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I’m particularly delighted to have been asked to be the first guest
editor of this publication as it highlights the crucial link between
business support initiatives like Cumbria Business Growth Hub
and the services provided by organisations like David Allen.

We’re always keen to encourage more businesses to take advantage of the
commercial consultancy and advice available locally and the wealth of
services available at David Allen are here to help businesses large and small.

The Cumbria Chamber of Commerce is all about making It’s great to see such a range of topics covered in this
things happen to support businesses across the county. newsletter. Publications like this demonstrate how
A key element of that support is through the Cumbria professional organisations like David Allen are more than just
Business Growth Hub which we established some years ago traditional accountants and that in all of our financial affairs,
to create a one-stop-shop for business support in Cumbria. particularly those related to running a business, there are
The Hub was created to make it easier for businesses to find always opportunities which should be explored with qualified
the inspiration, information, support and contacts to help advisers like the team at David Allen who will add value
them to enhance their competitiveness and grow. Working across a wide range of areas.
in collaboration with partners, it brings together under
one umbrella the range of funded and subsidised services Embracing the cloud is something we’ve been doing
available, as well as paid for services and grants for capital increasingly at the Chamber in recent years, investing heavily
investment. in cloud based delivery systems to support projects. Our
investment means we can verify the positive value of the
The Hub has already worked with around 5,000 businesses cloud - not least in data security. The clear direction of the
of all sizes and sectors throughout our county, from near future is for more and more information to move into
individuals looking to set up on their own as sole traders, to the cloud and it is something we all need to build into our IT
large businesses making multi million pound investments. strategies, find out more on page 30.
Cumbria Growth Fund, the Chamber’s capital grants
programme, is funded through the Government’s Regional “Publications like this demonstrate how
Growth Fund and was launched last summer. It has already professional organisations like David Allen
committed close to £3 million of its £4 million pot to are more than just traditional accountants...”
businesses across the county with recipients ranging from a
small social enterprise, to international hi-tech manufacturers
and food exporters.

Closely linked to utilising the cloud is taking advantage of

your business’ IT to inject productivity into your workplace

and pages 10 and 11 show us that there are lots of
opportunities well worth exploring and implementing.

2 david-allen.co.uk