Category: Blogs

Though the benefits are sought after by every organisation seeking improved positive development, there are some challenging barriers to entry, for example making changes to the company structure in order to make room for the agile business process to an overall resistance to adopting agile.

But in order for companies to stay competitive, agile should be an important investment. However, what companies need to take into consideration is that applying agile is not a quick fix and it will take some time for the rewards of agile to take effect. Companies need to embrace being agile in order to reap the benefits.

For more information, read Keys to unlocking agile business success from Raconteur.

Source: Raconteur

Exploiting data, whether behind a company firewall or with an open approach, can create value and transform business fortunes

The risk posed by disruption has created a new gold rush. Senior executives see the impact of data-savvy startups, such as Uber and Airbnb on traditional sectors like transport and accommodation, and recognise the need for affirmative action. In an attempt to avoid being disrupted, business leaders are seeking insight from their data stockpiles.

Researcher IDC confirms this trend, forecasting $187 billion (£152 billion) will be spent on big data and analytics technology by 2019, which is a 50 per cent rise from the $122 billion (£99.2 billion) invested in 2015. Yet executives should note that the introduction of a software tool is no guarantee of success. Technology can only transform business performance if the organisational culture changes, too.

Lisa Heneghan, global head of KPMG’s CIO advisory practice, says this change in culture represents a significant challenge for many companies. A large proportion of the history of IT management, she says, has been focused on operational service rather than business enablement.

“People say technology is creating a fourth industrial revolution, but it’s only recently that business has been really ready to exploit the tools at its disposal. And that exploitation is creating an exponential shift,” says Ms Heneghan.

Business transformation

The success of Uber and Airbnb suggests the biggest transformation comes when businesses embrace data and take an open approach to change. Yet an open attitude to the game-changing power of technology is not confined to Silicon Valley. Across all areas of business IT, executives are looking beyond the enterprise firewall, and connecting to external partners and customers.

Just as the public cloud has reached a tipping point in terms of business acceptance, so too more executives are willing to share knowledge in the hope of creating new opportunities. Take Omid Shiraji, interim chief information officer (CIO) at Camden Council, who is a big believer in openness. “Expose your data and you’ll get more value than you’ll ever imagine,” he says.

Camden uses its open data platform to publish information on publicly funded parking spaces across the London borough. A startup called Appy Parking has built a business using that data. The app uses geo-location data to tell users when and where they can park.

“By releasing our data we’ve enabled a business to be created and have improved the lives of citizens,” says Mr Shiraji. More developments could come soon. He says Camden is keen to explore the internet of things and is trialling parking bay sensors. “CIOs must look for ways to change customer experiences for the better – and you can create new value from exposing your data,” says Mr Shiraji.

Not all business leaders, however, will find it as easy to take an open approach to data. Decisions about openness are often closely related to sectors and business models. Market-leading technology firms, such as Apple and Google, have maintained a market edge by keeping their intellectual property and details surrounding product releases a closely guarded secret.

Research from Russell Reynolds Associates suggests industries that are least disrupted often have perceived higher barriers to entry. In other sectors, a closed approach simply makes good business sense. Executives in heavily governed sectors, such as finance and law, are often unable to embrace openness. However, a sea change is taking place even here.

Chris White, CIO at global law firm Clyde & Co, recognises the crucial role of data in his business. The firm runs eight different case management systems, yet the proliferation of information means it can be difficult to create a single view of the customer across a number of lines of business.

Camden Council publishes data on publicly funded parking spaces enabling companies such as Appy Parking to tell users where they can park

Value for customers

Big data technology is helping Clyde & Co turn a manually intensive task into a competitive advantage. The firm is using analytics to create case reports automatically and encourages clients to come and see the results in real time. Mr White says an open approach to information can add value for customers.

“If you can mine the data you have, you create something really valuable”

He envisages a situation where quantitative data bolsters qualitative opinion. Rather than simply relying on experiences, lawyers at the firm would be able to look at management information and present a factual answer on the chances of winning a case.

“If you can mine the data you have, you create something really valuable,” says Mr White. “Being able to look back on hundreds of cases and tell a client their chance of winning is potentially huge. We can then start to advise, rather than just represent, our clients.”

IT leaders at large firms, therefore, are keen to find ways to make use of information that might otherwise stay stuck in data silos. Rob Harding, European CIO at finance firm Capital One, says the key to success is using technology to shorten the time between data collection and the generation of insight.

“In Capital One, we used to talk about big data – now we talk about big and fast data,” he says. “I can’t get excited about huge data lakes; I can get excited about being able to generate interesting insight from the data we collect. Using information to improve our product set is for me the essence of big data.”

Mr Harding points to QuickCheck, a service-based solution designed by the IT team that allows customers to test their suitability for credit. The firm continues to invest in new analytics tools. Many of the firm’s 30 data science specialists are now focused on using Amazon Redshift to help fine-tune score modelling for the credit risk management of customers.

