26 minute read
IT & DIGITAL
The emergence of people working from home has presented challenges and opportunities in equal measure to Cornwall’s tech and digital sector. PFA Research director, Robert Rush, takes a closer look.
normalthe new
The demands upon our home and office broadband connectivity have never been as great as has been the case over the last 18 months. Despite being a very rural community Cornwall is blessed with a high level of broadband coverage - thanks largely to the Superfast Cornwall programmes - which have allowed many office-based businesses to successfully implement business continuity policies and allow staff to switch to flexible arrangements and homebased working.
During the first lockdown in April 2020, PFA Research found that the proportion of its What Cornwall Thinks panel members that went out to work dropped from 40% to less than 10% (of which most were key workers) and the proportion working from home increased from 15% to 30%. (Of the balance, about 45% were retired or don’t work and the remainder were laid off or on furlough).
After periods of restrictions and a second full national lockdown in 2021, most office workers (at least) are still following Government guidance to work at home if possible. According to London and USA market researcher Buzzback, only 60% of us say we are excited for life to go back to the way it was, with 23% of UK respondents no longer wanting to work in an office full-time.
Noticeably the pandemic has instigated and accelerated changes to consumer behaviours, with a direct impact on how services are delivered and how we have been ready to adopt them.
PFA Research is the UK representative of the ARTIS Network, an international partnership of similar market research companies. In December 2020, when the UK was fresh from the November four-week ‘lockdown-lite’, we undertook the second wave of a global benchmarking study across ten countries with a sample of 3,000 people, to evaluate the effect of the coronavirus pandemic in terms of consumer perceptions, behaviours and to anticipate future behaviour and trends. The study found that nearly two thirds (63%) of Brits were now working at home more or had started to do so (highest among the five European countries in the study, though lower than most Latin America), with a third (34%) of people expecting to continue working from home more in the future than they had previously done so.
In its ‘Working from home: comparing the data’ blog in May, the ONS concluded that the pandemic has had huge effects on people’s propensity to work from home, but it is too soon to say how permanent or widespread the changes will prove to be.
23% of UK respondents no longer wanting to work in an office full-time We are likely to see ‘hybrid’ forms of working in which employees attend their central workplace but less often than they did in the past. Some local authorities in the UK are already considering how such movements
ADVERTORIAL POWER TO THE PEOPLE – DATA FOR SERVICES
Privacy law, often described by companies as getting in the way of fair business, has benefitted from a huge increase in public awareness and a growing backlash against corporate data use. Intellectual Property and IT solicitor at Stephens Scown LLP, Ben Travers, looks at how consumers could soon be using their data as currency for services.
may impact types and locations of homes that will be required in the future and will no doubt feature within employment land reviews.
In addition to working from home more, the ARTIS/PFA Research survey found that consumers were engaging far more with digital services. 46% of the British respondents are now receiving e-medical services more than they were, higher than all other European and Latin American countries and second only to the United States (51%). 41% of Brits are receiving more e-learning services as education moved to online models, 38% were doing more admin procedures online and 38% were now accessing banking services online more than they did before. Perhaps with more time at home and chiming with the rise in online entertainment consumption, 38% said they were now consuming more online broadcasting services. Further, a Kantar survey earlier in May 2020 found one in five UK homes had newly signed up for a video streaming subscription during the first Covid-19 lockdown, and across FebruaryApril 2020, 56% of UK households now had at least one subscription video on demand.
The impact of lockdowns and the wider acceptance of people to take heed of the Government guidance to stay safe and stay home will have undoubtedly tempted or compelled a proportion of late majority adopters and laggards to engage with digital services.
The Age UK Briefing Paper ‘Digital inclusion and older people – how have things changed in a Covid-19 world?’ published March 2021, looked at the impact the pandemic has had on Internet use among people aged 52+ in England. The study which collected data in June/July 2020 found that 39% of people aged 52 plus are using the Internet more since the start of the coronavirus.
However, it also notes usage has increased most among groups already using the Internet regularly, and to date, there is little evidence that significant numbers of those previously digitally excluded had been prompted to get online during the first few months of the pandemic. That said, among those aged 75+, around a quarter (24%) are using the Internet more with just 9% using it less.
THE FUTURE? TIERED SERVICES IN EXCHANGE FOR DATA?
Consumers already pay to use the web; the currency is their data. We are not far from consumers controlling the marketplace and businesses will need to come to terms with this shift in the balance of power if they are to win customer trust. Imagine a site offering tiered services but only in exchange for more sensitive, and hence valuable, information about their customers.
The more data you give, the more services you can benefit from.
