Member News

Accountant trainee Matthew King has won the Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) sponsored Kaplan Financial Student of the Sitting Award for the Norwich area.

The annual award, which is run by the financial and accountancy training company Kaplan Financial, has been sponsored by professional recruitment specialists Pure for five years and is given to trainee accountants from the East of England who have shown outstanding qualities in the financial field during the previous year.

Matthew King has worked in the Wisbech office of accountancy firm Bulley Davey for two years and is currently in the middle of completing his Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification.

Matthew, who was selected from 300 Kaplan Financial students to receive the accolade said; “I was surprised and really happy to receive the award. The tutors have been great at Kaplan Financial because they help us to understand the subjects in a fun and interesting way. Thanks to Pure for sponsoring the prize!”

In recognition of the award, Matthew was presented with an iPod Nano courtesy of Pure. Joseph O’Sullivan, Recruitment Manager of the Norwich Branch of Pure, commented: “We are really pleased to support the new and upcoming accountancy talent in the region and the awards are an excellent way of rewarding the hard work necessary to achieve professional qualifications.”

Caron Betts, operations manager for the Norwich and Ipswich offices of Kaplan Financial, explained; “Matt has been a great student, studying with us for the past two years. He always makes a positive contribution to classroom discussion and activities. He worked incredibly hard and has achieved first time passes throughout. A well deserved winner of this prize.”

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For more media information contact Anna Hill, Marketing Manager on 01223 209888 or email anna.hill@prs.uk.com

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Pictures: Student Sitting 011: Left to right: Caron Betts (Kaplan Financial) Matthew King (winning student) Joseph O’Sullivan (Pure Resourcing Solutions)

About Pure Resourcing Solutions

Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) was established in Cambridge in September 2002. Since then the company has flourished and now employs over 50 staff across four regional offices in Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich and Chelmsford.

Pure has developed from being specialist accountancy recruitment business to providing temporary and permanent recruitment services for accountancy, executive, financial services, human resources, marketing and professional office support.

The company provides end-to-end recruitment and retention solutions that include additional services such as assessment centres, proficiency testing, psychometric testing, training, salary benchmarking and coaching. We also run a series of business seminars and workshops for clients throughout the year, as well as an annual diary of charity events raising funds for a number of chosen charities including EACH and J’s Hospice.

Pure’s clients range from FTSE 100 companies, venture capital-backed businesses, private businesses, professional firms and the public sector; we have built a reputation as the recruitment consultants of choice in all chosen markets. www.prs.uk.com

Flybe franchise, Loganair announce its schedule of flights from Norwich to Manchester and Guernsey-

Flybe franchise carrier, Loganair has announced its flights for summer 2014, which will see services from Norwich to Guernsey and Manchester.

The popular route to Guernsey will operate again between May and September, with the flights departing on Sunday afternoon. The services to Manchester will operate three times daily, offering passengers the opportunity of a wide range of connections. These flights can now be booked for travel up to 09 September, with flights after that date being made available in early December.

The route to Manchester is growing in popularity with the ease of connecting via Flybe’s Manchester hub to destinations including Belfast City, Glasgow, the Isle of Man, Southampton and Exeter. 30% of passengers on the route are benefitting from the seamless connections, as passengers and baggage are through checked from Norwich to their final destination.

Phil Preston, Loganair’s chief operating officer said: “We are very happy to be launching our summer 2014 schedule from Norwich, and are especially pleased that passengers are benefitting from the hub concept at Manchester making easy connections onto the Flybe network, as well as with our other interline partners, including Virgin and Emirates.

“Our three services every week day to Manchester opens up an array of connecting opportunities for residents in the Norwich area.” Hamsin Hadziabdic, Norwich Airport’s business development manager, commented: “Loganair’s Manchester services provided valuable UK connectivity to the region’s business community, and enables those wishing to visit friends and relatives to do so more easily.

“The ability to connect into the Emirates and Virgin network is also a huge benefit. Guernsey remains a popular destination from Norwich, and we are pleased to see it on sale for next summer, alongside Flybe’s routes to Jersey and Newquay”. Flights are available online at flybe.com or via the call centre 0871 700 2000.

