Monthly Archives: June 2020

Data, Networks, News

Why a “one-size-fits all” data management solution will never work

Martin Sugden, CEO, Boldon James explains why data management should be at the top of every organisation’s priority list

In a world where data loss is costing organisations millions of dollars in fines, there is not one organisation who should not have data protection at the top of their agenda - especially in the current climate with workers spread more remotely than ever. The trouble with the security software landscape today is that many solution providers are promising “one-size-fits-all” tools; something that on the surface can offer everything your organisation needs but are often too good to be true.

The challenges with “one-size-fits-all” solutions 

Many businesses, when observed from the outside, can appear to have similar problems that need to be resolved. However, when you really delve into their processes, almost every medium to large organisation is unique. Each will operate against slightly different regulatory frameworks and use different tools to achieve their goals. Many will have also grown, some through acquisition, or experienced growth at different times, with the result that their equipment and infrastructure is peculiar to them.

I think the biggest single failure in large corporates is that the annual budget cycle, and the need to

respond to market conditions, often makes security an afterthought. Against this background, the CISOs and CDOs are trying to combat well established would-be hackers and meet the requirements of an increasingly onerous regulatory and compliance regime. They then need to explain these issues to their senior management in order to get the appropriate funding. After all of this, you can see why there is a temptation to reach out for a labour-saving miracle cure; skipping the planning stages and going straight in with packaged products which promise the capability to do everything.

The problem with this is that they are committing large parts of their budget to a solution that can lack the bespoke tailoring needed in order to meet their specific requirements. They are also often focusing on the high-profile issues such as data theft by nation state actors (hacking) and forgetting, or ignoring, the fact that roughly 50% of data loss is leakage through human error. People simply make mistakes whilst trying to get their day jobs done under pressure, and events like COVID-19 enhance this. We are all now using tools that we may not be familiar with, and the training that is required to make sure your user community does not leak sensitive information when using them can be much more difficult when working remotely. There is a lot of sensitive information now being shared from unstructured data sources and via insecure channels; it may be going via email to a number of different people before being stored in the structured environment, such as a HR database, that it was meant for.

However, we know that any security control implemented in an organisation imposes operating constraints on the business, so the tools need to work as a whole in the exact way you need – not the way that someone thinks you should work to be worth the investment. For example, badly deployed DLP, or overly aggressive post-delivery controls, can make the organisation lose faith in the solution and make you roll back even the sensible controls you have in place.

GDPR mandates Security by Design

The GDPR legislation in particular talks about ‘Security by Design’. Organisations need to think about and understand their business processes in order to develop a solution that meets their needs. Often, once they have done this, they realise that the multiple automated security tools they have in place do not fully meet their requirements or cannot be modified as their needs change.

By incorporating a data classification strategy, businesses are able to understand the sensitivity of their information and can treat it accordingly. According to Gartner, “Data classification policies provide an important foundation to help organisations address the handling of sensitive data. The policies should be easy to follow and flexible so that data is appropriately protected, and business is not adversely impacted.”

For example, lots of files look the same and have similar information; it is very difficult for an automated tool to tell the difference between a regional sales report, a team sales report, and a global sales report. That automated tool is going to give the reports the same label, despite the potential security implications if each one is classified in the same way. The only person able to do that effectively is the original creator of each document.

Data Governance throughout your supply chain

Another area that every organisation needs to focus on more effectively, and one of the reasons why the “one-size-fits-all” automated tools really start to drop into the background, is third party risk. When sharing data throughout their supply chain, the off-the-shelf solution is not going to be suited to the environments that these companies are operating in. The problem with that is that without having some clear definition of what your data is, it can be impossible to manage it outside of your organisation.

Metadata is the usual method for storing the classification with your information, but for protection of your information, the classification must be cryptographically bound to your information (this prevents your sensitive document becoming insensitive). Also, to further simplify information sharing, the metadata cannot be bespoke to your organisation; otherwise sharing information is made more difficult with unreadable classification metadata.

Data classification is critical for business success

With the information classified and protected using a common format, the organisation can now begin to apply access control policies to control the flow of information throughout the entire network. Who needs access to the information, the location of the user, the type of device they are using are all factors that may affect whether a user has access to the sensitive project documents.

