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Competitiveness News
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Company Name: Clandeboye Lodge HotelAddress: 10, Estate RoadCity: Bangor Post Code BT19 1UR Tel: 028 9185 2500Contact Name: Pim Dalm Position : Managing DirectorEmail:... |
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May 02, 2012 |  |
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange group has confirmed it will create up to 90 jobs in Northern Ireland when it opens its first office in Belfast this year.
The group first announced details of its proposed investment in the North last January, but at the time declined to expand on how many positions it was likely to create.
The group, with headquarters in Chicago, describes itself as the “largest and most diverse derivatives marketplace”. |
May 01, 2012 |  |
 Belfast based eircom UK are part of a select body of 12 telecommunications and technology businesses who have been selected by the Cabinet Office to build a world-class Public Service Network representing a multi-million pounds government investment over the next four years.
The company, celebrating four years in Northern Ireland, is part of a framework agreement through which they will bid for work in the creation of what is called the Public Services Network.
Around 29 companies competed to be part of the framework agreement and just 12 were successful. |
 With public sector spending cuts impacting on large capital projects and the continued lack of liquidity for small businesses presenting significant challenges, there is no doubt that our economy faces extremely challenging times. But despite the apparent incessant doom and gloom, Invest NI continues to work with businesses throughout Northern Ireland, implementing a range of initiatives to address these challenges, and encouraging new and existing businesses to raise their sights and broaden their horizons.
Since it was launched in November, our Boosting Business campaign has taken over 3,500 enquiries from businesses keen to learn about the range of support we can offer to help them drive their innovation, increasing their adaption of technology, enhance the skills of their workforce, grow their exports and, ultimately, create jobs. |
April 27, 2012 |  |
 Newtownabbey based Northgate Managed Services (Northgate), one of the UK’s leading ICT service providers, is today toasting its success having scooped the ‘Outstanding Service to Business’ gong at the prestigious Belfast Telegraph Business Awards, at a gala ceremony held in Belfast’s Ramada Hotel.
The award recognises Northgate’s successful business to business relationships which enhance the business efficiency and productivity of its clients. Customers benefit from interacting with highly skilled technical teams allowing strong, valued partnerships to be formed. |
China is the new America – that is the message being relayed to Northern Ireland entrepreneurs at a series of business briefings hosted this week by the Confucius Institute at the University of Ulster (CIUU).
Three briefings have been organised by CIUU in conjunction with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, Carrickfergus Council and Belfast City Council.
And as he prepared for a breakfast briefing at Belfast City Hall tomorrow, businessman Philip Gilliland, president of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, stressed the need for Northern Ireland companies to engage China. |
All of Belfast’s available grade A office space combined would be needed to meet one single requirement issued in Dublin this week, according to Lisney's David McNellis.
The leading commercial property agent says that Belfast has a total of around 400,000 sq ft of grade A office space available (based on research by Lisney), the same amount of space Microsoft is currently seeking to acquire in one Dublin deal.
Mr McNellis says that this highlights the disparity between the two markets that exists almost entirely because of the difference in corporation tax levied. |
 Many Northern Ireland companies are losing out financially by not utilising the knowledge and expertise on offer in local third-level education institutions.
That’s according to Dr Paul Beaney of Dungannon-based Cherry Drainage Pipes, whose turnover has trebled to £9million since first beginning work with Queen’s University.
Dr Beaney said: “Many local firms could increase their profits by an average of £270,000 and create another three jobs, through engaging with the third-level sector here in various projects.
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 Bangor-based software development company, Cranmore Consulting, today announced new software to help organisations improve and extend business processes to mobile devices in an increasingly competitive global environment.
The software, LiveQ, the first of its kind developed in Northern Ireland, delivers functionality to mobile devices with advanced analytics capabilities that helps organisations meet a number of objectives including quality assurance, auditing, sales force management and customer servicing.
After a successful pilot, Live Q is now currently being used by Northern Ireland Food Chain Certification (NIFCC), who have invested in the software to allow them to ensure that quality assurance measures are met on farms across Northern Ireland. |
Carrickfergus-based Luxury Planter Collection has lined up business in Lithuania which will give it a springboard for further growth in Baltic markets.
