Small Business Advice Wk: Simon Burckhardt

Small Business Advice Week has already provided some valuable insights to benefit those managing or considering managing their own businesses. The guest speaker in this interview is Simon Burckhardt who has considerable experience in the telecommunications and IT industry. He now works as the Managing Director at Vonage UK, which is part of a world-leading broadband telephony company. Simon has experience of setting up his own businesses, Route 30, so understands the struggles of SMEs.

New research has revealed the lengths that we go to save money, with almost 3 in 10 people admitting to not calling certain numbers because they cost too much money, and almost 2 in 10 using their work phone to make personal phone calls.

The survey of 2,000 employees in the UK, also found that 1 in 5 people have never thought about using the internet to make phone calls at work, and nearly 7 out of 10 people were not aware of voice-over IP, which enables people and businesses alike to make phone calls via the internet.

With figures showing that 8 out of 10 new businesses fail within their first three years. Vonage in partnership with Small Businesses Advice Week (1st September to 7th September), are encouraging small and micro enterprises (SMEs) to embrace new technologies to save money and compete with rival businesses.

In the following clip, Simon Burckhardt answers questions put to him By Yvonne Williams and reveals some interesting statistics concerning small and micro businesses (SMEs) and their significance within the Nation’s economy.