When it comes to data protection and security within your organisation, the solution you choose is going to have multiple touchpoints with business processes and productivity tools. Therefore, when looking at building your security ecosystem, you are going to want a wide range of complementary security and data management solutions to avoid having a serious mess to resolve at some point. And remember, “Sometimes buying the cheapest thing is the most expensive route”.

COVID-19, Cybersecurity, Networks, News

It is Security, not Covid-19, that challenges the commercial deployment of 5G

Adrian Taylor, Regional VP of Sales for A10 Networks, considers the barriers to full 5G rollout across the UK.

Since the beginning of the current pandemic, false and unsubstantiated rumours of 5G and its impact on people’s health have been prevalent in social media. Phone masts have reportedly been damaged or destroyed in several European countries. The problem has been particularly acute in the UK, where dozens of towers were targeted, and engineers abused as they worked, according to media reports.

The scale of the problem prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN agency which is leading the response to the pandemic, to add the 5G conspiracy to its COVID-19 myth busters article, which highlighted that “viruses cannot travel on radio waves/mobile networks. COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks.”

In the midst of this controversy, A10 Networks released a report titled, “Toward a More Secure 5G World,” which highlighted how COVID-19 may result in some short-term delays for operators, but ultimately it demonstrates a global need for higher speed, higher capacity 5G networks and the applications and use cases they enable. The study also found that 81% believe industry progress toward 5G is moving rapidly, mostly in major markets, or is at least in line with expectations.

Whilst the report shows 5G adoption is scaling rapidly, one of the main concerns from the report was surrounding cybersecurity. As 5G networks expand, so does the explosive growth in network traffic, connected devices, and mission-critical IoT use cases. This will impact network security and reliability more than ever before. The report supported this view, with 99% respondents expecting 5G networks will increase security and reliability concerns and 93% have or may change security investments in light of 5G.

To address this challenge, service providers need highly cost-efficient security solutions that offer flexibility, scalability, and protection as they evolve their networks to 5G and integrate cloud and edge capabilities. This means a comprehensive security stack at service provider scale with other functions most needed in mobile networks, including a firewall for all network peering points, deep packet inspection (DPI), carrier-grade network address translation (CGNAT) and IPv6 migration, integrated distributed denial of service (DDoS) threat protection, intelligent traffic steering and analytics.

Below is a blueprint of five of the key solutions required for a successful migration to 5G.

  1. Gi-LAN Security – Gi/SGi Firewall

Significant threats to mobile subscribers and networks come through the internet interface – the Gi/SGi. As traffic volume, devices and cybercriminal expertise increases, so do these threats. An integrated Gi/SGi firewall protects infrastructure and subscribers and delivers the performance that mobile carriers require. The Gi/SGi firewall solution meets both current and future traffic requirements for any service provider. This comprehensive and consolidated approach provides best-in-class performance, efficiency and scale to protect the mobile infrastructure while reducing OPEX and CAPEX costs. Service providers can also use a Gi/SGi firewall solution in a virtual form factor to gain a flexible, easy-to-deploy and on-demand, software-based deployment.

  1. Mobile Roaming Security – GTP Firewall

The GTP protocol used in the roaming and other EPC interfaces has known vulnerabilities that can be readily exploited by malicious actors. Operators must meet the growing security challenges while also providing a seamless subscriber experience – wherever they travel, whatever devices they use, and whatever network is accessed. A GTP firewall provides extensive capabilities including stateful inspection, rate limiting, and filtering of traffic for protocol abnormalities, invalid messages, and other suspicious indicators. It protects against GTP protocol vulnerabilities such as fraudulent use, confidentiality breaches, DDoS attacks by malicious peers and other threats. A GTP firewall can be inserted into multiple interfaces carrying the GTP traffic. In the primary use case, it is inserted on S5-Gn and S8-Gp (roaming) interfaces. The GTP firewall provides scalability and supports uninterrupted operations while protecting subscribers and the mobile core against GTP-based threats such as information leaks, malicious packet attacks, fraud and DDoS attacks through GTP interfaces in the access networks and GRX/IPX interconnect.

