Broadband users 'unhappy with internet speeds'

Speed problems are the most common cause of complaints among the UK's broadband users, IT jobseekers have been told.

A poll of more than 2,500 people carried out by Broadbandchoices.co.uk found that 77 per cent are dissatisfied with the current speeds they receive from their provider, increasing from the 70 per cent reporting this in 2009.

In addition, 35 per cent are not happy with the level of customer service which is extended to them, while 32 per cent find their connection's reliability to be a source of frustration.

Michael Phillips, product director at Broadbandchoices.co.uk, commented: 'The main reason for dissatisfaction amongst broadband customers is still overwhelmingly due to broadband speeds not living up to the hype, demonstrating that there continues to be a huge disparity between speeds advertised and the speeds delivered.'

The research also showed that 35 per cent of customers choose their broadband service on the basis of reliability, while 32 per cent look for connection speed and 22 per cent opt for value for money.

Earlier this month, thinkbroadband.com editor Andrew Ferguson said that the UK needs to invest in its broadband infrastructure if it is to remain competitive with other countries.

IDC: Business WLAN market set for growth

Significant levels of growth have been predicted in the worldwide enterprise-class wireless LAN (WLAN) market, which may be good news for those seeking new IT jobs.

A report by IT industry analyst IDC pointed out that the market experienced a relatively small decline during the recession and claimed that it is prepared for strong growth over the rest of the year.

The research tipped the global enterprise WLAN sector to see revenue growth of 23 per cent in 2010, rising from the $1.7 billion (£1.1 billion) which was reported in 2009 to hit $2.1 billion.

Rohit Mehra, director of enterprise communications infrastructure at IDC, said: 'Unlike other markets that were ravaged by the recession, economic uncertainty and the structural causes of the downturn did not change the fundamental drivers for the growth of wireless in the enterprise.'

Earlier this month, IDC claimed that the worldwide storage software market could be set for recovery, after revenues in the first quarter of 2010 rose by 7.2 per cent on the year before.

Govt to establish migrant worker cap

The coalition government has proposed a cap on the number of workers coming into the UK from outside of Europe.

Home secretary Theresa May announced plans to reduce net migration to the levels seen in the 1990s, with tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands of people entering the country, and said a migrant worker limit is one way of supporting this goal.

A 12-week consultation with businesses will now take place to determine exactly what the final cap should be, while an interim limit will he established in the meantime to ensure the number of work visas issued remains under 2009 levels.

Ms May said: 'Alongside limits will be action to get Britain back to work and provide business with the skills they need from the resident workforce.'

Commenting on the development, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation expressed concerns that it could hamper the UK's economic recovery.

Kevin Green, chief executive of the group, said that restricting the number of workers coming into the UK could exacerbate the country's skills shortage problem.

PCG: Contracting is a positive work option

Contract working can be a rewarding career choice for many people, an expert has claimed.

John Brazier, managing director of contractors' group PCG, said that the freelancing industry is an expanding and important sector of the UK economy and it appears that the coalition government will be supportive of it.

However, he also pointed out that the sector has benefits for its members as well as the wider economy, commenting: 'More and more people see the potential of freelancing as a positive and rewarding choice for their work while enhancing their lifestyle.'

Mr Brazier went on to discuss recent suggestions that the problematic IR35 tax rule is to be scrapped and said he hopes the regulation is replaced with a fairer and more transparent regime.

According to the PCG, there are 1.4 million freelance workers currently operating in the UK, contributing around £82 billion a year to the country's gross domestic product.

Firms 'should not cut security spending'

Businesses have been urged to maintain their spending on security solutions, which may be good news for IT jobs.

Recent research by intelligence and investigation management software solutions specialist ABM found that 29 per cent of companies have reduced their spending on IT security in the past two years, despite around half seeing an increase in offences such as theft and fraud.

Neil Munroe, external affairs director for Equifax, said reducing investment in security during times of economic difficulty can be short-sighted, as offences like fraud tend to become more common in these conditions.

'People get increasingly desperate, and you find therefore that there is a lot more temptation for these things to happen inside businesses,' he recommended.

