TBtech July Edition

Effective thinking

COST SAVING TECHNOLOGY.

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Docusoft - Any Time, Any Place, Any Device

Docusoft CloudFiler

Cloud Management

Secure Signing Portal

DMS:

Docusoft's cloud platform for document management automates processes and provides a clear framework that enables a more consistent, secure approach to managing business documents through their life cycle. Portal: Sign and track documents in one secure location. Register online and we'll get In contact to arrange a free demo.

Time, Device

Global team of analysts, at your reach 24/7

Contain threats both on-prem and on the cloud

Incident response teams to mitigate any threats

Real time analytics

DELIVERING EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE TO MEET 2030 NEEDS.

Those responsible for the deployment of EV infrastructure need to understand their user’s needs, which should inform long-term roll-outs, and design procurement processes that incentivise charging point providers to deliver quality long-term deployments.

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The era of software-defined everything is pushing the pace of innovation and transforming market segments ranging from aerospace to industrial, defense to medical, and networking to automotive.

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Meet your tbtech team.

Joe has vast experience and knowledge accumulated and honed as a New Business Development Manager and Relationship Manager. Responsible for generating new business opportunities, looking after the growth of the company and strategy, sourcing new ventures and managing the company.

Paul stops at nothing to innovate and create value for our customers. His mission is help those we work with to win in their markets. Passionate about delivering customer success and have had the pleasure of supporting many of the world’s leading technology brands for over 15 years.

Matt is Operations Manager at TBTech, he has spent the last 15 years working with multinational IT companies building campaigns, GTM strategies, leading both Sales and Marketing teams to achieve organisational goals. With a love of computer science, history, and psychology he is an advocate for change, operational efficiency and automation. Value across the business for all our customers.

JOE ALLEN

PAUL WHITTALL

MATT ROBERTS

We have been working behind-the-scenes to elevate the readers experience.

ERIN LANAHAN

Erin’s love for advertising and design has led her to Tbtech as a Media Marketing Apprentice. As a new member of the team, she is looking forward to exploring new skills and learning more about the tech sector .

WILLIAM MOORE

William’s passion starts and ends with design, timeless aesthetic and creative solutions. Having worked on numerous creative campaigns ranging from car manufacturers, leading tech companies, property investors as well as local artisans, the goal is to create the ultimate brand experience between the client and the consumer.

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1 These include the Verified Carbon Standard, Gold Standard, the American Carbon Registry and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards or equivalent where possible.

Could your business save money with AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t just for big businesses anymore. Even small and mid-sized companies can harness the power of AI to save money. From deploying AI in marketing to leveraging it for legal and HR tasks and from data analytics to the integration with NoCode tools, AI is reshaping the business landscape.

By Laura Richards, Founder, Better Business Imagery

Could your business save money with AI?

DEPLOYING AI TO SAVE YOUR BUSINESS MONEY

The key to successfully implementing AI tools in your business lies in understanding the types of AI available and how they can best serve your specific business needs. Broad AI refers to a machine able to understand, learn, and implement any intellectual task a human can. While we’re not quite there yet, it’s the eventual goal of many AI researchers. Narrow AI, also known as weak AI, is currently the most widely deployed form of AI. It’s designed to perform narrow tasks such as facial recognition, voice commands, or car driving. Siri, Google Assistant, and even your Netflix recommendations are all forms of narrow AI. They’re like the diligent employees of the AI world, doing their specific tasks reliably and well.

Lastly, there’s Generative AI (GenAI). These systems generate new content, whether it’s a news article, a piece of music, a marketing plan or a piece of

code. Tools like Bard, Claude, or ChatGPT are key players in this area. These are the creative geniuses of the AI workforce, capable of producing content from scratch. While this might all sound a bit futuristic, these tools are now easily accessible and deployable in any business, regardless of size or sector. They can drive efficiencies, enhance productivity, and most importantly, save you a significant amount of money.

GENAI: YOUR NEW MARKETING MANAGER

Arguably one of the most established ways to deploy AI in your business is to use it to create marketing plans and content. GenAI tools like Bard, Claude or ChatGPT have broad uses for marketing, meaning they can be used to do anything from writing a marketing plan to creating search engine-optimised product descriptions for your website. There are also a range of more specific tools, like CopyAI, Jasper or MidJourney, that can be used for specific functions like copywriting or creating bespoke imagery for your website and

marketing materials. To use GenAI to save money on marketing, try asking it to help you develop a marketing plan. Having a plan in place will save you money by focusing your marketing efforts on the activities most likely to positively impact your bottom line. Alternatively, GenAI is already very good at producing written content like product descriptions, blog posts and social media posts. While the blog posts won’t be winning any Pulitzers just yet, using AI to produce SEO-friendly content or to ‘repurpose’ content (a fancy way of saying that you’ve turned a blog post into social media posts, for example) can save businesses owners and marketing managers a significant amount of time and money.

AI SUPPORT FOR HR AND LEGAL TEAMS

In April of this year, AI researchers announced what they called “a watershed moment” after they deployed OpenAI’s GPT4 (the latest generation Large Language Model) to take and pass the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) – the main law exam in

the US. GPT-4 didn’t just scrape by – it scored higher than 90% of real students. While this doesn’t mean that GPT-4 can replace your lawyer (yet), it does provide some cost-cutting opportunities. For example, businesses can employ AI for drafting contracts. AI tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated in understanding and generating legal language. They can efficiently create standard contracts or review and flag nonstandard wording or clauses in documents that might otherwise escape notice. AI can also help companies stay compliant with changing regulations, reducing the risk of costly lawsuits and fines. Compliance AI tools can monitor changes in laws and regulations across multiple jurisdictions, ensuring that your company’s policies and practices remain up-to-date. In HR, AI can streamline and automate tasks such as screening CVs, scheduling interviews, onboarding new hires, and managing employee benefits. Meanwhile, AI-powered chatbots can also provide instant responses to common HR queries, improving the employee experience while saving time and money. Both

developments can reduce the administrative burden on HR teams and help them focus on strategic initiatives.

THE ROLE OF AI IN DATA ANALYTICS AND FINANCE

Imagine if anyone in your company could open up a spreadsheet and within a few minutes have the answer to important questions like how do our sales compare to the previous quarter? or if we continue on the same trajectory, what will our profits be in 2025? Previously, you needed to understand finances to ‘read’ a financial forecast or P&L, and you needed to know a language like Python to be able to query your organisation’s databases. Now, Natural language Processing (NLP) means that anyone in your business can interrogate your data, using plain language. As NLP continues to improve, anyone will be able to look at a spreadsheet or database and understand what it means for your company. Not only can this save you money on expensive external support, but transparency about business expenditure can

also fuel cost savings and inform decision-making amongst your senior management team. It’s even possible to test out what will happen to your bottom line if you make specific changes – like if we switch to a cheaper supplier of widgets or if I hire another engineer. So if you are thinking about making big changes in your business, you can predict what will happen and – hopefully – avoid expensive mistakes.

Some tools, such as Rows, have already built in AI assistance to their spreadsheet software, and with Microsoft investing heavily in AI (including OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT), expect to see some major changes to Excel in the near future.

COMBINING AI WITH NOCODE TOOLS

NoCode tools have been around for a few years and have gained popularity quickly amongst business users. NoCode tools let people build websites, apps and software without writing any code, and these have recently received a power-up with the integration of

AI capabilities. Now, not only can you build your own apps – things like bespoke CRMs or customer portals - for your business without outsourcing the development to an expensive agency, but you can also add extensive customisation with AI-generated code. Some small business owners have even been able to create their own plugins or software by asking Bard or ChatGPT’s code generator to write the code needed to perform complex tasks. Want to customise an off-the-shelf website template? Ask Bard for the CSS code you need. Want to alter a workflow in Salesforce? ChatGPT’s code generator can write the Python script for you. Traditional app development can easily run to tens of thousands of pounds, while updating and maintaining software like Salesforce can set you back £500 per day for a consultant. While there is a bit of a learning curve with most NoCode tools, combining them with GenAI could mean launching your app without needing a five-figure budget.

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR

There are some issues that businesses need to watch out for when deploying AI. Saving a few pounds on law fees means nothing if you end up fined by the ICO for breaching GDPR. Businesses need to be careful about what information they share with AI tools to ensure they are still following their data privacy policies and not sharing confidential information with the companies behind tools like Bard and ChatGPT. It’s also important to understand that GenAI tends to ‘hallucinate’, meaning what it tells you may not be real (even if it sounds convincing). This could harm your reputation if you inadvertently share something that’s ‘made up’. It’s also worth noting that while AI can drastically reduce costs and improve efficiency, it doesn’t eliminate the need for human oversight. AI tools should be used to augment human skills, not replace them. Businesses may need to initially invest in training to ensure their staff are reaping the maximum benefits from AI.

Cost-saving tech that enables businesses to meet ESG targets.

The way we work has transformed immeasurably over the past decade. Technology, society and the pandemic have seen hybrid accepted as a new norm, online meetings an ordinary occurrence, and ESG targets a reality for every type of business.

