Have you considered lying on your CV? A survey from StaffCircle found that 32% out of 1,500 people lied in the past on their CVs, and it also revealed that 63% of respondents would lie, or rather be seriously tempted to lie again in the future.

Lies in the CV are complex problems to solve. HR departments need to employ a variety of tools to catch these liars. Rigorous background checks are an essential part of the toolkit.

What else can companies learn from the new survey?

Which age demographic are more prone to bending the truth?

The survey found the most likely demographic to fabricate parts of their CV were the 25-34-year-olds. 35-44-year-olds were the second most likely group to lie, followed by the 18-24-year olds.

Why are employees so dishonest to get the job they want? The most common lies tell the tale of the pressures candidates feel in the job market. The survey found the top three thing to  are:

1.      Work experience

Over 50% of the 1,500 people surveyed admitted they lied to cover their lack of experience. It is a common conception that when it comes to recruiting people for roles, experience is absolutely critical.

A lack of experience can hurt, even for entry-level roles. Many candidates might feel compelled to add a few extra years to their CVs to make their experience look more impressive.

Focusing too closely on work experience can hurt candidates and employers. It is important to pay attention to the candidate’s talents and abilities. Many transferable skills could help perform in many jobs, even if the candidate doesn’t have enough years’ work experience under their belt.

2.      Skills

38% of respondents said they lied about their skills in their CVs. They could have over-exaggerated their capabilities to get into more senior roles.

Skill-based lies are hard to spot. Thorough background checks can help spot lies about work experience, but lies about skills are different. Companies should place greater care on using competency-based techniques during the interview process. They can help identify candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.

3.      Previous salary

26% of people said they had told lies about their previous salary. Giving an impression of a higher salary in the previous role could help attract a better salary in the new job. But companies can spot salary-based lies with proper background checks. Tax paperwork reveals a candidate’s salary information, which is something organisations should check.

Are lies on a CV a good idea?

The survey revealed that 93% of those who had lied didn’t get caught, and at the time of the survey, 40% of them still had the position they had lied to get. Candidates who resorted to lies didn’t agree with the benefits, however, 58% of them said lies didn’t give them a competitive advantage; they didn’t think the lies boosted their career success.

The temptation to lie can always be there, but the consequences of getting caught are real. 14 out of the 1,500 respondents had faced legal action after they got caught. Candidates who lie could damage their reputation in the job market.

How can a liar be caught?

The survey highlights the many problems companies and candidates can face. The recruitment process doesn’t always work, and liars can slip through. Hiring a candidate who has lied can mean the wrong person ends up in the job.

An efficient employee performance management system can allow companies to evaluate high-level skills and assess if there are skills gaps in the workforce. Companies can understand their employees and how qualified they are to perform a job role.

Additionally, companies need to use rigorous background checks during the recruitment process. It’s crucial to also focus on candidates’ skills and competency. Skill-based interview techniques and further assessment after hiring are the keys to unleashing the full potential of potential and current employees. Finding the right person for the job requires a good understanding of what the role requires.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post New UK Survey Reveals the Most Common Lies Candidates Tell on CVs appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

As we enter a new decade, 58% of small businesses in the UK anticipate a plateau, or for their SMEs to struggle to stay in business. Only 1 in 4 predict to see growth. But not everything is bad news, here we also provide 5 tips that businesses can use to stay afloat in the digital era.

A new report, which surveyed 1,000 small business owners and sole traders across the country has been carried out by financial technology experts, Takepayments Limited, unveiling a snapshot of the small business landscape in the UK. It uncovers key challenges for small businesse and tips on how business owners can secure a more consistent cash flow.

Below the report unveils the five biggest reasons why SMEs are struggling to stay afloat in a digital era.

Why SMEs are struggling to stay afloat in a digital era

Needing to chase late payments

Even if you are a business to consumer (B2C) company, the likelihood is you will still need to manage some partnerships and affiliations with suppliers etc. Perhaps you are providing a service or a product to another business and therefore, charging for the exchange. One worrying issue for small businesses that have to deal in a B2B scenario, is waiting for others to pay their invoices for the sale of your goods/service.

Whilst wanting to maintain a positive working relationship between your business and theirs, when people do not pay their invoice on time, it leaves you short-handed for that months revenue and cash flow can become tight.

