Business First May-June 2017 Business First May 2017 | Page 3

CONTENTS Putting your Business First WHAT’S INSIDE YOUR ISSUE IN YOUR DIGITAL ISSUE YOU CAN CLICK ANY PAGE TO BE TAKEN STRAIGHT THERE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & COMMENTARY Staring down the Innovation is key George Fleming BULL Roseann Kelly Women in Business Put your USP in the elevator and Londonderry Chamber send it to the of Commerce basement Ian Laverty Ingenuity Is your company bad at interviewing? Max Mackin Black Fox Solutions Page 20 Page 21 Page 42 Page 45 Are we suffering from RDS: Repetitive Democracy Synrome? So here we go again with another election ­ and you can assume that we’ll be beating canvassers away from our doors once again in the Autumn. So there’s absolutely no chance of getting your box set of House of Cards finished this side of Christmas! But on a slightly more serious note, democracy is getting to be a bit of a pain in the neck. Just when you think everything is moving along swimmingly and we’re closing in on the date for the introduction of lower Corporation Tax, RHI becomes an issue and bang ­ we’re hit with democracy. Then when you’ve done your duty and decided your 1, 2, 3s , bang ­ the Irish Language and other legacy issues come to the fore to knock your business plan for six. This time around we’re putting a simple ‘X’ against our candidate of choice,. That will be easier, but then bang ­ democracy strikes again and the Brexit negotiations get caught up in people, money and the Irish border, and the next two years’ thoughts of business expansion are blasted right off the bottom line. And we haven’t even got as far as the Autumn and the jolly time we’ll have with a third Assembly election with more candidates of various colours, none of which seem to care about the ever­growing lake of red ink that is spreading across ours and government’s balance sheets. Democracy might be a wonderful invention ­ but as with a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild 2010, too much of it can leave you dazed and with a serious financial headache. See you on the frontline! Gavin Gavin Walker, Managing Editor FRONT COVER IMAGE Allison Chambers and Michael Galway, directors, SSAS Solutions See page 12 for the cover story TECH 2020 Council focuses on Digital Armagh, Banbridge Craigavon Borough Council The Evolution of Search: How Google sees tomorrow Professor Steven Van Belleghem Blockchain – the Has the cloud next great brought David v disrupter Goliath to a close? Emily McDaid Catalyst, Inc Richard Simpson Atlas Communications Page 46 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 BEST PRACTICE An introduction to Mediation Skills for Managers Michael Doherty MediateNI 2018: DATA REVOLUTION Managing risk – the board’s role Leading in a VUCA world Rory Campbell Forde Campbell LLP Joy Allen IoD Northern Ireland Anne Phillipson Leadership Institute Page 15 Page 17 Page 19 Page 22 In our Digital Issue you can click on any square to be taken directly to the article. Download it from businessfirstonline.co.uk Subscribe to BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITAL Subscribing to a complimentary copy of BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITAL Magazine couldn’t be easier and we’ll send your copy of the magazine directly to your mailbox every time we publish. To subscribe, visit our website at www.businessfirstonline.co.uk and follow the easy links to our subscription page. PUBLISHED BY: The Wordworks Partnership (Limited) Suite 60. Enterprise House Balloo Avenue, Bangor BT19 7QT Tel: 028 9147 2119 [email protected] www.businessfirstonline.co.uk YOUR BUSINESSFIRST TEAM Editor Gavin Walker [email protected] Sales Jenny Belshaw [email protected] Finance Margaret Walker [email protected] Design Studio Tw2 [email protected] www.businessfirstonline.co.uk 1