Am I the only one who thinks this is all a storm in a teacup? After all, London-based companies open up Manchester branches all year round and nobody thinks anything of it.

Expansion in the 21st Century

In fact, expanding into new cities has never been easier because, in the 21st Century, it is no longer necessary for people to meet face to face in order to do business. The days of travelling hundreds or thousands of miles simply to exchange pleasantries and signatures on a contract are thankfully behind us.

Nowadays, businessmen who need to contact clients can take their pick from a plethora of options – email, LinkedIn, video conferencing and much more. In the world of high-speed internet connections, the concept of pressing the flesh begins to look positively dated.

Broadband for Breakfast

Perhaps someone in the upper echelons of the BBC needs to make this point to disgruntled Breakfast staffers. It is perfectly reasonable to think that the programme will continue to prosper after relocating to Greater Manchester.

News reports could be transferred from Broadcasting House to MediaCityUK via a sturdy VPN connection. An SDSL package with good upload rates would allow business leaders in the City to be interviewed live on air in Salford. Perhaps a few lightweight celebrities might not want to make the trip up north, but if that means more of a focus on regional news and how Manchester companies are weathering the recession, that might not be an altogether bad thing.

The truth is that Greater Manchester is a great place to do business and by no means as isolated as some at the BBC would have you believe. Indeed, thanks to the onward march of technology, you could argue that Portland Place and Salford Quays have never been closer.

When I decided to move my expanding business to larger premises last year, I had no idea how difficult it would be to locate the right property for my company that was within the budget I could afford, as well as overseeing everything else that was involved in moving from one office to another.

The first issue to be overcome was deciding where we wanted to move. To avoid inconveniencing my staff I wanted to try and stay as near to our then current location as possible or at least remain close to good transport links. Proximity to our client base was also important; moving too far away could be detrimental to our reputation and demand in that area.

Obviously the budget was another big consideration. Commercial properties in the North West are in demand, especially in Manchester which is the hub for many flourishing industries. While we needed to relocate to a larger office, overspending on the property was not an option.

Luckily for me there are some great commercial property agencies and consultancy services based in the North West. I was able to get in contact with people based around Manchester who knew the area well, were trained especially in commercial property sales and who were therefore able to help me find the right location for my company.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to find a good agency when relocating your business. The key things to look out for are experienced professional companies which have a good working knowledge of your area and of dealing with commercial properties. If you can find a reliable agency to work with, it leaves you with the time to sort out all the other little details.

It’s important to keep on top of things in business – that’s a given. When you’re delivering and receiving parcels left, right and centre, it’s fundamental to be aware of exactly where everything is, and when it’s going to reach its destination.

As we’ve seen this month with the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland, things can get in the way – in a big way! However, it’s still important to strike up a good relationship with a courier service you can trust.

Criteria

It’s important to keep in mind some key factors when choosing the right parcel delivery service. Firstly, you need to consider what it is your company needs. Strip it down, go back to basics – what is necessary versus what is extravagant.

For example, do you really need next day delivery, or will a standard length of time suffice? If this is the case, you may want to look into a smaller company to deliver your goods as they can often manage a personal touch not reachable by the bigger firms. In this instance, take some time, shop around and get creative with a bespoke parcel delivery service – you may have to pay a little more but it will definitely put your mind at ease.

Do you need to insure your items against loss or damage – or are they easily replaceable? If you do, then it might be best to consider one of the larger delivery services like UPS or FedEx – a brand name you can trust based on reputation.

What it’s done for me

For my business, a decent parcel delivery service has been an absolute Godsend. In the past we were constantly ringing around our clients trying to confirm the delivery of packages. Now we have a good company delivering for us we can simply use the online tracking function to check that everything is going to plan.

So, what I’ve tried to get across here is just how much time and messing around a decent parcel delivery service can save you. I hope you heed my advice and say goodbye to any delivery woes you may have!

In my line of work, making yourself accessible is vital. My role dictates that being ‘hard to reach’ is a cardinal sin – if a lead wants to get in touch with me, no matter what time it is or where I am, I need to be able to respond as a matter of urgency.

Out of the office

This is where the bulk of my work takes place – on the road a lot of the time, heading to meetings with prospective clients, networking, pitching for new business. Of course, people still need to be able to contact me while I’m out and about.

I use a HTC HD2 as my out of office phone, it’s a fantastic handset and in many ways superior to the iPhone. The screen is huge, making it great for emails and because it runs Windows Mobile I can file reports or browse documents with ease while on the go.

It’s not only illegal but also foolish and disrespectful to use your phone at the wheel, so when I’m driving (which, again, my job requires a lot of) I hook up a Bluetooth headset to continue conversations. Again, this increases my accessibility – I’m immensely proud that 99.9% of the time, my contacts never hit my voicemail. I use a very comfortable clip-on headset with noise-cancelling features (vital for taking a call in busy traffic).

In the office

When I’m at base filing reports or liaising with my company directors, there’s even less of an excuse for people not being able to get through to me. Of course, we have a receptionist at our building but when she patches through to my extension I like to be able to take the call wherever I am – not just at my desk.

Again, I use a headset to stay available. In this case I clip on the Plantronics CS60, a superb piece of kit, with a discreet ear loop that is so comfortable I often forget it’s there. The Plantronics CS60 enables me to hold phone calls when I’m doing other things – heading to meetings, briefing my colleagues, etc – which is important as it means I’m not tethered to my desk.

My HTC stays on when I’m in the office and if anything it rings more when I am. Because I’ve got it synced with my laptop, I can pass files easily between the two and never lose track of an important document.

I think I’m probably one of the most connected people in the UK. I can’t remember the last time I had to ring someone back having missed their call. It’s a track record I’m very proud of, but one which would not be possible without the wonderful technology around me.