By Janice MacLennan, CEO at Claroo Ltd

Cost-saving tech that enables businesses to meet ESG targets.

However, while the pandemic saw a rocket in popularity for platforms such as Zoom, no alternative has been offered for strategy. We can meet online, we can collaborate remotely, but how do we facilitate better decision-making, capture inputs and track the outcomes of these meetings? With an emphasis on remote working yet increased collaboration, advances are needed to enable teams to work remotely, together, across continents and timezones, both for person-hour saving and reducing our carbon footprint.

In today’s interconnected business world, teams need to work together in real-time, share ideas, and iterate quickly. Powerpoint and Excel typically require manual sharing of files, leading to version control issues and delays in communication. Furthermore, strategy development requires integrating data from various sources and analyzing it holistically. With single-purpose tools, data often remains siloed, making it challenging to get a comprehensive view of the business and industry trends. This can lead to incomplete or

inaccurate insights, potentially resulting in suboptimal strategic decisions. Another limitation is they do not adapt well to changing strategic priorities or evolving business needs. Making significant modifications or restructuring a presentation or spreadsheet can be time-consuming and error-prone.

STRATEGY PLATFORMS FOR BUSINESS

When a team in the UK confers with their Asian counterparts, time zones are crossed and notes are taken, but storing the outcome of the discussion all in one place can be time consuming, inaccurate and laborious, and the risk of losing or burying a crucial piece of input is high.

If only there were a platform where teams could strategise together, spanning time zones and continents, which allows for the recording of individual team member’s input, and enables everyone to work cohesively on the same strategy.. A step up from sharing documents, and adding to calendar, what would

change our tomorrow would be a business innovation that allowed companies to do this.

One of today’s most exciting technology innovations, NMBLR, does just that.

NMBLR is a first-to-market collaborative strategy platform which works to enable teams to work together across geographical locations and time zones. We can all appreciate that cross-functional collaboration ensures that not all ideas originate from the very few, thus teams using NMBLR can be confident that everyone involved can participate in the creation of new ideas, which improves engagement on all fronts. And there’s no need to travel!

ESG Targets are a huge part of any business framework, and the ability to work in a refined and progressive way and actually reduce a company’s carbon footprint is immeasurable. Not only does NMBLR reduce the need to travel, it removes the waste of post-its, flip-charts and notetaking as all updates and actions are recorded chronologically and

assigned to their members. When we look at ESG we must look at the whole picture, what we need is a removal of paper waste, the electricity that powers the printers and shredders, the fuel for travel and the man hours retracing steps that have already been takenremaking mistakes where lessons have already been learned.

A comprehensive strategy platform is essential for any business progressing into digital transformation and looking to be ahead of the game in their industry. When adopting a digital strategy platform to streamline man-hours and production costs, teams should consider whether the platform offers mobile accessibility, enabling team members to access and work on strategies on the go, fostering flexibility and productivity. Another important consideration is looking for robust collaboration features that enable real-time collaboration among team members, allowing them to work together on strategy, share insights, support their contributions with evidence and provide feedback easily.

PHARMA AND BEYOND

NMBLR was built by digital experts Neverbland and using 30+ years of MacLennan’s experience developing strategy for global corporations in Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals. The companies’ focus is currently on small to mid-sized pharma/ biotech companies to enable them to bring innovations to market more swiftly, productively and for greater commercial success, but will soon be rolled out across other business sectors.

NMBLR facilitates hybrid working like nothing else. Teams from all corners of the globe can strategise as if they were in the same room, and a digital trail is recorded every step of the way. It is set to transform how global business develops their commercialisation strategy and was recently listed at number 2 in the 50 most important Health Tech innovations.

Innovations that cut costs for a business as part of a long-term framework must be agile and reactive. Take video conferencing solutions for outside-of-home

offices for example: Outsideof-home offices are evolving to accommodate post-pandemic working; instead of open-floorplan designs for lots of people, they are being transformed into social spaces and smaller meeting rooms. The office is becoming a place to discuss the work, not do the work. Video conferencing technology has responded - one can now bring video conferencing to private homes, huddle rooms and large conference rooms.

WHAT MAKES AN INNOVATION STAND OUT?

During a recent webinar, What makes a health tech innovation stand out?, it was interesting to hear from investors and designers about what they seek and strive for when assessing a new innovation.

An innovation needs to create value as perceived through the eyes of the stakeholder. This will truly form an innovation that shapes our tomorrow.

NMBLR has been hailed by many testers as revolutionary, and it is already being used by global pharma bodies, a sign that its future core value could prove immeasurable.

For any innovation, only once its true value is assessed and validated can creators move forward to bring something to market that will truly have an impact on our future. It is exciting to see how strategy platforms will develop in coming years. I encourage you to watch this space!

Why massive IoT is a force for good as well as profit.

IoT is poised on the brink of delivering on its long-delayed promises to enable tens of billions of connected devices and this creates a fantastic opportunity not only for businesses to profit but also for society to benefit in numerous ways. However, achieving all the possible benefits relies on optimizing the costs of IoT enablement and democratizing access to technology that includes lower value use cases and markets. “Our appetite is to provide new and innovative solutions to the market,” confirms Norbert Muhrer, the president and chief operating officer of Quectel Wireless Solutions. “To be frank, that’s not what we were like five or six years ago, when we were a fast follower, but we have turned our approach round and we are now an innovation leader.

By Norbert Muhrer, President & CSO Quectel Wireless Solutions

Why massive IoT is a force for good as well as profit.

When a new technology arrives, we want to be first to market and we are increasingly achieving this. For example, we have recently announced a module for Amazon Sidewalk in addition to nonterrestrial network modules. We’re not doing crazy experiments or jumping into murky waters that we don’t understand but, inside the realm of our core competencies, we are permanently innovating and I think customers expect that of an industry leader.”

IOT FOR GOOD

That innovation is driving new use cases that are transforming society across an ever-expanding number of deployments from healthcare to smart cities and from environmental sustainability to addressing the digital divide. To maintain this momentum, enterprises need access to modules, chipsets and antennas and ideally, these should be easy to integrate, have unconstrained supply and be backed by a portfolio of services such as original design manufacturing (ODM), certification, testing and support.

“We facilitate companies, no matter what solutions they are seeking, to connect their devices with the latest, state of the art technology,” says Muhrer. “That could be anything from low data rate, highly power efficient connections in narrowband IoT, such as those for smart meters or agriculture devices, to 5G customer premise equipment that enables fixed wireless access with extremely high data rates.”

The low-end scenario could involve enabling connected sensors in crop fields to optimize usage of fertiliser and ensure maximized yields while the highend 5G use cases might bring wireless broadband connectivity to users, often for the first time, or enable advanced medical applications.

“In Industrial IoT, the classical model of harnessing IoT to enable smart measurements is leading to environmental improvements because, when companies know their emissions or their energy consumption, they can work to reduce their consumption or their impact,” says Muhrer. “Smart sensors can reveal where leaks occur in water pipes and enable providers to rectify their infrastructure with enhanced accuracy.”

In addition, Muhrer cites deployments of smart home technologies to control the humidity level of homes and to minimize their power consumption which are reducing environmental impacts. He also details applications involving optimization

of waste bins emptying services. “They only send the trucks to empty bins that need emptying,” he says. “It cuts costs for the authorities so they can spend the tax money on better investments such as schools, kindergartens and public healthcare.”

Muhrer believes Quectel has substantial value to add, not only as a provider of technology but also as an enabler, helping customers realize their projects. “We guide customers with our service support from the design stage until the customers’ devices are certified,” he says. “We try and help their journey along as we want our customers to have a pleasant experience both in the technology and the support that we give them. Once their devices are in the field, we also support them with any issues that arise.”

For some of the use cases outlined, there are substantial cost constraints and, as massive IoT gains scale, these costs are magnified. For IoT to continue to be a force for good, efficiency must be enhanced. The challenge is to use the high volumes to drive

down the cost of components and create cost-effective solutions at sustainable cost.

“We run a very lean organization and it’s no secret, because we are publicly listed, that we run on narrow profit margins” says Muhrer. “While at our low OPEX per revenue this is digestible, our competitors’ margins with much higher cost structures tend to be at least double, often even higher. We can provide cost effective products and innovate those in mass volume for the customer. The volume of solutions we sell lessens the technology cost per unit and that drives our capability to deliver highly efficient but lower cost products that are dedicated to use cases and deployment scenarios.”

In Muhrer’s view, small regional vendors can’t meet the needs of massive IoT because they lack the resources to develop variants to support the myriad vertical use cases of IoT in every market on the globe. High-volume makers of IoT modules and antennas have not only the scale but also the experience and insights from deployments in many different

vertical sectors and geographies to bring to their development, which fuels innovation and cost efficiency.

“IoT is a hyperscale, global ecosystem and its needs can only be met by hyperscale, global vendors that can maximize IoT’s potential for profit – and for good,” concludes Muhrer. “If you’re deploying in the UK, Australia, Japan, Korea, Latin America and the US, for example, you need solutions that are tailored for each market. Being able to offer that demands vast R&D resources so market variants can be created that meet both the vertical sector and geographic demands customers face.”

