< Previous30 Business Link www.blmforum.net MOVEMBER D Davies Turner PIONEERS IN SERVICE SINCE 1870 Your worldwide freight and logistics partner T: 01709 529709 W: www.daviesturner.com E: RotherhamSales@daviesturner.co.uk DIRECT GASKETS LIMITED Contact us today on 01482 219655 or visit our website www.direct‐gaskets.co.uk For 35 years we have been market leaders in the manufacture of Gaskets. Keeping Your Business Moving Commercial Trailer Specialists in Stallingborough, Grimsby T: 07739 644398 E: glcommercials@btinternet.com W: www.glcommercials.com n Servicing n MOTs n Repairs n Brakes & Tyres n Engine diagnostics n Car Batteries n Exhausts n ECU Remapping n Air Conditioning Testing/repairs/Re Gas VW, AUDI, SEAT & SKODA SPECIALIST Tel: 01472 812130 www.lincsvwa.com Unit 3, Woodside Park Station Road, Tetney Grimsby. DN36 5HX Over 100 years in business Contact us on 03333 580393 or visit www.ringroselaw.co.uk for legal advice and support Where individuals count... We offer a wide range of services: Tel: 01469 576225 Email: info@selvic.co.uk www.selvic.co.uk Versatility. Integrity. Empathy. Warehousing and storage solutions International Freight Forwarding Sea Freight adventure challenge, whether that’s physical endurance or your own wildcard ideas, it’s a great way to use your physical strength, stamina, and good health to help others (and offer an encouraging example of positive masculinity in the process). For something a little less intensive, you can host a ‘Mo-ment’. Here you can put your own spin on things by organising an event, virtual or otherwise. This option is particularly suited to corporate environments to get the whole team involved (not just the ones growing moustaches). Whether it’s a simple get- together, a coffee morning, or even a teambuilding weekend, there’s a plethora of ways to host a shindig to raise money. Of course, you can just donate direct to the charity, be that a one-off or an ongoing monthly basis. With the money raised, the charity funds ground-breaking projects across mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. www.blmforum.net Business Link 31 MOVEMBER Since 2003, it has raised £598 million and funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects around the world. Last year, to help address some of the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, it announced funding for thirty-four projects supporting the mental health and wellbeing of men and boys. A mass media behaviour change campaign aimed at encouraging millions of young men to talk about their mental health was also successfully launched. Despite the emphasis on men’s health, Movember is all about inclusivity. In 2016, for example, it partnered with Australia’s National Breast Cancer Foundation to fund research to transform the lives of both men and women. And women, dubbed ‘Mo Sisters’, are invited to take part in fundraising activities to support the charity and, by extension, their male relatives and men all around the world. However, it’s important not to forget trans men in all of this. They may not biologically possess prostates or testes but deserve mental health support as much as any other man. They therefore have every right to participate in every kind of fundraising, especially growing a moustache for those taking testosterone who are able. From humble beginnings in Australia when two mates met up for a beer in 2003 and came up with the idea for the movement, to becoming the foremost men’s health charity in the world, Movember is an important institution, one with major industry and media backing, but one which needs your help. How are you going to help? How to help someone who’s struggling Helping a friend is easy when you know how. Follow these four steps from Movember to let the conversation flow. When in doubt just remember: ALEC. 1. Ask Start by mentioning anything different you’ve noticed. Maybe he’s spending more time at the bar, coming into work late, or missing social events. Trust your instinct. Remember, we often say “I’m fine” when we’re not. So, if you think something’s wrong, don’t be afraid to ask twice. 2. Listen Try to give him your full attention, without interruptions. Don’t feel you have to diagnose problems, offer solutions, or give advice. Just let him know you’re all ears, judgement-free. Follow-up questions are good too, they help let him know you’re listening. 3. Encourage action Help him focus on simple things that might improve his wellbeing: is he getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and eating properly? Maybe there’s something that’s helped before. Suggest he tells other people he trusts how he’s feeling. This will make things easier for both of you. And if he’s felt low for more than two weeks, suggest he sees his doctor. 