Many business executives are spending more money than is necessary when procuring employee training and development initiatives, it has been claimed.

Scott Watson, managing director of Summit Consulting and Training, claimed that many firms are experiencing a low return on investment in this area at present.

He said that companies need to establish precise success criteria before beginning training projects, and also make the training provider more accountable for the results of employee development initiatives.

Mr Watson proposed that firms should look closely at their budgets and consider whether they are better hiring an external company to provide irregular training on specific days, or whether a permanent partner will help improve service delivery.

With budgets still constrained after the recession, businesses should more than ever be looking to maximise the efficiency of training provision, he added.

He advised: "Stop looking at colourful brochures and start looking for proof of competence, a strong track record of high client satisfaction and willingness to be held accountable for delivering business benefits rather than just training."

Last month, managed learning specialist KnowledgePool claimed that UK organisations could be wasting up to £9.5 billion on training each year.

Posted by Jenny Arthur

Mobile Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology will become established as internet-enabled mobile phones become increasingly commonplace, it has been claimed.

George Van Horn, senior analyst at industry market research company IBISWorld, said there is "huge potential" for the widespread introduction of mobile VoIP.

He explained that "vast majority" of worldwide broadband connections over the next decade will be accessed via handheld devices, making extensive mobile VoIP adoption possible.

Mr Van Horn added that high-definition VoIP will also "contribute to the growing user base" the technology has, as it will play a role in "improving phone call quality and service options".

A study conducted by market research firm In-Stat indicates that mobile VoIP users will number 288 million by the end of 2013.

Frank Dickson, an analyst at the company, said the near-term opportunity for mobile VoIP is closely linked with the growing success of dual-mode phones and other Wi-Fi connected devices.

Dual-mode handsets - both Wi-Fi and cellular - will see well over 400 million units shipped in 2013, the firm predicted.

Posted by Alex Boardman

The upcoming Budget statement must set out more details of spending plans for government departments in order to boost confidence in the UK's public finances, it has been claimed.

According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), this is needed urgently if economic stability is to be provided in the UK.

The organisation says that delivering a detailed and credible plan for balancing the books by 2015-16 - two years earlier than planned - is the key to addressing concerns about the UK's AAA credit rating.

It claims that the earlier date for budget balance should be achieved through a combination of lower overall spending and public service reform, rather than resorting to tax rises.

Richard Lambert, the CBI's director-general, says chancellor Alistair Darling must use his spring report to improve the UK's fiscal credibility and foster economic growth.

He commented: "This Budget comes at a pivotal moment for the UK economy. Investors are clearly jittery about sovereign debt, but are prepared to give the UK the benefit of the doubt until after the election.

"The UK's deficit, though worryingly large, is still manageable, but the government must act now to set out a convincing, credible pathway for balancing the books."

Last week, the Bank of England froze interest rates at 0.5 per cent for the 12th month in a row.

Posted by Steve Williams

European consumers now spend more time using mobile internet a week than reading newspapers, it has been reported.

The European Interactive Advertising Association has made the claim in a new report on the state of digital mobility among European consumers.

It revealed that there are now over 121 million wireless broadband users in Europe and, of these, 71 million use the internet on their mobile each week.

Phillip Bates, a senior manager with Analysys Mason, explained that the costs of the technology could be reduced in the near future due to the high level of competition in the market.

He commented: "Looking forward, I see a trickle-down effect, with manufacturers vying with each other to offer a range of attractive applications such as Facebook and Twitter access on much lower cost devices".

However, he pointed out that because many phones which use the mobile internet rely on the 3G standard, there are problems with penetration as "it is difficult and expensive to provide high-speed services in rural areas".

Mr Bates also noted that the cost of data traffic - which is more expensive than voice traffic - may cause problems for the telecoms sector, despite proving to be something of a boon for advertising and marketing firms.

Posted by Alex Boardman

Consumer confidence has increased and now stands at its highest level since January 2008, according to Nationwide.

Nick Moon, managing director of GfK NOP Social Research, agreed saying there had clearly been an increase in sentiment over the last 12 months.

"It was increasing mainly because it got into such a terrible position it couldn't do anything except increase," he commented.

Mr Moon said expectations were high for the coming year, with people more optimistic looking ahead.

"What matters is the trend. There is an upward trend - people are feeling more confident," he stated.

"When people feel a bit more confident then later on the economy does improve. If you feel more confident, you spend money, and that stimulates the economy."

The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index rose by six points during February and now stands at its highest level since January 2008.

In addition, the bank's Expectations Index reached its highest level since records began, climbing six points in February to 115 on the scale.

Some 39 per cent of those questioned by Nationwide predicted that the economic situation will be better in six months' time, compared to 36 per cent in January.

Posted by Sarah Parish

The population of Iceland has voted to reject the repayment of Anglo-Dutch loans worth more than $5 billion (£3.3 billion).