Cloud document management solutions: The ultimate guide.

In today’s fast-paced business world, efficient and secure document management is a crucial aspect of any successful organization. Traditional methods of document management such as paper-based filing systems are not only time-consuming but also pose a significant security risk. The solution to this problem is a cloud document management solution that enables businesses to manage their documents securely and efficiently. In this guide, we’ll explore the benefits of cloud document management solutions and how they can help you streamline your business operations.

By Erin Lanahan,

from TBtech

Cloud document management solutions: The ultimate guide.

WHAT IS A CLOUD DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION?

A cloud document management solution is a software platform that enables businesses to store and manage their documents securely in the cloud. This means that all documents are hosted on a remote server, accessible from any device with an internet connection. With a cloud document management solution, businesses can store, share, and collaborate on documents with ease. This software provides a centralized repository for all documents, making it easy to locate and access files when needed.

One of the most significant advantages of a cloud document management solution is that it allows for real-time collaboration. Team members can work on the same document simultaneously, eliminating the need for backand-forth emails and reducing the risk of version control issues. This feature is especially beneficial for remote teams, enabling them to work together seamlessly.

BENEFITS OF CLOUD DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

Cloud document management solutions offer numerous benefits for businesses of all sizes. Here are some of the key advantages:

1. Increased Efficiency Cloud document management solutions provide a centralized platform for all documents, making it easy to locate and access files quickly. With advanced search capabilities, you can find the documents you need in seconds, eliminating the need for timeconsuming manual searches. This feature saves time and increases efficiency, allowing your team to focus on more important tasks.

2. Enhanced Security

Security is a top priority for any business, and cloud document management solutions offer enhanced security features to protect your sensitive documents. These solutions use advanced encryption technologies to secure your documents, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access them. Additionally, you can set

permission levels for different team members, ensuring that only those who need access to certain files can view them.

3. Real-Time Collaboration

Cloud document management solutions enable real-time collaboration among team members, regardless of their location. This feature allows multiple team members to work on the same document simultaneously, eliminating the need for back-and-forth emails and reducing the risk of version control issues. This feature is especially beneficial for remote teams, enabling them to work together seamlessly.

4. Cost-Effective

Cloud document management solutions are cost-effective compared to traditional paperbased filing systems. With a cloudbased solution, you can eliminate the need for physical storage space, reducing your overhead costs. Additionally, cloud solutions eliminate the need for manual document searches, saving you time and money.

5. Increased Accessibility

With a cloud document management solution, you can access your documents from anywhere, at any time. All you need is an internet connection, and you can securely access your documents from any device. This feature is especially beneficial for remote teams or businesses with multiple locations.

DOCUSOFT CLOUDFILER: THE ULTIMATE CLOUD DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTION

Docusoft CloudFiler is a cloud document management solution designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. With advanced features like OCR search capabilities, secure electronic signatures, and realtime collaboration, Docusoft CloudFiler is the ultimate solution for efficient and secure document management.

1. OCR Search Capabilities

Docusoft CloudFiler offers advanced OCR search capabilities, enabling you to locate documents quickly and easily. OCR (optical character

recognition) technology enables the software to recognize text within scanned documents, making it possible to search for specific keywords within a document.

2. Secure Electronic Signatures

With Docusoft CloudFiler, you can securely sign and send documents electronically. The software enables you to send PDF forms to complete online and send contracts and other business documents securely and have them signed electronically. This feature saves time and eliminates the need for physical signatures, reducing the risk of lost or misplaced documents.

3. Collaboration and Version Control

Docusoft CloudFiler enables real-time collaboration among team members, regardless of their location. Team members can check out a document from the system, make changes and check it back in again. This creates a new version of the document, and you are able to view and jump back to previous versions if mistakes were made.

This feature reduces time spent on resolving mistakes and collaborating with team members.

4. Cloud-Based Solution

Docusoft CloudFiler is a cloudbased solution, meaning that all documents are stored securely in the cloud. This feature eliminates the need for physical storage space, reducing your overhead costs. Additionally, cloud solutions eliminate the need for manual document searches, saving you time and money.

5. Enhanced Security

Security is a top priority for Docusoft CloudFiler, and the software offers advanced encryption technologies to secure your documents. The software enables you to set permission levels for different team members, ensuring that only those who need access to certain files can view them.

6. Document workflow

Teams can send each other tasks on documents that work like a paper in-tray on your desk but are completely paperless. You can pass documents around internally

for approval or E-signature. Collaboration and getting documents checked over can never be easier.

In conclusion, cloud document management solutions offer numerous benefits for businesses of all sizes. They provide increased efficiency, enhanced security, real-time collaboration, costeffectiveness, and increased accessibility. Docusoft CloudFiler is the ultimate cloud document management solution, offering advanced features like OCR search capabilities, secure electronic signatures, real-time collaboration, and cloud-based storage. With Docusoft CloudFiler, businesses can streamline their document management processes and focus on what really mattersgrowing their business.

The Wi-Fi 7 utopia is further away than you think.

As apps, games, and videos on our laptops and phones demand more bandwidth and Wi-Fi dependent smart-home devices become more integrated in our everyday lives, faster networking has never been in more demand. Businesses across all manner of industries also depend on the reliability and efficiency of their respective Wi-Fi networks, the benefits of high internet speeds becoming increasingly critical for employees and customers alike. Consequently, the industry is responding. But how realistic are its ambitions?

By Alan Jones, Marketing Manager, D-Link UK

The Wi-Fi 7 utopia is further away than you think.

THE JOURNEY TO ENHANCED CONNECTIVITY

Wi-Fi 6 arrived in 2019, bringing considerable improvements to its predecessor. For one, the technology introduced OFDMA, which allows routers to divide channels into smaller radio bands to better support device heavy environments. Wi-Fi 6 also made leaps in making home and business networks more secure with the help of WPA3.

Enter Wi-Fi 6E. Building on all existing Wi-Fi 6 features, the new technology adds a third radio band at 6GHz. As demand for increased speeds and more reliable internet continues to increase, this additional bandwidth enabled our multidevice households and businesses to enjoy better connectivity.

Now, anticipation is mounting for Wi-Fi 7, the latest in Wi-Fi technology that promises to significantly boost the speed and solidity of wireless connections. But what makes it so different?

UPPING THE ANTE

Not only does Wi-Fi 7 promise drastically faster speeds and reduction in latency to radically improve the reliability and responsiveness of connected devices, it also offers concurrent access to multiple wireless bands - the critical differentiator between Wi-Fi 7 enabled devices and legacy generations.

Currently, devices usually choose one band to make transmissions, switching to another based on the availability of the connection. With Multi-Link Operation (MLO) however, Wi-Fi 7-enabled devices can simultaneously connect on two bands – making more efficient use of the available data to optimise the reliability of the connection and deliver ultra-low latencies.

The benefits of this to businesses are clear. Faster speeds equate to enhanced productivity and increased reliability equates to less tech-related downtime, resulting in enhanced efficiency. The benefits to consumers are also undeniable – in our modern, hyper-connected

age, who wouldn’t value faster upload and download speeds for streaming, video calls and gaming?

THE CONNECTIVITY CONUNDRUM

There’s no denying the impressive nature of Wi-Fi 7. However, there is also no denying that we are, unfortunately, some way away from this Wi-Fi utopia.

There are distinct barriers preventing widespread implementation of the technology at this juncture in time. These barriers all fall under the same umbrella question – until we see true Wi-Fi 7 speeds enabled by the appropriate infrastructure and compatible technology, is the cost of implementing Wi-Fi 7 justified over implementing Wi-Fi 6 or 6E?

To get the most out of Wi-Fi 7, consumers will need to ensure their data plans offer beyond 100-Mbps broadband. In many areas, this is the maximum offered by internet service providers (ISPs). The same goes for the wired network to which the Wi-Fi

access points connect. Since most Wi-Fi 7 access points will provide multigigabit wireless speeds, the typical Gigabit Ethernet would be an instant bottleneck. These criteria must be considered for true Wi-Fi 7 potential to be realised. In addition to infrastructure and internet subscription upgrade costs, the requirement for compatible Wi-Fi 7 devices will only increase potential costs further. Comparable to watching a 4K TV channel on a non-4K TV, without the hardware to support it, the benefits of Wi-Fi 7 cannot be enjoyed at its full capability.

As we enter a time of reduced budgets for both businesses and consumers, technology like Wi-Fi 7 is unlikely to be categorised as essential spending, particularly if the network already in place is operating at a sufficient level. And until ISP data plans evolve to widely support Wi-Fi 7’s capabilities - and compatible technology is widely available - this will, realistically, remain a challenge.

THE TRUE HIGH-SPEED SOLUTION (FOR NOW)

There is no doubt that Wi-Fi 7 will have its day. But it’s important to keep in mind that with current roadblocks, the technology will take some time to reach its potential.

