VLOG 19: Future Focus Dublin – Ronan Lyons on the Irish Economy

Following on from Edinburgh, we catch up with Ronan Lyons and get his perspective on the Irish economy and how the government may be able to intervene to ease the pinch of the recession on mid market businesses.

VLOG 18: Future Focus Dublin – Welcome to Ireland

Future Focus comes to you from Dublin, Ireland today, for the fourth of our business conferences, hosted by the Telegraph Business Club, in association with IBM. Before our speakers take to the stage, we caught up with some of our Irish delegates, to discuss their perspectives on technology and communications. We also hear from both IBM and our mid market clients about how they are embracing these new technologies and practices to develop their businesses to become “future proof”…

VLOG 17: Future Focus Edinburgh – Welcome to Edinburgh

As Future Focus lands in Edinburgh we speak to the Scottish delegates about their expectations and reservations about how to implement these new technologies, and learn about what opportunities they bring for businesses in the mid-market.

VLOG 15: Future Focus Edinburgh – IBM Scotland, Chrs Liversy

Recorded live at The Hub in the heart of Edinburgh, we hear from Chris Liversy, Sales Manager for IBM Scotland about the changing face of IBM, and how both internally and externally the company is embracing new technologies to grow, and help mid-market businesses grow with them.

VLOG 14: Future Focus Edinburgh – Gavin Wheeldon

Applied Language Solutions, Gavin Wheeldon fill us in on how using social media and new communications technologies, ALS are revolutionising the way that translation solutions are implemented.

Future Focus Edinburgh – Live Case Study: The Balmoral

We move to the beautiful city of Edinburgh today to the wonderfully decorated Hub in the city center. Today’s Live Case Study comes from The Balmoral hotel chain – find out more about them here: http://www.thebalmoralhotel.com/

Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh

The Rocco Forte Collection’s Balmoral is a luxury hotel in the true sense of the word. With its majestic clock tower, the hotel is a unique and contemporary luxury five-star property in the very heart of Edinburgh. While many Edinburgh hotels claim to have Edinburgh’s landmarks on their doorstep, few can say their doorstep is a landmark. Located on Princes Street, in Edinburgh’s main shopping area and next to Waverley Station, The Balmoral is close to the leading luxury department stores and within walking distance of many Edinburgh attractions.

David Hennery from The Balmoral mentioned this afternoon “Every time you interact with a customer is a ‘moment of truth’ when you succeed or fail” – and motivating staff in these difficult times is a tough job, as well as continuously finding investment whilst maintaining customer service.

As today’s case study they came to Future Focus with their own set of challenges, and so we want your help to solve these issues.

Here are there main challenges:

• Maintaining and enhancing service delivery
• Maintaining or leading Market Position
• Employing technology that meets business travelers needs
• Embracing Social Media to communicate with customers

Big challenges require even bigger ideas, so we want to hear yours, submit them as comments here, and follow the conversation on twitter.

VLOG 12: Future Focus Manchester – Manchester in Review

As we wrap up in Manchester, we chat to some of today’s delegates at Future Focus about some of their preconceptions about technology and communications.

Future Focus Manchester: Live Case Study Brief – Wright’s Printers

Daniel Bennett from Wright’s Printers brings us todays Live Case Study from Manchester Future Focus.

Wrights printers have a great reputation in the region, a long history, an engrained culture and are used to changes in the technology. Wrigh’ts has it’s history right back in 1896, and today is still doing predominantly what it has always been doing. They produce all manners of commercial printing, from business cards to banners.

However they are facing issues brought on by the current recession, with a huge pressure on margins, the decline of print, and the rise of digital is changing the way Wright’s have to operate. Not to mention the massive competition in the printing market.

They are taking action through personal development, team development and equiptment training, as well as rebranding and identifying KPI’s.

However financially they are facing the difficulties that so many SME’s are experiencing during this current downturn.

So how can you help? Let us know, the issues are:

• How can Wright’s thrive?
• How should Wright’s adapt to the new economy?
• How can Wright’s take on the challenges the UK print industry aces?
• How can Wright’s become part of multi-channel communications to individuals?

VLOG 10: Future Focus Manchester – Stephen Radley, EEF

The word recession is on everyone’s lips, but maybe those elusive “green shoots” are on the way? This certainly is the opinion of Stephen Radley, Economist from EEF.

When we caught up with him in Manchester at Future Focus he told us how he sees the changing political landscape truly shaping the way the worldwide economy is being molded.

Touching on Twitter…

Whilst listening to Euan Semple this morning in Manchester City Stadium, talking about using Twitter nearly 2 and a half years ago, it makes you wonder what has taken it so long to become mainstream. Only in the past 6 months has Twitter taken hold of the public consciousness, and we are still far from accepting it. There is still reticence, fear and confusion about or why businesses (or individuals) should get involved.

As Euan said this morning the internet is ‘a world of niches’, and this is what can be so beneficial for businesses. Technologies such as Twitter, Facebook and alike, allow those niche audiences to engage with content, information, call it what you will – but whatever you call it, they want to engage with it.

We have put together a little further reading for you to get a perspective on how your business may be able to benefit from these new technologies:

Further Reading:

Read Write Web -  4 Ways Companies Use Twitter for Business

Mark Shaw – Twitter and Customer Services

Chris Brogan – 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

O’Reilly Webcast: Twitter For Business

Happy Reading!