Business Info - issue 146

IN THIS ISSUE 04 What’s New A selection of the best new products for home and office 06 C ollaboration The importance of good audio quality for hybrid working 07 I nterview Why training is the best form of defence against cyber-attacks 11 P roperty How coronavirus has affected the commercial property market 12 Workplace Why local workspaces could be the key to the future of work 14 M anagement Fusion teams: what are they are why do they matter? 15 R isk Management A problem shared is a problem halved 16 Digital Transformation How to create an adaptable and flexible working culture 17 I couldn’t do my job without… Dawn George highlights the five things she couldn’t do her job without 18 Review Is the Surface Duo the shape of smartphones to come? 21 Sustainability Seven reasons to install an EV charge point on your premises 24 Software How low code is making app development easy for small businesses 25 App Update A round-up of interesting new apps 26 Offices How to ensure a swift and safe return to the office 28 Lighting The role of UV light in infection control 30 End User Computing How IGEL is profiting from rising demand for cloud workspaces 32 Data Security Don’t let human error put your data at risk 34 The month in numbers The world of work in numbers Editor: James Goulding 0780 308 7228 · [email protected] Publishing Director, Social Media &Web Editor: Neil Trim 01732 759725 · [email protected] Advertising Director: EthanWhite 01732 759725 · [email protected] Group Sales: Martin Jenner-Hall 07824 552116 · [email protected] Art Director: Nick Pledge 07767 615983 · [email protected] Advertising Executive: James Trim 01732 759725 · [email protected] Business Info is a controlled circulation magazine. Applications for free copies will be considered upon receipt of a completed and signed reader info card or online form. Business Info is available on subscription @ £40 p.a. to UK companies or residents and @ £75 p.a. for non-UK subscribers. The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers who cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. No part of Business Info magazine can be reproduced without the prior permission of the publisher. © Copyright 2021 Kingswood Media Ltd. ISSN 1464-8814 Design: Sandtiger Media – www.sandtiger.co.uk FOR THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS VISIT: WWW.BUSINESSINFOMAG.UK “ ” Comment Kingswood Media Ltd., 10 Amherst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT Tel: 01732 759725 • Email: [email protected] BUSINESS INFO GET YOUR FREE COPY To make sure you get every issue FREE, as soon as it is published, just visit www.businessinfomag.uk , click the ‘FREE Registration’ button and add your details to our mailing list. @BinfoMag facebook.com/ BinfoMag If you no longer wish to receive Business Info magazine please email your details to [email protected] With June 21 fast approaching, businesses up and down the country are looking forward to the lifting of all coronavirus restrictions – or perhaps just keeping their fingers crossed that there won’t be another delay. The expected economic boom is incentive enough, but an added benefit for business owners and managers is clarity over what can and can’t be done. After months of making do and twisting and turning to accommodate changing rules, businesses will at last be free to address the needs of their customers in the best, most direct way. Many will be dusting down projects that might have been on hold for a year or more. At Kingswood Media, we are eagerly anticipating the resumption of live events like our Technology Live exhibition, now scheduled for September 28. Other will be reassessing how their business is run.With hybrid working in the ascendancy – or should that be tribrid working, as Bludesk suggests on page 12 – do you need to devise a new IT strategy?When we spoke to IGEL UK Chief Marketing Officer Simon Townsend for our end user computing feature on page 30 he made the interesting point that in the past organisations would have had separate strategies for mobile and enterprise IT, but with hybrid working these were now converging, creating the need for a unified strategy, most likely built around cloud workspaces. Then, there is the whole question of what changing working practices mean for the office.With employees working from home two or three days a week, do you need so much office space? And what should the purpose of that space be?Will head offices need to be more social, welcoming environments, with less marble and more mindfulness? Should enterprises give employees the option to work in smaller hubs in the commuter belt rather than trekking into city centre HQs? On page 11, Tony Lorenz warns that enterprises’ responses to these questions could put the squeeze on smaller offices normally taken up by SMEs. On a more positive note, he points out that with a possible weakening of overall demand for office space, landlords themselves will need to be more accommodating of tenants’ demands. This could mean offering anything from shorter, more flexible leases to more hotel- like workspaces replete with Covid safety features and luxury meeting rooms. Whatever the future holds, there will no doubt be plenty of opportunities for the most agile to take take advantage of. In today’s world that probably means those that have advanced furthest with their digital transformation. James Goulding , Editor , [email protected] 03 magazine

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=