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June Newsletter
Dear Newsletter Subscriber
Welcome to the UKFast newsletter!
June at UKFast has been very successful. We're pleased to announce that our company is growing, we're currently expanding through acquisitions as well as taking on a number of outstanding people.
This month's Tech Tip addresses the issue of regulating internet usage within the office environment and the Marketing Minute offers some valuable tips for a successful ecommerce website.
Finally, the Spotlight looks at software packages that give you a fast and robust way to share information with others within your company.
As always, it is great to get your feedback on our newsletter. So please get in touch with any comments or suggestions for future editions.
In this month's issue
June@UKFast
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The buzz word for June at UKFast is 'acquisition'. Earlier this month we revealed plans to expand our company through acquiring a complimentary business. Senior management have put together a financial package to facilitate the move and are now scouring the local hosting environment for a suitable candidate. Watch this space for exciting updates.
The development is part of UKFast's ambitious wider plan to double in size by the end of 2008 and another key aspect of this strategy is the 'acquisition' of a new wave of highly talented graduates. To this end, this month we attended the University of Manchester's Graduate Fair and held a multi-faceted recruitment event at our Manchester city centre office.
The whole process proved to be a resounding success as we welcomed over a 100 potential candidates to our initial open day and after a rigorous evaluation programme we have hired several outstanding people to come and enhance our team in the coming weeks.
We are delighted to say that our MD Lawrence Jones has been honoured with a place in the highly prestigious inaugural Crain's Manchester's '40 Under 40'. This is a list of the region's top business entrepreneurs who are under the age of 40 - as determined by the editorial staff at renowned business publication Crain's.
Finally, this month's video segment focuses on our long-term and highly valued partners at Sale Sharks. In addition to being one of the leading rugby teams in England, Sale Sharks also runs corporate events that give business people the opportunity to engage in some rugby training. The special day courses are not just about sporting fun, they also teach transferable skills that attendees can apply back in the office to improve performance.
Take a look at the video to get a taste of what goes on at Sale's training ground.
Establishing web usage policies
The job of regulating internet usage within the office environment is not easy and falls in the majority of cases to a company's IT team. With so many high profile accounts of data loss or theft in the press, renewed pressure is now being placed on all businesses to ensure the security of client and company data.
A web usage policy must be delivered effectively and transparently. Employees should be encouraged to recognise that such policies are not a controlling mechanism by senior management but a data protection requirement imposed on all businesses by law.
Statistics also show that Malware and other malicious attacks are on the rise. Employees surfing the web for personal use are endangering a company's office network, which if infiltrated can cause both downtime and data theft.
More than this, many workers will not understand the potential security, productivity, bandwidth and legal issues of activities such as watching videos on YouTube from their office PCs.
The first job in delivering this policy is to educate staff and help them appreciate the need for regulation. This can be difficult in an organisation that has established a culture that might not marry with the policy.
When UKFast first instigated an Internet Usage Policy, we determined a need to provide alternatives. Our new offices at City Tower are being fitted with banks of non-networked computers that staff can use in break times to surf the net.
Another important aspect is the ability to monitor and restrict access to certain sites and make staff aware of those that are acceptable and those that are not. Often your policy will have to take into account certain staff members, such as marketing teams, who might need a wider ranging access to social networking sites for instance. A domain controller system allows you to achieve this.
Remember that you will have to revisit your policy as the internet itself grows and changes. Make sure that you evolve your policy by involving your employees at every stage.
If you would like further information on this subject please feel free to contact the UKFast Communications Team on 0870 421 1585 or sam.woolstencroft@ukfast.net
Five online marketing tips
Ecommerce is a rapidly growing sector because of its geographical reach, potential customer base and ease of use. With the right site there's the prospective of making millions online as with ecommerce even small enterprises are able to compete with large, established brands.
Winner of the UKFast Ecommerce Award, 11 out of 10, has provided five easy tips for you to use to encourage online sales.
- Attractive design - Visitors decide if they like your site in less than a second. Attractive design is very important - the look and feel of your site has to be interesting and easy to use.
- Clear short messages with no distractions - Gimmicks rarely work because online consumers are much more sophisticated nowadays. Post short lists of the benefits of your services and why you are different to the competition. Moving images, animations, sound and third party adverts are all distractions from your message.
- Trust - Customers are willing to pay a little extra to source from a reputable and trustworthy site. Make sure visitors are aware of your credentials by showing industry accreditation, money back guarantees, testimonials and secure site certifications and assurances.
- Use dedicated landing pages - Create dedicated landing pages for specific campaigns and you'll be able to direct customers to pages on your site that are of genuine interest to them.
- Call-to-Action - Don't expect your customers to search too hard for a product. Make it easy to move from the beginning to the end of the selling process. Prominently display 'Daily Offer', 'Best Savings' and 'Buy It Now' banners, images and links.
So put these marketing tips into action today and start encouraging your online sales. For more information on 11 out of 10 visit their website at: http://www.11outof10.com
Promoting the power of collaboration
Officetalk, a Microsoft Gold Partner, uses its UKFast solution to demonstrate all of its SharePoint Services to prospective customers and is seeing a vast improvement on leads being converted to sales.
SharePoint Services provide a single, integrated location where employees can efficiently collaborate with team members, find resources, search for corporate information, manage content and workflow, and leverage business insight to make better-informed decisions.
Benefits for users of SharePoint software:
- Find information effectively - SharePoint Services provide users with a single web-based team environment and built-in search capabilities. SharePoint Services help users to find information more effectively than with traditional file shares.
- Enhanced communication - Users can be notified when changes are made to shared information.
- Advanced team processes - The process of document creation and review is made simpler and more effective with built-in document versioning plus check-in and check-out capabilities.
- Better user experience - By integrating web-based team collaboration services into everyday tools such as Microsoft Office, users can quickly and effectively adopt new collaboration tools and services.
Why not implement SharePoint Services today to give your team a fast and robust way to share information with others.
Visit the Office-Talk website for more details: http://www.office-talk.com.
Please get in touch with us if you would like more information on any of the articles mentioned above.
Until next time, we hope the summer starts in style for everyone and we look forward to speaking to you at some point soon!
Best wishes,
The UKFast communications team
For more information on the range of UKFast products and services go to http://www.ukfast.net
UKFast.Net Ltd, City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester, M1 4BT, Registered in England. Number 384 5616