The company, which is part of the biggest-ever Invest Northern Ireland trade mission to the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, from 25th to 30th March, has confirmed a major distribution deal and an agreement with a new business partner in Kaunas to develop an innovative product for its portfolio.
Eighteen companies and the University of Ulster are taking part in the week-long mission, the most recent in a programme of Invest NI trade activities in Baltic and Nordic markets. |
 WorldDesk Ltd., a leading provider of desktop virtualization software, has today launched their platform in 64-bit. WorldDesk in 64-bit will allow all Windows 7 users to carry their personalised desktop around on any device, from a simple USB drive, to a smartphone or iPod. |
 Brett Martin, a leading manufacturer of plumbing and drainage systems, has made a significant investment to enhance its service to Builders Merchants across Northern Ireland.
The Mallusk-based company has purchased five new Mercedes Benz Atego trucks from Mercedes Benz Truck and Van (NI) Ltd in a deal worth almost £200,000.
The new vehicles will help the company service its local customer-base more efficiently and fulfil its delivery promise of a 3-day turnaround from receipt of initial order to any Merchant in the province. |
 A surge in successful acquisitions and mergers by BCMS Corporate in the past three months highlights the opportunities that exist for companies in Northern Ireland. BCMS Corporate in Ireland, led by Alan Branagh, successfully sold Selective Travel / Rathgael Developments to McNeill Rigby Travel Ltd in December 2011. Since then, the company has sold a further six businesses across a number of industries. |
 How long can your business survive in the face of a major disruption?
HP and local experts Emergency Planning Solutions (EPS) recently joined forces to host a seminar in support of Business Continuity Awareness Week 2012
The seminar entitled, “Dealing With Disruption” was held at HP’s Recovery Facility in Newtownabbey on Wednesday 14 March and focused on some of the critical business continuity pressures facing businesses today. The assembled audience of business owners and company directors heard several eye-opening examples of how some companies have faced closure due to the impact of major disruption. |
Around 250 local companies attended Invest Northern Ireland’s Online Marketing Conference in March 2009 to hear how George Wright of US company Blendtec achieved a 700% increase in blender sales by using the latest online sales and marketing techniques. Pictured with Mr Wright is Tracy Meharg, Invest NI’s Managing Director of Innovation and Capability Development.
Information and communication technology (ICT) can offer real benefits to your business, and investments in new technologies often have a direct effect on profitability. |
Employment and Learning Minister, Dr Stephen Farry, today saw first-hand how a management skills training programme has helped Bangor firm, Whale Pumps significantly improve the time to market with new products.
The company has attributed this success to completion of the Project Management Fundamentals programme supported by the Department for Employment and Learning [DEL]. The Project Management Fundamentals programme, delivered by Parity Solutions Ltd on behalf of DEL, is designed to help business managers develop a more structured approach to management of time, quality and cost. |
 Nick O' Shiel, Chief Executive, Omagh Enterprise Company, regularly writes on issues related to Enterprise and Innovation. In this article Nick discusses how many companies continue to create new jobs and find new markets despite the current economic climate.
In recent months, firms looking for IT people, accountants, management consultants, lawyers and social media staff have announced many hundreds of new jobs. |
 Are you seeking funding for a high potential product or service? If so, this is your opportunity to be connected with and present to a number of active venture capital investors from the UK and Ireland.
NISP CONNECT is seeking up to 10 suitable applicants for the upcoming VC Forum, for the purposes of showcasing local emerging companies to an exclusive audience of capital providers, from within and outside of the region. |
March 12, 2012 |  |
 Almost every business claims to be focused upon providing a level of service, which exceeds the expectations of its customers. However, Belfast web app development specialists Crafty Devil are taking customer satisfaction one step further, by becoming their own customer for the next month.