46% of small businesses have admitted to consistently needing to chase late payments with over half of them claiming that late payments have a worrying impact on cash flow.

The Uncertainty of Invoicing

As a small business, you do not have the luxury of sending all your money related tasks to the tax & finance department and will most likely have to do this yourself, unless you have someone externally handling all your businesses finance.

For those running a small business, well over half  (63%) claim that they are “self-taught” about tax and invoicing. All whilst, 39% say that they aren’t confident using online banking for work. Struggling to invoice effectively can result in a much slower process of receiving money, especially if the invoice needs to be amended and sent back to the supplier or there are important details missing.

Therefore, it will come at no surprise that the better part of half (45%) of business owners say that finding funding to grow their business is holding it back.

Little to no tech support

Over half of SME’s have claimed that they have little to no tech support, and are having to figure things out for themselves as they go along. Unlike a larger corporate who have entire teams to solve all types of IT or development issues, they must press on and do what they can with limited knowledge.

With 47% having a lack in website creation and management skills, it is apparent that it is one of the key problems that is holding small business owners back in a digital era, where consumers expect to be able to find everything they need in the click of a finger.

From issues with having poor WI-FI in their business location (39%) to struggling with online competition (45%), SME’s are now expected to be tech guru’s to stay in business.

The fear of a cashless society

Digital payment systems such as EPOS and pin machines are an expected method of payment to consumers now, with contactless limits getting higher and minimum spend becoming lower, there is a burden and expectation for small businesses to support the payment process of a becoming cashless society.

Sandra Rowley, Head of Marketing at Takepayments Limited, commented about this that:“Pricing structure and cash flow are both key to driving a business forward and yet for small businesses, many have had no or very little training. There are plenty of online courses available but, it’s not just training that can help.

Technology such as Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) systems can be beneficial in giving key insights real-time to business performance, saving time on accounts and getting a true reflection of what products and services achieve the best margin.

Our study revealed that 49% of small businesses have seen a decrease in consumer spending and so implementing technology to improve your business could be a smart step to help overcome a variety of finance-related challenges.”

42% of SME’s said that turning into a cashless society will negatively impact their business. This majority comes from the 40% that feel l overwhelmed by digital payment systems such as EPOS and chip and pin machines. If there is little advice, training and aftercare in the setup, it can be a daunting task tracking your income from EPOS machines, over counting cold hard cash.

A lack of social media marketing knowledge

The report revealed that Facebook was the most preferred social media network to market a business. The popularity of social media such as Instagram and more image/video-led content, like TikTok, are very high engagement sites but must be utilised properly from a business perspective.

Nearly HALF (47%) of small business owners are struggling to do little if any social media marketing due to their lack of knowledge. Social media can be a cheap we to extend and gauge new audiences, however, with little knowledge small business owners are worried about keeping up on social media marketing and therefore, missing out on sales opportunities.

From the results in the report, it will come at no surprise that the better part of half (45%) of business owners say that finding funding to grow their business is holding it back and they will struggle just to stay afloat.

5 Tips For Small Businesses

Sandra Rowley, Head of Marketing at Takepayments Limited provides 5 tips for small businesses

1. Face technology head-on:

Technology can be daunting but, it brings with it so many advantages. Whether you look to implement new systems or improve old ones, businesses need to make sure they are adapting alongside the rest of society. You could be alienating some customers by not keeping up.

2. Review company sustainability and ethics:

51% of small businesses have noticed clients/customers are caring more about sustainability over the past year. This trend is set to grow further in 2020 and businesses need to make it a consideration in all areas, from supply chain to décor, employee wellbeing and product packaging.

3. Get online:

With the local high street struggling, businesses need to look to other platforms to grow such as online channels. 52% say social media has helped their business grow and gain new customers but a lack of knowledge in how to do this is holding people back.

4. Take care of your work-life balance:

Small business owners are known for being hard workers, 1 in 6 do not take 2 rest days (non-workdays) per week and only around half (57%) stick to a 48-hour working week or less. Make 2020 the year you implement a healthier work-life balance for yourself and your team. Though your working less, productivity levels are likely to improve.

