Technology Reseller - v30

01732 759725 06 TECH TRENDS UK tech sector experiences first decline for eight years The UK tech sector suffered its worst performance since the 2008 financial crisis in the opening quarter of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to a swift decline in non-essential spending, cancelled projects and business closures. The quarterly KPMG UK Tech Monitor Index reveals that business activity across the tech sector declined for the first time in almost eight years, from 50.1 in Q4 to 47.1 in Q1 (with 50.0 representing no change) – the fastest decline in business activity since Q2 2009. Despite the marked fall in overall business activity, some areas of the tech sector continued to grow in Q1 2020 due to rising demand for services related to home working and business continuity. The software services sub-category bucked the overall trend by registering a slight upturn in business activity even in March (50.8). One third of firms put IT staff on furlough Over one third (34%) of UK companies have made members of their IT staff redundant or placed them on furlough schemes, according to a survey commissioned by private equity firm Leonne International. Almost half (49%) have frozen IT budgets for the foreseeable future. The cuts have been made just when IT professionals are needed to manage the transition to remote working, putting businesses’ data at risk. More than one third (38%) of UK businesses expect a company data breach to occur due to the use of devices that aren’t properly protected; 37% have allowed members of staff to purchase their own laptops/tablets to work on from home; 37% are aware that members of staff are using outdated versions of the Zoom videoconferencing app. https://www.leonneinternational.com Cloud services under attack Attacks on cloud services more than doubled in 2019, accounting for 20% of all cyber-attacks, compared to 7% in 2018, according to the 2020 Trustwave Global Security Report . Corporate environments were the focus of 54% of attacks, followed by e-commerce (22%). Social engineering remains the top method of compromise, with half of all incidents investigated by Trustwave analysts in 2019 caused by phishing or other social engineering tactics, up from 33% in 2018. For the first time, ransomware incidents overtook payment card data as the most common type of security breach – 18% vs. 17%. IT professionals under pressure The pressure the Covid-19 crisis has put on IT professionals is highlighted in a new report produced by Cisco company AppDynamics ( The Agents of Transformation , Special Edition 2020). n 95% of UK organisations have changed their technology priorities because of the COVID-19 pandemic; n 86% of technologists see this time as an opportunity to show their value to the business; n 82% of technologists state that COVID-19 has created the biggest technology pressure for their organisation they have ever experienced; n 62% of technologists feel under more pressure at work than ever before; n 68% of technologists are being asked to perform tasks and activities they have never had to do before; n 61% of technologists say the pandemic has exposed weaknesses in their digital strategies; n 73% of technologists report that digital transformation projects that would typically take more than a year to be approved have been signed off in a matter of weeks; n 68% point to digital transformation projects that have been implemented within weeks rather than the months or years it would have taken before the pandemic; n 85% of technologists state that the digital customer experience is now the priority. Half of businesses caught off-guard by transition to home working Half (49%) of UK businesses were caught off guard by the transition to remote working in March, with larger businesses (250+ employees) particularly badly affected. Research by technology design agency Studio Graphene shows that almost three quarters (72%) of large businesses had to invest in new hardware to enable staff to work from home, compared to 19% of micro- businesses. Almost two thirds (62%) of large businesses also had to invest in new software, compared to an average of 48% across all businesses. Almost half (46%) of large businesses offered digital skills training to employees, compared to one quarter (28%) of microbusinesses. Remote working fears allayed by lockdown The experience of lockdown has transformed the attitude of SMEs to remote working reveals a new survey by Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance. Since March, the number of business owners who feel positive about employees working remotely has increased by around 50%, from 52% to 75%. Only 7% have any negative thoughts on the subject. More than three quarters (79%) of business owners plan to implement some form of work from home policy following the lockdown period, with 73% agreeing that home working during this period will help their business to become more successful. Tech trends: ICT in the UK today Street think tank show that despite advice from security chiefs at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) that Zoom only be used for public business, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) purchased 550 Zoom accounts, the Cabinet Office 150, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 15, the Treasury 5 and the Home Office 8. These government departments have also invested in 27,589 new laptops since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, 4,011 tablet computers and 9,700 mobile phones. www.parliamentstreet.org Major government departments have purchased more than 700 Zoom video conferencing licences during the Covid-19 outbreak and 41,300 new laptops, tablet computers and mobile phones to help staff operate remotely. Official figures obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation by the Parliament Gartner predicts that by 2024, in-person meetings will account for just 25% of enterprise meetings, down from 60% prior to the Covid-19 pandemic (source: Forecast Analysis: Unified Communications, Worldwide , Gartner 2020). Government departments embrace Zoom despite security misgivings