Tag: Brexit

UK facing persistent labour shortages

Posted on May 16, 2023 by - News

Blighty is facing a labour shortage which is not going away thanks to the super soaraway oven-ready post-Brexit points-based immigration system.

According to a recent survey by Finbri, 83.51 per cent of UK business owners are concerned about the impact of labour shortages on their companies, with 47.69 per cent being “concerned” and 35.82 per cent being “strongly concerned.”

Finbri Bridging Loan Broker Stephen Clark said labour shortages had become an ongoing conversation among businesses since Brexit, and the issue is only likely to worsen in the short term, offering little to contribute to the UK economy’s rebound.

Brexit could put UK auto industry in the bin

Posted on August 19, 2020 by - News

UK auto industry linked businesses are going to take a hammering from any hard Brexit, warned analyst outfit GlobalData

David Leggett, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, warned that the UK automotive sector was facing decimated sales due to the COVID-19 crisis, the very real possibility of no-deal on free trade between the UK and EU when the Brexit transition period ends at the end of the year would be a double whammy that seriously jeopardises recovery, competitiveness and future investment.

Getting channel business ready for Brexit

Posted on February 3, 2020 by - News

The new business director at IT software solutions provider, KFA Connect, Richard Austin, says that now withdrawal from the EU is underway, there’s several considerations that businesses need to be aware of, not only with employee regulations but specifically around IT systems, and the buying and selling of products.

“Firstly, if you are a UK-based business buying or selling into Europe you will need to plan for potential changes to VAT.  The reverse charge of VAT may no longer be applicable, so you may need to start paying or charging VAT from businesses that you deal within Europe.

UK tech startup confidence holds steady

Posted on January 16, 2020 by - News

Confidence levels among UK tech startups have risen slightly over the past three months despite election disruption and the looming Brexit deadline, Studio Graphene’s latest Tech Tracker survey reveals.

Studio Graphene has published the results of its Q4 2019 Tech Tracker survey. More than 100 C-level personnel within UK tech startups were quizzed about their outlook for the year ahead, finding:

  • 74 per cent of UK tech startups are confident their turnover will grow over the coming 12 months, up a per cent from three months ago.
  • 77 percent intend to hire more staff in the next year – a fall of two percent
  • 67 percent are planning to raise investment (up a percent)
  • Hiring the right talent remains the biggest challenge facing tech startups – 73 percent cited this as an issue, which is up from 66 percent in Q3 2019 and 60 percent in Q1
  • 69 percent are worried Brexit will make it harder for them to hire the tech talent they need to grow.

Don’t use Brexit as an excuse for a business slowdown

Posted on April 29, 2019 by - News

Big snail in Old TaipeiFirms should not be allowed to use Brexit as a reason to slow down according to PCM boss Frank Khulusi.

Speaking to the assembled throngs on an earnings call, Khulusi said UK management has been talking more about Brexit but claimed that the political saga should not be considered as a justification for any slowdown.

PCM made £13.4 million for the quarter ending 31 March, up 50 per cent on the previous year in the UK.

Top tech lawyer warns Brexit will create problems for tech industry

Posted on March 15, 2019 by - News

A top lawyer has warned that industry leaders should prepare for Brexit fall out whatever happens.

One of the tech industry’s most prominent lawyers Dorsey & Whitney partner Frances Doherty said there are three significant issues within the tech sector as it braces for the change– access to talent, access to money, and access to research funding, which will all become more difficult regardless of a vote for an extension or not.

PCM might push into Europe after UK sales boost

Posted on February 8, 2019 by - News

PCM has hinted that it may expand further into Europe after its UK business scored £50 million in sales last year.

For the year ending 31 December 2018 PCM reported flat revenue of $2.2 billion, while in the UK sales hit $62.4 million. But its UK business, which launched in 2017, now equates to three per cent of the business’ overall sales.

On an earnings call, CEO Frank Khulusi said that the reseller might look to move further into Europe after Brexit.

SMEs look to escape a hard Brexit

Posted on February 4, 2019 by - News

A third of SMEs are looking to establish operations overseas to make sure they can avoid the worst consequences of a hard Brexit.

Beancounters working at the Institute of Directors (IoD) have worked out that 29 percent of those firms  had moved operations out of the UK or were planning to do so.

Those findings come on the back of research from Agilitas IT Solutions which reported back in September that 52 percent of UK channel businesses were actively looking to expand their business internationally.

Most of the firms that the IoD spoke to were looking to open offices in the EU and there have already been moves from some in the channel to do just that, with both Softcat and Computacenter opening Dublin offices.

Gartner says IT spend will grow despite uncertainty

Posted on January 30, 2019 by - News

Worldwide IT spending will hit a high of $3.76 trillion as it shifts from devices to new areas including cloud services.

Beancounters at Gartner think that despite Brexit uncertainty, trade wars, tariffs and Donald Trump IT spending is predicted to see three percent growth in 2019.

However, John-David Lovelock, research VP at Gartner, said the focus of this spending will shift dramatically.

Box builds new UK cloud zone for post-Brexit

Posted on January 25, 2019 by - News

Silicon Valley cloud giant Box is offering a service upgrade to offset any fallout caused by the Brexit.

The company has launched a new zone that is based entirely in the UK, entailing a primary data centre in London and a secondary backup in Cardiff.

In 2016, Box announced Zones, which serve as additional datacenter hubs outside the US via partnerships with AWS and IBM. At launch, Box Zones were located in Germany, Ireland, Japan, and Singapore, and they were later expanded to other territories, including Canada and Australia.

UK outsourcing market was rubbish thanks to Brexit

Posted on January 21, 2019 by - News

Beancounters at ISG said that the UK outsourcing market was rubbish last year.

Initially, there were brief signs of a recovery in the UK’s outsourcing market, but it was not enough for declines to continue in 2018.

The traditional outsourcing market in the UK fell 27 percent to £2.2 billion last year, despite a five percent increase in contract numbers.

Never mind Brexit, Dataiku doubles-down on UK expansion

Posted on January 15, 2019 by - News

Despite the lingering economic uncertainty about Brexit, there are still many companies that have plans to expand into the UK market.

US-based  Enterprise AI software maker, Dataiku, has just announced the company has raised £80 million in a Series-C round – one of the largest funding rounds for AI ever – and the company will aggressively speed up their expansion into the UK regardless of Brexit.

Dataiku CEO Florian Douetteau said: “We’re very excited about what this latest funding round represents – it’s a confirmation of

Digital secretary talks up May’s Brexit deal

Posted on December 4, 2018 by - News

Desperate to prove that Theresa May’s Brexit deal is not the lame duck that the pundits claim, DCMS Secretary of State Jeremy Wright has claimed it will “provide the UK’s booming £130 billion digital sector with the certainty it needs to continue to thrive”.

The digital and tech industries employ more than 2.1 million people across the UK, and Wright says that the continuation of free-flowing data is vital to “both our economy and security”.

May’s Brexit gets Microsoft’s backing

Posted on November 22, 2018 by - News

Home Secretary Theresa MaySoftware king of the world Microsoft has thrown its considerable weight behind Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Writing in her bog,  Microsoft’s UK managing director Cindy Rose said the deal was in Vole’s interest because it allowed the “free flow” of data in and out of the UK.

“Many of our customers and partners operate businesses that rely on Microsoft’s cloud computing services. These businesses require the frictionless flow of data across borders in order to operate effectively.  We have consistently advocated to the government the need to ensure this data flow continues post-Brexit.”