In the country's first referendum since gaining independence from Denmark, 93 per cent of voters instructed the government to withhold payment for the time being.

Just two per cent of people voted in favour of the existing repayment proposal, with the remainder of ballots being spoiled.

Britain and the Netherlands are owed money by Icelanders after they compensated customers who lost money by saving with Iceland's online bank Icesave.

The bank was one of the casualties of the collapse of the country's banking system in 2008.

Iceland's prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, who negotiated the deal with England and the Netherlands, said she was not supporting the proposed repayment deal.

Commenting after the vote, she stated: "This has no impact on the life of the government. We need to keep going and finish the debate. We have to get an agreement."

Steingrimur Sigfusson, the country's finance minister, said the no vote did not mean Iceland was refusing to pay.

"We will honour our obligations. To maintain anything else is highly dangerous for the economy of this country."

Posted by Steve Williams

Businesses can improve their operations by investing in environmental management schemes, it has been suggested.

Vanessa Scott, environmental manager for Strattons Hotel, Swaffham, Norfolk, explained that her firm has been nominated in the Management category at the European Business Awards for the Environment for its efforts in the area.

She said the hotel had experienced success by looking at how directors and managers, employees and customers behave on-site.

"We look at every single process that we do here, from energy use, water resource use, through to waste and how we buy," Ms Scott explained.

"When we started it was a process of having a compost heap, chickens, and was about minimising waste and reducing energy."

However, Ms Scott commented that the firm quickly realised the environmental management scheme must go beyond "the garden gate".

She noted that green initiatives had enabled the firm to build its reputation among customers and suppliers within the local area, potentially creating new business opportunities for the future.

Commenting on the European Business Awards finalists, environment minister Dan Norris said the firms had shown "great innovation and invention with new products, processes and systems which provide improved environmental performance and importantly, value for money for their customers".

Posted by Sarah Parish

A rise in confidence among UK manufacturers is welcome, according to one industry leader.

Commenting on the findings of a recent EEF survey, Adam Buckley, head of programmes for the Manufacturing Institute, said the rise in business sentiment was "encouraging".

He claimed the positive report underlines how critical UK manufacturing is to nursing the economy back to health, particularly in improving the balance of trade through exportation.

Mr Buckley claimed that the weakness of sterling has helped many firms capitalise on overseas business opportunities, while noting that the food and green technology sectors have been performing particularly well.

He commented: "The recession has forced a belated recognition by the government that manufacturing is crucial to economic health, and it is hoped that whichever party steps into power will champion this new 'industrial activism'."

"It is vital that the incoming government gets behind the sector and provides consistent and strong support to this rebalancing of the economy.

This week's EEF survey revealed a larger-than-expected improvement in output and orders over the past three months, with a broad-based return of confidence across manufacturing.

Posted by Dan Smith

IT and business professionals employing identity and access management (IAM) initiatives must ensure they are doing so for the right reasons, it has been suggested.

Jan De Blauwe, a specialist in IT transversal guidance and services information security risk management at the banking and financial group BNPP Fortis, said professionals need to be "very clear" about their aims.

He advised IAM strategists to check they are business rather than security objectives, and all-importantly, supported by senior management.

Mr De Blauwe said IAM projects should not be left to IT security to implement, as they will be inclined to make schemes more sophisticated than their particular organisation requires.

He commented: "Focus on the architecture - prepare the design upfront.

"By the architecture I mean that in the bolder sense - it's also thinking about the organisation, thinking about the procedures that go with it, the important interfaces."

Mr De Blauwe was speaking at the Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit 2010, which took place in London on March 3rd and 4th.

The event was designed to help IT and business professionals exploit the potential of new and future IAM investments and realise their direct business value, risk management and governance benefits.

Posted by Alex Boardman

Business volumes stabilised in the UK services sector over the last three months, according to a new study from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

The latest CBI Service Sector Survey reported that the value and volume of business rose slightly in consumer services, while profitability levels remained relatively unchanged.

In January, the VAT rise contributed to higher consumer prices, with 38 per cent of businesses reporting an increase and eight per cent a fall.

Conditions were slightly tougher in the business and professional services sub-sectors, albeit stable, the report indicated.

Prices dropped, leading to a reduction in profitability, according to the CBI.

Ian McCafferty, CBI chief economic adviser, said: "Overall, these figures are consistent with our view that the economy is recovering slowly, but that we will have to wait a while before growth picks up."

Last month, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply's purchasing managers' index fell to a score of 54.5, prompting fears that the UK's economic recovery would not continue.

However, David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, claimed that a resurgent manufacturing sector would help support the upturn despite the apparent services blip.

Posted by Dan Smith

Interest rates must remain low for as long as possible, according to one MP.

