Robert Mullins, co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation: Shaping the Future of the UK IT Sector
Robert updated us on their fantastic progress since the launch of the Raspberry Pi computer in February 2012. Manufacturing is now in the UK by Sony who produce 40,000 units per week and they have achieved sales of over 1 million. The low cost device has been instrumental in generating interest with school age children and the wider community, with large numbers of community projects and computing clubs in the UK and worldwide. The school curriculum changes for key stages 1-3 from September 2014 from ICT to Computing and Raspberry Pi are producing new teaching materials and a BCS/CAS Master teacher initiative. See Blog
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Nigel Taylor – UKNeF Chair and Head of e-Invoicing Solutions at GXS Ltd: Reducing costs for UK Business and the Wider Economy
The UK National e-invoicing Forum is engaged with government to promote the adoption of e-invoicing and the Information economy strategy announced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills promotes e-invoicing. E-invoicing can also resolve the problem of cash flow due to late payments, a particular issue for SMEs. The goal is to make e-invoicing easier to adopt by setting standards.
BASDA Interoperability Charter
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Tarl Lall – Barrister at Monckton Chambers, fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and member of the VAT Practitioners Group: Changes to EU VAT Rules
In 2010 the EU harmonised rules on VAT on the supply of service.
In 2014 a proposal is due for VAT on supplies of goods across borders to include three shortlisted options. The big problem with the current system is fraud.
Software suppliers need to be ahead of the game and have their say now as change will come!
BASDA has set up a VAT Working Group to provide member input to this process.
Tarl Lall is a representative of the CIOT on the VAT Experts Group (VEG), set up by the European Commission on 2012 to assist the Commission in formulating VAT law.
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B2B Marketing Panel: Social Media and Teleprospecting
Merran Wrigley, Director of Technology at MSL Group, shared her expert opinion on how social media works in the PR landscape:
- Traditional PR no longer exists
- You need to ‘own’ channels of communication as a thought leader
- Focus social media on sharing knowledge and joining the conversation
- Internal ‘champion’ is needed, with the time, energy and inclination
- Use a publishing schedule to map out subject areas and to maintain conversations over relevant channels
- Social media is measured by engagement – listening tools are available to measure re-tweets, followers, inbound links and relationships with key influencers
Trevor Salomon, Business Development and Marketing Director at Europa Communications, shared his insight into the value of Teleprospecting:
- Teleprospecting gets back to ‘real’ conversation
- The 2 most successful media for lead generation are direct mail and telemarketing
- Why is this successful?
- Instant feedback from campaigns and messaging
- Lead qualification
- Data integrity – find the right contact
- Instant results – ten times better response than email alone
- Flexibility to adapt conversation for cross-selling
- Measurable ROI by campaign
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Colin Ford – BC & S Head of SME Education Design and Delivery, HMRC: Working with Government to Influence Policy and its Execution
The goal is to get SMEs into good habits early to reduce errors and improve revenue flow, improved efficiency and improve customer experience.
HMRC worked with BASDA for over 18 months on the Mobile Record Keeping app with great success. There are now 7 free apps available with 40,000 downloads to date.
HMRC learned that, by working with the software industry they could help SMEs to provide them with systems that gave them an upgrade route as their business grows.
BASDA members can communicate directly with their customers to point them to the HMRC webinars and video help
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Brigid McBride – Programme Director for HMRC Digital Solutions
The HMRC Digital Strategy was published on 17 December 2012.
There will be a single replacement system providing better online customer authentication supported by Identity Assurance (IDA). The IDA solution will enable us to develop Head of Duty systems integration, flowing data automatically through to back end systems without manual intervention to verify the data or the customer’s identity.
The PAYE online pilot using IDA is planned for October 2013 with a full roll out in 2014.
BASDA have requested a standard messaging protocol whichever IS assurance provide is used.
BASDA’s Online Security Working Group is engaged with HMRC to collaborate on solutions to business problems and how to best implement them.
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