Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) of The Journal »
Matt James runs fingerprint-recognition technology firm UKB Security »
James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Phil Renton is managing director of North East IT empire Croft »
Matthew Rippon is an IP lawyer for BHP Law »
Ian Brown, Northumberland farmer and businessman writes about the agricultural industry »
Accessibilty Champion Steve Wilkinson on the importance of inclusion »
Shared Interest Staff at Newcastle's fair trade firm blog on their latest international missions »
Marion Bernard is from NorthStar Equity Investors »
Caroline Theobald is the Managing Director of Bridge Club Ltd »
John Barton of Renew, on the region's low carbon and sustainable energy agenda »
Paul Williamson is Senior Partner at Deloitte »
Stephen Hall is Tax Partner at Deloitte »March 2009 Archives
Thick or Thin - That is the question in IT
Posted by Jonathan Wheatley on March 3, 2009 7:45 PM
When I set up MC Ware in 1998 I spent the first three years persuading North East Business that there was no need to be stuck in the dark ages with the thin client "pizza box" style of computers. You may remember these machine as they had tiny monitors and the text on the screen was often green or orange. All had to be plugged into a mainframe or a single server and when that went down, everything stopped.
I offered a bright new world of the PC with your own CD Rom and floppy disk drive and even your own modem and most people took me up on the offer. Eight years later it's an about turn and I am pushing the virtues of the new thin client technology again. Technology has moved on considerably now and with fault tolerant server systems downtime is more or less a thing of the past. The thin clients have Wi-fi, Wireless Keyboards, Bluetooth and all of the mod cons you would expect from a PC but costing from £70. Admittedly you will have to spend more than a few pounds on the server but you will love the benefits.
If you want more information on "thin or thick" please comment or drop me a line and I will point you in the direction of some independent white papers
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New insurance scheme is a double-edged sword
Posted by Jez Davison on March 6, 2009 12:14 PM
THE banking bail-out system has moved into its second - and most crucial - stage.
Phase one has seen the Government underwrite huge amounts of money for banks in a bid to kick-start the lending market.
But with a few exceptions, the plan has failed big style.
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Lee Bartram's charity run
Posted by David Honeywell on March 13, 2009 9:08 AM
Running a 13.1 mile half marathon is feat enough for anyone who takes part, but to then complete a 26 mile marathon only days later is something else.
This is what Lee Bartram, 23 of Redcar will be doing in April and all for charity. After taking part in Redcar's half marathon, he will be running in London's gruelling marathon event.
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Objectivity Sucks
Posted by Matthew Rippon on March 20, 2009 4:19 PM
If you'll excuse me returning to a subject that I've harped on about before, the shocking revelations (a cliché maybe, but it is quite accurate in this instance) about the goings-on at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust ought to raise once again the question marks over the outcomes culture that is so prevalent currently.
I drove home on Wednesday evening listening to a long interview with the Health Secretary Alan Johnson on Radio 4's PM programme. There was some suggestion that the need to comply with requirement to process 98% of A&E admissions within 4 hours had led to the disgraceful corner cutting that the recent Inquiry revealed. Johnson said, quite rightly, that there was simply no excuse for the mismanagement that had taken place. He was unable to be so dogmatic when dealing with the fact that NHS trusts around the country have created 'transition' wards so that patients can be temporarily admitted, thereby satisfying the criteria.
It reminded me of the GP surgery that I attend from time to time. Not long after I moved to the neighbourhood, I tried to make an appointment for later in the week, only to be told that I was only allowed to make an appointment for the very next day. Why was this? Because, I was told, it was the Government's rules and they had to comply with them. In fact, the rule is simply a target that all patients must receive a GP's appointment within 48 hours of requesting one. The issue was raised in a Question Time challenge to Tony Blair during the last election campaign. I remember that show being staged in Sedgefield and wondering while watching just how many in the audience use the same Darlington surgery as me.
Imposing a rule on themselves that appointments may only be given for the next day and those wanting appointments later than that must call the day before was simply the surgery's way of making sure that the target was never missed. The result was that the booking line opened at 8.00 a.m. and by about 8.15 all the available appointments would be gone. Fortunately, this rule has been changed.
There is also an echo in the recent stories concerning the freedom that Northern Rock was given right up to its imminent collapse to continue to grant 100%+ mortgages. FSA rules permitted this practice, apparently. Contrast that with the "Governor's eyebrow" test that existed beyond the mountains of legislation introduced along with the FSA and its predecessors in the 80's and 90's. I may only have been 18 at the time of the Big Bang in the square mile, but the only collapse I can think of in modern times before that was BCCI, and that was down to fraud on a massive scale rather than the mismanagement and incompetence we've seen more recently. Since then, we've had a stream of them, starting with Equitable Life - another story that's surfaced again this week.
Whole forests sacrifice their collective lives so that our judges are equipped with comprehensive sentencing guidelines. Now Patricia Hewitt wants to codify the DPP's discretion over whether to prosecute in assisted suicide cases. For crying out loud.
My manifesto is not complicated. In fact, you could say that its simplicity is its strength. It goes like this. Find the best people you can who are enthusiastic about the task in hand. Train them well and give them the resources they need. Then get out of the way and let them do the flippin' job.
This has been a party political broadcast on behalf of the Cynical Party...
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New media is the way forward
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Posted by Jez Davison on March 26, 2009 8:06 AM
Fearless defenders of the fourth estate we may be, but journalists wouldn't often associate a publication's demise with the loss of a loved one.
Daily Mail and General Trust chairman Lord Rothermere reportedly said coming to terms with the pending sale of his beloved Evening Standard - to Russian oligarch and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev for £1 - was as difficult as dealing with his parents' death.
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Social networking exposes job-hunters
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Posted by Jez Davison on March 26, 2009 8:06 AM
THE moral issue of how much companies need to know about their staff reared its head following revelations that construction firms were paying a private investigator to run the rule over prospective recruits.
More the 40 alleged offenders, including three firms with interests on Teesside, have been named and shamed by the Information Commissioner's Office for indulging in a practice described as "deplorable" and "outrageous" by union leaders.
Continue reading "Social networking exposes job-hunters" »
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