Creative Skillset has revealed that 153,000 people work in the marketing and advertising industry in the UK alone. This is a rapidly growing industry and it is for this reason that it was included in the survey. The survey aimed to determine what the current use of the cloud is within this industry and what individuals from this sector view as the greatest challenges to their IT plans over the next few years.
An energy revolution is on the horizon, in which both utilities and consumers will produce and sell electricity. Blockchain technology is already being tested in a number of different places. For example in New York State it is being tested as a way of selling solar energy between neighbours and in Germany one power company is running a pilot to see if blockchain technology can authenticate and manage the billing process for autonomous electric-vehicle charging stations.
The Utilities Sector, made up of electric, gas and water firms, and the energy sector alone accounts for approximately 5% of GDP. The organisations surveyed in the UK Cloud Snapshot Survey were predominantly energy companies. The survey aimed to determine what the current use of the cloud is within this industry and what individuals from this sector view as the greatest challenges to their IT plans over the next few years.
The rate of cloud adoption has increased rapidly, with more and more computing being pushed into the cloud, a trend identified in Serviceteam IT’s Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017. This growth in cloud computing has led to the development of networks of large data centres. However, this is already starting to slow, with an ever-increasing amount of computing moving back to the ‘edge’ of local networks. Processing will always occur wherever it is best placed for a given application at a given time and cloud has given us flexibility of computing resources; but we can’t help but think that reliable, elastic and on-demand networking is imperative to deliver the future.
In 2016, the finance and insurance sector contributed £124.2 billion to the UK economy in gross value added. This sector therefore makes up a significant proportion of the UK economy, and it for this reason this sector was included in the survey. The survey aimed to determine what the current use of the cloud is within this industry and additionally what individuals from this sector view as the greatest challenges to their IT plans over the next few years.
In the past, cyber attackers have often been unaware of how much stolen data is worth to organisations. However, the implementation of GDPR means that organisations can be fined up to 4% of their global annual turnover or €20m, whichever is greater, if found to have a data breach. These fines effectively provide cyber criminals with a price point for criminals to understand how much the data is worth to organisations.
Cyber attacks are becoming more frequent in the business world today. In light of this, cyber security has become one of the leading concerns for UK businesses. Research conducted by Serviceteam IT in August 2017, revealed over a third of respondents had experienced an increase in cyber security incidents in the past 12 months.
Technology companies are behind 24% of UK exports and 3 million jobs. However, the UK’s high-tech industry is likely to suffer as a result of the vote to leave the EU. This is expected to occur as a result of the significant network effects that impact this sector of the economy.
Office 365 is fast becoming a staple in many businesses across the UK. In a recent study conducted by Serviceteam IT, over 76% of businesses surveyed used Office 365 in their workplace. With access to almost 30 applications within the suite, and growing, Office 365 offers new ways to increase productivity, collaboration and flexibility within businesses.
“Anything to do with Brexit is uncertain [and] makes life more complicated”, Ben Griffiths, Head of Systems, Analysys Mason. In the face of this uncertainty and complexity it is imperative that firms don’t just remain passive regarding the changes happening around them. Read some of the key things businesses can be doing to prepare for the challenges Brexit brings with it.