Google recently announced it’s latest development “Google Wallet”. In a nutshell this acts very much like a virtual wallet, meaning that the traditional plastic credit and debit cards will soon be obsolete. You simply upload all of your account information, loyalty and reward cards and bosh, away you go. Simply look for the wireless payment options whenever you go shopping and a quick flash of your phone will arrange the necessary payment and ensure that any reward points or discounts are suitably arranged. Quite a nifty piece of kit if you can get it up and running.

The possibilities are endless also, enabling ecommerce not only on the move but with more ease and availability than ever. Making payment abroad may become easier also as with a couple of clicks or prods of your screen and you’re active and away in as many countries around the world as you like.

Orange-T-mobile, Vodafone and O2 said their aim is to join forces in creating a mobile commerce network to join retailers, banks and advertisers together. As Japan and the far-East are already leading the way it seems that the West is somewhat behind in the rise for mobile banking and applications.

The idea and the technology that comes with it are really quite staggering. And yet, call me a cynic, but I can’t help think that it has the inevitability of sheer and utter disaster. Take the example of a common occurrence – you have succumbed to commodity fetishism and always have the latest mobile device whether it be android or smartphone; not out of vanity or for love of gadgets however, but because you have lost them at one time or another. At one time there would have been fret at a stranger having access to intimate text messages and photographs, but with this new Google application it opens up the possibility for a wide scale fraud campaign. And how do the credit card companies and banks anticipate to insure and offer a contingency plan against this? We await their response.

Google never fails to astound us with their ground breaking applications and easy-to-use interfaces so the promise of remote security and control over the merchant accounts that can access our banking details should prove an interesting project to undertake. I think, for many this may be an “on recommendation” download, as there is more information and proof of the security systems put in place for the sceptics that may have just been victim to the Sony hackers.

What do you think about the Google Wallet – the future or a project doomed to fail?

A week after the company revealed that an attack on its Playstation network had leaked sensitive personal details of tens of millions of its online video gamer customers, the electronics giant admitted that a second hack, occurring a day earlier than the original break-in between 17 and 19 April, had compromised more customer details.

It’s reported that data including customer names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth and credit card details were compromised in both network intrusions.

Sony has been praised in some quarters for the manner in which it handled the second attack but it does little to mend the damage already caused to the worldwide reputation of the well-known brand.

In a statement to customers, Sony said: “For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information…We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience.”

The scale of the attacks (it’s one of the biggest ever cases of data theft) has angered Sony’s customers and the level of media coverage dedicated to it will no doubt have damaged the firm in the estimations of thousands of others. Industry experts have described Sony’s situation as a “nightmare scenario” and highlighted concerns that a lack of customer confidence in the brand, in what is a highly competitive industry, could impact on its relationship with game developers too.

Neil Lathwood, UKFast’s IT director said: “It doesn’t matter how big or small you are or how big your databases are – data security should be paramount for any business. The damage a breach can have on a business is endless and, in some cases, irreparable. Business owners need to invest time into developing watertight processes for protecting data and have an action plan to fall back on if a breach does occur that allows you to act quickly. Most importantly, they need to think about it now rather than waiting for a problem to occur.”

As reports show that sixty-nine percent of companies now outsource their IT services, at UKFast we believe this proposed improvement will be invaluable to thousands of UK businesses.

With more and more companies outsourcing their IT and storing everything from documents to emails in third party locations, broadband plays an increasingly vital role in the strength of so many businesses.

Many companies have opted to outsource their IT needs, often creating virtial private datacentres, as it allows them to stay at the cutting edge of hardware and software innovation for minimal cost and removes strain on their internal resources.

However, if the internet is slow, or does not perform properly, this could have a serious impact upon many British businesses.

The new £530m project means that local public authorities will be able to apply to Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) for funds to improve broadband in their area.

Osbourne predicts that the new system will benefit up to 800,000 premises, and with outsourcing set to increase in 2011, this is vital.

In a country which has become so reliant upon the internet, it’s important that our coalition government aims high; publically aspiring to achieve, “best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015.”

Osborne comments, “Broadband is crucial for the country’s economic future. That’s why the coalition government is investing over half a billion pounds in its infrastructure.”

According to a TowerGroup study commissioned by Accenture PLC, banks that invest in sophisticated mobile services that allow customers to transfer money, pay utility bills, apply for credit or trade stocks from their mobile devices, can see a return on investment as high as 300 per cent.
But achieving that level of success requires more than just communicating with customers via text messages or building a functional mobile website. Accenture is right to suggest a return of 300 per cent relies on a “sophisticated” mobile service.

UKFast held a Round Table event last week where six m-commerce experts discussed the state of the mobile web market and how businesses should manage their mobile presence. They debated how seriously businesses were taking m-commerce and discussed the security issues surrounding it. They agreed that few businesses realise the significance of the mobile web as a route to market and are therefore failing to invest in the right level of technology and security.

Savvy businesses, the panellists agreed, would recognise that mobile web is likely to become a dominant means of reaching their customers and invest heavily in an infrastructure that can stand up to the security threats to the mobile device.

In 2010 smartphone purchases increased by 72.1 per cent. According to a study by Appcelerator and IDC released in January, of the seven most common business models that brands, retailers, publishers and developers use to monetize applications, mobile commerce showed the most gains year on year.

Mobile commerce showed 86 percent year-on-year growth – a strong vote of confidence in mobile commerce as a viable long-term business model.

To hear advice from the experts on how to launch a mobile web presence sensibly, you can view our Round Table videos here: http://www.ukfast.tv/

Or read our press releases here: http://www.ukfast.co.uk/press-releases.html

The newspaper is the third of the big five nationals to opt for a paid-for mechanism – leaving only The Guardian and The Independent offering online content for free – and industry insiders are suggesting the move represents another nail in the coffin of free content on the web.

