BT Ultra Fast Trial

BT are carrying out user trials of their latest Ultra-Fast Broadband at three sites in the UK and one of the sites is Huntingdon.  The free trial of G.Fast or FTTP is for a period of 3 months.  I attended the launch event earlier in the year at the BT exchange in Huntingdon and have signed up to evaluate the 1 Gbps FTTP offer for 3 months. 

• Super-fast Broadband is         24 Mbps
• My existing Virgin Fibre is   150 Mbps (results above)
• BT G.Fast is                       500 Mbps
• BT FTTP is                            1 Gbps

I met up with Giles Ellerton, BT's Business Development Director who has just taken over overall responsibility for all three Ultra-Fast broadband trials last week and offered to introduce him to local businesses and organisations that might be interested in supporting the trial. We have decided to schedule meetings this Friday to make introductions to interested companies and agencies.   

I strongly believe that this could be a superb opportunity for Huntingdon companies to shape the competitive positioning of our District and take a leading role in developing the Digital Economy.  If you would like to meet with Giles on Friday - please let me know and I will try and include a meeting with you on our schedule.

Could you respond to me as a matter of urgency so that we can plan and schedule the day

written by

Richard Wishart

Enterprise Architect

Delivery Management Ltd

richard.wishart@del-mgt.com

eCommerce metrics

Where to find the best eCommerce Delivery Trends

I thought you might be interested in seeing the big-data eCommerce trends for the 2015 Christmas Peak. The best resources that I have found are the PCA Predict - Big Data Labs and the Metapack Carrier Heat Map.  The PCA information is available in real time and is based on the eCommerce orders actually being placed.  It uses the "post-coding/address checking" transaction at time of placing the order.  The Metapack data measures Carrier performance on a regional basis but only weekly and after the event.

One caveat on both "big data" sources is the share of the market held by PCA and Metapack. It would be nice to know their overall market share ! 

I dont think these resources are that well well known - but I have been using them as my "Dashboard" over the last few weeks to see how orders are being placed, how carriers are performing and how this year compares with last year.  I have also being test buying to see how shipping and delivery information is being provided to the consumer (who of course is the paying customer)

I am quite disappointed that these "big data" resources are still exactly the same as they were last year.  It is really surprising that the Metapack data is not real time and because of the long time delay there must be a suspicion of after the fact manipulation.   These big data resources are good but they do need to be improved if the eCommerce delivery industry is to grow and be trusted.  The consumer really requires real-time and independent analytics if they are to fully trust the eCommerce delivery industry

In terms of demand this year eCommerce volumes are up - but not as dramatically as some predicted.  The Black Friday and Cyber Monday peaks are very obvious on the PCA graph but the actual fulfilment of these orders as seen on the Metapack data shows that there is few days delay in getting all the orders out of the warehouses. Comparing the placing of the orders with their fulfilment is really interesting.

True Omni-Channel eCommerce implies a distributed warehousing model - it is difficult to see the effect in these big data results but the rollout of the new regional Amazon warehouses could be significantly improving the carrier heat map results.  There is quite a bit of red for some carriers in Scotland and Northern Ireland which could be caused by some companies not using the distributed warehousing  model.

Last year was characterised by the Yodel Black Friday problems and the CityLink failure - but this year so far these mega issues seem to have been resolved and the industry is starting to be seen as far more professional.  I have been watching the parcel tracking performance of Parcelforce and DPD very closely. The predictive and interactive nature of the DPD offer is the best that I have seen and in my opinion sets the benchmark for the industry.  The Parcelforce offer is now more reliable but is still focused "after the event"

Very few eCommerce retailers are offering what I would call real Omni-Channel delivery choice options and I doubt whether carriers "system logic" and "tracking systems" could even cope with this at the moment.  Hopefully this is something that the industry will address this year.  The new smart technology which is now in the hands of consumers will drive this change and carriers will have to adapt (or fail)

written by

Richard Wishart

Enterprise Architect and eCommerce Expert

12 Dec 15

HBN Entrepreneurs Office Party

Huntingdonshire Business Network HBN  held an Entrepreneur's Office Party at the Falcon Tavern in Huntingdon on Friday. Current and Past HBN members joined in and completely filled the historic venue.

Bill Hensley, the Mayor of Huntingdon was the guest of honour and talked about how he set up Huntingdon Community Radio.  http://hcrfm.co.uk/ This could be a superb resource for local businesses and Bill explained how HBN members could take advantage of radio broadcasting.

