businessinfomag.uk
magazine
08
Drone retailer DronesDirect.co.uk has
launched a drone training course to ensure
that businesses have sufficient knowledge
to use equipment safely and confidently in
commercial settings.
The three-day course gives drone pilots full
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Permission for
Commercial Operations (PfCO) accreditation.
Participants are guided through practical
applications of drones for commercial use,
including stills photography, elaborate
topographical surveys, 3D point cloud scanning,
orthomosaics, utility inspections and thermal
imaging.
It also provides detailed training in air law
and regulations; meteorology and weather;
navigation and air space; map exercises; aircraft
knowledge; airmanship and safety; human
factors; and operating procedure.
The Yorkshire-based course includes two
nights’ accommodation and the offer of a
no-resit fee deal so that those who require
more air time aren’t penalised. The course costs
£1,100 (ex VAT) and includes access to a Drone
Academy Members Club.
The Office Group
expands workspace
portfolio in London
TOG (The Office Group), a provider of
shared workspaces, has acquired 70,000 sq
ft of office space at 84 Eccleston Square
in Victoria, just a few minutes walk from
Victoria Station.
Located in a prominent corner position on
the north side of Eccleston Square, the seven-
storey property has been taken on a 20-year
lease from Mosaic Properties. TOG plans to
open the building by the end of the year after
completing a comprehensive refurbishment.
This deal takes TOG’s portfolio to 34
buildings – 32 in London – and a total of over
1.2m sq ft of office space.
Other significant developments for the
company include the acquisition of 60,000
sq ft at Lyric Square in Hammersmith and
expansion into Vauxhall, where TOG is
developing a 90,000 sq ft flagship workspace
at Tintagel House by the River Thames.
Power management guide
Eaton has published a guide to help IT professionals optimise their
power infrastructure and achieve higher efficiency and business
continuity. Topics covered within the guide include the uninterruptible
power supply (UPS), batteries, rack power distribution units,
power management software and racks. The guide also highlights
the crucial role of maintenance and servicing in ensuring the
reliability of equipment in the long- and short-term and explores
how virtualisation-ready power management software can enable
organisations to realise the full benefits of their virtualised IT
applications.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is heading for
mass adoption, as 85% of businesses plan
to implement IoT by 2019, Hewlett Packard
Enterprise company Aruba claims in a new
report
(The Internet of Things: Today and
Tomorrow).
Its study shows that 72% of enterprises
have already introduced IoT devices into
the workplace, with the two most popular
applications being remote monitoring, followed
by indoor location-based services.
Remote control of building lighting and
temperature is a growing use case. Although
only one in five enterprises currently sees it
as a key application, that number more than
doubled to 53% when respondents were asked
about future IoT deployments.
More than three quarters (78%) of
enterprises say the introduction of IoT in the
workplace has improved the effectiveness of
their IT team; 75% report that it has increased
profitability.
Across all sectors (Enterprise, Industrial,
Retail, Healthcare, Government), 32% of
deployments have resulted in greater profits
and 46% have produced efficiency gains.
The report also highlights a number
of factors that are preventing IoT from
having a greater impact, including cost of
implementation (50%), maintenance (44%)
and integration of legacy technology (43%).
Security is another concern, with 84% of
organisations claiming to have experienced an
IoT-related security breach.
Chris Kozup, vice president of marketing at
Aruba, said: “While IoT grows in deployment,
scale and complexity, proper security
methodologies to protect the network and
devices and, more importantly, the data and
insights they extract must also keep pace. If
businesses do not take immediate steps to gain
visibility and profile the IoT activities within
their offices, they run the risk of exposure to
potentially malicious activities.”
IoT brings business benefits and
security risks
Rise in UK employers
implementing wellbeing
strategies
Employers in the UK are rolling out
workplace wellbeing strategies at an
unprecedented rate, according to a new
report,
EmployeeWellbeing Research 2017:
The evolution of workplace wellbeing in the
UK
, from the Reward & Employee Benefits
Association (REBA) in association with
Punter Southall Health & Protection.
Almost half of UK companies (45%) now have
a clearly-defined wellbeing strategy in place,
compared to less than a third (30%) in 2016. Of
those that don’t, 46% plan to implement one this
year and 24% in the next few years. One quarter
(25%) have it on their ‘wish list’.
Over a third (37%) launched their wellbeing
strategy to improve employee engagement
and just over a quarter (26%) to improve
organisational culture. Other drivers include
improving productivity levels (11%), reducing
long and short-term sickness absence (6% & 5%)
and retaining talent (5%).
Drone training course for businesses launched
