cloud

We’ve come a long way since Amazon Web Service’s first cloud computing wave in 2006 and AWS turnover is now at $14 billion with Google, Microsoft and IBM all snapping at their heels.

open source

Open Source has become the technology that businesses of all sizes have begun to build their strategies around.

tech

Technology will save the UK   The technology or digital sector as a whole is the fastest growing in the UK with 1.64 million employed already and twice as many jobs being created than the wider UK economy.  The fear that technology would destroy jobs has actually proven to be entirely unfounded and technology has created more jobs than it has destroyed.  A study from Deloitte has shown a fourfold increase in jobs such as bar staff and hairdressers suggesting that technology has increased spending power, created new demand and jobs, and shifted consumption to more luxurious products and services.  The decrease in areas such as agriculture and manufacturing has been offset by the growth in technology, business services, creative and caring sectors.  Machines now take on the repetitive and boring tasks that no-one wants to do any longer but despite this employment requirements haven’t lessened as such in the last 150 years.  Better access to information and changes in communication have revolutionised business and technological progress and have reduced the prices of essentials such as clothes, food and electrical products.  The real price of cars has actually halved in the last 25 years!  All of this has left us with more money to spend on leisure and personal services and an ever changing employment market that flexes to suit the needs of modern day society You may feel that this year’s tech news seems to have  tunnel vision when it comes to the newer areas such as Cloud, DevOps, Mobile but there is so much more happening out there and old favourites such as Java, JavaScript, Python and Ruby often remain just as important as newer skills and languages.   Theresa May is holding the Tech Industry high as a shining light to focus on after Brexit and calls it ‘a great British success story’.  The UK has twice the tech investment of any other EU country and the UK digital economy is growing at twice the rate of the wider economy.  This growth isn’t just in London either but has expanded to key areas of the country such as Reading, Bristol, Bath, Manchester, Belfast, Cambridge, Newcastle and Bournemouth. Whether you are an analyst, engineer, web developer, software architect or hold one of the many varied roles in the industry you are now seen as a ‘pioneer of our digital economy’ and should hold your head up high.   There are certainly challenges ahead and finding the right staff to allow the Tech sector to grow at the right rate is not going to be easy.  If you’re already a skilled employee you are optimally positioned for the future and if you’re looking at educational opportunities for your future career, Tech is certainly the sector you need to focus on.  Salaries are inevitably going to rise with competition for highly skilled employees heating up so ensure you have the skills that the market demands (sign up for our news and events to keep on top of this). Employers have already experienced some of their European top talent moving back home from the UK but interestingly the highest proportion of Github users are actually located in London – twice as many as Paris or Berlin or any other European city -  so there is huge potential for the UK to continue leading the way for the future despite Brexit.  Setting all political opinions and issues aside, the future seems to rely on us – what a great opportunity for exciting careers and lives.  We appear to be inheriting the earth!  

mobile

The days when apps were just built for smartphones is over now and we have a plethora of connected TVs, IoT devices in our homes, location based services, augmented reality, small business, utility, AI embedded and payment apps.

devops

2017 seems to have been the year of DevOps so far but one wonders how many companies have been influenced by the hype without really realising where they should be heading and how.

digital marketing

Digital Marketing changes again?   Marketing is an industry that never stands still and what is important one year has totally changed by the next.  This year is all about Content and Big Data but as new GDPR laws come in next year will our world need to reinvent itself again?  Certainly email marketing tactics will change at that point and sensible marketers will change well before the crunch date in May.  Will these new rulings make us even more reliant on good content and customer experience? – almost certainly.  It will also significantly change what we can do with our Big Data with predictions of 75% becoming obsolete.   The GDPR changes should hopefully remove some of the more dubious elements from our industry and allow customers to receive the marketing that they truly want.  It may even create a world where email becomes much less important and digital Content and brand influence is all – hold on – aren’t we there already?  Let’s look at the positives and there are many.  We live in a world of information overload and it’s not always a great place for our customers, and as customers ourselves we all know how this feels.  We’re bombarded with huge swathes of information everywhere we go now and there seems to be no respite especially if you’re one of the many hyper switched onto their mobile.  It’s not making anyone happy and stress levels have gone through the roof.  As Marketers, we need to admit some responsibility for this and to start helping our customers, not making their lives worse. The new laws are about greater transparency, enhanced rights for citizens and increased accountability.  Surely it would be good to remove adverts that are never opened or noticed, reduce the deluge of irrelevant marketing and to actually give our customers what they want.  It’s our chance to improve the industry, our brand’s reputation and to send the ads that our customers are really interested in - the ones they will actually respond to.  Our careers will be more worthwhile and we may actually save time and some of our precious marketing budget in the long run by focusing on what truly brings results.  The price of leads may rise to reach this new nirvana but the quality will hopefully be worth paying the price for in the long run So does life go on despite GDPR? You bet it does!  The creative marketing world as ever will change and is already changing. Content Marketing has evolved substantially over the last few years although many are still finding their feet.  We’ve all learnt that we have to use content but it has to be entertaining and informative The race for innovation to find new ways to engage audiences is driving technology forward.  Facebook and YouTube have introduced 360 degree video, although let’s not talk about the annoying autoplay videos that almost made us shut down our Facebook accounts recently.  Companies are trying to be creative with augmented reality following Pokemon Go but there is still some way to go to see truly large movement in this area.  Immersive live video could be interesting but the key to innovation may rely on constantly adapting, changing and inventing rather than just following the crowd and every new shiny toy.  Audiences become tired quickly of new fads and gimics – who is still playing Pokemon Go now? Does anyone get tired of being consistently looked after really well however and feeling that they are genuinely cared about?  We should be focusing on how we can combine that with innovation Does Big Data become smaller data? Big Data has become a huge topic in recent years but many companies still battle with understanding how they can use it best.  The Political marketers seem to have certainly understood it, manipulated it and run with it and unfortunately made the world a scarier place with their Big Data marketing.  We should be putting it to use for the benefit of society and our customers.  Personalisation should be able to improve customer experience and one to one marketing is becoming more prevalent as brands get to grips with it.  Native advertising has meanwhile diminished and needs revisiting for the future.  Maybe the answer for marketers isn’t huge swathes of big data but more detailed relevant small data where forecasting can be used with more validity and we can all focus on doing what is right for the right customers at the right time And yes this stuff is still news Every year we all talk about Mobile and nothing has changed in that respect.  We all know we need to be Mobile First and we’re more glued to our mobiles than ever – this isn’t going to diminish for the time being.  The same with Video – it gathers pace and then moves onto yet another level.  Look at  Facebook – it’s all about video now – which seems a quick change from a few years ago – and it is predicted to become even more video focused. We’re still excited about AR, VR and the Internet of Things but we’re barely off the starting blocks and we’re going to have to wait a while yet especially if we don’t want our washing machine to be over taken by terrorists or criminals.  We’ve embraced wearables and they seem to be getting cheaper and better rapidly although the information overload when your wrist, phone and laptop all buzz in sync  late at night can lead to yet further intrusion to our already busy lives. We were excited about Chatbots but they are beginning to be annoying already.   The customer experience yet again looms as the key piece that holds everything together.  It is not enough to just be there to talk to.  The service must be outstanding too. Lets start understanding people better.  Let’s not just look at the psychology of marketing but how we can use the understanding of psychology to make lives better in a more meaningful and sustainable way.  That should be the real future of marketing.