Luana Mattey HBN Chair announced a "Book Launch" to celebrate HBN's 25th Anniversary. The book will contain advice and guidance from current HBN members for the small business community in Cambridgeshire. Dr Chris Thomas of Milton Contact Ltd will be masterminding the production and publishing of the book which should be available in March 2016

4 previous Chairs of HBN are planning a blab video conference next week to publicise the book and celebrate 25 years of HBN

Written by Richard Wishart
HBN member
8th Dec 2015

#HBNevent #HBNbook

Three Ways To Boost Your Business Friday, November 6, 2015,  12:30 - 2:30pm, Magpas,  Centenary House St Mary's St, Huntingdon PE29 3PE 3 Speakers, 3 Key Strategies : Join Us For A Lunch and Learn Session  Dr, Chris Thomas:   Your Path from Tweet to Blog Post to E Book and Beyond. Danni Smith:           How To Create Your Own Great PR. Luana Mattey:         Transform Your Website Into The Best 24/7 Salesperson You've Ever Had.  The event will be £5 to paid up HBN members.  £10.00 on the door for non-members Meet Your Speakers  Chris  will show us how we can pass on our knowledge and experience by re-purposing articles & PDFs into eBooks and courses that will be valuable marketing tools and a lasting legacy. Anyone who's spent any time with Chris will know that he has a madcap sense of humour which make his talks smart, informative and a lot of fun. What you may not know is that Chris is a published author, an award-winning publisher and a trusted advisor to aspiring authors and course creators.  He passionately believes that you are unique, as an individual and in terms of your business experience. He's shown clients how to nurture their precious first ideas and, together, they have gone on to produce books and courses in both digital and printed format. Danni  With over 20 years’ experience in Newspaper Journalism, TV Production and Screen-writing, Danni’s passion is working with businesses to create either an online or offline campaign, message or presence that sets them apart from the rest of the crowd.     Describing her work as “Journalism-lead PR”, Danni offers a wide range of skills from Copywriting and Video to Social Media and Presenter Training. During her talk, Danni will look at * What the key ingredients are for a successful PR campaign * What impact a good PR campaign has on a business * How businesses can create their own PR Luana... launched  ‘Get Online, Get Found, Get Clients’ after running her own successful business in South Africa for 25 years, where she took her Start Up to Seven Figures by creating multiple streams of recurring and passive income. Always positive and described by friends and colleagues as ‘a real fireball of energy’,  Luana has a wealth of knowledge and experience.   She has developed a unique system, designed specifically for non techies, that blends business, marketing and technology that makes it possible for you to double your results without doubling your workload. Register for this event on our Meetup page http://www.meetup.com/Huntingdonshire-Business-Network/events/218844095/   Other General Networking Meetings 1st Friday of Month - Monthly Seminar/visiting speaker 2nd Friday of Month - Company visit, Interesting Subject or Themed Meeting 3rd Friday of Month - An HBN Members Presentation 4th Friday of Month - Business Brief or Debate on a Business related Subject If we have a 5th Friday in a month then we will have an open meeting