5. Keep up to date on EU news and changes:

There will be plenty of change over the year following Britain’s exit from the EU, so make sure to stay up to date with news. Especially if your business is reliant on imports and exports. 42% are worried about potential changes to rules regarding this.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post 5 Reasons Why SMEs Struggle To Stay In Business (And 5 Tips To Stay Afloat) appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Concerns about climate change and its impact on the future of society are growing among the population. In fact, as a new report from Deloitte and the independent public services think tank, Reform, shows the UK public would be supportive of firmer government interventions to tackle climate change, whilst social care and housing are stronger priorities for public spending. The survey also reveals that the majority want to see more investment in public services – even if that means tax rises.

The data was compiled by Ipsos MORI which surveyed 1,300 adults across the UK, and features in The State of the State 2019-20, Deloitte and Reform’s annual report on government and public services. The report also features feedback from 50 senior public sector figures and from an online crowd conversation with 240 frontline public sector professionals.

Jayson Hadley, head of government and public services consulting at Deloitte, said: “This report is published against a backdrop of fast-moving politics but it casts a spotlight on the long-term domestic issues that matter most to people in the UK. People clearly want to be reassured that public services are getting the investment they need, and the longstanding issues of social care and housing appear to be seen as needing attention.

“It’s also striking that concerns over climate change have increased and the public wants the government to act – but the good news is that the UK is already leading the way on its environmental commitments.”

Climate concerns heat up

Public concerns over the future of the environment have risen sharply in the past year, against a backdrop of stark warnings from the United Nations and widespread climate activism. More than half the public (51%) now fear the environment is set to get worse (up from 37% in 2018).

A majority of the public would be supportive of more ambitious government interventions including:

• 69% think environmentally-friendly options should be cheaper such as public transport;

• 66% think the government should provide more information to people on how to lead a more environmentally-friendly life;

• 65% think the government should do more to ban environmentally unfriendly products, such as lead petrol or non-recyclable items; and,

• 58% support greater taxes on environmentally unfriendly products to make them more expensive.

Shifting priorities

The survey also asked about the balance of tax and spending on public services. It found the public are eager for greater investment with six in ten respondents (58%) believing there should be more government services, even if it means some increases to taxes. This is up from 46% in 2009.

However, there are signs that public priorities are shifting as people move from thinking about protecting public services to consider what should be prioritised in future. The NHS, education and policing remain the public’s top three priorities. However, social care for the elderly (30% of the public placed this in their top three priorities, up from 25% who wanted to protect this from cuts in 2018) and housing (20% placed this in their top three, up from 11% who wanted to protect this from cuts in 2018) are stronger priorities for where the public want to see greater investment.

The survey uncovered views on infrastructure spending. Some 41% of the public believe their local area gets less than its fair share of investment, particularly in Wales and the north of England, at 61% and 56% respectively. This is compared to only 26% in London with 28% believing they get more than their fair share of investment – the highest of all the regions.

Charlotte Pickles, director at Reform, said: “The public are pessimistic that public services will improve in the coming years, and there is rising concern about the crises in social care and housing.

“People want government to act and are prepared to pay more in tax to fund better provision.

“As we head towards an election, Parties need to put forward a positive post-austerity vision for Britain – and one that includes a sustainable solution for social care.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Climate Change: Public Concerns Increase As Well As The Support Of A Firmer Government Intervention appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

• KPMG and PwC are Britain’s biggest recruiters of cyber security experts, with EY and Deloitte close behind – making the ‘Big Four’ the country’s top four cyber hirers
• The top ten cyber hirers are dominated by financial firms, but household names Vodafone and Sainsbury’s also feature
• ‘IT security specialist’ – which pays an average salary of £45,722 – is the most in-demand cyber security role in the UK, with nearly three times as many vacancies as second placed ‘security engineer’

KPMG and PwC are comfortably the UK’s top cyber recruiters, according to new data released by the world’s largest job site, Indeed. In fact, both companies are hiring a large proportion of cyber security specialists, with cyber roles accounting for one in every 17 (5.95%) new KPMG recruits and one in 20 (5.08%) new hires at PwC.

The two other members of the accountancy sector’s ‘Big Four’, EY and Deloitte, complete the cyber hirers’ top four, with cyber roles making up 1.99% and 1.47% respectively of their current job vacancies.

Bill Richards, UK Managing Director of the global job site Indeed, commented: “By definition accountancy firms need to store lots of sensitive financial information, and they therefore require robust cyber defences. Nevertheless it’s striking that the ‘Big Four’ dominate all four top spots in our league table of the UK’s most prolific cyber hirers. Another telling observation is how the list comprises entirely of private sector companies as the corporate world builds digital defence lines.”

