So here we are at Branson’s place in the mountain. The UKFast Hosting Summit is a multi-purposed event. We are here to redesign and shape our product offering to ensure UKFast clients get the very best service and solution in the IT and hosting industry. But, because we believe so much in our philosophy that fresh air, exercise, coupled with learning and sharing experiences drives better decision making, we have chosen this years retreat to be hosted at The Lodge, Verbier. Mountain retreat to Sir Richard Branson. Mine and Gail’s personal favorite winter retreat. Today’s itinerary for example, is play hard in the morning with plenty of Skiing and Boarding. 2pm lunch back at the lodge 3pm – 7pm Focus Groups and product shaping 7pm –… Read the Rest »
I will always remember my first night on Necker Island home to Sir Richard Branson. We were just settling in and being made to feel very welcome. We have the entire island to the 4 of us and it is the most idyllic setting for a family holiday. Stood in the Great House on the hill looking at a photo of Sam Branson and his friends, I turned around and Richard walked up to me arm outstretch and with a warm smile he bowed his head gently and welcomed me to his home. It is the greatest thing for me to meet such a distinguished businessman. I have many friends who have become incredibly successful. Most of them though are particularly hard with their staff… Read the Rest »
Jim Collins recently sent me his latest book, How The Mighty Fall, which I have not managed to prise off my wife yet. If he’d written a British version of this book, it would have to feature BA. British Airways. How on earth has the greatest British brand fallen out of the skies to such depths of despair? I asked a couple of members of the BA staff, does BA stand for Bloody Awful, after the worst experience I have ever encountered of substandard behaviour by representatives of BA. I was checking in proudly to my first class seats at the BA counter in Manchester, when I met the second rudest woman I have ever had the misfortune to meet. We had telephoned the night… Read the Rest »
A decade ago when Gail Jones (then Gail Everton) and I embarked on the journey of setting up a business on the Internet, I had no idea what lay ahead. In fact if it wasn’t for a pretty horrendous experience when trying to register and host a domain called theGallery.com, we’d never have changed direction and set up a business in the hosting arena. And I suppose it was the “bad experience” which forged the direction we took to provide the very best in service right from the outset. It was this start which also gave us an understanding of exactly how a client feels when the hosting provider goes wrong or doesn’t listen. If you are a client of UKFast and you ever have… Read the Rest »
I can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the new week marks the beginning of the new era at UKFast. With UKFast’s 10 Year Anniversary Party at the Palace now a fond memory, I can reflect on the funny stories now that I know the night was a success. It was 11 years ago at Granada I first used the Grand Ballroom at the Palace for an event. It was to raise money for the Christie’s For Cancer Appeal. The night was a huge success and I fell in love with the room. It is the perfect room for hosting a ball. I knew the hotel well, as I’d originally played the piano there in my early years when I first came to Manchester…. Read the Rest »
According to many leaders of small businesses “Goal setting” is a waste of time and energy. It is an outdated American principal for the happy clapping brigade. Is there more to goal setting than meets the eye? What if goal setting was a scientific art form? What if you could literally pinpoint your every move in the future and design the outcome of every turn years before you arrive there, long after the memory of even setting the goal. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. Yet my wife and I have built a business on this very principal. I am in Amsterdam at present and yesterday went to Anne Franks house to visit a very important place preserved in our history. The one thing I came away… Read the Rest »
I was recently asked by the TechTrack or FastTrack what was the most challenging thing that faced our business over the past decade. It is a difficult answer and to define one event as anyone in business will know it is a fast paced journey of peaks and troughs and no 2 days are alike. The most difficult challenge I face and continue to face is the pace I am required to develop. 10 years ago the skill set I had to set up a small business was very different to the one I now have running a multimillion pound organisation. That in itself presents challenges year after year. I know if I’d walked into a business the size of UKFast 10 years ago, I could not… Read the Rest »
We ran one of our graduate recruiting days last week at UKFast and we started off by asking all the graduates to stand up, introduce themselves and tell us, who their most iconic person is and also tell us about something they have achieved which they consider momentous in their life. It is a good ice breaker and for those of us assessing the candidates, it starts to give you a snap shot of what is to come. A young lady stood up, and I don’t have her name to hand and she described her momentous achievement as creating a small shop on ebay and selling a variety of things. When she sat down, I immediately asked, “so why are you here?” At first I… Read the Rest »
I had a couple of great discussions yesterday with an SEO expert who challenged UKFast on their “fast servers deliver better results” message. Google actually reduces your cost per click on faster sites and penalises you, charging you more if you have a slow site. FACT. (See the quality score rules in your Google Adwords account.) Why is this? Is Google acknowledging that faster sites give the customer a better experience? Absolutely! Is traditional SEO as we know it dead or is it evolving at such a pace that it has caught a large proportion of the SEO enthusiasts and internet users by surprise? Could it be that speed has always been a major deciding factor in ranking and no one knew about it? Or… Read the Rest »
Maybe it is because I have never been to university. Maybe it is because I have no formal qualifications? I don’t know, but I seem to have a desire for continual learning. A search for what drives all things, past and present. You can learn a great deal from the results of everyday life. If you can learn from your mistakes in time you will get to your chosen destination. If you can learn from your successes you will arrive a whole lot quicker. One of the things that puzzled me and still does to a degree is “what makes UKFast more successful when my previous businesses didn’t come close?” It is the same person at the helm, older and hopefully a little wiser, but… Read the Rest »
