What matters more to you: the pace at which information arrives, or the speed at which it leaves? Many organisations only discover the difference when an important call collapses or a cloud backup stalls. Here Kristian Torode, Director and Co-Founder of business broadband expert Crystaline, explains why the balance between download and upload speed matters more to business performance than many leaders realise. According to the 2025 Enterprise Horizons report, “33 per cent of UK businesses claim that network instability has resulted in revenue losses of up to £4m per year, with a further 18 per cent reporting even greater…
Author: sme-admin
We’ve all had those days at work: all your projects seem to have stalled, and nothing’s getting ticked off the to-do list. Plus, your head feels like it’s full of cotton wool. You’re not alone: the majority of us work eight-hour days, right? But findings show we’re only actually productive two hours and 53 minutes of that time. Well, what if we told you your lack of productivity isn’t down to the fact that you were scrolling on TikTok until midnight (although, that’s definitely not helping things) but is actually down to your office setup. Crazy, right? But studies show…
The escalating conflict across the Middle East is already having a major impact on the global economy – oil prices jumped around 10% after ships were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz whilst international shipping through this key trade route has been severely impacted. For Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), these geopolitical shifts translate into immediate operational pressures, ranging from fuel volatility to broader supply chain contagion. As Patrick Farrell, Group Chief Investment Officer at Charles Stanley, part of Raymond James Wealth Management, comments: “The primary impact of the conflict in the Middle East is being felt in energy markets.…
When Olivia Davson faced rising costs during her maternity leave, she and her sister, Tanyka, created a discount platform that now helps tens of thousands of UK families – an idea that saw them secure £50,000 on Dragons’ Den just last month. While searching late at night for money-saving discount codes, Olivia discovered that while key workers and corporate employees had access to perks and savings, there was one group facing significant financial pressure that was being largely overlooked – new parents. Determined to change that, the sisters launched Cubbi, the UK’s first parental discount platform, to help families save on…
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a vital security step that protects your accounts by requiring both a password and a second verification method, such as a one-time code, security question, or physical key. While 2FA keeps hackers out, it can sometimes lock you out of your own accounts if you lose access to that second step — for example, if you change phones or numbers, delete an authenticator app, or misplace a security key. The experts at TelephoneSystems.Cloud explain why this happens and share practical steps on how to avoid getting locked out and what to do if it happens, so…
Sonia Ouarti is a neuroscience‑trained performance coach and former senior leader at Amazon Web Services. She now works with founders and leadership teams, and her message is simple: burnout isn’t a personal weakness, it’s a biological state that affects how founders think, decide and lead. In this article, she explains why founder burnout has become a systemic risk for the startup world, and why investors should treat it as a performance and governance issue, not a wellbeing concern. The UK’s startup economy is expanding rapidly. Tens of thousands of new businesses are being created each quarter, capital continues to flow…
Debates around electric vans usually stall at charging infrastructure. In this article, Alex McIl deliberately removes that variable. He asks: if every combustion-engine van in the UK were replaced overnight with an electric one, and charging capacity were effectively unlimited, would the economy continue to function as it does today, or would differences in energy density, refuelling time and operational flexibility begin to matter? This is not a definitive economic assessment. Rather, it is a practical exploration of how electric vans align with the real demands placed on commercial vehicles. While they are often discussed in terms of policy, cost…
Employee behaviours inside organisations are most likely to trigger a data breach, with small habits scaling into a larger systemic risk. The human factor in cybercrime is often underestimated, but could be costing organisations millions of pounds worth of damage in data leaks, meaning companies cannot afford to overlook the digital habits of their workforce. Cybersecurity experts FLR Spectron have identified the key ways in which employees may be putting their organisation at risk of cybercrime. 5 everyday employee habits that lead to data breaches Below are five ways that employees may be undermining the cybersecurity of their organisation: Password reuse across…
For some, it’s an outdated tactic that belongs in the spam folder. For others, it’s still one of the most reliable ways to start high-value commercial conversations. The B2B lead generation agency, Sopro, has revealed the latest cold outreach statistics across email, calling, LinkedIn, and social selling, offering a clear, data-led view of what cold outreach looks like in 2026. View the full statistics here. Top 10 cold outreach statistics for 2026: The average response rate for cold emails is 5.1%, with most campaigns falling between 1% and 5%. For teams running cold outreach at scale, this figure sets a realistic baseline…
Representatives from the University of Salford were presented with a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education by Their Majesties The King and Queen on Tuesday 24 February 2026. Awarded at St James’s Palace, the Prize recognises the University’s pioneering research driving innovation in sustainable building design and tackling fuel poverty. Chair of Council, Lord Keith Bradley, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nic Beech, Director of Energy House Laboratories, Professor Will Swan, and Professor Richard Fitton attended the ceremony at the Palace along with other members of the award-winning team, before a Prize-winners’ reception and dinner at Guildhall in London. The prestigious award recognises the…