  1. Network Slicing – Intelligent Traffic Steering

Network slicing will allow mobile operators to offer security and other capabilities tailored to each vertical application and to capture revenue from these diverse use cases, without losing the economies of scale of common infrastructure. Network slicing isolates each use case or service from one another so that the services can be independently deployed, managed securely, and delivered in a robust way. This solution identifies specific types of traffic by multiple criteria including radio access type, IP address, DNS address, device type, destination, subscriber ID, and other parameters and then redirects these “slices” of traffic to value-added service platforms, such as protection platforms for deeper threat analysis and scrubbing. This re-direction can be based on either static policy or dynamic factors. This solution enables differentiated treatment to the developing 5G use cases, deepens the security posture and boosts revenue opportunity without adding unnecessary inspection load on the entire network.

  1. Network Wide DDoS Detection and Mitigation System

Mobile operators must maintain high network availability at all times. DDoS attacks target mobile networks and their subscribers with high volume message floods that overwhelm infrastructure and can cause service degradation and network outages. Now, targeted attacks can also come from any network peering point and include both volumetric and lower volume, sophisticated attacks against specific network elements or important applications of key enterprise customers. Over-provisioning of network elements to meet rising threat volume or simply blocking traffic during an attack increases costs and can result in service denial for critical traffic. Operators need a more cost-efficient and comprehensive approach that quickly detects and mitigates DDoS and infrastructure attacks across the entire mobile network without denying service to important traffic. Service providers can achieve full DDoS resilience and improve security by using a layered approach for detecting and mitigating attacks of all types and sizes before attackers take down their targets.

  1. Secure, Efficient MEC

Multi-Access Edge Compute (MEC) architecture is often part of the 5G transition plan. In a MEC architecture, network traffic processing functions move from a centralised data centre or mobile core to a number of distribution points that are located closer to the user at the “edge.” A distributed architecture with thousands of nodes increases management difficulty and requires a high level of automation and analytics for deployment, management and security and operational changes. We at A10 Networks offer a Thunder CFW solution that offers high performance, low latency in a software-based or hardware form factor for firewall, CGNAT and IPv6 migration, traffic steering and other functions. Many functions that may have been provided by single point appliances are combined into one appliance, virtual instance, bare metal or container. Cost-efficient, high-performance security is ensured without exceeding space and power limitations. Centralised management and analytics simplify operations for lower TCO.

As we reach the halfway point of 2020, the A10 study indicates that major mobile carriers around the world are on track with their 5G plans, and more expect to begin commercial build-outs in the coming months. That means mobile operators globally need to proactively prepare for the demands of a new virtualised and secure 5G world. That means boosting security at key protection points like the mobile edge, deploying a cloud-native infrastructure, consolidating network functions, leveraging new CI/CD integrations and DevOps automation tools, and moving to an agile and hyperscale service-based architecture as much as possible. All these improvements will pay dividends immediately with existing networks and move carriers closer to their ultimate goals for broader 5G adoption.

Coronavirus, COVID-19, Health and Safety, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

ADI announces global agreement with NowSignage for distribution of PeopleCount solution

ADI Global Distribution, the leading global wholesale distributor of security and AV products, today announces a 22 territory agreement to circulate PeopleCount, a people counting solution developed by NowSignage, the acclaimed UK-based digital signage technology firm.

People Counting solutions are fast becoming the norm across the retail, corporate and education sectors, as a way to help monitor venue capacity and maintain social distancing.

This partnership marks the launch of PeopleCount, a new product that has been brought to market through a collaboration between NowSignage, Philips Professional Display Solutions, and Hikvision.

By onboarding NowSignage, ADI Global Distribution add to their portfolio a digital signage CMS that already has strong alliances with their existing vendor partners, an established customer base in Europe, and a growing reputation across the United States having recently secured multiple key accounts in the country.

Chris Godfrey, Pro AV Product Manager of ADI Global Distribution said: “We are already an authorised global distributor of Hikvision, so this unique integration developed by NowSignage immediately grabbed our attention to fulfill the immediate and growing demand for people counting solutions in a post COVID-19 world. We are very excited by the prospect of this new product bundle, which is available from ADI across our global distribution network.”

“NowSignage has been on our radar for some time now, and although the PeopleCount solution has proven to be the catalyst to start this new vendor relationship, we are very much excited to be providing our customers with their full cloud-based digital signage CMS offering, along with their highly regarded Microsoft Power BI integration”.

