Prosper Autumn, Black Country Chamber of Commerce magazine

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BUSINESS VOICE: SKILLS IN THE SPOTLIGHT Skills are the foundation stones of economic and societal success Skills sit at the heart of regional growth and success says James Norris, Assistant Principal at Walsall College Skills: an omnipresent item in the news agenda. Those which are in demand; those in decline; and the industries suffering a skills gap. The inherent links between skills and individual employability, and skills and business productivity, are indisputable. However, the importance of nurturing a strong focus on, and commitment to, skills development goes far beyond simply this. A meaningful focus on appropriate skills development drives aspiration and encourages potential. It empowers which, in turn, impacts positively on health, crime and more generally an individual’s opportunity to contribute to wider society. In short, skills sit at the heart of a town and a region’s growth and success potential. Walsall and the wider Black Country has a rich heritage born from its central role in The Industrial Revolution. The Black Country of the 18th and 19th centuries, however, is in stark contrast to that of the 21st century. The demise of coal mining, coupled with the decline in most heavy industry has created a region that is today widely recognised as among the most deprived – both socially and economically – in the country. Not only has the industrial landscape changed, but so too has the high-street with a significantly declining retail offer. Full-time workers in Walsall earn, on average, £518.50 gross per week compared to £550.80 across the wider West Midlands region and £587 nationwide. Full-time female workers, meanwhile, earn £100 less per week compared to male workers, and there is a similar trend for part-time workers. Levels of poor mental health in Walsall (19.4%) are higher than the regional average (18.8%), and 1 in 8 children aged 5-19 in Walsall are estimated to have at least one mental health problem. Academic achievement in Walsall schools is also below average: 36% of pupils here achieve maths & English grade 4-9, compared to 43% average nationally. Indeed, as part of the Government’s Levelling Up agenda, Walsall has been identified as one of three ‘pathfinder areas’ where the intention is for local employment and skills services to be more closely aligned to tackle the conundrum of high unemployment coupled with high vacancy levels. This paints a gloomy picture and whether it’s perception or empirical fact, there’s no denying that Walsall has many deeply entrenched challenges. These aren’t, however, insurmountable. Skills development has a vital role to play in addressing these challenges and here at Walsall College we’re acutely aware of our responsibility in this respect. Our students today are tomorrow’s employers and employees. They need us now more than ever. Indeed, the whole Walsall community needs us. But we can’t achieve this alone and here I call on the business community to support us in our mission. As a community-wide institution, we’re already working closely with the Black Country Chamber, our local authorities, the West Midlands Combined Authority and, of course, employers in both the public and private sectors to provide the skills necessary to increase regional and national economic prosperity and contribute to the success of our communities. But there’s always more to be done. The importance of future workforce planning cannot be underestimated, and the value to be gained by driving greater levels of innovation is undoubtable. As a college, we are committed to growing our Level 3, 4 and 5 provision; we will continue to offer flexible curriculum pathways from entry level courses through to Higher Education; and we will facilitate smooth and seamless transitions for students progressing through differing course types. But to deliver this successfully, it is imperative that the region’s businesses recognise their responsibilities too. Valuing apprenticeships and other vocational pathways is a must and there is no room for sitting on the fence. Workplace readiness can only be achieved when young people are given a chance to experience the workplace as part of their studies and training. This requires the support of employers. A college can provide the technical knowledge, but it ‘‘ Our students today are tomorrow’s employers and employees. They need us now more than ever. But we can’t achieve this alone and the business community must support us in our mission. ‘‘ cannot provide the experience, and until more employers step forward to help with this, we’ll remain in stalemate. This is not a point for discussion: it’s an immediate need for action. Indeed, if we address this now, if we get this right now and continue to get skills delivery right, then not only are we doing all we can to drive forward the economic potential of the region, but we’ll also witness a positive upturn in the region’s aspirations and, in turn, crime levels, health and prosperity. If you’re a business leader wondering what you can do, there are a multitude of ways to get involved and the best first step is to get in touch with your local training provider or FE college. 36 PROSPER AUTUMN 2022
ADVERTORIAL SPOTLIGHT: EBC Need some relief from rising energy prices? Why cloud solutions could help your business reduce its energy costs With the hike in energy costs this autumn and winter, many businesses are having to find new ways to reduce their electricity consumption across the board. Previously, most businesses have probably not been particularly focused on the running costs associated with their on-premises hardware and software. Your business may not even have looked into exactly how much you are spending on electricity to run your servers 24 hours a day, as well as the lighting and air-conditioning needed to keep everything at the right temperature. However, the amount of energy required to power this equipment represents a sizeable overhead. One way of reducing your costs is by moving from an on-premises IT infrastructure to a cloud solution, which could decrease your energy consumption significantly and could save you money. Benefits of cloud over on-premises IT If you have an on-premises IT infrastructure, your organisation’s electricity costs are likely to increase substantially due to the amount of energy required to run all of your software. Moving your storage to the cloud and outsourcing to a specialist cloud provider will allow you to transfer the responsibility of running your own hardware and software over to your provider. According to Microsoft Corporation and WSP Global Inc., cloud computing is 93% more energy-efficient than on-premises data centres. Furthermore, research by Berkeley Lab and Northwestern University, funded by Google, found that businesses could save between 60% and 85% in energy costs when they change over to cloud-based services. Due to the current energy crisis, the supply of energy may become unstable, particularly over the winter, with the possibility of blackouts in the worst case scenario. If this does happen, a cloud provider is more likely to have better resilience in terms of back-up generators and equipment, ensuring your business stays working. How do cloud providers keep costs down? As specialist cloud providers are dealing with numerous customers, the cost of the energy that they are using to run their servers is shared between their customers so they benefit from economies of scale. They are also likely to get wholesale energy rates which means their energy will be less costly per unit than the average business. Since their business is IT, they will be more likely to be using the latest energy efficient servers within their data centre. Moving to the cloud reduces the amount of hardware your business requires, lowers your energy consumption and saves your business money so it is certainly worth considering making the move before the next energy price increase hits. At EBC Group, we provide the full range of cloud hosting services including private cloud hosting, hybrid cloud hosting, managed cloud services and enterprise cloud services. EBC Group will help you explore all of the cloud options available to you and assess what will work best for your business, whether that is hosting a few of your systems with us or all of them. For more information, visit www.ebcgroup. co.uk, email us at hello@ebcgroup.co.uk or call us on 0121 3680119. ‘‘ Research by Berkeley Lab and Northwestern University found that businesses could save between 60% and 85% in energy costs when they change over to cloud-based services. ‘‘ PROSPER AUTUMN 2022 37
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