Mr Munroe also pointed out that many security tools have been designed to monitor crimes such as fraud or employee theft without requiring the company to divert a great deal of manpower towards it.

IR35 'has been a problem for years'

The UK's temporary and freelance workers have viewed the IR35 tax system as problematic for a number of years, an expert has pointed out.

Last week, chancellor George Osborne used his emergency Budget to reiterate the coalition government's plans to review the current state of small business taxation in the UK, including IR35.

John Brazier, managing director of freelancers' organisation PCG, suggested reasons why the regime should be scrapped, pointing out that it has led to 'great heartache' for many people.

'IR35 is a cumbersome and ill thought out piece of legislation that has been a blight to freelance workers for over ten years,' he commented.

Mr Brazier also said the rules have been ineffective in boosting revenues for HM Revenue and Customs, claiming that in the 1,500 IR35 cases his group has been involved in, just ten proved that the contractor owed the government money.

However, the expert called on the government to ensure that any replacement for IR35 is well thought-out, in order to prevent similar problems from occurring in the future.

UK pensions 'to be repaired'

The coalition government has unveiled proposals to 'reform and repair' the UK's pension system, which may affect those seeking new IT jobs.

Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith and pensions minister Steve Webb revealed that the link between earnings and the state pension will be restored from 2011, while a consultation will be launched into how fast the default retirement age can be phased out.

In addition, the government has asked for input from the public and interested parties on whether the state pension age can be increased to 66 and an independent review by three experts will examine how auto-enrolment can work most effectively.

Mr Duncan Smith commented: 'Everyone needs to take responsibility for achieving the income in retirement they aspire to. We will support them in doing so by giving people the chance to save into a workplace pension.'

Recently, Caledonia Asset Management managing director Gordon Forbes claimed that an increase in the state pension age is 'inevitable'. He also called for mandatory pension contributions to be introduced in the UK.

REC welcomes auto-enrolment review

Government plans to review the rollout of automatic-enrolment into workplace pensions has been welcomed by an industry organisation.

The Department for Work and Pensions announced that an independent review of how auto enrolment can be implemented in the UK will be carried out by three experts.

Paul Johnson, who will lead the team, said it is an 'important' study for the future of the UK's pension system and will build on the work already carried out by the Pensions Commission.

Commenting on the announcement, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said it has persistently called for a review into the auto enrolment, so its effect on the temporary and flexible labour market can be examined.

REC head of public policy Anne Fairweather commented: 'This is a big win and provides us with a great opportunity to argue our case for a more flexible implementation of auto enrolment measures.'

She also called on the government to adopt a 'common-sense approach' to the scheme, as it has the potential to inflict a great deal of bureaucracy on recruitment agencies.

Creative industries 'offer an economic boost'

The government should recognise the contribution that the videogame sector and other creative industries make to the UK's economy, according to an expert.

In Tuesday's (June 22nd) emergency Budget, chancellor George Osborne revealed that he will not bring in tax relief for the country's videogame industry, as he believes such a break would be 'poorly targeted'.

However, MCV, Develop and CasualGaming.biz editor-in-chief Michael French said that the chancellor appears to have written off the industry without giving it a great deal of thought.

'His choice of words - 'poorly targeted' - is probably what hurts the most. A games tax break would not be poorly targeted. The creative industries are a massive economy driver,' Mr French commented.

The expert added that it was not surprising to find that the tax relief, which had been pledged by the previous Labour administration, was scrapped, as the government needs to cut public spending and reduce the UK's deficit.

Growth predicted for public cloud services

New research has tipped global revenues from public IT cloud services to see significant growth in the coming years, which may be good news for those seeking IT jobs.

A new report from IT industry analyst IDC predicted that the sector will experience a compound annual growth rate of 27.4 per cent, taking revenues from around $16 billion (£10.8 billion) in 2009 to $55.5 billion in 2014.

The study also pointed out that this is more than five times higher than the five per cent annual growth rate which has been forecast for the traditional IT products market.

Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC, commented: 'The cloud model will propel IT market growth and expansion for the next 20 years and will help the industry to more rapidly develop and distribute a new generation of killer apps.'

This week, IT industry researcher Gartner claimed that the global cloud services market will see revenues increase by 16.6 per cent in the coming year to reach $68.3 billion.

