{"id":25117,"date":"2019-02-15T15:23:38","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T15:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=25117"},"modified":"2019-05-08T14:46:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T13:46:30","slug":"putting-uk-entrepreneurs-on-the-map-through-greater-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/putting-uk-entrepreneurs-on-the-map-through-greater-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting UK entrepreneurs on the map through greater productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February I had the pleasure of delivering a keynote speech at the #DigiLeaders SME Conference in Manchester. The aim of which was to support digital transformation and inspire innovation.<\/p>\n

A bold but ambitious aim and something we desperately need as a country if we are to project a positive vision for a United Kingdom that is smart, open and digital. Something that everyone I spoke to at the event agreed is needed too.<\/p>\n

The focus of my speech was around productivity. Sage commissioned a report (Sage and Nesta \u2018The State of Small Business\u2019 2017), which found that the most productive small business region in the UK is 26 x more productive than the least. Not good enough and it certainly doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Sage\u2019s role?<\/span><\/h4>\n

As one of only two FTSE 100 tech companies we have a responsibility to our customers that goes beyond the technology we develop. We started as a small business in the North 35 years ago by three hugely ambitious and determined students that wanted to do things differently in the world of accounting. They wanted to help businesses do things better, faster and more efficiently.<\/p>\n

It is upon this attitude that we built the foundations to our business and we understand implicitly the determination it takes to overcome the common hurdles that growing businesses face.<\/p>\n

What kept us awake then, is what keeps business owners that were at the SME conference awake at night \u2013 how to be more productive, more agile, how to thrive. <\/a><\/p>\n

We know that small and medium businesses (SMBs) are the engine of our economy. \u00a073% of new jobs created since the 2008 recession were within SMBs. \u00a0The people I met at the conference are part of the cohort of companies that have been critical in achieving record levels of employment in the UK, including creating opportunities for thousands to move from welfare dependency into work.<\/p>\n

But the focus must now shift from simply SMB creation to also lifting productivity. We need that engine firing on all cylinders and the wheels well-oiled in order to thrive (especially in a post Brexit UK).<\/p>\n

The productivity lottery<\/span><\/h4>\n

To champion our SME customers and help the productivity engine run at full throttle, Sage created a comprehensive, postcode by postcode snapshot of the current state of SMBs in the UK. \u00a0The report called State of Small Biz<\/span><\/a> shows how SMEs are performing certain areas. Unsurprisingly, the Thames Valley area is one of the most successful and supportive of small businesses in the UK. At the conference, I shared a quick look at the landscape in the North West:<\/p>\n