Nov 25, 2014 | IT
Article by Andrew Benson BBC
Lewis Hamilton says winning his second world title is the start of “something special” for himself and Mercedes.
He joined Mercedes in 2013 after non-executive chairman Niki Lauda promised they would make him world champion.
After winning Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to clinch the title, Hamilton, 29, said: “I wanted to be part of something building and growing.
“I feel this is just the beginning. What this team has put together is something incredibly special.”
Hamilton won the title by 67 points after a tense season-long battle with team-mate Nico Rosberg.
He is one of seven men to win the championship twice, leaving him one behind three-time victors Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Jackie Stewart, Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel are the only four-time winners, Juan Manuel Fangio has five, while Michael Schumacher leads the way with seven.
Hamilton continued: “We’ve got great people in their right positions and me and Nico will continue to push the team forward.
“As will the boss of Mercedes, who has been so committed and building the best engine. These guys know just as much as I do, it’s been phenomenal this year.
“It’s really important the steps we take moving forwards to continue improving and I 100% believe the team will do that.”
Team-mate Rosberg signed a new contract with Mercedes until at least the end of 2016 in May this year, while Hamilton has a contract with Mercedes until the end of next year.
He and the team delayed negotiations over a new deal until the title had been decided so Hamilton could concentrate on his racing.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff has said they will sit down in the coming days and discuss the new deal and both Stevenage-born Hamilton and his team expect to continue together into a new contract.
Hamilton said: “I definitely don’t feel I am looking for a new challenge. We have a year to go, so there’s no particular rush but this is my home and I’m very happy here.”
Mercedes non-executive chairman Lauda added: “I asked him to leave McLaren and come to Mercedes and he said ‘when are we going to be competitive’. I said I could guarantee him a world championship and in the second year here it is.
“We are going to do this [contract] in the next two weeks. He’s happy, we’re happy, I don’t see any issues.”
Read the original article here
Aug 27, 2014 | IT
Post Holiday Blues
The summer holiday season is over, you’re back at work and it seems like there’s nothing to look forward to for months and months. On top of all that the weather has begun to turn and the evenings are rapidly drawing in. Together it’s a recipe for the ‘post holiday blues.’
Of course, it’s quite normal to feel a little down or frustrated when you return to work. Back-to-work blues tend to be temporary. Still, being back at work can be difficult for many people: problems of having limited freedom and fitting in again with work relationships can lead to frustration.
Factors that commonly contribute to the blues tend to fall into three major categories:
- Psychological – Perhaps you promised yourself you’d keep a better perspective on work problems or not let work run your life, and you’re already struggling to stick to them. You may have unrealistic expectations of your job and colleagues and are feeling disappointed when those expectations fall short
- Financial – You may be worrying about paying forthe next round of expenses i.e Credit Cards & Christmas presents!!!
- Physical – Strains of journeying to work by car or standing on a packed train or bus, combined with a lack of exercise at work can leave you feeling fatigued. It’s possible that you gained weight on holiday from too much food and alcohol and it isn’t going to disappear over night.
All this can add a great deal of pressure to being back at work. So what can you do to keep some of the holiday spirit alive? Try these important strategies:
Acknowledge your feelings
If your work is very routine it’s normal to feel a bit down after a holiday. What is important is finding expression for your feelings. Turning frustration inwards will mean the blues will last longer and could have a significant effect on your own emotional and physical health and on those around you.
Seek support
If you spent the holiday with family or friends, use them for social support. They can help you remember the good times you’ve had, reduce any feelings of isolation at work and share responsibilities at home.
Be realistic
Goals, although made in good faith, are often unrealistic and difficult to achieve. Don’t try to do everything at once -tackle one action at a time. It’s much better to be able to measure and reward your successes than trying to bounce back from disappointment.
Budget
Financial pressures at home can seriously affect how you feel at work. If you are worried about money and paying off credit cards, don’t pretend the pressures aren’t there. Instead, make a plan of how much money you can afford to pay off and the period you need to balance your accounts. Planning ahead will help you avoid tempting extravagances and help you feel more in charge of your life.