The technology would be easy to implement and consumers could easily engage in such a system – trading a little piece of themselves for services, but where they decide what a fair exchange is.
Consumers are demanding this now. The tools are there in current privacy law but the business community refuses to seize the opportunity and instead looks for work-arounds or ignores the law and even its customers.
If business does not address this soon, by giving consumers back control, the regulators will step in and the changes needed to enforce this mentality would challenge issues key to the web, such as neutrality, freedom of speech and freedom of access. As consumers spend more time engaging with digital channels, marketers have followed suit and increased their investment in digital channels. A Harris poll for OpenX in October of 500 marketers among medium and large businesses found that threequarters (74%) of marketers have made changes to their strategy because of the pandemic.
The research which also included 1,000 adults aged 18+, confirmed consumers to be increasing their shopping online (44%) and 8% are now making online purchases daily and 37% are increasing shopping using a mobile. In response, 39% of marketers have added to their e-commerce solutions, 5% started their e-commerce platform because of Covid and 71% with both online and physical store presence offer click-n-collect style service.
According to Isobar’s Creative Experience Survey (September 2020) of 1,350 global marketers in medium to large businesses, 64% say they have “completely or moderately” changed their customer experience (CX) strategy in response to the Covid-19 crisis, with 1 in 5 having ‘completely’ changed their approach. Of those that have changed their strategy, 4 in 10 (39%) have made ecommerce a greater focus of their CX strategy, while 36% are developing direct-toconsumer sales channels.
Ben Travers is a partner and head of Intellectual Property and IT law at Stephens Scown. The IP/IT team is one of the largest specialist teams of its kind in the UK and advises businesses on how to protect and exploit their IP, contract issues and data protection.
To contact Ben, please call 01392 210700 or email IPandIT@stephens-scown.co.uk
Another survey this March by Experian, which explored the impact of data quality on businesses, highlights 7 in 10 business leaders report that their response to the pandemic would have been aided by better data insights.
The research comprised 700 business leaders from the US, UK and Brazil and found that nearly two-thirds (63%) feel that the overall quality of data in their organisation since improved over the last 12 months. However, 55% say they lack trust in their data assets impeding their ability to be fully data-driven. Three-quarters (77%) believe an investment in data management initiatives now will better enable them to survive the next crisis.
Consumers and businesses now have greater expectations of digital services and infrastructure. Marketers are responding to the demand and they in turn require the data assets and opportunity to invest to be resilient, to keep up and grow in the new normal. As we write this piece, the Internet has just suffered a major outage affecting a number of high-profile websites including Amazon, eBay, the Financial Times and the UK Government GOV.UK. While the problem was a temporary glitch and short lived for most, including the Cornwall Chamber’s Sustainable Growth Conference which temporarily lost its access to Vimeo which was broadcasting the event to 400 virtual attendees, it served to highlight our dependency on access to digital infrastructure and tools for business.
PFA Research delivers business-tobusiness and social research, market analysis and programme evaluations to public and private sectors, as well as data collection services to the research industry. PFA is based in Cornwall and Greater Manchester, serving a client base across the UK and Europe.
A LIFE OF CRIME?
The rise of cybercrime has been well documented in recent years and is a problem showing no signs of going away.
“Phishing emails are more prevalent than ever before and are more sophisticated,” says Piran Tech director Alex Pugh. “It’s much more difficult to recognise a phishing email, and recognising the sender is no longer a safe defence.”
Alex says that while there is no need for panic, it is vital to stay vigilant and to make sure your staff are trained on how to prevent such attacks.
“The advice we’d give on protecting staff and company systems from a security breach is to ensure two-factor authentication is set up, to always exercise caution, and if you have any doubt, to seek confirmation via an alternative channel, i.e. don’t reply to the email. Always think carefully before entering any login details or personal information.
“We offer lots of support around IT security: we can carry out an audit on customer’s existing security, put a plan in place to ensure their systems are safe and offer advice on best practices and staff awareness.” Truro software company, Affinity Digital, says it has built its reputation on security. “A lot of our clients have mission critical applications that are so important to their organisations,” says sales director Jonathan Duvall. “Over the past couple of years, with so much more activity happening online, opportunists are attempting to carry out many more malicious attacks online. These could be attacks on the URL or looking for vulnerabilities in code. Keeping sites and applications 100% secure is only achievable by implementing security patches as soon as they’re released.
“People need to be absolutely sure that their internal IT departments or trusted suppliers are up to date on the latest security measures and have funding available to prevent attacks It’s much easier to stop them from happening in the first place, rather than deal with the aftermath.”
