Search Results for: tech

August 27, 2015

People are surprisingly ignorant of basic technological terms ⁰

One of the assumptions we might make about people in our increasingly digital world is that everybody has a pretty good grasp of what some of the more basic technological ideas actually mean. That cosy assumption is challenged by a new study from IT firm Daisy Group which claims that a fifth of the UK population don’t know what WiFi is, three quarters have no idea what is meant by VoIP, nearly half (43 percent) don’t know what The Cloud is and a similar number (44 percent) are baffled by the term ‘fibre broadband’. Even business owners and managers, for whom a basic grasp of this kind of stuff would seem essential, are at a disadvantage. Nearly a third (29 percent) of 1,100 surveyed couldn’t define fibre broadband (29 percent), a quarter (26 percent) hadn’t the foggiest about The Cloud and pretty much everybody is left cold by data centres.

July 29, 2015

Public sector lagging behind in use of technology and flexible working

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Public Sector, Technology

As we reported last week, the UK public sector is embracing some interesting new ideas in the way it uses real estate, especially its commitment to get rid of some of it by adopting flexible working and shared space. However, it’s one thing looking to use space in more flexible ways but without the technological infrastructure, it’s hard to see how they will be able to achieve as much as they could. It is in this regard that they are lagging behind their contemporaries in the private sector, according to a new report from O2 and YouGov. While the report, Redefining selling, serving and working, offers up the usual appeals for us all to make more use of the sorts of things O2 wants us to buy, there is plenty of interesting detail to tease out once the pinch of salt has been applied, not least how business practices and the way people use technology vary across sectors.

July 15, 2015

One in five Brits distrustful of adopting wearable technology at work

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

Almost a fifth (18 percent) of European employees already have access to some form of wearable technology, but British workers are most worried about the privacy implications. According to research by ADP wearables such as augmented reality headsets, biometric identification and holographic video conferencing tools will create opportunity for businesses to improve productivity, connectivity and security. Yet more than half (52 percent) of employees are concerned about the amount of personal data employers can access via wearable technology, with attitudes towards privacy varying between countries. While as many as 60 percent of German employees express reservations, only 36 percent of Dutch employees feel this way. Overall, UK workers are the most hesitant, with as many as one in five (20 percent) saying that they would not use wearables at all, compared to 10 percent in France, and 8 percent in Germany and the Netherlands.

July 14, 2015

Homeworkers left to fund their own technology by stingy bosses

by Sara Bean • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, News

Last week we learnt that for some employers, homeworking is only to be encouraged when it’s out of hours. Now new research from Regus suggests that only around a third of people encouraged by their employers to work from home (35 percent) receive any contributions from their firm to fund the fit-out. The survey of over 4,000 senior business people found that the majority (82 percent) of employers refuse to cover all the costs incurred for creating and maintaining a work space for homeworkers. This proves costly for staff, as a quarter (25 percent) of respondents said that it would take a whole monthly salary for them to fit-out their home, while the average cost of running a home office in the UK is almost £2,000 a year. Nearly half (43 percent) of workers think that most companies encouraging their employees to work from home are simply trying to transfer the workspace cost onto the employee.

June 16, 2015

London cements its status as Europe’s most important tech hub

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Technology

A new report launched to coincide with London Technology Week claims that London has cemented its position as the most important tech hub in Europe and will boost the UK economy by £18bn in 2015. According to the event’s organisers, London’s technology sector is growing faster than both the overall economies of London and the whole UK and will continue to do so for the next decade. The figures show that the number of companies in London’s digital technology sector has grown by 46 percent since the launch of the Tech City programme. The sector now employs almost 200,000 people, 17 percent more than in 2010. Other research from EY claims to show London’s dominance of the European tech sector. According to EY more than 1,000 international tech investment projects located in London between 2005–2014, significantly more than the next most attractive city, Paris (381).

June 15, 2015

Generation Y isn’t as tech savvy as it and everybody else likes to think

by Mark Eltringham • Technology, Workplace

The shaky idea that the members of Generation Y are somehow different to the rest of the human race tends to rest on their characterisation as ‘digital natives’. However, according to a new report from US campaign organisation Change the Equation, just because Millennials have grown up with digital technology and are very attached to it doesn’t mean they are particularly tech savvy, especially when it comes to using technology to solve challenges in the workplace. The report, based on na analysis of the OECD’s Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies, found that although Millennials spend an average of 35 hours a week using digital devices, more than half of them (58 percent) are still unable to use their tech to help increase their productivity. They are still better in this regard than previous generations where 70 percent of people have low skills, but not significantly better.

