A Norwich-based Account Manager is set to take a giant leap for a local charity, by plunging 13,000 feet out of a plane.
Carol Gavriks, Account Manager at legal technology firm Tiger Eye, will be undertaking a sky dive next month to raise funds for the company’s charity of the year – Norfolk and Waveney Mind.
The dive will take place on Friday 22nd July at Beccles Airfield. During the tandem skydive, Carol is set to reach speeds of over 120 miles per hour in this once in a lifetime thrill-seeking experience.
On the dive, Carol commented: “A tandem skydive has been on my bucket list for many years, and when the opportunity came to fundraise for this vital cause while completing my lifelong dream, I snapped up the opportunity.”
Norfolk and Waveney Mind was nominated as Tiger Eye’s charity of the year back in January. Whilst part of the Mind network, Norfolk and Waveney Mind are an independent charity who raise their own funds. The charity supports those within the community with their mental health and wellbeing from prevention support to crisis support, offering an extensive range of mental health services, along with associated training, advice, and information.
On the chosen charity, Carol added: “I first became aware of this wonderful charity when I needed support after giving birth to my daughter and was struggling with my mental health. I was very grateful to have my family members, friends and other professionals supporting me during that time. It made me think how I could return the favour to support others now and encourage them to talk to professionals, or have access to a charity like Norfolk and Waveney Mind, the local mental health charity that believes no one should have to face a mental health problem alone!”
Historically the biotech and pharma industries were most at risk from insider threats or espionage being carried out by people who infiltrated an organisation to learn secrets or directly steal information, data or intellectual property. Now though much of the work they do, although resulting in physical products, happens online and the resulting intellectual property, data and information is stored online too.
In an industry where the competition is high and the stakes are often higher, as are the rewards, cyber security should be a business imperative – if you work hard enough to create something you should work equally as hard to protect it from threats. One UK based medical research company was set to begin work on trials of Covid-19 vaccines when it was targeted by the Maze ransomware group, as reported by Computer Weekly. In this sector media coverage, or past successes, can create a target where there wasn’t one before, so being prepared to defend yourself is a key thing to look at before any announcements or breakthroughs are communicated.
Big data growth has made it possible to collate and store vast amounts of medical, trial and genetic information for organisations in these fast moving, high growth sectors. It’s no surprise then that the most commonly understood threats are focused on data, intellectual property or results from tests and trials. Biotech and pharma companies tend to have a bias towards protecting technology as it both holds this information and facilitates much of the work being done, but the reality is that their security risks go beyond this. As an example we see further risks once drugs go in to production as raw materials are being shipped and can be identified, essentially giving away some of the hard earned intellectual property. Production can also be disrupted by cyber criminals who target parts of the supply chain in an attempt to bring down the business through their suppliers.
Anything that isn’t within your direct control should be considered as a third party risk, and with the supply chain being so complex and essential to biotech and pharma businesses, due diligence across your suppliers is paramount to more secure business operations. Cyber security doesn’t stop at the edges of your business, and any potential weakness in a supplier business are attractive to cyber criminals as they can potentially disrupt many organisations with one attack. You can find out more about securing your supply chain in a series of articles over on our blog.
Physical security for businesses operating in biotech and pharma is also a key area of risk. Very much in the same way that cyber criminals are able to access valuable information, the risk from either being infiltrated by someone out to harm the business or from one of their own staff posing an insider threat further places these businesses under pressure to invest in physical security measures. Doing this will provide a further layer of defence that isn’t always required in other industries. Additional layers of protection may be required regarding building access, levels of data or systems access and vetting of new staff and leavers.
It is important to highlight that these risks are not just present for the larger firms. There is a huge global network of start-up and scaleup businesses in this sector and as there appear to be no formal requirements for them to report whether they have been targeted in cyber-attacks, there isn’t an easy way to know how often these organisations are being targeted. Being nimble in this space is an advantage but that often means that elements of security can be overlooked or compromised as there is often no dedicated resource looking at this aspect. It is also possible that staff are arriving quickly as the business scales and onboarding doesn’t cover basic security hygiene, which can create risks especially around phishing and ransomware attacks leading to data breaches.