The PeopleCount solution (by NowSignage, Philips Professional Display Solutions, and Hikvision) provides clear benefits over the other similar people counting solutions on the market.

Below are 5 reasons why this is becoming the ‘“go-to” choice for many major brands:
1. Single entrance or multi entrance
2. Data-driven reporting and insight
3. Flexible multi-zone layouts
4. Superior security and compliance
5. Choice of designs and templates

Commenting on the partnership, Richard Hutchinson, Channel Sales Director of NowSignage added: “ADI Global Distribution was the natural choice of partner for NowSignage in taking this exciting and visionary solution to market. With a truly global presence and a specialism in delivering security and CCTV integrated technology solutions to an array of verticals, ADI Global Distribution provides a compelling offering in assisting NowSignage to take this new technology solution to the wider channel.”

To find out more about the NowSignage PeopleCount solution or to receive a live demo, please contact NowSignage on sales@nowsignage.com.

HR News, News, Recruitment

UK Student Talent Champions NHS and Public Sector as Preferred Places to Start Their Careers

Today’s UK business students increasingly aspire to work in the public sector, with the NHS, Civil Service and HMRC gaining major ground on the likes of the banks and large financial institutions, according to an annual study of more than 40,500 students from employment branding specialist, Universum.

The UK’s Most Attractive Employers 2020, a survey which has tracked career aspirations and preferences of the future talent pool over the last 30 years, identifies the most coveted employers in the eyes of our future workforce. This year’s survey, which ran from October 2019 – March 2020 and partially accounts for the impact of Covid-19, saw students from 168 British universities share their opinions and views on their career goals and ideal employers.

One of the biggest trends to emerge in the findings is the rise in popularity and attractiveness in public sector employers for business students. Apart from the Financial Conduct Authority, which fell seven places from the previous year, all other public sector employers have held on to or increased their ranking positions this year. Most private sector banks, financial institutions, and pharmaceutical companies have lost ground to public sector companies, falling in the annual rankings of attractiveness to Gen Z & Gen Y students (18-24 years old).

While there have been significant changes across the board, for the eighth year running, Google was chosen as their number one ideal employer, highlighting the popularity the international technology giant has over young talent in business. While British engineering talent ranked Google as their fifth most attractive employer, Rolls-Royce took the top spot among this section of talent, as well as securing this status amongst female engineering students. Excellent news for a British company who are having a tough year due to COVID-19.

The Rise of the Public Sector

Leading the way amongst this group of employers is the NHS. Whilst no surprise that they continue to lead the way in the science & medicine fields, they made an impressive leap from 39th in 2019 to 25th place in 2020 amongst business students. The Civil Service also made remarkable gains, climbing 16 positions from 52nd to 36th place since last year. The HMRC shot into the rankings at 44th place.

Describing the reasons behind this trend, Universum’s UK Director, Steve Ward said “2019 was a volatile and uncertain year politically and socially for the British public, and this has maybe shown signs of affecting the choices made by students.”

“The rise in appreciation for the public sector and healthcare organisations, even pre-COVID-19; is very notable in the 2020 data. Business & Commerce focused students are even invading ‘corporate’ space, by picking out companies like the NHS as increasingly ideal employers. Is this shift unique to this year? Well certainly this wasn’t so startling last year; however, it cannot be ignored this year and the positive sentiment towards the NHS as an employer choice can only be enhanced. According to the research, Gen Z are attracted to more financial security, respect for people and training and support in their employer choices. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that companies like the NHS, the BBC and public sector provide this stability and inclusion.

“Suddenly, the “What Millennials want” narrative needs to be cast aside as we start to move our thinking caps in talent attraction towards the next new group of employees. The perception changes fast these days. The annual data becomes ever more essential for business’s intent and staying ahead of the curve.”

Gender Pay Gap

While UK employers have remained focused on diversity and inclusion initiatives over the last couple of years, Universum’s 2020 survey shows that female students still expect to earn less than their male counterparts after graduating.

Universum, Employer Branding Advisor, Dennis Billgren added “We’re still seeing the salary expectations gap widening within different main fields of study. This disparity makes us question if societal structures are to blame for female students underestimating their time and skillset compared to their male peers. Or if male students are simply unrealistic in their expectations.”