FROM THE COAL FACE
It has been a busy time for Cambornebased managed IT services Aztek
Business. Director Vladimir Lisic says:
“We have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of work, mainly amongst existing customers moving to Cloud setups, and new customers coming over to Aztek because their existing provider could not help them pivot quick enough.”
Vladimir says clients have become more amenable to a fully Cloud setup so that they can reinforce their business continuity plans.
But he says that despite more customers working from home, it has not presented the business with any more significant challenges. “We continued to operate to the same high level Aztek clients have been accustomed to over the years.”
NCI Technologies’ IT consultant, James Scott, says the pandemic has caused the business to undergo “radical transformation” in the way it works. “Overnight we went from performing onsite visits to virtual appointments,” he says.
DIVERSITY IN IT
One of the biggest challenges many employers in tech sector face in Cornwall can be recruitment. And in what has been a traditionally maledominated industry, things could be changing, albeit, slowly.
“There is definitely a lack of women working in the sector, and a lack of diversity overall,” says Piran Tech director Alex Pugh. “There are plenty of women working in supporting roles like admin, HR and management, but we have not noticed any real shift in diversity here in Cornwall when it comes to tech-focused roles.
But Alex does spot some green shoots. “In the sector overall it does seem as though things are changing, with lots of great initiatives to encourage women and minorities in tech, which we’d love to see more of here in Cornwall. There’s a cultural change that needs to happen, which really starts in schools – encouraging girls to pursue STEM subjects and giving them the skills and confidence to do so – which is happening, but it may be some time before that filters down.”
“We found that this was a positive step that has benefited us, our clients and the environment. It has also made our team more efficient by reducing the time spent traveling. For our clients it has enabled them to interact with us in a COVID secure way, with the ability for meetings to happen quicker rather than saving questions for an on-site visit. The real winner has been the benefit to the environment as we have reduced the number of miles that our vehicles have travelled in the past year.”
Business has been brisk, especially in the early days of the pandemic when there was a sudden rush of people buying laptops to enable home working. “Globally the effects of this mass purchasing led to supply shortages and price increases that are still being seen today,” says James. “This current trend has moved on from hardware purchases to businesses looking to secure their remote workers from the rise in cyberattacks.”
The impact has been slightly different for software companies than IT service providers.
Mark Jennings at n-coders says: “Though we have seen a reduction in ‘off-the-street’ bespoke software work, however our main clients have remained busy and as a result, n-coders has too. Further, we have had a need to transform our business working practices, both utilising and extending our technology skillsets utilising or VR development skills and remote collaboration environments. Having a core team of game developers, we have pushed forward our development of VR games, as well as ‘gamification’ for business, a process of utilising gaming processes to enhance a business operation or client interaction.”
Indeed, VR looks set to play an important part in n-coders’ future. “Our aim is always the optimisation of business,” says Mark, “whilst allowing the core fundamentals of a business to remain and we feel that the use of VR as a technology, will have a hugely positive impact on local business, at a minimal cost.”
Newquay-based developer Flowmoco reports a similar story, where some bits of business were lost, others were gained.
Kevin Bath says: “We have been fortunate enough to see no impact to our projected income growth as a result of the pandemic. Our trading figures increased by 50% since the start of the first lockdown, which has been our standard rate of growth over the last few years.
“We build software systems for a number of global enterprises who have had to shift pretty quickly as a result of the change in lifestyle we’ve all experienced over the last 15 months.
“As a result of an associated shift in priorities we’ve seen a number of projects canned, to be replaced by other new projects as a result of swift pivots by our customers. Good businesses can respond to change and identify new opportunities for growth - which we’ve happily seen amongst our customer-base.”
‘Pivoting’ has become a common phrase during lockdown and the ability to ‘pivot’ has been key for many across all sectors.
“We lost 40% of our clients in 72 hours in March 2020,” recalls Jess Ratty, founder of PR and comms agency Halo. “I won’t lie, it was a bit hairy - and we were only just starting our second year of business.
“We already had a stronghold in the tech space and so we purposefully pivoted into more of that - we’ve been on a stratospheric rise ever since. 2021 will be the year that Halo’s name is known for its innovative work in tech - as the truth tellers of the rise of digital transformation and the positive impacts it can have on humanity and the planet.”
Laurence Harmer, founder of Internet market company Solve Web Media, says the past year or so has been “a wild rollercoaster ride”. But not just because of the pandemic.
