Europe told to invest in ICT to save economies

European businesses could smash their growth forecasts by five per cent if their investment in ICT matched their US counterparts.

Research by Oxford Economics says that faith in technology shown by US businesses gives them a significant financial advantage over other Western economies. It is estimated that if European organisations matched this level of spending, they would pump €760 billion into the economies of their member states.

According to the research, Spain and Italy are main laggards, while the UK is closest to the US in terms of IT maturity.

“There is a dire need for Europe to improve its productivity, and investment in ICT is the trump card to achieving this. But national governments must prioritise ICT investment more effectively and focus on creating the right conditions for investment,” says Fabio Colasanti, president of the International Institute of Communications.

Why Google and YouTube will never replace the service desk

Will self-help found through Google and YouTube negate the need for a service desk? This was the question posed by ServiceDesk360, with research indicating that young people prefer to consult social media and video tutorials when trying to fix IT issues, rather than contacting the support department.

IT services SMEs best hope for UK economy?

Software and IT service businesses are best placed to prop up a flagging UK economy, with research from ECI predicting bullish growth in the technology space compared to other sectors.

84 per cent of SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) technology companies expect to grow turnover by more than six per cent this year, with almost a third stating that turnover growth will exceed 25 per cent.

SMEs are confident they can help counter job losses in the public sector, with three quarters of those polled by ECI expecting to grow headcount this year. Overall, 60 per cent of SMEs think their turnover will double in the next 12 months.

Web and social media IT support now impossible to ignore

The pressure on helpdesks to provide support to mobile users has intensified after figures showed that almost half of all internet usage now occurs via smartphones and tablets.

A study by the Office of National Statistics shows that 45 per cent of UK internet users now go online via a mobile device, a number which swells to 71 per cent for 16-24 year olds.

With mobile web usage growing, organisations still struggling to provide effective web-based support now have to ensure that portals and help facilities also work on mobile devices.

Similarly, the need to develop a support presence on social networks is heightening, with the same study showing that 57 per cent of adult internet users - and 91 per cent of under 24's - are active on sites such as Twitter.

IT deps must think like construction firms to save money

Tech companies must work more like construction companies if they want to stop leaking money, after research from Oxford University showed that projects managed by IT businesses are three times more likely to go over budget than ones in the building trade.

By studying 1500 large infrastructure and IT projects in a range of sectors, the University found the average budget overrun was 27 per cent, with one in six projects costing 200 per cent more than planned. However, the IT sector was found to be more wasteful, suggesting the technology sector needs to re-evaluate how projects are planned and implemented, adopting a more thorough and methodical style akin to large scale constructions.

Hello (again) from Richmond Systems

We’re Richmond Systems and for more than 20 years we’ve been helping businesses improve their IT support and services. Yes, I know, we’ve been fairly quiet lately, but it’s not because there’s nothing going on - in fact, the opposite is true. We’ve been incredibly busy, working with new clients and developing exciting products which we are keen to share with you later this year.

This post is letting you know that we won’t be quiet from now on. So much has changed in recent years, such as the rise of consumerisation, signs the industry is outgrowing ITIL, and the ever-present pressure to do more for less while developing stronger links with the businesses we support. Our experiences working with customers and developing our own technologies mean we have lots to share on these and other topics.

We believe that freely sharing information is vital for raising standards of IT delivery and we will support this view with a series of activities. For starters, we are going to frequently publish news and ideas on this blog, for example this story about the importance of IT support to the utilities industry. This and more content will also be featured on our new website, plus we are launching a community newsletter in the next few weeks which we hope you will share with your colleagues and peers. We are excited about growing our network and learning from the ITSM community and we aim to help you do the same. Please follow us on Twitter and we hope you enjoy and comment on what we have to say.

Helpdesk's key as utilities prepare for $11.7 billion IT spending spree

Utility providers seeking a competitive edge will focus their spending on IT services, rather than hardware and software investments, according to research from IDC.

With effective IT recognised of one of the few areas that utility companies can differentiate in a commoditised market, spending on technology provision is set to peak in 2015 at $11.7 billion, a $2.6 billion increase on this year’s figures.

IT services will absorb 62 per cent of the outlay, while spending on packaged software will account for 21 per cent, and hardware 18 per cent. IT support will command the biggest share of IT services spending, followed by project implementations and day-to-day operations.

Billing mistakes earn TalkTalk £3 million fine

An IT failure has resulted in TalkTalk and its subsidiary Tiscali being hit with a £3 million fine, after the communications regulator Ofcom found the error meant that some customers were charged for unused services.

The regulator gave TalkTalk until December 2010 to rectify the problem - caused by a failure to correctly integrate Tiscali customer details into its system - however almost 3000 customers still received inaccurate bills between this date and March 2011.

The resulting fine could have been far higher - Ofcom can levy up to 10 per cent of a offending business’ turnover - but the regulator took into consideration TalkTalk paying compensation of £2.5 million, and reducing complaint calls by 40 per cent by introducing new customer service and IT systems.

“We are of course disappointed at the scale of the fine and feel it is a disproportionate penalty; however we are striving to continually improve and invest in customer experience and are pleased at the clear progress we are starting to make,” says TalkTalk CEO Dido Harding.