New research published by Textlocal, one of the UK’s SMS marketing platforms, highlights how a third of respondents feel that they are addicted to their smartphones, with 15 percent checking their phones within 15 minutes of waking.

The research also highlights how smartphones are now an intrinsic part of everyday life, often at hand for more than 16 hours a day with the average user checking their phone 10,000 times a year, 4,000 of these entirely out of habit.

The research was commissioned to find out exactly how consumers are using their phones and what they think about mobile communications, found that currently 85 percent of the adult population now own a smartphone, an increase of more than 63 percent in the last five years. This figure is forecast to grow to 93 percent of adults by 2023, with the 55+ the fastest growing age group.

The findings illustrate how smartphones are now part of everyday life and that the primary role of making calls is becoming less important, with only 59 percent saying they make calls via the phone every day. Other than making calls, the other most popular functions include sending SMSes (92 percent of respondents), taking photos (91 percent) and checking emails (86 percent).

More than 60 percent of people use at least one messaging medium daily, meaning that it has become a more popular way of communicating than making calls. Other popular daily activities uses include browsing the internet (75 pecent), checking social media (67 per cent) and sending SMS (61 percent). Of those who check social media and regularly send SMSes, a third responded to say they were ‘constantly’ checking social media and 22 percent constantly using SMS to message friends, family or colleagues.

The growth in online shopping via mobile is also evident with three quarters (75 percent) using their phones to browse every day and with an average monthly spend growing to £21.15 (Ofcom 2017). The average person now spends 40 hours per week browsing internet on their mobiles – six hours a day – and in 2017 smartphones overtook computers in terms of devices being used to get online.

Jason Palgrave-Jones, Managing Director of Textlocal said: “Smartphones have truly revolutionised the way we work, rest and play. People of all demographics have embraced the convenience and advancements in technology, allowing the devices to play a vital role in how we live our lives today. These technologies have bought convenience and connectivity to our lives and if used appropriately provide excellent opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.”

The advances in technology, connectivity and availability mean that smartphones are typically ‘to hand’ for more than 16 hours a day with 56 percent using them as their daily alarms, more than half (55 percent) tracking their well being on their phones and just under half watching video clips every day on their phones – less corporate videos but more ‘how to’, humour or influencer marketing videos.

Rather than fear robots taking over the contact centre, Teleopti’s Business Manager for UK and Ireland Nick Smith says it’s time to harness the power of both worlds to improve the customer’s experience.

Smith said Teleopti’s experience suggests that both human agents and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have a powerful role to play. On the one hand, AI and chatbots are simultaneously revolutionising customer service and elevating the status of agents.

WeChat in China is one of the most successful pioneers of chatbots supplying 10 million businesses and enabling people to hail a taxi, order food, pay a bill and book a doctor’s appointment without human intervention. However AI is only as good as the data that fuels it and the things AI finds hard are the qualities that make humans unique: conversation, empathy, creativity, intuition and negotiation, Smith said.

He said a combination of AI and well scheduled human agents, with the right skills, might be the silver bullet for effective customer service.

Smith said by the time a customer gets to speak to a live agent, the chances are they have already used their mobile app, searched for answers on websites and trawled numerous YouTube clips to no avail.

“They are frustrated and want to speak to someone who knows all the steps they’ve taken, why they are frustrated and how to solve their query from one single encounter of the human kind. In short, they are looking for a superagent”, he said.

To create a team of superagents, organizations need to re-think their learning environment, capture an organization-wide talent pool in a centralized Workforce Management (WFM) solution and then add Real-Time Adherence (RTA) to re-allocate idle time to training. Through advanced forecasting, scheduling and competence management, human agents will remain more productive and valuable than robots can ever be.

While AI is radically transforming customer interactions but there is no substitute for the human touch when it comes to closing sales calls or delivering an exceptional, personal customer experience, Smith said.

More women than ever before are joining IT businesses as contractors, attracted to the more flexible working practices.

According to a study by accountancy business Nixon Williams, the number of female IT workers switching to self-employment increased by almost 25 percent between 2016 and 2017. Women now account for 16.5  percent of the total IT contractor market, up from 13.8  percent in 2016.

