Monthly Archives: October 2020

News, Tech

Accenture and ServiceNow Launch Dedicated Business Group to Help Organisations Transform Work

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) have formed a new business group to help private and public sector clients accelerate their digital transformation and better address today’s dynamic operational challenges. The Accenture ServiceNow Business Group represents a significant multi-million dollar investment from both companies over the next five years.

In the COVID-19 era, organisations are under more pressure than ever to innovate faster, reduce costs, enhance productivity, and meet their customers’ needs. The Accenture ServiceNow Business Group will help organisations rapidly evolve organisational processes and unlock the full value of technology investments by adopting digital workflows that deliver modern, personalised customer and employee experiences. This includes empowering employees and customers with self-service and remote work programs that offer increased flexibility, mobility, and choice. By establishing a more modern workplace with platform-driven, technology-enabled workflows, organisations are better positioned to balance business needs, satisfy customer demands, drive employee engagement, deliver productivity expectations, and realise workplace cost optimisation.

“By further strengthening our strategic alliance with ServiceNow, we will enable our clients to more quickly embrace change,” said Julie Sweet, chief executive officer, Accenture. “With a move to the cloud, they can reimagine their operations, reskill their employees, and become more sustainable. Working together with ServiceNow to automate complex processes and create better experiences across industries, we will help organisations deliver greater 360-degree value that benefits all — their customers, people, shareholders, partners, and communities.”

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott said: “Leaders in every organisation know that their 20th century technologies are too slow, too siloed, too stuck in the status quo to meet the dynamic digital demands of employees and customers today. Speed, agility, and resilience are what’s needed now. Our ServiceNow and Accenture partnership brings together world-class teams, expertise, and our modern workflow platform to accelerate every organisation’s digital transformation. The Accenture ServiceNow Business Group will help every organisation become a 21st century digital business.”

The Accenture ServiceNow Business Group will deliver industry- and domain-specific solutions and services to customers. Together, Accenture and ServiceNow will initially help accelerate digital transformation programs for customers in telecommunications, financial services, government, manufacturing, healthcare, and life sciences. Workflow innovation will focus on employee engagement, customer service and operations, artificial intelligence for IT operations, and security and risk. Additional industry solutions will be developed in the future.

Supported by approximately 8,500 Accenture people skilled in ServiceNow, the new group brings together dedicated professionals from both organisations with expertise in transformational workflow and platform development, marketing, sales, and business development across numerous priority industries. The business group will develop advanced industry and domain-focused solutions designed to deliver tangible, positive outcomes for clients at scale.

For example, Boehringer Ingelheim, a leading, research-driven pharmaceutical company with more than 51,000 employees and an Accenture and ServiceNow customer, uses ServiceNow’s technology and Accenture services to create a seamless, consumer-grade experience for global employees and customers.

“Our work with Accenture and ServiceNow has strategically fueled our innovation power. By optimising our global employee experience, we’ve made our work processes across business functions faster and more efficient, ultimately driving better patient outcomes,” said Andreas Henrich, corporate vice president of IT Enterprise Data Services at Boehringer Ingelheim. “We’ve reduced complexity across our disparate bespoke systems and, in doing so, have transformed our business for growth.”

Accenture and ServiceNow also collaborate to serve government entities. Earlier this year, Accenture Federal Services (AFS) announced a $96 million task order to help the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) modernise its enterprise service management and IT capabilities, using ServiceNow to power the digital transformations end-to-end. Using the Now Platform, AFS will work with the VA to automate its manual workflows and introduce applied intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities, allowing the VA workforce to focus on more complex tasks that serve veterans.

“Today, Veterans Affairs is truly running IT like a business,” said Greg Rankin, Service Management Office Director, Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Information & Technology. “We are utilising ServiceNow’s powerful discovery engine and Accenture’s expertise to create top-down business service maps that eliminate the guessing game as to which configuration items underpin which business service. With a mission as critical as providing service to veterans, it’s imperative that we have real-time visibility into the health, availability, and costs of the services we provide – we have that now.”