“Female business students upon graduating are expecting to earn on average, £28,297 whereas male business students are expecting around 12% more at £32,162. The gap is smaller among engineering students, where female students are expecting 6% less salary than male students.”

Changes in the number of considered employers

This year’s data shows that British talent in nearly all fields of study are considering working for more employers than ever before. In 2018 business students would consider an average of 30 different employers before finally making their choice; in 2020, this has increased to 35. While engineering students consider 28 employers compared with 25 over the same period. Even IT students now consider five more employers than their counterparts did two years ago.

Explaining this increase Universum Employer Branding Advisor Karolina Edman said “We are seeing this trend in several markets, including my native country of Sweden where we also conduct our annual student survey, and we saw practically identical increases to the UK. This points out how strong the competition is for talent now, and it should underline how important it is now than ever to be distinct and stand out from your competitors when you’re trying to attract, hire and retain critical talent.”

“If we also take into account that 60% of business talent and 63% of engineering talent we surveyed this year said they would consider moving abroad for their first or next job, you can start to appreciate how competitive the current talent market has become compared to just a few years ago.”

About Universum

Universum, part of the StepStone Group, is a global thought leader in Employer Branding. With over 30 years of valuable experience in the field of employer branding, we have established ourselves in 60 markets globally, and our diverse workforce is physically present in 20 countries. We are uniquely positioned through our talent surveys to deliver key insights to recruiters about what future talent is looking for in a company. Our data-led, human and meaningful output has attracted more than 1,700 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, as well as global media partners that publish our annual rankings and trend reports. Find out more at www.universumglobal.com.

Health, HR News, News

New Work Foundation migraine guidance supports worker well-being and helps employers cut billions in lost earnings

A new guide for managers outlines how they can support workers with migraines and help reduce the near £9 billion annual cost of work lost to the condition.

The Work Foundation, supported by Novartis Pharmaceuticals, has produced guidance for managers to enable them to better understand migraines, supported by employers, parliamentarians, health experts and patient representative organisations.

The guide sets out symptoms, triggers and what managers can do to support workers with the condition. It builds in part on the Work Foundation’s 2018 report Society’s Headache: the socioeconomic impact of migraine on the UK, which investigated the socioeconomic impact of migraines.

The 2018 report revealed an estimated 23.3% of the population aged between 15 and 69 have migraines, making the condition more common than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined.

The resulting economic impact is huge, with an estimated 86 million equivalent workdays lost every year due to absenteeism and presenteeism – being present but not able to work at full capacity – and the indirect costs estimated at just under £8.8 billion per annum.

Despite the high cost – both economic and personal – of migraines, diagnosis and treatment is patchy, there is low public awareness and a lack of understanding and support for workers with the condition.

Developed with the help of patient groups, health experts and employers representing more than 1.3 million UK employees, including the BBC, John Lewis and Partnership, National Grid and The Daily Telegraph, the guide addresses employers on all aspects of how to support workers with migraines.

Haseeb Ahmad, Managing Director UK, Ireland and Nordics, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and Country President UK, said: “We are delighted to support the launch of this new guide for employers. Migraine can have a devastating impact on quality of life and ability to work; we believe that this tool is therefore an important step towards helping those affected receive the best support and care in the workplace.”

“Many people with migraine are not supported effectively to manage their condition and maximise their potential in the workplace,” said Work Foundation Policy Advisor Astrid Allen. “In most cases, small support measures can be implemented to enable people with migraines to manage their condition and contribute more, even in the current situation with Covid-19, where many workers find their patterns disrupted.

“We want to improve the understanding and support for migraine in the workplace and improve the experience of people with the condition. Our guidance provides information on how to create a migraine-friendly workplace and identifies a range of measures that can be implemented to help people with migraines, many of which are applicable if you are working from home.

“The key message is that support needs to be tailored to meet the needs of individuals. Symptoms vary from individual to individual, and sometimes from attack to attack, so their needs can be very different and one size does not fit all.

“Workers need to be encouraged to take a shared responsibility for managing their health conditions, including migraine. That means supporting them to live a lifestyle that promotes health and well-being, enabling them to take preventative action, such as regular exercise – the benefits of which have been highlighted more than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic, and implementing good health management over time, including a regular review of support plans.”

