Jeremy Hall Archives

Inspired by the need for high quality online information about the office moving process, WestWon Limited has announced the launch of a comprehensive free advice website www.DreamOffice.co.uk. Designed with small and medium sized businesses in mind, the new interactive website enables hard-pressed company managers to rapidly produce their own structured step-by-step project plan to achieve a successful, stress-free office move. DreamOffice.co.uk also provides insights, checklists and money-saving strategies in the form of a series of downloadable ‘Keyhole’ Guides and case studies. The site additionally offers a reliable means of sourcing ‘Perfect Partners’ – established local suppliers that specialise in providing goods and services for businesses on the move.

According to research conducted by WestWon, the average UK company moves office every 5-7 years and in the majority of cases, the person responsible for co-ordinating this sizeable project often has little or no previous experience of managing a relocation. The study shows that the moving process carries a high risk of going over budget, thereby creating cash flow issues, particularly where the designated office move project manager does not have access to proper planning tools and advice.

Using Dream Office Moves’ free 7-stage Project Plan allows those moving offices to build a personalised workplace transition plan simply by answering a few straightforward questions. Each project plan consists of staged actions, advice and information and pinpoints both priorities and the best strategies to minimise risk. The office move project planner also generates a printable overview flow chart to visually guide users through each stage of their planned office move.

Also available on the Dream Office Moves website is a series of free downloadable ‘Keyhole’ Guides to office moving, spanning topics such as:

Budgeting and Financial Planning for Office Moves
Checklist For A Successful Office Move
Employer and Employee Relations

Those visiting the website can access a series of informative case studies as well as the current ‘Tip of the Day’- a useful aide-memoire for office moving.

Through its Perfect Partner scheme, DreamOffice.co.uk also provides a ready source of established local and nationwide suppliers. Whether for the supply or installation of equipment or for other professional services related to office moving such as new signage or furniture, Perfect Partner status ensures these suppliers meet WestWon’s high quality standards, based on many years’ experience in this field.

Commenting on the launch of the new Dream Office Moves website, WestWon CEO Jeremy Hall said. “Moving office can be both stressful and time-consuming for those put in charge of the process, and having been through the office move mill numerous times ourselves over the past 25 years, we were inspired to address the gap in the market for free yet highly structured advice on the subject in the form of the Office Move Project Plan.

“Dream Office Moves provides a wealth of useful information for businesses just like us and we anticipate that many companies will find they can save both time and money by making full use of the free project planning generator and the many other resources that can be found on the website.”

Dream Office is owned by WestWon Limited. See About WestWon for more information.

www.dreamoffice.co.uk Tel: 01494 611 629 Email: [email protected]

According to new research by the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), over the past year small businesses must wait 23 days longer on average for payment compared to larger companies. The figures show that companies with a turnover of less than £1 million have waited an average of 71 days to receive payment, while those with a turnover of more than £500 million were paid in an average of 48 days.

Two in five small firms cite ‘invoice lost or not received’ as the excuse they were given for late payment. And worryingly, one in three is being forced to write off bad debts every year.

This is despite the Government putting pressure on big firms to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code (PPC): in fact, the current wait of 71 days for small businesses is a week longer than in 2006.

The PPC was set up in 2008 to improve small firm’s stability by helping them recover the billions of pounds owed to them in late payments more quickly. It is a voluntary register of almost 1,700 UK companies that have committed to pay invoices in accordance with contracts. But there are no sanctions for breaching the code.

ABFA Chief Executive Jeff Longhurst said, “These figures highlight that the relationship between some big businesses and smaller companies has become even more unbalanced since the credit crunch. It is alarming to see how much longer small and medium sized firms are waiting to receive payment compared with just a few years ago.”

Phil Orford, Chief Executive of the Forum of Private Business said, “Late payment continues to escalate in size and impact on small businesses. With companies facing sizeable cost increases over auto-enrolment of staff into pensions, we need to make sure cash flow is as good as possible.

WestWon CEO Jeremy Hall commented, “On-going issues with late payments and the knock on effect on cash flow is putting some small businesses in financial difficulties and it certainly makes it more difficult to make the investments they need in the recovery economy.

“At the same time we have seen a growth in the number of small businesses seeing equipment leasing as a vital financial tool in their kitbag. Asset-based finance enables them to spread the cost of essential capital investments over time, rather than having to tie up large sums of capital upfront – and given the current climate, they may well need the flexibility to deploy available funds elsewhere.”

Research from bank transfer service BACs revealed in July 14 that late payment debt is now £40 billion, up from £30 billion last summer. The forthcoming Small Business enterprise and Employment Bill will legislate for greater transparency of payment practices, with large companies required to publish their practices and how they perform against them. But whether this will be sufficient to tackle what is a huge issue for the recovery and small business investment remains to be seen.

Tag Archive for: Jeremy Hall

7 Easy Steps to the ‘Dream Office’ Move With New Advice-based Website www.DreamOffice.co.uk

Cash Flow Is A Growing Issue For SMEs

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