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Issued on behalf of Loganair by The BIG Partnership. For more information contact Roisin McGrath on 0141 333 9585:Roisin.McGrath@bigpartnership.co.uk – 07768120285

Notes to Editors: Loganair is the only major UK airline owned and headquartered in Scotland. The airline was founded in 1962 and employs approximately 440 staff to undertake over 500 air services each week using a fleet of 26 aircraft. It carries over half a million passengers and connects Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles to key destinations in Scotland, as well as providing other regional air links from its operational bases at Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Kirkwall, and Norwich. Loganair is a franchise partner of Flybe, a codeshare partner of British Airways, and has arrangements with other airlines to provide interline connections. The company is privately owned and consistently profitable.

Airport encourages local businesses to become better connected!

Norwich International Airport is inviting all businesses in the region to help deliver greater choice of direct business flights to key domestic and European business centres from its local airport.

The aim? – Improved connectivity from their local airport, helping their business to grow more efficiently. To achieve this, business input into new route development is vital and the airport is asking businesses to engage with the airport so we can deliver the air links which local businesses and their business partners need.

To realise this the airport needs local businesses to help them inform airlines of where they need to fly to from Norwich, their local airport and to this end would be grateful if as many business people as possible could spend no more than 60 seconds of their time completing a very basic multiple choice on-line survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K8RSF7T

As a thank you for completing the survey, contact details will be entered into a prize draw for a valuable prize – 50 business lounge tickets for your company to use when travelling from Norwich International Airport. The survey will run until 22nd November 2013 and the winner will be notified on 29th November 2013 and the prize will be valid for 12 months from this date.

Hamsin Hadziabdic, recently appointed Business Development Manager at Norwich International Airport commented: “Whilst we are working hard on route development we need to understand where the current and future business travel demand is. Therefore, it is crucial that the businesses in the region share their air travel requirements with us so that we can work with our airline partners and deliver the right choice of routes. Improved connectivity is the key for our region’s business growth as it improves the region’s attractiveness for inward investment, encourages development of direct business links with overseas partners and enables economic growth”.

NORWICH, Tuesday 14th October 2013 – Amsterdam Airport Schiphol best connected hub in Europe Anna Aero an Airline Network news and analysis website has confirmed that Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the best connected airport within the EU with routes to 26 out of 27 EU capitals – more than any other airport. Moreover, Schiphol was voted Best Airport in Europe for the 23rd consecutive time by British business travellers at the Business Traveller Awards held in London at the Royal Kensington Garden Hotel.

This is great news for the region as KLM, the Netherlands’ flag carrier, currently operates a four times daily service from Norwich International Airport to its hub Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

KLM services to Schiphol enhance the region’s European and worldwide connectivity and provide passengers with more flexibility. Via their award winning hub airport Schiphol in Amsterdam, KLM offers the community of East Anglia over 100 worldwide destinations on its intercontinental network and over 650 destinations across its Skyteam partners’ network.

Andrew Bell, CEO of Norwich International commented: “The connections available from Norwich International streamline the region’s worldwide connectivity via Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and provide passengers with a more flexible service. For businesses, the increased frequency allows for swifter connections to the long-haul network and in addition, it gives far greater flexibility to travellers doing business in Amsterdam and Europe who need to return to Norwich on the same day. The ease of use of the Norwich Amsterdam service, with a one hour check-in and 45 minute flight ensures passengers from this region can be in Schiphol waiting for their onward connection in less time than it will take them to drive to our next closest UK airport!”

Warner Rootliep, General Manager Air France KLM UK & Ireland added: “KLM is delighted to see Schiphol being acclaimed once again this year as Best Airport in Europe. The cooperation with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is of the utmost importance since it is at the heart of the overall experience we offer to our UK customers. This award is a tribute to all the efforts and investments that have been done over the years. We feel lucky that our hub is such a successful airport and look forward to welcoming even more KLM passengers there over the coming years.”