Accenture’s use of ServiceNow is a strategic enabler of customer-facing innovation at scale and, as a ServiceNow customer, the company uses ServiceNow workflows for employee engagement, invoice processing, asset management, artificial intelligence for IT operations, and its universal service desk. Accenture recently made the Now Mobile app available to its more than 500,000 people.

As a ServiceNow Global Elite Partner, Accenture is one of ServiceNow’s largest global go-to-market partners and winner of its Global Partner of the Year award in 2020. For more information on the Accenture ServiceNow Business Group, visit:
• https://www.accenture.com/us-en/services/alliances/servicenow?src=SOMS
• https://www.servicenow.com/partners/accenture.html

Food & Drink, News

The Cocktail Service launches Virtual Cocktail Masterclasses

The Cocktail Service, the UK’s leading drinks agency and events service has just launched its virtual cocktail making masterclasses for those keen to learn and experience how to make signature cocktails in the comfort of their own home.

The Cocktail Service, which regularly works with some of the world’s biggest brands including Tik Tok, Google, Facebook and Red Bull, has launched this brand new offering aimed at groups of people looking to learn more about the art of cocktail making in a fun and informative environment.

An expert mixologist from The Cocktail Service will teach you all of the elements needed to craft a professional cocktail at home; from the kit needed (or household items that can replace the necessary bar kit), through to the ingredients required, through to the technique – the full process behind making a great home cocktail is revealed. The experts will talk you through each cocktail, step by step; from getting the ingredients ready to adding the final garnish.

Tom Bronock, Director at The Cocktail Service, said; “We have been running live ‘in person’ cocktail masterclasses for years, and as the world moved virtual, we needed to adapt our approach to suit the current climate. Large groups of people are no longer able to just meet up and go for drinks, something that we have taken for granted up until now, so this option provides groups with the opportunity to connect and regain a sense of ‘normality’.”

The masterclasses come in three unique packages which have been created to suit all budgets starting with the bronze package through to the gold package. The masterclasses run for approximately one hour – with an additional 15-30 minutes for the gold package option – and are conducted over Zoom video conferencing.
The Cocktail Service has also just released its festive menu, aimed at those who would like to learn how to make festive cocktails and non-alcoholic cocktail recipes over the Christmas party season.

Tom added; “There are plenty of other options available online, but we, along with past clients, think we have the most interactive service out there. We work with incredible products and the best cocktail bartenders in the industry. Live events are currently on hold but you can still learn a new skill and have a great time online with our virtual cocktail masterclasses. We have placed a large emphasis in creating an incredibly premium experience that includes award-winning spirits and ingredients, beautiful bar kits and great packaging. We feel this is the leading virtual experience of its type.”

For more information on how to book a virtual cocktail making masterclass with The Cocktail Service please contact the team on +44 1865 251431 or email info@thecocktailservice.co.uk. To watch a live virtual masterclass in action, there is a video on what to expect here: https://www.thecocktailservice.co.uk/virtual-cocktail-masterclass/

Health, News, Work from Home

Working from home is causing posture pandemic! How to alleviate back, neck and shoulder pain in 10 simple steps

Feel Good Contacts has collaborated with Personal Trainer, Badrul Islam to offer advice on how to alleviate neck, shoulder and back pain (aka posture pandemic) caused by working from home.

Sitting at our desk, dining table, bed or sofa (if that’s where you’re working from) for eight hours a day is the most passive thing you can do and can lead to back pain – one of the most common complaints made by office workers. Besides this problem, research shows that long periods of sitting can have a detrimental impact on our health and wellbeing and cut years off our lives. The World Health Organisation listed inactivity as the fourth biggest risk factor in global adult mortality.