“When lockdown hit, many clients panicked and paused or stopped projects,” he says. “A third of our business came from the EU. For obvious reasons, this ground to a halt. We also have many successful tourism and leisure clients. They had no choice but to reduce outgoings. At that point, we quickly adapted our offering to help businesses stay alive. We made efforts to safeguard our clients online by offering free/ reduced-cost assistance and consultancy to help them adapt. We took a huge hit, but I knew this strategy would help us all survive long term. We are in this together.” Laurence says lockdown has given many businesses the opportunity to reflect on how they work. “Not long after the initial lockdown, we were inundated with calls with business owners that knew they had to turn from physical to digital,” he says. “Many current clients realised the return of investing online was a pivotal role in their success in these times. The importance of having a great website and getting seen online has been elevated to phenomenal levels.” Truro software developer, Affinity Digital, says it has enjoyed a very busy 12 months, winning three large
Good businesses contracts including a project at the start of lockdown with can respond to the Cabinet Office to build and maintain the official G7 change and identify website. new opportunities Sales director Jonathan Duval for growth says the move to remote working by businesses across the country has had an “interesting and positive” impact. “It has allowed Affinity Digital to be judged based on our people and the quality of our work, not on our location or an expensive office. Cornwall can feel quite distant from the action but with remote working and more people feeling comfortable meeting and getting work done online, we’ve been able to secure the new contracts without the need to meet anyone in person. “Where a company is based in the UK is no longer important. Our experience over the pandemic has been that if we can deliver work to our usual high standard, our clients are happier than ever, wherever or however our team members might be working.”
CORNWALL’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Like many across the UK, Cornish business owners have been thrust into the digital ratrace. However, their digital skills, particularly in some of the more ‘traditional’ sectors, can sometimes been found wanting.
Consequently, an increasing number of organisations have been seeking support to learn valuable new skills withing digital subjects. Top subjects include website creation, social media marketing, and how to sell products online.
Penzance-based Digital Peninsula Network (DPN) is a leader in designing training methods to upskill sole-traders, small businesses, and individuals in digital skills. DPN has developed and delivered innovative training courses in partnership with employers to over 2,500 participants across the south west within the last five years.
MD Janus Howard explains: “Demand for DPN’s training has increased throughout the year as many more businesses have become reliant on Internet technologies to advertise, take bookings and deliver services, due to many months of restrictions.
“The development of DPN’s online training delivery has allowed us to meet this demand enabling DPN to grow as a company and support more businesses than ever before. Working in partnership on 13 separate EU and UK Government funded projects, we are pleased to have been able to support so many businesses in making the best use of Internet technologies to cushion the effects of the pandemic on the business community.”
HOME COMFORTS
Working from home has presented huge opportunities for many IT businesses, with Cornish broadband provider Wildanet being no exception.
One of the main drawbacks for many people working from home, has been that broadband speeds have not always been up to the job. Something Wildanet has been able to help with.
“Home working has highlighted just how poorly served many areas of Cornwall are with regards high or even moderate quality internet,” says chief operating officer Justin Clark. “Slow browsing speed is an everyday annoyance to many homes across Cornwall but being forced to work from home and not being able to join video call or download data was a massive problem.
“There has been a huge focus on digital connectivity during the pandemic and it has also highlighted the digital divide that remains in Cornwall, particularly in rural areas. The result has been we have had more homes and businesses signing up to our service or requesting that we extend our network into their area to meet their needs now and into the future.”
Justin says the past year has seen a “revolution” in working practices. “It really has opened everyone’s eyes to the power of technology to transform the way we work.
However, for many businesses it has been a wake-up call that they do not have the reliable, high speed Internet they need to make the most of this technology and, something that may have been overlooked previously, it’s not just about the business; staff also need the connectivity at home to work effectively remotely.”
FUTURE-PROOF FLEXIBLE WORKING IT support company Piran Tech explains why your business needs a cloud-based phone system
Over the past year, we’ve helped over 150 businesses make the shift to remote working. While every business has different needs, there are a few services we offer that have stood out as essential to any organisation working remotely, flexibly, or across multiple locations.
Cloud-based or VoIP phone systems come in at the top of the list: a reliable, secure phone system is crucial to any business, but VOIP phone systems offer lots of really useful functions for flexible working teams. They’re scalable, and can easily grow as your team does, and are easily managed using a customisable dashboard. Compared with a traditional phone system, VoIP systems are cost-effective, and can save you as much as 80% on your phone costs.
With a cloud-based phone system, users can make and receive calls from anywhere with an internet connection. Aside from being useful for remote-working teams, this function also comes in handy if your team travel or work from multiple sites, allowing them to communicate with customers using their landline work number. VoIP systems are highly secure by design: as the trend towards remote working grows, good IT security is more important than ever and ensuring your team can communicate securely via phone or message is essential.
VoIP systems can integrate with your existing cloud-based systems, helping you streamline the way you work. Customers can be seamlessly transferred between phones and departments, and with a web app browser extension you can make and take calls from directly within your browser.