Plan ahead
It doesn’t work for everyone, but many people find that planning their next holiday gives them something to look forward to. Perhaps a photograph of the resort or villa you’re planning to visit stuck up in your work area will help. Even if it isn’t another holiday, having an event or a treat planned can help give your work fresh purpose. Of course you shouldn’t take all the spontaneity out of your life, just enough to help you gain control of your circumstances.
Quiet please!
With the work that tends to pile up whilst you’re away to deal with it is even more important that you plan some time to think and relax. If you don’t block the time out, it will get used up with other tasks and interruptions. Plenty of research shows that thinking-time increases your effectiveness and creativity at work. Taking a lunch break regularly and getting outside can help you maintain a sense of perspective of work hassles.
Don’t abandon healthy habits
Don’t let work pressures lead to you eating too many processed foods and ready-made meals. They often contain added sugar and salt, which aren’t good for your health when taken in excess. Work pressures can also lead you to skip meals and snack on sugary foods. If you must snack during the day try a piece of fruit. Many people feel fatigued at work because they get dehydrated, so try to drink eight glasses of water a day.
If the pressures are seriously too much
Sometimes a break from your work can help you realise that you really are overburdened and cannot succeed with work as it is. In this case, you need to identify the source of the problem. If it’s your failure to delegate, you must begin to involve others in making decisions and sharing responsibility. If it is the work itself, then you need to talk to your immediate boss, but have some of your own ideas for resolving the issues ready to contribute.
You will feel much better about work if you make sure you get plenty of sleep and some regular physical activity, such as walking for 30 minutes each day. Not only will exercise help get rid of any extra pounds you may have gained, it will give you extra stamina and energy to get through the day.
Jul 29, 2014 | IT
The IT talent crunch – Are companies to blame
In order to survive the IT talent crunch, companies need to stop looking for people with particular certifications or technical talents and seek technical people who are willing to learn. According to Patrick Gray; who is the founder and president of Prevoyance Group.
Like a migratory bird that returns to its seasonal nesting grounds on a recurring basis, talk of a skills shortage in the IT industry is once again on the lips of CIOs and industry pundits. Technology titans point at the educational system and lament the lack of new math and engineering students, and fund programs to try and swell their ranks while expressing disgust at the current dearth of “talent.”
Rather than blaming poor school funding or singling out students of particular nations as particularly talented in particular disciplines, the CIOs voicing these concerns need to first examine their own hiring practices.
Remember 2000?
14 years ago IT was a hiring frenzy. If you could spell HTML or TCP/IP you were virtually guaranteed a handsome salary and all the associated delights of the heady dot-com days. The IT HR process became mired in an alphabet soup of “certification surfing.” If you had the right acronym or other chit on your resume, you were “in,” despite your personality quirks, inability to communicate with other human beings, or eccentric behaviors. Hiring managers, of course, loved this process, since human resource decisions could be relegated to mining resume databases and a couple of phone calls rather than the tedium of interviews and due diligence.
As the dot-com bubble burst, the ensuing belt tightening left many IT staffers jobless. Young people that had been singing the praises of the IT industry were now its biggest detractors. From bitter laments to friends and family, to humorous websites mocking fast hiring and equally rapid “right-sizings,” IT ended up with a lasting black eye. Peers of this generation and the universities that educated them are not quick to forget this span of a few years, where graduates were promised (and given) the world then cast aside with platitudes about unforeseen economic conditions and the wonders of outsourcing to placate them. While these companies did what they had to do, the certification and technology-focused career paradigm they fostered has left a lingering bad taste in the mouths of many who might have chosen an IT career.
With these memories still fresh in the minds of much of the workforce, the IT industry is largely back up to its old tricks, admonishing graduates to pursue the latest technologies and allowing HR to mine candidate databases for buzzwords as if the post-dot-com massacre never happened. CIOs have largely underestimated the savvy of new entrants to the workforce, and promises of a glorious career, if only you learn the latest skills. So what’s a talent-starved CIO to do?