“In a little over 5 years, Crafty Devil has grown considerably,” says Director Phil Norton. |
 Local businesses have been given another boost by Queen’s University and Belfast Metropolitan College (BMC) with the launch of EngageNI. The new online service (www.engageni. |
March 06, 2012 |  |
 Deloitte, the leading business advisory firm, in association with Irish Life Corporate Business, has announced the winners of this year’s Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards Programme. Four Northern Ireland companies – Aepona, Dairy Farm Training & People, Mash Direct and Patton Group – demonstrated superior business performance and were named among the winners.
In total, 20 companies were recognised at an awards gala dinner in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin on 2 March 2012, where they were joined by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD as special guest speaker. |
 UTV Media plc today announces the acquisition of Simply Zesty, the market leading social media agency in the Republic of Ireland for an initial consideration of £1.7million up to a deferred final consideration of approximately £5million, depending upon future trading performance.
Simply Zesty was set up in 2009 and employs 22 staff at its Dublin offices and specialises in providing social media marketing services to assist businesses in creating innovative social media campaigns. |
March 01, 2012 |  |
 A set of principles by which to measure Northern Ireland’s Economic Strategy has been developed by a global body of competitiveness experts.
The Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, of which the Northern Ireland Centre for Competitiveness (CforC) is a member, has outlined the principles in a document that has been submitted to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI).
It highlights, amongst other things, the important role public-private partnerships can play in creating new industries and jobs; the need for greater investment in transport, energy, information and communications infrastructure; and the need to have a way of measuring Northern Ireland’s competitiveness against global standards. |
Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster today welcomed the appointment of managers for a new £50million fund which will safeguard and create over 2,000 jobs within the next ten years.
Braveheart Investment Group plc has been appointed to manage the Growth Loan Fund, which aims to generate £150million sales growth per annum for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The fund forms a key component of Invest Northern Ireland’s wider Access to Finance strategy, with the objective of stimulating the availability of risk capital to the SME sector across Northern Ireland. |
February 27, 2012 |  |
• Any business can create an app for free in minutes and publish for less than €25 across key mobile platforms without technical skills, thanks to TheAppBuilder
• Windows Phone platform adoption by TheAppBuilder delivers complete app platform coverage
• Adoption enables TheAppBuilder to gain a strong foothold in rapidly expanding Windows Phone market
Dublin: 27th, February 2012: JamPot will now rollout its newly launched TheAppBuilder on the Microsoft Windows Phone platform to make it simple for Irish businesses to connect with customers by easily building and publishing mobile apps.
TheAppBuilder (www.theappbuilder. |
 Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has announced that Muldoon Transport Systems in Dungannon has won a £1 million contract to make trailers for one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest businesses.
The Minister announced the contract between Muldoon and Almarai in Riyadh for 19 bespoke trailers during a visit to the Tyrone company. Muldoon is among 25 Northern Ireland companies on the week-long Invest Northern Ireland mission to Saudi Arabia, from 20-25 January. |
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Expert Opinion
provided by Dr Adrian Gundy
Companies and organisations have reacted differently to the economic difficulties, some with failure, some with declining sales and a few with success. As I look back over the last two years, reflecting on my client work and projects and reviewing others, I see a trend in company responses. It can be summarised, simply, as disbelief, cost cutting, staff layoff and trying to sell more. Although I have written it as linear, in reality this has often been circular, with companies seemingly going round in circles trying different things, finding it not to work and then trying something else. I think the way out of these economic difficult times is a company-specific, tailored Growth strategy. Some companies have started to look at a more strategy, concerted and structured approach to generate growth. What I would call "Growth Strategy" and which is where, I believe, we all should be focussing our energies.
There is only so much cost cutting a company can do, only so many staff too lay off, only so much equipment and technology not to replace or purchase. Cost cutting does not necessarily mean increased sales as so many companies have discovered. Yes, we do need to keep costs contained and in line with sales revenues and profit margins, but I advocate that we need to seek additional sales and search after new customers and markets. This is what I mean by a growth strategy - a planned and structured approach to growing the business in as many different ways as possible resulting in increased sales revenues and bottom line margins.
I think this is true of both the private sector as well as the public/voluntary sectors. I will write about 'growth strategies in the public/voluntary sectors in another blog - but for now, I will concentrate on what a company growth strategy should look like.
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