But luckily there are some exercises and other initiatives you can take to alleviate neck, shoulder and back pain when working from home during the lockdown:

The problem with sofas
Experts will say that whatever you do, don’t work on your sofa, but not everyone has the luxury of having a home office with a desk and ergonomic chair. Although it will seem like the most comfortable place to work, the sofa is actually the worst place to work as it encourages you to slump and puts a huge amount of strain on your shoulder and neck area which you inevitably crane.

Dynamic exercises
If you have to work on a sofa then remember to get up and walk around your home. Whilst walking, you could try some dynamic shoulder stretches. Firstly, lift your shoulder and roll it back and squeeze the shoulder blades together and then allow the shoulders to depress, roll forward and then repeat this exercise. You should also do this movement in reverse. Next, take a seat and try some dynamic neck exercises to mobilise the area. You’ll need to move your head up and down, look to the left and right and also tilt to the left and right. Do not hold the positions for any length of time because the neck is a particularly sensitive area.

Change your position
If you are working on the sofa, if possible, try to change your position by sitting on the floor and putting your laptop on the sofa or coffee table.
To alleviate back pain caused by sitting, extend your spine in a superman position. This involves positioning yourself on all fours on the floor in a tabletop position. Then stretch your right arm in front of you and raise and stretch your left leg. Whilst extended stay as straight as possible and keep hips square to the floor. Alternate with the opposite hands and legs. Hold the position for 10 secs and extend the time as you get more confident with the exercise.

Stand up
During the day, if it’s possible, stand up and do your work. Standing uses more muscles and burns more calories than sitting and it’s good for your back and posture. If you can’t stand and work, then stand up every 30 minutes to stretch your chest and extend your spine to reverse the hunched position of sitting.
Use a towel or broomstick to use for stretching. Holding the towel or broomstick with straight arms at either end, rotate back and forth over your head slowly. Doing this can help to open up your chest muscles and mobilise your back muscles. Stretching is vital for maintaining good posture, especially when working at a desk, table, sofa, bed for several hours a day. It will also help to reduce back and neck pain significantly.

Make your own standing desk
We know that standing desks can decrease chronic back pain caused by prolonged sitting, so why not create your own one at home. Try standing up and working at the kitchen counter or position an ironing board at standing level. Position it next to a wall to create stability.

Turn daily tasks into exercises
Turn everyday chores into exercises. If you’re having a video conference, then suggest you all do it standing up. As well as getting you out of your chair, research shows that these types of meetings are a good way of increasing efficiency, making sure that the meeting doesn’t stretch to an hour when it can be done in half the time.

Set an alarm
Try and break up multiple chunks of sitting time (set an alarm if you feel you need it) with some movement by taking trips to the kitchen. The general rule is to take a walk at least every half an hour to get a glass of water. People get dehydrated when they sit, plus at this time of year, you’ll need the extra h20.

Deadtime
When you’re stuck with some dead time, for example, whilst waiting for the kettle to boil don’t be embarrassed to do some light exercises like calf raises, squats or lunges.

Exercise
Try to motivate yourself to get out of the house during your longer lunch break and go for a walk or light run, to mobilise and activate your muscles. If this really isn’t possible then try some simple but effective deskercise routines. Don’t forget to keep a glass of water handy.

Stick to your work hours
We are well aware of how bad screen time can be for your health. So, unless you have a particular deadline that you need to hit, you should stick to your structured work hours as much as possible. It’s important to be able to relax after your workday and not keep thinking about work. This is easier to do if you shut the laptop and ignore your emails from the moment your workday ends. Try to organise fun and relaxing things for yourself to do, slip on an eye mask and have a long warm bath, listen to music, have a solo disco or read a book.

News, Recruitment

Housing recruitment firm pivots to ensure sustainable growth

Specialist recruitment consultancy, Andersen James, is investing a significant sum to reshape its business model and offer a new strategic service to clients to ensure sustainable growth following the COVID-19 crisis.

The North West-based firm, which also operates nationally and places talent in New York, has pivoted its business model as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Andersen James, who has just celebrated its 5th birthday in October, has introduced a new innovative strategic partnerships service to support clients in driving better attraction, recruitment and retention of talent.