End Certification surfing
While it’s arguably very hard work, it’s time to return to good old fashioned due diligence in the hiring process. While HR may tell you the best way to find five new developers is to check their certifications, a superior candidate is someone with a willingness to learn, an ability to communicate, and some technical savvy, most likely in that order. The large consulting firms have done a good job of this, hiring everyone from CS grads to history majors, based not on their coursework or technical experience, but on their ability to solve problems and learn rapidly.
The pace of technological change is likely to increase rather than decrease, and quickly hiring people with the latest technology on their resume and firing them tomorrow when that technology is dated is more costly and time consuming than hiring someone with a willingness to learn. I’ll take someone from the most esoteric non-technical field that can quickly learn and articulate problems for my organization over the most sterling technical certifications any day.
To maintain this learning ability, challenge your staff to acquire and employ new skills, both technical and non-technical. Seek input from your people and push them to interact with colleagues outside IT as peers, rather than a soldier blindly following orders. Perhaps most important, develop a culture that rewards excellence. Spend time evaluating your people and providing feedback and letting them know where they stand. High performers will not hang around if you tell everyone they are all equal and all doing “fine.”
Offering opportunity and focusing on an ability to learn is hard work, but presents an IT career as a place where high performers can grow and excel, rather than empty promises of greatness that are erased during the next swath of layoffs. This process is going to take far more time, effort and money than certification surfing, but will serve to repair IT’s damaged reputation, and more importantly deliver an amazingly capable staff that will be excelling while your competitors continue to hire and fire based on the latest buzzwords.
Patrick Gray is the founder and president of Prevoyance Group, and author of Breakthrough IT: Supercharging Organizational Value through Technology. Prevoyance Group provides strategic IT consulting services to Fortune 500 and 1000 companies.
Jul 7, 2014 | IT
How will you cope with the empty office this summer? Could those empty desks be full of potential?
Summer is officially here and school is nearly out. How will you cope with the inevitable reduction in staff numbers during the peak holiday season? For your business, the holiday season can be a time when workload multiplies to answer increased demands. Having a strategy to cope with either of these scenarios will help ensure key deadlines are met without overworking those left in the office.
A complete break is, of course important for the morale and well-being of both your staff and yourself. They should come back to work relaxed, reinvigorated, refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. So… with this in mind, how can you manage this extra work whilst keeping the business running without disruption?
Research by ‘The Guardian’ into the effects of holidays on team working suggests that ‘extra’ workloads are more easily absorbed in small and large-sized businesses whilst medium-sized companies are more likely to utilise temporary or contract staff to relieve the pressure on their teams and ensure business objectives are met.
From an employer’s perspective, hiring contract staff simply makes sense in many circumstances. Could it make sense for you? Many businesses are already staffing up for short or long term projects without the price tag of pension, health care or other benefits. In the current employment market, you can attract the ‘crème de la crème’, and did you know we can supply IT contract workers who can be retained for as little as a day or a week? Contract workers can be kept on longer-term and may even be available for permanent hire. This is a great way for both the contractor and the business to get to know each other before committing to a permanent relationship.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to increase the ability and motivation of your existing team at a time they would otherwise be lagging under the strain of an extra workload? Do you have projects that have been postponed due to a skills gap? Why not source an IT contract worker with the specific skills you need to get the job done while your permanent employee is on leave? High quality contract workers can bring fresh ideas to your business as well as pass on new skills to existing employees.
It’s not just the during the holiday season that contractors become a vital part of your team. A contractor could be right for you if you:
- Have high employee turnover due to staff burnout
- Need seasonal help, or help with a long-term project
- Cannot offer benefits or are not able to afford a permanent member of staff
- Have a hard to fill position
- Are uncertain about the future of the business or the position itself
We’ve all been there – working late during the weeks running up to your holiday to help reduce the ‘back to work’ catch-up and this pattern is often inevitably repeated upon your return. By midday on your first day back, your holiday can feel like a distant memory. So, as a manager, director or business owner we can sometimes have business objectives affected for three times the amount of time the employee takes for leave.