4. Check-in Suggest you catch up soon – in person if you can. If you can’t manage a meet-up, make time for a call, or drop him a message. This will show you care. If you’re worried that someone’s life is in immediate danger, go directly to emergency services. © stock.adobe.com/Iryna32 Business Link www.blmforum.net WATER & WASTE MANAGEMENTwww.blmforum.net Business Link 33 WATER & WASTE MANAGEMENT As the population in the UK grows, water is becoming ever more important, and recent failures in water treatment and disposal have brought uncomfortable attention on the sector. While some businesses have been doing things the right way, others have prioritised profits over the environment – and been punished for it. Water being a keystone of life makes the industry important, and it is that same commitment to life that led water companies in the UK to agree in 2020 on an ambitious plan to make the water treatment industry net zero by 2030, twenty years ahead of the Government’s 2050 34 Á © stock.adobe.com/ aquatarkus34 Business Link www.blmforum.net WATER & WASTE MANAGEMENT deadline. Water UK estimated that the pledge could lead to a saving of ten million tonnes of greenhouse gases. That is because water treatment and transportation is energy intensive, which is very expensive in today’s economic climate especially. Government projections put water supply as becoming scarcer in the future as demand on limited supplies increase, which is why businesses are being tasked with becoming more water efficient, and why water treatment is so integral. The cornerstones of water treatment involve the treating and safe release/disposal of water used in business processes back into the environment. This can have major ecological impacts when handled ineffectively, harming biodiversity and causing ecological, as well as environmental, damage. We live in a world where these factors are prized more than ever by consumers and customers who, in a more digital world, are quick to find fault and criticise companies who cause damage to the landscape. Wastewater – and waste management in general – represents not only copious amounts of greenhouse gas, but damaging environmental waste that can impact entire ecosystems, changing concentrations of animals, pests and insects in ways that can upset natural habitats. One doesn’t have to look far to see timely and topical examples of water treatment done wrong, as the Government was recently highlighted for decisions that allowed treatment works to pump raw sewage into the UK’s rivers which, a new report has found, was known to be happening by the Environment Agency ten years ago. The report found that in 2012, it was known that United Utilities were dumping raw sewage into rivers in north-west regions and were failing to treat the required amount of sewage as agreed by their permits. The fact it has only come to light now has led many to anger and will place more attention on water treatment and wastewater disposal going forward as the Government, and concerned groups, try to limit the damage. Since then, Anglian Water have been fined over £800,000 for breaches and pollution incidents in Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, which has led for calls for their other sites to be investigated as well. One incident was said to have caused the deaths of every invertebrate in the river for 1.5 kilometres, which will have disastrous knock-on effects for all animals for which © stock.adobe.com/ Kletrwww.blmforum.net Business Link 35 WATER & WASTE MANAGEMENT they were a part of the food chain. Even right now, water companies are facing complete outrage from the public over excessive dumping and contamination of lakes and rivers in the UK, while continuing to pay themselves bonuses. United Utilities have been found to have been illegally dumping waste water in Lake Windemere between 2021 and 2023 without notifying the authorities, leading to algal bloom and contamination. Is accurate and adequate water treatment just about complying with environmental demands and avoiding criticism, however? No. It is important that good water treatment in any business be viable as well as environmentally sound, and thankfully water treatment can help to reduce energy costs if it is implemented correctly. The process itself is very energy intensive, which is why it stands that greater savings can be made. A 10% increase in energy efficiency, for instance, will have a much greater financial saving on an energy-intensive process as opposed to an energy-light process. The amount of savings that can be made will depend on factors such as the size and age of existing water treatment facilities, how outdated they might be and the sewage inflow and effluent quantity. In the case of Anglian Water, it was stated that old technology and poor maintenance practices played a part in their failure. The lessons to be learned from this are that water treatment and disposal is a story of two halves – the first is that the water be treated and made safe as efficiently and affordable as possible, but the other half is that efforts must be taken to have a conscious awareness of what impact the release of such waste will have on the local environment and ecological system. This may not be as immediately profit-oriented as the former, but the hefty fines faced by companies who failed this, and the reputational damage, will have long- lasting implications on their brands, and may well lead to many job losses among high ranking individuals who were found to have allowed this to happen. As the population in the country continues to grow, water will become increasingly