May 6, 2021

Why mobile site surveys have changed so dramatically

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Technology

Central to any business is the need to communicate effectively. Whether you’re relocating to new or refurbished premises, or switching providers, it is vital to ensure your communications networks are up to the job in terms of performance and reliability. Not only is this required to support conventional telecoms and OTT services, it is key to smart building and smart infrastructure applications. Connectivity should not be limited to Wi-Fi either. Businesses are increasingly pushing mobile-only strategies and landlines are fast becoming obsolete in the workplace. PwC, for example, removed all landlines from their offices back in 2018 and many other organisations have since followed suit, with smartphones providing a single point of contact for all voice and internet connectivity, as well as being used as resilient IT infrastructure. More →

May 5, 2021

The future of work will see profound changes in the way firms engage with customers

by Yusdi Santoso • Comment, Technology

Businesses are managing a new work dynamic that’s made up of three parts, or three ‘types’ of employee. Some are keen to go back to the office, some want to stay working from home, and some want an entirely flexible arrangement so they can fit work around important personal commitments. More →

May 4, 2021

Businesses prioritise tech and outsourcing to overcome front of house challenge

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

Swiss Post Solutions (SPS), has released new research that claims how the pandemic has impacted front of house strategies for UK businesses. Half (50 percent) of UK companies plan to introduce interactive technologies to help overcome new ‘front of house’ (FOH) challenges that have been imposed by COVID19. A further 41 percent of businesses plan to outsource FOH services altogether. More →

April 30, 2021

Apple commits to new campus as part of huge investment plan

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Technology

Apple has announced an acceleration of its US investments, with plans to make new contributions of more than $430 billion and add 20,000 new jobs across the country over the next five years. The plans include the creation of a new campus in the Research Triangle in Raleigh, North Carolina. Apple will spend over $1 billion on the campus, where it will employ around 3,000 people working on technology including software engineering and machine learning. Employees are expected to start work at the campus next year. More →

April 29, 2021

More than half of international tech professionals looking beyond London

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

A recent survey by Frank Recruitment Group, claims that more than half of tech professionals thinking about moving to the UK would consider choosing a city outside of London. Conducted by Frank Recruitment Group’s Salesforce recruitment arm, Mason Frank International, the survey asked over 1,800 IT professionals from around the world for their opinions on the tech jobs market, salaries, and benefits. More →

April 29, 2021

Over a third of IT leaders state their remote workers have knowingly put corporate data at risk

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Working culture

More than a third (35 percent) of UK IT decision makers admitted that their remote workers have already knowingly put corporate data at risk of a breach in the last year according to an annual survey – conducted by Apricorn. This is concerning given that over one in ten surveyed IT decision makers also noted that they either have no control over where company data goes or where it is stored (15 percent) and their technology does not support secure mobile/remote working (12 percent). More →

April 21, 2021

Workers do double the work because of disconnected tech

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Working lives

New research by Templafy claims over a third (37 percent) of UK employees do around double the amount of work because their technology stack lacks useful integrations in its business enablement report. This leaves UK workers spending large amounts of time switching between applications, with over one in four, 27 percent, using six to ten different applications each week. More →

April 20, 2021

Buildings with a digital twin have a lot to tell us

by Peter Loeffler • Features, Technology, Workplace design

The expression “if these walls could talk” is taking on an entirely new meaning with the emerging opportunity to create digital twins for buildings. Across the entire lifecycle of structures such as office buildings, hospitals, airports and hotels, creating a digital twin can significantly reduce costs, improve efficiencies, speed construction delivery, as well as enhance performance and the user experience. More →

April 14, 2021

The digital world is not necessarily greener than the physical world

by Neil Franklin • Comment, Environment, Technology

No sooner had the world learned about the existence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) than we also learned how much of a problem they could be for the environment. An NFT is digital token in a similar way to Bitcoin, except there’s only one of each NFT. It is associated with a piece of content, guaranteed unique and so is worth whatever somebody will pay for it. In the case of a digital artist called Beeple, who had only ever previously sold a piece for $100, this was $69 million for an NFT for a digital collage of images called Everydays: The First 5000 Days sold at Christie’s in March. Bought by a collector in Singapore, this made him one of the world’s “top three most valuable living artists,” according to the auction house. More →

April 14, 2021

The digital transformation dilemma: UK employees want pandemic-era tech to stay

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Working lives

As the UK prepares to return to normal in the coming months and industries reopen, research from The Workforce Institute at UKG claims that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 87 percent of UK workers have been propelled into the future of work by accelerating their digital transformation projects. Furthermore, 86 percent are enjoying the benefits of these new technologies, and 38 percent are fearful that their organisation will go back to the “old way” of doing things post-pandemic. More →

April 12, 2021

Employee experience is top priority for CIO’s but UK held back by lack of tools

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Working culture

Elastic (NYSE: ESTC), the company behind Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack, have announced a new study, claiming that employee experience has become a new priority for IT leaders as they reinvent their infrastructures to support remote workforces. The Changing Role of the IT Leader was conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Elastic in February 2021, one year into the global pandemic, and published in April.
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April 9, 2021

People judge the actions of robots based on their appearance

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

If a robot worker makes a mistake on the job, or annoys customers, businesses may not give it a pink slip and a cardboard box for its office belongings, but companies may be forced to shut down these expensive machines, according to a team of researchers. Knowing how to better design and manage these robots may help service industry firms both avoid losing their investments in the robots, as well as secure an increasingly necessary source of extra help, the team added. More →