Our market summary newsletters have shown that the demand for a more flexible workforce has increased considerably over the last few months, with figures released last week confirming that the economy has grown in the last 6 months, albeit gradually. The challenge now is to maintain this pace during the second half of the year and contract positions are playing an increasingly important role in the economic recovery. In fact 7 out of 10 companies are planning to recruit in the next 12 months.
The majority of CEO’s are looking for change within their business in response to the volatile economic climate. They are keen to reduce costs and risk while increasing the efficiency of existing employees, putting even more pressure on you in the IT department. Many are turning to technology as an answer. You can use technologies such as IM Clients, VOIP calls, video chats, PM software and cloud storage to get a lot done from remote locations. In the short-term this can save you an overhead and can also ease the pain of sick days and holidays when urgent tasks pop up. In the long-term, hiring off-site contractors means saving on both salaries and Capex. And did we mention that many contractors will take a lower day rate in exchange for the ability to work from home?
With the availability of such high quality skills and the potential to save money and reduce staff stress, it could be that hiring a contractor is the right decision for your business. Just think of the fresh, untapped talent that could be filling those empty desks this summer.
Jun 22, 2014 | IT
Grab Talent while it’s Hot: Recruit Fast and Beat the Competition
The economy is on the move. Increased confidence means businesses are getting ready to expand, new projects are being planned and with that comes a demand for talent.
BEWARE!
Recruiting the wrong people into your team can hamper and even reverse your hard-earned growth and put your business and other’s jobs at risk.
Good News!
Talent is on the move. People are increasing in confidence and starting to risk moving to pastures new.
Bad News!
Talent is moving fast. Quality candidates are moving to progress their careers rather than out of necessity and employers are having to compete with each other to sell their positions, not only on salary but also on future prospects and company ethos.
It’s only too easy to miss out on the star hires you need, losing them to your competitors, whether recruiting a contract or permanent person. Don’t let your recruitment process put you at risk of being left with ‘zombie’ employees who can destroy your business.
The Answer
Here at Langley James we have noticed one factor resulting in companies succeeding in securing the people they want: speed. Those who act fast, with streamlined recruitment systems in place are winning the talent. In a market where outstanding applicants are often interviewing with multiple companies in a given week it may only take a moment’s delay to lose the candidate you have invested time and resources sourcing and interviewing.
The Rise of the Telephone Interview
When the ideal CV arrives, of course you want to move fast, but conflicting schedules can mean waiting days or weeks to arrange a meeting with that perfect match, by which time your star candidate will already have been snapped up by your rivals.
Arranging a telephone or Skype interview means you can find a suitable time to liaise significantly quicker: you can even arrange an evening conference. While there may still be a pause before you are able to meet in person, you have been able to promote the opportunity you are offering, gain rapport and move yourself to the top of their employer wish list. Anything you can do to reduce the time to hire will help you recruit the right person and avoid those business destroying zombies.
Speed is still of the essence though. Other employers will be moving fast too. If you think you have found the ideal candidate can you be more flexible than usual with your interview process? Can you reduce the amount of interview stages, the time between them or even conduct interviews out of hours? Could skills testing be done remotely rather than in house to save you time?
Here at Langley James we negotiate the scheduling of interviews on your behalf saving you hours on the phone or sending emails. We have a unique insight into our candidates and will only ever send you CVs we think are wholly appropriate for your needs: our specialised knowledge will save you time and win you a superstar who could so easily have slipped through your fingers and into the waiting arms of your competition.
Call us today on 0207 788 660 to speak to one of our experienced and specialised IT Recruitment Consultants. Alternatively email langleyjames@langleyjames.com.
May 28, 2014 | IT
World Cup Glory or World Cup Woe?
Will employers be greeting the tournament with excited anticipation?