Chief executive officer of Nixon Williams Derek Kelly said that there were more women in IT in both permanent and contracting roles, but the increasing proportion of contractors who are women is particularly significant as contractors tend to earn more than their permanent counterparts, which suggests that the pay gap between men and women in the IT sector is likely to be narrowing.

Generally the number of IT workers now self-employed has increased by 4.5 percent over the last 12 months – more than the general IT workforce increase of 3.9 percent year-on-year.

“The increase in the proportion of the IT workforce operating as contractors has been driven by demand from both IT professionals and the end users of their skills. The shift in the composition of the IT workforce since the financial crisis is doubly remarkable because much of the change is due to an influx of women into contracting.”

Although contracting is generally riskier than standard employment, more people are recognising the benefits of working for themselves as in-house benefits are losing momentum, he said.

“In areas which suffer from chronic skills shortages, such as IT and engineering, many contractors are rarely out of work, and higher levels of pay generally more than compensate for any gaps between contracts”, Kelly said.

It has greater benefits for cash-strapped businesses too. Because firms can’t guarantee their cashflow with the threat of Brexit, businesses are favouring using contractors, which present a smaller financial risk.

Dimension Data has written a cheque for a “majority stake”  in SAP partner e2y.

For those who came in late, e2y implements digital commerce platforms for its global customers and it has Amazon Web Services and Rackspace among its partners.

Laurent Christen, CEO of e2y, said: “The digitisation of goods and services disrupts established business models and existing value chains, enabling new models to emerge. e2y is a pioneer in digital innovation for commerce and marketplaces. We deliver solutions for our clients aiming to improve their customer experience and achieve growth. We’re excited to be joining forces with Dimension Data to help our clients benefit from enhanced digital commerce capabilities and transform their businesses.”

Dimension Data said e2y’s UK and European business will complement its existing solutions.

Scott Gibson, group executive for digital business solutions at Dimension Data, said: “With the future of commerce being firmly focused on the experience of trading online, and our digital business solutions portfolio centred on driving innovation for our clients, our investment in e2y will bring our clients closer to their customers on these advanced commercial platforms. It will also help us continue to guide our clients along their business transformation journeys.

Brother is increasing its share of the Managed Print Services (MPS) market at an annual rate of 200 percent across Europe, according to a new report.

Beancounters at Quocirca have added up some numbers and worked out that Brother’s success in the retail, healthcare and banking markets has “created an attractive proposition for its reseller partners and their end customers”.

In its report with the catchy title, “Channels to Managed Print Services 2018”, Quocirca said Brother’s MPS business to gain further traction as it continues to ramp up its offerings.

Philip White, European managed print sales manager at Brother, said: “We know that channel organisations are frustrated by margins, slow response times, a lack of vertical market experience and lead generation support. In response, our MPS offer has a rigorous focus on lead generation and has been fine-tuned to deliver improved margin against transactional sales by giving resellers the opportunity to earn revenue on up to nine streams, including hardware, supplies, software, and services.

“The Quocirca report identifies the strengths of the Brother MPS offer and recognises our investment in tools and resources to support the channel. We will continue this strategy of commitment and investment in the channel to ensure that together Brother and channel partners can continue to meet the many and varied needs of the customer.”

Arrow Business Communications has acquired Cisco and Microsoft partner 360 Solutions.

This is the fifth acquisition the comms VAR has taken since it scored private-equity funding in 2016.  CEO Chris Russell said that all of the 360 Solutions team will be joining Arrow.  The move strengthens Arrow’s presence in the East Midlands and increases its UK-wide “footprint”.

“We are looking forward to working with the team at 360 Solutions as they will help to broaden our product portfolio, particularly around our Skype for Business and PCI-compliant solutions, and will further enhance our Mitel capabilities and the technical skill set of the Arrow Group”, the company said in a prepared statement.

Burton-on-Trent-based 360 Solutions counts Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, O2 and NetApp among its partners, and offers things including virtualisation, cloud and networking.

The firm’s founder and main shareholder Oliver Marsden will remain with the business and manage a number of key customer accounts.

Marsden said: “Having started 360 Solutions with my brother Sam 15 years ago, I am excited to be joining a larger group that shares the same values and approach as I do. I can’t wait to get started.”