Technology Reseller v34

technologyreseller.co.uk 07 TECH TRENDS New competitiveness model highlights value of empathetic leadership Almost half (46%) of UK businesses sit in the lowest quadrant of a new model of competitiveness based on Talent, Technology and Future Readiness, devised by academics at Goldsmiths, University of London in partnership with Microsoft. Economists within a research team led by Dr Chris Brauer at Goldsmiths, University of London estimate that the UK would see an immediate boost to the economy of £48.25 billion if every leader took even basic, low-investment steps to move towards sustainable growth practices. This is more than the Government spent on the first five months of its furlough scheme (£35.4 billion). The new Microsoft report, Creating a Blueprint for UK Competitiveness , identifies two distinct rebuilding strategies employed by UK businesses in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hollow Growth and Sustainable Growth . Firms pursuing a Hollow Growth strategy typically extract as much value as possible from people to reduce costs; offer little support to employees to help them adapt to new conditions; focus technology investments in siloed areas to meet individual challenges; and benchmark future readiness using traditional productivity measures. In contrast, organisations pursuing Sustainable Growth strive to maintain resilience and have a capacity to adapt; provide leadership defined by empathy and decisiveness; nurture a culture of trust, empowerment and inclusivity; and consider the impact of technology across their organisations as part of a wider strategic approach. The report categorises UK organisations as Front Runners, with growth of 5% to 15% in the current climate (15% of the total); Challengers, with steady or low growth of less than 5% (27% of the total); Survivors, experiencing small declines in turnover of less than 5% (12% of the total); and Endangered, facing turnover declines of 5% to 15% (46% of the total). Its analysis identifies a correlation between the strategy adopted by organisations and their current competitiveness levels, with Frontrunners most likely to pursue a Sustainable Growth strategy and have a solid digital infrastructure and Endangered firms most likely to have less diverse talent and be slow to integrate new technology. Covid-19 tipping point A new study by Manpower and talent management experts Right Management reveals the hopes and expectations of UK employees post-Covid: n 75% want increased remote working options n 74% want more regular communication from company leaders n 70% want more opportunity to develop skills n 54% want the opportunity to work virtually and live where they want n 52% want more career coaching n 47% believe the pandemic marks the end of full-time work in the office n 48% feel happy about this Time to reskill, warns WEF The ‘future of work’ has already arrived, accelerated by Covid-19, claims the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its third Future of Jobs report. This predicts that automation and a new division of labour between humans and machines will displace 85 million jobs in medium and large organisations by 2025. With more than 80% of businesses fast forwarding plans to digitise work processes and deploy new technologies, WEF says data entry, accounting and administrative support roles will be particularly hard hit. More than four in 10 businesses (43%) say they plan to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, compared to 34% that plan to expand their workforce. Digitisation will also support a significant expansion of remote working, with employers identifying the potential to move 44% of their workforce to operate remotely. However, there will still be net new jobs, with 97 million new roles emerging in the care economy, in fourth industrial revolution technology industries like cloud computing and artificial intelligence, in the green economy and in content creation. Employers expect to have to reskill and redeploy 46% of current employees within their own organisation in the next five years. MPS providers optimistic despite falling print volumes Print has been hard hit by the effects of Covid-19 and, not surprisingly, 62% of UK Managed Print Service providers surveyed by Quocirca for its 2020 State of the Channel report reported a decline in print volumes in 2020. Even so, most are optimistic that things will improve next year, with 66% expecting a revenue bounce-back in 2021 driven by opportunities for growth in cloud services, contactless printing and support for home printing. Around one third of MPS providers globally say selling MPS offers new opportunities to provide value-added services (34%), to build longer term customer relationships (32%) and to sell non-print related services such as IT services (29%). Half of UK MPS providers now also offer managed IT services. https://print2025.com/reports/ quocirca-state-of-the-channel-2020/ UK firms to ramp up IT investment UK firms are planning to increase their IT spend by an average of 13% as they prioritise digital infrastructure investment to boost productivity. In a survey of 500 IT decision-makers by Brother UK, 84% said they were focusing on boosting productivity to deliver cost savings (59%) and higher profits (54%), with legacy working practices e.g. excessive meetings (35%) and poor IT infrastructure (33%) seen as the biggest barriers to efficiency. The top areas for investment are hardware, including printers and tablets (98%); collaboration software (98%); and remote working tools e.g. cloud-based technologies (96%). To help channel partners engage with businesses as they make these investments, Brother has launched a Designed for Productivity campaign toolkit, featuring email and landing page templates, web banners and social media posts. https://www.brotherzone.co.uk/ designed-for-productivity-zone Creating a blueprint for UK competitiveness TheFuture of Jobs Report 2020 OCTOBER 2020