Opinion

Opinion

IT careers and IT skills

• How to prevent developer burnout

  The pandemic has led to more pressure on software developers, many of whom have reported increased levels of stress and anxiety  Continue Reading

• New strategies needed to close the cyber security skills gap

  Teaching cyber security in schools is a long-term solution to a present-day problem  Continue Reading

• Britain needs its amazing migrants

  Fintech entrepreneur Michael Kent explains why Britain needs migrants and why government policy and media horror stories will damage the UK’s economy and reputation  Continue Reading

• Local Digital Capital Index: A framework for levelling up

  How can the tech sector ensure digital equality across the UK in support of the government's levelling-up agenda? TechUK is trying to set the benchmarks  Continue Reading

• Will the end of furlough help fill tech vacancies?

  The closure of the government’s furlough scheme may not help the tech sector fill the most technical vacancies, but it could bolster available talent for the longer term  Continue Reading

• Is tech team remuneration opening up a new form of cyber risk?

  Failing to reward cyber security staff in line with increases for other members of the tech team could open up new risks to organisations  Continue Reading

• The secret to building a future-proof cyber security team

  In a post-pandemic digital world, where cyber criminals see a feast of opportunities, what are the secrets to building a world-class cyber security function?  Continue Reading

• Ethical hacking: What, why, and overcoming concerns

  We find out why and how hitting your own business with a cyber attack can help improve security  Continue Reading

• How CIOs can help their organisations accelerate digital transformation

  Companies need to win the trust of their customers to gather the data they need to transform their businesses  Continue Reading

• It’s time to hit fast forward for digital jobs

  With huge numbers of people left unemployed by the pandemic, and continuing skills gaps in technology, now is the time to start joining dots and helping more people into long-term tech careers  Continue Reading

• Shaping a Digital Strategy to support UK productivity and jobs

  With an all-party parliamentary group calling for evidence on digital skills, there are three key areas that policymakers should address    Continue Reading

• Digital bootcamp initiative could kickstart new thinking about technology skills

  The government’s digital bootcamps initiative could help begin to shift the way we think about the roles of technology professionals  Continue Reading

• Python @ 30: Praising the versatility of Python

  Python recently celebrated its 30th birthday, and pioneers of the language have been reflecting on its significance as an open source project  Continue Reading

• London needs a mayor of growth

  Here East’s CEO Gavin Poole on why the next mayor must ensure London remains the tech capital of Europe, and the importance of learning from the past  Continue Reading

• Tech firms need to keep focusing on mental wellbeing and support

  Mental wellbeing is a critical issue for the tech sector as the pandemic has taken its toll, and employers are realising the importance of providing support to their staff  Continue Reading

• Employees must be given the right to disconnect

  As enterprises increasingly turn to workplace monitoring technologies and more of the workforce moves to remote or hybrid working, unions are campaigning for workers’ ‘right to disconnect’ and not engage in digitally enabled work after hours  Continue Reading

• Reimagining outsourcing after Covid-19

  Covid-19 has changed how businesses interact with their suppliers. Here are five steps companies can take to manage their outsourcing ecosystem in the post-pandemic world  Continue Reading

• Why it’s fantastic to be a woman in the technology sector (and what’s stopping more from joining)

  The enforced move by many employers to flexible home working during the pandemic is challenging the culture of long hours in the office – and opening up new opportunities for women in tech  Continue Reading

• Let’s build on the innovation shown by UK tech during pandemic

  The UK’s technology sector has innovated and shown leadership through the Covid-19 crisis, particularly with developments in AI. It is now time to maintain and build on that progress, so the UK remains a global force in tech innovation  Continue Reading

• Could ambiguous rules spur IT personnel offshoring bonanza?

  Could the combination of Brexit and ambiguous rules on recruitment enable businesses to hire IT staff from overseas to carry out work remotely?  Continue Reading

• Fixing the cracks in public sector digital infrastructure

  The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the flaws in the UK's digital government set-up. The appointment of new IT leadership presents an ideal opportunity for the government to fix them  Continue Reading

• SMEs poised to reap tech and agility advantage in wake of Covid-19

  The UK’s small and medium-sized businesses have, in some respects, reacted more nimbly to Covid-19 than larger organisations. As a result, they have put themselves in a better position to take advantage of growth opportunities  Continue Reading

• Love (and impact sourcing) in the time of Covid

  Amanda Lewis, a lawyer specialising in IT outsourcing, describes the diversity and inclusion work of Digital Divide Data  Continue Reading

• Martha Lane Fox: My life in tech

  The internet entrepreneur discusses the role of tech in society, confidence in coding and encouraging young people to embrace technology  Continue Reading