The new strategic partnerships service ensures Andersen James can add even more value to its clients through amplifying its partners’ brands, incorporating innovative technology and methodology to help with more informative hiring decisions, and implementing processes to improve the retention of talent, all whilst reducing overall costs for clients.

Having invested heavily in infrastructure and technology to bring the new service to fruition, Andersen James also plans to expand its operations across the UK and the USA markets, grow its presence in private and public sector housing, and has also enlisted the support of marketing communications agency, Jam.

The firm is also set to increase its headcount by 170%, with recent senior appointments including operations director, Rick Ollerton, non-exec chairman, Alex Arnot, and outsourced finance director, Dan Cooper of Ryecroft Glenton, through its Outsourced | FD proposition. It will also work with leading recruitment trainer, Barum Jeffries of reclearn, to develop and upskill its sales and leadership team.

Demonstrating strength and resilience through the coronavirus pandemic, Andersen James secured two major client wins with regeneration firm, Urban Splash, and housing association, Riverside.

The Urban Splash long term exclusive partnership will involve Andersen James supporting to deliver talent and overhauling the candidate journey, whilst its consultancy work with Riverside has included implementing a dedicated BAME talent strategy and planning a wider talent acquisition strategy for the group, with the hopes of setting the standards and ensuring best practice for recruitment in the housing industry as a whole.

James Leighton, Managing Director of Andersen James, said: “We made the decision to reshape our business model and invest heavily in our strategic partnerships to not only secure sustainable growth, but also set us up for future growth. While we’re still supporting our customers with traditional recruitment strategies, through our new direction, we can continue to provide leading recruitment processes and consultancy as well as demonstrating strategic value to support our clients with long-term mutually beneficial partnerships.”

Andersen James is a specialist recruitment partner for the housing sector and offers strategic partnerships in the attracting, recruiting and retention of talent.

Healthcare News, News

Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine continues to nurture Expertise In Fertility Treatment

The fertility clinic in the South West of England with the highest rate of success for IVF is consolidating its position as a regional centre of excellence for Wales and the South West by investing in the development of the next generation of fertility experts.

Five practitioners at the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM) are currently being supported to pursue two different higher qualifications, with two embarking on the Higher Scientific Training Programme (HSST) – which will eventually qualify them for consultant level/leadership roles – and three participating in the Scientific Training Programme (STP) – the qualifying programme for careers as clinical embryologists.

Mr Paul Wilson, BCRM’s scientific director, said: “Our entire reason for existence is to help women with fertility issues achieve their dream of having a baby. We’ve already been instrumental in thousands of births and we aim to help with many more, which means continuing investment in our staff’s expertise is essential.”
The clinic www.FertilityBristol.com is staffed by world-recognised experts in fertility, many of whom are involved in innovative research, including Jen Nisbett, one of the candidates who has just started on the HSST programme.

Jen won a top prize at Fertility 2020 – the sector’s annual national conference – with her research into how implanting frozen embryos in patients is more likely to result in a viable pregnancy in certain circumstances than using fresh embryos.

Jen and colleague Bonnie Dickinson have both committed to a demanding five-year workplace-based programme that will equip them to become consultants.
The programme includes a Healthcare Leadership and Management Postgraduate diploma from the University of Manchester, professional exams at the Royal College of Pathologists and large research projects for a Doctorate in Clinical Science.

Jen said: “Nationwide only around 60 scientists have enrolled on the HSST this year, of whom we believe just three are doing the Reproductive Science programme – and two of them are us.
“Both the HSST and the STP represent a huge amount of work for the trainees and for the department, but the clinic has world class facilities, technology and expertise so it’s best place to train.”
Jen and Bonnie are the first two candidates from BCRM to enrol on the HSST programme, but the clinic has already successfully trained a large number of STPs since the programme was launched in 2009.

