So, BA’s laughable (as long as you weren’t caught up in it) IT meltdown over the last bank holiday weekend wasn’t the fault of technology after all, but of basic human error. As if that’s an excuse. Human error is inevitable. Until robots take over our jobs, businesses should expect mistakes and create procedures to minimise their likelihood and impact. If BA’s right and what happened in...
As we go to press, Canada Life Group Insurance has released a new report suggesting a ‘link’ between where you work and your chances of getting cancer, or more specifially between open plan offies and cancer risk factors, such as over-eating, alcohol consumption, smoking and lack of exercise. For critics of open plan offies, the fidings make interesting reading (though sensationalising the research...
Perhaps it’s the grey skies or because at this time of year one’s thoughts inevitably turn towards self-improvement, or because in a time of uncertainty and confusion, it is comforting to focus on areas within one’s control. Or maybe it’s simply down to coincidence. Whatever the reason, this issue has a very wholesome thread running through it, from using the workplace as an ersatz gymnasium...
After years of 80% and 90% satisfaction and renewal rates, the managed print services (MPS) industry appears to be going through something of a crisis, with research company Quocirca reporting that less than half (43%) of MPS customers are happy with their existing provider. There are a number of possible reasons for such low satisfaction levels. With some organisations now on their third MPS contract...
Who saw that coming? And I’m not just talking about the Iceland result. As the consequences of Cameron’s ill judged gamble become clear, the spectre of 2008 is stalking the land. Confronted by the real possibility of a return to recession, it is vital that businesses continue to invest in ICT and push on with their digitisation strategies. Survey after survey show that organisations still have...
Mainland UK is a divided kingdom – or at least that’s the way it sometimes seems; split between between North and South, haves and have-nots, in-ers and out-ers. Now, the CBI and IBM are warning of a divide between businesses that have embraced digitisation (55%) and those that haven’t (45%). They argue that this split is bad not only for digital laggards, but for the nation as a whole, pointing...
As we go to press, a new Office of National Statistics Environmental Accounts report reveals that the amount of materials consumed in the UK (including those used to make imports) has fallen from a peak of 889.9 million tonnes in 2001 to 659.1 million tonnes in 2013. Another way of looking at it is that over the same period the amount of biomass, metals, minerals and fossil fuel consumed per person...
Recent results from HP, Lexmark and Xerox (see page 24) highlight the challenges facing the printer industry as customers implement paper-saving digitisation programmes. A new report from AIIM shows how the pace of digitisation is accelerating and how quickly paperless processes deliver a return on investment (see page 8). One reason why digitisation has been patchy to date is that people still love...
Are you a Permanent Non-Borrower (PNB), by which I mean a business that has not used external finance in the last five years or applied for it in the last 12 months? There is quite a high chance that you are. According to the latest SME Finance Monitor from the Business Finance Taskforce, half of SMEs are now categorised as PNBs and in the second quarter of this year only 36% were using external finance,...
Writing in our sister publication PrintIT, Emma Thomas, Head of Sales South & Brokers (Vendor Finance) at Siemens Financial Services, explains how smart financing can help businesses update their technology to remain competitive without using up valuable capital. As a provider of leasing solutions you would expect her to say that. But that doesn’t mean she is wrong. As we report on page 4, new...