Despite accountancy firms concerns, other sectors’ giants are also on the lookout for new IT talent. In this regard, Giant Vodafone ranks fifth for cyber recruitment, while the rest of the top 20 includes a large contingent of financial and technology firms, with the supermarket Sainsbury’s the sole retailer to make the list.

Cyber employees are more highly sought after than ever in the UK, with Indeed seeing an increase of 14.58% in cyber postings per million vacancies from 2017 to 2018.

“The critical importance of their work, the skill and discretion it requires, and strong demand from employers have combined to drive up cyber professionals’ salaries. Cyber security is both a hot topic and a lucrative profession right now,” added Bill Richards.

The most sought after cyber roles can be highly lucrative. All the most in-demand positions offer an average annual salary above the national average of £27,600, with the top five paying a combined average of £45,851 a year.

Leading the way is the role of ‘IT security specialist’, which has nearly three times as much demand among employers as the second placed ‘security engineer’.

Behind them are ‘security consultant’ and ‘information security analyst’, with ‘IT auditor’ completing the top five.

“[This survey] is telling that many large organisations now talk of ‘critical’ infrastructure rather than ‘IT’ infrastructure. Every aspect of a modern company relies on its IT, and the growing threat of cyber attack and tightening of privacy laws means demand is rising fast for professionals who are able to protect companies’ most precious information,” concluded Mr Richards.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Cybersecurity Jobs: Financial Firms Dominate The Top Ten Cyber Hirers In The UK appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

A new global study finds that while the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is low today, it is expected to create increased revenue, productivity, profitability and shareholder value for businesses within two years. Overall, only 16 percent of business leaders surveyed perceive they are currently garnering significant value from advanced AI. However, AI programs are being fast-tracked and that number is expected to more than triple to 52 percent within the next two years. This is according to a new report, “Competing in the Cognitive Age: How companies will transform their businesses and drive value through advanced AI,” by global consulting firm Protiviti in collaboration with ESI ThoughtLab.

To understand how companies will transform their businesses through applications of advanced AI technologies and the benefits they expect to gain, Protiviti and ESI ThoughtLab conducted a global survey of 300 senior executives across functions, industries and company sizes in the third quarter of 2018. The study found that nearly one third of all respondents perceive their organization’s use of advanced AI is ahead of their competitors, and 92 percent of those respondents expect to see high/very high value from AI in two years.

This follows already heavy investments in the technology – Protiviti found that, on average, surveyed companies spent $36 million each on AI in their last fiscal year, and they expect this average to grow eight percent over the next two years.

“AI is not solely the domain of ‘born digital’ companies; it’s for all organizations,” said Madhumita Bhattacharyya, a managing director in Protiviti’s Technology Consulting practice. “Executives are realizing that adoption and significant investment are required to maintain competitiveness in the market. With access to increased data from multiple touch points and powerful computing technologies, identifying the right applications that are relevant and aligned to the business goals is the equation that companies are trying to solve.”

Asia-Pacific & the Technology Industry Report the Most Value from AI

Protiviti evaluated the survey data by company, region, industry segment and size to discover which vertical industry segments are gaining the greatest benefits from AI today. Asia-Pacific companies are leading the way in driving business improvements with AI technology, with 35 percent reporting that advanced AI is currently providing ‘significant value’ to their business, compared to 14 percent of companies in North America and 7 percent of companies in EMEA.

According to the survey, technology companies are leading the way with 28 percent observing significant value today, followed by the healthcare industry (15 percent), financial services (12 percent) and consumer products (9 percent).

Obstacles Identified

Despite some notable progress in deploying advanced AI, the report outlines several crucial challenges that many companies continue to face. The top five challenges, according to the survey, are:

1. Uncertain ROI
2. Cybersecurity/data privacy
3. Deciding on best applications
4. Regulatory constraints
5. Limited AI skills/talent

The Promise of AI

As detailed in the Protiviti report, the most successful AI programs address these challenges by providing decision-makers with compelling proofs of concept and well-planned pilots – that can potentially be scaled to other parts of the organization later – and by creating in-house AI development programs to train their existing workforce.