June 5, 2015

European employers failing to provide technology for collaborative working

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

Although most organisations encourage remote team work, only 3 percent of European employees say their current working environment is suitable for collaborative work such as online video conferencing, according to new research by ADP. Almost half (44%) of workers say that technology helps them understand the mission and values of their organisation, whilst 51 percent believe that technology fosters better relationships with colleagues. Yet one in four employees would like to have more quiet zones for detailed thinking, while a third (30%) would like to have access to technologies that enhance collaboration such as file sharing tools. Employees in the UK are less likely to be equipped with the latest technology; more than eight in ten (82%) French, German and Dutch employees have access to the latest business tools to allow them to do their job effectively, compared to 70 percent of UK employees.

June 3, 2015

IT firms hold TechNorth digital hub in higher regard than TechCity

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Technology

TechNorth, the Manchester based technology hothouse devised as a regional counterbalance to London, is held in higher regard than the capital’s flagship TechCity development, according to research from recruitment firm Robert Half. The study of IT decision makers across the UK claims that the vast majority would prioritise working with Northern firms over their London counterparts, with 87 percent either ‘highly likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ to place work with IT businesses in the TechNorth hub rather than those in TechCity London given the choice. The figure is 100 percent for IT leaders based in the North and to 95 percent for those in Scotland. More surprisingly, 80 percent of those based London and the South East said they would prioritise TechNorth, as did 75 percent in the South West and Wales.

June 1, 2015

London’s buoyant startup scene driven by tech sector success

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

The UK has seen an all-time high of new startups in 2014, with London contributing the majority of new businesses to the mix. According to a new analysis by Instant Offices, London’s startup scene is set to reach record highs in 2015 as it spearheads the UK’s growing entrepreneurial community. The tech industry in particular has skyrocketed, rising 40 percent year-on-year and resulting in a seven year high. Research from the national enterprise campaign Startup Britain shows 581,173 businesses registered with Companies House last year, beating the previous record of 526,446 businesses recorded in 2013, and 484,224 in 2012, indicating a rapid upward trend of the UK’s startup market. Last year alone, London produced 184,671 startups, centering around finance, media, fashion and technology. Investment into England’s capital has also seen rapid growth, with London now the leading venture capital city in Europe.

May 18, 2015

European workers optimistic about the impact of workplace technology

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

The European workforce is optimistic about the impact of new and emerging workplace technology although many employers face challenges in pursuing digital business models, according to new research by Accenture. The report claims that more than four times as many workers think technology will improve their working lives than those who think it will have a negative impact. The study of over 2500 workers and 500 business leaders in the EU found that 57 percent of workers think technologies such as robots, apps, data analytics and artificial intelligence will improve their working experience versus eight percent who think it will worsen it. Fifty percent of EU workers believe that digital technology will improve their job prospects compared to 12 percent who think it will limit them.

April 9, 2015

Why Facebook and other tech giants still apply mainstream office design ideas ⁰

by Charles Marks • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

This week Facebook moved into its new offices in Menlo Park, California. As you might expect they are somewhat out of the ordinary. Designed by Frank Gehry, they are bright, open and loaded with quirky and colourful design ideas. Yet upon closer inspection their underlying office design principles are often resolutely mainstream, not least the inclusion of what is billed as the world’s largest open plan office. In fact this has the personal backing of the CEO himself and has long been the core element in the brief because Facebook sees the idea of openness as being an essential part of its mission and business model. Mark Zuckerberg announced the opening of the building on his own Facebook page (where else?). In his official statement, he explains the thinking behind the design in an interesting way and it bears reproducing.

March 19, 2015

Office workers report difficulties with remote communications technology

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

Just as the adoption of digital communications technology is making the one-person per desk workstation model look outmoded, the design and layout of the typical conference room is no longer suitable for remote communications. That is one of the findings of a new survey by Steelcase which found that despite, or rather because of advances in technology, office workers are having difficulties when trying to communicate with work colleagues based elsewhere. The problem, which Steelcase has coined presence disparity can lead to an overall collaboration experience which is best described as unpleasant and taxing, with participants feeling strained physically, cognitively and emotionally. This isn’t helped by the fact that conference rooms, the most used spaces for videoconferencing, usually feature long rectangular tables designed for face to face meetings, not those to camera.