October 4, 2019

The daily drag of poor workplace tech experience

A new analysis of data from 1.6 million employees generated by Nexthink suggests that companies could do better in terms of the experience of workplace tech they offer to workers. The Digital Experience Score data claims that while most companies understand the importance of providing the best experiences with IT for their employees they struggle to quantify it and so can’t always identify and address problems. The challenge is particularly evident for larger corporations.

October 1, 2019

Tech skills now more important than maths and science say business leaders

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

More than two-thirds (68 percent) of British businesses think that acquiring tech skills such as coding trumps the importance of more classic subjects such as maths and science. The research, from tech job board CWJobs, also claims that 71 percent of businesses urge candidates to learn tech specialisms in order to futureproof their careers. Active jobseekers should take note of skills that can push them to the top of the hiring list, with eight out of 10 (80 percent) business leaders revealing candidates having a tech specialism is an important factor in their future hiring decisions across any job sector. More →

September 17, 2019

US firms dominate most desirable workplaces for tech workers

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace design

The BBC, Monzo and Skyscanner are the companies UK top tech talent wants to work for the most according to new research from Hired which has today released its annual Brand Health Report. However, despite the UK’s flourishing tech landscape, British business are not featured on the global list of the top 15 private or public companies indicating that UK brands are losing popularity. This is especially worrying at a time when 60 percent of London firms apparently anticipate a ‘Brexit Brain Drain’. More →

September 10, 2019

Shakespeare, steampunk and our immersion in tech soup

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Technology is always remarkable in its own time, indistinguishable from magic for an increasingly fleeting moment before the stardust fades and it becomes mundane, subverted by our unintended uses, its own unintended consequences and the very way it inveigles itself into the background of our existence, blurring identities, changing the way we view ourselves and others and shattering the compartments into which we once found it easy to separate the different parts of our lives.

August 22, 2019

London demand for tech skills threatens new North-South divide

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Technology, Workplace

A new analysis of the UK’s jobs market by Accenture claims that despite growing opportunities in other cities, London has increasingly greater demand for talent in emerging technologies than ten other UK cities combined. According to the report, there are currently 422,000 UK-based professionals with skills in emerging technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, extended reality and quantum computing.

August 8, 2019

Bosses at financial services firms falling behind on tech know-how

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

With widespread disruption from new and emerging technologies facing companies, the financial services sector is still lacking in both diversity and CEOs with a background in technology, according to recent analysis from recruitment firm,Robert Half UK. According to the results of the annual Robert Half FTSE 100 CEO Tracker, not one of the CEOs leading the FTSE 100’s financial services companies has a background in technology. By contrast, the proportion of CEOs with a background in technology across all sectors has increased by 27 percent over the past year, as the impact of digitisation is felt across multiple industries and sectors. More →

July 25, 2019

UK SMEs must leverage tech-friendly culture to secure talent

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Workplace

UK SMEs must create a tech-friendly culture to attract and retain top tech talent, according to a new white paper from Robert Half UK, Recruiting for the future: The challenges for UK SMEs. While remuneration and work–life balance are the top reasons for job moves, SMEs’ ability to offer an innovative culture with high levels of responsibility is central to their ability to secure and retain talent over larger organisations. With the UK talent market suffering from a lack of digital skills, companies across all sectors are locked in a war for talent, competing with one another to hire skilled technology professionals to help their businesses adapt to increased digitalisation. More →

July 19, 2019

Outdated technology remains a massive waste of time

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Two new studies suggest that the failure to keep workers equipped with the latest technology is having a huge impact on their productivity and causing them to waste large amounts of time. According to the first piece of research from tech provider Insight, UK office workers waste 1.8 billion working hours every year because the outdated technology they’re given isn’t good enough to meet their needs. More →

July 8, 2019

Meetings ruined by late arrivals and setting up tech

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace design

A report from Moo claims that people are wasting time by waiting for all attendees to arrive at or dial-in to meetings. Engaging in small talk with colleagues and tackling technology followed closely behind. The findings include the claims that nearly half of British workers spend up to ten minutes trying to find a meeting room on average, and around the same number spend up to 15 minutes waiting for other attendees to arrive or dial-in.

July 4, 2019

World Economic Forum sets out top tech trends for 2019

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Technology

The World Economic Forum has announced its annual list of breakthrough technologies with the greatest potential to make a positive impact on our world. The technologies on the list, which is curated by members of the Forum’s Expert Network, are selected against a number of criteria. In addition to promising major benefits to societies and economies, they must also be disruptive, attractive to investors and researchers, and expected to have achieved considerable scale within five years. This year’s list features several technologies and tech trends directly relevant to the workplace and building design, including telepresence, automation and systems for plastics management.

June 25, 2019

Tech laggards face extinction unless they innovate

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Many larger businesses are struggling to implement digital transformation in spite of the dangers to their long term survival, a new joint report from CBI and Oracle claims. According to Bigger, Faster, Stronger, the improved adoption of technology could unlock productivity and wage growth. Research shows that more adoption, coupled with better management practices, could add £100 billion to the UK economy and cut income inequality by 5 per cent. However, only 54 per cent of UK companies believe disruptive technologies play an important role in their organisation, much lower than in countries such as France, Germany, India and Russia. More →

June 20, 2019

Tech workers prefer to work for larger corporations

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

UK SMEs are losing out to big tech in the battle to recruit top tech talent, according to Robert Half UK’s new report, Recruiting for the future: The challenges for UK SMEs. The white paper, which was based on an independent study of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across the UK, found that three quarters (75 percent) of CIOs believe that it is more challenging for SMEs to attract tech workers because they prefer to work for larger technology companies. More →