Speaking ahead of the monthly base rate announcement by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, Mark Hoban said the historic low of 0.5 per cent should be retained for the foreseeable future.

He said it is "imperative" for struggling families that the base rate does not increase, as this will lead to increased costs in many households.

Speaking at the Northern Money Conference 2010 at the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury claimed that the economic crisis was a result of building an "economy based on debt".

People should consider the "implications" of the choices they make concerning credit, he added.

"We feel that if we can empower people to get information about the consequences [...] about borrowing and saving, then they will be in a position to make better choices about their finances," the MP stated.

Last month, the Bank of England chose to hold its base rate and also cease its £200 billion quantitative easing programme, through which it has been injecting additional finance into the economy.

Posted by Steve Williams

The UK employment market is continuing to improve, although public sector job cuts could cause "irreparable damage", a new report has warned.

Earlier this week, the BBC revealed that councils could slash 25,000 jobs as spending cuts necessitated by the recession make job losses a reality.

So while the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG have reported another monthly rise in permanent jobs growth, the organisations are worried about the long-term labour market recovery.

There are concerns that an "ill-conceived dash to slash employment and supply chain costs in the public sector, as a knee-jerk reaction to the expenditure squeeze, could slow down the pace of recruitment and cause irreparable damage to the delivery of frontline services".

Kevin Green, chief executive of the REC, said: "Looking ahead, there are indications that recruitment in the public sector could drop off fast.

"A new approach to public sector resourcing is now critical and will have a direct impact on the wider employment outlook."

According to the REC/KPMG Report on Jobs, overall demand for staff continued to increase last month, boosted by the private sector recovery, with the pace of expansion accelerating again.

There was also good news for salaries, as the rate of inflation of permanent staff salaries accelerated to a 20-month high in February.

Posted by Jenny Arthur

The challenge of providing "affordable, accessible and appropriate financial services" remains for lenders, one expert has claimed.

Paul A Jones, senior researcher at the Research Unit for Financial Inclusion at Liverpool John Moores University, claimed this is increasingly important in light of rising debt levels.

The latest figures from Credit Action show that total personal debt increased by 0.8 per cent in the last year to stand at £1,463 billion, with the average UK household debt including mortgages being £58,040.

Mr Jones said that despite recent developments such as the expansion of debt advice throughout the country, more needs to be done to help struggling families.

Speaking at the opening of the Northern Money Conference 2010 at the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool, he added: "There is much to be done because the context is changing. We have now had the recession and the financial crisis and many people are facing increasing financial difficulty."

"We have seen rises in mortgage arrears, rapid expansions in demand for debt advice, personal insolvencies are rising and so on."

Last week, the Institute of Directors claimed that lenders needed to offer more support to struggling businesses in terms of additional credit.

The organisation reported that six out of ten firms were denied financial support from their lender.

Posted by Steve Williams

Businesses seeking to reduce their outgoings by freezing wages cannot expect an easy ride from the trade unions, it has been claimed.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said that the representative bodies are fully wise to such cost-reduction practices.

He was commenting after a YouGov survey found that 16 million people – over half the UK's workforce – are expecting no increase in their salary this year.

The poll, commissioned by uSwitch.com, also showed that 32 per cent of employees expect to receive increased wages that fall below the Consumer Price Index figure of 3.5 per cent.

Over the coming year, the average pay rise will be 1.9 per cent – typically the equivalent of £27 per month – the study indicated.

However, Mr Barber expressed optimism for a more positive outcome, saying: "Even at the height of the recession, when inflation was below zero, just one in three companies froze wages and the average pay rise was two per cent.

"With the economy growing again and inflation set to average around three per cent in 2010, more people should expect a decent pay rise."

He also warned that "excessive wage restraint damages the economy by holding back our spending power".

Posted by Jenny Arthur

The confidence of manufacturers has increased since the UK officially emerged from recession, it has been reported.

According to research conducted by the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) and business advisers BDO, companies are now more optimistic about their prospects than at any time since the onset of the economic downturn.

Output has continued to increase over the past few months, while order levels have also improved, EEF found.

However, the study indicated that profit margins are still under pressure and investment in the sector is yet to recover.

EEF chief economist Lee Hopley said the start to 2010 had been "better than expected".

"Clearly more companies are becoming more confident about their prospects and we're beginning to see the real benefits of an export-led recovery," he stated.

"But we have to be cautious about predicting a strong rebound, as a number of factors could knock growth off track. The recovery depends on world markets continuing to grow, and the financial system's ability to provide finance is yet to be fully tested."

Last month, the Confederation of British Industry found that business sentiment within the manufacturing sector had reached a two-year high.

Posted by Dan Smith

The speed and expansiveness of technology advances in marketing is helping businesses to remain competitive, it has been claimed.

