The latest research by Virgin Media Business revealed that six in 10 workers are demanding access to cloud services so they would be able to access all the services they use in the office from any location on any device. However, only 10% of the companies are deploying cloud technology. Research firm Gartner predicts that by 2016 all of the global 2000 companies will be using public cloud services. Does this mean all the businesses need to speed up the adoption of cloud solutions so they won’t fall behind?
78% of interviewed office workers believe than in 10 years they will be able to access all their applications over the web. Despite high demand and expectation of workers, many businesses are still slow to adapt cloud-based solutions because of connectivity concerns. 88% of business owners have yet to deploy cloud applications within their company. They main concern is whether their IT infrastructure is suitable for the adoption of cloud. Around 20% of business owners are not comfortable using applications via the internet and are worried about their internet connection. They also raise certain doubts about how much bandwidth cloud-based applications will use.
Big corporations are leading the way towards cloud. It’s estimated that by 2016 all of the global 2000 businesses will adopt cloud services. Apple has revealed that 75% of Fortune 500 companies are testing and deploying iPads within their firms. Companies like Disney, Estee Lauder or Xerox have already issued iPads to their workforce.
Companies can increase their productivity by freeing their business via remote working but there is much more to gain for companies than just productivity. Employees are willing and ready do adopt cloud services. The only thing holding the businesses back from cloud is connectivity concerns. Mark Heraghty, managing director of Virgin Media Business commented:
“A fast, secure and reliable internet connection is crucial to support an increasingly dispersed, mobile workforce, and once businesses liberate themselves from these bandwidth concerns they can start making the most out of cloud applications to boost innovation and productivity.”
Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has sealed the deal with Skype to provide social networking site with video chat option. It will allow Facebook users to talk face to face. Zuckerberg unveiled new Facebook functionality just days after Google presented its social network to the world. Is this the beginning of the technology battle between the giants?
The video chat will not require Facebook’s users to download any specific feature from Skype. All they have to do is download a plug-in for the video chat tool but it shouldn’t take more than 20 seconds. Zuckerberg described the new function as the “best technology” within the “best social infrastructure”. Skype, which is being acquired by Microsoft in a £5.2bn deal predicts 50% increase in video calling traffic. The internet telephony provider also believes that it can increase its number of users by up to five times from its current 150 million. The joint project also proves the strengthening alliance between Facebook and Microsoft against rival Google.
Just last week Google unveiled its social network Google+ which offers a collection of new Google products. One of the products, Hangouts, allows up to 10 people simultaneously engage in a chat. The video feed switches based on who is speaking at a given moment. That creates a huge advantage for Google as Facebook offers only one-on-one video chat, but Zuckerberg hinted that group video chat will be rolled out soon.
Facebook has more than 750 million users and it will be extremely hard for Google to compete and steal Zuckerberg’s brainchild’s crown. However, the competition between Google and Facebook will only bring benefits for the users- they will get better service and more innovative technology.
Schools need to revise their curriculum and change their approach to IT, IBM has written in their latest letter to the Government. The IBM initiative emerged after it was unable to fill 200 jobs due to skilled workers shortage.
Over the past year IBM has created over 1,000 new technology, consulting and analyst vacancies across the UK but was only able to fill 80 percent of them because there were too few quality candidates. It sparked a discussion over who is to blame for the candidate’s poor IT skills.
Stephen Leonard, the Chef Executive for IBM in the UK and Ireland believes that lacklustre GCSE curriculum is partly to blame. Leonard decided to take action and wrote to the Department of Education to detail proposals for an alternative.
“We need to do more as a country to develop more IT-capable people and we need more IT-capable people and we need a curriculum that is more adaptable to change over time. If we pioneer new technologies here then we can take them elsewhere, and we have a great reputation as innovators and entrepreneurs, but how do you keep that going when there are not enough people?”- Stephen Leonard commented. “We are going to have a shortfall of 20 percent over the next two or three years and it is potentially going to widen further. Skills, I think, is the biggest chalange we will face in the next five years.”
Leonard also believes that the shortfall can have very negative implications for the Britain as a world leader in many sectors, not just the technology industry. He is concerned that we will fall behind in the race to lead the world.
Karen Price, chef executive at e-skills blames the way IT is taught in schools as the current syllabus has more negative than positive impact. There is too much emphasis put on IT literacy, but students don’t understand how the technology actually works . IBM, Microsoft and 15 other technology companies were working with schools on reforming the curriculum to tailor it to industry’s needs. “We need to get a generation of young people who are avidly interested in technology understanding how it works and can be applied to business situations”- added Price.
Phil Lydford, director at Managed Networks commented: “IT offers great career opportunities providing individuals are prepared to put the effort into obtaining the requisite skills and credentials. Job opportunities exist now and I cannot see that situation changing in the foreseeable future. In today’s difficult conditions youngsters would be well advised to consider a career in IT.”
