Business Continuity Plans - Disaster - What Disaster?

It was the scientist Paul Erlich who said: “To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.” We all know we should get fit and eat less, make a will, recycle more, back-up our business data and have a continuity plan. However, it is a sobering thought that if we lost our businesses overnight due to fire, theft, flood, a pandemic or some other disaster, in some cases it may mean we lose substantial parts of our income, we don’t get to eat let alone recycle, we may lose weight due to lack of food, but have nothing to leave to our families... so maybe business continuity planning is more important than we think! The Civil Contingencies Act lays an obligation on all Local Authorities to prepare themselves to handle emergencies and, from May 2006, to advise and assist local businesses with business continuity management. According to the Oxford County Council website, eighty per cent of small businesses affected by major incidents close within 18 months. Ninety per cent of businesses that lose data from disasters shut within two years. Also flooding is 30 times as costly as getting burgled, while many businesses may have a burglar alarm, how many have done a risk assessment dealing with floods? The Buncefield oil storage explosion destroyed 20 business premises. Losses were assessed to be more than £100 million.

Business continuity planning (BCP) is nothing more than the creation and testing of a plan which would ensure that your business would recover and restore itself within a set period after a disaster. The website www.londonprepared.gov.uk has a business continuity section with a detailed questionnaire you can complete on line, which will provide a report highlighting some of the key issues you should look to deal with prior to a disaster happening. So why are we, at Bloxham Mill, recommending that you protect your business? On the 24th September Tony Baldry officially opened a state-of-the-art Data Centre for our IT and Telecoms business bm-it.

The centre can house up to 1350 servers and allows customers to locate their servers in an environment, which will not only provides high security but enables top performance where customers are guaranteed to receive top speed access to their server content. The Data Centre is also ideal for customers who need off-site data storage and back-up facilities for business continuity purposes. For those businesses that have disaster recovery plans, we are offering the facility to test those plans by utilising the business continuity suite at Bloxham Mill. Useful Websites www.londonprepared.gov.uk The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) www.thebci.org The Continuity Forum www.continuityforum.org

Know your neighbour

In this edition, we are delighted to profile Karl Grimsey, Managing Director of Mi-Dockspeakers. Since moving to Bloxham Mill this year, Karl’s company has grown rapidly – read more about his success below. Main Operation mi-dockspeakers was established in 2008. With a growing portfolio of distributors around the globe, our company manufactures fun yet high quality iPod docking stations that combine sound quality, compatibility and style. The first product that we launched in the UK was the i-Pig and this year launched the new mi-football speaker system. Since launching mi-football we have successfully secured licenses with many top premier football clubs and the English and Scottish FA. Worst Business Decision Growing up!

Business Highlight Seeing our baby ball being born when so many said we couldn't do it, when the banks said they were closed to any good ideas, when the business angels had flown away, it was a great feeling to prove them all so wrong. In May 2009 we launched our first product at the worlds largest CE show in Canton China, we only had a mould sample of our product that didn't even have a speaker in it. Our goal was to find at least four distributors around the world, we came back from the show with 10. Total Staff We have less than 10 Staff currently - a small team with huge enthusiasm. Even when it gets tough and we get busy, we still have fun. If I didn't do my current job? I'd be bored.

For more information call
01295 724275
or visit www.mi-football.com

Team Attitude at Altitude named as 'Charity of the Year' When Ray Avery, General Manager of Bloxham Mill, heard about 4 women who are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro next year to raise money for charity, he was keen to help. At the September meeting of the Mill’s b2b club, Ray was pleased to announce Bloxham Mill’s adoption of Team Attitude at Altitude as ‘Charity of the Year’. He has pledged to help the women realise their target of £20,000, which will help Breakthrough Breast Cancer in its fight against this killer disease. Deb Hunt, Annemarie Smith, Helen Taylor, and Audra Selley have already raised nearly £6,000 of their £20,000 target, with another 11 months to go. Fundraising events are planned throughout the coming year and the Team’s official 2010 calendar ‘Chaps for Baps’, will be available to buy online soon at www.twin-peaks.co.uk. The four women have taken the local business community by storm and are receiving offers of support from companies across the UK and overseas. All business sponsors are given free listings on the Twin-Peaks website. They will also be invited to attend a special ‘see them off’ networking event at Bloxham Mill next year. In addition, Attitude at Altitude’s monthly newsletter features a ‘sponsor of the month’, creating even more publicity for the Team’s supporters. After Ray Avery’s announcement at the b2b club, Deb and her team received several pledges of support from local businesses. Team Attitude at Altitude will be the official sponsors of the b2b club meeting on 21st January.

