February 2013 Archives

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)

Small and Medium Sized Companies (SMEs) are less likely to adopt new technologies than larger companies, a survey of 268 senior UK business practitioners by Nimbus Ninety reveals.

Over 60% of respondents from an SME said  they had 'no current plans to implement' big data and only 6% said they had actually already implemented any big data technologies.

Big Data

This compares to 30% of respondents from organisations with an annual turnover of £2bn or greater who said that they had implemented big data technologies. Only 20% saod they had 'no current plans to implement' them.

Cloud

Other technologies provided similar results. Two thirds of SME s (67%) said public scalable cloud compute power is not on their roadmap for the next three years. For organisations within the higher turnover brackets on the other hand, this figure drops down to 47%.

Visualisation

When asked about their use of dynamic and interactive visualisation tools, 46% of SME s again said they had no plans to implement this technology. For the £2bn+ turnover organisations, the number is just 12%.

These findings could be indicative of two things, says Nimbus Ninety. Firstly there may be greater cost and time barriers to new technologies for smaller companies. Secondly, SMEs may feel they cannot benefit from disruptive technologies - potentially indicating that they do not appreciate the potential impact of these disruptive technologies.

You can find out more about big data, cloud and other emerging technologies by downloading Nimbus Ninety's report: Innovative business technologies in a converging world.

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)

Demand for staff with skills in big data has grown by over 900% between 2007 and 2012, according to research by e-skillls UK and IT Jobs Watch. Over this period the number of advertised positions for big data specialists has increased from 380 to 3,790, equivalent to an annual average increase of 182%.

This growth is all the more remarkable,  given the difficult conditions of  the UK economy.  Demand for staff as a whole has declined by around 30% , or 6% on average per year between 2007 and 2012. By 2017, e-skills UK predicts the UK will need between 24,000 and 32,000 big data specialists a year.

For more on big data skills, download the e-skills Big Data report

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)

IT professionals with big data skills are likely to earn significantly higher salaries than other IT specialists, research by e-skills UK and  IT Jobs Watch reveals. The median salary for big data staff was 21%  higher at £52,500 than that for permanent IT staff as a whole (£43,500), an analysis of advertised salaries in the last quarter of 2012 reveals.

Advertised rates for big data contractors were also higher than the average, though the difference was smaller at just 6% total (advertised weekly median rates of £410 and £390 respectively). Contractors working as designers, however can earn 35% more if they have big data skills, while contract analysts can earn 20% more, than the norm.


For more on big data skills, download the e-skills Big Data report from Computer Weekly.

The biggest challenges facing companies moving to cloud lie in the implementation of cloud technology. A survey by KPMG of 650 senior executives in 16 countries found that over a third said they had found costs related to implementation were higher than
expected, while 31 percent indicated that the process of integrating existing IT architecture with new cloud services was creating challenges.

You can find out more by downloading KPMG's report: The Cloud Take's Shape.

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)

The overriding concern for UK businesses as they enter 2013 is the prospect of weak growth in Europe and the UK. Concerns about growth and other external factors, including the potential of a slow down in emerging markets and volatility in financial markets, weigh more heavily that internal issues, such as pressure on cash flow and the difficulty of raising external finance.

These findings, from Deloitte's survey of 112 UK Chief Financial Officers, including the CFO's of 30 FTSE 100 and 38 FTSE 250 companies, could have a significant impact on company's IT strategies this year. Although CFOs are open to growth possibilities, many will looking to keep costs firmly under control in 2013, Deloitte concludes.

CIOs can take the initiative to keep costs down by renegotiating contracts with suppliers and reducing the cost of IT infrastructure by moving to the cloud and software as a service (SaaS), says Kevin Walsh, practice leader for technology consulting at Deloitte.

You can download a copy of Deloitte's CFO survey here.

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)

Nearly half, 45%, of UK organisations have suffered some form of data loss in the preceding 12 months, research by EVault in association with Computer Weekly reveals. Some 7% have reported four or five incidents during the year.

Dealing with such data issues has cost UK businesses an average of £34m, equivalent to 3% of revenue, while ongoing effects have been a reduction in employee productivity (44%), loss of customer confidence or loyalty (32%) and delays in developing a new product or service (23%).

You can download the full report here.

Source: IT & Telecom Spend - 80 Industry Sectors (www.kewassociates.co.uk)