Are accolades important?

Lawrence Jones, May 29th 2008, 11:41AM

I congratulate the winner of this year's EN Entrepreneur award, Bruntwood's Chris Oglesby. In a tough environment I thought this was a very fair result.

He is a worthy winner and the rapturous response he received when his name was announced reaffirms that he is a great entrepreneur and has the popular vote amongst the business community.

UKFast was a sponsor of the awards this year and I have to say I was pleased with the result. It is difficult to find another organisation that has done as much for Manchester as Bruntwood.

There are many awards nowadays and some people think that the sentiment behind the ceremony has been diluted. But personally I like to view them very positively.

I am honoured to have won a couple of awards. Most recently in 2007 I was happy to receive the IOD's Young Director of the Year title. Plus this year, my company, UKFast, has won its fourth Best Hosting award in as many years at the ISPAs.

I'm currently a finalist for the Ernst & Young award, something I'm incredibly happy to have been nominated for.

But in a world where you can blindly beaver away for years, often the only reminder of your success comes from painfully increasing tax demands. I believe that to achieve an award is not just a pat on your back from your peers, but a reinforcement that you are doing something right.

Tags: awards, ukfast
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Don't neglect your online presence

Lawrence Jones, May 20th 2008, 9:04AM

In the past week the British government has been criticised over its websites. A report states the websites have barely improved over the last seven years.

In this period of time, the internet has grown and changed considerably. There is much more offered by way of interactive and dynamic content now, making internet usage undeniably better than it was back in 2001.

When I look back over the years at how the UKFast website has grown, it is barely recognisable as the site of 2001. It wasn’t that it was a poor site back then, just that the internet has moved on so much.

The speed and reliability of new internet technology – broadband, quadcore web servers, innovative applications, etc, etc – offers the ability to host so much more content that I’m surprised the government hasn’t invested more into its websites. Especially with the quality of web content that can be offered online these days and the functions it can perform.

The government’s website were criticised for their lack of feedback options, poor search facilities, accessibility and usability.

This interested me greatly because it highlighted that the government (and probably businesses and organisations all over the world) still isn’t taking its online presence seriously enough.

The internet is intrinsic in the growth of UKFast. Our marketing strategy for example, was for many years based only online.

Through the growth of the UKFast website, so has the company increased size, in its successes and in its profits.

This is largely due to us moving with the times. We make sure we learn and implement the latest online techniques, from new SEO methods to incorporating more dynamic content with the introduction of video to our website. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs the success of the new UKFast videocasting department.

I simply cannot stress enough the importance of the internet to organisations in every sector. Make sure you’re using it to its fullest extent.

Tags: communication, government, ukfast, websites
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The lost art of communication

Lawrence Jones, May 8th 2008, 6:00PM

In a world that has gone Google mad it’s great sometimes to step away from your monitor and use that age old communication method – talking.

Welcome to the world of human interfacing.

Last week I had the immense pleasure of meeting several hundred interesting people at the Internet World exhibition, in London’s Earls Court. And I met them face to face.

As truly amazing as technology is in its new styles of communication, there is no substitute for the personal approach of physically meeting people.

There’s a buzz at Internet World which is contagious, and despite the aching feet and bodies of the UKFast team, I know every one of them felt exhilarated. It’s exciting to get out of the office and escape from behind the computer screen.

We always put a huge amount of effort into our offline presence and this year at Internet World was certainly no exception.

A champagne bar, plasma screens, models, a Ducati racing bike and dual levelled stand with an inbuilt video studio complimented our hands-on customer approach. We won the award for Best Exhibition Stand which I’m extremely proud of.

In an internet-oriented world, email, SEO and PPC are all fabulous manners in which to promote your business and communicate. But there’s nothing like the excitement of face to face contact.

My advice is to make an effort to meet more people. Get your brand seen in its full fleshy glory. And make sure the world knows that your business is not just a picture on a screen.

Tags: communication, internet world, ukfast
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The benefits of internal recruitment

Lawrence Jones, April 9th 2008, 11:18AM

I’m extremely personal about the staff I hire because each employee is an important cog in the running of a company. At UKFast I employ on personality and intelligence because I want staff to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

As a company grows it becomes more and more difficult to give the necessary amount of attention to recruiting new staff. But despite the size of the company it is still vitally important to get the right staff so as not to dilute your business’s overall skill sector.

To overcome this problem as the company grows, at UKFast we have hired an internal recruitment and HR manager.

Every day at UKFast we receive phone calls from recruitment consultants offering their services and in most cases that’s as far as our relationship goes. It has always been my opinion that with outside recruitment a business loses some of the personal approach it takes to find and employ the correct candidates.

Only internally can you really know what the role entails, what the culture of the company is and who would fit there. Internal recruiters are also more prolific in understanding the qualifications and skills necessary to fill specific roles.

A company grows using a sustainable competitive advantage, hiring excellent candidates who fit in with the company culture, who are enthusiastic and willing to work hard drives the company towards new heights.

I have found that internally we are able to judge a candidate, not on their qualifications, but on their ability to be trained in certain skills as well as on drive and ambition.

External recruitment has been compared to battery farming, providing bulk CVs with little thought as to the person behind the paper. In terms of poultry farming, internal recruitment is the free range equivalent. Each candidate is given more time and judged on personality, ambition, potential to develop skills as well as their list of qualifications.

Additionally, at UKFast we put weight on psychometric testing. This provides an all-round view of the candidate, especially those who become nervous during the interview process.

There are many ways to make sure you are hiring the right people. But I can stress enough the importance of hiring the correct candidates when growing a company.

Tags: hr, recruitment, ukfast
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Our fourth ISPA win

Lawrence Jones, March 26th 2008, 9:38AM

On Friday 14th March at UKFast we won our fourth ISPA award for best hosting - an achievement I am immensely proud of.

UKFast smashed industry records by winning the award for four years consecutively.

Being recognised and praised for the hard work we have put in to the company is a wonderful feeling. I sincerely hope our victory proved the importance and necessity of excellent customer service as well as top of the range dedicated server hardware.

However, I for one am not willing to rest on my laurels. That’s not the attitude that has got the company this far.

So this year we’re going to keep pushing.

As a company we’re growing very quickly in size, knowledge and experience. The boundaries of the internet have never been closer but at UKFast we’ll never see them as closed- continuing to push them with all of our strength.

This year we have great things planned at UKFast. Our aim is to increase employee numbers to 100 before 2009 and continue to provide the most powerful and reliable technology, networks and support.

And of course to win the ISPA for a fifth time in 2009.

Tags: dedicated server, ispa, ukfast
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