According to media reports, the paper has experienced falling sales of its print edition of late and has adjusted its cover price by ten pence to absorb some of the loss. But, it seems, the higher cover price and its focus on “alternative revenue streams” thus far haven’t done enough to remedy the Telegraph’s problems.

Now it plans to introduce a “hybrid strategy” similar to that of the Financial Times that will allow readers to access a limited amount of online content for free before the site charges for access to more.

Perhaps the powers that be at the Telegraph were tempted by figures released by its rival, The Times, that said 150,000 people had signed up for content behind the paywall that charges £1 for daily access and £2 for the week.

And who could blame them? The figures are impressive at first glance but, perhaps, less so when scrutinised. Around 52,000 of those paying readers were monthly subscribers. The rest had bought a day pass. Even those who paid just once – perhaps to sample the site – were included in the total figures released to the public.

The numbers will have been crunched no doubt and attention given to the advertisers that The Telegraph will no doubt lose as a result of the paywall being introduced. The negative effect of the Times’ move on a portion of its advertising base was well publicised at the time.

If nothing else, The Telegraph’s move will add to the currently limited examples of paid-for models and help us to assess whether it’s a model that can work. Another nail in the coffin? Maybe, but it will some time before free content on the web is dead and buried.

ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 163 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. ISO standards are regulated in the UK by a governmental body called UKAS – United Kingdom Accreditation Service. If you don’t see the UKAS tick box and crown, don’t trust that the organisation is formally registered.

UKFast managed hosting services in all their many forms are certified to the ISO 9001, 14001 and 27001 standards.

For those of you struggling to remember which number correlates to which standard (there are around 16 500 of them after all), they are:

• ISO 9001: Quality Management

• ISO 14001: Environmental Management

• ISO 27001: Information Security Management

For many larger organisations – service providers and suppliers must be certified to one or more of these standards as a prerequisite, to officially be allowed to tender for business.

The reason is that they are a sign of quality, best practice and an on-going commitment to continual improvement – and when entering into a relationship that requires an organisation to trust UKFast with critical data, customers want as many guarantees and reassurances as possible that UKFast conducts business in accord with international best practice and standards.

So what does this give organisations, suppliers and consumers?  Well at the end of the day it is all about confidence.

All ISO standards demand that organisations demonstrate a commitment to continual improvement and that this approach is verified by annual, independent audit on a 3 year certification cycle.

Customer’s hosted solutions are critical to the success of their businesses and operations and to this end confidence in their hosting provider is paramount.  ISO 9001, 14001 and 27001 certification is a demonstration of UKFast’s commitment to ensuring that clients receive exemplary levels of service from the UK’s premier hosting provider.

This news comes despite the fact that SMEs have on average six IT outages per year which on average cost a business nearly £2,000 per day.

Symantec has identified the key reasons for business downtime as: cyber-attacks, power failure or natural disasters.

41 per cent of the firms questioned said they have never considered putting together a plan to deal with an internal systems failure, while 40 per cent said that they do not consider this to be a priority.

By taking out a fully managed hosting solution from a reputable hosting provider such as UKFast, you can protect your company from data loss. At UKFast, all of our policies include a range of standard and extra security policies to ensure that your data is safe and sound – taking the responsibility off your shoulders and a weight off your mind!

This research also reveals, perhaps most shocking of all, that of the 1,840 SMEs polled, a huge 5 per cent say they do not back up their business data. Ross Walker, director at Symantec Ireland, warns that intellectual property can be one of the most valuable assets for many small businesses, and this is something they risk losing by failing to back up data.

Walker warns, “Disasters happen and SMEs cannot afford to risk losing their information or – more importantly – their customers’ critical information. Simple planning can enable SMEs to protect their information in the event of a disaster, which in turn will help them build trust with their customers.”

Many hosting solutions, including those provided by our team at UKFast include back-up as standard. If you would like to speak to any of our solutions architects about all of our available options, then please do not hesitate to give us a call: 0800 458 4545.

With a definite lull in the predicted sales figures for retailers during the usual christmas chaos, some critics have blamed the weather and VAT increase for keeping customers at bay, whilst others argue that this is simply a spike in a general downward trend.

The one-time high street giant HMV has not emerged well from the holiday period, sinking on the FTSE 100 from 25p to only 7.5 pence. Another big brand, JJB Sports, has also dipped 0.44p to 4.4p, while Dixons Retail is down 0.51p at only 23.39p.

With the FTSE 100 falling a lot more dramatically then predicted, a decrease in high street sales has been blamed.

In fact, over the last few days leading Australian High Street retailers have been in cahoots with the government to enforce a significant tax on goods and services bought online. Although today it has emerged that this tax looks unlikely to go ahead, it is apparent that the UK is not the only country coping with this economic shift.

What are your views? How did you do your christmas shopping this year? And if you are one of the many people who avoided the high street – why?

FairSearch.org was launched in October in reaction to Google’s announcement that it planned to acquire ITA – a company that creates and maintains software for online travel companies – in July. ITA Software is used through almost every major online travel site on the internet.

Microsoft is interested in Google’s ITA proposal because its Bing Travel search site is powered by ITA. ITA powers 65 per cent of all online flight searches at U.S. airline sites, according to FairSearch.

Microsoft, and the FairSearch consortium, argues that Google could abuse its dominancy in the internet search by acquiring ITA and creating an unfair monopoly when it comes to online travel. Fairsearch claims that if the deal goes through, Google could put its own search results ahead of those that already exist on the internet. Google has already been accused of such unfair practices in standard search results, giving its own sites priority over others.

FairSearch’s membership had, until Microsoft joined, been made up primarily of travel sites including Expedia.com, Hotwire, TripAdvisor, Farelogix, Kayak and Sabre Holdings. Industry experts say Microsoft’s move is typical of a Google rival and that the ITA debate underlines growing tensions in the internet search market.