Implementation of Wi-Fi 7 – much like 5G - will be slow and steady and we can expect the technology to coexist somewhat alongside the Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Nevertheless, it’s certainly wise for both businesses and consumers to start preparing for this new era of connectivity by updating legacy systems and devices for Wi-Fi 7 technology. As hybrid working practices become more entrenched, both businesses and workers will depend on reliable connectivity, particularly as cloud computing and mobile commerce become more ubiquitous. Wi-Fi 7 will no doubt provide that reliability when the time comes.

It’d be a mistake, however, to skip Wi-Fi 6 and 6E technology while waiting for Wi-Fi 7. Wi-Fi 6 and 6E provides an affordable and immediately available solution for businesses and consumers seeking a fast and reliable network. After all, it’s important to learn to walk before you can run.

Challenges of connecting IoT devices to the cloud.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been expanding, with the number of IoT devices worldwide forecasted to almost triple from 9.7 billion in 2020 to more than 29 billion IoT devices in 2030. These IoT devices have the ability to gather data, communicate with each other, and provide real-time feedback, making them a valuable resource for businesses and consumers alike.

By Cedric Mauvielle, Vice President, Global IoT and Partnership, Console Connect

Challenges of connecting IoT devices to the cloud.

Primarily, IoT is built up of hardware (i.e., the devices used) and software (i.e., real-time analytics). The platforms are used in most business verticals and have arguably improved the everyday operations of organisations. The integration of IoT and the cloud creates the opportunity for a unified IT infrastructure for a company. Organisations linking the two different technologies together will reap the benefits of both and create a convenient way of working. However, this should be accomplished without additional complexity and without compromising on performance or security.

IOT DEVICE COMPATIBILITY

The popularity of cloud computing has made connecting to it mainstream with providers like Amazon now offering their own software tools. Increasingly connecting IoT devices to the cloud benefits from greater flexibility, more robust disaster recovery, and automatic software and security updates if some pitfalls are avoided.

With multiple devices to connect to the cloud, scalability, flexibility, and network connectivity become challenging.

Scalability: IoT device growth requires cloud platforms to handle large amounts of data while maintaining performance or reliability. These platforms must be able to scale up or down and expand geographically based on demand, without causing any downtime or interruptions.

Simplicity: IoT devices are often developed by different manufacturers and with different protocols. Simplifying IoT device compatibility to access a cloud platform or consolidating solutions after the merge or acquisition of 2 different organisations may be tricky.

To overcome this, IoT providers must develop universal standards for IoT devices and cloud platforms to ensure compatibility.

Network connectivity: IoT devices often rely on wireless networks to connect to the cloud. Common connectivity issues in areas with

poor signal strength or network congestion are well-known and hard to address.

Failure to acknowledge this implies service repercussions such as data loss, delayed data transmission, or complete device failure. To overcome challenges, IoT solutions must built-in endto-end connectivity diversity with redundancy and backup systems in mind. Additionally, cloud access must have a robust network infrastructure.

ENSURING DATA TRANSMITTED BETWEEN IOT AND THE CLOUD IS SECURE

Organisations often encounter significant challenges when it comes to securely connecting their IoT devices to the cloud. Due to weak standard or outdated network setup, they are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Considering the sensitive data involved, that data is in its transit. Private connectivity solution undoubtedly mitigates these risks. organisations are advised against traversing the public internet between devices and clouds. this reduces the risks

of traffic hijacking while increasing the organisation’s visibility, security, and control over its IoT assets. Likewise, encryption is another way an organisation can protect their data. In the situation that a breach did occur, the hacker would not be able to read the data to which they have gained access. Encryption alone does not prevent the IoT infrastructure to be exposed and exploited by malicious entities as there is nobody supervising the access between the wireless networks and the cloud.

In short, once organisations are on the Internet, even if the data is encrypted some information is visible to hackers, fraudulent activities, and any governmentowned entities.

THE IMPACT OF IOT LATENCY

In an ideal world, organisations want low-latency IoT which means information is accessed and processed in real-time. Latency is a key indicator of data confidence Wild variation in latency in device-to-cloud transmission will

impact the effectiveness of the benefits of IoT. To prevent this from happening, organisations need to consider using providers that offer wireless network access, a private network and dedicated access to the cloud. By doing so, organisations gain control of the traffic path improving low-latency performance.

Additionally, it is important to seek partners or technology that deliver global scalability with consistency across different deployments. Having one expert network that can manage the wireless data the cloud access with stable latency creates greater transparency and control compared to multiple providers for each offering.

EMERGING TRENDS AND TECHNOLOGIES

the emergence of 5G has increased the ability and accessibility to connect to the cloud. 5G is the first cylinder technology that is cloud-friendly, helping the cloud make its way to a mobile cellular environment delivering more data at a faster and more secure rate. Not only

does this make the process easier for organisations to connect, but it also has created the potential to support new models.

Nevertheless, there are still challenges with connectivity. The scalability of cloud performance on a cellular site is not as robust as Amazon or Azure, which hinders mobile networks and telecom environments from achieving the same level of performance as offered by hyperscalers.

Connecting IoT devices to the cloud is a complex and challenging process that requires careful consideration of security, interoperability, network connectivity, data management, and scalability. With the right solutions in place, IoT devices can provide businesses and consumers with valuable insights, real-time feedback, and enhanced automation. It is important for IoT Solution providers to work together to ensure that IoT devices can be securely and reliably connected to the cloud, to maximize their potential benefits.

Smart construction and how SaaS can make the industry more profitable.

Smart Construction is a new Software as a Service (SaaS) platform designed to digitise and streamline the modern-day job site, developed by the expert team at Komatsu. Richard Clement, Deputy General Manager of Smart Construction and an engineer with over three decades in the construction industry, discusses here how SaaS is ready to transform the sector and how software technologies can improve productivity and profitability.

By Richard Clement, DGM at Smart Construction

Smart Construction can make the industry more profitable.

WHAT IS SAAS?

SaaS is a cloud-based method of providing software to users. SaaS users subscribe to an application and can then log in and use a SaaS application from any compatible device over the Internet.

Smart Construction is the gateway to improving efficiency at a job site level and offers many advantages to construction workers and contractors. As new technology is rolled out, earthmovers are beginning to utilise this digital methodology to improve their processes, from terrain data to retrofitting machinery and much more. Ultimately, an optimised job site means cost savings, and so the digital transformation of construction is essential to industry success.

With the digital transformation upon us, the time is now to harness these capabilities and bring smart solutions to the fore across the construction industry, revolutionising the way we think of the job site.

Our focal product is our Dashboard. This collates all terrain related data together in one 3D view: a visualisation tool for designs, measuring the site terrain and analysing changes over time. By recreating the job site as a digital twin to inspect progress and make measurements without the hassle of travel, we’re enabling managers and leaders to make informed decisions based on insight, without the need to travel to site directly.

Dashboard, alongside our other services such as Fleet, Edge, Remote and Retrofit, are accessible, easy to use and made to adapt to every job site’s individual needs.

DIGITISING THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

By collecting data and converting it into valuable information, SaaS applications enable the safe and accurate management of labour, machines & material, which in turn optimises working conditions and enhances profitability, ultimately making businesses more successful both in terms of financials and

employee satisfaction. At ground level this can look like; reducing idle times for machines by analysing where the longest wait time is captured, ensuring payload is being used in an efficient way and that the machines deployed for the work are the optimal choices, or improving fuel efficiency of machines and site staff. It can also translate into less time on the road for contractors and managers, with data affording them the opportunity to make decisions based on insight and information straight from the site itself.

A great example of this in action is Smart Construction’s Retrofit. This system can be fitted to any excavator, offering 3D machine guidance with high position accuracy even in harsh environments. Live data can be tracked to pinpoint idle times or excessive waiting periods, ensuring the workforce can be deployed in a way that optimises profitability.

INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY

Because of current lead time in information creation & monitoring, there is often time wasted at the job site while decisions are processed and relayed. SaaS applications increase the speed at which information is relayed from the site to office and the following response, aiding informed decision making and negating the need for excessive commuting and communication. By digitally transforming the job site, site managers and leaders who work cross-sites will have more flexibility within their work, which in turn will reduce delays in information availability.

With improved digitisation comes more efficient processes and the ability to make decisions based on precise insight and data analysis, which increases productivity for the team on the ground. Additionally, SaaS negates the need to invest in more specific hardware and software installations, allowing business

wide access to applications with more ease. Additional backups and other services take up valuable time within the team which could be used elsewhere. As more and more engineers and earthmovers utilise drone data to manage the construction process, Smart Construction’s Edge takes the hassle out of drone surveying and reduces producing drone data to a matter of minutes rather than hours. The device also operates without the need for Ground Control Points (GCPs) and helps to overcome challenges which drone usage can face at job site level. This is just another example of maximising the tech at our fingertips to ascertain data that positively impacts day to day practice and decision making.

SAAS IN PRACTICE

We’re already seeing the introduction of digital technologies across the construction industry and we need to work together to encourage their optimisation.

SaaS within construction should be a primary focus for investment and development over the coming

years. Construction as a whole hasn’t developed at the same rate as other industries, and now is the time to refresh outdated practices. There is a wealth of benefits that digitisation can bring.