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The UK National Grid has advised that the risk of power blackouts in the winter of 2013/14 is at its highest for several years with margins of availability half what they were a year ago. This is bad news for consumers, but far worse news for organisations that rely on their electronic data. If the power goes off, so does the data – unless the data is already housed in a data centre with sufficient backup power to ‘ride the storm’. According to National Grid Director, Chris Train, ‘Things will be tighter than they have been historically’. The margin of availability, in other words the amount of spare power to cope with higher demand on cold days for example, is apparently only 5 percent – half that of a year ago – as we enter the winter months.

Data Centre Outages

Whilst clearly the shortage of power is a major concern for everyone, particularly the old and frail, the shortage of power could have a catastrophic impact on businesses. Most organisations, whether businesses, charities, public sector or private, rely heavily on electronic data today and many operate their own computer rooms or data centres. The problem is that many of these privately run data centres do not have generator backup facilities. What this means is that in the event of a power outage, the uninterruptable power supply, (UPS), might allow them time to shut down the servers, but they won’t be able to power them up again until the mains power is restored. When the power goes off it is generally relatively large areas that suffer meaning that there could be multiple data centre outages which would have a massive impact on businesses and would, potentially, be enough to affect UK Plc.

Choose your colocation provider with care!

Of course, there are a number of ways in which organisations can mitigate against these damaging outages. One way would be to install a backup deisel generator. This isn’t without problems though – firstly there is the cost of purchase, (these machines are not cheap), then there is the problem of space, (where to put it), there may well be planning consents to be sought, and then there is the fuel that will need to be stored. None of these issues are insurmountable, but for some organisations the problems are not ones that they wish to take on. Another alternative is to move your data to a colocation data centre provider. Most colocation providers will have some sort of backup generator and some fuel onsite but, choose your colocation provider with care. If the data centre facility is in an area of high risk, (such as London and The Docklands), then the probability of an outage is higher. Whilst they may have on-site generators, how much fuel do they have? Are the generators tested regularly? Will they start in an emergency? There are numerous cases of generators not starting or running out of fuel – do you want to be a victim or such an incident?

Electricity of the future

It is interesting that the day after the UK National Grid reports such worrying news that the National Ignition Facility, (NIF), in California announced that it has passed an important milestone in the bid to produce nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is very different from Nuclear fission that is used to generate electricity in nuclear power plants today. Nuclear fission requires atoms to be split and uses highly radioactive materials. Nuclear fusion requires that the atoms are squashed together causing intense heat and energy. The point of nuclear fusion is that it should be sustainable – in other words it should produce more energy than is required to make it happen. This is the milestone that the NIF has passed. Late in September in an experiment, the NIF produced nuclear fusion that generated more energy than was required to produce the fusion. This is a major step forwards in the world of nuclear fusion and could, if it can be scaled to be commercially viable, mean that the world would no longer have to rely on fossil fuels for electricity generation and could effectively produce cheap, self-sustainable electricity.

There are other organisations striving to produce nuclear fusion too. Notably the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor or ITER programme in Europe. This facility is still under construction and uses a different method of producing nuclear fusion, (‘magnetic confinement’ rather than high power lasers), but none-the-less aims to produce fusion that is self sustaining and commercially viable. Unfortunately, in both cases the probability of the production of nuclear fusion to provide electricity is many years away and, for the UK, the problem is now.

What should I do?

There are, of course, several options open to organisations that might be concerned about the risk of power outages. The 2013/14 winter is an immediate risk, but in the longer term the world continues to generate and store data at an exponential rate and this requires more and more electricity. According to the Chief Executive of Energy UK, the ‘National Grid has demonstrated that the UK’s demand for energy is getting closer to the amount we can produce or buy in’. That should be a concern for every business or organisation that relies on the availability of their electronic data. It should also be a concern to anyone who uses the Internet, (Hmm, you must be using it to read this), because the Internet is served from data centres and, not all of them are particularly well placed to cope with power outages.

