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STM Packaging Group appointed Bigfork to design 4 new websites for each group company (STM Group, Sefton Transmail, The Polythene Company, Shirplass). STM manufacture polythene packaging and mailing products and wanted the websites to have a strong visual impact. You can see to full story and websites on our website.

Bigfork – we make websites stand out

t:01603 513080

www.bigfork.co.uk

Check Out Our Latest News Update On Our Website And Find Out How Uclan Race Engineering Are Getting On With Their Car On The Run Up To Formula Student 2013!!! Almost Time For Silverstone! https://www.emkayplastics.co.uk/news

Howes Percival’s employment law experts are advising employers to ensure that they are aware of the forthcoming changes to employment law that may affect their businesses.

In particular, a new fee regime for the submission of employment tribunal claims, is due to be implemented on 29 July 2013. Under the new fee system, like in the civil courts, a claimant will be required to pay a fee (or provide an application for fee remission against that fee) to present an employment tribunal claim, as well as a further fee if the claim proceeds to a full tribunal hearing.

Also in the pipeline is the introduction of a new type of employment status, from 1 September 2013, which will provide for an “employee shareholder” to be awarded shares in their employer, in exchange for giving up certain of their employment rights, including the right to unfair dismissal (except for automatically unfair dismissal protection) and the right to a statutory redundancy payment.

Harriet Howes and Nicola Butterworth will be discussing these reforms, and the potential impact they may have on local businesses, at the forthcoming Chamber of Commerce HR Forum on 25 June 2013 at Dunston Hall. The session will also look at the tax implications of paying in lieu of notice and practical pointers for managing redundancies.

To book a place please go here

Half Term Holidays… UK City Breaks, Norwich isthe perfect escape!

With the little ones of school again so many people are at a loss and stuck for things to do!

We have just reduced the rates for the last of our rooms for you to come and take a trip to Norwich for a quick City Break, the chance to get away and entertain the kiddies without breaking the bank…

Norwich has so much to offer with the Norfolk Broads, Norwich City Centre for the shopping, museums, restaurants and more, bowling, cinema, skating or nature walks all within easy reach of the Brook, Norwich by car or by bus.

Check out the deals on our website and make sure you tell your friends, you wouldn’t want them to miss out on the chance to come and stay for a little break away!www.brookhotel.co.uk

We are getting ready for a busy Bank Holiday weekend here at the Hotel with all the rooms undergoing deep cleans, the ordering is all being done for the restaurant and bar, managers are meeting to look at what’s going on so we are all prepared and the gardener is due to arrive this afternoon for a spruce up!

It is fairly quiet here this evening accommodation wise s most people checked out today to get back to make their plans and set off for their weekends away so if you need a Hotel this evening, we are here for you…

https://www.brookhotel.co.uk

BUILD SHARE THE SECRETS OF CSR – Congratulations to Jess and Ali from Norwich PR Company, Jet Social for organising tonight’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) “Speed Dating” event for businesses and charities at Beluga where BUILD Chief Executive, James Kearns shared experience of working in partnership with business for mutual reward.

Europe’s leading independent Computer Room and Data Centre Specialist, MigSolv, has partnered with Next Connex to deliver an Open Access Network into its Norwich data centre.

Next Connex will deliver a diversely routed, low latency network into the Norwich Data Centre, directly connecting it to over 200 carriers available at Telehouse North including LINX. Next Connex is also connecting the site directly to its Slough node where it will provide Internet links to the USA and Europe, independently of London Docklands.

Next Connex continues it’s on-going commitment to the provision of flexible, high bandwidth & high availability connectivity to data centres throughout the UK. Next Connex can provide extremely low-latency links, connecting the modern data centre to any carrier with a presence on or near their network.

Bob Griffiths, Sales Director of Next Connex said, “It is a privilege to be working in partnership with MigSolv which has a superb reputation within the UK and across Europe for the delivery of data centre consultancy. The Norwich data centre is actually a pair of identical, highly specified, data centres recently rebuilt to the highest standards we have seen in the UK. Combined with value for money, flexibility and ease of access it is one of the best data centres in the UK.”

