Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey report launch at the Cyber Quarter

On 6th December, the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce (HWCC) and the Cyber Quarter (CQ) joint-hosted the launch event of the latest Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) results. The event was attended by local Hereford businesses to listen to the report and to discuss how the findings could effect, or be applied to, their businesses going forward. 

Speaking on the results was Director of Business Development and Engagement at the HWCC, Robert Elliott. Following up with him post-event, he shared the importance of the QES’s and the impact that they have to local businesses:

“The Quarterly Economic Survey allows us a Chamber to gauge business performance and outlook every three months.  The survey has been gathering information since 1989 and as a result has enabled businesses to plan investment, recognise trends that might require action, and benchmark themselves against other organisations.  Measuring sales, cashflow, and recruitment, the survey acts as a barometer of economic activity for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and where challenges are highlighted such as recent concerns over energy costs and inflation alerts us to lobby local and national government via local partners and British Chamber of Commerce respectively.”

It was an honour for the Cyber Quarter to sponsor this edition of the QES and to be able to support questions in the survey based around ‘business resilience’. Through the data, the Cyber Quarter were able to identify key findings that demonstrate where businesses are in their business resilience journeys and reflect their top priorities in their disaster recovery. 

With latest research indicating that a small business in the UK is successfully hacked every 19 seconds, it was reassuring to see that, according to the results from the QES, 63% of local businesses report that one of their top priorities in their business resilience is ensuring that their systems are secure. This is essential to ensure the protection of their supply chain, customer base, but also their people.

To support this, the Cyber Quarters Human Factors Specialist, Ellen Kay, gave a talk to the businesses that attended around the topic of human resilience and the importance of protecting the people within a business. Joined by Clare Murphy & Rebecca Kirk (Harrison Clark Rickerbys Ltd), the trio delivered insights into the people culture of a business in order to understand the hidden human cost of cyber.

The Cyber Quarter are able to support local businesses by offering 15 hours of fully funded support (eligibility required) to access specialist and academic expertise from the University of Wolverhampton, which may include: cyber security awareness, how to minimise cyber risk, incident response management and more. Once the initial support has been completed, the Cyber Quarter can then help deep dive into a business’s potential issues and support them further on their next steps to a secure and prospering business.

To begin your Cyber Quarter journey, send an enquiry to us via our website.

To view the full HWCC QES report, follow the link below:
https://hwchamber.co.uk/support/policy/quarterly-economic-survey/