No doubt some will, but the majority will be approaching it with some trepidation. If previous World Cups are anything to go by, it’s widely recognised that staff absence and sickness rises significantly on match days and perhaps more worryingly, on the immediate day after a crucial match.
As the most exciting domestic season in years recently concluded in a dramatic fashion, many of the UK’s football lovers will already be looking forward to Thursday 12th June when the eyes of the world will descend on Brazil as they host the 20th Fifa World Cup. The month long fiesta of football in the home of the most glamorous footballing Country has got the true round ball romanticists eagerly awaiting the big kick off.
In previous non – European World Cups, anti – social kick off times have contributed to the issue. We all remember getting up at the crack of dawn to watch games when the competition was held in Japan and South Korea back in 2002 and also the grainy pictures of afternoon kick offs during USA 94. Fifa have specifically tailored kick off times to accommodate European audiences but with the earliest time of 5.00pm and the latest time being 2.00am it is still expected that businesses will feel the impact of people wanting to be in front of their TV in preparation for the early kick offs or flagging the morning after a grave yard shift match. Live streaming of matches by people sat at their desks could also have an impact on Company’s internet efficiency.
With an estimated 20 million + people in the UK expected to watch the final, it’s fair to say that there’s the potential for some disruption from the 64 match tournament so do Company’s need to put in a contingency to avoid any possible .
The CIPD recently carried out a survey that showed almost nine out of ten employers have not developed any plans to manage staff absence during the World Cup. They’ve also uncovered research that points to the fact that if employers demonstrate they care about their staff and their non-work interests, employees are more likely to “go the extra mile” for the Company.
So what could work?
A guide developed by the CIPD suggests adopting subtle approaches for employers that could help employees enjoy the tournament without disrupting the needs of the business, some of which include:
• Flexible working hours
• Shift swaps
• Unpaid leave
• Screening games on the company premises
Whoever lifts the trophy on 13th July will go down in football folklore and who knows, any manager who develops a contingency for their staff during the World Cup could also be held in such great esteem by both the Company and the staff alike.
May 28, 2014 | IT
You can’t build a great company by tolerating mediocrity
The market is picking up and most companies seem to have recruiting plans for the next 12 months, however, although many Managers and IT Professionals are still nervous to move, preferring the safety and security of their current employer, regardless if they are 100% happy or 100% effective in their role.
And, is there anything wrong if they haven’t done anything really wrong – but, have they thought about things they have done that are really right? Are companies infected with people who don’t drive excellence? Do they want their IT team to become better or somehow different to cope with the upturn or future growth plans? Do they aspire to change and improve? Questions need to be asked if those that they currently have in place are capable of helping attain and sustain a higher level of performance.
This has left many companies with staff; permanent and contractors who were adequate to see them through the quieter times, but now, when companies are looking to grow, are those barely sufficient employees really up to the job?
There is also the very real possibility that Directors are now expecting staff to perform more than one role within the business due to an increase in activity or headcount and they may be struggling to keep all the balls in the air and be effective. Are things slipping through the net? Do they need an additional member of the team to be able to allow focus on those vital areas?
So, what’s the difference and how can we all spot an ineffective employee? There may be a person that is perfectly capable in the current scenario, but are they capable of doing their part to lift performance? Great teams are engaged and can produce optimum results.
If your current staff are pushing boundaries, raising the bar, obsessed with improving results and performance and creating an atmosphere where people can perform their best – then we must all congratulate them. Making sure companies do what they can to keep these employees happy and engaged will ensure that they continue to perform at such a high level.
However, if this is not the case, it may be time for a change? Wanting to avoid rocking the boat by not dealing with ineffective employees will only give the company the same results they are currently getting and this may damage the team. However, we have all seen mediocre employees become fantastic with a little mentoring, training and motivation. Getting this right will mean that they will not only perform well, but will also be able to coach and mentor the next group of new recruits. If they can’t hack it, then it’s time to do something radical.
