November 1, 2018
Organisations at risk of falling behind due to a lack of AI strategy, training and experience
UK organisations risk falling behind oversees competition due to a lack of Artificial Intelligence strategy, according to a new report (registration required) published by Microsoft UK and Goldsmiths, University of London. In the face of significant disruption, the research reveals that 41 per cent of business leaders believe their current business model will cease to exist within the next 5 years. Despite big questions over the longevity of their business models, more than half (51 per cent) of business leaders surveyed revealed they do not have a relevant strategy in place to address these challenges. More →
Young people leaving education and looking for work may be missing out on potential employment opportunities by failing to consider Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the advantages they offer, new research from Santander UK claims. ‘Gen Z’ and Millennials do not believe SMEs offer the same job security or salary as large businesses, meaning just a third (35 percent) of young people leaving education in 2018 want to work for smaller employer, and an even smaller proportion, just one in six (18 percent), want to work for a start-up or micro business. The most popular career aspirations for Generation Z and Millennials are to work for a large firm (51 percent), the public sector (51 percent) or a global multinational (49 percent), because of a perceived lack of job security (56 percent). There is also the belief that SMEs offer a lower salary (46 percent) and fewer opportunities for progression than large companies (33 percent). Yet the majority (70 percent) of SMEs are actively recruiting for entry level roles, whether that be graduates (43 percent), further education leavers (36 percent) or school leavers (35 percent).
Improved living standards, deflating pension pots and legal protection against age discrimination have all helped to nudge up the retirement age. The result is that for the first time since the Industrial Revolution five generations of employees are now working side by side. According to a new survey, two thirds of organisations (66 per cent) say that an age diverse workforce helped the company to have a more comprehensive skillset and knowledge base and more than seven in ten (71 per cent) felt that a multi-generational workforce brought contrasting views to their organisation. However, in the YouGov survey of middle market businesses commissioned by RSM, four in ten companies (41 per cent) said that a multi-generational workforce also increased the risk of conflict in the workplace. 
In a workplace dominated by insecurity, gig work and intelligent machines we need to improve our understanding of their potential impact on health, safety and wellbeing claims a new report. 
Cyber risk is becoming increasingly common while the types of breaches are becoming more diverse, claims a new white paper by the audit and accounting expert BDO. For instance, ransomware is now the fifth most common type of malware; with the cost of freeing up computer systems from ransomware tripling since 2016. Yet organisations are continuing to spend up to four times more on insuring other company assets (e.g. property, equipment etc.) than on cyber insurance, despite an increasingly widespread belief that their cyber assets are in fact up to 14 percent more valuable. The report also finds that as cyber incidents increase, they become more difficult – and therefore more expensive – to defend. In the new cyber insurance white paper, BDO’s global cybersecurity leadership group stresses the importance of businesses gaining an understanding of their unique risk profiles in order to ensure the right cyber insurance for their needs. Cyber insurance: managing the risk does include some of the positive trends around cyber security – for example, both the level of Board involvement and investments in cybersecurity have increased significantly in the last 2-3 years.