Competition for entry to both programmes is fierce, with the most recently published statistics by the National School of Healthcare Science quoting 20 applications for every STP post, and HSST candidates facing the dual challenge of securing funding and undergoing a vigorous recruitment process for a relatively small number of highly-coveted places.

Currently IVF technologists Megan Atkinson and Hannah Clark are mid-way through the STP and Sophia Seabrook starts the programme this month.

The STP requires trainees to undertake rotations through various linked departments, including genetics, in order to learn how the Clinical Science disciplines work together. They then have to submit evidence to ensure they meet a huge number of competencies, and also study for a Masters degree.

Embryologist Victoria Bithrey, who has worked at BCRM since 2012 and was supported by the clinic to take the STP, raised the stakes for the current STP students when she graduated this summer with a Distinction for the MSc degree.

Paul Wilson concluded: “These programmes demand real commitment – both on the part of the trainees and those of us who are involved in delivering their training.
“But these dedicated students help perpetuate BCRM’s position as a centre of excellence, all playing their part in ensuring we continue to deliver the very best fertility treatment for NHS and private patients equally. So everybody benefits: trainees, the clinic, and patients alike.”

News

Private sector leads accelerating migration of CCTV systems onto cloud platforms

Over two thirds (71 per cent) of medium and large-sized firms in the private sector and 43 per cent of public sector organisations, all running CCTV systems, are planning to migrate them into the cloud within the next 12 months.

CCTV rapidly moving into the cloud
An average of 58 per cent of all public and private sector businesses captured in this England-wide survey, are planning to migrate their existing CCTV systems into the cloud over the next 12 months.

The most significant early adopter sector for ‘Cloud CCTV’ is construction where 89 per cent of medium-sized firms (with 50 to 249 employees) and large firms with 250 or more staff are migrating their video security systems into the cloud over the next 12 months.

The second most enthusiastic Cloud CCTV adopter is the wholesale distribution and retail sectors where 80 per cent are planning CCTV system migration into the cloud.

The third fastest Cloud CCTV adopters are manufacturers where 78 per cent of respondents to NW Security’s business survey were migrating or planning CCTV system migration into the cloud over the next 12 months.

CCTV has gone through network video upgrade ‘tipping point’

Sixty one per cent of England-based medium and large businesses had network video surveillance systems rather than traditional analogue-based CCTV systems, the new study found.

Frank Crouwel, Managing Director of NW Security, explained:

“It’s amazing to confirm what we’ve suspected for some time – that network video surveillance adoption has finally gone through the tipping point versus traditional CCTV. It took over 20 years from the invention of the world’s first network camera (by Axis in 1996) to reach this important market milestone in the UK.

“Why so long? The reason is that the UK was an enthusiastic early adopter of traditional CCTV, which meant that it was relatively late to IP video. However, now that significantly more systems are networked, the UK has seemingly become a hot spot for migration of video surveillance data storage and management into the cloud.

“And the technology is ready: mature Video Surveillance as a Service offerings and Cloud CCTV services are reaching the UK market just as Cloud CCTV demand is peaking.”

Accelerated by COVID-19

Cloud CCTV fits into wider cloud migration plans which have been accelerated in response to COVID-19. Forty two per cent of all medium and large-sized businesses admitted that their ‘cloud migration plans are being accelerated in 2020/21 because of COVID-19’. A further 34 per cent increased budgets to put more IT services and applications into the cloud following the outbreak of the pandemic.

Three quarters (76 per cent) of firms which completed the survey carried out during September 2020 across England delivered by market research firm Opinium, confirmed that they had accelerated cloud migration plans as a result of the pandemic.

Frank Crouwel of NW Security, added:

“Our study verifies what we’ve been noticing since hard lockdown was mandated back in late March. In short, there’s a greater appetite to move more applications into the cloud and CCTV is finally part of that acceleration.”