Triangle delivery report

'Bringing it all home' says Triangle The 2015 edition of Triangle Management Services' UK Domestic B2C Express Parcels Distribution Survey has found that although alternative delivery options (such as click and collect) are making an impact on the traditional home delivery method, such solutions still have a lot of catching up to do. Over 80% of all deliveries are destined for a home address, according to the shippers who took part in the survey. The closest rival to home delivery is the work place address, which accounted for 14% of all deliveries. In-store click and collect (just over 1%) and parcel shops and parcel lockers (with less than 1% combined) are still far behind.
	Those carriers that deliver the greatest percentage of their parcels to homes are Yodel, Hermes (both at 90%) and Royal Mail (87%). The carriers that deliver a greater percentage to alternative solutions are DPD (4%) and APC Overnight (3%).
The home is also at the heart of the returns picture. More than half of the shippers interviewed (51%, up 10% on 2014) said that consumers prefer to return items directly from their home being collected by the designated delivery carrier, while 35% (down 8% from 2014) indicated collection via the nearest post office. Although the alternative delivery methods are used more for returns than for deliveries, they are still relatively uncommon. Only 4% of shippers (unchanged from 2014) said that they received in-store returns and 3% (up 1%) indicated that they handle returns via parcel shops. Triangle conducted some 460 in-depth telephone interviews with B2C shippers for the 2015 survey, and collected a total of 545 benchmark service ratings for the twelve main carriers used for home deliveries. Carriers benchmarked in the survey include the major global integrators TNT Express, UPS and FedEx, along with home delivery experts Hermes, Yodel and Royal Mail, plus Parcelforce Worldwide, DPD, Interlink, APC Overnight, UK Mail and freight parcel specialists DX Freight. In total, twelve carriers offering UK domestic home delivery services are rated by their customers, and compared against each other in this study. Triangle’s UK Domestic B2C Express Parcels Distribution Survey was first published in 2008 and is emerging as the industry standard benchmarking study for the home delivery sector. Triangle’s CEO, Neil Jackson, commented: “Having produced the Triangle B2C survey now for seven years, we know and understand the value of the UK Domestic Express Survey programme to our clients and have included new questions and areas to keep it relevant and up-to-date. The home delivery sector is changing rapidly and this latest report continues to highlight areas for improvement that the carriers must address in order to retain customers and remain competitive.” Notes for Editors: Triangle Management Services Ltd, founded in 1984, is today the pre-eminent independent specialist management services company within the global mail and express sectors. Triangle offers the following services to clients: Recruitment, Market Research, Consultancy, Media and Market Intelligence - all of which are focussed primarily on the mail and express industry sectors. For more information, contact Triangle's Research Team on +44(0)1628 642910 or email Helen Daniels, Research Manager.

HMA Resourcing and Skills

TACKLING THE SKILLS SHORTAGE

"Resourcing and Skills in Cambridgeshire"

Join the HMA team and our very special guest, Simon Weston OBE, at the WATA training facility on Wednesday 15th July 2015. Simon is a strong believer in seeing the skills and expertise of ex-military personnel making the transition to the world of civilian Employment.  We are also very lucky to have Julia Chippendale, the Managing Director of EAL Awards joining us to discuss improvements in skills qualifications

Huntingdonshire Manufacturers Association (HMA) events are different in that they are devised and promoted by a committee of passionate and committed local manufacturing based business people. AND they are entirely FREE.

Click to Download Event Flyer

Click to reserve a place at the event

Click to complete the skills and resourcing questionnaire 

We have always designed events to have a quality of subject matter that you wont find elsewhere. Like you, we value time and know that there are only so many events we can attend each month!

A consistent conversation topic being discussed by Huntingdonshire businesses like yours is the lack of skills and resources in our region. So where do you find staff with the the skills needed to reinforce and grow a business? Its becoming harder and harder ! How do our neighbouring counties acheive this and how can we improve ....

THE AGENDA

1400  The skills and resourcing needs of local manufacturers panel discussion

1430  Breakout session to introduce the Skills and Resourcing questionnaire and capturing our local needs

1500  Recruitment of Ex-Forces Personnel

Simon Weston OBE

Managing |Director at Weston Security Ltd

Non-Executive Director Anatech

1530 EDGE Sharper Skills for Enterprise

Julie Drummond

Economic Development Officer

Huntingdonshire District Council

1600  The LEP approach to Skills and Resourcing

Mark Cooper

Skills and Business Growth Lead

Greater Cambridgeshire/ Greater Peterborough LEP

1630  Improvements in Skills Qualifications

Julia Chippendale

Managing Director

EAL Awards

1700  Panel discussion followed by a tour of WATA

Chaired by

Nigel Donohue

Managing Director

West Anglia Training Association

HBN People event

As a CEO the most important assets in your business are your people.  In this important seminar three leading local HR specialists will cover 4 of the top HR issues facing any business owner.

• How to find and recruit the top talent that you will need to grow your business
• Obtain a far better understanding of Pension Auto-Enrolment and how it will affect your business
• Understand how current and upcoming employment law changes will affect you business
• Learn some simple tools to enable your people to be more productive in the workplace

 

Our three top HR specialists are: 

Dawn Cross                    HR Consultant, Face2FaceHR 

Lorraine Dyer                  Freelance HR Director in the Hospitality Industry

Karen Williams               KJ HR Consulting

The event will run from 1230-1500  and HBN will provide a sandwich buffet.  Tickets are £5.00 if booked on-line prior to the event or £10.00 on the door

TO BOOK

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/people-your-companies-most-important-resource-tickets-16545453898