If you’re out and about a lot you want to be able to check your emails, find out where you’re supposed to be next, and maybe get directions. This is where our Wi-Fi Hotspot Locator can help by identifying Wi-Fi hotspots near you. It’s quick and easy to use, and a great resource. You can search by postcode, town or landmark, and choose operators too.

I’ve just keyed in ‘London Eye’ and switched to bird’s eye view to get a lovely picture of the Thames (as well as a long list of nearby hotspots).

Source: Microsoft Small Business

The SME Advisory Panel met for the fourth and final time last week to discuss the state of the UK economy and the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises. The panel’s focus was to gather opinion on the state of the economy and focus on the Government’s Digital Britain report and how broadband bandwidth can help shape the future of the UK and aid bounce-back of the economy.

You can find a detailed analysis of the panel’s findings on the small business website and also download podcasts of the whole event. Some of the main areas covered by the panel included:

• Broadband speeds - why they are important and how they can affect business performance


• Short comings of the Digital Britain report (eg contention ratio in cities where more people are fighting for same broadband bandwidth)


• Cloud computing - what it is, how it is already being used and its potential for SMEs


• Digital advocates - Martha Lane Fox, Alan Sugar, and how they have helped promote the importance of entrepreneurialism in the UK economy


• Contingency planning (for events such as swine flu, floods, terrorism…)


• Mobile broadband and smart working


• Digital infrastructure requirements for integrating unemployed back into the workforce


• Consumer behaviour - how it is shaping business change towards digital

And on the current state of the UK economy, some of the main points that emerged included:

• The UK economy is set to shrink by 4.5% in this year and many have warned that hopes of economic recovery are “running ahead of reality” as unemployment continues to rise


• Recovery from the recession is expected to take at least three years but nonetheless, we are beginning to see some small positive changes, such as bank lending for example.


• Confidence is beginning to rise as people want to get on with their lives. Positive signs are backed up by FSB figures, where 25% of members’ trade has increased and 58% are more confident and optimistic.

It’s well worth reading the panel’s findings in more details - SME Advisory Panel

Source: Microsoft Small Business

If you’re unsure of which particular programs you may or may not need, and don’t know whether or not you could benefit from buying multiple licences, take a look at our Licence Advisor Tool. Easy-to-use wizards will guide you through your software and program requirements, and help you choose the solution that’s right for your business, whether you’re commercial, academic, not-for-profit or a government organisation. You can also get, save and download quotes (based on Estimated Retail Pricing) in Word or Excel formats for easy reference.

If you know which products you want you can just select the ‘Build Quote’ option, or if you want guidance, click on ‘Help Me Decide’.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

I have been waiting all day for this site to go live and now it has so despite the fact that I should be doing something else involving children, packing for holiday plus moving house, and cooking, here it is.

Welcome to Microsoft Wave: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/wave/home.aspx the site that brings you the freshest developments and products to come out of Microsoft. For the best visit experience of this site please download Silverlight.

This is such a cool site that shows - in one place - just how exciting new technologies are and what they can do for you, me, every small business. You’ve probably heard of all these - but how many of us truly know what they are what they do?

• Surface: an ordinary tabletop is turned into a vibrant, interactive surface


• Live Mesh? Take advantage of online storage


• Worldwide Telescope - free to download


• Project Natal? Controllers are a thing of the past


• Office 2010? Find out more


• PC Selector - get recommendations for the PC that suits you and your lifestyle


• Find the best Windows Mobile Device for your personal needs and get an insight into Mobile Innovations from Microsoft.

 Take a look at Microsoft Wave and discover the future.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Here’s a chance to have your cake and eat it too. With the Windows 7 Upgrade Option, you can get a new PC or upgrade the one you have today, and get Windows 7 from participating retailers and hardware manufacturers when Windows 7 arrives.

How to buy: For more details and a list of participating UK retailers, go to http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/buy/offers/upgrade.aspx

Related posts: Windows 7 flies off virtual shelf

Source: Microsoft Small Business

There’s an interesting story on the BBC website today - Small firms want help to drive GDP.It’s interesting from two perspectives - firstly for anyone who’s lost a filling at the most awkward time and / or somewhere far removed from a dentist. Thanks to Tony Lees and his Dentanurse product, which is now available off the shelf in supermarkets, you can buy a DIY filling kit.
Secondly although Dentanurse employs just five full-time members of staff, along with the other 4 million or so SMEs across the UK these companies account for 51% of UK GDP, according to the Federation of Small businesses. Mr and Mrs Lees say they are sceptical of the government’s efforts to help them and other small firms. “SMEs make up the majority of the economy, but we feel invisible,” says Mrs Lees. 
The couple’s request to the government is very simple. “Cut business rates for small firms, and reduce rate tape,” says Mr Lees.
John Wright, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, wants the government to continue efforts to get the banks to start lending again, and to put pressure on bigger companies to ensure they pay their small suppiers on time.

Sentiments I suspect just about every small business would agree with…. 

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Guest post from Emma Jones, Founder of Enterprise Nation, the home business website, and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up - how to start a business from home’.

Home Enterprise Day is happening on Friday 20^th November and Enterprise Nation members are making plans to celebrate. I hope you’ll join in!

The Day marks the first national celebration of home business. It’s being held as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week and the aim is to encourage more people to start a business from home and support existing home businesses to grow. There are a number of ways you can get involved:

Attend the Enterprise Nation Conference - we’re hosting a national conference on the day with a top line-up of speakers who will inform and inspire. Speakers like Doug Richard (former Dragon & CEO, School for Startups), Louise Campbell (founder, Myehive.com) and, from the world of media Lisa Sykes (Features Editor, Country Living), Jenny Culshaw (Producer, Working Lunch) and Jimmy Leach (head of Digital, The Independent) The event is being held in London and on the day we’ll be launching our 2009 Home Business Report and announcing winners of the 2009 Home Business Awards. Plenty of reasons to come along!