At Smart Construction, we’ve developed these new technologies in line with our clients and partners to answer the need for improved efficiency across the industry. Our technology improves planning and design insights, collecting data and converting it into valuable information, aiding construction businesses to accurately manage manpower, machines and materials. This provides safer and easier working conditions which will create successful and efficient construction sites and in turn make the construction industry more profitable.

Is your business suffering with Fintech FOMO?

It’s a challenging time for businesses of all sizes, but the past three years created storms that are particularly hard for SMEs to weather. It’s not surprising that more than half of UK SMEs agree rising costs will be a key challenge this year1. For businesses dealing with shrinking margins, while a weakened pound is making international purchases more costly, it’s a scary time.

By Tom Kiddle, Chief Commercial Officer, Equals Money

Is your business suffering with Fintech FOMO?

For many businesses this meant initially reigning in any necessary costs, reducing investment in anything deemed as a ‘nice to have’ and focusing on keeping the lights on. However, despite not being out of the woods in terms of economic challenges, this year many SMEs have their eyes on growth.

While some might have been buoyed by the news that the UK has, perhaps surprisingly, narrowly avoided a recession at the end of last year2, data shows businesses were already making investments before this news was released. In fact, UK business investment rose by 4.8% in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022, coming in at 13.2% above where it was during the same quarter in 20213.

So, where are SMEs putting their cash? As well as predictable spending on IT equipment, machinery, and transport4, businesses are also ploughing more funding than ever into technology investments - a trend that isn’t slowing down anytime soon. UK tech investment is set to grow at its fastest rate in over 15 years, both in terms of budget but also headcount5.

UK businesses are clearly seeing the real opportunity that technology, in all its various forms, presents to their operations. This may also be bolstered by the fact that making tech investments is potentially more cost-effective now that the Government has made recent changes to R&D tax relief, which sees things like cloud computing and data included in expenditure categories6. When it comes to revamping legacy systems and introducing fintechs that offer businesses a smarter, easier, automated way of doing business, investing in technology can increasingly feel like a no brainer.

However, it’s rare that a one size fits all solution exists for businesses. What works for your competitor may not offer the same benefits to your organisation. I n a world with so many risk factors, making smart investments that are aligned to your individual business goals is key.

Tom Kiddle, Chief Commercial Officer at innovative money movement solution Equals Money, explains four ways businesses can reap the rewards of smart tech investments:

1. Measurement

Can you measure the impact it will have on your business? It doesn’t have to be monetary, but if it gives you efficiency, visibility, or certainty, these can have measurable tangible impacts to your top and bottom line.

2. Insight

Does it tell you something you didn’t know before about your customers, your employees, your suppliers, and their behaviour? What could you do with that information? Often, businesses lack critical insight on their key drivers, and understanding those can open up new opportunities.

3. Action

Pretty charts and graphs make for good reading, but make sure you’re taking action with your new piece of tech. Setting accountability for action from your latest investment will drive your business to achieve a return on that investment and ensure it doesn’t sit on the shelf.

4. Adoption, adoption, adoption

Often, the latest tech trend may seem like a great investment to the motivated few, but look more broadly: if your intended internal target for your new tech fails to adopt the new practice, you won’t achieve the return promised. Also, more likely than not, you’ll frustrate both the key supporters of the new product and those you’re imposing it on.

Innovative technology, particularly in the finance space, can transform the way you do business, but avoid being lured in by solutions that don’t align to your individual needs. Good suppliers should always take the time to give an honest appraisal of whether their product is right for you and should leave you feeling empowered to devote time to what matters most –growing your business.

Five steps to solve unplanned downtime?

How do organisations get to the root of annoying maintenance problems and tackle the troublesome reality of a loss in productivity? There are some unsubstantiated stats doing the rounds at the moment, on the cost of unplanned downtime for manufacturers. These stats are putting average losses at over £1 trillion but while this is difficult to really measure, all organisations will have their own pain points where downtime is costing the business. What the actual cost is will vary but what is clear is that in this age of the “Digital Thread” - IoT sensors, advanced cloud-based infrastructures, AI/ML-driven automation and analytics, and a feedback loop to product engineering, we have the tools to try and solve problems that lead to downtime.

By Joseph Kenny, Vice President, ServiceMax

Five steps to solve unplanned downtime.

MEASURE THOSE ASSETS

To really get to grips with machine performance and to try and understand error rates, it is essential that asset data is captured and analysed. One way is to leverage the concept of a “Digital Twin” (the expected performance of an asset in the field) to its actual performance via IoT devices and sensors installed on the asset itself – this year IoT is expected to see significant growth, according to Verdict research. The global IoT market will be worth a whopping $650bn by the end of this year, as organisations recognise the value of machine and device intelligence in real time.

“Advances to the industrial internet will be accelerated through increased network agility, integrated AI and the capacity to deploy, automate, orchestrate and secure diverse use cases at hyperscale,” says an Ericsson report The Future of IoT. “The potential is not just in enabling billions of devices simultaneously but leveraging the huge volumes of actionable data which can

automate diverse business processes.” By comparing how an asset should be performing to how it is actually performing, we gain insights into what that assets maintenance needs are and provide critical data to product engineering to continuously improve the asset design.

This is key to optimising not just service capabilities but to extend the asset uptime, service life, and in the process increase customer productivity.

UNIFY THE DATA

Gartner suggests that poor data quality costs organisations $12.9 million every year adding that, over the long term, it “increases the complexity of data ecosystems and leads to poor decision making.” A big driver of poor data quality is errors in the transcription of data and having multiple different procedures for data collection. Automated IOT data collection reduces the opportunity for manually inserting errors and standardizes the process for data collection simplifying data aggregation and utilization.

Another issue is data silos. Organisations need to unify and standardize their data to provide a comprehensive picture of the business, assets and customers. This will help leaders make informed decisions on endof-life products or consistently under-performing products and then deliver ideas to customers on how to improve uptime and productivity.

It also enables organisations to plan, ensuring optimisation and profitability through a complete and accurate picture of customer contracts, renewals and upgrades. As Deloitte suggested in its report Next Generation Customer Service: The Future of Field Service, to transform to next generation field service, businesses need a 360-degree view of both customers and their assets.

PREDICT FAILURES

AI/ML-enabled analytics, leveraging a Digital Twin and the Digital Thread (from product design, through engineering,

manufacture, installation, and maintenance) can deliver predictive maintenance capabilities, to identify potential problems with machines and devices before there is a failure. As organisations move towards more outcome-based arrangements with customers, having SLAs that guarantee uptime, for example, will demand real-time analytics capabilities and rapid execution of maintenance delivery when a problem is indicated.

Asset intelligence is central to prediction. Comparing actual asset performance data to the Digital Twin for that asset, leveraging AI automation and analytics to identify potential issues, finding and ordering components or parts, and despatching maintenance teams to deliver services before a failure occurs. As well as extending the life of existing assets, this removes the fear of unplanned downtime and identifies those potential long tail service issues before they become long tails.

All of this drives increased customer satisfaction as well as the opportunity to grow contract revenue for manufacturers and value for customers.

OPTIMISE MAINTENANCE TEAMS

According to a report on transforming field service with emerging technologies, customercentricity and personalization (68%); face-to-face or in-person field service appointments (55%); and leveraging service technicians as brand representatives or salespeople (51%) will become more important over the next three years. The point is that the service team is changing, and access to accurate and timely data is making it all possible. Using the Digital Thread, accessing asset data, predictive analytics and optimised supply chain deliveries and inventory, organisations can reduce costs, and wasted journey times for engineers, through optimised service work. By reduce truck rolls, organisations can save time and money as well as improve service efficiency for customers.

ENGAGE PRODUCT DESIGN TEAMS

With any longtail service problem – traditionally this has been down to poor product or machine design leading to persistent maintenance issues – organisations now have the intelligence to understand the condition of the asset in the field, find the areas that require reengineering, and react proactively rather than reactively.

Assets can deliver qualitative data to organisations which should be fed back to engineering, design, and development teams to solve recurring product issues. With unified data, real-time asset data and AI automation and analytics, this should close the loop between product lifecycle management and service lifecycle management.

As a PwC report on The importance of the circular economy in manufacturing claimed, bringing the concept of the circular economy to life within the manufacturing value chain “involves substantial changes in core production and supply chain processes,” which would also require a “reverse logistics process to get the used products back into the cycle.”

This makes sense. By focusing on the entire lifecycle of a product (design, engineering, manufacture, and service) and not just its recyclability, manufacturers can start to shift their thinking towards longer product life and efficiencies in service provision, putting an end to the longtail service issues and getting to the root of unplanned downtime problems.

How can SMEs tame spiralling cloud costs in Microsoft Azure?

A robust and comprehensive cloud platform, Microsoft Azure has emerged as a leading choice for some of the globe’s most ambitious organisations. But with many firms lacking the expertise or internal resources to manage it, the infrastructure risks rapidly becoming a burden to already-stretched IT budgets. So, how can SMEs navigate this growing challenge, and truly maximise the value of their tech investment?

By Mike Dunleavy, client director, Central Networks

How can SMEs tame spiralling cloud costs in Microsoft Azure?

