COA Solutions – Business Accounting Software

Alistair Darling’s bold prediction at yesterday’s Budget that the economy will return to growth by the end of 2009, expanding by 1.25% next year and 3.5% in 2011, has generated an avalanche of criticism from opposition parties and industry leaders who have dismissed his predictions as “fantasy”.

Guest Blogger, Richard Donkin (author of Blood Sweat and Tears, The Evolution of Work and Financial Times columnist on work and careers) returns to the COA Solutions blog to discuss how to manage in the current downturn.

Recessions and downturns often offer great opportunities for business start ups. They do so because entrepreneurs who begin trading in hard times must learn to be agile, frugal and inventive if they are to survive…

When times are good, few people see the value of actively joining their user community. Often those that sacrifice their own and company time to lead the committee can feel they are pushing effort into a bottomless pit of apathy and derision. Even free to join user groups struggle to engage their members on a regular basis, surveying users again and again to try and understand where they are going wrong.

Whilst most UK media still continues to focus on the doom and gloom of the economic downturn it is interesting to see a hint of sunlight on the horizon. Recent research by RBC Capital Markets and reported in Computing reveals that only 3% of UK companies are delaying their larger longer term deployments compared to 36% who are continuing to replace outdated software and look at discreet, short term, fast ROI projects.

6.30am – Awake after yet another lousy night. I keep waking up shaky and sweaty, remembering standing in the House of Commons in March last year and saying “I am able to report that the British economy will continue to grow through this year and beyond”. It’s really hard – I doze off, hear myself again and take ages to get back to sleep, and again, and again…….

On a recent night out with some friends our conversation turned to the real effects the newly renamed recession is having on their companies. Over several glasses of wine, we each poured out our individual woes. Whilst all of us could identify with increased workloads, grumpy colleagues and a niggling sense of concern over the future it was interesting to see in the wake of the constant bad press exactly what is causing stress and outrage within the 30 something working population.

Yet again, another billion-dollar scandal has come to light, this time involving Texan billionaire and cricket sponsor, Sir Allen Stanford. One is reminded of the tech bubble bursting and the slew of corporate failures that came to light then, with the likes of Enron, Worldcom and the rest, and it suggests the unpleasant possibility that there are more to come.

You’ll mostly be cheered to know that it is bleak mid-winter in the private equity world.

In partnership with the National Computing Centre (NCC), we recently undertook a research project to understand the current drivers in the area of Source to Pay and understand the level of adoption.

At a time of year when it is popular, often for very good reason, to outline the inefficiencies of HMRC and the problems associated with submitting tax returns, I wanted to outline a personal experience that showed things are not all bad.