BusinessZone on the road

Come on admit it, you could do with a bit of extra cash right now couldn't you? If so - and which entrepreneur would say no? - we discovered two competitions today which could well provide that financial injection you need.

The first, the Essence of the Entrepreneur competition, is pretty unique. Aimed at highlighting companies which are successfully embracing technology, the 20 winners, chosen by judges including Peter Jones of Dragons' Den and Claire Young of The Apprentice, will each get their photograph taken by celebrity fashion photographer Rankin. With the likes of Kylie on his list of past subjects, you'll be a sure of a good shot as this gallery of last year's winners shows.

Business Link in London were on hand at the BT Business Experience to offer advice to existing and budding entrepreneur. Verity Gough caught up with the organisation's representative Andy Berrow for a quick chat about the kind of businesses he is currently dealing with and whether Business Link has seen an increase in enquiries as a result of the result of the recession.

One of the hot themes at today's event has been flexible working. We exclusively caught up with Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business to find out more.

According to Murphy, not enough small businesses are taking the leap and embracing flexible working practices, something which he positively encourages. However, research suggests that many small business owners remain to be convinced that letting employees work from home means they won't perform to the best of their ability. Yet Murphy urges entrepreneurs to drop this archaic attitude and have faith in thier staff, claiming, "It's all about trust."

So do you agree with Murphy? Is flexible working something that small businesses should be embracing or does it remain the domain of large corporations?

There certainly seems like a genuine buzz around the Farmiloe building today; there’s no shortage of entrepreneurs poking and prodding the technology on show. And there’s a lot of technology on show.

Being a BT event the slew of telephony products comes as no surprise, but the array of notebook and netbook PCs, video/web conferencing, and mobile devices suggests the company is advancing its unified communications and business mobility strategies well.

Just heard the Farmiloe building was used in both The Dark Knight and Batman Begins movies as the Gotham City Police Department. Considering the amount of high-tech in the films, I wonder whether BT has recruited Bruce Wayne to help drive their own technology solutions...