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Good News for Business Electricity Prices

Written on April 19, 2012 at 10:37 am, by

There was some good news for businesses recently as the rate of inflation fell in February, due to lower utility costs, including electricity prices for commercial use. The consumer price index (CPI) fell to 3.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was partly due to cuts by utility providers and ensured that inflation was at its lowest level for 15 months.

Meanwhile, heavy users of electricity have voiced their opposition to the government’s green energy policies. The head of Tata Steel’s European operations argued that the cost of environmental levies, such as the Renewables Obligation, meant that business electricity prices were up to 50% higher than the equivalent prices in Western European countries, such as France, Germany and the Netherlands. The company maintained that this meant the UK plants were operating at a competitive disadvantage.  Tata Steel is one of the UK’s biggest users of electricity. However the Department of Energy and Climate Change countered that UK business electricity prices for heavy users were in the mid-range of the original 15 EU members.

Unfortunately, in other news the situation for lighter users of energy is hardly much brighter, particularly the longer term outlook. According to research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), annual business electricity prices may rise by up to £250 per annum by 2030 for the retail sector and office-based businesses.  The rise is being blamed on a need for increased use of air conditioning for cooling buildings as temperatures rise by a projected 2 degrees Celsius.

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How Web Design Can Increase Your Income for Adelaide Businesses

Written on April 13, 2012 at 5:22 pm, by

Website design is part science, part art. The science part is in the coding and developing your marketing strategy based on solid fundamentals and strategies that work and get results. For instance, we know from user eye tracking studies, that the hottest part of a website is the top left corner of the page and the bottom right, with lesser hotspots in between in a zigzag fashion from left to right and down.

The art part of website design is the web design. You want your site to be attractive, you want it be functional, but you you also want it to get results.

So how do you achieve both and increase your revenue for your Adelaide business online?

There’s an old saying among web developers which is “An ugly website that makes money is more attractive than a pretty one that doesn’t.” Read more

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Fighting Global Recession – ERP Way

Written on April 6, 2012 at 3:52 pm, by

We are facing one of the worst global economic meltdowns. Everyone is scrambling for safe shelter for his money. The first reaction of the corporate to the economic recession is normally cost cutting across the board.

Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) is a supportive package for the business and is still considered by many companies as a necessary evil rather than an investment. So, if the business is down, the need for the ERP seems to be down and the first reaction is to have a sharp cut on ERP expenses.

But, is the cost cutting, the only strategy for minimizing the impact of global recession, at a time when the corporate have already started considering ERP as a good investment and a booster for business growth?

Global economy has its own cycle. After each boom, it also goes through recession and after each recession it has to come back to the boom period. Read more

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