External IT service providers 'not offering satisfaction'

A new poll has found that IT directors are unhappy with the service they receive from third-party providers, which may lead to them creating more in-house IT jobs.

Research commissioned by eTask Technologies and carried out by Winmark discovered that when asked to mark their external service providers out of ten, the majority gave them less than five.

The overall mean satisfaction score issued stood a 4.9. In the software development sector, the average was 5.1 while it came in at 5.9 for software services management.

Alex Wright, researcher at Winmark, described the figures as 'worrying' and said service firms should expect to receive satisfaction scores of eight or higher.

'To be around, or even lower, than the five mark suggests that IT services providers have got a long way to go to deliver the value that IT directors are looking for,' he added.

Last month, industry analyst Gartner predicted that global enterprise IT spending will increase by 4.1 per cent in 2010, to reach $2.4 trillion (£1.7 trillion).

Small companies 'looking towards unified communications'

Small and medium-sized enterprises are likely to increase their uptake of unified communications, it has been suggested, which may create new IT jobs.

A new report from IT industry researcher Frost & Sullivan predicted that many smaller businesses will turn to the solution as they attempt to match the advanced communications systems used by their larger counterparts.

In addition, the research noted that unified communications allow firms to benefit from cutting-edge features without demanding they invest a large sum in infrastructure and maintenance.

Dorota Oviedo, industry analyst for the unified communications and collaboration group at Frost & Sullivan, said: 'From small start-up to large organisation, just about every company can benefit from productivity gains that unified communications solutions can provide.'

Recently, Frost & Sullivan research claimed that an increasing number of firms will begin to deploy unified communications in their organisations in an attempt to meet their green IT targets.

IT professionals 'would miss World Cup final to respond to emergency'

Those in IT jobs are so committed they would miss the final of the World Cup if needed, new research has shown.

A survey performed by Tufin Technologies polled more than 241 UK professionals based in the UK and discovered that 87 per cent would work rather than watch the World Cup final if a major problem occurred during the match.

Shaul Efraim, vice president of products, marketing and business development at Tufin Technologies, said: 'Although there have been many reports of people skiving to watch the matches … our study shows that many network defenders won't be taking their eye off the ball.'

The organisation also noted that its findings contrast with recent research from the Chartered Management Institute, which suggested that employees taking time off to catch World Cup games could damage the UK's productivity.

Earlier this month, Ipswitch network management division president Ennio Carboni said that businesses face bandwidth chokes and outages on their networks if too many of their workers try to watch the World Cup while in the office.

Gartner forecasts growth for cloud services market

Revenues in the global cloud services market are expected to grow by 16.6 per cent in the coming year, research claims, which may be good news for IT jobs.

The latest report by IT industry analyst Gartner predicted that sales in the sector will rise from the $58.6 billion (£39.7 billion) recorded in 2009 to reach $68.3 billion in 2010.

In addition, the forecast claimed that worldwide cloud services revenues will exceed $148 billion by 2014.

Ben Pring, research vice president at Gartner, explained: 'We are seeing an acceleration of adoption of cloud computing and cloud services among enterprises and an explosion of supply-side activity as technology providers manoeuvre to exploit the growing commercial opportunity.'

He also said that IT managers are considering cloud service deployments from a strategic viewpoint and looking at how to use them more effectively as the technology achieves a greater dominance.

Last week, Origin Storage managing director Andy Cordial suggested that physical data storage could be preferable to cloud services for companies which are concerned about highly sensitive information.

Budget 2010 'will support jobs'

The emergency Budget announced by chancellor George Osborne yesterday (June 22nd) could help the UK's jobs market, it has been claimed.

Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), applauded Mr Osborne for placing reform of the country's business taxation regime at the core of the Budget.

'It is clear that the private sector will need to grow jobs as the public sector sheds them, and this Budget sets the framework for this to happen,' he commented.

Mr Green also welcomed the decision to scrap the proposed rise in national insurance contributions, as this would have reduced the willingness of companies to employ temporary staff.

Furthermore, the chief executive said that the reduction in the rates of corporation and small business tax will bring new jobs to the UK economy, because it could make Britain a more attractive location to do business.