MigSolv is uniquely positioned to deliver the Highest Quality Colocation with robust power and cooling as well as industry leading security features. Supported by resilient networking from Next Connex and connections to the widest possible choice of carriers, MigSolv will, no doubt, be the facility of choice for the most discerning of colocation customers.

By combining new and innovative data centres such as MigSolv’s Norwich facility with an Open Access Network Partnership from Next Connex, it is no longer necessary to maintain a costly presence in London’s main carrier exchanges. End users now have a choice in the data centre market whilst maintaining their connectivity relationships with a vast range of available carriers, delivered seamlessly over optical fibre infrastructure.

Alex Rabbetts, CEO of MigSolv said, “We chose Next Connex to be our network infrastructure partner because they are able to design and deliver a scalable, diverse and dedicated open access network, with multiple IP transit routes, that allows us to offer our customers exceptional network connectivity. Customers can now connect to any Carrier with a presence in the UK through a simple fibre link.”

ABOUT MIGSOLV MigSolv, (Migration Solutions), is Europe’s leading independent specialist Data Centre Consultancy. Independent of any vendor, MigSolv offers informed, unbiased advice on all aspects of data centre design, operation and migration. Uniquely, MigSolv also operates its own, state-of-the-art, data centre in Norwich meaning that its consultancy is based on real, up-to-date, data centre operational experience and knowledge.

For more information on this exciting partnership please click here.

Contact: David Manning, Operations Director, 0845 251 2255, david.manning@migsolv.com

About Next Connex Next Connex is a Wholesale provider of Data Centre and Internet Infrastructure including Wide Area Networks, Internet Access and colocation. Next Connex operates an 800Km optical fibre network in the UK providing connectivity to Data Centres at low latency and high capacity.

For more information see www.nextconnex.com

Contact: Richard Auld, Commercial Director, 0800 902 0902, Richard.auld@nextconnex.com

Norfolk businesses and a local charity have combined to support adults with disabilities gain valuable job search skills.

Five adults with learning disabilities accessed the Jobsearch Skills workshops through the Norfolk based BUILD Charity, who teamed up with senior managers, and owners of Norfolk businesses to pass on their experiences, and provide mock job interviews to candidates for a fictitious role.

The workshops were designed by BUILD Charity’s Chief Executive, James Kearns, and co-hosted with Teresa Kelly, Business and Education Consultant with Talk Enterprise. Over a four week period, the workshops explored issues ranging from choosing the kind of job to aspire to, exploring where jobs are advertised, selling yourself as an applicant, building a CV and experiencing an interview.

Each session was inter-active and involved testimonies from people in local businesses. The final session saw four local business managers host 15 minute selection interviews for a fictitious role. Stephen Ferrey (MoCo), Ian Woodley (Quartz Healthcare), Richard Buck (John Lewis Partnership) and Anne Francis (Carnival Consulting) each interviewed two candidates, and provided positive feedback, as well as areas where candidates could improve their applications and techniques.

So impressed was one business leader, Anne Francis, of Carnival Consulting, that she offered some temporary work to one of the candidates after the interview.

BUILD Charity’s Chief Executive, James Kearns said “The partnership working with colleagues in the business world made the whole experience real for participants, who got real feedback, from real employers, not just a table top exercise. The added confidence and aspiration experienced by people taking part was significant.”

The workshops had been free to access, thanks to funding from a Norwich based Charitable Trust but the low take up of places had come as a surprise to organisers. James Kearns said “In the current economic climate, where people with disabilities are finding it even harder to get on the jobs, and careers, ladder we expected to be inundated with people wanting to access these workshops, but in the end only half the places were filled. We have some funding to run a second series of workshops in the autumn, if the demand is there, so would welcome expressions of interest from people with disabilities, their carers or supporters, before setting a date.”

The BUILD Charity was established in Norwich in 1967 and provides around 400 social, leisure and learning opportunities to adults, and young people, with sensory, physical and learning disabilities each year with activities ranging from a weekly social club, known as The Wednesday Club in central Norwich, two clubs for young people in Norwich and New Buckenham, and arrange of sporting, cultural and healthy living activities across the county. For more information visit www.buildcharity.co.uk

Cozens-Hardy LLP is pleased to announce that lawyer Lucy Steele has joined its family and children department.