According to Rick Segal, global practice leader of business-to-business marketing at GyroHSR, marketers are continuing to benefit from IT developments.

Speaking at Technology For Marketing and Advertising 2010, the UK's only integrated marketing and advertising event, he claimed that the pace of technology development is at "a breakneck speed".

"Innovation continues to keep these demand creators in play," Mr Segal commented.

"As long as there are always new things to talk about... that pace and that breadth keeps us engaged in delivering and meeting the demands of companies bringing these products and solutions to market."

According to the Alterian Annual Study, 66 per cent of businesses will be embracing technology by investing in social media marketing over the next 12 months.

Some 42 per cent said they do not currently incorporate clickstream and web analytics data into their customer and email database.

However, 51 per cent stated that they were placing a 'fair' or 'significant' amount of effort on moving from a campaign-centric direct marketing model towards multi-channel customer engagement.

Posted by Jenny Arthur

The collapse of Readers Digest UK, due to its large pension burden, has led to calls for greater support for businesses in this area.

A deal could not be reached to pay off the Digest's £125 million pension deficit, and as a result the group went into administration.

This has left around 1,000 employees waiting to hear about what will happen to their retirement funds.

Speaking about the problems with pension fund deficits, Mark Brooks, spokesperson for the National Association of Pension Funds, stated that the government needs to do more to help.

"We are looking to take the issue further really, in terms of saying that what we want the chancellor to do in his next budget - which is due this month - is to provide a budget for pensions" he said.

"The government must do more to help, and we have put forward proposals which would be to abandon their unworkable tax plan, and also look at ensuring there is enough long-term funding available for pension funds."

Mr Brooks said that pension schemes are "more generally" under pressure at the moment and must be safeguarded.

Posted by Steve Williams

New statistics suggest that identity fraud increased by a third in 2009 – a sign that criminals are "adapting to the current economic climate", according to one financial expert.

Last year saw over 100,000 cases of identity fraud in the UK, a rise of 32 per cent year-on-year, reports CIFAS - the UK's fraud prevention service.

There was a ten per cent lift in all instances, with false insurance claims seeing the greatest rise of 55 per cent.

Commenting on the findings, Neil Munroe, external affairs director of personal finance consultants Equifax, said the surge in fraud – both identity theft and false identity – is a sign that even criminals are having difficulty getting credit in the recession.

"Throughout 2009 there was a general view that fraud was moving from what we would call 'application fraud' to identity fraud, and I think the factor that is affecting that is the availability of credit," he commented.

"Lenders are tightening up their credit granting and therefore a fraudster would have less chance, like some of us as individuals, of getting credit at the moment by making an application."

As a result, he claimed that more and more criminals will be targeting account takeover, meaning consumers and businesses must be on their guard.

Posted by Jenny Arthur

The head of an employment campaign group has called for "overworked" employees to "check their rights" and stand up for them.

Carolyn Jones, director of the Institute of Employment Rights, claimed there is a growing trend of unpaid overtime in the UK business arena.

With this in mind, she claimed that staff should "resist this intensification of work expectations".

Ms Jones commented: "The problem is that employers are wanting to squeeze more and more out of fewer and fewer workers and many are using the recession to claim they can't afford to pay overtime.

She claimed that "a degree of fear and insecurity among working people" means employees are afraid to refuse such requests.

Claiming that workers deserve more respect and greater security at work, Ms Jones added: "The working time regulations set out maximum working hours and rest periods, and people should check their rights before accepting employer demands."

Last month, the Trades Union Congress reported that the number of people clocking an average of two extra hours a day of work, unpaid, increased by 14,000 in 2009 to reach 900,000 in total.

Posted by Sarah Parish

House prices in the UK fell during February, ending a nine-month run of consecutive rises, a new survey has indicated.

According to the latest figures from Nationwide, a one per cent reduction was witnessed on January levels.

The decline is the sharpest the market has seen since February 2009, which saw a 1.5 per cent fall month-on-month.

However, over a three month period from December 2009 to February, there was a 1.6 per cent increase in prices.

Consequently, annual price inflation increased from 8.6 per cent to 9.2 per cent year-on-year.

Nationwide reports that the average UK house price now stands at £161,320.

Martin Gahbauer, the bank's chief economist, said: "It is difficult to gauge how much of the drop in housing activity is attributable to one-off factors and, therefore, whether February's fall in prices is just a temporary blip or the start of a new trend."

However, he suggested that there had been a drop off in housing market activity since the turn of the year, with new enquiries and approvals down on December – potentially due to the end of the stamp duty holiday.

"This drop in demand seems to have fed into agreed prices during February," Mr Gahbauer said.

Last week, Kate Barker, policymaker and housing market expert at the Bank of England, claimed that a lack of affordability in the mortgage market could cause house prices to dip once more.

Posted by Dan Smith