• How to write an executive CV for IT leadership jobs

  Knowing how to write an IT executive CV requires a deep knowledge and skillset that not everyone has. Find out how to set yourself apart from the competition  Continue Reading

• Top 10 skills to include in your IT CV

  Find out what skills and keywords you should include on your CV to stand out as an IT professional in a competitive market  Continue Reading

• Tech executives need new skills to lead in a remote world

  After helping organisations adapt to new ways of working during the Covid-19 pandemic, IT leaders worldwide are now enjoying greater influence, according to this year’s Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey  Continue Reading

• Digital leaders and the widening divide

  This year’s Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey shows a widening of the digital business divide, with companies that have already adopted digital technologies more likely to accelerate those investments than those still in the planning stage  Continue Reading

• A CIO’s journey through the Covid-19 crisis

  FDM’s IT chief takes us through the challenges of responding to the coronavirus pandemic, and the future opportunities that the changes introduced now present  Continue Reading

• How to acquire and keep your IT skills up to date

  Little, often and varied study is the key to keeping your IT skills up to date in an industry that is constantly changing  Continue Reading

• How the chancellor’s Plan for Jobs could benefit the UK tech sector

  Technology has a strong role to play in the UK’s recovery, with Rishi Sunak’s Plan for Jobs offering opportunities for the sector  Continue Reading

• Tackling digital skills gap post-pandemic is key to UK economic recovery

  We have all – as individuals and businesses – seen the importance of technology to get us through lockdown. Let’s build on that to address the digital skills shortage in the UK  Continue Reading

• What women can do for data and what data can do for women

  For her work during wartime, Florence Nightingale is remembered as a founding giant of British statistics. Those who follow in her footsteps are using data to tackle the greatest health challenge of our time  Continue Reading

• The impact of spycraft on how we secure our data

  The history of cyber security owes much to the world of espionage, as a recent, pre-lockdown Science Museum exhibition showed  Continue Reading

• The new future of work

  We may come to stop talking about ‘remote’ working altogether after the coronavirus pandemic. It could become just ‘working’ – part of the normal mix of how things are done  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: CISO stress – moving from recognition to action

  Cyber criminals are enjoying a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, and security teams are working overtime as a result. How can security professionals manage their increased workload, safeguard their mental well-being and avoid burnout?  Continue Reading

• Is the Covid-19 crisis halting our progress on diversity in tech?

  The government's initiatives to support tech firms during the pandemic are very welcome, but they risk entrenching old behaviours that restrict the move towards greater diversity in the sector  Continue Reading

• How effective security training goes deeper than ‘awareness’

  Cyber criminals are constantly developing their techniques and strategies, so security training needs to do the same  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Burnt out CISOs are a huge cyber risk

  Cyber criminals are enjoying a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, and security teams are working overtime as a result. How can security pros manage their increased workload, safeguard their mental wellbeing, and avoid burnout?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Create healthy habits to avoid burnout

  Cyber criminals are enjoying a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, and security teams are working overtime as a result. How can security professionals manage their increased workload, safeguard their mental well-being and avoid burnout?  Continue Reading

• IT transformation steps pave the path to new ways to work

  The CEO of Difrent discusses how her roles in local and central government have played a role in public sector IT transformation  Continue Reading

• Post-pandemic, automation will kill jobs – here’s why you should be happy about it

  A likely reaction to the coronavirus pandemic is greater automation, which will replace human labour. But this will be a good thing – after all, the tractor doesn’t mean we have nothing else to do outside the farm  Continue Reading

• Digital skills for the future, today

  The education sector’s response to the coronavirus crisis demonstrates how digital systems and skills will be essential to the future of learning  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Caring for the IT security caretakers

  Cyber criminals are enjoying a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, and security teams are working overtime as a result. How can security professionals manage their increased workload, safeguard their mental well-being and avoid burnout?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: CISOs must adapt to fight Covid-19 burnout

  Cyber criminals are enjoying a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, and security teams are working overtime as a result. How can security pros manage their increased workload, safeguard their mental wellbeing, and avoid burnout?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: How to manage security team well-being

  Cyber criminals are enjoying a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, and security teams are working overtime as a result. How can security professionals manage their increased workload, safeguard their mental well-being and avoid burnout?  Continue Reading

• Unsteady state: Building collaboration, innovation and responsiveness during unprecedented change

  The coronavirus crisis is challenging business and tech leaders in new and unprecedented ways – but the skills developed by successful leaders can forge better business and government going forward  Continue Reading

• Coronavirus: What does the ‘new normal’ mean for how we work?

