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Xero and Sumday partner on 12 months free carbon accounting tools
Xero, a global small business platform, has announced an expanded partnership with Sumday, a carbon accounting software provider, making it easier for small businesses and accountants and bookkeepers to track and manage their carbon footprint.
Sumday is providing Xero customers with 12 months free access to Sumday’ s powerful carbon accounting tools, empowering them to understand their environmental impact and take steps towards a more sustainable future.
This offering also provides small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping partners with valuable training, templates and resources to enhance their carbon accounting skills.
Big businesses are proactively driving the push toward decarbonisation and sustainability reporting. This has resulted in a growing need for small businesses to report their own carbon footprint. However, small business owners don’ t often have time to identify what needs to be included in these reports and prepare the necessary information to help comply with the various targets set by different companies.
Bugcrowd launches new MSP offering to address pentesting backlog
Bugcrowd, a leader in crowdsourced cybersecurity, has announced the availability of its new Managed Service Provider( MSP) offering. This service is designed to help MSPs efficiently address the backlog of compliancerelated pentests. By providing a standardised and scalable solution, with streamlined scoping, Bugcrowd’ s MSP offering empowers small- to mid-sized businesses to meet their compliance requirements without delay.
The service leverages the unique and extensive pentesting expertise of The Crowd( also known as ethical hackers) to deliver a reliable and efficient way for MSPs to enhance their capabilities and offer new, best-in-class services to their clients. This launch marks a significant step forward in Bugcrowd’ s mission to broaden support for MSPs and their customers.
Jacques Lopez, VP, Global Channel & Alliances, Bugcrowd, said:“ By leveraging our crowdsourced streamlinedscope pentesting capabilities, MSPs can offer their clients fast, reliable and cost-effective compliance testing.”
North West thrives as start-up powerhouse
The North West in England continues to prove a hub for innovation and enterprise, with new data finding that 33,000 new businesses were launched in the region throughout 2023. Despite economic challenges, figures from the Office of National Statistics compiled by Marks & Clerk shows that the region continues to lead on business creation across the North and Midlands, cementing the region’ s status as a dynamic engine of growth outside London.
Greater Manchester remains a central driver of the region’ s business growth, contributing over 14,500 new enterprises in 2023, while Manchester city alone saw the birth of 3,630 new businesses, reflecting the area’ s resilience and strong support ecosystem for start-ups, creatives and tech-driven ventures.
While the North West’ s business birth rate remains nationally competitive at 11.6 %, second only to London at 12.6 %, long-term performance is more difficult. Only 30 % of businesses survive to their fifth year, lagging behind the national average of 40 %.
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