In response to the criticism, Google has said it believes the acquisition “will create a new, easier way for users to find better flight information online, which should encourage more users to make their flight purchases online” and will benefit passengers, airlines and online travel agencies. It claims there are no intentions to enter the online travel business and the ITA deal is being considered only to improve Google’s abilities to provide the best and most relevant searches for online travel seekers.

The regulatory commission is currently looking into the purchase. FairSearch.org has said it will file a federal lawsuit to block the purchase if it is allowed to go ahead.

Ben Whitaker, founder of software developer Masabi, walked away with one of the evening’s biggest accolades for Software Innovation of the Year and told me afterwards how his firm’s growth has been driven by a clear focus on “The Everyman”.

Masabi recently closed a deal with trainline.com to roll out the mobile application it developed that allows users to buy and display UK rail tickets direct from their mobile phones for any route on the National Rail network without having to visit ticket offices or ticket machines.

He said, “It’s doing something for the everyman with mobile which means they can get on their trains without queuing. It’s an everyday bit of life and it’s really fun to be able to change an everyday bit of life with the stuff you work on and good ideas.”

Indeed it is. I spoke to a lot of the Digital Entrepreneur award winners after they’d picked up their awards about how it felt to win. Every one of them, from London restaurant group Pied a Terre – who were recognised for their developments in design and marketing – and online money lender, Wonga.com, who picked up the main award for Digital Entrepreneur of the Year, was keen to pay tribute to every member of staff who had contributed to their employer’s success.

So, success and growth for online businesses is about creating products or services that affect “the everyman” – directly, when purchasing train tickets, or more indirectly, by improving how they can go about their daily business, making things quicker, simpler or just more pleasurable to do. But it’’ also about involving the “Everyman” closer to home who’s involved in creating that product or service and allowing them to share in its success.

UKFast has long recognised the need to look after “The Everyman” since setting up as a small business in 1999. That’s why today it continues to create gadgets and systems to make customers’ lives easier and explore opportunities within the hosting industry

The news has been flooded this week with allegations surrounding the website and its creator Julian Assange. Claiming to “keep governments open”, the site has released 250,000 cable messages between top US diplomats, sparking trouble once again. Almost immediately after the release of these documents, Assange was presented with court orders and is today being held in police custody.

Wikileaks has also fallen victim to several DDOS attacks and hosts are abandoning the site one after the other. Its new tactic is to mirror itself on over 500 servers in over 500 locations to protect the information it offers. These guys are taking their mission statement very seriously.

Through social media and in particular Twitter, Wikileaks has been able to keep its audience updated on the specific IP address of the site to ensure that it can still be accessed online.

With PayPal allegedly withholding funds from Wikileaks and blocking them from using the payment portal it appears to now be starving financially. However, amongst all the issues, one thing is certain; technology has a role to play in politics that is not always appreciated by the status quo. Despite many hurdles, technological advancements and in particular social media have made it (so far) impossible to censor the site.

So, I’d like to hear your opinion. Is this a good thing? Is online censorship acceptable? Should freedom of speech be curtailed in any circumstances? Whose responsibility would it be to stop Wikileaks should this be the best course of action?

There are many questions and we would love to hear your thoughts on the issue, including the question – what do you think will happen next?

London restaurant group Pied a Terre and Masabi – the software developer that closed a deal with trainline.com in May – were among the winners at the Digital Entrepreneur Awards, hailed as the only national stage in the UK dedicated to recognising online business excellence.

Nineteen digital businesses in the UK had their entrepreneurial talents rewarded at a glittering awards ceremony held in Manchester last night.

Errol Damelin, founder and CEO of wonga.com, an online “micro lender” offering short-term cash advances to UK consumers, walked away with one of the biggest accolades of the evening, the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year award.

He said: “I’m proud to receive this award, although I couldn’t have achieved Wonga’s success without my co-founder and a team of very talented and passionate people. We are using the internet and web technology to disrupt a very large and traditional market and it’s very encouraging to receive such expert endorsement for our progress so far.”

The second major gong – Digital Business of the Year – went to Global Personals, a Windsor-based dating technology business and the most successful privately-owned online dating company in Europe, ranked eighth place in the 2010 Deloitte Technology Fast 50.

Ross Williams, CEO and co-founder, said: “We are very proud. This is a fantastic achievement for the company, a real testament to every single employee who works so hard to make Global Personals what it is today. It’s taken a lot of hard work – seven years’ worth, in fact – from all of us and it means a lot.”

After-dinner speaker James Timpson, managing director of key cutting and shoe repair empire, Timpson, offered advice to budding digital entrepreneurs in the audience on how to take a company from good to great with an “upside down” management structure.

Now in their second year, the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year awards are aimed at discovering and rewarding the best businesses on the web and were expanded this year to accommodate a phenomenal number of applications from high-calibre companies.

The winners beat off stiff competition from hundreds of web-based businesses who made up an outstanding shortlist of firms that battled it out for the British internet’s biggest awards.

Lawrence Jones, our MD and one of the presenters on the night, says: “It’s been a privilege to be involved in an event that recognises the innovators and entrepreneurs that are changing the face of the net as we know it. We’ve received a record number of entries this year from some pioneering businesses and have been truly inspired by many of them.”

The glittering award ceremony

Following the introduction of paywalls to many News Corp titles earlier this year, Mr Murdoch’s multinational is to enter the app market with the “Daily”- a newspaper app made exclusively for the iPad and other similar tablets.

With the Guardian reporting that the app will be “developed with assistance from Apple engineers,” rumours have begun to spring up that Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself will be getting involved with this project. Although Jobs obviously has the final say over all apps, this would be one of the first in which he may be financially or creatively involved.

Reports suggest that 100 journalists have been hired for the paper, with senior journalists from the Sun and New York Post allegedly being considered for high-profile positions.

The Times, one of the most vital strings in News Corps’ bow, has had a hugely successful iPad app with its facility for rich media and photography making it a perfect ad platform.

However reports out today are hinting that the new “Daily” paper will have no inbound or outbound links from other sites, meaning that in-app advertising will have to remain just that!

