Month in Numbers
15
Self-employed workers in the UK spend
an average of two hours per week
separating their business and personal
finances, the equivalent of 15 working
days a year. Three quarters (75%) use
the same bank account for personal and
business income and one in five (19%)
says poor financial management of
processes like expenses has nearly put
them out of business. (Source:
Definitive
Study of the Self-Employed
, Intuit
QuickBooks)
15
The self-employed now make up 15%
of the UK workforce, as the number
of people who work for themselves
continues to grow. According to ONS
Labour Market Statistics, the ranks of
self-employed grew by 133,000 between
November 2015 and November 2016.
21
Two in ten (21%) UK workers have
already seen tasks or roles in their
workplace outsourced to technology;
55% worry their job could be redundant
in under five years’ time due to
machines and AI (artificial intelligence).
The workers most at risk, according to
a survey by LondonOffices.com, are
customer service agents, sales people,
supermarket check-out staff, junior
accountants and taxi drivers.
52
More than half (52%) of IT professionals
replace their computer systems every
three to four years, a survey by memory
and storage experts Crucial reveals.
Larger organisations typically replace
systems at least every two years (23%);
smaller organisations do so every four
years (22%).
53
More than half (53%) of people in the
UK and France who use messaging
apps such as Facebook Messenger
andWhatsApp have interacted with a
company via mobile messaging, or are
open to doing so, according to a study
by digital marketing company Kenshoo.
Just over half (51%) of messaging app
users see messaging as faster and more
immediate than email for interacting
with companies; 48% feel it involves less
hassle than a telephone call.
58
Instead of prioritising business expansion
or skills training, 58% of UK SMEs have
put cost cutting at the top of their
agenda for 2017 claims alternative
finance provider Liberis.
63
Most mobile professionals prefer Wifi
hotspots to mobile data (63%), with
75% saying that Wifi has improved their
quality of life. Even though two out of
three hotspot users worry about data
security, 42% still use publicWifi to
access company data. (Source:
The iPass
Mobile Professional Report 2016
, iPass)
70
Today’s consumers believe responsibility
for protecting and securing customer
data lies 70% with the business and only
30% with the customer. Less than a third
(29%) of the 9,000 consumers surveyed
for Gemalto’s
2016 Data Breaches
and Customer Loyalty
report believe
companies are taking protection of their
personal data ‘very seriously’. More than
half (58%) of consumers expect to be a
victim of a breach at some point.
73
Almost three quarters (73%) of SMEs
believe new risks have emerged since
setting up their companies. Yet, 82% have
not altered or increased their insurance
coverage in response. For example, only
9% of businesses have cyber cover
in place, and only 26% say they are
concerned about the threat posed by a
cyber-attack. (Source:
Future Impacts
report
, RSA)
The Month
in Numbers
88
Almost nine out of 10 (88%) C-level
executives agree that business intelligence
(BI) and data analytics will be crucial to
the future of their business. However, 59%
say they don’t understand big data as
much as they would like and 52% say it’s
difficult to put together a business case for
big data. (Source:
Plotting the data journey
in the boardroom
, MHR Analytics)
98
Almost all European consumers (98%)
want companies to put their contact
numbers on their home pages or at least
within one click, a study by customer
insight firm Qualtrics reveals. Younger
customers (18-22 year olds) are least
prepared to wait for a response, with 35%
expecting to hear back from a business
within six hours of contacting them. Forty
per cent of the 3,000 customers surveyed
would welcome artificial intelligence (AI)
in customer service.
10,000
On December 7 2016, the amount of
electricity generated by the UK’s onshore
and offshore turbines exceeded 10,000
megawatts for the first time. National Grid
figures show that between 2 and 2.30pm
10,104MW was generated, providing 23%
of Britain’s total electricity demand at that
time.
28,436
It costs an average of £28,436 to replace
each employee within an SME, claims
AXA PPP healthcare.
100,000
Over 100,000 smartphones get damaged
by water or other liquids every day in
Western Europe. This, says International
Data Corporation (IDC), explains growing
demand for water-resistant models,
with sales up 45.2% (year-on-year) in
the first nine months of 2016. Over the
same period, sales of non-water-resistant
smartphones declined by 17%.
30 trillion
The Earth’s technosphere now weighs 30
trillion tons, representing a mass of more
than 50 kilos for every square metre
of the Earth’s surface, according to an
international team led by University of
Leicester geologists. The technosphere
encompasses all human-made structures,
such as houses, factories, smartphones,
computers and landfill.
businessinfomag.uk
magazine
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