“There’s no end-point to your work around big data,” concludes Mr Harding. “CIOs must think about how quickly they can capture, analyse and generate insight, and then incorporate that knowledge back into something the customer actually finds valuable.”

Source: Raconteur

The Cyber Essentials scheme helps organisations define and measure basic levels of security hygiene.  The scheme defines a series of technical and procedural controls to mitigate the risks associated with cyber threats.  Through certifying against the Cyber Essentials scheme, organisations are able to demonstrate to their clients, their suppliers, their insurers and to industry regulators that they have undertaken essential precautions in minimising their cyber risk.

Certes are delighted to announce that we have been awarded Cyber essential accreditation. If you would like to  learn more about the Cyber Essentials scheme and how Certes are benefiting from the new accreditation, visit gov.uk

If you are interested in IT security vacancies or IT vacancies in different sectors across the UK, then you can visit Certes Job Board.

image: StackOverflow

Other areas of the survey may offer some insight. The average developer in the UK has around 6.5 years of experience. This isn’t necessarily commercial experience with students already possessing 3.5 years experience.

image: StackOverflow

Another area is salary, while salary by age wasn’t measured, younger people are generally cheaper and with the ever-changing tech landscape older developers may not have kept up to date with new and emerging technologies.

While the study may not be representative of the whole development community but it is certainly eye opening.

I suppose this poses the question ‘will the current generation of ‘Rock star’ developers and ‘C# Ninjas’ be in this profession once they are 35?’

Source: StackOverflow

– Niall

For more information on the developer market, contact Niall Gibson

​Deemed Self Employment Status – Are you Out of IR35? 

For those contractors who have been found to be outside of IR35, read our guidance notes to support your deemed self-employment status, and ensure you can provide the necessary evidence to support your status. 

A note on Substitution

The Substitute should not be a family member or someone the contractor already knows. The Substitute is funded by the contractor, with a documented agreement between the contractor and the Substitute. The Contractor will invoice Certes for the Substitute. 

Should the client be supportive of substitution, but substitution has not yet happened, we recommend the following best practise is followed, to further support self employment status. If substitution is unlikely to happen, other evidence of self-employment will be required, in the form of;

• Change of Task or Project: Contractors should not agree to be moved to a different task or project than was originally agreed in the contract details. If the Client wishes for there to be a different task to be undertaken, then we must agree this in a different contract schedule, or an amendment to a schedule. 
• How the Work is Done: Contractors should keep a record of written correspondence with the Client to show that the Contractor and the Client has agreed between them how the work is done. 
• The Working Schedule: Contractors should keep a record of written correspondence in terms of how they have agreed with the Client regarding the working hours/days to be spent and organised to carry out the work
• Where the Work is Done: Contractors should keep a record of written correspondence with the Client in terms of how they have agreed where the work is done, or at least that the tasks and the nature of the tasks have dictated where the work is done. 
• Expenses: Contractors should not claim for expenses, such as business travel, meals, accommodation or other expenses incurred in performing the work or tasks
• Unsatisfactory Work: Contractors should put work right at their own expense, in their own time where necessary, in order to put right any work that the Client decides is not satisfactory. Where this is done, it should be confirmed in writing to us and the Client, with correspondence between all parties recorded and saved. 

For any specific contract queries talk to your Certes Account Manager.

According to Raconteur "Organisations that invest in communications technology and collaboration strategies retain staff and reap the rewards of greater productivity and innovation". The updated communications removes the long process that once plagued communication a mere 40 years ago.

The evolution in such a short time is incredible. But what is astonishing is that a large quantity of companies are still using dated technology and methods of communication filing and communication.

One  biggest communication change that has greatly improved how we exchange information is the application of mobile devices. We can do almost everything with these small devices that would once require time and money to accomplish.

Improvements in IT shows that  productive goes up overall. More can be done in a shorter window and you are not limited to by location. As IT improves and ease of completing tasks improves with it, productivity could continue to increase. 

Read full article on improved comms technology by Raconteur.

IR35 – Certes Solutions

Following the much anticipated reforms to IR35 in the public sector, as implemented through the off payroll changes (IR35) part 2 income tax (earnings and pensions) act 2003, we have been consulting with clients to advise the best way forward, and have been actively working on a range of solutions to support organisations who are finding themselves caught in the new regulations.

The Government confirmed in the Autumn Statement 2016 that it intends to go ahead with the proposed changes to IR35, as from 6th April 2017. All contracts which are considered to be “inside IR35” will need to be under a compliant arrangement, in line with the changes from this date.

Please see the Guidance last updated on 11th March 2017 – for individuals paid through PSCs.

