Technology

Average worker is operating at 60% capacity because of limited workplace technology
BOSTON, June 27, 2022 — Lakeside Software, a leader in digital experience management (DEM), announced today the release of its Digital Workplace Productivity Report 2022 (the “Report”), revealing that organisations are struggling to support remote and hybrid employees.

The Report reveals:
● Employee frustration: with both the technology they interact with every day and the overall IT infrastructure that supports their workplace.
● Lower output: on average, employees claim they are achieving just 60% of their potential work output because of the suboptimal quality of their overall digital experience.
● Productivity losses: output is also hindered by regular IT disruption, with employees losing 54 minutes of work time every week due to technical issues.
● Nascent technology: the role that new technologies, such as digital employee experience (DEX) platforms can play in supporting high-performing, productive teams.

Businesses as a whole, from IT to HR departments face a huge challenge in addressing this productivity gap, as Lakeside’s research shows 40% of workplace technology issues, such as network connectivity, application performance, and system errors, go unreported to IT teams.

“The Digital Workplace Productivity Report has identified a critical flaw in most organisations,” said David Keil, Chief Executive Officer at Lakeside Software. “Not only are many employees feeling hindered by their workplace technology, but IT teams are also frustrated by a lack of visibility into how and when issues occur.

“The loss of nearly one hour per week per employee to IT downtime represents a major productivity issue for enterprise organisations”, said Keil. “By taking steps to proactively prevent problems occurring across their IT infrastructure, business leaders can minimise downtime and achieve millions of pounds in reclaimed revenue every year.”

As organisations continue to compete for talent, it’s critical for businesses to have the right tools and capabilities to support workforces of any kind. Platforms that support the digital employee experience (DEX) can drive positive change by analysing how employees interact with the organisation’s computing devices, local and cloud applications, networks and virtual infrastructures (VDIs).

A strong DEX is also critical for employee retention and talent acquisition. Thirty-six percent of employees report that they have considered leaving an employer due to poor digital experiences — and of those, 14% admitted they have actually left. This represents a significant challenge in a competitive environment where nearly half of all employees globally are considering changing jobs.

“As the four-day work week makes headlines around the globe, organisations are still grappling with how to manage and adapt to decentralised work environments, let alone a reduced work week,” said David Wilkins, Chief Marketing Officer, Lakeside Software. “Our research shows just how important flexibility and the digital experience is to employee satisfaction. While many business leaders see workforce engagement as being the main output driver, employees have another perspective: the need for technology, IT support, workplace flexibility, and training that enables greater productivity and leads to a more satisfied workforce.”

To learn more about workplace productivity, along with commentary and analysis of survey findings, can be found in the report and supporting content:
– Download the Digital Workplace Productivity Report 2022 here.
– Register for our upcoming webinar “Digital Employee Experience: The Secret to Productive Digital Workforces” here.
– Read our analysis of the Digital Workplace Productivity Report here.
Survey Methodology

Lakeside Software commissioned ESI ThoughtLab to conduct market research from February to March 2022.

The study gathered perspectives from 600 respondents in total: 200 employees, 200 C-level executives, and 200 IT executives and staff

Analysis was conducted across industries (including financial services, technology, life sciences, and professional services), geographic markets, company sizes, and other parameters to ensure a comprehensive view of the digital employee experience market.

June 27, 2022

Phishing simulator data from Kaspersky Security Awareness Platform shows that workers tend not to notice pitfalls hidden in emails devoted to corporate issues and delivery problem notifications. Almost one in five (16% to 18%) clicked the link in the email templates imitating these phishing attacks.  

According to estimates, 91% of all cyberattacks begin with a phishing email, and phishing techniques are involved in 32% of all successful data breaches.

To provide further insight into this threat, Kaspersky analysed data gathered from a phishing simulator, provided voluntarily by users[1]. Integrated into Kaspersky Security Awareness Platform, this tool helps companies check if their staff can distinguish a phishing email from a real one without putting corporate data at risk. An administrator chooses from the set of templates, mimicking common phishing scenarios, or creates a custom template, then sends it to the group of employees without pre-warning them and tracks the results. A large number of users clicking the link is a clear indication that additional cybersecurity awareness training is required.  