Richard Lambert, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, claimed that the chancellor's Budget is an 'important step' on the road to economic recovery.

World Cup 'will take down some networks'

IT network managers have been reminded of the problems which could be caused as the World Cup is played out in South Africa.

Nigel Hawthorn, vice president of European, Middle Eastern and African marketing at Blue Coat Systems, said that corporate networks tend to see an increased amount of traffic during major sporting events and claimed the impact of the World Cup could be severe.

'Many of the matches are being played during the UK working day and I predict that at kick off someone's network is going to die,' he commented.

Mr Hawthorn also said that the problems caused by increased video streaming during the World Cup will lead to internet service providers receiving more complaints about congestion.

Recent research from PricewaterhouseCoopers claimed that just seven per cent of people in the UK will watch England's World Cup matches online, but more people predict they will do this for future tournaments.

Firms 'need to protect mobile equipment'

Companies are failing to ensure their mobile devices are adequately protected, an expert has argued.

Alex Donnelly, a portfolio manager at Damovo UK, told IT security consultants that many businesses do not know where their mobile devices are being used or which workers are in control of them.

However, he pointed out that equipment such as laptops and smartphones should be subject to the company's IT policies and said firms should look at solutions such as mobile device management to allow this.

'With mobile device management, IT departments can now encompass mobile devices within the same policies as other computer users so whatever is allowed on a desktop machine can be allowed on a mobile device,' the expert continued.

Mr Donnelly added that the solution permits businesses to restrict what information a mobile device is allowed to access, helping to protect IT security.

A recent poll by CREDANT Technologies found that 52 per cent of firms do not encrypt their mobile data, while only 11 per cent safeguard their mobile equipment by using passwords.

Wales invests £15m in worker skills

An investment of £15 million has been made to boost the skills of workers in south-east Wales.

Deputy minister for science, innovation and skills Lesley Griffiths announced that the scheme will cover six counties in the region and benefit more than 16,000 employees.

Running in Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taf, the Working Skills for Adults initiative will offer staff the opportunity to gather new qualifications and skills, while employers can specify which training they need to increase productivity.

The scheme will allow workers to develop general skills that can transferred between jobs, such as IT and Welsh language, as well as giving them access to specialised NVQ programmes.

Ms Griffiths commented: 'Improving skills and qualifications will help increase job prospects and secure long-term, sustainable employment for workers in south-east Wales.'

Last month, the Welsh Assembly's new Skills Growth Wales programme provided training to 70 workers at FSG Tool and Die to allow them to develop their higher-level technological skills.

SNMS market 'set for continued growth'

The systems and network management software (SNMS) market in western European saw growth during 2009, it has been revealed, which may be good news for IT jobs.

A new report by IT industry analyst IDC showed that revenues in the SNMS sector rose by four per cent last year to exceed $4 billion (£5.9 billion), despite the difficult economy.

In addition, the research predicted that the market will experience a compound annual growth rate of seven per cent to take revenues to $5.7 billion a year by 2014.

Patrik Bihammar, research manager of infrastructure software at IDC Europe, commented: 'While the global economic crisis clearly did have an impact on the European SNMS market in 2009, the sector proved more resilient than many other IT and software markets.'

He also claimed that companies will continue to invest in SNMS solutions because they can help them to achieve goals such as improving efficiency in IT management and reducing costs.

Earlier this month, IDC research claimed that there was a 16.4 per cent rise in shipments in the European, Middle Eastern and African server market during the opening three months of 2010, when compared to the previous year.

Broadband problems 'will impact UK economy'

Improving the UK's broadband infrastructure is essential if the economy is to thrive, an expert has claimed.

Andrew Ferguson, editor of thinkbroadband.com, said that the UK still has an opportunity to 'play catch-up' and improve its internet services so they are competitive with the infrastructure of other countries.

However, he added that if steps are not taken soon by the government and communications firms to improve broadband provision, the UK economy could start to suffer.

'The risk is not really that we will have to wait a few extra minutes for material to download, but that new content services will simply not appear in the UK for some years,' Mr Ferguson explained.