  Examining the long-term impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic on the world of work, security, privacy and networks  Continue Reading

• Gartner: How CIOs can lead organisational culture

  In large-scale transformations, the technical implementation is often far easier than the change management needed to make IT projects a success  Continue Reading

• Making apprenticeships do more than just work

  Better use of apprentices, and further reform to the apprenticeship levy, will be key to continuing the impressive growth rate of the UK’s digital economy  Continue Reading

• A new decade, a new government and a new horizon for UK tech

  Brexit is being done, so it’s time for the government to look to the future and place technology at the heart of the economy  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Bug bounties are changing the image of hackers

  The traditional picture of a hacker is of a script kiddie in a hoodie hunched over a computer keyboard, but this stereotype is stale and outdated. Is it time to move away from a fear-based approach to security?  Continue Reading

• Learning from the Travelex cyber attack: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail

  The key lesson to take from the Travelex breach is that an effective response to a breach is a critical business function and no longer the sole province of the IT department  Continue Reading

• The UK civil service is broken and needs reform to deliver true digital government

  Boris Johnson’s special adviser, Dominic Cummings, has attracted criticism for his plans to overhaul Whitehall culture, but one former government digital chief argues that he is absolutely right  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Hooded hackers? More like ruthless competitors

  The traditional picture of a hacker is of a script kiddie in a hoodie hunched over a computer keyboard, but this stereotype is stale and outdated. Is it time to move away from a fear-based approach to security?  Continue Reading

• Industry, academia and government are joining forces to drive AI education

  Building a diverse, advanced skills base in the UK will support the thriving technology sector and encourage the adoption of artificial intelligence across the broader economy  Continue Reading

• Conservative Party: Fostering an environment for IT and digital to flourish

  Matt Warman, Conservative MP and minister for digital and broadband, outlines the Tory policies for technology and digital ahead of the General Election  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Optimise data-centric strategies with AI

  The belief that effective perimeter security is the best way to protect data is a fallacy that is being repeatedly exposed. We must recognise the need for a data-centric security model to protect data from both internal and external threats, but ...  Continue Reading

• Cyber security: How to avoid a disastrous PICNIC

  Fieldfisher’s David Lorimer examines how individual employees often facilitate cyber attacks, and what can be done to reduce the risk  Continue Reading

• Liberal Democrats: We want to lead the world in ethical, inclusive technology

  Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat MP and party spokesperson for digital, culture, media and sport, writes about the party's technology policies ahead of the upcoming General Election  Continue Reading

• The super-resilient organisation

  We need to build super-resilient organisations that can not only survive in a tempestuous world, but become energised by it  Continue Reading

• The super-resilient IT function

  IT functions don’t have to continue taking the blame for organisational failures, they can take the lead in transforming the business  Continue Reading

• General Election 2019: Digital must be at the core of the next government’s strategy

  TechUK lays out the technology priorities it wants to see from the next UK government to boost the digital economy  Continue Reading

• Life under the loan charge: An IT contractor’s story

  Thousands of IT contractors are being pursued by HMRC for “life-changing” tax bills for work they did up to 20 years ago, as part of a disguised remuneration clampdown known as the loan charge policy. One of those affected anonymously shares his ...  Continue Reading

• The super-resilient CIO

  How developing ‘super-resilience’ can help your organisation thrive on adversity  Continue Reading

• What changes are needed to create a cyber-savvy culture?

  PA Consulting's Cate Pye considers the people and process changes that are necessary to build a security aware business culture  Continue Reading

• The five software testing techniques every software developer should know about

  Five simple testing techniques that will help developers test their software systematically, thoroughly and quickly  Continue Reading

• Businesses need to keep investing in tech and hope to avoid a no-deal Brexit

  A no-deal Brexit could have serious consequences for the UK tech sector and skills base, making it more difficult to recruit technology specialists and hire freelancers  Continue Reading

• Would you trust a criminal with your cyber security?

  Several industry sectors have set a good example by hiring ex-offenders, and the cyber security industry could benefit in similar ways by looking at members of the hacker community  Continue Reading

• Will artificial intelligence be a recruiter’s new best friend?

  AI and machine learning are being introduced into corporate recruitment to save time and money, but employers need to understand the legal risks  Continue Reading

• Opening a path into a tech career for anyone

  The technology sector needs new talent and must get better at appealing to people at all stages of their life and career  Continue Reading

• Why the rise of IT managed by the business is driving creative thinking

  Organisations that encourage business units to implement and run their own IT systems have an edge over competitors that rely entirely on the IT department, research from Harvey Nash and KPMG reveals  Continue Reading

• Gender diversity is failing in tech: how can we turn it around?

  Todays technology organisations need innovative thinking, communication, relationship building, influencing and listening – skills that a lot of women possess in abundance. Yet employers frequently advertise jobs in ways that unwittingly deter ...  Continue Reading

• What is the right goal for digital inclusion?