As of 2023, 50 percent of enterprises already have workloads in the public cloud, with seven percent planning to make the leap within the next 12 months. Commanding the second largest share of public cloud services, Microsoft Azure has emerged as one of the market’s most sought after solutions. And for good reason. As well as boasting multi-layered security across data centres, infrastructure, and operations — a holy grail in a time where cyber attacks are at their pique — it’s truly flexible and scalable. From capital expenditure (CAPEX) to operational expenses (OPEX), organisations can flex the service up and down based on evolving requirements. Plus, by fully or partially switching from traditional on-premise infrastructure, Azure’s Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS) model saves on precious space and storage.

It can be easily integrated with existing Microsoft products too.

But technology changes fast. And even the savviest of IT and finance professionals can overlook the value of ‘rightsizing’ their technology stack. Whether not analysing performance and usage frequently enough, or neglecting the process altogether, firms risk over-provisioning their teams with technology that’s no longer fit for purpose, unused, or completely idle — incurring unnecessary costs that could be deployed elsewhere. Additionally, the absence of a well-defined cost optimisation strategy and lack of employee awareness can also contribute to unchecked spending.

Here’s a jargon-free run-down of the ways you can tackle the challenge:

Embrace Azure cost management and billing tools

To gain better visibility and control over your cloud spending, take advantage of the robust cost management and billing tools provided by Microsoft Azure. These tools offer a single, unified view of your business expenditure, with features like cost tracking, budget alerts, and

recommendations for optimising resource usage.

By monitoring your spending and setting budget thresholds, you can proactively identify any potential spikes and take necessary actions to keep your expenses in check. Governance policies also help to boost accountability organisationwide, ensuring existing or future resource deployments are accounted for on not only a budgetary level, but a compliance basis too.

Leverage resource sizing and scaling

The pace at which technology is currently expanding means the IT investments you make today may not necessarily be fit-for-purpose six months down the line. There’s likely to even be changes monthon-month, at times. That’s why the ability to scale resources up and down on demand, in line with shifting requirements, is key.

Properly sizing your Azure resources ensures you are only paying for what you need. Regularly analyse your resource utilisation patterns and adjust

the sizing accordingly. Utilise features like Azure Auto Scaling to intuitively adjust resource capacity based on predefined conditions, ensuring optimal performance while minimising costs during periods of low demand.

IMPLEMENT COST-EFFECTIVE STORAGE STRATEGIES

Cloud has the power to significantly curb costs for SMEs, irrespective of sector. But storage and product bills can quickly accumulate if not managed efficiently. That’s why assessing your requirements and classifying data based on its access frequency is key. Utilise Azure’s storage tiers — such as hot, cool, and archive — to store information cost-effectively, while ensuring it remains accessible when needed. Implementing a data lifecycle management policy also enables you to automatically transition between storage tiers based on defined rules — optimising costs by keeping frequently accessed data in high-performance storage, and moving less frequently accessed information to lower-cost options.

UTILISE AZURE RESERVED INSTANCES

If you have long-term resource requirements, Azure Reserved Instances (RIs) can help you save significantly on compute costs. This is because they provide discounted pricing for virtual machines and databases when you commit to a specific term. By strategically planning your resource needs and leveraging RIs, you can unlock substantial savings compared to pay-asyou-go pricing. And in today’s uncertain economic climate, where keeping a laser-sharp focus on costs is crucial, every penny truly counts.

CONTINUOUS MONITORING AND OPTIMISATION

Cost optimisation isn’t a one-time solution. Instead, it requires regular monitoring of Azure resource usage, performance metrics, and cost patterns to identify areas for improvement. Leverage Azure Advisor’s recommendations and other cost optimisation tools to implement best practices and eliminate wasteful spending.

Engage with your development and operations teams to foster a culture of ultimate cost awareness and accountability — encouraging them to make budget-conscious decisions when provisioning and managing resources in the cloud. Engineers, for example, are often hardwired to focus solely on the deliverable on their product roadmap. But by fostering transparency, and implementing visibility through product level profit and loss statements (P&Ls), you can ensure the entire team is educated on the importance of ROI.

HOW COLLABORATION CAN HELP EASE THE HEADACHE

The complexity of the cloud can make cost optimisation feel like a time-intensive and headacheinducing process — particularly for enterprises without a designated IT division internally. Specialised Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can prove to be an invaluable extension of your team here. Bringing rich expertise and industry experience, outsourced technical partners can assess your cloud infrastructure and

identify areas where cost-saving measures can be implemented, without compromising service delivery. This includes rightsizing virtual machines, scaling resources based on demand, and leveraging RIs for long-term savings. By implementing cost management tools to monitor and track usage patterns, identify cost anomalies, and provide actionable insights for optimisation, they can also implement tagging strategies to allocate costs accurately and enable department-level visibility.

Taking a proactive and holistic approach to managing your future cloud costs in Azure, MSPs can also regularly review and optimise subscriptions, eliminate unused resources, and adjust configurations to align with evolving business needs. It’s all about striking the right balance between performance and cost efficiency in your Azure cloud deployments.

Of course, these services come at a cost, but the benefits of investing in a trusted specialist truly outweigh the ramifications of hiking tech stack costs that often fly under the radar.

Technology’s role on and off the sports pitch.

Technology plays an intrinsic role within the sports sector, enhancing the way fans engage with their team or favourite athlete, as well as improving the environmental impact of clubs and events across the world. From stadium management to faster and better connectivity infrastructures, we are in the midst of a transformational era of sport. As fans, we are already familiar with how smart tech has been introduced to mainstream sport over the last few years, including Video Assistance Referee (VAR), which is used to support the decision-making process of referees.

By Chris Wilcox, Head of Audio Visual, North

Technology’s role on and off the sports pitch.

Its controversial introduction to the Premier League and Scottish Premiership in 2019 and 2022 respectively was described as the largest tech revolution in the history of football, despite its introduction dividing the opinion of fans. Many felt that VAR slows matches down and negatively impacts the fan experience, despite it having the ability to rectify incorrect decisions. Despite those concerns, I believe VAR’s ability to monitor player data shows the potential positive impact this tech can have on professional sport longer term.

Smart technology is improving the experience for players, fans and competitors whilst simultaneously creating a safer, greener and more accessible sector.

Birmingham proudly hosted the Commonwealth Games 2022 and pledged to become the first carbon-neutral games in history, creating a positive experience for competitors, visitors and local communities alike.

Setting a benchmark for future big sporting events, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games joined forces with North to design, develop and deploy smart sensors to monitor the air quality at prominent locations across the city connected to the Games.

As the official Smart Environments Provider for the Games, North used its low-powered, long-range network and air quality sensorbased managed service to monitor and record factors including CO2, temperature, pressure and relative humidity in real-time.

As thousands of people descended on the city, the sensors were installed at areas of high footfall including at main traffic routes and motorways, key marathon milestones, public transport stops, and at the University of Birmingham campus, which was the main athlete’s village.

In addition to this, West Midlands Police introduced mapping technology using 3D maps produced by Ordnance Survey to help keep people safe across the city. This first of its kind, digitalfirst approach to an international sporting event highlights the role smart tech has outside of the pitch and arena environment in improving the indirect impact of sport.

Major events and stadia have unique and complex technology needs. Whether it’s the various network infrastructures enabling TV broadcasting, Wi-Fi and digital signage/scoreboards, or the complex CCTV video surveillance and analytics to manage the safety of attendees.

By design, stadiums and events are also power-hungry. With stadium operators looking for new ways to lower energy consumption, another significant advance in smart tech is the use of energy saving public address and voice alarm (PA/VA) audio technology in stadiums. Bound by health and safety legislation to be operational at all times,

and with traditional systems using an abundance of energy electricity to remain operational, a revolutionary state-of-the-art solution delivered by North means that when the PA/VA audio system is not required, the digital amplifiers automatically enter an intelligent sleep mode without creating a hazard or breaking any health and safety regulations. Subsequently, this minimises energy use and on average stadiums benefit from reduced annual operational costs of between £30,000 - £40,000.

That’s not the only behind the scenes technology that is aiding the sport sector. Many highprofile events, including The Open Championship, are consistently upgrading network infrastructures and connectivity to ensure that fans get the best experience.

As our favourite sports continue to take a tech-first approach both on and off the playing field, it’s unsurprising to learn that the global market for sports technology industry is expected to reach a valuation of £33.21 billion by 20281. However, this is just the start. Digitalisation has the power to deepen audience engagement, enhance the fan experience, generate further income and reduce environmental impact.

Tapping the right data to cut energy costs.

Going green is rapidly becoming less of niceto-have for businesses and more of an absolute necessity for the planet. Any business that wants to be a good corporate citizen needs to be moving toward improving its energy footprint. Add in the fact that high energy costs have meant that cutting gas and electricity usage just makes good business sense and the remining question is simply how to make it happen.

By Richard Smith, Senior Director Energy Management Solutions, MRI Software

Tapping the right data to cut energy costs.

To start, any large organisation operating across a significant number of properties needs to understand when, where and how it is using energy and then determine where there is wastage. Understanding where to start is easy but capturing and analysing this data can be the real challenge. More than half of the companies we deal with simply don’t have easy access to all the figures they require to get a clear picture of their energy use and spending.