The same adaptability and capacity to pivot that is seen in the core business should be harnessed for the benefit of protecting data, intellectual property and systems.
Cyber security is often cited as being everyone’s responsibility, and in many ways it is. However, there needs to be a high level of both engagement and ownership within the leadership team as without this it is unrealistic to expect the wider organisation to play their part in securing the business. Many leaders in this industry may come from the academic or scientific communities and not bring with them a working knowledge of cyber and information security, and this is where investing in raising levels of awareness and competency across the workforce will provide great benefits.
There are two key ways in which this can be done, either by bringing in a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or if there is not the need or justification for this being a full time role many organisations opt for a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO). A vCISO will enable your organisation to quickly have the knowledge and experience needed to assess your current security position and start shaping what needs to be done to build a cyber security strategy and its delivery. Alongside this, training all staff should be seen as a key part of the cyber security strategy, whether it’s the leadership team who need this support in terms of how to manage security across the whole organisation, or the wider staff team who have low awareness of the everyday risks and need this to become embedded in their roles.
If your organisation operates in the biotech or pharma industries and you need support in understanding and managing the risks you face, CyberScale can help you on that journey.
Norfolk County Council’s annual road surface dressing programme for 2015 starts today (Wednesday, 15 April) with gangs working in the Bradwell, Langham and east coastal areas.
Surface dressing is one of the best ways of extending the life of roads while contributing to safety by improving skid resistance and preventing potholes. The process involves laying a thin layer of bitumen and chippings on to the road, stopping water penetration and reducing the number of potholes caused by frost. This year’s planned programme is worth £9.2M.
This work takes place every year while the weather is warmer, with the holiday areas and main roads treated first. Where possible, work is planned away from busy roads during peak periods, but because it is fast-moving and may be suspended during bad weather, it is hard to give motorists early warning of where the crews will be working. The aim is to complete busier routes by the end of July.
People living along routes to be surface dressed will receive notification a day or two before the crews arrive. They will be asked not to park on the road on the day of the surfacing, or the following day when loose chippings will be swept up. They will have the chance to say what they think afterwards via the County Council’s website, or on a response card which will be delivered to a proportion of residents.
The County Council apologises for any inconvenience caused to local people and to motorists, who are asked to drive with care and consideration when work is taking place, and for a few days afterwards while the new surface settles. A 20mph speed limit is imposed during work and on freshly-laid surface dressing for safety reasons. The work will be carried out by Norfolk County Council’s Community & Environmental Services Dept and their contractors.
John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce,has today (Tuesday 21 April) sent an open letter to the leaders of the main parties calling on them to focus on long-term growth and strategic vision over tactical headline-chasing. The full text of the letter is below.
“In December, I wrote to you – and theother UK party leaders – with a call from business to act responsibly during the election campaign, and put the UK’s long-term success over political tactics and point-scoring.
All the major parties responded with a clear commitment to act in the interests of the economy and growth. With only a couple of weeks left in this campaign, it is impossible to remain silent in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary.
While there are some encouraging statements and positive ideas in manifestos, on the campaign trail it seems strategic vision and evidence-led policy announcements have been left on the bus. In their place we’ve had tactical headline-chasing and lazy assumptions; a reliance on populist statements, not economic common sense; and niche policy announcements, rather than a focus on the fundamentals. For example, issues like how the UK earns its way in the world go unaddressed.
Worryingly, the parties are also taking it in turns to propose new interventions in markets. These measures simply serve to side-step regulators and experts, rather than strengthening their hand.
Parties are competing to make ever more strident pledges to freeze taxes and ring-fence spending for the life of the next Parliament, without being able to see very far down the economic road ahead. No well-run business would tie its hands in this way.
And, dishearteningly, we also have policy proposals that, if enacted, would undermine entrepreneurship, aspiration and business growth. We have heard ideas to raid pension savings, create new levies on companies, and limit the tax relief available for genuine wealth creators and small investors, to name but a few.
Constraining those willing to take the risks needed to grow businesses demonstrates a lack of leadership. It is counter-productive and deeply troubling.
In the final few weeks of the campaign, I urge you to bring the focus back to long-term growth. Businesspeople want to see a clear and unapologetic vision for the UK’s future success in an ever more competitive and dangerous world. Our shared prosperity depends on it.
