Author: Amanda

Cyber security is really the talk of the town of recent and with Apple and Sony being casualties of cyber attacks it’s no surprise that cyber security is an issue.

With our dependency on technology and Cyber threats increasing along with it, individuals and companies need to take precautions and take pre-emptive steps in order to be secure.

To stay safe from cyber threats, companies are increasing their spending on security tools and according to a report from Juniper Networks and RAND, they predict that the cost to businesses in managing cyber security is set to increase by 38% within the next 10 years.

This shows that CFO’s and CIO’s are taking a more active role in managing cyber security.

The increased spending in cyber security tools may be attributed to the software becoming obsolete. Cyber attackers do find ways of exploiting existing security systems and developing new counter measures to antivirus technologies. Updating security tools will need to be at the forefront of any company to be protected against new cyber security threats.

Spending on cyber security tools cannot be overlooked and in order to stay protected companies will need to make the plunge and update existing security software or integrate new systems. 

Certes believe that children are an integral part to paving the future and as such Certes wants to do what we can to help those children who are unfortunate to be born with life altering conditions, many of which have no cure or a method of treatment.

To help raise money for this cause, Certes will be running in the Great Birmingham 10K.

 

 

The event will be held on Sunday 1st May 2016, starting from Jennens Road (close to Millenium Point and Thinktank). Show your Support for Certes buy making a donation to the Certes JustGiving page.

The Great Birmingham 10k run is just one event that Certes is taking part in to raise a total of £3000. We will keep you updated to new events that Certes will take part in.

SQL topped the most sought-after skills list across both permanent and contract roles in the winter edition of Certes’ 4Sight skills review.

Java and Oracle were also in demand in the contract sector, while Microsoft and .NET were sought-after amongst permanent roles.

Twitter Bootstrap saw the highest increase in demand in the contract sector, followed by Windows Server 2012 and big data, while the biggest increase in demand from the permanent sector came from ASP .NET WEB API, Twitter Bootstrap and cyber security.

Banking and finance offered the most opportunities across both permanent and contract roles, with telecoms, e-commerce, retail and marketing also showing high demand for IT professionals.

Developers, analysts and project managers were the most demanded job functions, while SQL was the most in demand programming language, followed by Java, HTMP, .Net and SQL server.

To find out more about the most sought-after IT skills and the latest rates and salaries, sign up to receive Certes quarterly 4Sight review.

SQL has been named the most sought after skill once again in the latest edition of 4sight, for contract roles. In permanent roles however, .NET has taken the top spot with SQL dropping out of the top 5 altogether.

For contract skills, Windows, Oracle, Java and HTML skills completed the top 5 respectively. However there was contrast in the top 5 Permanent sought after skills with C#, HTML, Java Script and Linux joining .Net as the most sought after skills.

In other areas, Banking, Finance & Investment also retained its position as the sector with the highest demand for IT skills, with Retail, Telecoms, E-commerce and Marketing also named in the top five sectors, with some variation in demand across contract and permanent positions.

In the top 5 demanded job functions there has been a new addition to the top 5 in the shape of Business Analyst, however Developers remain the most sought after.  Finally SQL has also kept its top spot as the most demanded programming language.

To find out more about the most sought-after IT skills and the latest rates and salaries, sign up to receive Certes 4Sight quarterly review here. 

Today at 9.30am we will see a total solar eclipse. And we will not see another eclipse of this magnitude until 2026, a full 11 years.

What can change in IT in 11 years? Well from 2004 to 2015 we have seen drastic changes in IT from companies using contract employees more often for projects and a constant shift in new skills being acquired due to the exponential speed of technology development and that is just a tiny fraction of the improvements that IT have seen in a decade. The skills that were desired 11 years ago will be completed different to the skills that needed for today’s fast paced age and the same will be true 11 years in the future.

So what changes could we hope to see in IT for the next solar eclipse? Can we predict the nature of technology to determine the direction of IT?

We would like to hear your thoughts?

Remember to be safe for the eclipse and do not stare directly at the sun without proper eye protection.

From social media’s humble beginnings as a way for friends to keep in contact with each other and share online content, social media is fast becoming a tool that all businesses use. So it’s no surprise that the fast, wider reaching tool is now being used as a method of recruitment, but can recruiters focus their strengths on using social media platforms as their recruitment tools and forget about using traditional procedures such as job boards?