Directors have a duty to find and keep great employees. Not only to take the company forwards, it will also help attract high calibre candidates who want to be part of the organisation and this in turn will make people within the company up their game – it’s a win, win!
Here at Langley James, we pride ourselves on finding the best candidates in the market and this is something we have been doing for the last 15 years. Why not talk to one of our specialist IT consultants to see how we can help you find that superstar. And remember, Recruit someone worth Recruiting.
Apr 28, 2014 | IT
Why should somebody come and work for you?
In a market where people don’t move for a job title or a salary increase, it is vital to ask yourself that question.
People move for opportunity! Opportunity can mean many different things to different people – an opportunity to grow, to learn, or simply just to work for a highly reputable business.
At Langley James, we have noticed a real shift in the market over the last 6 months and whilst the jobs market is improving month on month and the future for the technology and IT sector goes from strength to strength, those superstar candidates, the hidden gems, still need to be ‘wowed’ by an opportunity to even consider a change in employer.
What attracted you to work where you do? Why have you stayed? What can you offer that your strongest competitor isn’t able to?
Candidates don’t just want to know about the immediate opportunity either. Initially, there will be the fast-pace of learning the new role, company and environment, following a longer period of learning the finer details. But then what? Is that person capable of more? Could they deliver even more value to you as a Company? What projects could they get involved in? What could they learn to further develop their skills?
Have a look at your latest job spec – is it simply a list of what you want? A host of essential and desired skills and experience? A shopping list? When was the last time you went shopping and only came back with what was on your list? Or, did you get attracted by the end of aisle promotions – those companies that had made a conscious effort to stand apart from their competitors by offering that something a little different?
At Langley James, our IT experts are on hand to assist with the whole recruitment process from job specs, attraction methods, salary guides and general market information. Why not give us a call and see how helpful we can be? If you are looking for a recruitment partner with a completely transparent approach, then we may just be exactly what you are looking for.
Apr 25, 2014 | IT
Want to cut costs by more than 50%?
Optimising application development and maintenance (ADM) can slash operation costs by more than 50%, according to research by Gartner.
A new study found that by allowing sourcing managers to develop and implement sourcing strategies, metrics and processes can help CIO’s cut costs in half by eliminating legacy applications, complex architectures and outdated approaches to staffing.
Accounting for 34% of IT budgets, ADM is only set to rise in the coming months due to rising labour costs and increasing complexity and number of applications. However, the study stated that if best practices across the application life cycle are followed, the ADM unit cost can be significantly optimised over time.
Sadly though, it seems that only 11% of companies are mastering sourcing by taking a methodical approach. Others rely on tendering their requirements to a few known service providers and chose the supplier based on price and daily rates. Most are also using staff augmentation for ADM work inefficiently.
Key recommendations made by Gartner the help CIO’s cut costs by optimising ADM included performing an application portfolio and life cycle activity analysis to consolidate ADM supplies to enable companies to select the best-in-class options for scope and business process. It also recommended that using the right metrics to size application portfolio and development efforts would help determine the right ADM team size – Gilbert van der Heiden of Gartner commented “Whatever model an organisation uses, it should be applied consistently and as objectively as possible, with a focus on measuring and improving productivity and quality.”
Apr 11, 2014 | IT
Key points
- Permanent placements up at fastest rate in six months
- Surge in demand for permanent staff continues
- Permanent salary inflation outpacing growth in contract pay rates
Growth in permanent placements hits six-month high
March showed a sharp and accelerated increase in the number of IT staff placed in permanent positions by our London office, and one that was the fastest in six months. Moreover, the rise in permanent appointments in the capital was slightly sharper than the UK-wide average.
Upturn in contract billings continues
March also showed a further rise in contract billings in London. Although growth eased from February’s recent peak to the slowest in four months, it was nevertheless sharp in the context of historical data and faster than across the UK as a whole.
Staff Availability
Our IT consultants in London recorded a further decrease in permanent candidate numbers in March, extending the current sequence of decline to ten months. Furthermore, the rate of contraction picked up since February and was sharp.
