Asking more than 800 IT managers of businesses in the UK about the integration of new technology, only one in five update their technology hardware annually. And, as outdated software (81 per cent) and outdated hardware (67 per cent) were blamed for prohibiting commercial efficiency, it is clear that the gap of three years from technical innovation through to integration is causing UK business to fall far behind the speed of technological innovation. In fact, a third of businesses say the cost of maintaining old equipment is prohibiting efficiency.
More than half of UK businesses have tried to take out a bank loan to fund IT. Of these, only 42 per cent were successful. Faced with this lack of cash, two in five businesses now say that financing options are essential to remain competitive. However, nearly two thirds have never used financing options when purchasing IT equipment.
Phil Birbeck, managing director of Equanet, commented, “Outdated technology is the noose tightening around UK business’ neck. To maintain our influence on a global scale and compete against increasingly tech savvy companies overseas we will have to answer the question, why is new technology not reaching UK business?”
Birbeck continues, “As the speed of technological innovation has increased, UK business has proved ill-equipped to maintain such momentum. We need to invest now to have any confidence in the future. Everyone knows budgets are tight but there are ways of coping, it just seems that companies don’t know where to look. Options such as leasing solutions and schemes such as BYOC need to be nurtured otherwise the only certainty for UK business will be that, in 10 years time, we will have completely lost the ability to compete in the international market. ”