We work with the cloud-based PBX vendor 3CX. As a 3CX Silver Partner, our engineers are trained to offer you the very best level of support, from installation to technical support, and we can offer you the best deal on 3CX licences. 3CX offers useful advanced call features such as call queues, call recording, conference calls and call reporting, as well as an Android and iOS app allowing teams to stay in touch via call, video call or messaging. To find out more about VoIP systems and 3CX, email info@pirantech.co.uk or visit www.pirantech.co.uk
CORNWALL: THE PLACE TO BE
Software Cornwall has been addressing the needs of the software and tech sectors for the past ten years.
When Software Cornwall began, it was fairly rare to have a tech company in Cornwall that employed more than 30 people, with the majority being micro businesses. Today, Cornwall is home to a whole range of companies, start-ups and fast-growing SMEs, and even some owned by multinationals. A lot has changed.
The business support and funding available to tech companies, entrepreneurs or those looking to digitise their business in Cornwall is currently in abundance at all stages of growth.
For start-ups and budding entrepreneurs, there is Falmouth Launchpad, a leading venture studio that has produced ones to watch such Data Duopoly and Purpose 3D, each creating cutting-edge tech in niche sectors. For growth companies, there is Tech Nation which provides multiple programmes and accelerators to help tech companies focus, scale and explore new markets. There is even support for both tech and non-tech businesses that want to create innovative new propositions who can take advantage of Unlocking Potential’s Digital Transformation Programme to help them excel. for software developers and engineers that companies are struggling to fill. This has been a longstanding problem and one that Software Cornwall and partners are continually trying to address through education outreach activities.
Initiatives that began in 2014/15 are coming to fruition, including the Mission to Mars work experience programme for budding developers aged 14 and 15. This cohort are now in their early 20’s and some are taking up developer roles in local software companies to pursue a career in tech. It might be a long game, but engaging with young people and providing them with the opportunity to play with code in a fun environment has positive impacts on career choices in later life.
Since 2017, it is estimated that Software Cornwall has taken 350 students through its Mission to Mars programme, delivered Tech Jam events to over 600 individuals, provided workshops in schools to over 800 students and been present at over 50 careers fairs.
Getting young people engaged and excited about tech is one route into the industry, but it is by no means the only one.
Software Cornwall, as part of the Business Clusters programme run by Truro & Penwith College, is delivering ‘Gateway to Tech’; a project that helps adults careerswitch into tech, even if they have no prior coding knowledge. Participants are provided with introductory training and a coding challenge to test their aptitude and willingness to learn.
In fact, right now more than 70 programmes across the country that Cornish tech companies can take advantage of. Some offer access to grants and mentors, while others provide partfunded and fully-funded training. And it is not just business support services that are offering help. Cornish website and app developer Hiyield has recently launched its start-up incubator, Hatch.
With that growth comes some challenges. According to the 2021 Tech South West Annual Report, access to talent was the biggest barrier to growth this year.
The Cornish tech community is experiencing this first hand, with the Software Cornwall jobs board full of roles They are then offered a six-month paid placement within a local business, with their salary part-funded by the European Social Fund. Companies locally are seeing this as a new way to recruit and applications for those seeking a placement candidate are still open.
Over the next ten years, the landscape of Cornish tech will change again. According to the Office of National Statistics, between 2010 and 2019 there was a 250% growth in businesses that fall under the ‘software’ category in Cornwall. With a Government focus on digital skills and countless reports raising alarms about technical skills gaps in the UK, this is Cornwall’s opportunity to continue this growth curve.
It is also important for us to recognise that the tech sector is no longer just made up of software companies, but as non-tech businesses grow and digitise, they employ teams of software developers to keep their products, services and processes innovative.
Education will need to support the industry in developing people with the right skills for tech and the industry will also have to play its part in reskilling the workforce to help close the widening gap, accelerated by the pandemic.
Tackling this head-on is Cornwall’s new FibreHub, a vision coming to life from Headforwards at a site next to Cornwall College, that will not only provide space for education and industry to work together, but will develop raw talent through outreach programmes and a tech academy.
Co-locations like the FibreHub provide a seedbed for ideas to generate. As companies move to potentially new ways of working following the pandemic, with hybrid approaches being considered by some, creating spaces that foster conversation between parties will lead to problem-solving and help tackle limitations felt by Cornish businesses, enabling the county to continue to grow.
With the world’s eyes on Cornwall during the G7, the Fibre Park vision coming to life, a buzzing space sector leading some of the biggest innovations in space, and a bustling tech community to boot, Cornwall is the place to be.