precious. We have already begun to see droughts in developed countries such as America, and there are many of the attitude that this could not possibly happen in the UK. The reality is less certain however, which is why continued investment and development in water treatment facilities is so important. © stock.adobe.com/ tampatra36 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS SERVICES © stock.adobe.com/Shuo The rise of generative AI www.blmforum.net Business Link 37 BUSINESS SERVICES Business services have focused on cutting costs and increasing efficiency for the longest time, but the introduction of AI is leading some to suggest a new direction is upon is. It’s not one without risk, however. B usiness services have traditionally focused on cutting costs and making companies leaner. This is understandable given the aim for every business is growth, but that growth is not always linear or even possible. Economic conditions and stagnant recruitment markets sometimes mean growth isn’t feasible even if the money is there, and that companies can only increase profits by instead focusing on cutting their costs and streamlining business operations. As a result, business services adapted to fill that niche and prioritise growth via internal changes in businesses. This may have been in making existing staff more efficient, reducing overheads, or overhauling a business to make more use of the resources it already has. However, the advent of generative AI is leading many across the world to explore its potential for expanding businesses via outward methods using said technology. It’s not one that is without its risks or 38 Á38 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS SERVICES controversy, however. When it comes to AI, some of the industries to adapt it the most are – sadly – the criminal ones. Scammers and phishers have been making use of AI in ever more clever ways to trick people and businesses out of their money, or to harvest and sell data on the dark web. In a sense, this does prove the value of generative AI as a way to increase operations – even if those operations are ones no one wants to see improving. The same lessons can be learned from such activities however, as their effectiveness can’t be ignored. While AI is troubled and can sometimes lead to errors, it also has the potential to output more than any single worker could. In our own field of journalism, for instance, it is especially polarising as it can create utterly fake and bogus articles that are so worthless as to be dangerous to the companies who run them, but it can also create said pieces in a fraction of the time it would take a www.blmforum.net Business Link 39 BUSINESS SERVICES journalist. However, while it’s too dangerous to use such articles in journalism, there are some industries where its usage can be less dangerous. For instance, there are already numerous companies investigating the usage of AI for sales and cold calling, in what is sure to be a very frustrating future reality we face where AI will be calling us to try and sell products. While this is obviously worrying for the future, it does come at a time when recruitment of sales staff is a problem most companies in the world are facing. It’s also the number one limiter on growth for a lot of businesses, as they simply cannot hire enough sales staff to justify expansion plans. An area where AI is being used in a similar manner is in help desks and online support centres, where you’re just as likely nowadays to be screened first by an AI than you are by an actual person. While talking to an AI may not be particularly exciting, few would argue it isn’t better than being kept on hold for forty minutes, and if the AI can screen out callers with simple problems then it will shorten the wait times of those with more serious ones. In web design and coding, generative AI shows incredible promise – and while giving an AI the ability to alter code sounds like something out of a sci-fi horror movie, it’s possible to have an AI generate coding for simple tasks like website design and maintenance, freeing up resources in IT departments. Naturally, all of this carries with it some small risk in the sense that, if the AI goes wrong or breaks, the responsibility will fall back on human operators – but that’s where a lot of generative AI work admits its need for human handlers. AI content is not perfect, and it may never be perfect, which means there will always be a need for humans to step in, either to fix what isn’t correct or to handle problems the AI hasn’t been trained for. Still, with its ability to generate images from prompts it’s easy to see that AI could be of use in businesses from architects generating images of builds and room design to clients, to businesses using it to create training material for new staff, all the way through to replacing receptionists with AI to screen calls and direct people to the right people. As controversial as it may be, the use of generative AI is allowing business services to look at the potential of helping companies grow once more, and not just having to focus on cutting costs or streamlining what is already there. © stock.adobe.com/ Dieter HolsteinNext >