It was almost two years ago that the scale of cyber threats against UK SMEs became impossible to ignore. The government’s watershed Information Security Breaches Survey report of June 2015 showed 74% of SMEs had suffered breaches to their data, and that the average cost of the most severe incidents had rocketed to £310,800

With an output share in the UK economy of more than 10%, manufacturers form a critical component of the nation’s growth engine. That’s the message of new report Manufacturing Ambitions, published by leading trade group EEF in partnership with NatWest. To meet their own growth goals

The gig economy is overhauling the UK jobs market. According to the latest figures, the country added 273,000 self-employed workers from June to August this year to reach almost 4.8 million. Public-sector numbers, meanwhile, stood at around 5.3 million. At that growth rate, the self-employed could outstrip the public sector

Laden with sensitivities for all firms, regardless of whether owners and other staff are related, succession planning can be a particularly uncomfortable prospect for the family-run business. And these potential difficulties lead too many to put the issue off until it is too late. Christian

SMEs that harness the strengths of their people will be best equipped for long-term survival – and one of the most effective ways of doing that is by mentoring staff. Mark Tillison, managing director of digital marketing agency Tillison Consulting, explains: “Mentoring helps us to quickly

Recent headlines have shown artificial intelligence (AI) in two different lights. In March, Microsoft scrambled to unplug its online chatbot, Tay, when it began to parrot bigoted attitudes from Twitter’s more reactionary users. Last week, the same