Success comes from being confident; we need confidence to make decisions for the betterment of both our business and personal lives. We wouldn’t marry someone unless we’re confident we love and trust them; likewise, don’t go into business with someone unless you’re confident in their skill, commitment and honesty!
James and Mark discuss the current lack of confidence in society that has followed lockdown, and the negative impact a lack of confidence can have. It can be catastrophic for businesses in particular, but there are ways in which we can reprogramme our brains to find the positives in any given situation and reframe our thinking.
They look at the process of comparing our inner thoughts with other people’s external projections; how to influence and encourage; the nature vs nurture argument; and how understanding what confidence really is and how to achieve it will ultimately lead to success.
For show notes, how to get in touch with the podcast team and to listen to the podcast, click below.
Norfolk Chamber’s regular working lunch with the Bank of England was held at the Chamber offices today. Tim Pike, the Agent for the Bank of England in the South East was looking to hear from Norfolk businesses on: whether they were investing and recruiting for their organisations; feeling pressure over wage increases; and what their confidence levels were going forward.
Many members highlighted that they were fairly optimistic and had reasonable levels of confidence, however they were still slightly cautious over the possible outcome of the General Election. Those working in the construction sector highlighted that they were very busy, however they were experiencing shortages of bricks and other construction materials, as well as skilled labour. It was noted that large construction projects in the Cambridge area may eventually have an impact on the construction market in Norfolk, as more skilled workers migrated towards possible higher earning potential in Cambridge.
Several businesses expressed concern regarding the oil and gas sector and noted that many organisations both locally and nationally were consolidating their positions in response to the lower oil prices. It was also highlighted that those companies dealing with Russia were seeing a number of contracts being cancelled due to the escalating situation in that region.
The service sector members outlined that they were seeing growth in disposable income spending, such as travel and leisure items. Car sales were also increasing, as outlined in the recent Norwich Economic Barometer report, which showed that more cars were registered in March 2015 than in any other month in the previous 16 years.
Those in the IT sector reported that their levels of optimism had been rising over the last couple of quarters, as more Norfolk businesses were investing in much needed IT equipment. Recruiting skilled staff remained an issue and the salary levels of high quality staff had seen significant increases to ensure they remained in post.
Norfolk County Council is reminding motorists that the A47 will be closed in both directions at Postwick this weekend, as work to create a new bridge across the A47 continues.
Closures will begin at 8pm on Friday evening and the road will reopen no later than 6am on Monday April 27th.
When completed, the Postwick Hub scheme will increase the capacity of the A47 Postwick junction and provide access to new business and housing developments in the area.
Last weekend’s work finished ahead of schedule and the road was reopened early, but it is expected that this weekend’s work will require a full closure.
Traffic that cannot avoid this section of the A47 will be diverted as follows:
Eastbound (towards Great Yarmouth) A47 traffic heading east will be diverted on to the new access roads that will serve the expanded Broadland Business Park and new Broadland Gate business areas. This route includes five roundabouts before traffic rejoins the A47. Temporary traffic lights may be used to assist traffic flow.
Westbound (towards Dereham and King’s Lynn) A47 traffic heading west will have a shorter diversion, but this will pass through works on the new Oaks Lane roundabout and the major junction at the southern end of the existing and new (under construction) bridges over the A47.
During the weekend closures it will not be possible to cross the A47 southbound on the existing bridge to reach Church Road. Traffic wanting to head westbound out of the city will have to go via the A47 Cucumber Lane roundabout, using the main eastbound diversion.
Motorists are also being warned that the diversion route could also be delayedas new bridge beams are transported along the route in order to reach the A47. The County Council has done a large amount of work to keep residents and motorist aware of the Postwick project and warning signs about the closures are placed as far away as Newmarket bypass and King’s Lynn, to give motorists a chance to change their route.
This is the second of three weekend closures (Friday May 8 to Monday May 11 remains), with a fourth weekend (Friday May 15 to Monday May 18) in reserve in case of delays. There will be no closure on the early May bank holiday weekend.