According to recent phishing simulation campaigns, the five most effective types of phishing email are:

• Subject: Failed delivery attempt – Unfortunately, our courier was unable to deliver your item. Sender: Mail delivery service. Click conversion: 18.5%
• Subject: Emails not delivered due to overloaded mail servers. Sender: The Google support team. Click conversion: 18%
• Subject: Online employee survey: What would you improve about working at the company. Sender: HR Department. Click conversion: 18%
• Subject: Reminder: New company-wide dress code. Sender: Human Resources. Click conversion: 17.5%
• Subject: Attention all employees: new building evacuation plan. Sender: Safety Department. Click conversion: 16%

Among the other phishing emails that gained a significant number of clicks are; reservation confirmations from a booking service (11%), a notification about an order placement (11%), and an IKEA contest announcement (10%).

On the other hand, emails that threaten the recipient, or offer instant benefits, appeared to be less “successful”. A template with the subject “I hacked your computer and know your search history” gained 2% of clicks, while offers for free Netflix and $1,000 by clicking a link tricked just 1% of employees. 

“Phishing simulation is one of the simplest ways to track employees’ cyber-resilience and evaluate the efficiency of their cybersecurity training. However, there are significant aspects that must be considered when conducting this assessment to make it really impactful,” comments Elena Molchanova, Head of Security Awareness Business Development at Kaspersky. “Since the methods used by cybercriminals are constantly changing, the simulation has to reflect up-to-date social engineering trends, alongside common cybercrime scenarios. It is crucial that simulated attacks are carried out regularly and supplemented with appropriate training – so users will develop a strong vigilance skill that will allow them avoid falling for targeted attacks or so-called spear phishing.”     

To prevent data breaches, and any related financial and reputational losses caused by phishing attacks, Kaspersky recommends the following for businesses:

• Remind your employees about the basic signs of phishing emails. A dramatic subject line, mistakes and typos, inconsistent sender addresses and suspicious links;
• If there is any doubt about the received email, check the format of attachments before opening them and the link accuracy before clicking. This can be achieved by hovering over these elements – make sure the address looks authentic and the attached files are not in an executable format;
• Always report phishing attacks. If you spot a phishing attack, report it to your IT security department and, if possible, avoid opening the malicious email. This will allow your cybersecurity team to reconfigure anti-spam policies and prevent an incident;
• Supply your employees with basic cybersecurity knowledge. Education should be aimed at changing the behavior of learners and teaching them how to deal with threats. As a major cybersecurity vendor, Kaspersky possesses a relevant base of information on real attacks and continuously supplements its Security Awareness Trainings in accordance with the current threat landscape;
• Since phishing attempts can be confusing, and there’s no guarantee of avoiding all accident clicks, protect your working devices with reliable security. Choose a solution that provides anti-spam capabilities, tracks suspicious behavior, and creates a backup copy of your files in case of ransomware attacks. Anti-phishing protection is included in some security solutions, even for small and very small businesses, such as Kaspersky Small Office Security.

About Kaspersky

Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialised security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 240,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

• Life insurance broker reveals predictions for H2, with customer centricity taking centre stage

As the cost of living crisis continues to bite over the second half of 2022, fuelled by an inflation rate expected to hit 10% this year according to the Bank of England, consumers need greater flexibility, efficiency and advice on where best to put their money.

It would be wrong to describe fintech as the silver bullet to the host of challenges facing individuals this year. But, by taking a consumer-centric approach and adopting innovation in the sector, business will find they can at least ease some of the pressures.

As such, Reassured, the UK’s largest life insurance broker, today reveals its top five predictions for fintech in the second half of 2022:

1. Insurtech centred on consumer choice

With the cost of living soaring, it is tempting for many consumers to cancel any insurance policies that seemingly offer no short-term benefits. But, as the last two years has proven beyond doubt, the importance of insurance, particularly a life policy, cannot be overstated.

It is up to brokers to ensure that the highest possible number of people have access to insurance. That means broadening the ways in which a policy can be bought, so, in the second half of 2022, we expect to see a greater number of brokers and insurers adopt digital solutions to complement core telephony-based sales.

It means putting the consumer first, expanding the number of ways through which they can access life insurance, and ultimately giving them a better level of service.

