how usually good businesses can need a short term support to hold onto until the business can once again stand on its own two feet.

That will need proper execution of the EFG Plan and its failure flows right to the top. It's time to stand up and be counted for ministers and banks managers as business leaders will not forget how they let us down.

Selling And Buying Employee Information

A BBC report today says that a company in Droitwich was selling information on prospective employees to many employers in the construction business. The Consulting Association is alleged to have breached the Data Protection Act in doing so.

I blogged on this back in August and posed the question about a Sunday Times report that the Criminal Records Bureau had been involved in the same practice - yet was this prudent by employers or plain breaking the law?

A Question Of Morals

The firm in Droitwich was raided in February and found to have records on over 3,000 construction workers with highly subjective information and views on them which prospective employers could buy access to and 'screen' employees beforehand. particularly highlighted were alleged 'lazy' employees and 'trouble makers', some even labelled 'communist'.

There is little doubt that the Droitwich firm was acting illegally. But the wider question was whether employers were also doing so as such information is known to be illegally pedalled. Surely this is a akin to be arrested for receiving stolen goods?

Lord Mandelson has spoken out weakly prior to his face full of green custard but I would hope the employers are also found guilty of trading in information illegally gotten and used.