Option 1 is, of course, do nothing. Hope that we don’t suffer power outages and, in the event that we do, muddle through. This may be attractive to some businesses but it may be just too high a risk for others. Option 2, buy and install your own on-site backup power generator. This is perfectly viable as an option but will involve significant capital cost that may never be required and, for winter 2013/14 time is fast running out to get it installed before the cold weather sets in and we all start using more power. Option 3, move the data to a colocation data centre. This is probably the least disruptive option, (particularly if you use the skills of an organisation like Migration Solutions who is a specialist in this process), and the cheapest option other than to do nothing.

Care must be taken when choosing your colocation data centre provider though. Is the data centre in an area likely to suffer power outages? Who runs it? Do the people you are contracting with run it, or is it outsourced to someone else? Are they going to charge you for power that you don’t use? (Yes, many do!) Do they have generators? Are the generators tested and, if so, how often? How much fuel do they hold on site? Is it kept topped up? There are a number of other questions to be asked, but these would probably be a good start! Of course, you could save yourself a whole heap of problems and just come and talk to us at MigSolv. We have a cutting edge data centre that isn’t in an area likely to suffer power outages, we have generators on site that are tested both on and off load on a very regular basis and we have sufficient fuel to run the data centre at full load for over 8 days! Why not contact us now and find out what we can do to give you the comfort that your data will be available even if the power outages do happen. Oh, and just for your peace of mind, we run the data centre with our own full time experienced data centre staff … and that includes the maintenance!

The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has awarded the prestigious ‘Chartered Insurance Brokers’ title to all five of the General Insurance operations of Alan Boswell Group, the region’s leading independent commercial insurance broker. This prestigious award comes as the Group also celebrates passing £50 million in Gross Written Premiums* for the first time.

The Chartered award is an exclusive title only awarded to firms which meet rigorous criteria relating to professionalism and capability. All Chartered Insurance Brokers commit to the CII’s Code of Ethics, reinforcing the highest standards of professional practice across their businesses. All of Alan Boswell Group’s General Insurance operations**, located across the Eastern region in Norwich, Ely, Attleborough, Bury St Edmunds and Peterborough, have been awarded the Chartered Insurance Brokers status.

Chris Gibbs, managing director of Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers, the Group’s largest insurance operation, is thrilled with the news. He said: “Both of these achievements are real landmark moments for our Group and represent the power of professionalism and excellent customer service.

“This recognition from the Chartered Insurance Institute coupled with our increase in GWP shows that our commitment to ethical good practice and first rate customer service from our highly qualified staff is a formula that’s working.

“We have our staff, currently over 180 working in our General Insurance operations, to thank for this. We will continue to invest in them and support professionalism and excellence across our Group.”

Only 150 firms across the UK have achieved Chartered status. It is a highly exclusive award reserved for the leading firms of the broking industry.

To find out more or contact one of the team visit www.alanboswellgroup.com

Business Class is a nationwide scheme that sets up long-term partnerships between businesses and schools to give young people the skills, knowledge and motivation to build rewarding working lives. Over 230 successful partnerships have been established across the UK, with leading businesses such as HSBC, Boots, BP and Anglian Water.

Supported by local Education Managers, businesses contribute employee volunteers to deliver inspiring activities such as technology challenges, maths and English mentoring, and training in effective recruitment skills. Business expertise provides support to develop school leadership capacity, for example in performance management, business planning and marketing.

Proven track record

The programme has been running for five years, giving particular assistance to young people from deprived communities. It is managed by Business in the Community, which is one of the Prince’s Charities. Independent evaluation has shown a 40% improvement in employability skills and 38% rise in academic achievement in young people.

Companies involved in Business Class have found that it delivers value in the following ways:

• It provides exciting opportunities for staff development across all levels of a company, to improve employee skills, confidence and motivation • It provides a long term opportunity to influence the development of your future potential workforce and your reputation as an employer of choice • It enables national recognition of your work amongst a cohort of other high profile businesses • It delivers high quality corporate responsibility activities, supported by a local Education Manager and national resource materials and advice.

Business in the Community is setting up clusters of schools and businesses in Kings Lynn and the Norwich/Watton/Thetford/Dereham area. Eleven local secondary schools are participating and we are looking for businesses which would like to become Business Class partners.