2. Wave goodbye to archaic pensions

With inflation at a 40-year high and the price of energy and food rising rapidly, consumers are having to make difficult decisions about what to prioritise. Investing in a pension is likely to slip down the agenda as the immediate benefits are not quite as visible.

The good news is that the acceleration in technology and the growth of digital pension challengers such as Penfold and PensionBee, mean that consumers have far greater, immediate control over their pension. Digital driven providers can offer greater flexibility so that savers can adjust or even pause contributions seamlessly if they are struggling to manage day-to-day living costs, which is something that the more traditional providers simply can’t match. This greater level of flexibility and control will keep consumers investing in their future in spite of short-term shocks, giving them a more secure future.

3. The changing face of insurance

The era of poorly coded, sluggish technology us over. Consumers have grown used to a level of service, brought on by the pandemic, which is defined by efficiency and ease of use, and the industry as a whole will make significant efforts to match this, by adopting AI, predictive analytics and advanced chatbots over the next year. 47% of consumers now say they are open to parting with their money via a chatbot. As such, developing technology which improves the performance and quality of service, while providing access to insurance quickly, will be a key focus of the industry in the remainder 2022.

4. Tech to prevent fraud

Fraud losses following unprecedented amounts of financial support given to businesses and individuals over the pandemic were a painful reminder of the importance of adequate KYC checks. In the UK, an estimated £4.9 billion of taxpayers’ money was lost to criminals as a result of poor identity and verification (ID&V) processes. A primary focus for the second half of this year will be how we can stop this happening again with technology solutions such as ID-Pal and Veriff, especially as the methods employed by fraudsters become increasingly sophisticated.

5. The future of the homebuying journey

Over the pandemic, the property industry adopted digitisation as a means of survival. As well as online communication, advisers embraced digital application tracking, online fact finds and interactive calculators to their list of services.

These benefits are now standard in the industry, but adoption of these services is certainly not at an end. Exciting developments, such as Smartr365’s HomeBuyer platform allows customers to scan a QR code or Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip in an estate agent window or on a property search site. Other companies, such as Acre are similarly pushing for greater tech adoption. This will automatically and remotely share their details with a mortgage broker to begin the application process, bringing even greater efficiency and customer centricity to the process.

James Turnbull, CTO at Reassured, comments:

“Fintech leapt to the challenge at the dawn of the pandemic by allowing essential financial services to continue to operate remotely and with greater efficiency. Now, it’s time for fintech to step up as the cost-of living-crisis intensifies.

“Innovative technologies in all areas of financial services have the power to grant consumers greater flexibility, greater security, and ultimately, greater freedom – all of which will help individuals deal with the toughest effects of rising living costs. But, it’s up to us as financial services providers to grasp these opportunities and lead from the front, by making use of the best of what fintech has to offer in order to put the customer first.”

Dublin, Ireland, 31st May 2022 BSO, a global pioneering infrastructure and connectivity provider, today revealed new research uncovering a “resilience paradox” suggesting that financial institutions have come to tolerate poor cloud connectivity experiences.

Nearly all IT decision makers rated their connectivity as being extremely or very resilient, yet all had experienced outages to some degree with almost half experiencing outages at least monthly. The sluggishness to move to more reliable cloud options is costing financial institutions 21%-50% of revenue on average yet only 2% of financial institutions are planning to change cloud providers in the near term. The findings are a surprising contradiction given the availability of cloud solutions on the market that guarantee 99.99% uptime and 100% data durability for object storage.

The report, Cloud connectivity and the future of financial markets, is based on a survey of 600 IT decision makers in financial service sectors including banking, trading, brokerage, financial exchanges and crypto exchanges. Businesses from across the world were surveyed including France, Germany, the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brazil.