Launching in early 2011, the Daily is reportedly going to have a price tag of 62p and will generate an automatic daily download for its subscribers.

While some critics are sceptical about the possible success of this new app considering the drop in circulation of conventional newspapers, others believe that the iPad is an ideal medium for modern news. With the target demographic for the iPad favouring convenience and exclusivity over value, some believe that this will work in favour of this new breed of application based newspaper.

What do you think? Are Jobs and Murdoch holding on to an outdated medium by trying to update the broadsheet to a handheld device? Or is this a wise marketing move?

Most importantly of all, do you think the new Daily app will be a success?

Let me know your thoughts!

Steve Jobs with the new Apple iPad

LinkedIn Teaches us to Brand Ourselves

With millions of potential employees profiling themselves online and consequently thousands of recruiters wanting to have a sneak peak at their potential employees, it is easy to see where the demand for this service has arisen from.

Employing the branding experts from companies such as Saatchi & Saatchi and the BBC, LinkedIn are arguing, “Your personal brand has never been so important. In a competitive job market it can sometimes be difficult to stand out from the competition.”

In an increasingly mobilised online marketplace, it is more important than ever before to monitor all aspects of your presence on the web. As with the recent case of the young girl who bad-mouthed her boss on Facebook and was promptly fired as a result, it is all too easy to forget the wide reaching nature of your audience!

LinkedIn’s new strategy may only be aimed at encouraging their own users to wise-up, but we could perhaps all benefit from being a little more cautious with our online presence.

This topic correlates closely with DB’s blog last week discussing the role of libel law in social media. Although we may use social networking as a way to chat and joke amongst friends, we must also keep in mind who else could be watching – including possible present or future employers.

The new service from LinkedIn features a BrandYou Survey to “test the strength of [your] personal brand,” as well as various discussions, tips and advice from selected “BrandYou Board members.”

If you are on the hunt for a new career and think you might have what it takes to be a UKFast person, take a look at our jobs pages or contact our lovely HR ladies on: 0844 576 3950.

The HR Girls Celebrate in Style as UKFast Becomes IT Employer of the Year

Our communications director Jonathan Bowers attended the award ceremony last night in London which attracted hundreds of business leaders and celebrated industry excellence across the UK.

MD Lawrence Jones is on a business trip abroad at the moment but sent his conratulations back to the team as soon as he heard, “We are delighted to have been named IT Employer of the Year, especially with such tough competition in this category. We are very proud of our fantastic team and are thrilled that we can bring this trophy home to them.”

Expanding from a 2 person operation in 1999 to the UKs fastest hosting network in the UK today, employing over 100 people, we now have our own dedicated team training centre in the foothills of Snowdon.

We’ve been lucky enough to win a number of awards for our employee practices, including being named the Most Fun and Friendly Place to Work earlier this year by the Great Places to Work Institute and appearing in the Sunday Times list of Best Companies to Work For.

Our category at last night’s event was highly contended with other finalists including blue chip companies Capgemini and IBM along with FDM Group, Lincolnshire Police, Box UK, Northgate Managed Services, MSM Software and HCL Technologies.

Lawrence continues, “We have always prided ourselves on having a highly motivated and passionate team who will go above and beyond to work on and deliver the UKFast brand and it is fantastic to be recognised for our employment practices.”

Over the last few years UKFast has offered some fantastic incentives such as staff trips to Verbier and racing days to Donnington park, however currently we are concentrating on our office space. By adding fun extras like trampolines, a revamped games room and even a grassy meeting area with daisy on the floor, we want to make our office environment a fantastic place to be, as a daily reward for our hard-working team!

Fancy a meeting amongst the daisys? Pop in to UKFast!

In the spirit of promoting exceptional customer service, today we are offering everyone who passes on a positive customer service story to us a free limited edition watch!

Is there a shop that you always look forward to visiting? Or a sales assistant who makes you smile each day?

What big name brand have you had a positive experience with? Or can you think of an instance where an individual has gone above and beyond to deliver outstanding service?

If so, we want to hear about it!

Simply comment on this blog post and explain what company has impressed you with outstanding customer service and why. We will then email you to ask for your postal address and send you your watch as soon as we can!

Ion watches are infused with negative ions which help with balance, flexibility and strength.

Worn by professional athletes worldwide, Ion watches improve performance.

So, whether you are looking to improve at sports, sharpen your natural balance, or simply enhance your immune system, your Ion watch can help you on your way.

Tell us who you are a raving fan of and why, and your watch will be winging its way to you in no time!

Scott Charney, the corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing, wrote in a blog post that infected computers should be temporarily banned from the internet until they have been cleaned.

The proposal is intended to tackle botnets and prevent malware from spreading across the internet.

Charney writes: “Just as when an individual who is not vaccinated puts others’ health at risk, computers that are not protected or have been compromised with a botnet put others at risk and pose a greater threat to society.”

At UKFast we are more than a little familiar with the importance of security, as is no doubt clear from our numerous blogs on the subject.

However, the question has to be asked, why don’t Microsoft aim to ensure the resilience of PCs rather than simply banning those that fall victim to malware?

As the leading software giant for PCs globally, Microsoft are in an incredibly valuable position to increase security across their wide-reaching market.

Many have fallen victim to a computer virus at one time or another and therefore the focus that Microsoft is placing upon banishing those infected rather than assisting them, is leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of many critics.

Surely, the principles behind tracking, isolating and quarantining contaminated computers could be applied to locating and fixing infected hardware?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this subject.

In a move echoing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ BlackBerry ban earlier this year, the US government is drawing up a Bill that will enable federal and national law enforcement agencies to wiretap social networks and VoIP platforms.

According to The New York Times, the administration’s latest assault on privacy will allow them to access all forms of communication. Identifying the change in how people communicate this will heavily focus on the internet, with BlackBerry’s encrypted emails, Twitter, Facebook and Skype all among the top services targeted.