The Work Foundation guidance for managers includes a ‘Migraine Action Plan’ designed for workers to outline their symptoms, such as disturbed vision, sensitivity to light, sound and smells, and feeling nauseous, and triggers, including irregular meal times, being dehydrated, artificial light and glare, and loud noise.

The action plan also allows workers identify support measures that could be implemented in the workplace or when working from home, such as access to a quiet room, flexible working hours and locations and time off for medical appointments. The plan can provide a useful template for discussions, identifying and documenting actions that can make a difference.

“The principles that underpin a migraine-friendly workplace are also key for a good workplace for everyone; enabling individuals to actively manage their health and well-being boosts engagement and productivity among the workforce as a whole,”  said National Grid’s Stuart Clack, one of the employer representatives who help develop the guide.

“Having been a workplace well-being champion for many years I thought I had covered most illnesses that can affect the workplace. Not suffering from migraine myself, I had little or no knowledge of the condition and was shocked to find out the impact on businesses and colleagues alike.

“This tool kit will help me understand the issue in more depth, enabling us to build migraine into our well-being strategy and build better understanding and resilience to migraine.”

The Work Foundation’s Migraine at work: Guidance for Managers is available for download here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/publications/reports/

HR News, News, Productivity

How can music improve productivity and focus?

Greg Aiello, head of commercial at music licencing company, PPL PRS Ltd, explains why playing the right music while you work can help boost productivity

Going about your day-to-day life, you’re more than likely to stick on your favourite playlist in the background. Whether you’re in the car, at the gym or sitting at your desk, your favourite artist is no doubt keeping you company through your speakers. But have you ever stopped to consider how the music you listen to is affecting your brain?

The idea that music can aid productivity in the workplace is not as new as you might think. Way back in 1940, the BBC launched a twice-daily weekday radio programme, ‘Music While You Work’, designed to increase factory workers’ productivity. The show proved so popular that for a while there was even a third edition, broadcast later in the evening and specifically targeted at night shift workers. In total the scheme ran for an incredible 27 years, finally being retired in 1967.

What genre aids productivity the most?
There is no clear answer as to what genre of music best helps you to maintain focus: what you listen to should really be governed by what it is that you’re doing.

Carrying out clear, repetitive tasks can often be mundane, but listening to music can make these kinds of tasks more enjoyable. Listening to your favourite songs causes your brain to release dopamine, which improves your mood and reduces stress and anxiety. But how does your mood affect your concentration?

Well, it’s common knowledge that conditions like anxiety and depression can trigger behaviours like procrastination that hinder your ability to clear your workload. Being in a good mood means that you’re more likely to be able to stay on track and get everything done.

You would think that listening to music that pumps you up would be great when you’re immersed in a creative task, but that’s not always the case. Instead, listening to classical music whilst you’re carrying out immersive work can get your creative juices flowing, with no lyrics to tear you away from the depths of concentration.

Familiarity is best for focus
When you’re looking to get deep into your work for a long time, listening to familiar songs can help you stay focused for longer. That’s because certain regions in the brain that improve concentration are more active when we listen to music that we know, rather than something that’s unfamiliar. So, listening to songs you’ve heard over and over is a good idea when you really want to get in the zone.

Unfamiliar songs can also be a distraction for some people: when your brain is hearing something new, it’ll make the most effort to listen. Sticking to your favourite radio station, albums or playlists could be the best way to use music to help you focus on an unfamiliar, detailed task.

Use music to create a positive working environment
There’s no denying that an upbeat playlist can make even the most mundane task more enjoyable, so don’t underestimate the power of having music playing in the workplace when it comes to boosting staff morale. If you’re in a private workspace like an office, playing music that everyone can enjoy can really increase the energy in the room and be a driving force throughout the day.

If you work in a public space like retail or hospitality, ambient music can have a huge impact on how both your team and your customers feel and behave. Pablo Ettinger, co-founder of Caffè Nero, says that he sees the value of this every day: “I think people recognise that our music is not background music, it’s a lot more than that… later in the evening we play much more upbeat music when staff are clearing because it makes them feel good. In the morning before the customers get there we try and play something that’s more upbeat as well when staff are getting going in the morning.”