Overcoming the scale and complexity involved can make the challenge even tougher. For example, an organisation operating 100 buildings with, on average, 10 energy metres per site could create over 17.5 million records per year. It would then have to process all that data to get a complete and accurate picture of its energy consumption. A global enterprise might have as many as 55,000 properties worldwide – making the magnitude of the data analysis that much more challenging.

But the news is not all bad. The deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven software tools that gather, measure, and analyse immense amounts of energy usage data means that generating actionable insights is not an overwhelming task today. Leverage machine learning capabilities, these tools make turning efficiency and sustainability goals into achievable KPIs much more manageable.

GETTING A GRIP ON THE DATA

For a business to harness the data it generates across a broad property portfolio, it first needs to determine how to capture it. When you look at a retail store, an office block, a hotel, a shopping centre, a medical facility, or another commercial building, you will find that sensors can be – and in many cases already are – used to track and manage footfall, air quality, desk occupancy, meeting room use, system logins, and other everyday aspects of the building use. These can be used for effective energy management.

The first step is to bring the data all together in a way that that it can be understood. More and more, the way to do this for many organisations is to implement energy management software solutions that automate this data collection, feeding it into a user-friendly application for analysis and reporting. Employing AI-powered analytics is critical to making sense of the massive amounts of complex energy data being processed.

Taking a data-driven approach in this way enables many organisations to identify and combat common and often unnoticed energy wasters across their property portfolios, giving them complete visibility of power consumption and ways to boost efficiency.

HOW TO REALISE ENERGY EFFCIENCY

Working with organisations to tackle energy inefficiency this way, we have been able to identify ways in which energy efficiency can be improved – sometimes through obvious actions on

issues that went unnoticed. For example, one retailer tracking and analysing energy consumption discovered that it had been leaving on escalators connecting its four floors through nights and weekends for five years.

No company can afford to ignore this type of wastage today –something most management are well aware of. An increasing number of UK organisations see managing their energy consumption as a major concern. Nearly two-thirds of British businesses (64%) say energy is now their top business risk, with 91% saying their board is concerned about how they are dealing with this issue, according to the npower Business Energy Tracker 2023.

Adopting AI-enabled systems to control their energy usage is the route many companies are taking, with most are seeing hugely positive results. For instance, deploying energy management technology enabled Carlsberg UK to reduce power use in its brewing process by 10% – while cutting its water consumption by 10% and its

effluent costs by 16%. A leading European real estate and facilities management company, Apleona, deployed a centralised system to report on carbon emissions while identifying energy conservation measures – reducing, in a typical project, consumption by 25%.

TAKING STOCK OF COMPLIANCE

AI is also helping organisations to better position themselves to comply with sustainability standards across their lease and property portfolios. For many companies operating across large property portfolios, manual ‘lease abstraction’ – extracting and making sense of large amounts of data from multiple, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of leases – can be costly and time-consuming. Often it can take too many staff hours to be costeffective and too long to get the information the companies need by the time they can use it.

Deploying AI-enabled contract intelligence solutions that scan and organise data from leases and other documents allows companies to quickly gather and evaluate information thousands of contracts that are often hundreds of pages long. In one example, a managing agent handling over 2,000 leases was able to build a picture of environmental practice and compliance across all the properties it manages using an AI-powered contact intelligence solution.

The company was able to benchmark its properties in areas such as energy rating and performance, waste handling and facilities, the use of sustainable materials, and other elements relating to environmentally friendly practices to create a ‘green scorecard’ for each property it manages. The result has been to enable the managing agent to address environmental sustainability issues as and when new lease negotiations hav come up.

CLARITY WITH REAL SAVINGS

Energy management is becoming more strategic and centralised among businesses of all types and sizes as they tap into AI capabilities and analytics tools to monitor, measure, analyse and manage energy consumption. The result is a clearer picture of energy usage that empowers them to make smarter decisions, with energy costs cut by as much as 30%.

How intelligent automation is driving positive change in the public sector.

Businesses within nearly every industry are already reaping the benefits of strategic automation and, increasingly, we are seeing the public sector follow in the footsteps of their private sector counterparts.

By Emma O’Brien, CEO of Digital Transformation Services Agency, Embridge Consulting.

How intelligent automation is driving positive change in the public sector.

WHAT IS INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION?

INCREASING EFFICIENCIES

MEETING XPECTATIONS

The conversation around digital transformation through intelligent automation has expanded, and public organisations are ready to take the leap. Many of these bodies suffer from out-dated systems, time-consuming practices, and a lack of technological innovation. This, combined with increasing pressure to operate more efficiently, provide better service, and create modern working environments for their employees, means public bodies must begin to embrace automation to drive these changes.

However, compared to the private sector, public organisations have unique needs, often not operating as a typical business might. They require intelligent automation solutions that are able to support their particular strategic and organisational needs and form the basis of continued digital expansion.

While there are many different kinds of intelligent automation and artificial intelligence solutions, undertaking tasks within nearly every core company function, it is useful to consider them all as a “digital worker”, able to simplify and automate time-consuming manual processes.

These technological solutions are able to interface with various platforms, software and applications, boosting the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of tasks that would otherwise require intensive human input. Not only does this free up time and focus for employees to concentrate their efforts towards more complex and valuable work, but in the case of the public sector, it drives meaningful change across the entire organisation and the communities they operate within.

With public sector bodies being so highly regulated, it is not uncommon for inefficiencies stemming from out-dated technology and legacy systems to become baked into the day-today way of doing things.

Automation can assist with eliminating these inefficiencies, creating a chance to examine time-consuming processes, identify where they are becoming bottled-necked, while also offering a solution that does not rely on unnecessary manual input. Key functions such as invoice processing, workflow automation, payroll, onboarding and a host of other core processes within any organisation are all ripe for automation, offering a way to alleviate the administrative burden on human workers.

The working landscape has undergone an intense transformation over the past few years, and employees now have inflated expectations of their organisations to keep up with these transformations.

When implemented strategically and with the needs of an organisation at the forefront, intelligent automation can support collaboration, communication and new, modern ways of working, not only contributing to increased efficiency and cost-effectiveness, but also boosting employee experience. In particular, the elimination of repetitive, manual and time-intensive administrative work – which is often cited as one of the main factors of public sector job dissatisfaction – can help with retaining key talent within the sector.

Along with meeting employee expectations, strategic deployment of automation also helps public bodies to keep pace with the expectations of the general public.

Automation allows citizens to access support more effectively, without the need for human intervention, especially in the case of adult social services, being resource-intensive centres that manage access to help and support across many key areas such as pensions, healthcare and benefits. This frees up employee time to focus on more pressing and complex issues, and also establishes a greater degree of trust and confidence in public bodies as effective organisations with modern capabilities.

COST-SAVINGS

Bloated processes that require intensive human input, multiple levels of approval, or the generation of large quantities of administrative busywork, naturally lead to delays, inefficiencies, dissatisfaction, and, crucially, vastly inflated budgets.

Public organisations, many of which are still on the road to financial recovery postpandemic, are continuously expected to be able to do more with less. Consequently, they

are looking to the streamlined, agile ways of operating already widespread in the private sector. With the scope for automation encompassing a wide range of tasks, including HR, financial functions, and workflow and approval, the potential to create long-term savings is immense, with a report from McKinsey estimating it at a minimum of 30% after implementation costs for governmental agencies.

BREAKING DOWN SILOES

Within the public sector, there is an increasing reliance on old, out-dated technology and legacy systems. A recent article from the BBC uncovered the fact that the UK government spends up to £2.3bn each year on patching up old systems, with some dating back 30 years. Not only is this incredibly cost-intensive, but out-dated systems such as these directly contribute to departments that are unable to successfully communicate with one another, and teams that are effectively siloed, creating unnecessary interdepartmental administrative burdens.

With large amounts of data being stored and accessed through disconnected sources, useful and often vital information ends up buried in various spreadsheets, documents and other disparate systems, siloing data as well as people.

Intelligent automation solutions can seamlessly interface across multiple systems and platforms, synthesising data and extracting meaningful information, all while dramatically reducing the risk of error and inaccuracy arising from human input. The latter is of particular importance to public bodies tasked with consistent data collection and analysis for tasks such as crime prevention and healthcare provision.

INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION IS ABOUT REPURPOSING, NOT REPLACING

At the heart of well-implemented intelligent automation is people. While there is a fear that automation is there to replace people, the opposite is true. These technologies, when integrated with a careful understanding of

the public sector, do not only offer time and cost savings, they offer a way for people to redirect their efforts away from time-consuming, intensive manual processes, and towards higher level work that continues to bring about real change within their communities, while laying the foundations for continued digital growth.

How game developers can save time and costs.

It’s a well-known fact that videogames now dominate global entertainment. Yearon-year, the games industry generates more revenue than movies, streaming services and music combined, cementing itself as the powerhouse of entertainment - and with it - generating thousands of jobs across the globe.

By Tom Pigott, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and investor.

How game developers can save time and costs.