Key findings include:

• Performance: In all sectors and countries average losses for financial service firms due to poor network performance topped $67mn for the past 12 months.
• Data security: The most pronounced impact that security breaches had on businesses was on lost or misdirected payments, with over half of businesses (52%) experiencing them, closely followed by the inability to access accounts or accounts suspended (47%) and inability to use the full, promised functionality of cloud-based applications (41%).
• Global scale: 2 in 5 (38%) respondents said poor cloud connectivity stopped them from expanding into a new geographic market. Nearly half (48%) said it stopped them from launching a new product or service. Over 2 in 10 (22%) said it stopped them from expanding into a new sector.
• Top considerations for selecting a new cloud connectivity provider: Quantity of cloud on-ramps (51%), technology and services that align with business needs (49%), low number of transactions needing repairs or returns (48%), the ability to exit with no risk of vendor lock-in (39%) and better choices of currencies (39%) were the top five considerations for businesses when selecting a new provider.
• The pandemic effect: Contrary to popular belief, the pandemic was not a major stimulus of cloud investment because most businesses (99%) had already started using cloud to access applications before the pandemic.

The research also found a “north-south cloud divide” when comparing markets across several cloud performance metrics. France, UK and US firms consistently estimated considerably higher impacts from poor cloud performance when compared to their southern hemisphere counterparts, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brazil. Cumulative losses topped $442.67mn for France, UK and US firms dwarfing losses of $64.71mn from Hong Kong, Singapore, Brazil firms.

The north-south cloud divide key findings include:

• Low latency: On average firms lost $14mn due to lost trades in the past 12 months due to the inability to achieve low-latency goals with US ($64.45mn), UK ($16.18mn) and French ($15.97mn) firms experiencing the most significant losses.
• Scaling resources: Over $25m in revenue was lost in the last 12 months on average from the inability to effectively scale resources. The US recognised shockingly higher losses ($142.83mn) than the rest of the world and dwarfs UK firms ($15.43mn) in second place.
• Sourcing real time market data: The inability to source real-time market data cost banks $18mn on average. US banks lost $44.72mn followed by UK banks ($14.63mn) and French banks ($12.69mn).

“The importance of cloud technologies is well-established among financial service institutions, but this is the first report of its kind to uncover the impact of poor cloud connectivity on the commercial success of businesses. The losses financial service institutions have witnessed in the last year due to poor cloud connectivity should be a wake up call to the industry.” Said Michael Ourabah, CEO of BSO. “The findings raise an important question – why are institutions hesitating to make changes to their cloud connectivity when solutions are readily available? Whatever the answer, the most successful institutions will be those that take a proactive approach to their cloud strategy.”

The report is available at https://www.bso.co/cloud-connectivity-report

Cyberhawk has signed an agreement with Shamal Technologies to digitally transform the way major construction projects are managed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Shamal Technologies is a leading geospatial company that delivers end-to-end data acquisition, visualization and analytics solutions that can reduce operational risk. The company is the first in Saudi Arabia to develop solutions that integrate artificial intelligence technology with unmanned systems. 

Cyberhawk is a world leader in visual data solutions for energy infrastructure and capital projects. The UK firm captures images of critical infrastructure using drone technology, which is analyzed using Cyberhawk’s cloud-based visualization software, iHawk.

As part of the agreement, both parties will combine data acquisition and analytics expertise to launch a powerful Visual Intelligence solution for major capital projects in Saudi Arabia.

Shamal Online, the name given to the new data management and visualization platform, will be powered by iHawk. Cyberhawk will also provide technical knowledge transfer support and scale up drone surveying operations for planned construction projects within the region.

The construction monitoring solution will support project managers to track milestones, coordinate vendor activities, and schedule future onsite work.

The fully enabled IoT solution will empower project managers to make evidence-based decisions by integrating seamlessly with third-party sensors and APIs. Geospatial information, including imagery acquired from ground cameras, CCTV, drones, and autonomous technologies will form data layers for analysis on an unprecedented scale.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony held at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) which is an institute focused on driving innovation, economic development, and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia.

The partnership is aligned with the Saudi 2030 vision to form strong international alliances and invest in a highly trained Saudi workforce to develop progressive industries and futureproof the economy.

Chris Fleming, Chief Executive Officer at Cyberhawk commented: “Countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council are successfully growing and diversifying their economies through digital transformation strategies. Shamal Technologies is a great example of this, and we’re excited about working together to accelerate innovation within the Kingdom.”