Our message to Public sector organisations affected by this is that we remain dedicated and focused on the continued supply of our PSC Contractors and those Contractors represented by Umbrella companies from 6th April onwards. But we also want to make it clear that we have developed an Outsourced Model, centred around outcome based services, Statement of Work, or Work Packages. We can offer assurance that the nature of these solutions based agreements falls outside of the intermediaries legislation following the use of the HMRC tool. To date, many of our existing clients have found this approach to be exactly what they need for immediate and swift solution to the imposed IR35 changes and are in the process of transferring Certes’ incumbent contractors to this new Outcome based service. A number of these clients are also including the migration of other PSC contractors to our service, especially those seen to be critical to the organisation.

Through the course of our consultation with our clients, we have seen a high proportion of existing contracts that have not required any changes,  reaching the conclusion that the intermediaries legislation does not apply, as well as some being found to be inside the new legislation. Of course, the outcome is based very much on the specific working practises with the client, and not only the terms and conditions of a contract.

If you remain unsure about the status of your existing intermediary engagements our Public Sector team we will be pleased to meet and discuss the use and completion of the HMRC’s Employment Status Service online tool, to establish the nature of each individual agreement and of course to offer advice about our new solutions. The tool can be found here.

Please contact our Public sector team today if you need advice, guidance or examples of successful transitions, on 01675 468968.

This is why those of us that work within this sector are seeing a greater demand for BRM skills as more Cx0’s realise their importance. However we are also seeing the implementation and subsequent demise of such functions, normally after a few years, once the quick wins have been achieved and the function then struggles to retain its effectiveness and perceived value (which is another blog in itself).

They are various reasons why this can happen, some of which have been discussed in the BRM forums I run, however, one area that has become apparent to me recently is around how the BRM operates within the role (both on individual and departmental basis). I know of BRM functions where every individual performs their position in a different way and departments that operate on a “common sense approach” rather than using defined procedures.  Whilst I appreciate there will be nuances there surely must be a need for best practise and standardisation (a Prince2 of the BRM world) to ensure its continued effectiveness and further demand.

BRMP® and CBRM® courses lead the way in this area at present and I’ve received positive feedback from the delegates who’ve taken the course(s). Perhaps the BRM community might want to consider such training programmes to ensure demand for the BRM role continues to grow?

– James

For more information on IT BRM and IT Business Partnership, contact James O’Driscoll

For the uninitiated, ‘Black Mirror’ is a series of dark self-contained hour long episodes blending technology and everyday life with a hint of a dystopian not too distant future. The show caught my interest in one of the later episodes titled ‘Be Right Back’. The story starts off with a couple, Ash and Martha moving to their new home in the country. Ash is seen to be compulsive social media user, constantly checking and posting at any given moment. After Ash lost his life in a car accident return the moving van, Martha was left grief-stricken. During the funeral, Martha’s friend Sarah mentioned a service that she should sign up to, a service that would allow for communication between the living and the dead.

The first thing you would think of is a séance or something else of that mystical nature; the service was all down to an app. The app reads all the posts from the deceased social media profiles and creates an AI that perfectly matches the original. Although Martha originally rejects the idea of using the app, she slowly comes around due to loneliness, the potential of hearing from her lover and sheer curiosity. Moments later, Martha receives an email, supposedly from Ash and they start communicating via instant messaging. Martha then decides to upload pictures and voice recordings of Ash to the app so that she can talk to Ash over the phone and to her amazement, the AI sounded exactly like Ash and also shares his distinctive sarcastic wit. Every day Martha calls Ash but on day damages her phone. Instead of feeling angered or worried over losing all the information on her phone, she panics about losing AI Ash. The damage to Martha’s phone is not as serious as she thought and she regains connection with AI Ash. AI Ash comforts Martha that even if her phone is damaged, he is stored on the services server and accessible via the Cloud.

I won’t go any further just in case you would like to watch this episode and want to see what happens next.

What drew me into this episode is how close we are to actually achieve this level of AI. Companies such as Microsoft (Cortana, Tai), Google (Google Assistant) and Apple (Siri) are dabbling with AI that learns and improves and at times gives the impression of a personality. Ask the latest version of google assistant to “Make you an X” and the response is a magical chime and Google Assistant replying “You are an X”.

With social media being a huge part of our lives, there is nothing that is stopping learning AI to pick up your interests, you humour, potentially your attitude and in fact becoming a ‘virtual’ you.

This technology could have excellent real world applications for those grieving, as it could give users a chance for closure, to say things that they never had the chance to say. But as with anything if it falls into the wrong hands there could be an out of cyber identity thefts.

With Cloud services booming, this gives more credence to an AI version of you being accessible anywhere.

By the end of the episode, I believed that this form of AI will be achievable in the near future. All the technology is available today, so only time will tell whether this ‘service’ will also make an appearance with self-driving cars, self-lacing trainers and virtual reality headsets.

Do you see this service appearing in your app store anytime soon?