t2 business solutions blog

£38.6 billion spent on training last year

An article on Training Zone explains how the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has recently conducted a survey which shows that companies spent £38.6 billion on training last year, a 16% increase from 2005.

This all time high figure accounts for an increase of £3.5 billion after inflation. Research also shows that the proportion of vacancies that can’t be filled due to a skills shortage has dropped from 25% in 2005, to 21% in 2007, which affects 5% of employers.

Over 79,000 employers were surveyed and last year, over two thirds (67%) of businesses spent a combined total of 218 million days training their workforces. The average money spent per employee on training increased by 11% from £1,550 in 2005 to £1,750 in 2007.

If you would like to provide further training for your employees, whether it be a tailored training course, vocational training or one-day open courses, contact t2 business solutions to see the variety of options available to you.

For more information on the survey results visit LSC.

MTV new Logo ready for 2008 Music Awards

MTV has unveiled a new logo to represent the 15th annual MTV Europe Music Awards, which will be held at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

The inspiration for the logo was drawn from a number of influences, including Japanese futuristic themes, anime, and heavy industry.

It was also created to be used across multiple platforms including the internet, mobile and television.

Over the course of the next six months the logo will be seen on 21 MTV channels across Europe, as well as all off-air marketing and advertising.

The Gremlins are back!

Remember that famous 1984 film about a few... well alright a lot of mischievous creatures who terrorised a family at christmas and in a sequel terrorised a company building in 1990? The Gremlins.

Well now these mischievous creatures have signed a contract with BT it seems. Yes BT have created a multimillion-pound advertising campaign, featuring these little fellas, as a humorous approach to show how small businesses can solve IT problems.

Gordon Ramsey is now nowhere to be seen, and with 'Dragons' Den' business tycoon Peter Jones as the new face of its BT Business TV advertising.

View this advert and read more

Workers Memorial Day - 28th April

An interesting article on the ILM website today explained how RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) is urging for workplace safety today to commemorate Workers Memorial Day.

According to studies by RoSPA, 400 people lose their lives every two weeks due to the failure to protect staff.

Roger Bibbings, occupational safety adviser for RoSPA, said:"If one jumbo jet crashed every two weeks killing all 400 people on board there would be a national outcry - and that is the rate at which workers are dying."

Even though studies also show that it may be fashionable to poke fun at health and safety, managers should remember the possible pain, loss and suffering caused by failures in Health and Safety.

t2 business solutions provides tailored training courses in Health and Safety, which can be catered to the specific needs of your company. t2 also provides an open course in Corporate Manslaughter, showing you the possible repercussions on businesses if preventions of deaths are not put in place.

New Mona Lisa Smaller Than 1/4 Size of Postage Stamp

According to an interesting article on Orange News today, an artist from Hampshire has painted the worlds smallest Mona Lisa, which stands at a mere 11mm high and 7mm wide.

Andrew Nicholls, 44, decided to attempt the piece after reading about the previous world record on a hobby craft website.

In order to break the record, Mr Nicholls created the entire piece whilst looking through a magnifying glass and used a tiny 0000 gauge paintbrush. The previous record stood at 13mm high and 9mm wide and was held by Yves Gerard, from Luxembourg, whose work is at the Musee de la Miniature in Drome, France.

House of the Future

Take a look at vision of how we might be living in years to come.

the "Living Tomorrow" project in Brussels has revamped its house of the future concept.

the house is packed with many different interactive elements from an interactive shopping list embedded into the wall of your kitchen to a mirror who can tell you how your body is doing that day such as blood pressure, body temperature as well as read the latest news get a wesather update and yes even listen to music while getting ready in the mornings.

One big feature is the kids bedroom - a cocoon bed. It has internet, tv screens as well as a screen on the outside where parents can control what goes on inside the cocoon such as switching the tv off at bedtime.

Watch the preview here

Failing to Motivate Staff

An interesting article from the ILM Newsroom explains how recent studies show that Managers across the UK are failing to motivate staff.

Apparently, the problem is higher amongst younger staff, with almost half of workers under 27 saying that they feel dissatisfied or worse. The survey, conducted by HR consultancy BlessingWhite,  shows that half of managers in the UK will probably, or definitely, leave their jobs in 2008.

