Search Results for: tech

October 17, 2018

Manchester is being chosen over London as location for tech start-ups

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

The new northern home of the BBC is giving London a run for its money when it comes to siting offices for the UK’s top tech talent, with Manchester leading the way, according to CWJobs. The recruitment firm found that those who consider London to have the best talent, the most likely (75 percent) reason for this being the concentration of tech companies. Of those employers who believe Manchester has the UK’s best tech talent (9 percent), 56 percent believe this is due to better tech-focused educational institutions (vs 43 percent who thought London’s were better). More →

October 11, 2018

Latest technology would improve productivity of office workers

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

In spite of all the evidence and their own experiences, over half (55 percent) of office workers believe access to the latest workplace technology would make them more productive; 43 percent said this would make them feel more valued, while 38 percent said it would motivate them to work harder. This is according to research for the report, The Hidden Value of Workplace Technology, conducted on behalf of Econocom by survey consultant Censuswide. The research found that workplace tech is important not just for companies looking to retain existing staff, but also to recruit new members. More →

October 3, 2018

Half of workers admit tech multi-tasking affects concentration

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

At the Smart Working summit last week, one of the speakers was asked his opinion on the growing acceptance of people using Smartphones, laptops and tablets during meetings. He replied that the fact workers are expected to plough through so many emails a day, it’s hardly surprising that people are now more likely to check their devices more frequently. Now new research suggests that (unsurprisingly) over half of workers believe this negatively affects concentration. According to a survey of 1,002 UK workers in full or part-time employment carried out by Probrand 89 percent confessed to ‘tech multi-tasking’ – or checking their devices during meetings. A further 81 percent are also guilty of doing so when they are actually carrying out other tasks at work. And although 45 percent of those who do this kind of gadget-based multi-tasking found it actually helps them to be more efficient, 53 percent admit that their concentration actually suffers as a result.

October 2, 2018

London office demand bolstered by tech media, financial and serviced sectors

by Sara Bean • Cities, Coworking, Facilities management, News, Property

Serviced offices dominated office take-up in London’s West End in August, mainly due to three big transactions resulting in a 44 percent market share, but the Tech and media sector continues to be the main driver for space. According to figures from Savills just shy of a third (31 percent) of take-up for office space this year has been to Tech and media sector occupiers. Similarly, West End and Central London requirements almost mirror demand from this sector, with the Tech and media sector accounting for 35 percent of the 4.3m sq ft of active requirements.

September 28, 2018

Shift to agile working held back by ageing technology

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

The digital transformation of organisations and a shift to agile working is being held back by a reluctance to invest in new technology, according to a new report from Citrix and Capita. The Workplace agility report claims that legacy applications are delaying digital transformation of the entire organisation for more than half of respondents (56 percent) of the 200 CIOs who took part in the study. The report also claims that the inability to introduce new tech also restricts the uptake of new ways of working and the creation of agile working environments.

September 12, 2018

A new era of technology could resolve UK low productivity at last

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

A new McKinsey study sets out to address the reasons why the United Kingdom experiences chronically low productivity and what can be done to use technology to improve its performance. In the report, Solving the UK’s productivity puzzle in the digital age, the authors argue that “Britain stands out as one of the worst productivity performers among its peers”. They argue that there are four distinct reasons for the weakness since the economic crisis: “boom and bust” in the financial sector, the strength of employment growth, weak investment and uneven “digitisation”. It claims that the UK is operating at only 17 per cent of its digitisation potential, indicating how much scope for improvement there is.

