The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 40: Dec/Jan 2018/19 | Page 15

BUSINESS REVIEW OF THE YEAR
“We have
found staffing a
challenge with
finding the right
people to help
take our business
forward”
Looking ahead to 2019...
Creative: Nathan Sandhu, founder and
creative director, Jazzbones Creative
How was 2018?
2018 has been an interesting year - we have been super
busy and have done some great work with some amazing
clients like, Swindon Borough Council, Switch On To
Swindon, Vodafone, ParentZone, Honda and Allstar Business.
We have found staffing a challenge with finding the right
people to help take our business forward along with some
of our clients looking forward to the new year hesitant
about spend and planning because of Brexit.
I’m really positive as I know that with our branding and
creative services we can help entrepreneurs, disruptive
start-ups, and SMEs make a real difference in a competitive
market. It’s all about standing out from the crowd and
making an impact for their businesses which is exactly
what we do here at Jazzbones. Basically we solve our
clients’ creative conundrums and get stuff done! We have
been building our film and animation portfolio and are
seeing more and more forward-thinking clients embracing
this media to get across their complex business messages
to their target market.
Tech/IT: James Eades, managing director, Systemagic
“We remain very
positive that our
business will see
a steady growth”
How was 2018? Looking ahead to 2019...
It’s been a really good year. We grew head count
by about 30 per cent – it was fantastic, another
great year. It’s been fun all the way through and
to be honest, I can’t think of any lows. With everything that’s happening in the wider
world I think it’s going to be more difficult to
maintain growth in 2019, but we certainly want
to keep growing, so that’s the challenge. It’s just
a case of planning properly and analysing how
it’s all going. Looking forward – as long as it’s
fun that’s the main thing, we’re a good team and
that’s what really matters. If things get tough
next year, so be it. I’m not convinced Brexit is
going to affect us, but because we work with
other small businesses it’s down to confidence -
if people start tightening their belts it will affect
us a little bit. One of the things we’ve been doing
is to embrace the local business community
and work with a lot of local businesses and help
them understand what’s going on in IT, so we’re
looking forward to doing more of that.
Insurance: Ian Sharpe, senior account director, Jelf
How was 2018?
It’s has been an eventful and
challenging year. As a business we
have rebranded and have worked
hard in introducing our new brand
into the market place. We are now in
a great position to move the business
forward with exciting new products
coming to the market. Our aim is to
very positive that our business will
see a steady growth.
As far as Brexit is concerned, it is
a wait and see game but we will be
ready and able to adapt when needed.
We hope for a buoyant economy
leading to new business start-ups and
growth of existing business.
become the go-to trusted broker for
all commercial clients.
Looking ahead to 2019...
It should be a good year for Jelf.
Having moved through our rebrand
and with exciting new products
available for us to discuss with
existing and new clients we remain
Legal: Simon Holdsworth, managing partner, Thrings
How was 2018?
There were lots of highs - we did
two big office moves within six
weeks and we’ve been looking
at doing more international
work in places like Hong Kong
and Singapore, particularly Asia
Pacific, where we’re looking to
build up new relationships. One of
our reactions to Brexit is to start
building relationships outside of
Europe. Our Hampshire office
opened in October 2016, starting
with four people, and we moved
offices in March this year and we
now have 21 people there, focused
on private clients, landed estates
and agricultural clients, which is
again part of our strategic response
to Brexit. We see agriculture as
going through a bit of a boom
period at the moment. Because
they know the subsidies are going
to start slowing down the farming
world is looking at diversification
of land.
Looking ahead to 2019...
The war on talent for law firms is
very much going to be part of the
future over the next two or three
years. There is a shortage of the
right calibre of candidate. So that’s
our big challenge for the next 12
months – it’s all going to be about
people. It’s also an opportunity
because if you get it right and retain
the right people you become a
more successful business.
A couple of years ago, we started
focusing on some of our key
markets and looking at new
geographical markets and thought
they’re the relatively safe bets that
we’re going to make surrounding
Brexit. We do a lot with SMEs and
that sector is pretty busy.
Motoring: Dominic Threlfall, managing director, Pebley Beach
“Arguably it’s the
best time to go
and buy a car at
the moment”
How was 2018?
The first half of the year we had
lots of new models come out, with
manufacturers going more along
the environmental line, with more
EV vehicles. Interest rates going
up had an adverse effect because
lease plans and purchase plans have
gone up as a result. Likewise, the
currency market being like it is, cars
are a bit more expensive in the UK. In
August, we had the new regulation,
WLTP (Worldwide harmonized Light
vehicles Test Procedure). We’re very
fortunate with Hyundai, we never run
out of stock, but my colleagues at
Volkswagen and Audi and places like
that pretty much have no cars to sell
until January, which is a big industry
problem at the moment. From a
customer’s point of view there’s loads
of great cars and there’s been some
really good deals around on new cars
and nearly new, low mileage cars –
arguably it’s the best time to go and
buy a car at the moment.
Looking ahead to 2019...
Looking at the currency market the
predictions are they’re not going to
change massively despite Brexit so
that’s good news. But we don’t know
what tariffs are going to be placed on
cars but for the likes of Germany, the
UK is a massive market, possibly the
second largest in Europe, so German
manufacturers are not going to want
to stop selling cars in the UK. So
some sort of deal’s going to have to
happen.
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018
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