Haitham Aljahdali, CEO at Shamal Technologies added: “The world is in a data revolution. That leads us to use great visualization tools to empower thousands of asset owners, project, and inspection managers to harness the power of data. Cyberhawk has one of the best-in-class data management and visualization platforms in the world. We are glad to have this partnership with the market leader in the field.”

London, 18th May 2022: As private investment in AI is revealed to have more than doubled in the past year to $93.5bn, new research reveals UK technology leaders now believe AI is superior to humans at analysing conversations and reading emotions. 

Whilst AI is typically seen to be best applied to data analysis and problem solving, nearly one in three (30%) UK tech leaders believe AI can understand emotions and conversation sentiments better than humans. 

Nine out of ten (88%) say AI has, or will soon have, the ability to ‘listen like a human,’ or interpret human conversations as effectively as people can. The results also give us an idea of the timeline; 52% of respondents believe that a scalable business AI solution which can ‘listen’ in this way will become a reality in the next ten years, and almost a third (30%) believe this is likely to come to fruition in the next five years. 

The research, conducted by global voice data capture platform Red Box, looked at UK technology leaders’ perceptions of AI’s ability to understand and analyse human conversations. The findings show that many UK tech leaders believe AI to be superior at performing repetitive tasks (42%) and problem solving (33%) as well as more typically humanistic tasks such as transcribing complex conversations (35%) and understanding individual employees or customers (37%). 

Three other key findings of the research include:

• Over a third (35%) say the use of AI to analyse conversational data is already helping them improve customer experience and identify areas for internal improvement
• Two fifths (40%) believe AI will help improve retention, support flexible working, and provide great efficiency
• Over a third (35%) of those surveyed believe AI is superior at understanding regional dialects and accents as well as interpreting multiple languages

The timeframe within which those surveyed plan to introduce voice capture software into their businesses shows this technology is reaching something of an inflection point: the average planned adoption time for voice capture technology across back-office conversations, internal and external call centres and between different offices was just four and a half years. 

Richard Stevenson, CEO of Red Box commented: “The incoming voice data revolution backed by UK technology leaders is now clear for all to see. There is a belief amongst the chief decision makers working in UK businesses that those elements of human interactions that were thought to be beyond the reach of technology have been thrust into the grasp of AI – the productivity and efficiency gains this could bring are immense. It is now time for the industry to invest in conversational AI, unlock these benefits and utilise the vast swathes of data held within everyday conversations.” 

This inflection point in the adoption and power of voice capture technology adds to the steady growth in the use of AI across UK businesses. Nearly half of those surveyed said they are already using voice capture technology in contact centres (47%) and between global offices (42%), with this adoption only set to increase. 

What’s more, UK tech leaders already believe AI is playing a key role in the proliferation of remote or hybrid working. A third (33%) of those surveyed said conversational data is already assisting compliance challenges which became a pressing issue for many businesses through successive lockdowns. A further 35% of those surveyed believe AI is superior at understanding regional dialects and accents as well as interpreting multiple languages – crucial as workers and customers become increasingly remote from one another. 

Aurelie Cnop, Academic Director of the Master in Digital Transformation and Leadership at ESCP Europe, says: “Today’s artificial intelligence is mainly based on machine learning that can be incredibly efficient in solving certain tasks that do not require true intelligence, where intelligence is defined as understanding. AI is known to look for patterns and understand what the consumer wants, but of course this will still have many limitations. Looking at developments in neural technology and data analytics, as well as increased computing power, it is clear now that AI will progressively augment and streamline many human activities in the next five years.”

• 182% growth in tech roles within fintech – 3x pace of general market
• 90% of all fintech roles come from 8 ‘mega-hubs’
• 1 in 3 new hires within fintech’s around globe is for software engineers & developers
• Less than a quarter of global fintech talent pool is female – lagging behind banking & technology
• Fast-scaling nature of fintech’s means average tenure for employees in 18 months

The global fintech sector has seen an exceptional +182% increase in tech job growth for the first quarter of 2022 – with the top 8 fintech ‘mega-hubs’ accounting for over 90% of all new fintech jobs advertised around the globe.

The findings – from recruitment firm Robert Walters’ Global Fintech Talent Report – highlights how the fintech industry is one of the fastest growing sectors post-pandemic, outperforming the wider market by 3x.

