Monthly Archives: May 2021

Hot Business News Today

5 ways for CFOs to understand their data better

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Originally written by Sadie Williamson on Small Business
It’s no secret that the best businesses rely on data to drive decisions. It’s also no secret that even for the most data-literate CFOs, there are still some significant challenges involved with achieving data-driven financial planning excellence.
The sheer volume of information coming in can be challenging to parse in a meaningful way. And Excel, the CFO’s go-to app for ad hoc reporting, can be tricky to work with, especially given how many hours of busy work are generally involved with getting all the latest figures imported and standardised.
Rather than coping with the challenges of dynamic financial reporting, many organisations end up going on ‘gut feel’ instead of making an educated choice based on the metrics they’re collecting. But this can have even more serious ramifications – for example, failing to properly keep track of auto-renewing contracts and subscriptions cost small businesses between £3bn and £5.75bn in 2020.
Instead of trying to deal with all the data, or avoiding the mention of data altogether, it’s important for CFOs to demonstrate what can be possible when data is properly harnessed and understood. Here are five ways for CFOs to make better use of their data.
1. Remove

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6 things playing games can teach us about business

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Originally written by Ben Fowler on Small Business
Games are often seen as a fun way of passing time and considered a distraction from education and professional success. However, we’re turning that view on its head. We believe games are actually an abundant source of business lessons that SME leaders can benefit from. We launched the Let’s Play Business! podcast to help business leaders understand the lessons that can be drawn from the games around them, many of which they’ve probably played at some point in their lives.
6 things games can teach us about doing business
We’ve had some excellent business leaders on as guests, including Chris Rhodes, operations director at The Tech Dept, and Susanna Lawson, CEO and co-founder of OneFile and 2017’s Businesswoman of the Year.
Here are the top tips discussed in the first four episodes:
#1 – Strategic thinking – defend what can be defended, consolidate and build back up
Both Monopoly Deal and chess are great at encouraging strategic thinking, with players asking themselves, what actions can I take now to improve my current situation and what actions will have the most significant impact? When you’re running a business, the same applies, especially when the challenges are multiple and often

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SMEs forecast to create 1.2m jobs in Britain over the coming year

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Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
One third of SMEs are expected to hire in 2021, creating 1.2m jobs in Britain.
Renewed optimism is the driving force behind these hiring plans, with an added desire for SMEs to grow their workforce diversity and prioritise employee wellbeing. In the UK, there will be a bigger focus on ways of working and employee wellness, with 37 per cent looking to improve physical wellness.
According to research from Sage, businesses expect to return to pre-pandemic profitability by Q4 2021. This is down to increased consumer confidence and greater efficiencies.
Three quarters of SMEs surveyed are optimistic about the future of their business and growth trajectory in the next year. This optimism is mainly driven by the vaccine rollout programme (45 per cent), being able to see customers again (35 per cent) and projections of increased consumer spending (32 per cent). Over eight in ten don’t expect there to be another lockdown, with most feeling they’ll return to pre-pandemic levels this summer – both in terms of profitability and staffing levels. A huge 79 per cent of UK SMEs believe they’ll be back to profitability by the summer.
An ability to adapt has been crucial during the

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