If you would like know more about the scheme

Please visit https://www.bitc.org.uk/programmes/business-class or contact our local Education Managers.

Kings Lynn: Catherine Lang, 07793 441385, Catherine.Lang@bitc.org.uk

Norwich/Watton/Thetford/Dereham area: Rachel Watson, tel 07718 341807, Rachel.Watson@bitc.org.uk

Great Yarmouth-based TMS Media is to market and manage conferences and events at Lowestoft’s OrbisEnergy, the flagship innovation centre for the UK’s offshore renewables sector and an established venue for energy industry events.

The new partnership with NWES, who manage OrbisEnergy, will see TMS promote the use of the conference and meeting facilities, organise new events and offer clients event management support.

Steve Scott, managing director, said, “OrbisEnergy has outstanding facilities, and I can’t imagine another conference centre in the country having a better sea view. It’s an inspirational venue.

“Our job is to work with NWES to make OrbisEnergy’s facilities even better known by encouraging companies and organisations to arrange successful events and helping them co-ordinate everything from catering and welcome packs to exhibition displays and audio-visual equipment.”

John Balch, strategic director at OrbisEnergy, said, “We’re delighted to be working with TMS in expanding our conferencing and events programme. Over the next few months we look forward to developing and hosting a wide range of industry focused events to ensure OrbisEnergy is the first choice for meetings and conferences.”

The fourth floor suite includes the main conference room, which can seat 220 delegates, and four break-out/seminar rooms. On the ground floor is a 20-seat executive boardroom with state-of-the-art video and tele-conferencing equipment.

For more information contact Steve Scott at TMS on 01493 662929 or steve.scott@tms-media.co.uk

On Thursday, November 14th, Wymondham College is holding a “Futures” event at ‘The Space’; a conference centre in Norwich situated on Roundtree Way, off Mousehold Ln (A1042). This is a careers information day aimed at introducing year 10 GCSE students to a range of career options in various sectors and ensuring they understand the different routes into them before they choose their post-16 study options.

The day will run from 10am-3pm, and we’re looking for speakers for thirty-minute slots that would run throughout the day – and you’re more than welcome to give more than one talk! Students will sign up to attend 6 talks in total and we can accommodate 6 simultaneous talks in the centre’s break-out rooms.

The introductory talk will be from careers advisers, providing a general introduction to post-16 study options and will run from 10am-10.30am. We will also be inviting groups from 2-3 other schools, so there will be approximately 500 students in total and anywhere between 25 and 150 students in a scheduled talk. The aim of the talks is to provide students with information about the various routes into your sector of employment; apprenticeships, A-levels, degrees and vocational qualifications through to the ‘soft skills’ they would need to succeed, such as communication/ presentation skills. The talks can be as informal or as formal as you wish and we can offer various time-slots to suit what works best for you.

If you’re unable to offer a talk, we can provide a careers information stand for any literature you’d be able to give and which students can look at during break and lunch times.

Session times for talks are as follows:

10:30-11:00-Session 1 11.10-11:40- Session 2 11:40-12:00- Break 12:00-12:30- Session 3 12:30-1:15 = Lunch break, although some talks can be scheduled during this time if contributors wish. 1.15 – 1.45-Session 4 1.50-2.20- Session 5 2:20-2:30- Break 2.30-3.00- Session 6

If you are able and willing to help please contact:

Callie Oatridge Curriculum Enrichment Coordinator 01953 609000 ext 4466oatridca.staff@wymondhamcollege.org

A unique bungalow, constructed in the basement of the University of East Anglia (UEA), was opened by Norman Lamb MP on Friday 27th September.

UEA’s School of Rehabilitation Sciences has created the fully-furnished home as a showcase for assistive technology – assistive, adaptive and rehabilitative products designed to provide greater independence for older people and people with disabilities.

Called NEAT Centre (Norwich Electronic Assistive Technology), the home links together education, research, training and product development and is the first facility of its kind at a university.

The team which created the home, fitted with the best in assistive technology equipment, will use the home not only to help students in their studies but to ensure products coming to the market are fit for purpose.