Postwick Park & Ride will be closed on all weekend A47 closures at Postwick. The nearest alternative is Harford park and ride, at the A47 junction with the A140 Ipswich Road. Tim Ellis, Resident Engineer, Norfolk County Council, said: “We made a good start on the bridge construction last weekend and it was pleasing to be able to get the work done ahead of schedule and reopen the road early. This weekend we are lifting the northern bridge beams into place and due to the complexity involved we envisage that we will require the full Friday night to Monday morning closure. We are very grateful for the ongoing patience of motorists and residents. We’ve promoted the closures in advance, and tried to minimise the impact of the work as much as possible.”
For further information about the works and diversion routes visit www.norfolk.gov.uk
Train drivers’ union ASLEF has announced another strike date for its Greater Anglia members –Saturday 23 July.
While talks will continue to try to resolve the strike, Greater Anglia is warning passengers of widespread disruption should the strike go ahead.
This will be the third strike day by ASLEF’s Greater Anglia train drivers. During the last strike, on Saturday 2 July, the company could not run over 90 per cent of its services.
Greater Anglia Managing Director Jamie Burles said: “We hope this dispute can be resolved and the strike action proposed for 23 July cancelled, but in the meantime we want to give our customers as much notice as possible that there will be disruption if the strike does go ahead.
“We are making arrangements and drawing up timetables in case the action does take place, and we will keep our customers updated.
“If there is a strike, our advice to customers will be to avoid travelling on our trains. With drivers on strike, we can only run minimal services and just on limited routes and between limited hours too for most of those routes.
“We are aware that many customers will have plans to travel – it’s the first weekend of the school holidays and the weekend of the Latitude Festival. We’re genuinely sorry if this strike disrupts people’s plans.”
On Saturday 2 July, there were no services between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street, nor on any branch lines or regional routes.
There were severely reduced services between Norwich, Colchester, Southend Victoria and Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street, with far fewer trains than usual.
Full information including timetables, how to refund or change tickets and first and last train times will be available on the Greater Anglia website as soon as it becomes available.
A further 80 additional areas are now able to receive superfast broadband, which takes the number of homes and businesses able to buy better broadband to 141,077 across Norfolk.
It has also been announced that some of the areas due to be able to access better broadband by September 2015 include: Attleborough, Diss, Fakenham, Holt, Long Stratton and Poringland.
Remember, once the new superfast broadband services golive, your existing broadband packages will NOT automatically upgrade, you will need to contact your provider to see how you could benefit from the new speeds.
Full information on the latest update can be found on the attached update sheet.
Businesses who make the leap into international markets are reaping the rewards, according to an international trade survey being published today (Tuesday) by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).
The results show that the majority of current exporters (59%) recorded sales growth in 2014, despite stagnation in the Eurozone and the appreciation of sterling. Furthermore, a third of exporters (34%) had to expand their production capacity last year to cope with demand from international markets, compared to only 3% that reduced capacity.
Despite the rewards on offer to all firms, it’s the long-established international players that are getting most of the benefits. Of the exporters that responded to the survey, the majority (61%) have been trading internationally for more than 10 years, compared to only 6% who have been exporting for up to two years.
Firms considering exporting suggested that greater access to overseas distributors and partners, and increased funding and support, would encourage them to seek out international markets.
BCC Director General, John Longworth said “we must redouble our efforts to grow a pipeline of new exporting companies that the UK economy so desperately needs”.
Key findings from the survey:
More businesses need to join the ‘export game’
The majority of the exporters (61%) surveyed have been trading internationally for more than 10 years, while new exporters (0-2 years) account for only 6% of the sample.
89% of businesses have ambitions to grow domestically, however fewer than half of firms (44%) have ambitions to grow internationally.
Exporters stand to reap the rewards as they tackle additional markets
The majority of exporting firms (59%) reported an increase in sales in the past 12 months, compared to 18% who said sales have fallen.
A third of exporters (34%) had to expand their production capacity last year to cope with demand from international markets.
Firms face challenges when trying to export
The most influential factor when considering exporting is the ease of finding customers, agents and distributors, according to the majority of firms (77%).
Increased funding (26%) and access to overseas agents and distributors (20%) are identified as key factors that would encourage non-exporting businesses to export for the first time.