However, according to recruiter Robert Walters, the sector will face major hurdles this year as an acute tech talent shortage around the globe threatens to halt the fintech growth machine.   

Toby Fowlston, CEO of Robert Walters comments:

“The forecast for organisations working in the global fintech market is a very positive one, however, their growth will be dependent on their ability to recruit and retain the right tech talent.

“The most advanced economies have long established that they cannot be ‘good at everything’ and instead have focussed their efforts in becoming specialists in a few core areas.

“For example – you have Germany for engineering, China for manufacturing, and the UK for banking. But no country quite has a dominance over technology and given the remote & mobile nature of the tech industry it seems that all major economies are competing for a slice of the fintech pie.

“Whilst the outcome of competition means heightened innovation and consumer choice, from a talent perspective this creates a challenge and as the adoption of fintech products continues to grow at an exceptional rate the concern is whether there is enough of the right tech talent to keep up with the growth.”

The Robert Walters’ Global Fintech Talent Report considers various factors across geographies impacting talent attraction including skills in demand, retention levels, gender diversity, salary and VC investment.

UK vs Rest of the World

• VC Funding: The UK is behind only the USA when it comes to fintech funding – attracting $4bn in the past year, on par with tech giants China and Japan.
• Fintech Activity: With almost just as many active fintech firms as the USA – standing at over 1,500 – London continues to play an attractive home for fintech HQs, with surrounding areas such as Manchester and Birmingham proving to be attractive locations for satellite offices.
• Talent Landscape: Vacancies have grown year-on-year within fintech (+136%), with the UK fintech hiring predominately at the senior-end of the market to accommodate the fast-scaling nature of the market.

Toby adds: “Exit strategies for UK fintech’s are front of mind and so it is not uncommon for professionals to move on to another role within 1.5 years once they have seen through one major growth cycle or investment round.”

Year-on-Year Job Growth in Fintech

The USA has seen the biggest jump in new tech jobs within fintech – illustrating a +223% increase across the board, with the majority of this growth in New York (+246%) and San Francisco (+200%).

Second in the running for job growth is Japan (+214%) – where blockchain technology represents almost a third of all fintech companies in the country as cryptocurrencies transactions continue to grow (+51%).

Toby comments: “Technology professionals are one of the most mobile talent communities in the world, and they naturally draw towards hubs or hives of activity where their skillset will continue to be in-demand and paid well.

“Now that travel and entry restrictions around the globe are fast disappearing it won’t be surprising to see a significant migration of talent toward the 8 fintech hubs.”

Top 8 Fintech ‘Mega-Hubs’ Ranked by Job Growth

Top Skills in Demand

According to the report, the most in-demand roles within fintech across the globe is software engineering & development – accounting for a third of all job roles advertised by fintech’s.

With San Francisco (40%), New York (33%), and Singapore (33%) all hiring en-masse for developers, it is clear to see which countries are heading into greater levels of disruptive innovation where we will see the emergence of fintech-as-a-service, hybrid cloud platforms, embedded finance, as well as a hyper-focus on customer experience.

Toby adds: “The increasing digitisation of all sectors has meant that software development is in demand across almost any industry. With the technology behind fintech advancing at astronomical levels, the high level of specialism needed from developers is certainly being reflected in inflated salaries.”

Falling Behind on Diversity

Currently less than a quarter of the global fintech talent is female – a stark contrast to the growing representation of female professionals in technology and financial services, which now stands at over a third. San Francisco fintech’s appear to have the most gender diverse teams – with 28% female representation.   

Toby adds: “It makes little sense why the representation of women within fintech is so low – in particular considering the difficulty in finding candidates. Fast-growing start-ups need to look beyond ‘quirky’ soft perks and consider adding more meaningful benefits that may attract female professionals.”

Survey findings from Robert Walters has found that females are more likely to assess company & job security, diversity policies, and enhanced maternity packages before applying for a job.

Retention Rates

Healthy employee retention rates are crucial to the financial performance of a company. Research indicates that the average cost of employee turnover is around £11,000 per person – and for specialist roles the turnover cost can be significantly higher due to the amount of time and money that an organisation spends to train them.