Google Cloud winning IaaS race for ‘Cloud CCTV migrators’

Google Cloud is enjoying the highest penetration of Cloud CCTV migrators: 61 per cent of firms, planning to migrate CCTV into the cloud, named Google as their preferred Infrastructure as a Service platform. IBM Cloud featured with 46 per cent of firms captured in this study. Amazon Web Services was in use (or planned use) by 40 per cent of respondents.
Cyber security budgets increasing

In terms of other irreversible security technology trends which medium and large-sized businesses predicted; there were three ‘stand out’ sectors which foresaw a tighter focus on cyber security across all networked systems as an irreversible IT change precipitated by COVID-19: 50 per cent of healthcare operations, 46 per cent of financial services firms and 43 per cent of schools and colleges flagged the rise of cyber security concerns and corresponding budgets to harden systems.

OPEX rather than CAPEX IT ‘servitization’ trend driving Cloud adoption

Cloud migration tends to be favoured by firms facing pressures to reduce Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) in favour of purchasing and running IT applications via subscription services out of ongoing Operational Expenditure or OPEX.

One in every six (16 per cent) private sector firms in this study saw ‘increased scrutiny of costs and a move from CAPEX to OPEX spending’ as a trend that was being irreversibly accelerated by COVID-19.

The professional services sector was the most enthusiastic adopters of this way of thinking – a third (33 per cent) of them saw OPEX rather than CAPEX as an irreversible governor of IT decision making following the pandemic.

3 key drivers for Cloud CCTV

Frank Crouwel, Managing Director of NW Security, summarised:

“What we are seeing here is three key drivers for accelerating Cloud CCTV migration coming together right now. Number one is COVID-19 which is stimulating an acceleration of all IT applications into the cloud, creating a ‘Remote Everything’ phenomenon as we like to call it.

“Number two is the fact that the UK has finally gone through its ‘CCTV to Network Video’ tipping point, so that well over half of all UK-installed CCTV systems are now on an IP network.

“And finally, number three is the wider drive to ‘servitize’ to accommodate IT decision-makers and C-suite executives who want to pay for all network-based services based on their usage levels like a utility.

“Servitization fuels cloud migration as this is the preferred way of delivering IT services at predictable prices via affordable monthly subscriptions, while still delivering highly reliable services with near 100 per cent uptime.”

To learn more visit: https://www.nwsystemsgroup.com/blog/2020/10/eye-in-the-sky-managing-migration-of-cctv-into-the-cloud

 

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

UK Digital agency Kagool acquires Digital Agency Delete

Digital agency Kagool, one of the UK’s only independent Sitecore Platinum Partners, today announces its acquisition of Delete, a multi-award-winning digital experience agency, as part of Kagool’s growth strategy to become the leader in marketing technology and digital experience.

Kagool is combining its strong engineering and technical heritage with Delete’s strategy, creative and UX expertise, in a deal that will strengthen both agencies’ offers while laying the foundations for scale and focused specialisms. The acquisition will grow Kagool’s experience design and performance marketing capabilities whilst also adding consultancy as a key service to underpin clients’ digital strategies and platform solutions.

The deal gives the joint group a headcount of over 160 people working across multiple offices, including London, Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff. CEO Dan Berry will lead the overall group, while Tom Dougherty and Andy Ferries will lead the Delete and Kagool teams respectively as MD. Both brands will operate together seamlessly to provide their clients the very best in strategy, design and experience technology.

This acquisition is the first of many planned by Kagool, which has a dynamic growth strategy backed by a recent £6 million investment by BGF. Its growth is intended to give clients scale and specialisms across a range of services and digital experience platforms, whilst continuing to put first the transparency and customer intimacy often associated with smaller, more traditional independent agencies.

Kagool offers digital design and build specialism in the Sitecore DXP platform, as well as extensive services across CX, digital strategy, performance marketing and CRO. Their clients include some of the UK’s biggest brands, such as Barratt Developments, Parkdean Resorts and Welsh Water. Delete helps clients with digital transformation, and works with the likes of The Open, Guinness Pro14 Rugby, Biffa and Southampton Football Club. They recently won the 2020 Sitecore Experience Award for the Most Sophisticated Implementation in EMEA for their work with McCarthy & Stone, ‘Agency of the Year’ Sports Technology Awards 2020, and ‘Best Agency’ and ‘Best Specialist eCommerce’ at this year’s eCommerce Awards for their work with leading sports and utility brands.