Almost six out of ten (59%) non-exporters say they do not have the right product or service for export.
Commenting on the findings, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce said:
“Firms willing to explore international markets reap the rewards on offer. It is encouraging to see some businesses exporting for the first time. But we need to redouble our efforts to grow the pipeline of new exporting companies and help more of our existing exporters to break into new markets. Together this will drive up our export performance and rebalance the UK economy.
“A long-term partnership between government and business can bring about a revolution in exports, encouraging more businesses to export for the first time and those already exporting to go further. We must make it easier for companies to consider trading internationally. By making exporting a bigger part of our business culture, we can build our collective appetite to trade. Increasing funding and improving market access for potential exporters will go a long way towards removing the perceived barriers for non-exporters, many of whom could be selling their wares overseas.
“As the election debate rages, Britain’s political parties have failed to set out how they will address the export challenge – and achieve the ambitious growth targets that the Prime Minister set out for 2020. Businesspeople want to work with the next government to implement ambitious plans that help Britain recapture its reputation as a premier trading nation. Only then will we eliminate the UK’s stubborn trade deficit – and unlock future economic growth.”
The BCC’s Business Manifesto: A Business Plan for Britain has proposed a number of measures to assist first-time exporters, and to help existing exporters target new international markets:
Continue to develop a world-class, global business-to-business network of British Chambers and business groups- linking British firms with customers and opportunities for growth in the fastest-growing overseas markets.
Continue work to bring UK Export Finance up to par with the world’s best export finance agencies – ensuring UK businesses can access finance needed to seal deals in markets around the world.
Reform the UK’s passport and visa system – to allow overseas British business people and their foreign counterparts to conduct trade activity with ease, boosting Britain’s export performance.
Make foreign language learning compulsory from age seven to 16 – supporting more young people to ‘think global’, and acquire the knowledge and skills that are highly valued by Britain’s exporters.
Commentating on the Conservative’s small business manifesto, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:
“A focus on promoting our small businesses is welcome, as is much of the thinking within the Conservative’s small business manifesto. The commitment to improve access to finance, investing in our rail, road and broadband infrastructure and a major review of business rates are all priorities for businesses around the country and it is good to see them being addressed.
“Alongside these encouraging ideas, there is wiggle room which we would like to see closed. For example, what does it mean to ‘respond’ to the airports commission? We need more than a response; we need action to expand our airport capacity. The proposals for a permanent increase in the Annual Investment Allowance and cuts to red tape set the right mood music, but we need to see the details to understand how they will be translated into action which helps our SMEs.
“The one element we would like to see more of, is support for established businesses looking to scale up. It is great to help start-ups, but they are not the only businesses in need of support.”
Rail commuters in East Anglia can now buy flexi season tickets on ticket machines across the Greater Anglia network.
The flexi season ticket is a bundle of 8 day passes for a specific journey between two stations to be used in 28 days. The tickets can be used at any time within the 28-day period.
Customers can buy another flexi season ticket within the 28 days if they use up their eight passes.
And now customers can buy them quickly and easily by using Greater Anglia’s self-serve ticket machines, making it quicker and easier to commute at a time convenient to them.
Anyone who needs help using the ticket machine can press the ticket assistance help button on the machine to be connected to ticket office staff in Norwich who will guide the customer on the machine.
Flexi seasons can be bought on any Greater Anglia ticket machine outside of the London oyster area.
These tickets are also still available from the ticket office or to buy online from the Greater Anglia website.
Flexi season tickets must be loaded on to a Smart card, which is more durable than a paper ticket and quicker and easier to use at the ticket gates.
They are cheaper than buying anytime day return tickets on the day of travel and passengers can claim a refund on the dates not used, and they can cancel at any time.
Martin Moran, Greater Anglia’s Commercial, Customer Services and Train Presentation Director, said: “The pandemic has seen many people’s travel patterns change. We know our customers are spending part of their working week in the office and at home, and the flexi season helps them save money on their commute.
“Since its launch last summer, the flexi season ticket has been incredibly popular with our customers and we’re pleased they can now buy it from our ticket machines, which are quick and easy to use.”