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  • 19/01/2012

    Data Compliance? think you are safe? think again..

    Here at Lloyd James we take Data Compliance very seriously indeed and so should you. We have already been accredited with the DMA’s Dataseal award for being fully compliant and ensuring that all of our staff are as well which is also very important.

    In April 2010 the Data Protection Information Commissioner’s office was granted license to fine up to £500,000 for any breach of the data protection act as we follow the rest of the world into the strictest laws that govern our lives in terms of data compliance and security.

    On top of fines issued already by the Commissioner, in certain industries these have been coupled with added fines by their own governing bodies. The FSA fined Credit Suisse £1.75m for data compliance failure, Getco Europe £1.4m and Instnet Europe £1.05m to name but a few.

    Breaching the data protection act can be as simple as sending sensitive information to the wrong email address or as in one case not encrypting a company lap top and then having it stolen from your home in a burglary. Fines imposed so far have been huge and can not only damage a business’s balance sheet but its’ reputation as well. It’s not just companies in the private commercial sector that get hit with fines, Surrey Council were fined £120,000 for sending information on 241 people to the wrong group email addresses, Powys County Council £130,000, North Somerset County Council £60,000 for the same breach.

    Individuals as well have been successfully prosecuted and fined; two former telecoms employees £73,700 for stealing and selling customer information to a competitor, a medical receptionist £2,500 simply for accessing her own sisters medical records. The list of successful prosecutions is growing at a frightening rate and along with the fines comes the threat of custodial sentences. Do your staff have access to customer information?

    So who can be prosecuted, well that’s simple, it’s you and me and our companies. You personally are responsible for ensuring that your staff are compliant and that they understand the principles of Data Compliance. More and more companies are going to be made an example of over the next couple of years and if you are handling data in any way shape or form you could be targeted, you won’t know what’s hit you.

    Are you sure that employees working from home are using encryption and secure passwords when accessing confidential data, do you have memory sticks in office drawers, are you dealing with data companies that are non-compliant these are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself.

    The Commissioner is on a mission to make examples of us all and in particular those of us dealing in data whether supplying or receiving it, we must be vigilant.

    Lloyd James offers a series of Data Compliance propositions take a look at our service offering on our website www.lloydjames.com just by making that move you are showing that you are taking this seriously. You have been warned.

    "Not all data companies are created equal! Lloyd James are a DMA Dataseal accredited company. If you deal with data providers ensure they are too”

    Lloyd James - CEO

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  • 05/07/2011

    Making a Comeback

    Maybe I am old fashioned but isn't it great to see that across the nation retailers are stating that sales of pens, paper and greeting cards are on the increase?  According to the stationery divison of John Lewis the increase is as high as 79% in the last month.

    It seems that people are re-discovering the importance of writing to each other and sending simple thank you cards.  I love it!  Last week I was looking through some old paperbacks and decided that rather than simply pile them on my bookshelves I would send them to my sister, she has just started to get into reading again decades after being told by her teachers that it is good for the soul.  I purchased my Royal Mail postage box for just a couple of pounds and loaded in eight books.  With the space still left in the box I included a couple of other items that were lurking in a drawer that I thought she could use.  The joy and delight on receiving the box was incredible.  A simple act, a simple thought, encouraged by an old Royal Mail advertising slogan 'I saw this and thought of you'.  It simply made her day.
     
    In these times when we are told that Royal Mail is losing millions and will have to shave thousands of jobs, why don't they re-think their service and bring back the early morning post?  There are generations of us who were used to receiving our mail before leaving to go to work in the morning. Now, we are lucky if the post is delivered before lunchtime.  Most of us don’t get to see the post until the end of the day when the last thing we feel is positive about the potential contents of the mail box.  Maybe if they went back to early morning post they might see an increase in Direct Mail, which does actually still work, even though internet gurus will tell you it doesn't.  I still believe that the decline in Direct Mail interest is in part due to late mail delivery.  You see to get a relevant message into the hands of the consumer at a time when they feel fresh and awake can make a huge difference to the advertiser.
     
    There have been many successful comebacks - Take That, Salad Cream, Spandau Ballet, who would have thought it?  So, Royal Mail, stop whinging about losses, people are crying out that they love the post so do something about it ... come back!

    Lloyd James - CEO

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  • 21/06/2011

    Too High A Risk?

    As confusion reigns regarding the Greek debt crisis there is concern about a potential increase in the cost of debt for the UK Government. This comes at a time when the UK is £1.3 trillion in debt with a budget deficit of around £160 billion which is unlikely to fall below £80 billion a year over the next four years.  As a consequence, the UK government will need to refinance large chunks of national debt over the next few months and years, which could come at a cost to UK public services.

    This week saw the collapse of Greek debt bonds with yields rising to above 11% as the investments were effectively labelled as "junk" by credit rating agencies. Since the Greek credit rating downgraded we have seen a reduction in the credit rating for Spanish and Portuguese national debt with more downgrades likely in the short to medium term. Whether or not the UK credit rating will come under pressure in the short term remains to be seen but there are growing worries across Europe.

    Rogoff, who has just published a book on eight centuries of financial crises, said that Greece was "a serial defaulter".  Since the modern Greek state was founded in 1830, the country has, on average, been in sovereign default every other year and had been through five big defaults in less than 200 years. "Greece has been worse than any Latin American country," he adds.
    Perhaps the economists should learn a lesson from direct marketers.  I’m sure that if the team of analysts here at Lloyd James were building a risk score model for a client they would most certainly have picked up on such a major factor that, after all, has been an issue over the last 200 years!  Our advice would have been that they should have been regarded as far too high a risk to offer any type of credit product and to move them swiftly onto the DNC list!

    Darrel Linehan

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  • 21/04/2011

    You're Fired!

    Love him or hate him, Lord Alan Sugar certainly knows how to get his opinion across. I have to say that I am a secret fan of the man, I love his tenacity and sheer bloody mindedness when it comes to getting things done. I do think it was a wrong move for the last government to appoint him as the new 'Business Tzar' simply because he is not a diplomat.  Then again, of course, running a business is not always about diplomacy - but government it seems most certainly is.  I also disagreed strongly with his views on business bank lending that was so well covered in the press.
     
    I do agree with him, however, on one particular thing. He was recently quoted in Real Business commenting on Vince Cable’s ability to act as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and his ability to dictate to the UK's SME's what to do.  Lord Sugar is quoted as stating “He has never been in business or run a business. He has been an advisor or politician all his life. He has never touched the coalface. Frankly what does he know?”
     
    On checking his credentials it is clear that once Cable had finished university back in the 60's he took up various posts advising on economics and finance both here and abroad and has never been in business himself. I think this does raise an important point in any government - simply that considering SME's are the backbone of the UK business economy should we not have a Minister who does have experience of business at shop floor level? Someone who understands that smothering our businesses in red tape and bullshit is actually suffocating and preventing us from doing what we do best.
     
    This is not a political agenda of mine simply a point to consider for any government that comes along in the future, get your hands dirty and do some basic training or you might well hear those immortal words on the speaker system … “You're Fired”!

    Lloyd James - CEO

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