Dan Berry, CEO of Kagool, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to have completed the acquisition of Delete and to welcome them to the team. The coming together of these two great companies will give our clients and prospects the very best in innovation, experience design and technical capability second to none. I’m also passionate about maintaining our customer focus and by acquiring Delete we are providing a market-leading offer for our clients’ ever-evolving CX and DXP needs. It also gives us the best possible platform, people and partnerships as the foundation of our exciting growth plans.”

Mark Walton, Founder of Delete, said: “Delete has provided for me what I can only describe as an amazing and highly rewarding journey. I will always be grateful to the loyal individuals and their incredible talent that have made this great adventure possible. There comes a time as a leader where you must decide on what is right for the business commercially and what the future should look like for the people that define why the business exists. It is not an easy responsibility to have. I have known Dan professionally for many years; in February we began discussions by chance and what became clear very quickly was his vision very much aligned with my own personal aspirations. Fundamentally, bringing both Kagool and Delete together ticked every box. At a challenging time, Delete is one of the most highly awarded agencies this year – we have continued to provide full employment, supported and delivered great results to our current clients and enjoyed fantastic aspirational new client wins. What a position and what a time to create this new opportunity for everyone. I can now rest with confidence that Delete’s new Managing Director Tom Dougherty with the Kagool Group support will take the business from strength to strength.

Tom Dougherty, MD at Delete said: “This moment represents a key milestone in Delete’s evolution. For the last twenty years we have built and run an agency that has always, at its core, had an unwavering focus on delivering first-class digital products and services to our clients. To become part of an agency group that shares that philosophy and enables the growth of our joint capability is an exciting prospect for all. For many years Kagool has been an agency we have admired in the market for it’s leading technical offer, so to now have the chance to fuse that with Delete’s CX, Experience Design and Marketing services ensures we are primed and ready to kick-on into our next exciting era. I’m personally very much looking forward to leading Delete alongside our new team at Kagool. Watch this space!”

Fashion, News

EU Fashion Designer uses new technology to produce sustainable collection

Ganit Goldstein, a London based fashion and textile designer presents a 3D printed garment collection crafted from sustainably sourced fabrics and plastics. In an effort to move away from the mass production of fast fashion, the collection was created using bespoke body measurements from a 360 degree body scanner. The result is a cutting edge concept of personalized garment production, made to last, that will perfectly fit the individuals form.

In a move to revolutionize the fashion production of the future, Ganit Goldstein was included in an EU Horizon 2020 Re-Fream grant for selected designers who were chosen to design collections that challenge the current fashion industries production methods.

Ganit who has been studying on the prestigious ‘Soft Systems’ textile MA course at London’s Royal College of Art, has produced a 7 look collection named ‘WeAreAble’. The collection is inspired by traditional Japanese techniques and Ikat weaving, using a unique combination of hand crafted methods and a combination of past and future technologies. Ganit is one of the fashion industries first designers to have worked with such technology and worked in collaboration with Stratasy’s 3D multicolour printing and other tech partners Haratech for 3D body scanning and Profactor materials. Two outfits produced using Stratasys J850 new technique of printing onto fabric, using unique combination of colours and materials including the vero clear new transparent material launched this year. These two outfits present a hybrid working process of embroidery and 3D printing technology; this is a unique approach for the future of 3D printing in the world of textiles.

The process of production begins with Ganit using a body scanner with a ‘depth’ camera to get full body measurements from the individual. Each garment is then crafted from 3D to 2D CAD manipulations which create a single, precise piece of fabric for the garment, meaning there is less need for multiple seams and fabrics to create a single garment. The collection focuses on a sustainable approach using 3D printing without any support or waste materials.
Ganit had planned to launch the collection at Berlins annual ‘wear it summit ‘exhibition, but with new social distancing laws in place, she has worked with tech company Intel Corporation to help engineer a virtual reality technology that creates a realistic 360 exhibition space to display the collection. This allows the audience to view the 3D collection in augmented reality via her website.