Join us on a roadtrip - in the build-up to Home Enterprise Day, we’re going on a roadtrip! Starting in Scotland and travelling south, I’ll be interviewing people in their working homes, talking to policy makers and hosting home business meet-ups every night, at each stop-off point. The end result of the week will be a documentary looking at the rise of home business in the UK. This is where we’ll be - please come out and say hello!

• Monday 14th September  - Scotland


• Tuesday15th September - North East (Newcastle) 


• Wednesday 16th September - London


• Thursday 17th September - South West (Bristol & surrounds)


• Friday 18th September - West Midlands (Herefordshire & Shropshire)

Enter the Home Business Awards - the Awards will be open in early September with winners announced at the Enterprise Nation Conference on Friday 20^th November. We’ll have the same categories this year as last which are:

• Home Business of the Year


• Home Business Couple of the Year


• Young Home Business of the Year (under the age of 30)


• Home Office of the Year

Entry is free and you’re in with a chance of winning plenty of profile and prizes.

Run your own event - if you’d like to celebrate Home Enterprise Day but unable to join us for the conference in London, why not host your own event. We’ve prepared a basic sheet for anyone looking for tips on how to spend the day.

Whatever you decide to do, and wherever you’ll be, I look forward to celebrating the UK’s first ever Home Enterprise Day with you!

Source: Microsoft Small Business

On the back of the Leonard Cheshire Disability’s start-your-own business programme,  and in conjunction with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the serial entrepreneur best known for founding easyJet, entries are now open for the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs 2009. A generous prize of £50,000 will be awarded to the disabled person who can best demonstrate to the judges how this amount would make a major difference to their business.

Perhaps this amount of money would fund a piece of new equipment that would enable you to double your production capacity? Or maybe you would use the money to fund new staff costs so that you can expand your sales team or embark on an international operation? It is for you to detail what your business is and how this amount of money would help take your business success to the next level.

Applications for the 2009 award close on Friday 4 September so you still have a few weeks left to enter.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Guest post from Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up - how to start a business from home’. 

Online spending is growing rapidly in the UK. E-commerce in 2009 will be worth over £20bn and, experts say, by 2013, online spending will make up for 10% of total retail sales. If you have a product to sell, you’re in a good position, but how to attract customers to buy? Emma Jones offers five recommendations.

1. Make offers

Offer to write content and guest posts for blogs and sites where you know your customers are hanging out. Offer discounts to member groups and communities and offer links to other important sites, in exchange for them linking back to you. The more inbound and outbound links, the higher you’ll appear in the search results.

2. Make some noise

Why not carry out a poll on your site using http://www.surveymonkey.com/ and use the results as the basis for a press release. Another tactic that will have you mentioned in the media is celebrity endorsement. This is what Lyndsey Young has done with her product, Count On It, http://www.count-on-it.co.uk/ which has received glowing testimonials from the likes of Amanda Holden and Janey Lee Grace, to profitable effect.  

3. Make the most of social media

Have as many sites driving traffic to yours as possible. And this is possible by making the most of social media and creating communities on Facebook and Twitter. These applications can now be integrated so you only need to update once and your news/product offers can be communicated to your entire network, with links back to your site. A number of online businesses we profile have their own site as well as a presence on a trading platform such as eBay, BT Tradespace or, for the arts and crafts sector sites such at Etsy, Folksy and MyEhive .

4. Make friends with your customers so they keep coming back

Have your existing customers return by keeping in touch with them and connecting customers to each other. Again, this is where cost-effective technology tools play their part; why not introduce an e-newsletter to your site using a service such as http://www.mailchimp.com/ or add a community feature such as that available from http://www.webjam.com/ -  you can go as far as inviting customers to meet each other ‘virtually’ face-to-face by adopting http://www.tinychat.com/.

5. Make yourself known to this site  

Contact the site you are reading this on and ask if they’ll profile your story! It’s great to have your company featured in the printed press but if your site is promoted online (with a link) then potential customers are only one click away.

Source: Microsoft Small Business

Microsoft is making pre-order copies of Windows 7 available through selected retail partners at one-off promotional prices of around £49.99 for Home Premium and £99.99 for Professional (estimated retail prices). This is a great opportunity to get your hands on the best Windows operating system of all time and save plenty of money in the process. And you won’t have to wait long to get your hands on it - it will be released on 22 October.  

The Windows 7 Beta and RC versions have been very well received by consumers and media alike. Pre-order copies of the final version of Windows 7 have already been selling fast in Japan, Canada and the US. And the BBC is carrying a story entitled Windows 7 flies off virtual shelf.

 To pre-order a discounted copy of the final version of Windows 7 you need to go to www.microsoft.com/uk/win7preorder. 

Retail partners in the UK taking part in the promotion are Amazon.co.uk, Argos, Comet, Currys, Dixons, Ebuyer.com, John Lewis Partnership, Littlewoods, Micro Anvika, PC World, Play.com, Staples and Tesco.

Finally, a quick reminder for Microsoft’s UK customers: if you are replacing an older version of Windows with Windows 7 once it arrives on 22 October, a clean install of the operating system and the installation of an internet browser will be required. For more information on how to do this, and for general information on other aspects of Windows 7, please visit www.microsoft.com/windows/.

Source: Microsoft Small Business