Expected to be submitted sometime next year, the Bill will force these communication services providers to be built in a way that the government can monitor them at all times, leaving no conversation private again –which is not at all hypocritical, considering their hard stance on the telecommunication regulation of the UAE, Iran and China.

Despite Valerie E Caproni, general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stating that this new legislation will focus on “preserving” and not expanding existing authority, the debate over security vs. privacy rages on.

And with headlines filled with suspected “tourist targets” and “Mumbai-style attacks”, Obama’s administration will no doubt have some company soon enough, with other governments taking a similar line over their security concerns.

Following on from August’s revelations that 97 per cent of customers are not getting the broadband services that they are being sold, home broadband costs could rise even further if internet connected TV services take off.

As the demand for a higher quality service to support the delivery of TV via the internet rises, so too will the cost that internet service providers charge, according to the BBC’s Mark Thompson.

Thompson made this latest warning about the “cost of broadband decommoditising” at The Royal Television Society’s International Conference, where he also breathed new life into the debate about improving the country’s broadband infrastructure.

With the higher speed broadband requirements of IPTV platforms, such as the BBC-backed YouView, expected to encourage prices to rise, Thompson suggested that ISPs may feel more inclined to invest in the UK’s broadband infrastructure.

This would help Britain to compete with Scandinavia and Germany in the super-fast broadband stakes despite the coalition government’s decision to abandon plans to roll out nationwide broadband fibre.

Although Thompson remained tight-lipped on how much money the BBC’s underspend from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme would contribute to this, he did acknowledge that it was a “big problem”. In line with the views of our own round table experts, Thompson added that the ISPs and government needed to work together to find the estimated £2bn needed to fund the roll out.

According to a recent study by Panda Security, around a third of small and medium-sized businesses were infected with malware through social networking sites in July alone this year.

Furthermore, the survey of 315 SMBs found that 35 per cent have suffered some financial loss as a result, with more than a third of the companies reporting losses in excess of $5,000.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering that is was voted the most popular social media tool among respondents (69 per cent admitted having active accounts), Facebook is the main source for malware infections (71.6 per cent) and privacy violations (73.2 per cent). It is also the main culprit for companies suffering financial losses from employee privacy violations (62 per cent), ahead of Twitter (38 per cent), YouTube (24 per cent) and LinkedIn (11 per cent).

Despite these growing concerns, SMBs are still using social media sites as vital marketing tools with 78 per cent of respondents ignoring the risks. 24 per cent however do recognise the importance of having a social media governance policy and actively block employee use during office hours.

At UKFast, social networking has become an essential element of our customer service, allowing us to respond instantly to feedback, both good and bad. Consequently, we focus on recruiting the right people so that they can be trusted to use any medium to our advantage. We find it is the team not the tools that poses the biggest threat to businesses.

The new speed enhanced search makes searching online a lot faster.

If everyone uses Google Instant globally, the internet giant estimates this will save around 11 hours with each passing second.

A Google engineer, Ben Gomes reveals, “Our key design challenge was to make sure people would notice relevant results without being distracted.”

By predicting a search and showing results before finishing typing, this saves approximately 2-5 seconds per search making many searches much faster.

Even if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, these predictions help to guide your search. The top prediction is in the search box so you can stop typing when you see what you want. As soon as you start typing, results appear straight away.

Google has decided to create a technical solution rather than invest in greater server capacity. Initial trials revealed some problems, such as results appearing slowly or in a too complex form. However, these issues were overcome after continued user experiments.

The solution involved a range of technical measures including new catches that can cope with high refresh rates which will be need because of the faster searches.

The report, released earlier this week, surveyed 252 decision makers from Fortune 1000 companies and considered the financial results of top hardware suppliers.

Reporting a 61 per cent increase in server revenue for the first fiscal quarter of the year, the survey reveals that Dell is the quickest server provider to rebound from the economic meltdown.

Bob Gill, managing director of TheInfoPro says that it is clear that, “Dell is rebounding first.”

US studies of this kind are often an indication of trends which affect the UK.  However server sales at UKFast have remained strong over the last few years as we continue to watch our clients grow their server provisions.

As Dell has been our primary server source for many years now, we experience their quality day in day out and are not surprised that they are continuing to be the most competitive in the industry.

Although we have developed our own cloud network in the last year, our dedicated servers are far and away our most popular solutions and demand for our dedicated hosting has continued to increase throughout 2010.

Because we offer a range of hosting options at UKFast and have complete control over our hardware, we are able to remain resilient to the changing pressures of the market.

A particularly exciting project for us is the construction of our new data centre, ‘Manoc3’ which is due to be opened later this year.

Kitting out data centres ourselves, we are able to produce the perfect hosting environment, providing our clients with hardware we trust from server manufactures who remain firm leaders of their industry.

Richard Branson is building Virgin not just for his children and their generation but for his great, great, great, great, grandchildren and their contemporaries. To do this, you have to surround yourself with pioneers, with people hungry for progress and in our digital society, people who can constantly innovate and push the boundaries.

This is why we love to be involved with the Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, which honour the leaders of the internet. What I personally like about them is the fact that they do not just seek out owners of successful online businesses – those charismatic leaders who have the drive and ambition to build something special and gain recognition for their efforts. They also aim to find the technical wizards, the more reserved folk who are actually creating the internet and shaping the web as we know it.

As a dedicated server provider, we are lucky enough to see some of the most exciting web projects up close and have the chance to play a big part in their success. It’s very gratifying to unearth some of the web’s masterminds and be able to reward them for their efforts.

The 2010 DEAs launched last week and already, I’m told there are loads of entries coming in. And really excitingly, many of them are for the more technical categories.

Entry is really simple – there are three tailored questions for each of the 15 awards available. You are encouraged to write as much or as little as you wish to get your business or project across and the kind of things the judges are looking for are indicated in each entry form. The other great thing is that because the awards aim to be as inclusive as possible – they are free to enter.

