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Outsourcing - A Way to Save Money? IT programming work, call handling and data processing can be expensive, labour intensive aspects of any business. When you look at labour costs and the quality of the workforce you can find in places like India you might think it makes sound business sense to outsource these functions abroad. You may even have been approached by companies offering to do such work at knock down rates.
You might think that all you need concern yourself with is the quality of the work produced. But you’d be wrong. In fact a recent Financial Services Authority study into outsourcing by banks and other financial institutions suggested that work quality can be very good – but only if very tight risk management is undertaken and only in countries where financial crime and supervision are taken seriously. And if you are passing client or employee data across country boundaries you must make sure you are following the appropriate data protection rules. Read more about outsourcing as a way of reducing costs on the Woolley & Co website.
Freedom of Information – Beware Businesses tendering to public sector organisations are being warned to consider the implications of the Freedom of Information Act which came into force in January 2005. Under the Act a competitor of yours could approach a public sector body that you have submitted a tender to and request to see a copy. The consequences could be far reaching, exposing confidential information about your business, your prices and how you are presenting your offer.
Law firms were the first to spot this loophole in the Act, as you might expect. Many pitching for public sector contracts are now submitting all information as ‘highly confidential’. You might want to follow suit, although this may not protect you in all cases.
If you regularly pitch for public sector business you may wish to take advice on how to word your pitch documents and the kind of protection you can expect. Contact Andrew Woolley to discuss these issues further.
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Business Owners Count the Cost of Divorce Business owners everywhere are being warned by divorce specialists from Woolley & Co that marital difficulties could have a more devastating affect on their companies than they think.
Difficulties at home could jeopardise almost everything hard working owner managers and entrepreneurs have built up over the years. Owner managers and entrepreneurs spend years building up their businesses to the point where they have a sizeable annual turnover. They also pay into pension funds to plan ahead for retirement. But if things do start to go wrong at home all of their hard work could be in jeopardy and not just because of the emotional strain involved.
Divorce lawyers at Woolley & Co know that the first time some business owners realise the full implications is when their spouse’s solicitors arrange for a business valuer to call in order to put a price on the business as a ‘going concern’ and staggered owner managers often say ‘they can’t do that can they?’ but unfortunately they are wrong. Any business will be regarded by the divorce court as a matrimonial asset, to be thrown onto the scales along with the house, savings and investments and their pension fund.
The specialist divorce team at Woolley & Co have extensive experience in advising business owners and professional people about their rights on divorce, financial settlements, separation and prenuptial agreements. Straight-forward information and advice can be found at our website www.divorce-lawfirm.co.uk or for one to one advice contact the Woolley & Co divorce team.
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