If you would like to join the growing list of sponsors who, like Bloxham Mill, are supporting this good cause, contact debs@twin-peaks.co.uk.

Next Meeting of the b2b Club

After another highly successful b 2 b meeting on September 24th with over 70 people enjoying networking and listening to local MP Tony Baldry talk about political issues both nationally and locally, we are pleased to say that the next meeting of the b 2 b is on 21st January 2010. Our guest speaker is explorer, adventurer, author and professional speaker, Rona Cant.

All her presentations are based on her very diverse adventures and are illustrated with images and video clips taken en route. They draw on the parallels that exist between people facing the rigours of extreme adventures and human behaviour in the workplace. What better way to get us motivated and fired up for the New Year! We are sure this will be a very popular event so book in early to avoid disappointment by calling 01295 724545 or email: admin@bm-it.co.uk.

Bloxham Mill Client, EMZ Hairdressing Celebrate their 1st Anniversary Emz Hairdressing Services, situated on the ground floor at Bloxham Mill, has just celebrated its first anniversary. Emz offers both ladies and gents hairdressing services, which includes colours by L'Oréal. To join in the celebration and to say thank you for your continued support Emz has been running promotions during the month of September for all gents. Now ladies, to add a bit of extra sparkle before Christmas, Emz is offering 10% discount off all colour work throughout December (1st until 31st December). All gents, watch out for a promotion in the New Year….. so if you want the look - we've got the style. Book now by calling Emma on 07964 286 097 or email emzhair@btinternet.com. Hours Tuesdays and Fridays 11am until 4pm. Appointments can be made, to suit you, outside of these hours by prior arrangement.

Huge Savings for Flexible Workers at Bloxham Mill

In these economically challenging times when the phrase “Cash is King” is on everyone’s lips, it is encouraging to note that Bloxham Mill are promoting their Flexi-Desk facilities to start up/micro businesses and home workers. The popular Bloxham Mill Flexi - Desk facility has reported a 81% increase in business in the last 9 months.

Flexi- Desk users receive all the other benefits Bloxham Mill provides including: Workstation Telephone and line Broadband connection IT support 24hr secure access On-site café Free use of Gym Free car parking Meeting rooms at preferential rates

Bloxham Mill General Manager Ray Avery confirmed: “The Flexi-Desk office suite is located in one of the largest rooms at Bloxham Mill, in which there are currently 20 desks. Each Flexi-Desk operator pays £170 per month and we really support micro and start up businesses as many of our current clients now occupying larger suites started in exactly this way. We are great believers in the saying “from little acorns oak trees grow.”

For further information about the Flexi-Desk offer contact Ray Avery on 01295 722800 Email: ray.avery@bloxhammill.com

Bloxham Mill Café - The Meeting Point For Business If you were asked to attend a business meeting in a Café you might be forgiven for raising a quizzical eyebrow, your mind might race to images of dodgy formica tables, chipped crockery and the smell of fried food. Relax…..and read on. The Bloxham Mill Business Centre has an excellent Café serving great quality food and excellent coffee, which is prepared on the premises. We now want to encourage the wider business public to take advantage of these facilities and let it be known that it is open for business, whether or not you are a client of Bloxham Mill. General Manager, Ray Avery told us “We have 103 thriving businesses at Bloxham Mill, many based here and others who are Virtual clients. The Café was originally designed to serve their needs and provide a meeting place for them and their staff. The space is bright, well designed, has wireless internet access and serves great food and drink. However, since the Café opened we have been delighted to find that business people, organisations and groups have also utilised the catering facilities on offer by either using the café as a meeting point free of charge or alternatively booking one of our competitively priced meeting rooms. One of the great attractions about the Café (apart from the coffee and the environment) is the abundance of free parking and a total lack of traffic wardens! ” We look forward to seeing you soon.

New to the Mill

We welcome to Bloxham Mill Guard Industry UK Ltd,part of a French company and present in 30 countries around the world. The company have revolutionized the chemical industry of building construction by offering innovative solutions to professionals of the building construction industry and private people in helping them protect and preserve building materials. www.guardindustry.com

Scanpolex specialise in young plant production and distribution. Established in the heart of Danish Horticulture in the mid 90's, we are pleased to welcome their UK office to Bloxham Mill www.scanpolex.dk

In the last few years there has been a dramatic growth in the number of people wishing to have a scan at a private centre and we were delighted to welcome The Fetal Imaging Centre when they opened their second centre at Bloxham Mill this year. They offer a full range of pregnancy scans including a 3D/4D scan. www.121baby.co.uk

Bloxham Mill Business Centre
Barford Road, Bloxham, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 4FF

tel +44 (0)1295 722807 | email enquiries@bloxhammill.com | web www.bloxhammill.com