Paul and Dan had their work cut out sampling a slice of each. They say it’s a tough job, but they were happy to take on the task without complaint. Such sacrifice is rarely seen but senior management have to do what they have to do.

This month’s winner toppled the competition with a secret recipe Bakewell Cake. Fearing the ensemble was too ‘flamboyant’ she sought the advice of the marketing bods who were quick to suggest she insist it was ‘Parisian’.  Appearing not to matter what lesser-macho name it was called, the Bakewell Cake delight won over the judges with sublime ease.

Chef’s hats off to Katie who steals this month Bake-Off trophy and bubbly.

After seven cake tastes, Paul and Dan promptly headed off to lunch in search of ‘something savoury’.

After every home game one Try Card is signed by the Saints scorers, before being framed and labelled to commemorate the relevant match. The winner is then presented with the Try Card during the half-time interval of the next match.

Entering the draw is FREE and could not be simpler! Just visit www.mirus-it.co.uk/trycard and fill in your details. You only have to enter once; your details will be kept on file for the rest of the season. Winners are drawn at random.

Last week’s winner got to catch the action at the thrilling 42-14 win for the Northampton Saints over Worcester Warriors at a sold-out Franklins Gardens.

See the full match report here.

The Service Desk Inspector, Barclay Rae, returned to the Milton Keynes Head Office with the Service Desk Institute Managing Director, Tessa Troubridge.

Episode 3 – “Setting Targets” focuses on the plans for developing service standardisation and support response times – areas that Mirus are keen to keep a close eye on as they scale up in a rapid growth period.

Mirus have recently revised structures and procedures to ensure it maintains the high levels of service quality that its clients have come to expect, such as introducing service teams so that support engineers are dedicated to a focused group of clients. The Service Desk Inspector reinforces that message and highlights areas for even further improvements.

The Service Desk Inspector also spent a lot of time discussing ways that Mirus can improve response times and visibility to those reports as part of regular client feedback. Mirus clients this week saw the introduction of significantly improved monthly reports that, amongst 13 other components, includes information on Average Time to Acknowledgement. Mirus will continue to work with clients to develop the information they receive to further enhance service quality.

Videos and comments from previous visits are available at:

Episode 3 – Setting Targets

Episode 2 – 1st Progress Review

Episode 1 – Setting the Challenges

The Service Desk Inspector is a consultation service documentary for itsmTV produced by the Service Desk Institute – the leading organisation for the IT Support and Service Management Industry.

Investors in People offers a business improvement framework designed to help all kinds of organisations develop performance through its people. It provides tailored assessments designed to support organisations in planning, implementing and evaluating effective strategies for organisations of all sizes and sectors.

This announcement has recently been covered in The Milton Keynes Citizen – see the coverage here.

It concentrates on the planning, internal communication and development of the key areas within businesses and its people such as; Learning & Development Strategy, Management Effectiveness, and Recognition & Reward.

The decision to obtain the accreditation was to support Mirus’ continual improvement programme, which heavily champions people at the centre of everything that is achieved and delivered.  The key changes the team at Mirus are seeing are:

• A more positive work environment
• Greater commitment to listening to ideas and plans
• An increased focus on training & development
• Improved communication across the organisation
• A greater understanding of an individual’s contribution to the business

Paul Tomlinson, MD of Mirus commented “The focus for us is not on achieving a standard or a badge on the wall to simply win new business but on how we as a business can perform more effectively internally. The company wants to support continuous development of its professional staff, offer progression and career opportunities for support and admin staff, and instil a culture of developing all people within the organisation at a time of rapid growth.”

John Telfer, Managing Director of Inspiring Business Performance Ltd (IBP), the Investors in People Centre for London and the South of England, said:  “This award is a celebration of the hard work and changes that have been made at Mirus.  Everyone in the organisation should be very pleased with the outcomes of the assessment.  There are exciting and challenging times ahead and it appears that the organisation is well equipped to take these on.

To find out more about IBP and the benefits of Investors in People, visit www.inspiringbusinessperformance.co.uk, email info@ibp.uk.com or call 0800 612 3098.

We let newbie Katie join Dan as judge to sample all the culinary delights. The cakes were subject to the same level of scrutiny being judged on 1) Concept, 2) Taste, and a cameo criteria 3) Easterliness.

As always, creativity was at top-notch with a Giant Rabbit Cookie, a Super-Choccy  Mini Egg Cake, a Tasty Zesty Lemon Cheesecake, and a Meringue Extravaganza.

Winner Jess Tomlinson was delighted to be crowned this month’s winner with the Easter Meringue Extravaganza, taking home the bubbly, and gets gloating rights for a whole month.

The standard supports Mirus IT Solutions in being able to operate responsibly by addressing the delicate balance between maintaining profitability and reducing environmental impact.

Mirus IT Solutions has recently achieved ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System as part of its commitment to long-term stability and success and the newly acquired status allows it to further widen its competitive capabilities by being able to offer its customers a more sustainable and cost-efficient solution.

