That is the verdict from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in a newly released report. Central to this rapid growth of the web economy will be the shift towards ubiquitous and mobile web access, the massive increase of internet users in emerging G20 nations (from 238 million in 2005 to 1.39 billion in 2015) and an explosion of global IP traffic and data (30 exabytes per year in 2005 to 966 exabytes in 2015). (more…)
The current economic, regulatory and commercial climate can lead to conflicting messages when trying to grasp the challenges and opportunities facing the retail banking technology industry throughout 2012.
Economic growth continues to elude many fragile economies throughout Europe and the West. This, alongside an international context of increased scrutiny and regulation as a result of failings exposed by the banking crisis, provides a difficult context for the world’s financial services industry. The UK is no exception. With dwindling growth figures and the looming regulatory upheaval of a retail banking ring fence, UK banks will certainly feel pressure upon their balance sheets in 2012. (more…)
The idea that UK electronics companies are fighting for higher margins is no longer representing the entire truth (this might still be the case in other areas of UK manufacturing – usually not associated with advanced technology).
Manufacturing of consumer electronics and mass production in general has moved elsewhere, but industry has adjusted and is adapting to a new world where complex electronics and flexible added-value services have become the norm. With low volumes come high margins if technology and quality of services justify the premium price. It’s no chance that Germany is the world’s second biggest exporter of goods after China. Excellence, complexity, flexibility and creativity make products and processes harder to reverse engineer or copy, hence give early adopters enough room to innovate further through R&D investments and keep ahead of the curve. Germany is known for the quality of its engineering base but the UK is known for its world-class services (second only to the US).
David Smith, the Economics editor of the Sunday Times, wrote a typically insightful piece on Sunday in which he explored two of the most fundamental questions for the UK economy over the next few years:
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Last night I attended a reception at the Institute of Directors following the December publication of the government’s life science strategy and its ‘Innovation, health and wealth’ report. In attendance we had the Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley, Under Secretary of State for Health Earl Howe, Universities and Science Minister David Willets and the NHS Chief Executive Sir David Nicholson. It was a fairly informal gathering with key people from the NHS, DH and industry mingling around slapping each other on the back for a job well done on getting so many stakeholders agree on a collaborate way forward to ensure the NHS continues to lead on innovation and quality.
The Christmas break provided a brief respite from the almost continuous stream of negative news about the state of the world economy. As you would expect, it hasn’t taken long for the Christmas cheer to be swiftly replaced with some New Year pessimism!