I like knowing what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. I’m a man who’s got to where he has by instinctively understanding where I’ve got to be at any given time. As you can imagine, I don’t like you if you’re late for meetings!

I guess it’s part of a bigger philosophy; one of direction. I don’t understand those people who idly float through life without a direction. You can’t live your life without a purpose. You need to be calculated and driven.

This is why I play blackjack. I like being able to predict the outcome of a casino game and I don’t understand those people who play slots; the randomness of it all. Of course, I’ve bet on football matches – watched Wayne Rooney earn me a tidy sum from the boxes above the Theatre Of Dreams, but there wasn’t much chance me losing that bet – it was against Portsmouth FC.

Blackjack gives me the most control; it’s an analytical game of percentages. Sure, you’ve got to be pretty sharp to play the numbers in a real casino, but you can get enough practice online. There are dozens of online casino games out there where you can hone your skills pretending to be under the bright lights of the blackjack table.

As with everything in life, practice makes perfect. Sure, it takes time and effort, but if you’re patient it’s not that difficult to count the cards as the smoking-hot croupier dishes them out. Alas, I’ve been married for six years.

The government, along with telecoms companies like BT, have been talking for what seems like years about how best to advance broadband in this country, all the while falling ever further behind places such as Japan and South Korea where superfast internet speeds are the norm, not just a distant dream.

They even produced a report looking at the various ways in which the broadband expansion might be funded, including the introduction of a levy (read: tax) on phone lines to pay for high speed network upgrades.

Now, it seems there might finally be some light at the end of the tunnel, as our own fair city plays host to a relatively small scale project, which, if successful, could shape the future of internet use and broadband connectivity in the UK.

The latest round of work will see high speed fibre optic broadband lines fitted along the Oxford Road ‘Corridor’ area, alongside SDSL and ADSL connections between businesses, homes and university buildings. The aim is that users in the vicinity will be able to take advantage of connection speeds of up to 100Mbps, as well as getting their telecoms services from multiple providers, rather than just one.

While I commend the fact that the high speed broadband ball is finally rolling, and feel pride that once again Manchester is at the centre of innovation when it comes to technology, I can’t help but feel that there could be more progress being made. It seems we’ve waited years for… what… one road lined with fast internet?

Hopefully the pilot will be a success and we’ll start to see the rollout of more high speed broadband around the UK – before we fall even further behind our global competitors.

Manchester is a fantastic place with a great business history; unsurprisingly for the city that was at the epicentre of the industrial revolution, it seems to nurture endeavour and entrepreneurism like few other places can.

My company has been operating in Manchester for just over eleven years now, during which time we’ve witnessed not only the continuing expansion and improvement of the city centre, but also its communication infrastructure.

When we first started out in the business of re-upholstering prestige cars to our clients’ specifications, we took a lot of our orders by fax, or over the phone. There’s a surprising amount of word of mouth generated around what we do, particularly with all the millionaire footballers floating around Manchester, so we were able to maintain a good churn with the clientbase we had.

Then, with the boom of broadband, came the opportunity to market what we do to a larger audience than ever before. We put together a simple website with an enquiry form and pretty soon we were pulling in sales from much further afield (many of them came from the leafier suburbs of Merseyside and Cheshire, home to yet more footballers and high-fliers). We’ve now opened another dedicated sales office in Liverpool and business is better than ever.

Two things have helped us immeasurably in the venture over the last couple of years. Firstly, search engine optimisation, or SEO. We got a little agency in Manchester to put together our website for us and while I’m still not entirely clued-up on the exact science behind what they did, I know that by using keywords related to our business and building everything with search engine users in mind they were able to generate a lot of traffic (and ergo sales) for what was a relatively simple site.

The second thing we couldn’t really have done without, at least since opening the Liverpool office, is our VPN, or virtual private network. We share a lot of information between our two sales centres and needed a secure and fast way to give staff at both ends access to it all. I believe our managed VPN is much safer and more efficient than sending files over email. It is as though all of my staff are in the same room when using it, even though half of them have the misfortune of being stuck at the wrong end of the M62 (I’m joking!).

What will our next step be? Well, for now, we’ve got to make sure we keep trading well at a time when people are spending less on luxuries. Luckily the market for bespoke, wipe-clean patterns hasn’t bottomed out too much – I guess we’ll prosper as long as the car makers keep producing boring, grey interiors.

I am, however, interested in exploring a more creative field of web marketing over the next year. Buzzwords I keep hearing include viral and social and while at first all that made me think of was the common cold, I’ve been speaking to a few agencies who think they can produce some innovative social media tools and videos.

One idea I’m particularly keen on is a Create Your Own Upholstery-type application for Facebook or phones, which might appeal to our affluent female userbase (without wanting to cast aspersions on the creativity, or lack thereof, of our footballing friends), but I think this needs more development to set it apart from the crowd.

Time will tell how we fare as the economy continues to recover, but I’m still convinced that Manchester is as good a place as any for businesses to thrive.

If your business relies on clear communication with its customers, sourcing the right headset equipment can be particularly intimidating. Depending on the intended use, there could be dozens of models that suit your purposes. The Alphacom Office 300 is a popular device, especially with companies involved in direct marketing.

As with headsets, there is a selection of handsets available. Sadly, many buyers often ignore functionality and get attracted to phones with an extensive list of features they often don’t need. When you are shopping around for a particular product, ensure you choose one perfect for its environment. The BT Elements range is very popular with a variety of consumers. It’s simple, lightweight and designed for constant use. Perfect if you never get the chance to put the phone down!

Many Manchester companies do not dedicate enough resources to selecting the appropriate telecommunications equipment. It is necessary to have the best model for the job; if a company has the right materials, they can start functioning more effectively and efficiently in this exciting city of commerce.