You can find out more at the website – http://www.digital-entrepreneur.co.uk

Since UKFast launched the ‘Building online Britain’ GTI scheme (Growth Through Innovation) we’ve been collaborating with online pioneers to share industry knowledge and skills with UK businesses. The purpose behind the philanthropy is to give those who want to conquer the digital market a little nudge in the right direction.

For the past eight months, UKFast has been partnering up with business masterminds to research and promote a better online environment for UK businesses, focusing on aspects such as innovation, speed, service and security, we call these ‘the round tables’.

Since we first started, we’ve been lucky to have had some majorly influential people itching to be involved, and with the likes of Travelzoo’s MD, Joel Brandon-Bravo, and Nick Brown, Chief Exec of Eazyfone, walking through our doors, you really would have to be barking mad not to lap up all the advice that’s being presented to you on a silver platter.

The B.O.B. campaign itself started out as a hosting fund that offers a £1000 share to businesses of £1million towards building your company online.  However, the campaign has since escalated into so much more, especially since our research unearthed some distressing figures about the lack of businesses online.

There has been a 45 per cent growth in online sales over the past two years (IMRG) but, somehow and somewhere 90 per cent of online businesses are failing. With such a berth of opportunity waiting for new and niche products and services to enter the market, there’s no reason not to be online and taking advantage of what’s sitting at a screen right in front of you.

The round tables have discussed numerous topics, such as ecommerce, online law and the marketing mix as well as getting the most from SEO. We created the series of online resources to educate SMBs and get them to the top of their game which is why there’s a wealth of information at your finger tips to push you in the right direction and accelerate your website.

In a two weeks time UKFast will host yet another round table, the topic; PCI Compliance. We can guarantee that the conversations that flow on that afternoon will be too good to forget about, so make sure that you keep your eye on the entrepreneur prize and watch out for the round up at the end of July.

Sleep with one eye open there are exciting things coming your way.

http://ukfast.tv/round-tables.html

Following the clamp down at Manchester United FC, Coronation Street cast members have become the latest high-profile employees to be banned from social media websites, as North West businesses take a tougher stance on Twitter and Facebook.

While the Red Devils decided to take preventative measures by banning their team from social networking sites and taking control of all player profiles, Coronation Street has made the set a ‘mobile and tweet-free zone’. Although the move has been linked to a number of storyline leaks, cast members have also been threatened with disciplinary action for posting inappropriate photos that would portray The Street in a bad light.

Considering that marketing campaigns and even elections can now be won and lost through social media, are these measures a little draconian in a modern, technological age?

Certainly, at UKFast it is our job to encourage our employees to use social networking sites such as Twitter. After spending time developing a strong community culture, we can be confident that they will reflect our brand and company ethos both inside and outside of working hours. By being united on a common goal we can deliver a unified message and make sure that everyone is Tweeting from the same page.

Just as Twitter and Facebook enable stars from the screen and the sporting world to connect with their fans and make them appear more attainable to the average supporter, social media is invaluable for a customer-focused company like ours. Enabling us to communicate directly with customers and clients alike, social media is an important tool for transparency and businesses must not be afraid to let their employees loose on it.

Researchers have reported that every one of the sites examined in the study, has leaked some kind of private information either to tracking sites or to other social networking services.

With one eye permanently focused on all things internet related, UKFast spotted these shocking statistics last week as the results of the latest study conducted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

This research has analysed the practise of 20 social networks including the most popular sites; Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter.

Craig Wills, professor of computer science at WPI and a co-author of the study stated, “This initial look at mobile online social networks raises some serious concerns, but there is more work to be done.

“The fact that third-party sites now seem to have the capacity to build a comprehensive portrait of mobile online social network users argues for a comprehensive way to capture the entire gamut of privacy controls into a single, unified, simple, easy-to-understand framework.”

Of course this news comes just days after Facebook received a wave of criticism aimed at its own privacy policy.

The social networking giant has been slated for creating tools that make it easier to share user information with third-party web sites, as well as making its privacy controls too complicated.

In response, Facebook has announced that it will be offering new, simpler privacy controls. However, critics are still sceptical about the nature of these new tools and the extent to which they will increase user confidentiality.

The results from this latest WPI survey indicate that a unified approach to privacy is becoming an increasingly important priority for both industry experts and social network users.

Wills states that a cohesive approach to confidentiality would ensure that, “users make informed choices about their online privacy and feel confident that they are sharing their personal, private information only with those they choose to share it with.”

Due to the nature of our industry, at UKFast we are well positioned to understand and emphasise the importance data security in all areas of business.  Consequently we have recently applied for, and been awarded the ISO27001 accreditation for our information security systems.

We remain hopeful that the results from this recent investigation form an important stepping stone in the battle for a more transparent and cooperative approach to privacy issues.

A recent report from Juniper Research has revealed that revenue from mobile applications will exceed $25bn (£16.7bn) by the year 2014.

At the end of 2009 the app market was worth only $10bn (£6.7bn), however astonishingly this is expected to more than double in the next four years!

At UKFast, as leading hosting providers we’re lucky enough to have a unique viewpoint of the online marketplace.

We have noted a significant increase in the demand for apps over recent months as well as a clear rise in the number of start-ups looking to profit from the coming boom in the application industry.

The report from Juniper shows that in the long term operators will benefit predominantly from data revenues associated with app usage rather than initial retail prices.

In-app billing, which allows for value added services, will replace initial download costs as the main revenue stream from mobile apps by 2011 according to the study.

Dr Windsor Holden, the author of the report, states “data revenue growth is dependent upon operators embracing policies which enable open access – a policy which also involves facilitating app stores which compete with their on-portal offerings.”

The study forecasts that Game apps will continue to dominate the market for the foreseeable future.

However, our team at UKFast believes that business based offerings should not be discounted in the race for leading mobile apps. The opportunities offered by such tools have yet to be fully explored.

