Useful Internet Sites

4. Business Intelligence

There is valuable information available online on every aspect of your business environment.

4.1 Highly detailed market reports are now available online.

• For example, you can buy reports from Euromonitor, Mintel and Keynote.
• D&B Tracker provides a free email service which sends you monthly updates on 50 businesses of your choice.

4.2 Keep up with what's happening in relevant industry sectors.

• Scan through a note-form archive of recent news and takeovers in 16 industry sectors at www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk.

4.3 Obtain detailed industry information from specialised sites run by academic institutions.

• There is a unique UK engineering search engine which is part of the Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library. You can search every word of a huge range of engineering websites.
• Edinburgh also hosts the Recent Advances in Manufacturing database.

4.4 Gather competitive intelligence.

• You can find interesting and down-to-earth advice on what information to collect and how to get it, complete with an interactive checklist to help you plan your activities, on an American site at www.fuld.com/Tindex/IntelOrg.html.

4.5 Check disqualified directors instantly at the Companies House website.

4.6 Check patents and trademarks.

• The UK Patent Office covers trademarks and copyright matters and can be searched online at.
• The European Patent Register has daily updates on European patent applications.
• If you have invented something or developed a new process that you want to protect or exploit, investigate Patent Cafe's international pages for advice and useful contacts.

4.7 Stay on the right side of the law.

• Visit the Business Link website for details of legislation and regulations affecting your business.
• Acas provides guidance on employment legislation and advice on best practice in HR.
• The main UK trading standards site is at www.tradingstandards.gov.uk.

4.8 Meet industry and consumer standards.

• You can check standards that might affect your products at the British Standards Institution site.