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The Software Bureau adds Baby Mailing Preference Service to SwiftCore

By |2023-03-09T10:07:00+00:00March 9th, 2023|

The Software Bureau has integrated Baby Mailing Preference Service (BMPS) to its SwiftCore suppression data portfolio to give organisations specialising in baby related products and services more control over their direct marketing. BMPS, a not-for-profit service managed by the DMA, is a specific preference service which enables bereaved parents to opt-out of receiving baby-oriented direct marketing communications including mail, email, SMS and phone calls. Most parents and parents-to-be are happy to receive communications from relevant brands at this exciting time, but in the UK sadly one in five pregnancies fall victim to a miscarriage and almost 3,000 a year result in a still birth. The BMPS enables those affected by miscarriage and stillbirth the opportunity to stop unwanted communications at [...]

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We achieve ISO27001 recertification

By |2023-03-02T07:33:07+00:00March 2nd, 2023|

We are delighted to have once again been recertified for ISO27001, which we first achieved in 2019. ISO27001 is the international standard prescribing best practice for an Information Security Management System (ISMS). It provides a framework for establishing, implementing, operating, monitoring and improving information management using a six-part process model. According to the latest ISO Survey less than one per cent of UK businesses (2,818 organisations) currently hold the award due to the complexity involved in adhering to the controls outlined by the Standard. The accreditation builds a culture of security protecting valuable data and information assets. Comments Martin Rides, Managing Director, The Software Bureau: "This is a great achievement, particularly since we are one of only a few organisations in the [...]

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Zero trust and the role of data hygiene 

By |2023-02-27T16:21:38+00:00February 27th, 2023|

Massive amounts of data are being generated daily - from exercise stats compiled by wearables through to smart building monitors that collect temperature and air pressure information every 15 minutes. If data creation continues at its present rate, more than a yottabyte (a million trillion megabytes) will likely be generated annually by 2030. We are really starting to put the big into big data!  But with data, comes data threat. The two are synonymous. Last year it is estimated that there were 4,100 publicly announced breaches in security equating to 22 billion records being compromised and a rise of over 25 percent is expected this year. In an attempt to mitigate these threats, it is unsurprising that within three years Gartner [...]

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ICO calls for SMEs to be more data aware; we call the ICO to do more with #HelptoGrow! 

By |2023-01-31T08:27:16+00:00January 31st, 2023|

The Information Commissioner is urging SMEs to check they have the right data protection practices in place to help sustain and develop their businesses. The UK regulator says getting good data practices in place from the start will save businesses time and money, and boost customer confidence. A recent survey, commissioned by the ICO reveals that 91 percent of people worried about having their personal information sold to other companies without their consent, and 87 percent worried about a company losing their personal information. And this is not surprising considering a survey by the DMA found that only 10 per cent of SME leaders felt that they were complaint with current data protection laws. Another shocking report found that half [...]

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Wants.Proper.Data: Is address data still relevant?

By |2023-01-18T16:54:10+00:00January 18th, 2023|

Someone I know once sent a letter addressed: Flat 3, Large Victorian House divided into flats, at the top of a hill on a large road near a school, by Reading West Station, Reading, Berks. And do you know what? It was delivered within a week. Shows just how well the posties knew their local area! Shame satnav doesn’t have the same contextual knowledge! There’s the famous story of the Amazon driver that got sacked for delivering a parcel to a field or similarly the one where a team of building society employees on a Christmas coach trip to France wound up in neighbouring Belgium - seven hours away - after Google Maps got Lille the city confused with Lille [...]

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Charities need to focus on inspiring positive emotions as cost-of-living crisis starts to bite

By |2022-12-19T14:09:24+00:00November 29th, 2022|

The cost-of-living crisis is really beginning to show its teeth when it comes to charitable donations. According to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) UK Giving Report nearly 60 percent of respondents said that the crisis will negatively impact their ability to donate. In April, one in 25 people reported that they had already cancelled a regular donation to charity, and by October this had risen to one in ten as a direct response to the rising cost of living. Similarly, 1 in 12 people said they had chosen not to make a one-off donation whilst a large number also said they had reviewed how much they give to charity. Due to this less than rosy outlook, many charities are shifting [...]

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With recession on the cards – now is the time to take a different approach to data hygiene

By |2022-10-20T07:37:31+00:00October 20th, 2022|

New research from housing specialists Hillarys.co.uk reveals the horrifying truth that a staggering 40 per cent of UK homeowners only clean their house once a year with five per cent admitting to only cleaning if they have guests coming to stay overnight. The most common excuses were a lack of cleaning products and inertia caused by the fact that the house is only going to get dirty again, so what is the point? However, researchers from The London School of Tropical Disease and Medicine say that there is increasing evidence to suggest that a messy house affects both mental and physical health. In fact, an unclean home can make you more susceptible to colds and flus as well as stress [...]

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The end of the road for GDPR?

By |2022-10-05T14:56:16+00:00October 5th, 2022|

Is the UK going to be free of the constraints of GDPR? If Michelle Donelan’s speech at the Conservative Party Conference is anything to go by, then GDPR’s days in the UK are numbered. The new secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said GDPR had been inherited from the EU, and its bureaucratic nature was limiting the potential for businesses. She announced that the UK would be replacing GDPR with its own business and consumer-friendly, data protection system. It wasn’t clear if this was to be the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (which itself has superseded the Data Reform Bill), or an entirely separate initiative. Whichever it may be, apparently the plan is to protect consumer [...]

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Charities shouldn’t put the data cart before the horse

By |2022-10-04T07:07:09+00:00October 4th, 2022|

New research shows that charities are falling behind when it comes to data. With the cost-of-living crisis now really beginning to show its teeth resulting in a sharp decline in donor numbers and donation value, data is now a critical capability for charities to master. However, data doesn’t have to be complex. More on this later… first, let’s have a look at the findings of the State of the Sector Data Maturity Report. The study measured 1,000 charities and rated their data maturity through five stages, from ‘Unaware’ to ‘Mastering’ across seven key themes: Uses, Data, Analysis, Leadership, Culture, Tools, and Skills. When it comes to data leadership over half (53 percent) of those surveyed said that there is no [...]

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Analytics are only as strong as the underlying data

By |2022-09-16T13:16:01+00:00September 16th, 2022|

Why data hygiene must become a priority post covid According to Fortune Business Insights, the global machine learning and analytics market is expected to grow from $21.17 billion in 2022 to $209.91 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 38.8 percent. Clearly it is big business, and the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has served to accelerate demand. Increasingly organisations from all sectors are turning to computers to make decisions from insurers calculating a customer’s risk profile through to airlines looking to work out how much food and drink to carry onboard. Every industry without exception can apply analytics to its data to make faster, more informed decisions. But, and it is a big BUT, analytics and machine learning [...]

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