We have long believed that mobile applications are the key to unlocking a new level of business efficiency.

In light of this, our R&D team has been hard at work for some time developing a series of new and exciting applications that will allow users easy access to our ‘client area’ tasks through their mobile phones.

As the application market booms, we maintain that business owners should consider the increased efficiency and thus improved productivity that can be offered through mobile applications.

The report, which was carried out by analysts Verdict and Ovum, shows that mobile transactions accounted for a measly 0.6 per cent of total online spending in 2009, but that this will have increased twofold by 2013.

As always, we have been keeping an eye on all things mobile here at UKFast and have certainly noticed the boom in mobile device development.  It is therefore no surprise, that the statistics for “m-commerce” are looking so optimistic in correlation with recent product development.

£21.2bn was spent online in the last year alone; however of this, only £122.9m was spent using mobile phones.  Astonishingly, in the next four years this figure is predicted to reach a staggering £275m!

It seems that retailers are already reacting to these growth predictions for mobile sales.

Marks and Spencer has recently launched a mobile version of its website, whilst Ocado has created an Android app to add to their existing iPhone offering and widen their mobile shopfront.

On the back of their research, the experts at Verdict and Ovum are confident that the next step for ambitious online retailers is to specifically focus upon developing comparison tools for consumers.

Senior analyst at Verdict Research, Malcolm Pinkerton stated, “Consumers are not spending significant amounts via mobiles and, for now, we believe the true potential for m-commerce is to provide consumers with a valuable tool for research, comparison shopping and retailer interaction.”

And it seems that Pinkerton’s predictions do fall in line with the growth plans of certain online businesses. Retail giant Argos for example, is currently topping iPhone app charts with its tool which focuses upon product comparisons based upon pricing and availability.

If Verdict and Ovum are correct, it seems that we will be seeing more and more retailers focusing upon the development of comparison applications which are easily accessible on mobile devices.

Currently apps such as “Shopper” and “CompareMe” are topping the charts in this arena; however businesses such as Amazon are hot on the heels of independent applications and are clearly looking to cash in on this newly created niche for mobile devices.

Whichever path retailers choose to take however, these new statistics certainly show that mobile applications will become increasingly big business for online retailers within the next few years.

New research by website optimisation software firm Aptimize has shown that websites of even the top UK brands are lagging behind their US counterparts in terms of speed. With Google’s recent announcement that speed will be a factor in the ranking algorithm this is a worrying statistic.  As well, web users are now spending more time on social networks than before, which means online businesses and ecommerce sites are losing out on their precious surfing hours.  At a time when the UK economy needs a kick-start not a slow-down we should be responding to these failings.

This week marks the official launch of Building Online Britain at UKFast.

Building Online Britain is a project run by UKFast which aims to help UK businesses achieve more from their websites through speed and innovation.  UKFast has made a £1million pound Growth Through Innovation (GTI) fund available for website owners to increase the speed of their website in order to compete more effectively in the marketplace.  We hope that through this fund thousands of UK businesses will accelerate their success online.

Access your £1000 website acceleration fund here.

UKFast will be partnering with other organisations to research and promote a better online environment for UK businesses, focussing on aspects such as speed, security, service and innovation.  If you would like to get involved please contact the campaign team on buildingonlinebritain@ukfast.co.uk.

It comes as no surprise then that we have just been awarded the Number One spot as most Fun and Friendly Office in the UK. The news was published by the Financial Times yesterday in the Best Workplaces 2010 list which is compiled by the Great Places To Work Institute.

Our people are not only creating a culture of enjoyment within UKFast but through this a culture of achievement and the company is growing at an exponential rate with more like minded individuals.  In the same awards UKFast were ranked 5^th for outstanding Learning and Development in the UK and it is this background of growth that fuels the atmosphere in the office.  A team that feels well-equipped and confident in carrying out their role will also feel satisfied in their work.

So congratulations to the whole team who themselves have created the Friendliest Office in the UK!

UKFast is working hard to find the answer to this and currently our customer satisfaction rate is 97% positive! Of course, this level of satisfaction is borne out of a combination of the quality of our products and a high level of service.  Whilst service is clearly people driven, our products are also a result of forward-thinking innovative teams.

A passionate team is the key to achieving customer satisfaction, but passion for a company and its customers is not something you can enforce. So it stands to reason that a team whose members are passionate and driven is the Holy Grail for any service-based enterprise.

The passion for excellence within any organisation has to be employee led and has to come from within.  A team that whole-heartedly believes in a business and goes over-and-above the call of duty in terms of service can only be stimulated – not created.  A starting point is to recruit friendly, enthusiastic, positive and hard-working people (it is a commonly held belief that the quality of an organisation comes from the quality of the people that run it) and then provide them with the environment they need to exercise this enthusiasm through their work.  If a team works with a great product, has access to the best equipment and works in an environment with positive, high-achieving, like-minded colleagues, a collective passion to consistently do an outstanding job will swell within the organisation.  Then collectively celebrating company achievements with the whole team will ensure a sustainability of both the momentum of success and a positive workplace atmosphere.

Passion is infectious.  If you can achieve it, it will run through every vein of your organisation and will rub off on new starters, team members at all levels, clients and perhaps most importantly – potential clients. 

The passion that runs through the team at UKFast has led to us winning the Customer Service award at the ISPAs and as our team continues to grow so does the excitement for what we will continue to achieve.

Experience UKFast customer service with our free monthly website healthcheck and access to MyUKFast Account.

MyUKFast Demo Account

From the latest news to bandwidth usage charts the MyUKFast account is a comprehensive tool which you can use to proactively manage your hosting.

Our aim as a hosting partner is to share the knowledge we have with our clients to enable them to accelerate their online businesses.  We can achieve this both through faster, more reliable hosting and by sharing information on improving websites to gain more traffic and sales.