Goldstein hopes that this cutting edge personalised process will offer an eco-friendly alternative to customers looking to move away from the fast fashion industry. Goldstein comments, ‘The new reality of Covid-19 has pushed me and my partners to think about new possibilities to change the fashion industries current systems. I was inspired to create the collections using these cutting edge techniques after seeing the devastating impact fast fashion has on the environment. Buying multiple cheaper items not only has an overwhelming effect on the planet it also means lower quality items which the wearer will be unlikely to wear more than once. Making one quality, classic piece which fits the individual perfectly means a more sustainable approach to fashion. I hope that given the technologies we now have available to us, designers will work towards creating fewer, bespoke pieces and we can enjoy fashion without impacting the planet’.

To learn more visit: http://ganitgoldstein.com/

News

Work Life Balance: Is your routine benefitting your happiness and your business?

We’ve all had to rework our day-to-day lives to accommodate the pandemic, but have we managed to balance the scales of work and relaxation?

 

Rovva surveyed 1,005 UK adults to find out exactly how happy they are with their routines, and how they feel it has impacted their productivity and wellbeing.

The research revealed that 79% of respondents are happy with their new routine since the pandemic, whilst 80% said they feel just as productive as they did before coronavirus!

Feeling productive is a huge bonus for our wellbeing as well as our work, giving us the boost we need to finish a particularly stressful day, but it’s not just about improving our working.

63% of people also said that their perspective on life and what is important to them has changed, and over half of them said they’ll try to keep their new habits in the following months.

Whilst at the beginning of the pandemic forced us apart physically, taking a huge toll on our mental health, 75% of those surveyed said they actually see just as much or more of their family and friends now.

All of these factors lead into a potential improvement in the UK’s general happiness and wellbeing, but it can be difficult to see what you need to change to feel the positive effects of a healthier work life balance.

As a result, Rovva created a calculator to let people compare their routine to the routine that brings the most happiness to those in the UK, making it much easier to make small changes to hopefully improve people’s general wellbeing.

Jon Abrahams from Rovva, said: “We wanted to find out how much people’s routine has changed and if there are any elements of our new lifestyle that we’d like to keep after the pandemic has passed.

“It’s great to see that people found a way to amend their routines and we thought it’d be fun to allow everyone to check how their routine compares to the nation’s one.”

Entertainment, News

Bristol karting venue receives consumer safety standard

Absolutely Karting in Bristol has been awarded the Visit Britain ‘We’re Good to Go’ hospitality and tourism standard, which gives reassurance to customers that the venue adheres to the Government and public health Covid-19 guidance.

To receive the standard, Absolutely Karting had to show it is minimising risk by implementing clear safety processes to maintain cleanliness and aid social-distancing, as well as ensuring all members of its team are briefed on policies and procedures.

At the indoor karting venue these procedures include following a one-way system, wearing a face covering in the centre and making regular use of the hand-sanitising stations. The team has also increased the frequency of cleaning and all suits and helmets are UV sanitised between use.

Naomi Smith, Centre Manager at Absolutely Karting, commented:

“Since reopening in August, it’s been wonderful to welcome customers through the door again and to see people enjoy karting. We’ve worked extremely hard to ensure we are a safe environment for all visitors and the ‘We’re Good to Go’ standard is recognition of that.

“As part of the standard we will receive spot checks, so we are continually reviewing our procedures to see if there is even more we can do. As such, we’ve recently introduced ‘Social Bubble’ parties which give up to six people exclusive use of the track so they don’t have to mix with those outside of their social group.”

For further information about the ‘We’re Good to Go’ standard, head to Visit Britain’s website – https://www.visitbritain.org/business-advice/were-good-go-industry-standard.