“We find that companies tend to focus on the technology rather than the business outcomes when it comes to adopting AI and machine learning,” said Ron Lefferts, a Protiviti managing director and leader of the firm’s global Technology Consulting practice. “An organization’s leaders need to start with a very clear picture of the business problem they want advanced AI to help solve.”

“There is more data collected today than any one person could possibly analyze, but by using AI we can analyze large volumes of data to find patterns or improve operations. This analysis provides us with greater insights to help guide decision-making and reduce risk. That’s transformative,” said Shaheen Dil, a senior managing director with Protiviti.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Companies Put Artificial Intelligence on Fast Track, Says New Survey appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Android owners are more likely to clumsily crack, crush and smash their devices than iPhone users are, according to new data which has been revealed by gadget insurance provider Protect Your Bubble.

More than three quarters (76.2%) of Android and non-IOS users who submitted a claim to the insurance provider cited ‘accidental damage’ as the reason behind their device’s plight.

By comparison, just 62% of iPhone owners who claimed on their insurance cited the same reason.

But while the analysis of mobile phone claims made to Protect Your Bubble in 2017 suggests iPhone owners are, on the whole, more careful, the insurer’s data reveals Apple fans were more likely to water-damage their phones.

Just 4.4% of Android owners claimed for water damage, while 11.1% of iPhone owners did so during the same period.

Intriguingly, female iPhone owners were the most likely group to drown their devices, with 12.6% citing ‘liquid damage’ as the reason for their claim. Meanwhile, just 8.9% of male iPhone owners claimed for water damage, while 5.2% of female Android owners did so as well as just 3.6% of male Android users.

Protect Your Bubble also found Millennials were clumsier than pensioners, with 80% of 21 to 35-year-olds claiming for ‘accidental damage’ and ‘loss’ combined. By contrast, only 73% of over-65s submitted claims to Protect Your Bubble for the same reasons.

However, the older generation was still more likely to drop their devices in water, with 10.7% of pensioners claiming for water damage, compared to just 7.8% of Millennials.

James Brown, director of gadget insurance provider Protect Your Bubble, comments: “Our research shows that we are unquestionably a nation of butter-fingered Brits. There are few feelings worse than scooping up a once pristine smartphone from the ground and flipping it over to reveal a smashed screen or worse. Sadly, our data proves ‘accidental damage’ is the overwhelming cause of gadget mortality, with 65.2% of our customers submitting claims for this reason in 2017.

“But what raises eyebrows further is that iPhone owners are clearly substantially worse at keeping their devices above water level. One of the many causes of liquid damage is dropping a phone in the loo. Not only is someone confronted with the unpleasant task of fishing around in toilet for their device, but their phone is often rendered useless after.

“Although scrolling through Facebook or Instagram has today replaced reading the paper as the go-to pass-time while visiting the WC, you might want to think twice about whipping out your device if you haven’t got insurance.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Android Owners Are More Clumsy Than iPhone Users, Reveals New Survey appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The golden quarter (October – December) is fast approaching, but many retail businesses are not actually ready for the onset of increased website traffic this usually brings, according to new research.

A survey of 1,021 UK workers carried out by leading digital marketing agency, MarketingSignals, revealed that more than 1 in 3 retail businesses (39%) admit their website is not yet ready for the uplift in golden quarter website traffic.

In fact, more than 1 in 7 (16%) say they are still unsure as to when they are likely to start preparing for this key period.

When quizzed on the specific ways in which retail businesses were not ready for the golden quarter, 37% said that their website was not yet fully device responsive.

In addition, a further 31% revealed they hadn’t performed any load testing on their website, ahead of the onset of golden quarter traffic, meaning some retailers could potentially see their website crashing as a result.

More than 1 in 4 (27%) also revealed that they hadn’t started to prepare or plan their PPC campaigns for this busy period of business.

This was followed by a further 22% who say they didn’t have analytics for their website set up correctly, meaning that performance over this period can’t be measured accurately.

Not fully optimising the navigation of the website for UX (14%) completed the list of the top five ways many retail businesses aren’t yet prepared for the start of the golden quarter.

Gareth Hoyle, managing director at MarketingSignals comments: “The research shows there are many ways that online retail businesses are not ready for one of the busiest times of the year for online shopping – the golden quarter. With events such as Black Friday and Christmas contained within this period, it is vital that retail businesses have their website fully prepared for the increase in online shoppers, so they can reap the rewards of this busy trading period.