According to Recruitmentbuzz.co.uk (LINK) a huge quantity off recruiters use social media “61.5% use LinkedIn, 30.7% use Facebook, 23.1% use Twitter, and only 7.7% are using only job boards” it’s clear to see that social media is becoming the ‘go to’ platform for recruiters with LinkedIn sitting high on the top spot . LinkedIn possess many benefits for recruiters being “very similar to a standard job board… it provides more insight on a candidate’s interests and views based on groups they join, articles they read, or even articles they may write.” Recruitmentbuzz.co.uk (LINK).

A recent study (LINK) shows that 73% of recruiters have hired candidates from social media, and 79% of those candidates came from LinkedIn. The study also continues to explain that 93% of recruiters review a candidate's social profile before making their final decision.

Can social media provide good quality candidates? Software Advice (LINK) an HR Technology review company’s finding’s shows that LinkedIn provides 40% High quality candidates compared to Job Boards who provide lower high quality candidates, under 20% lower than LinkedIn.

 Source: Recruiting software review company Software Advice

Though the research has placed using social media in high regards this does not mean that traditional job boards should be forgotten. Job boards still provide high quality candidates to clients. Using both means is advantageous but the success of social media will depend on the role and the industry.

 

And while we are on the subject of social media, be sure to follow Certes on our social networks.

LinkedIn – Certes LinkedIn

Twitter – @CertesNews

This weeks Cyber Insights from The National Cyber Skills Centre.

Is the explosion of social media and the availability of personal information placed online causing more cyber fraud? The answer is yes, but it’s unfair to lay the blame entirely at the door of social media.

Read more, visit the National Cyber Skills Centre: Cyber Insights

Certes specialise in IT staffing for all sectors and industries. We are now working with the National Cyber Skills Centre in order to provide staffing to companies in need of cyber security. For cyber security jobs search our available jobs.

Effectively smart data is a method of filtering out valuable data from the other big data noise. This data can then be used by an enterprise to find business-critical solutions to host of problems.

 

The benefits big data has brought are immense, but it is utilising this data where the real transformation takes place.

“Big data is a good thing to have, but it is a blunt tool, which is lacking precision. Smart data cuts to the heart of the issue faster, allowing executives to peel back the layers of extraneous or distracting information and look directly at the important issues and make decisions based on true, real-life valuable data,” said Patrick Koeck, COO of Creamfinance (a thought leader in smart data).

Smart data is changing the future of big data. It lessens the risk of data loss, adds value, increases efficiency and minimises expected loss.

Quality data is more important than the volume of data.

Privacy protection is one example of the benefits of using smart data, as Koeck suggests “there is a big tendency to leverage unstructured data gathered about the customer via social media and other sources in order to increase a number of variables in the algorithms for the credit decision.”

By removing this big data from the equation and only using the valuable smart data, the less a company will leave itself vulnerable.

Arguably the most important function of this data is to enhance business performance, and utilising it can transform business operations within a company.

Retailers, for example, can use information they receive through customer interaction to formulate signals and patterns that have been extracted by intelligent algorithms to enhance customer satisfaction and business growth.

Technology is evolving at a rapid rate, and organisations need to be able to adapt to these changes.

Smart data can deliver this and, ultimately, has the ability to drive future business innovation, productivity and growth.

Smart data describes data that has valid, well-defined, meaningful information that can speed up information processing

Source: InformationAge

 

Synapse information, a start-up data management solutions company based in Innovation Birmingham Campus, Birmingham were in need of staffing. Thanks to Certes, Synapse were able to acquire highly skilled staff that they were after.

“Amir Rasool has surrounded me with quite brilliant computer scientists since I engaged with him right from the beginning – we have a tremendous team of software engineers” Brian Donnelly, Founding CEO, Synapse Infromation.

As result of Amir’s hard work, Synapse information will be using Certes exclusively for all their IT staffing and recruitment needs.

For more information visit Synapse

In the next few weeks the exam season will start to slow down, hassled teachers will lift their heads seeing the long holidays approaching and many schools will start locking their doors and shutting up shop until mid August. Before we know it we will have the annual news stories hitting the headlines as the exam results for both GCSE and A Levels are released. Will standards this year have risen? fallen? who knows. Then the schools start to crank back up to full speed; new pupils, new parents, new timetables, new courses, new staff and lots and lots of new data.

The education industry is the third highest industry sector to suffer a reported cyber breach, according to figures from the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), behind only health and local government. 

What could schools do over the forthcoming long summer holiday? How about getting their cyber house in order? 

For more information visit the National Cyber Skills Centre: Cyber Insights

Certes specialise in IT staffing for all sectors and industries. We are now working with the National Cyber Skills Centre in order to provide staffing to companies in need of cyber security. For cyber security jobs search our site.