In addition, the expert stressed the need for fast broadband to be rolled out in both rural and urban areas. He also claimed that users in large cities can often experience slow speeds, due to the sheer number of people using the service.

Earlier this month, culture, Olympics, media and sport secretary Jeremy Hunt announced that plans are being examined to bridge the superfast internet gap between urban and rural communities.

Conditions 'improve slightly in Scottish jobs market'

The Scottish labour market showed signs of improvement last month, the Bank of Scotland has claimed, but conditions are not entirely positive.

According to the organisation's latest Report on Jobs, both the permanent and temporary sectors in the country experienced an increase in appointments in May.

Furthermore, there was an improvement in the number of vacancies open to Scottish jobseekers during the month.

However, the report added: 'There was nevertheless evidence that the labour market recovery lost some momentum in May, with employment and pay rising at weaker rates, while candidate availability growth accelerated.'

The Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer - a snapshot of employment conditions in the country - was moved from 54.3 points to 52.3 in reflection of this.

Last week, the Office for National Statistics revealed that unemployment in the UK has grown to include 2.47 million people, showing an increase of 23,000 in the three months to April.

Corporate social media 'needs to be managed'

Most companies are failing to effectively manage their use of social media, an expert has suggested, which may interest those seeking a new IT job.

Doug Miles, UK managing director at the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) Europe, said many firms accept that web 2.0 platforms such as blogs and social networks can have strong business benefits, but stressed the importance of them being used properly.

Speaking at the AIIM Roadshow 2010, the expert commented: 'Things like Twitter and blogs and that kind of thing, instant messages, are all horrendously unmanaged. Organisations are really not taking those on board as something that can actually cause issues.'

However, he noted that there have already been several reported examples of firms suffering IT security problems which have been caused by their lack of effective social media management.

Last month, Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley claimed that hackers are starting to target their malware attacks at social networks, as they are an easy way to breach IT systems.

Labour market 'set to be uncertain'

IT job applicants face a 'very fickle' labour market in the coming years, an expert has warned.

Stephen Overell, associate director for the Work Foundation, said that the latest figures from the government suggest that conditions in the jobs market are starting to show signs of stabilisation, although unemployment has increased slightly in the three months to April.

However, he pointed out that there is uncertainty about whether spending cuts in the public sector will further increase unemployment figures. In addition, the expert claimed that the private sector is not expanding quickly enough to offset this potential issue.

'All that adds up to a very uncertain picture. I think it is going to be very, very fickle in the labour market and in employment in the years ahead,' Mr Overell added.

This week, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that there was an increase of 23,000 in the number of people unemployed in the UK over the three months to April, taking the total to 2.47 million.

Physical storage 'offers firms more data control'

Businesses should consider using physical data storage if they are concerned about the security of cloud computing, chief information officers have been told.

A recent study by Business Week found that the use of cloud computing can reduce a company's storage costs by 20 to 25 per cent, but many organisations are still concerned by the security offered by the solution.

The poll discovered that the main issue with cloud storage is firms not knowing exactly where their data is being held and who has access to it.

Andy Cordial, managing director at Origin Storage, said that companies worried about this should consider using physical storage, as it allows them to monitor their data more closely.

'Physical storage puts you in control and not a third party. I would always recommend physical over cloud if the data you are storing is highly sensitive,' he explained.

The expert added that cloud computing will always have the possibility that a third party can access the stored data, as the solution relies on an external organisation overseeing its administration.

Unemployment increases to 2.47m

There was an increase of 23,000 in the number of people unemployed in the UK during the three months to April, official figures have revealed.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), unemployment reached 2.47 million in the period, with the unemployment rate increasing from 7.8 per cent in the quarter to January to 7.9 per cent.

However, the report also showed that the number of people on jobseeker's allowance dropped by 30,900 to 1.48 million in May, while employment did rise in some areas such as the north-east and Wales.

'The number of vacancies for the three months to May 2010 was 492,000, up 7,000 over the quarter. All industrial sectors showed small movements in vacancies over the quarter,' the ONS added.

Recent figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) revealed that a third of companies expect they will increase their temporary workforces in the coming months.

It also showed that a balance of nine per cent of employers intend to take on new permanent staff.