August 24, 2018

Major tech companies continue to acquire new London offices, despite Brexit concerns

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

The repercussions of a no-deal Brexit are being hotly debated but there are some indications that it’s yet to impact the Capital’s commercial property sector. A number of leading tech and creative companies have continued to acquire large volumes of office space across London. According to figures from CBRE, take-up of Central London office space stood at 1.2m sq ft in July 2018, above the 10-year monthly average of 1.0m sq ft. The increase in July was largely down to two Facebook deals at 11/21 Canal Reach, N1 and Building P2 Handyside Street, N1, where in total 600,600 sq ft of office space has been filled. The creative industries sector led July take-up at 679,400 sq ft, representing 61 percent of the space taken; with the business services sector acquiring 17 percent of space, with 133,200 sq ft going to flexible office providers. In the past 12-months, business services has been the principal sector, accounting for 31 percent of take-up ahead of the creative industries (25 percent) and banking and finance sector (16 percent).

August 1, 2018

Shortage of tech skills and 600,000 job vacancies costing UK economy £63 billion a year

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

An estimated 600,000 vacancies in digital technology are costing the country £63 billion a year, according to information provided by techUK in a report on skills shortages published by the Edge Foundation.The second of the education charity’s bulletins on the UK’s skills shortages, shines a spotlight on the tech industry and the devastating economic impact of the government’s failure to encourage young people to study relevant subjects and upskill existing workers. The bulletin, Skills Shortages in the UK Economy, brings together the most current statistics and analysis of skills shortages in the UK which cost the economy £6.3 billion each year in direct costs such as recruitment and temporarily filling gaps, according to the Open University’s 2018 Business Barometer.

July 24, 2018

Barclays to create up to 2,500 jobs at new Glasgow tech hub

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

Barclays has announced plans to develop a new campus at Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow, which will provide what it claims is a state-of-the-art workplace for the bank’s functions, technology and operations teams. The aim is to create a working environment that will ‘help the bank deliver outstanding services to customers and clients by fostering innovation and collaboration’. Barclays has agreed to purchase the campus development from Drum Property Group Ltd and is currently working with them to finalise the design of the new facility as part of the wider Buchanan Wharf development. It is expected that, once completed, the campus will be able to accommodate up to 2,500 additional roles, doubling Barclays’ current workforce in Scotland and making the bank one of Glasgow’s biggest commercial employers.

July 13, 2018

Half of girls are unenthusiastic about a career in STEM and technology

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

New research suggests that whilst young women are increasingly aware of the availability of careers in technology, half hold a belief that they are ‘unexciting’ and more than two-thirds think that roles in tech are predominately linked to gaming and IT consultancy; according to research commissioned by Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP) as part of their work to support digital education.

July 5, 2018

Over a third of staff say employers fail to invest in next-generation workplace technology

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

The majority of employees are disappointed with their company’s lack of investment in technology, and despite the fact three quarters (76 percent) want to request flexible working – almost half still don’t have the option of working more flexibly, a new report from a technology company claims. According to the survey by technology company Ingram Micro Cloud UK, in collaboration with technology company Microsoft, despite the fact that Millennials and Centennials are often thought to be the driving force behind changing workplace practices – and are often derided in popular discourse for having unreasonable and unrealistic expectations – the calls for change are coming from all segments of the workforce. However, 85 percent of Millennials admit to procuring their own workplace technologies such as instant messaging, Skype, file hosting and sharing tools (all available from Ingram Micro Cloud) that aren’t supported or provided by their employer, which raises major security issues, acco.

June 29, 2018

Edinburgh is best UK location for growing technology businesses but office space is becoming scarce

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Technology

Scotland’s capital city is the best place for tech companies looking to scale up, access funding, and do business in, according to a new Government backed report examining the UK’s tech landscape. Edinburgh tech companies responded with the highest approval rating in the UK when asked to assess how good their city was for ‘doing business’ – a combination of sub factors including access to finance and talent – as part of The Tech Nation 2018 Report – an annual series that captures the strength, depth and breadth of digital tech activity in the UK which employs over one million people. Although 62 percent of Edinburgh’s tech community are satisfied with local access to affordable office space, commercial property firm JLL, who sponsor the report, said one of the main challenges which now faces a burgeoning tech industry in Edinburgh is the room to accommodate continued growth of the sector.