Results of the survey show that almost 1/4 workers do not feel motivated by their managers, describing themselves as "discontented, unproductive or disengaged".

t2 business solutions offers a variety of management training options that can tackle these issues. These include a vocational Management Modern Apprenticeship in Levels 2, 3 and 4; a Leading Teams and Individuals One-day Open course with a topic focusing specifically on motivation; or bespoke training for your company, which can focus on any management areas required.

US man gets £1.3 m for Pizza domain name.

After maintaining the site pizza.com for just $20 a year since 1994 Chris Clark accepted an offer of $2.6m (£1.3m) for the domain name after a week long online auction.

Mr Clark said "It will make a significant difference in my life, for sure."

In January, Mr Clark decided to sell the domain name after hearing that another domain - Vodka.com - was sold for $3m in 2006.

"I thought, 'Why don't I just try to see what the level of interest is?" Mr Clark said."If someone's willing to pay that much for Vodka.com, maybe there's more interest in pizza.com."

The online auction was launched on 27 March. The first bid was $100, jumping to $2.6m a week later.

Mr Clark says he regrets not buying more domain names in the 1990's when the World Wide Web was just starting to take off.

Read more about this here

Penguins can Fly?

The BBC have come clean about their 2008 April Fools' Joke - an advert for the new BBC iPlayer.

The 90-second trail shows Terry Jones Film-maker & writer following a unique colony of Adelie Penguins as they fly thousands of miles across the frozen wasteland of Antarctica to the Amazon Rainforest.

Penguins can fly?! -  click here to view the trail

This advert was aired on April Fools' Day in conjunction with a viral campaign which was launched online.

"The purpose of the April Fool campaign is to continue to raise awareness of BBC iPlayer... It is also hoped that this creative device will not only celebrate what BBC iPlayer can deliver, but will also say something quite profound about the BBC's overall appetite for creative risk-taking and innovation."- David Bainbridge, BBC Head of Marketing Communications & Audiences for Future Media & Technology

The trail could also be viewed on the BBC's Bebo, YouTube and Blinkx channels.

Read the full article here

Plans for workplace trainers to gain professional status

According to an interesting article on the ILM website, there are new plans for workplace trainers to be granted professional teaching status.

Lifelong Learning UK are introducing the changes, which will mean that over 27,000 people responsible for education in a work environment will be able to benefit from training which will increase them to the standard of a qualified teacher.

Apparently the government aims to ensure that by 2010, every trainer, teacher, tutor and instructor will be qualified or working toward a qualification.

If you are interesting in introducing workplace learning into your organisation, have a look at the wide variety of training opportunities available through t2 business solutions.

Is Email Damaging Your Customer Service?

An interesting article on Training Zone explains how recent research by eService provider Transversal shows that email is the UK's worst channel of Customer Service.

Evaluating 100 top companies, the research showed that only 46% of emailed questions were answered adequately. Apparently, more satisfactory responses were received through automated online services and customer care centres.

Analysis shows that 63% of answers push customers to call a contact centre, and 47% pushed customers back to the website, generally on an information page without the answer to their enquiry.

If your company is having problems with customer service and you think your employees may need some training in this area, why not have a look at t2 business solutions training courses, everything from Modern Apprenticeships and Open Courses, to bespoke training created especially for your company needs.

Ffres - Welsh Student Design Awards

According to Design Wales the aim of the awards is to prepare students for working in industry by setting competitive briefs from professionals in a bid to showcase future Welsh design talent.

The winners, mentioned below, will each receive monetary rewards and year-long work placements. A great way for them to make a start in their design careers.

• University of Wales undergraduate Anthony Thomas for his fashion project for Peacocks;
• University of Wales Institute student Lucy Dixon for her textiles design for Ikea; and
• Joel Williams, of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff for his work on Gelert's industrial design brief.

Two students from Carmarthenshire College - John Paul Birch and Edward Manning - took top prizes for the HBOS graphic design brief and Rough Trade graphic design brief - Well done to all!

£100 billion a year spent on sick notes

An interesting article on Training Zone explains how £100 billion a year is being spent on sick notes in Britain - which is more than the entire budget of the NHS.

This study is the first ever review into the health of the working population and is has led to a call for urgent reform and a new approach to health and work.

Dame Carol Black, Director for health and work and publisher of the review Working for a Healthier Tomorrow, discusses out the challenges, including insufficient access to good work-related health support in the early stages of sickness.