Listening to music clearly has an overall positive effect on focus and productivity, which is why so many of us rely on it to get through the working day. So, next time you’re feeling less than motivated at work, take a minute to pay attention to the sounds around you – if music doesn’t feature, it could be the missing link.

Absence Management, Business Advice, HR News, News

Half of businesses not ready for safe return to work

Half of companies are not ready for a safe return to work, as they have no way of monitoring the impact of Covid-19 on employees, according to e-days, the absence intelligence platform.

The findings came from an exclusive survey of 100 senior HR executives from well-known global brands by e-days.

The news comes as non-essential retailers in the UK prepare to re-open their doors on 15th June. Stores and shops are expected to put in place stringent physical measures to stop staff or customers being exposed to infection, but HR teams don’t have similar measures in place. In its survey, e-days found that 50% of companies had no way of assessing the impact of Covid-19 on their staff. It also found that many are still relying on paper spreadsheets to log sickness, furlough, and holiday.

In response, e-days has made its sickness management software more widely available to companies, which will help reduce the devastating impact faced by workforces as a result of Covid-19.

The technology, which can integrate with larger company’s existing HR systems if required, allows teams to track and manage, amongst other factors, employee sickness, self-isolation, and furlough. Anyone who displays symptoms can be quickly sent the support they need and told to self-isolate, and simultaneously their team can be alerted to the fact they may have been exposed to the virus. This aims to keep employees as safe as possible and prevent the spread of Covid-19 in offices and workplaces.
e-days has also entered into a partnership with health insurer BHSF to offer an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP); a confidential service that supports employees with any issues that could be affecting their work or personal life. The EAP available via e-days will offer 24/7 telephone counselling and manager support to staff and management alike. Access to an online portal for further health advice will also be available.

Adam Hale, Board Advisor to E-days and Chairman of the ScaleUp Institute, commented: “Early intervention is the only way to avoid long-term damage to your business. Without precise tracking and reporting, your organisation will be unable to spot increased absence and give employees the support they need. I’d urge businesses of all sizes to adopt thorough and reliable sickness management software before they look to bring employees back to a place of work.”

Steve Arnold, e-days’ CEO commented: “Everybody is at risk of contracting and spreading Covid-19; even more so in confined working environments. E-days gives you the case management tools to be proactive and prevent spikes in unplanned sickness absence; alerting managers to workplace Covid-19 cases and helping your team stay safe and productive.”

Data, Law, News, Technology

Will The International Datacentre Sector Survive The 14 Day Quarantine?

Stephen Whatling, Chairman at BCS, considers the impact a 14 day quarantine period could have on the datacentre sector

The latest proposals by many countries, including the UK, to implement a 14-day quarantine period for people arriving from overseas has divided the UK between those that think it should have been sooner and others that see their hopes of a summer holiday disappear. There is however no doubt that it will have a major impact on the data centre sector which relies heavily on highly mobile staff with specialist expertise. And this is at a time when demand for capacity has never been higher and resilience is vital.

There is some good news as it seems that data centre operatives will be allowed to travel to and from the UK without having to quarantine on their return as the UK government advice gives exemption to ‘persons involved in essential maintenance and repair of data infrastructure required to reduce and resolve outages, or in the provision of goods and services to support these activities’. However different countries have different quarantine rules and there is no standardisation, even within Europe.

And this is only part of the issue. The availability of flights will probably remain an issue as airlines decide upon their economic models but are inevitably going to be more expensive as they won’t be at capacity. This may well prevent essential cross-border journeys that data centre specialists regularly make to provide much needed service and maintenance.
All of this is of course exacerbated by the well documented skills shortage which means that our sector often relies upon being able to move a small group of uniquely skilled experts between datacentres and construction sites in different countries. This skills shortage will get worse before it gets better. Many graduate vacancies and apprenticeship schemes, both vital in the ongoing provision of skilled data centre staff, have been put on hold until the future is clear. This delay in recruitment, training and provision of engineers will further slow the development of new capacity.

There are other practical considerations too. In the early days of the Pandemic we had people travelling to sites in Europe and even then, finding hotel accommodation was difficult despite the key worker status our team have purely because most hotels were closed. Those that were open didn’t have any restaurant facilities and even getting there was difficult as taxis were hard to find. These challenges are likely to continue certainly in some countries for many months.