  Most tech observers agree that digital inclusion is important, but the digitally excluded can have quite different views on what they want  Continue Reading

• Improving public/private collaboration to boost digital government

  TechUK and the civil service are working together on a programme to develop digital skills in Whitehall and a better understanding of government needs in the tech industry  Continue Reading

• Feudal Lords and anarchic allies – the new models for software collaboration

  Software developers often take an unconventional view of contracts for the work they undertake, which can come back and bite them  Continue Reading

• Agile becomes mainstream

  There are clear parallels between the conditions that led the IT industry to adopt agile approaches and the challenges facing business today  Continue Reading

• An IR35 survival guide for employers and contractors

  Forthcoming changes to IR35 regulations will affect most private sector companies using IT contractors – so what do you need to do to prepare?  Continue Reading

• The lesson of TSB – testing, 1, 2, 3

  An organisation’s IT system might look good on the surface, but you can’t fix a problem if you don’t know it’s there  Continue Reading

• Want a 200% pay rise? If you do, let the robots do all the work

  One of the newest Nobel economists has a theory, and if it's correct we'll all be in for a huge salary increase when the robots take over  Continue Reading

• Smart cities face challenges and opportunities

  IHS Markit analysts Noman Akhtar and Kevin Hasley assess the way forward for smart city technology projects around the world  Continue Reading

• Cyber security: A work in progress

  Piers Wilson, director of the Institute of Information Security Professionals, reflects on the findings of the latest IISP industry survey and suggests there is still more work to do  Continue Reading

• Why #techmatters – the challenge for everyone in the UK tech community

  The UK technology sector faces unprecedented challenges – and opportunities – but we must never lose sight of the fact that it exists to make people’s lives better  Continue Reading

• Bridging the gender pay gap in the technology industry

  Publication of gender pay gap figures for large organisations shows the tech sector has a long way to go to back up its rhetoric about equal opportunities  Continue Reading

• Big data skills shortages – and how to work around them

  Businesses are finding it hard to recruit enough people with big data and analytics skills, but for CIOs there are alternative strategies to consider  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Data governance is essential to data security

  Why is it important to know where data flows, with whom it's shared and where it lives at rest – and what is the best way of achieving this?  Continue Reading

• Tier 2 visas – a challenge for the tech sector

  With staff shortages already being reported in the technology sector and Brexit potentially adding to the problem, tech departments need to get their Tier 2 visa applications right  Continue Reading

• A strong UK-India bond on tech can benefit us all

  The UK tech sector can benefit from the government’s work to forge closer ties with India’s burgeoning digital economy  Continue Reading

• Building a tech future between the UK and India

  A new tech partnership between the UK and India will benefit the digital economy in both countries, says secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport Matt Hancock  Continue Reading

• Blockchain: Paving the way for broad adoption

  The foundations have been laid for organisations to begin standardising on the technology, talent and platforms that will drive future blockchain initiatives  Continue Reading

• How the IT sector can help plug the cyber security skills gap

  Businesses have a role to play in plugging the cyber security skills gap by engaging with future talent at a young age, providing more role models for under-represented groups, communicating the nature of the threat, and changing their approach to ...  Continue Reading

• Diversity matters – International Women’s Day 2018

  The tech sector has a poor reputation for workplace diversity - if we are to take advantage of the opportunities of the digital economy, this has to change  Continue Reading

• Apprenticeship reforms are driving tech sector skills success

  Apprenticeships and skills minister Anne Milton says apprenticeships are a great way to make sure the tech industry has the skills it needs  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: How to evolve SecOps capacity

  How can organisations evolve their security operations teams to do more automation of basic tasks and cope with dynamic IT environments?  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: Establish best practice before automating security processes

  How can organisations evolve their security operations teams to do more automation of basic tasks and cope with dynamic IT environments?  Continue Reading

• We must avoid the Brexit risks to London's tech community

  London's chief digital officer warns of the risks to jobs, innovation and investment if the UK pursues a hard Brexit when leaving the EU  Continue Reading

• Why CryptoKitties shows the future of humanity in the robot age

  Spending millions on blockchain-based cat collectibles might seem trivial, but it explains why economists aren’t worried about robots taking all our jobs  Continue Reading

• Building on the UK tech sector’s momentum in 2018

  The UK’s digital and tech industry made great progress in 2017, and the government aims to further its support in 2018, says digital minister  Continue Reading

• What a year it’s been for tech in the UK

  2017 was the year technology rose to prominence in government and business agendas – and the sector needs to keep that momentum going into 2018  Continue Reading

• How to boost your personal brand as an IT professional

  Seven steps to help you build a personal brand in the workplace, articulate the value you provide and build your professional reputation  Continue Reading