We offer a range of server management applications, such as alerts on maintenance and incidents and Capacity Threshold Monitoring reports which indicate the extent of your server usage.  These management tools allow you to effectively monitor your website and identify traffic trends. Clients can also manage their domains and support queries via the MyUKFast account.

CPU Usage Graph

One of the most significant features of MyUKFast is that we have made our School of Hosting information library available to all account holders.  Since UKFast was started by Lawrence and Gail Jones ten years ago we have always worked to be at the forefront of the hosting industry in terms of knowledge and innovation.  We want to share this with clients and non-clients alike to arm them with information that will help to increase their success online.  The School of Hosting includes to our full video library, which houses videos from external parties, such Google discussing ranking factors, and from the UKFast knowledge base on ‘How to Triple your Traffic’.

MyUKFast Demo Account

As a hosting partner we feel that one of the most valuable services we can provide for our customers is passing on the knowledge we have gathered about the hosting industry and online commerce in general.  Through the MyUKFast account and the School of Hosting we have collaborated our innovations in server management and our knowledge base to provide an exciting addition to our customer service.

Click to gain exclusive free access to the MyUKFast account and receive monthly website healthchecks.

• Ski trip to Richard Branson’s Lodge in Verbier
• Ted Baker Suit
• X-Box
• Selfridges Vouchers
• iPod Touch

You wouldn’t be mistaken in thinking that these are the items on the credit card bill of your average millionaire. In fact, what all of these things have in common is that they are all reward incentives available to members of the team at UKFast.

In the debate of monetary vs. non-monetary incentives it is believed that there is greater value to team members of tangible gifts and rewards over extra money in the bank.  What these incentives provide is a short-term goal to work towards and a material reward that is directly linked to an exceptional career achievement.

It is the job of the company to understand what motivates their team and provide rewards that are meaningful when achieving extraordinary things in the workplace.  Knowing your team inside-out and offering prizes and incentives to them that match their personalities can create a momentum and excitement towards achieving targets that other rewards simply cannot provide. What is perhaps even more effective is if these rewards relate to a whole team – who can collectively work towards a goal and share the benefits.

But aside from prizes and holidays, incentives that are non-tangible can be even more powerful.  Giving employees the ability and voice to make changes in the workplace and creating a sense of community within the company can be some of the most powerful motivators.  It stands to reason that team members who feel they can make a real difference will make more efforts to do so.  UKFast holds regular focus groups where team members can make suggestions about how to further improve the day-to-day running of their department and the company as a whole.  Playing an active role in the company encourages people to contribute further in other ways.

So if within your business you’re looking to create a high achieving and motivated team, the first place to start is giving people a voice and allowing them to contribute their ideas to improve your business.  From here both the monetary and non-monetary rewards will follow!

There is no doubt that events companies can plan exciting and enjoyable corporate days, but it remains that these events on the whole are co-ordinated by people who have no prior knowledge of your purpose and objectives.

UKFast have a unique company facility for team-building. The centre at the foot of Mount Snowdon is used by our team members all year round (come rain or shine) for training and leisure! Teams that visit will climb Mount Snowdon, build rafts to navigate the lake and take place in an archery tournament. These are just a taste of the different activities that are planned for each visit to the centre. What the facility allows is the chance to execute custom made team-building exercises unique to UKFast and our teams. With the training centre at Snowdon there is complete flexibility and freedom to try out new exercises and repeat those activities that were previously successful.

And it’s not all physical exertion either! The UKFast training centre is set by an idyllic lake in the middle of Wales and provides the ideal location for relaxing and bonding with colleagues outside of the work environment.

Next time you sign up to use the services of a team-building events company it would be worth it to stop and think whether they will really understand your team and your company. What team-building environments could you create on your own? How much more successful would these be for improving team performance?

Building your teams should be focussed on their needs and the needs of your business and where better to do this than in an environment that perfectly represents that!

In the context of a current member of your team imparting their knowledge and enthusiasm of a company to new starters it is not a great leap of thought to see this as ‘charging’ them up, ready to start their new career with verve and passion.

At UKFast we feel the key to a successful induction is educating those who are starting their career with us about who we are and what we stand for.  It is relatively easy to teach people about the different products and services you offer, but much more challenging to instil a belief in the company and direction it is heading.  At the end of the first week in your company how many people would know your company mission or where the company is aiming to be in a year’s time? Perhaps as important as this do you know where they want to be within the company in a year’s time?  The induction process is a two-way street.  As much as it enables new team members to get to know the company it enables the company to get to know them.

An induction process that includes a coffee with the managing director and informal introductions to the new team you will be working with is worth its weight in gold to any new starter.   Making people feel like a true, integrated member of the team as quickly as possible should be the over-arching aim for any company who is introducing new people to the business.  If you charge people up with enthusiasm to succeed and place them in a circuit where they are a fully functioning element you will create a massive buzz!

If you can picture this then you will have some idea of what it is like to work at UKFast, which has recently been voted as one of The Sunday Times Top 100 SME’s To Work For. It is no wonder then that the company itself is high achieving when employees are motivated, positive and most importantly – having fun.

Other such highlights of a typical working week include fierce competition over the table tennis table, dress down Friday (which very often is a themed dress-up Friday – particularly amusing when the theme is St Trinian’s) and team-building focus days which include such forfeits hopping to and from your desk on one leg….all day! Of course, as with any other business there are tasks at hand and targets to be met but achievements are made as a natural result of teams who completely believe in each other’s abilities.

For companies who want to achieve great things I can recommend nothing higher than growing a lively, dedicated team of people and sustaining an atmosphere of positivity and laughter in the workplace. Working as part of a team who persistently meets their goals whether a weekly target or getting to the top of a mountain, gives the business as a whole a sense of momentum.

UKFast is recruiting at the moment, looking for more like-minded people who wish to have fun at work! And for those business owners who are looking to become a great company to work for…your first stop is creating a team who believe in their ability to succeed.