UK Technology Shares Business Resilience

There’s no doubt that 2020 was a particularly challenging year for many people and businesses. It’s therefore heartening to read a story of survival and growth. We’re pleased to report that’s the tale of the UK technology sector in 2020 thanks to two key areas: jobs and investment.

Job Market

UK technology has displayed signs of growth since July 2020 with job opportunities growing by 2.6% per month. The digital tech economy employs 2.98 million people and 10% of all UK job vacancies are tech-based. This truly demonstrates the strength and resilience of the digital economy, reports Tech Nation.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden MP said: “It’s fantastic to see the UK’s tech companies flourishing, despite all the challenges of 2020. The thousands of high skilled jobs they are creating will be a crucial part of our economic recovery and the government is committed to supporting the tech sector through an unashamedly pro-tech approach.”

It’s interesting to note that more than a third of those employed in the digital tech sector are in non-tech roles, such as legal, marketing, HR and administration.

Investment

During 2020 investment continued to be raised by UK tech companies, exceeding the record level achieved in 2019. The total of $15bn was greater than Germany and France combined!

Gerard Grech, chief executive, Tech Nation, said: “The UK’s tech businesses have faced one of the biggest upheavals in a century, and still pulled in more than $15bn.”

He adds: “At Tech Nation we have been delighted to continue supporting these incredible businesses and are on track to support over 1000 tech scale-ups by March 2022, delivering over $1bn of Gross Value Add to the UK economy.”

Things will never be the same

Research from Info-Tech shows that 47% of businesses expect to see a lot of permanent operational change compared to how they were working before the pandemic. This change is – and will continue to be – facilitated by technology. Employees will continue to meet from home and more educational content will be accessed online, for example.

The report states: “Given the transitional period that’s likely ahead, with the pandemic coming to an end and with all the other externalities that could disrupt operations, IT’s role remains critical. Organisations that want to avoid disruption from the next crisis will need IT to support capabilities to plan for change and learn quickly. IT must focus on accelerating speed to value and enable flexibility and rapid redeployment of resources.”

“Many of our clients envisage a greater ongoing level of remote working and cloud-based working compared with before the pandemic,” says Eric Hughes of EMH Technology. “There are so many ways that technology can support flexible working. It’s great to help businesses achieve the change needed to keep their teams, customers and partners as safe as possible now, plus be resilient to future changes. From desktop support to VOIP technology and cloud services… we find the best bespoke solution for our clients.”

Does your business rely on its technology? Have a chat with the friendly team at EMH Technology. We promise there won’t be any jargon or obligation, just straight-forward, helpful advice.