Computer Weekly Data Bank

System Software Spend - Top Manufacturing Sectors

2013-05-16T00:00:00Z

Beverages & tobacco manufacturers with 1000+ employees spend over £1.2m each on system software. This is 40% more than large transport equipment makers. They in turn have an expenditure which is twice that of pharmaceutical manufacturers.

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

IT & Telecom Spend - Legal Services Companies

2013-05-13T00:00:00Z

Small legal services concerns with 50-99 staff spend £150m on IT and telecom services. One third of that expenditure is on IT and telecom professionals whilst a quarter is on telecom services. A further fifth is directed at computer services. The remaining fifth is split between hardware and software.

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

Development Tools Spend - Market Research Companies

2013-05-09T00:00:00Z

Small, medium and large market research companies spend around £70 per employee on software development tools. This is less than that by the very small concerns with under 50 staff. Apart from large firms (1000+ employees), market researchers have a higher outlay than their all UK counterparts.

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

Custom Software Spend - Fastest Growing Industry Sectors

2013-05-06T00:00:00Z

The fastest growing sector for custom software in 2013 is research & development. Organisations in this segment are increasing their spend by some 30%. Next in line are veterinary concerns who are advancing their custom software expenditure by almost 25%. They are closely followed by transport equipment manufacturers.

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

CSC's UK revenues decline as it refocuses on cloud services

2013-05-02T09:18:42Z

Source: Securities and Exchange Commission,/Companies House/Computer Weekly

(Click on graph to enlarge)

US IT outsourcing specialist, CSC's UK business, its primary source of international sales since the 1970s, has declined steadily since 2005. Most of its major UK contracts - including the Atomic Energy Agency, Network Rail, the Post Office and UK Visas - are now approaching the end of their lives.

The company is reinventing itself as a cloud computing business. The new model will require fewer resources and generate less revenue than its traditional outsourcing business. The jury is out whether CSC will be able to grow its cloud business quickly enough to replace its traditional revenues.

For more on CSC, download our in-depth profile.

IT & Telecom Spend - Air Transport Companies

2013-05-02T00:00:00Z

Air transport companies, with over 1000 staff, dedicate 2.5% of their turnover on IT & telecom products and services. This matches that for all large UK organisations. For smaller sized concerns the proportions are notably smaller in the air transport sector.

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

Hacking attacks rise dramatically over past year

2013-05-01T09:45:45Z

Outsider attacks also increased substantially over the past year, UK government's annual cyber security survey reveals. Small businesses have been particularly badly impacted; 63% report being attacked, up from 41% a year ago. Large organisations still bear the brunt of attacks, with the average company having a serious attack every few days. But, small businesses are rapidly becoming a target too, on average suffering a serious attack once every six weeks.

Case study

The public website of a financial services provider was attacked using SQL injection. Poor design of the site's technical configuration made it vulnerable to the attack. This resulted in the attackers sending a large number of "phishing" emails to staff. This caused a lot of disruption for about a day. After the attack, the company changed its website configuration and also trained staff on security risks.

You can download the full results of the 2013 Information Security Breaches Survey here.

Security breaches reach highest ever levels

2013-05-01T09:33:03Z

The number of security breaches affecting UK business continues to increase, according to the UK government's annual cyber security survey. The rise is most notable for small businesses; they're now experiencing incident levels previously only seen in larger organisations.

You can download the full results of the study here.

Application Software Spend - Accountants

2013-04-29T00:00:00Z

Smaller accountancy firms, employing under 100 staff, have expenditure per employee on application package software which is twice the UK norm. For concerns with 1000+ staff, accountants' outlay fall below the national average.

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

Software Spend - Retail Trade

2013-04-25T00:00:00Z

Small retailers - employing 50-99 staff - spend £3,700 each on custom software. Outlay on application packages and system software is similar at £3,400 per company. Less than a third of that is expended on development tools.

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

IT & Telecom Spend - Employment Agencies

2013-04-22T00:00:00Z

Employment agencies' largest spend category is staff which represents 60% of IT & telecom budgets. Computer services and telecom services expenditure each contribute just over 15%. Between them, hardware and software form the balance of a little under 10%.

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

Revealed: The top ten most networked countries.

2013-04-19T10:17:04Z

The World Economic Forum's Networked Readiness Index (NRI), measures the capacity of 144 economies to leverage ICT for economic growth and the well-being of their populations.

Finland (1st), Singapore (2nd) and Sweden (3rd) take the top three places in the index. The Netherlands (4th), Norway (5th), Switzerland (6th), the United Kingdom (7th), Denmark (8th), the United States (9th), and Taiwan, China (10th) complete the top 10.

The Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese (BRIC) economies, and notably China (58th, down seven), continue to lag behind in the rankings. The sustained rapid economic growth of past years in some of these countries may be in jeopardy unless the right investments are made in ICT, skills and innovation, says the WEF.

Click here to download the WEF's report.

Interactive map: the most networked countries in the world

2013-04-19T10:04:43Z

The UK has moved from 10^th to 7^th place in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) network readiness index - the biggest improvement among the world's top 10 economies over the past year.

The index of 144 countries claims to be the most authoritative and effective assessment of the effect of ICT on the competitiveness of nations and the well-being of their citizens

See how the rest of the world is faring with this interactive map.

You can download the WEF's report here.

Computer Services Spend - Professional & Technical Companies

2013-04-18T00:00:00Z

Companies employing 100-999 staff in the professional & technical industry sectors, on average, spend £450k each on computer services. By far the largest spending group are those organisations supporting head office activities. Their norm is £2.5m per firm. This is more than a factor of 10 greater than the lowest computer services expenditure experienced by market research concerns.

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

Hardware - Top Spending Industry Sectors

2013-04-15T00:00:00Z

Education establishments have the highest proportion of total IT & telecom spend dedicated to hardware. It amounts to almost a quarter of their budgets. Next in line are water supply and transport support companies with a little under 20%. The norm for all UK organisations is 10%.

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