Brought up and educated in Norfolk, Lucy studied English and Communication Studies at Liverpool University, going on to complete the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course at the College of Law, York.

Lucy previously worked for a niche family law practice in Wilmslow, Cheshire before relocating back to Norfolk to join Cozens-Hardy. Lucy specialises in private law children matters, divorce and financial provision.

Jane Anderson, partner, family department commented: “I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to recruit a solicitor of Lucy’s calibre to our department. She has had excellent training and experience working in a niche family practice and is already adding strength to our team.”

Added Lucy: “The firm’s well established reputation and friendly, honest and hard working ethics fit in well with my approach to work and life generally. My work is predominantly focused around providing clear and practical advice to clients in relation to divorce and separation and the financial issues which flow from this. I fully endorse a conciliatory approach to resolving family-related issues wherever possible.”

– Ends –

For further information please contact: Clare Haylett ph: 07764 270570 and clare@clarehaylett.net

Our latest article in our popular website design series is out. “The Bigfork Guide to Competitive Website Analysis” tells you why you need to analyse your competitors websites and how to do it. If you want to see our past articles please let us know.

Bigfork Ltd – we make websites stand out

Tel:01603 513080

Email: dine@bigfork.co.uk

Microsoft Office 365 is the natural cloud based progression for PC based Microsoft Office applications. The current MS Office product provides customers with a powerful set of tools that supports the entire spectrum of productivity scenarios, from the most basic to the more advanced. More and more businesses are choosing Microsoft Office 365 over Google Apps. The reason? Simple really, they can’t afford to compromise, and with Office 365, they don’t have to. They get the familiarity of MS Office, the capabilities they need, plus a cloud service they can trust.

I’ve recently been involved in setting up a local business with MS Office 365. The business, a property and development consultancy require the powerful toolset provided by MS Office with the flexibility of working on the fly when away from the office, which in their line of work, is a regular occurrence.

Using a single sign on function, I was able to install and configure Office 365 with ease providing the customer with the following,

• A unified shared document library via an online SharePoint Team Site – providing simultaneous document collaboration

• Instant communications capability through Lync (including chat, desktop sharing and document transfer)

• SharePoint file synchronization between computers, mobile devices and the cloud via SharePoint WorkSpace (2010) and most recently SkyDrive Pro (after recent upgrade to Office 2013)

• Outlook collaboration – Shared Contacts, Calendars and Tasks

As with all cloud based solutions, security of information will always be at the forefront for any business. MS Office 365 transfers data across the internet using the highest encryption methods in the industry, which, alongside their proactive monitoring of the Office 365 platform, monitors, records and investigates any attempted intrusions or suspicious activities.

Office 365 is maintained and patched regularly to protect its customers from existing and emerging security threats, which provides much needed reassurance that valuable confidential company data isn’t compromised.

One of the most common methods used to breach security is through email. Office 365 takes care of this by scanning all emails for malware, viruses and spam mail to quarantine malicious programs and junk mail in real time.

Another feature of Office 365 I like is the ability to customize the retention schedule for company emails. This feature provides a flexible and robust function to archive messages which may need to be retained for legal compliance or otherwise.

How about document retention? Documents stored within SharePoint are protected against accidental deletion by the virtual recycle bin feature, meaning any documents deleted in error can be restored within 31 days with the click of button!

In terms of reliability, Office 365 is second to none. MS offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee for Office 365 which coupled with an online accessible service health dashboard gives system administrators peace of mind that their systems will be available when they need them. This dashboard also details any planned maintenance or fixes to the 365 system.

We at Breakwater IT have been using Office 365 extensively in our day to day roles and I personally have been really impressed with the functionality it provides. I would definitely recommend it to other clients as an extension to their current MS Office installation. Every client is different and there are many solutions and migration paths available why not give us a call and find out what we and Microsoft Office 365 can do for you.

Call Kelly Hemingway or Mark Poole on 01603 709300.