There was a strong need for additional capacity even prior to the Coronavirus pandemic and key players, like Microsoft, were already looking to add capacity before the pandemic. During the lockdown many projects that are in design and preconstruction have continued and at BCS it has been business as usual for this part of our operation as well as our consultancy activity.

For example, we have just completed a fascinating piece of work for a company looking to invest in a significant facility in Asia. Obviously, we had to do the work remotely but were able to provide clear guidance and the project has been given the green light. However, any project management would always be done on site and the quarantine restrictions will likely affect the ability for contractors to complete these projects on time and within budget. This in turn could cause problems around contractual obligations (see factsheet from Conexus Law at www.conexuslaw.com).

In conclusion, in recent years the data centre industry has proven itself to be agile, forward thinking, adaptable and perhaps most of all resilient. So whilst the Covid -19 pandemic is by far the biggest challenge we have faced so far I am confident that we are up to the job.

Construction, Law, News

Specialist Construction & Engineering Lawyer joins Conexus Law Team

Conexus Law, the specialist advisory firm that provides legal and commercial advice to clients who work in sectors where the built environment, technology, engineering and people converge has added a specialist construction and engineering lawyer to its fast-growing team.

Earle Brady has over 17 years’ experience of advising clients across many sectors including Technology, Telecoms, Energy, Real Estate, Sports and Leisure, Rail and Education on commercial matters, contract procurement, on engineering and construction works; as well as carrying out due diligence on corporate and property transactions and working as part of larger teams on multi-disciplinary projects.

Earle also provides training to in-house clients on contract procurement, risk management and dispute management. His clients include energy contractors, English football clubs, international logistics companies, large outsourcing companies, manufacturers, developers, subcontractors, hotel operators, Banks in their capacity both as lenders and for their own estates and regional transport executives. He previously held roles at Napthens, Addleshaws and DLA Piper.

Ed Cooke, Founder at Conexus Law, said: “I have worked closely with Earle on a number of projects in the past, including the Olympics London 2012, and have been impressed by the breadth of his knowledge and understanding of the sector. We are growing quickly since our launch earlier this year and are delighted to have him on board.”

Earle Brady said: “Conexus Law is operating in a fascinating space with a client base that is facing a host of different challenges, particularly as we transition out of lockdown. I am passionate about using my knowledge and experience to help these organisations deliver their current and forthcoming projects.”

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Cambridgeshire Lead Gen Company Discovers Huge Growth Sectors Despite Nationwide Lockdown

Cambridgeshire-based lead generation company Meet Hugo has produced an in-depth infographic highlighting business growth figures during the lockdown period.

They’ve highlighted the value and availability of government tenders, and how that breaks down based on regions throughout the UK.

To do this the team sourced a variety of tender opportunities, which amounted to £4.7bn across the country, and the IT, finance and property industries performed highly in this regard, reaching a combined £682m.

The company also identified significant growth across various sectors from within their system during the lockdown, and how that looks across ten private sector industries. The fantastic news is that between the start of the lockdown to the middle of April, Meet Hugo uploaded over £62m worth of private sector leads into their platform from these industries.

Alongside this, the company is also delighted to announce the start of their Bounce Back competition, which gives SME’s the chance to win an annual subscription to their specialised lead platform, giving them the opportunity to access some of the work available out there at the moment.

“The idea behind this was to highlight that although the economy is struggling during the outbreak, there are positives for businesses looking to grow during this challenging period.” Said Meet Hugo’s founder, Ben Harper.

Ben continued, “the disruption and challenges posed by this unusual situation have placed a burden on every single one of us, so it was important to us that we were able to share some optimistic news and further our commitment to helping businesses grow”.

Lockdown in the UK was announced back in March, and there has rightly been many queries and anxieties as to the impact these past weeks of strict lockdown may have had on UK markets.

Every organisation, from new businesses to established international firms, are required to be far more adaptable as the situation changes, to ensure their business is able to survive in a post-pandemic world.

If you’d like to learn more about the Bounce Back competition, visit the blog: https://meethugo.com/bounce-back-competition-free-annual-subscription/