“To maximise sales turnover during this period, businesses need an integrated approach to e-commerce so that all customer demands are understood.  It is for this reason that it is so important that businesses plan well in advance, as knowing whether your site can cope with some of the busiest shopping periods of the year can make the difference between a bumper earning period or a company wide disaster.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post 1 in 3 Retail Businesses Still Need to Get Ready For Golden Quarter Traffic, Finds New Survey appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Despite margins often being tighter and tensions or losses often being felt more keenly in smaller businesses, new research shows that the level of occupational stress workers feel directly correlates to the size of the company they are in.

Micro businesses employing a maximum of four members of staff were less likely than those in businesses of any other size to feel work-related stress, with 45% of employees reporting this, according to a study of 3,000 UK workers carried out by Perkbox, the UK’s fastest growing employee benefits platform, as part of the 2018 UK Workplace Stress Report.

This figure increases to 57% for small businesses (5 – 50 staff) and again to 62% for small to medium sized organisations (51 – 500 employees).

Finally, workers at the largest sized businesses surveyed – those with more than 500 members of staff – report the greatest instances of staff experiencing workplace stress, with 65% doing so.

In fact, one in five (21%) UK workers reveal they experience moderate to high levels of work-related stress as often as several times per week.

Many businesses could see dips in productivity as a result – as the data reveals that 25% of UK workers struggle to be as productive at work as they normally would be when experiencing stress.

Unfortunately, almost half (45%) of UK workers say that their place of work does not have anything in place to help reduce employees’ stress levels and improve their mental wellbeing.

Chieu Cao, CMO & Co-Founder at Perkbox, said: “Interestingly, it’s those in micro businesses that are the least likely to experience work related stress, despite those in smaller companies feeling the direct impact of business tensions or losses. It’s fascinating to reveal that the level of occupational stress can directly correlate to the size of a business.

“It’s more than clear that a happy workforce is a productive workforce. It’s surprising to see that in 2018, employers are not doing more to ensure a happy, healthy and productive work environment, not only to protect staff against stress but also to gain the very best results from the driven workforce.”

Cao continues: “There are also numerous benefits that businesses can offer to promote a more productive work environment that staff will welcome, including free or discounted gym membership, yoga classes and mindfulness classes which are all ‘perks’ that work to also create healthy coping mechanisms and reduce stress.”

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post SME Survey: Workers at Small Businesses Are Least Likely to Experience Stress appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The results of a survey of 326 security professionals conducted at Infosecurity Europe, has been announced by DomainTools, a leader in domain name and DNS-based cyber threat intelligence. In such survey, regarding the impact of GDPR on important cybersecurity functions such as network defense, threat hunting and risk assessment, showed a great concern about security professionals of how the GDPR has been implemented by companies across Europe and its benefits.

In fact, GDPR, which came into effect in May, has resulted in the redaction of certain PII data available in Whois records. This data was invaluable to security researchers as they endeavour to keep global internet users safe online. 86% of the security professionals surveyed were aware that GDPR has affected Whois data and 58% said that it will help make the Internet ‘a safer place for scammers’.

“The results of this survey show that the security community understands just how significant Whois data is to the important work they do”, said Tim Chen, CEO of DomainTools. “The Internet is an open network, fundamentally operating on trust. Helping to enforce that trust are systems like Whois that give individual internet users insight into who is behind a website. Applied at scale, Whois data empowers everyday security capabilities such domain and IP risk assessment and spam protection. We will continue to work as hard as we can to make sure security practitioners are included in the law as parties with a legitimate interest in the full Whois data.””

While the impact of the current Whois data redaction is being felt throughout the community, DomainTools continues to evolve its products to support security customers with other relevant and effective data sets, including the recent launch of Iris 3.0, adding Guided Pivots, SSL Certificate Profiles and historical reverse Whois support to keep up with the ever-changing threat landscape.

DomainTools helps security analysts turn threat data into threat intelligence. We take indicators from your network, including domains and IPs, and connect them with nearly every active domain on the Internet. Those connections inform risk assessments, help profile attackers, guide online fraud investigations, and map cyber activity to attacker infrastructure. Fortune 1000 companies, global government agencies, and leading security solution vendors use the DomainTools platform as a critical ingredient in their threat investigation and mitigation work.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post New Survey Reveals Concern Among Security Professionals in Data Loss After GDPR appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.