Is your company losing out because of sick notes - are you part of the £100 billion costs lost every year? Have a look at the article to see what has been suggested to tackle these issues.

iPlayer for the iPhone

Yes the BBC have launched a version of their recent iPlayer video for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. This is the first time this iPlayer service has been available to portable devices.

Both the iPhone and iPod Touch can stream shows from the iPlayer website using thier wi-fi networks.

Anthony Rose, writing on the BBC internet blog, said: "We started with iPhone because it is the device most optimised for high quality video currently available. It displays the BBCiPlayer site and BBC programmes nicely."

It is also said that the BBC is currently working on other versions for more devices.

Read more here

To visit the BBC iPlayer website - click here

Teapot Worshipping Anyone?

  A Malaysian woman has been jailed for following a cult surrounding a giant teapot! An article on Metro tells how she was jailed one week ago after announcing herself as an apostate.

She was arrested in 2005 with 57 other followers of the cult and the teapot, which apparently symbolised water's purity and 'love pouring from heaven', was demolished by the government at the time of the arrests.

She has been jailed for two years for apostasy without willingness to repent - however, this is not the strangest part of all. She was previously imprisoned in 1992 for her teapot following ways!

Maybe it's time to follow something new...

Are You Wasting Your Employees IT Skills?

An interesting article published by ILM explains how new studies have shown the employers are not taking advantage of what is being called the 'Facebook Generation', and the IT skills they already have.

The research, held by Filemaker, showed that 82% of school leavers (16-18 year olds) felt confident about their IT skills when they entered work, but only 51% of these actually use these IT skills in their jobs.

However, on the opposite side of the scale, a separate study carried out last month by the National Computer Centre, found that employers were finding it difficult to hire IT staff with the right skills.  If you are one of these employers, it would be worth considering some additional training for your staff.

t2 business solutions provides tailored training to meet your specific needs. Have a look at the IT tailored training pages to find out more. There is also vocational training available in IT from t2, giving your employees a recognised qualification.

Give your screen its own personality!

Flip Visual bring you a wide selection of HD animated screen savers for both Mac and PC users - ScreensPro.

Their range of FREE and premium animated screensavers are of a quality that has never been seen before.

Install, for FREE, the Desktop software and products (which are provided on the website which are Virus and Spyware free), and off you go. Read more about downloading the products and how to use them here

There is a wide variety of topics you can choose from to give your screen a personality of its own, from natural scenes such as waterfalls and formation of clouds to very abstract pattern movements.

to view the website and the range of screensavers available click here

Ditch the Welsh "stereotype"?

A new logo has been unveiled, to promote Cardiff on an international level, aimed at ditching the Welsh "stereotype" of daffodils and red dragons.

Yes this £45,000 project was unveiled to various business leaders and politiciansat Cardiff's Wales Millenium Centre.

As new brands go many people have associated the new logo with "spilled tiidlywinks", smarties, and the old BT logo or a dial from an old fashioned telephone.

The coloured circles are meant to represent the different colours of the city, including the waterfront and the parks.

Chairman Bill Savage said it would help Cardiff stand out from other capital cities.

"We are confident that we have created a distinctive brand for Cardiff that has the potential to give the Welsh capital a competitive advantage that will stand out on the world stage."

Take a look at some reviews on BBC and even add your own views.

Managers - Do You Work An Extra 40 Days?

BBC today released an article stating that Managers work an average of an extra 40 days each year to keep up with their workloads.

The survey, by the Chartered Management Institute says that almost 9 in 10 managers work extra time, averaging to approx. 1 hour 18mins each day. The survey comes after the Trade Union Congress is urging people to work their contracted hours.

Out of the 1511 senior staff surveyed, most said that they worked this overtime because they needed to meet deadlines, or to cope with a high volume of work.

If you're struggling to cope with your volumes of work, why not check out t2 business solutions Time Management Open Course, being held on June 25th? Or, have a look at t2s Managing Performance Open Course on April 2nd.

If you want to go further with this, why not have a look at t2s High Impact Executive Coaching, which is taking place on the 29th and 30th April. Have a look at t2s website for further details.

Microsoft for the Mac?

Explore this animated world that houses Microsoft Office :- mac 2008.

Watch short demonstrations of each product, interact with the animated characters that represent each individual piece of software that is available from Microsoft. 

visit the website