However, as technologyhardware and software alikecontinues to evolve rapidly, largebudget “AAA” games are taking longer to develop - primarily due to the player’s expectations. Not only this, but competition for the attention of these players is also ramping up; trends frequently change as genres and mechanics fall in and out of fashion.

Although artificial intelligence is somewhat of a controversial topic within this industry, it serves to support and overcome many of the challenges that development studios (both large and small) face in this industry.

RESEARCH

Research is vitally important for all business ventures, and the games industry is no different. With fierce competition in the casual gaming market, AI-powered, bespoke research tools help studios stay on top of competitor activity and expertly analyse the market to understand what game concepts and ideas are cutting through to players. Tools, such as the Market Analysis feature we have at

Ludo, use cutting-edge AI to scan open-source databases of games marketplaces such as the App Store, Google Play and Steam. AI tools like these return results such as the most popular genres and trends amongst players, which developers can then use to implement into their own projects. Research can be a long, laborious process, but with the help of AI, this process can be more intuitive and seamless, saving vital costs in the typical amount of hours that can be spent with it and lessening the workload for burgeoning development studios.

IDEATION AND BRAINSTORMING

Competition is fierce in the games industry, and finding a concept for your project that is simultaneously unique, but also contains aspects that are familiar and popular with players for them to gravitate towards, can be a tough nut to crack. Again, with the opensource nature of many generative AI-based tools and platforms, this process is dramatically limited, saving even more time.

AI tools not only save time but also have the immense capability to limit creative risk. More experimentation can only mean more creativity, and experimentation can truly flourish when the risk of potential failure is limited. This is where generative AI tools can offer an enormous helping hand, by offering avenues for prototyping and and to take risks creatively, where previously this would have been a drain on resources many would consider to be unnecessary and timeconsuming. Now, developers are given the opportunity to make informed game development decisions with the support of AI.

ASSET DEVELOPMENT

Generative AI aids in accelerating the process of generating game assets including textures, models and animations. These AI-powered systems can create variations of objects, characters, or environments, reducing the need for artists to handcraft each asset from scratch.

In larger-scale development studios, art production teams can have a number of employees for a given project, but this just simply is not feasible for smaller teams who don’t have the financial resources to hire potential team members. With the monumental advancements in AI-generated art platforms, smaller studios can stay competitive by taking advantage of these features.

AUDIO DESIGN AND MUSIC

Rather than relying solely on pre-composed music and sound effects, developers can use generative AI to create dynamic and adaptive audio experiences. There has been an influx of AI-powered audio tools in recent months that are truly blurring the lines of what’s human-made, and what isn’t. In games more specifically, AI tools can react to in-game events and adjust the music or sound effects accordingly, enhancing immersion within the game at hand.

There are two key ways this can aid game developers by cutting costs. Audio is a key factor in game design, and music more specifically, so being able to generate and experiment with quality music without the need to first hire a composer or sound designer is a boon. The second is that even if hiring a sound designer or composer was not in the plan of the developer, one would still have to source music through licensing, which is again not a factor with some of these generative AI tools.

AI-ASSISTED TESTING AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

Game testing is crucial to ensuring the quality of a game, but it can be a resource-intensive process. Ironing out bugs and other issues is vital to a game’s short and long-term success, so fixing these before a game’s release is keyespecially for smaller studios.

There are several generative AI tools that have the power to simulate player behavior and interactions, allowing developers to identify bugs, exploits, or

balancing issues in the game before its release. By automating some testing procedures, developers can save time and testing-related expenses.

It’s important to state that while generative AI can offer a multitude of cost-saving benefits, it’s not a magic box. It should be used with care and in combination with human creativity and expertise, it simply does not work without the human factor. The goal of these tools is to allow creators to steer the process and make these informed game development decisions.

Leveraging AI in game development requires careful consideration of the game’s requirements and the specific tasks where AI can add value. Experiment, see what tools work and you could be surprised to see how much value you get out of them, and the cost that can be saved.

How can transparency and technology help shape our planet’s future?

In the face of constant environmental issues, our planet is striving to tackle them head-on. Sustainability embodies the aspiration to conserve the environment, promote social fairness, and foster economic prosperity. It acts as a guiding force to steer our endeavours in an ever-evolving world and construct a resilient tomorrow.

By Davide Ceper, CEO, Varda

How can technology help shape our planet’s future?

THE OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK OF OUR FUTURE

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

SOLVING THE PROBLEM

As the global community grapples with the repercussions of the climate crisis on agriculture, the increasing prominence of technology within the industry offers an opportunity to address these challenges. However, in order to transform this prospect into a tangible outcome, it is crucial for businesses to initiate collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing connectivity and efficiency across the agricultural sector, ultimately fostering a food system that is aligned with the principles of environmental preservation.

However, where do we stand presently in terms of sustainability?

Are we effectively attaining our sustainability goals? And how can technology help solve this problem?

There is a growing recognition, especially among younger generations, of the inadequacy of the existing economic model. People are increasingly aware of the urgency needed to take action and this awareness is spreading through various channels, facilitated by the continuous flow of information and extensive media coverage. Leading to a collective understanding that proactive measures are indispensable in tackling this situation effectively.

Once awareness is established, the subsequent crucial phase entails translating it into tangible action. From an ecological standpoint, the overall condition of our planet has significantly deteriorated compared to previous decades. Addressing these issues and implementing concrete steps to restore the well-being of our planet is of the utmost importance.

Despite dedicated endeavours that have successfully tackled specific elements, the comprehensive evaluation paints a disheartening picture when assessing diverse climate-related factors. Instances of extreme climate events, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, waste, and deforestation depict a bleak scenario. It is crucial for us to use this alarming reality as a catalyst for more urgency in addressing these challenges.

By improving communication channels and ensuring easy accessibility of information to the general public, we can emphasise the urgent need for action and convey that our desired goals have not yet been achieved.

One way of mitigating the problem is effectively using technology. The agricultural sector has already experienced positive outcomes through the implementation of various technological advancements, and harnessing data effectively holds immense potential in monitoring and improving the overall environmental footprint. This, in turn, supports initiatives aimed at reducing negative impacts. By using incentives across the industry, agriculture can proactively embark on a path towards better use of data, thereby enabling more sustainable practices.

One way in which technology can transform the industry is the use of data. Currently, the agricultural industry stands as a highly fragmented ecosystem, distinguishing it from sectors like pharmaceuticals, which boast concentrated production and standardised processes regulated by authorities. This industry encompasses millions of

independent farmers engaged in cultivating numerous diverse crops, each necessitating unique farming techniques adapted to varying environmental conditions specific to different locations. Moreover, the supply chains within agriculture are extensive and operate with distinct dynamics across different markets.

Consequently, any situation that involves the measurement of multiple variables across different stages or farms necessitates the aggregation and retrieval of data from disparate individuals, systems, and structures, all lacking consistent standards. The intricate nature of this data collection system renders the potential of data largely untapped, as coordinating such efforts becomes exceedingly challenging.

While regulatory control commonly ensures standardisation in other industries, it is worth noting that these industries often involve fewer major players and shorter supply chains, enabling more effective alignment. In contrast, the agricultural industry has evolved over centuries, adapting

to diverse local conditions, which has resulted in a wide array of individual processes and solutions. Standardising farming practices in the same manner as shipping goods simply doesn’t work.

To succeed in gaining more transparency in the complexity of the food value chain, Varda is starting from the field level, assigning a unique field ID to each plot of agricultural land. In this way, the product, Global FieldID, provides an infrastructure for participants, across the ag and food industry, to make better use of their data and understand its source.

If this data system became aligned, we could begin incorporating the environmental impact of our consumption into the pricing of goods. This can have a profound effect on current consumption patterns. By accurately incorporating the genuine cost of environmental consequences into the prices of the goods we consume, we would witness a transformative change as people would take a more considered approach to their

consumption patterns. This would result in a differentiated pricing framework for products, which could act as a strong incentive for driving change.

NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE

Fundamentally, enhancing transparency regarding the impacts of our consumption choices holds immense promise as a solution for sustainability. It can act as a vital catalyst for expediting change, utilising prices as a potent indicator to foster a perception of scarcity. This approach has proven its

efficacy in the past, as evidenced by initiatives such as carbon credits or carbon pricing, which seek to drive transformation through economic incentives.

Nevertheless, it is vital to recognise that for this approach to achieve success, it necessitates unified action and equitable implementation across all countries and supply chains. Without such collective efforts, it may result in distortions of

competition and provide an unfair advantage to those not bound by such regulations. Therefore, considerations of fairness and equity should take precedence when implementing these measures.

Significant progress has been made in terms of sustainability, reflecting commendable efforts. However, there remains a substantial journey ahead to safeguard our future. Whether it involves developing methods to accurately assess the external impacts of products or deploying technology to facilitate sustainable practices, concerted action is imperative to consistently meet our sustainability objectives.

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on-premises. One key trend is the adoption of consumption-based models such as Fujitsu uSCALE billing based on actual usage. uSCALE supports business resilience, increases financial and capacity that is deployed in your data center ahead of business needs.

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