Prof Ian Harvey, executive dean for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences said: “This is an exciting development for the faculty. The NEAT Centre offers a unique opportunity to link together education, research, training and product development. Our aim is to raise awareness of assistive technology, increase its use and ensure that new products truly meet the needs of an ever-growing market.”

Prof Val Lattimer, head of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, believes the centre will provide much-needed opportunities for those across the assistive technology industry. She said: “The NEAT Centre will allow us to provide innovative and interactive training for healthcare and care home professionals; to work with assistive technology manufacturers to develop new products; and to work with end users and their carers.”

The centre has been created with the assistance of funding from the Norfolk & Suffolk Dementia Alliance. Director Willie Cruikshank said: “The Norfolk and Suffolk Dementia Alliance and their strategic partners at Health Education East of England are very proud to have contributed funding to enable the development of the NEAT Centre at the UEA.

“Although the initial concept for this innovative centre was around training students in the use of assistive technology, the state of the art facility has subsequently been identified as a multiple-use training resource.

“With a growing number of older people living in the East, developing the dementia workforce is a priority for Health Education East of England and, in response, the Norfolk & Suffolk Dementia Alliance have embarked on delivering a pioneering experiential learning programme across the region.

“With its realistic care-setting appearance and comprehensive video playback debriefing capability, the UEA’s NEAT Centre has been selected as the site for the programme’s first Dementia Care Simulator Facility and health and social students will start being put through their paces in the new year. This is a major innovation in the development of the health and social care workforce of the future and we are delighted to be working with the UEA on such an exciting programme.”

The NEAT Centre is the ideal venue for business meetings or showcase events. Colleagues and customers can watch and participate from anywhere in the world using the interactive AV systems. The facilities can also be hired to help with your product development and provide you with the opportunity to see customers using your products or you could shoot a promotional video with your products installed in a ‘real-life environment’.

For more information about hiring the NEAT Centre contact: David Ruttd.rutt@uea.ac.uk +44(0)1603 591991https://www.uea.ac.uk/rehabilitation-sciences/enterprise/neat

Businesses in the region are invited to come along to the Best Employer, Eastern Region (BEER) Festival on Friday November 15th at Ickworth Park near Bury St Edmunds.

Part of the wider BEER initiative, which includes the best employer survey, awards and year-round seminars, the festival is organised by recruitment consultancy firm Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) and eras Ltd, provider of psychometric and talent solutions.

Ideal for senior executives and directors and heads of HR, the festival offers high-profile keynote speakers: Cathy Brown, Employee Engagement Executive, British Telecom, Dr Andy Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Suffolk’s own Adnams, and Dominic Lowe, Managing Director of Kettle Foods in Norwich will be speaking about their own employee engagement activities.

Covering themes such as leadership, community involvement, living the values and wellbeing in the workplace, the event is designed to get participants engaged with their peers to help them develop their own employee engagement strategies.

The event is a mix of speeches and ‘free flow’ discussion hubs led by facilitators from key business leaders in the region. In the hubs, attendees steer the agenda by sharing their experiences and they are not tied down to just one hub at a time – they can move freely between each one to capitalise on the knowledge being shared.

Lynn Walters, Director of Pure, says: “The BEER Festival is very different. Usually, professionals in this field would not be able to be so creative and innovative at a traditional style conference. We aim to make all participants the ‘experts’ who can teach each other, and share success stories and lessons learned.”

Alex Pearce, Managing Director at eras ltd adds “We are aim to offer a festival that breaks the rules – it is a highly inclusive and interactive event. This approach can really open up the way for exciting ideas and problem-solving. It really is an amazing opportunity for people to learn from the fantastic pool of talent we have in the East of England.”

The festival starts at 9.30 and finishes at 4pm. The £35 ticket fee includes lunch, refreshments and a goody bag, with all proceeds donated to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices and The Adnams Charity.

What better way is there to get you in the mood for the weekend than listening to experts from the world of beer and crisps?

To find out more contact Anna Hill, Marketing Manager on: 01223 209888 or Anna.Hill@prs.uk.com.