Furthermore, Mirus IT Solutions is keen to promote an open and dynamic working environment and the standard demonstrates an innovative and forward thinking approach to customers and prospective employees as part of its continuous improvement programme.

Zoe Wyatt, HR & Standards Manager at Mirus IT Solutions commented “Our ISO journey is already transforming the way we operate and changing the way we visualise the future. We see the immediate gains from a leaner way of operating and the longer term benefits from more sustainable practices that benefit everyone in our network of employees, suppliers and clients.”

Paul Tomlinson, Managing Director of Mirus IT Solutions added “This achievement is a result of a collective vision and effort across the company to adopt a more responsible approach to our own and our customer’s environment. We are proud to be conscious and considerate of the legacy we are shaping.”

Paul and Zoe will be presented with the ISO 14001 Certification in May 2012.

For more information please visit: www.iso.org

27^th March, 2012 – MKDons faced Carlisle United at home at stadiumMK in the npower League. Both teams are competing in the promotion play-off zone and it was Carlisle United that took the 3 points on the night winning 2-1 – Carlisle United scoring in the 90^th minute much to the disappointment of the MKDons fans.

After the final whistle, Peter Hack of Mirus IT Solutions and MKDons Manager Karl Robinson awarded MKDons player Dean Bowditch Man of the Match.

MK Dons Captain and longest standing player, Dean Lewington, accepted the award on Bowditch’s behalf after sustaining an injury in the match.

Mirus IT Solutions wishes MKDons good luck for their remaining games and hopes to see them promoted to The Championship next season.

Follow MKDons at www.mkdons.com

The first phase of the award’s selection process has already begun and consists of online community voting, open to anyone at smb150.com.

All nominee profiles are available at smb150.com. Registration is not required to vote; however, those that do register enter a draw to win one of three Blackberry Playbooks.

Open voting lasts until April 6, 2012, at which point a panel of industry experts will certify the online ballots and cast their own votes for nominees. Community voting counts for 40% of each nominee’s score, with the remainder determined by the expert panel’s votes.

Paul expressed his excitement at being in the running for this year’s awards: “It’s always great when people you respect from your own professional community recognise the contributions you’ve made to the field. I’m thankful to everyone who votes for me and can’t wait to see who the channel picks as this year’s top influencers.”

Harry Brelsford, founder and chairman of SMB Nation, congratulated Paul along with every other SMB 150 nominee. “I’m excited for all of our SMB 150 nominees. Each and every one of them has worked tirelessly to improve the SMB IT channel – and, by extension, the small business sector as a whole. I hope that everyone who has benefited from our nominees’ expertise will show their support and appreciation at smb150.com.”

The election results will be released in mid-April and the awards dinner is May 16^th in LA, CA, sponsored by Research In Motion.

Vote for Paul Now.

Mark and newbie Kate had the hardship of judging and tasting all the cakes to pick a winner and happily tucked into the sugary treats like they were enjoying afternoon tea at the Ritz. But don’t think it was all fun – the cakes were scrutinised and subjected to rigorous tasting criteria of Taste, Concept and Finish – sadly for Mark ‘Finish’ was not a challenge to eat all the cake.

Entries ranged from the spectacularly patriotic to the spectacularly scrumptious, but taking the glory was Catherine Murphy with her Baileys and Malteser Cheese Cake.

Despite the cake-categorisation outcries from the purists, it was noted that even though the great Sun Readers Poll of ’99 laid the Jaffa Cake cake-or-biscuit dispute to rest, the Cheese Cake cake-or-pie dispute rumbles on, therefore the judges ruled they should taste those too – just to be sure.

Catherine gracefully accepted her bubbly award and commented “Really, I won?” and “I don’t even like Champagne”. Let’s hope she likes trophies then.

Everyone was left salivating in anticipation of April’s Mirus Big Bake Off, but it will be a tough act to follow.

The exciting RIBI technology tournaments see teams of four students from local schools and colleges collectively solve a previously unseen design and technology task. This is a national challenge set by Rotary in Britain and Ireland and takes place all over the country on the same day.

The challenge unveiled on the day will be to construct and demonstrate an operational coin sorter using a standard materials and tool list. The task is consistent with the requirements of the national curriculum and students from ages 11 to 14 have to use oral, written and graphical communications skills to compile a project portfolio. The day culminates in the testing session when teams can see the performance of competing designs and solutions as they are put through their paces sorting and storing different value coins at random. Final projects will be judged on planning, teamwork, design analysis, solution development, creativity, communication of ideas, and the technical manufacture of their designs.

Paul commented “Mirus fully supports the Rotary’s vision to energise young people as the challenge encourages essential problem-solving and teamwork skills that are invaluable to innovation and collaboration – some of the key attributes Mirus look for in its employees. I’m excited to see how the new generations will tackle the traditional technology task using their modern-day knowledge – it’s an invaluable glimpse into the future.”

For more information on this and the other RIBI Youth Competitions and Awards please visit http://www.ribi.org/what-we-do/youth-competitions-and-awards