Siarp

Some helpful guidance. There’s a lot more where this came from! We are all about quality advice around here! There is a serious point here though, we came across someone today who has set their payment card PIN to their birth year! FFS! 🤦

Thank you to our match and match ball sponsors for their support at our fixture against Sunderland 🦢 Match sponsor – Siarp 🏟️ Match ball sponsor – Gower College Swansea ⚽ If any other businesses are interested in either of the above packages for any of our remaining fixtures (subject to availability), please email [email protected]

What a day! Not the result we wanted, but the Swans played a great first half against a strong side. Promising things ahead for the team and the fans. Our first time as match sponsor. It did feel a little bit special to see our logo up on the big screen. 🥰 Hannah Nolloth’s work visible for 15,000 people to see. Thank you to Ethan Evans for answering all my silly emails up until the day. 🙌

Are you using spreadsheets for managing your customers and your sales? Yes? You've got to be a bit of a sadist! Not that we're judging. You do you... but know, there is a better way. Using a CRM transformed the way we do business, so many potential clients were falling through the cracks, because our system of emails and spreadsheets was simply not good enough. Now, we're bringing our lived experience to our clients and offering the same Customer Relationship Management system to help them get more sales, and build better relationships. So, say goodbye to massive and unwieldy spreadsheets and say hello to order, automation and never losing track of where you are. Contact us if you'd like to find out more about how we can help you work smarter.

This weekend, we are official sponsors of the Swansea City Football Club match against Sunderland AFC. We're looking forward to an exciting fixture and wish the team all the best. ⚽️ If you're at the match and you spot our sponsor boards or the ads on the big screen, snap a photo, share them on your socials and tag us. We'll enter anyone tagging us in a prize draw! Come on you Swans! ⚫️⚪️

Picture the scenes! It's going in to 2025, you're a small business, things are going OK, no, heck... they're going well, really well, but what's this? There's a niggling fly in the ointment. You still don't have your Cyber Security under control? What madness is this? Madness indeed, but there is a cure, we are the cure! All you've got to do is take that one small step. Contact us. The rest will follow. After all, why wouldn't you want to get it done? Are you playing chicken with cyber criminals? When you realise that the majority of would-be attackers aren't particularly skilled. They're just people, they might not even be wearing a hoody! They're bored, sat at their laptop poking and prodding, playing with software to see what it does. Learning, being inquisitive, maybe a bit nosey... before, eventually, they find someone, just like you, who hasn't covered the basics... and then... they're in! And then what? They snoop around your stuff. They snag a trophy. But what good is a trophy if you don't show or tell anyone? The next thing you know, they've told someone on an online chat, that person takes a look, they're a bit more mischievous than the original attacker... they see an opportunity to make some £££! And that's where your real troubles begin. Just don't do it to yourself, let's get you on the path to better security. It's not as difficult, or as expensive as you might think. Comment below and we'll be in touch! (and yes... it does appear that "background remover" has also removed part of Justin's thumb!)

This morning, I had a good catch up with Kay Augustus, it's been a while since we last met. It was lovely to see you again! It was after our B4C BNI Business Networking in Carmarthen meeting. Thanks to Helen Rees I got a fantastic testimonial which made my glasses steam up! I won't share all of it here, I'll do that on the Siarp page. But here are a couple of highlights... just because... "Justin is just a really approachable, nice guy, taking the time out of his very hectic days to have (very) long conversations. He has given so much effort into making introductions that have already made a difference to Cymorth Addysg. Siarp included me on a monthly newsletter last month and I had an enquiry and new connection immediately after the email hit inboxes!" and... "Justin has made the effort to understand what I am trying to do with the business and has even given me ideas of what I can do to gain more connections and potential customers, offering to work collaboratively, which I know he doesn't need to." So, do you want IT support from an "approachable, nice guy"? I bet you do... seek me out... I'm here and I'm waiting for your DM's, emails and phone calls!

🚨🔔🚨 When you buy a burglar alarm for your house, it doesn't need to be a state-of-the-art system. In most cases, it just needs to be "enough". When a would-be burglar sees that your house has an alarm fitted, there's a good chance they will just think it's not worth the hassle and move on to another house. If it's a targeted attack, because they know you have something specific they're after, then they'll come prepared. They'll have the skills they need to disable or bypass your alarm, and that's when you're going to need a whole heap of other security at your place. 📹 CCTV, a safe, an eight year old boy whose family have forgotten him when they go away for the festive period... that kind of thing. This is very similar to your business and the cyber security that you put in place to protect it. Don't think you can get away with doing nothing, you'll be the one that the chancers and the opportunists will go for. Meanwhile, your neighbours of competitors, the ones who did the basics right will be the ones that those same would-be attackers will ignore. Unless you have something specific that someone is after from you, then you can very easily make it so that you're not worth bothering with. The big companies, or the up-and-coming businesses who have some exciting IP are the ones who are going to attract attention of the specialists, the ones that will need seriously beefed up security to repel. And even then, it might not be enough to stop them. So, stop playing fast and loose with your businesses data and get some basic, cost effective protection in place. Make some behavioural changes and implement some policies too, and you'll be a whole lot safer than you are today. 💪 This public service announcement was brought to you today by Siarp - contact me if you want to stay safe.

We've been a bit shit. We held a little contest to win some prizes and we've been too wrapped up (nice xmas pun there) with helping our clients that we haven't got around to doing the draw! Well, what better way to spend a day of annual leave, than to make time to do the draw and post the results! The draw was for a Lego Christmas Tree, two bottles of prosecco and ten 12-month memberships to our soon to be "generally available" community platform worth £25 per month! (big woooooooh from the crowd there!) So, without further ceremony... here are the winners! 🎉🥳🍾: Sarah Hanney - you've won the Lego Christmas tree plus The Siarp Edge Community membership! Phill Hanlon - you've won the prosecco and The Siarp Edge Community membership! Marina Hauer - you've won the prosecco and The Siarp Edge Community membership! Trish Burgess (not on LinkedIn) - you've won 12 months membership of The Siarp Edge Community! Sherrie Broom - you've won 12 months membership of The Siarp Edge Community! Anna Robinson - you've won 12 months membership of The Siarp Edge Community! Andrea Newton - you've won 12 months membership of The Siarp Edge Community! Sarah Lynn - you've won 12 months membership of The Siarp Edge Community! Georgie Lewindon FCIM 📈 - you've won 12 months membership of The Siarp Edge Community! Karen Howell FCIM - you've won 12 months membership of The Siarp Edge Community! So, I'll be connecting with you all individually with (or to get) further information. Congratulations all. We look forward to seeing you in the community, Prosecco filled or otherwise. 🥴

This Black Friday, we're offering no discounts at all. We never offer any discounts. We just don't do our existing clients like that. Our clients get exceptional value for money, we truly believe that. We bring as much to their businesses as we can. More than just IT support. More than Cyber Security. We bring love. We bring good vibes. We create community. This Black Friday, ask yourself, do you want discounts? Or do you want to be part of something bigger.