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Notes to Editors About Best Employers, Eastern Region (BEER) In 2012 Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) and consultancy business, eras Ltd, created and launched the BEER initiative, which comprises four elements: a biennial survey, awards frequent seminars and the biennial festival. The programme aims to identify and promote the region’s best employers and Participating companies have the opportunity to learn about, embrace and develop their company’s culture and values through employee engagement. Companies responding to the survey receive a tailored report and an action plan for further development. Based on the results respondents are entered into award categories such as ‘Employee Values’ and ‘Innovation’. The regional seminars are a valuable source of advice and support for businesses and a great opportunity to share best practice and resolve issues as a collective. www.best-employers.co.uk.

About Pure Resourcing Solutions Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) was established in Cambridge in September 2002. Since then the company has flourished and now employs over 50 staff across four regional offices in Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich and Chelmsford. Pure has developed from being specialist accountancy recruitment business to providing temporary and permanent recruitment services for accountancy, executive, financial services, human resources, marketing and professional office support. The company provides end-to-end recruitment and retention solutions that include additional services such as assessment centres, proficiency testing, psychometric testing, training, salary benchmarking and coaching. Also, Pure runs a series of business seminars and workshops for clients throughout the year, and support regional charities including EACH and The J’s Hospice. Pure’s clients range from FTSE 100 companies, venture capital-backed businesses, private businesses, professional firms and the public sector; we have built a reputation as the recruitment consultants of choice in all chosen markets. www.prs.uk.com

About eras ltd eras ltd has been providing cost effective, high quality psychometric products, training solutions and organisational change initiatives for over 30 years. During this time, the company has built a highly extensive client portfolio, incorporating many household names from the hundreds of clients across the UK and internationally, and with whom the eras experts work in partnership. Drawing upon experience of developing psychometric tests and questionnaires (including the popular Quest Profiler™), eras has developed its service further by working with businesses to analyse their culture and values. The secret of successful surveys is asking all the right questions in a way that will provoke honest answers. It is here that eras has drawn on its extensive expertise to help design a survey that will be as revealing as it is in-depth. www.erasltd.co.uk

What is BYOD?

Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, is an IT policy encouraging employees to use personal devices such as mobile phones and tablet PCs, rather than devices provided by the company, to access systems and enterprise data.

Benefits of BYOD

• Increased productivity and innovation Employees are comfortable using a personal device, reducing the usual learning curve, and also upgrade more frequently to the latest products.
• Improved employee satisfaction When choosing their own devices rather than those selected by the company, employees are more likely to select a model that suits their needs, also avoiding the need to carry multiple devices.
• Cost savings BYOD policies can result in cost savings by removing the need for companies to fund additional hardware, although it is important to factor in potential costs such as those for IT support.

Potential headaches

• Enterprise cost It is important to consider whether your company has the resources to successfully manage BYOD, both in terms of ensuring security as well as the provision of support.
• Enterprise security Some job functions require access to sensitive information or company servers, increasingly with the use of mobile devices. It is important that IT has complete control over devices in order to keep company data secure.
• Device compatibility It is inevitable that employees will select devices from a range of manufacturers, which may make it difficult to roll out specific policies where devices have differing settings and personalisation opportunities.

How to successfully implement BYOD

For any company wishing to implement BYOD, we would highly recommend minimising problems by the use of a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution. Sophisticated solutions are available which work across multiple devices and allow policy distribution and device troubleshooting over-the-air, eliminating the need for physical IT intervention.

Solutions can be programmed to control or limit access to various mobile device functions or applications between various time periods or when in specific areas. This gives IT the level of support required to ensure policy adherence and company security, whilst allowing employees the freedom to use their personal device as normal outside work.

Mobile Device Management software features:

• Enterprise-grade security
• Multiple policies & group policies available
• Blacklist/whitelist specific numbers or number groups
• Geo-fenced policies for various locations
• Track or remote wipe lost/stolen devices
• Potential to limit application/feature use
• ‘Over-the-air’ policy distribution
• Simple management & support
• Flexible & scalable to company needs

Find out more

To find out more about BYOD Mobile Device Management and the benefits it could offer your business, please click here.