Contractor candidate numbers also decreased at a faster rate in March. In fact, the degree to which contract candidate supply deteriorated was the most marked since July 2007.
Remuneration
Permanent starting salaries in London increased in March, continuing the trend observed by our consultants in each of the past ten months.
Contractor rates also increased in March, but the pace of inflation eased since February, to the weakest in nine months. The capital was also outperformed by the UK as a whole on this front for the first time since last November.
About Langley James
Langley James was founded in 1999 by James Toovey, a highly respected recruitment industry professional. James wanted to provide something unique: a bespoke recruitment service which was founded on service excellence. With offices in London and Manchester, we are now providing our recruitment services throughout the world and over the last 15 years have worked with some of the most respected companies in the world.
To find out why so many companies turn to Langley James for support in fulfilling their IT recruitment needs, call and speak to one of our specialist consultants today on 0845 124 9555.
Apr 7, 2014 | IT
The Beginning of the End for the Biro
We are living in an era where technology and science is moving at an incredible pace. Only last week medical history was made by using 3D printing in surgery, along with the discovery of a new Dwarf Planet inside our solar system. It can be easy to forget about the basic items we use daily that will eventually be extinct.
Sony has recently released a new tablet called Digital Paper which even looks like a standard A4 note pad. It has capabilities to not only type but to also create hand written notes with the help of a stylus in your own handwriting! Very similar to the kindle, the tablet has electronic ink which gives it that paper feel. The end of the Biro is looming…
The size of the office stationary room is now being depleted to the size of a small filing cabinet. This once meeting place where you could a have a catch up with colleagues and if daring enough, leave with a few extra sticky notes and a secret stash of staples is slowly becoming a distant memory for some.
From a young age we are now growing up using tablets, phones and PC’s on a daily basis. It was only 20 years ago where there was one Acorn Computer for a whole class to share. Many industries across the UK are using the good old Biro less and less Waitresses and Waiters no longer approach your table with a pen and notepad they have a tablet where the order gets printed in the kitchen.
We used to dread the postman walking up the path with his pile of letters, now we get excited if we see a hand written envelope addressed to us. Excluding the usual Birthday or Christmas cards, how often do you receive a hand written letter?
Apart from the odd note taking, we are using Biros less and less, with technology evolving and newer more secure ways of writing being created. It might be another 20 years or maybe less until we see the death of the Biro.
The same could be said for legacy technology used in your office. Are you using a piece of software which is well past its best before date, clinging onto it, maybe too scared to change or reluctant to try something new? Even nostalgic about when it first got installed and the resulting confusion on colleagues faces.
Embrace technology! The world is becoming more eco-friendly every day with paperless offices and email still being the preferred method of communication in the office.
What are your thoughts? Join the debate on twitter @ITRecruitment #RIPBiro and on Facebook facebook.com/LangleyJames
Mar 31, 2014 | IT
Do you have far more applications than the Company requires?
Over 50% of CIO’s and key IT players do. A recent report conducted by CapGemini reported a significant increase from last year where just 33% thought so. At a time when along with the BAU function of the IT department, Companies are now looking to IT more and more as a source of business innovation. But, are we drowning in applications that could be retired or consolidated? Over 79% of those who took part in the report believe this to be the case, with an additional 76% believing that application modernisation is important to company objectives.
Good news – some Companies are already ahead of the game. When asked to comment on what strategies CIO’s had already used to increase IT’s value within the business, 60% had introduced new technology and services and a staggering 86% had either rationalised or renovated applications to be more responsive to business needs.
With new or revised applications delivering business value and driving change and efficiency within a business, IT are leading the way in the future success of companies. 56% of those who took part in the report have already deployed cloud, hailing it as the key driver for reducing risk (61%), reducing cost (66%) and reducing time to market (62%).
What’s the current state of applications within your Company? We’d love to hear your views. Why not follow the conversation on Facebook or Twitter?
Written by Lucy Rawes, Operations Director
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