According to Robert Walters analysts, fintech firms should try to aim to keep employees for at least 18 months – 2 years, if they are to get maximum potential all whilst keeping a channel open for fresh people and ideas.

Currently just New York, Netherlands and San Francisco are able to retain their employees on average for 18months+, with fintech start-ups in other countries failing to keep new hires engaged for long enough.

Toby comments: “Excessive turnover drives up costs and diverts time and attention from the goals of a fast-growing start-up. For fintech’s that are more established, high turnover of staff  can lead to a loss of institutional knowledge and hinder efforts to foster a workplace culture.

“Fortunately, most of the drivers behind employee turnover are preventable and fixable. Steps to reduce turnover include rethinking recruiting strategies, enhancing career advancement opportunities and providing more training and development offerings.”

Download a copy of the Robert Walters’ Global Fintech Talent Report.

By Paresh Dave

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google has begun entertaining people’s requests to remove search results containing their home addresses, phone numbers and email accounts, the latest shift in its stance between personal privacy and access to information.

The world’s most used internet search tool said on Wednesday that the expansion of its removal policies globally followed growing demand from users and evolving norms about the threat posed by easy access to contact details.

“Research has told us there’s a larger amount of personally identifiable information that users consider as sensitive,” Michelle Chang, global policy lead for Google search, said in an exclusive interview. “They are increasingly unwilling to tolerate this content online.”

Until now, Google would only accept requests to remove webpages that shared contact info alongside some sort of threat or required payment for removal. It also has stripped links to bank account and credit card numbers and medical records.

It received tens of thousands of requests annually in recent years, approving about 13% of them. Chang said she expected the approval rate to grow under the expanded rules, which also allow for removing links to confidential log-in credentials.

Older Google policies enable requesting takedowns of results directing to unwanted pornography and, in Europe, “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive” personal information. Last year, Google began allowing removal of photos of minors.

Chang said in weighing requests under the contact information policy, Google would aim to preserve availability of data in the public interest. It also will not remove information that “appears as part of the public record on the sites of government or official sources.”

The company said it typically processes requests within a few days.

Webpages Google drops can still be accessed through other search engines or directly, and Chang said users are encouraged to contact publishers to address “the root of the issue.”

(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

By Hyunjoo Jin and Paul Lienert

(Reuters) – As Tesla’s profits and prices grabbed headlines last week, a potentially pivotal development for the global car industry flew largely under the radar.

The U.S. electric pioneer disclosed that nearly half of the vehicles it produced in the first quarter were equipped with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries – a cheaper rival to the nickel-and-cobalt based cells that dominate in the West.

The revelation, eclipsed by the carmaker’s $19 billion revenue and Elon Musk’s Twitter charge, was the first time Tesla had disclosed such specifics about its batteries make-up.

It flashed a strong signal that iron-based cells are finally starting to win global appeal at a time when nickel is blighted by supply concerns due to major producer Russia’s war in Ukraine and cobalt is tainted by reports of dangerous conditions at artisanal mines in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tesla is not alone in betting that LFP batteries, already popular in China, can make inroads into Western markets.

More than a dozen companies are considering establishing factories for LFP batteries and components in the United States and Europe over the next three years, according to a Reuters review of the electric vehicle (EV) scene and interviews with several players.

See accompanying factbox on the plans:

“I think lithium iron phosphate has a new life,” said Mujeeb Ijaz, founder of U.S. battery startup Our Next Energy which says it is scouting a U.S. production site. “It has a clear and long-term advantage for the electric vehicle industry.”

Ijaz has worked in the field long enough to see a technology that failed to catch on in America a decade ago gather fresh momentum. He was chief technology officer at Michigan-based A123, an early producer of LFP batteries that went bankrupt in 2012 and was acquired by a Chinese company.

He and other LFP advocates cited the relative abundance and cheaper prices of iron as a key factor beginning to outweigh the drawbacks that have held back the adoption of LFP cells globally – they are bigger and heavier, and generally hold less energy than NCM cells, giving them a shorter range.

There is a mountain to climb, though.

LFP chemistry has accounted for just 3% of EV batteries in the United States and Canada in 2022 and 6% in the European Union, with nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cells accounting for the rest, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI).

The race is far tighter in China, where LFP commands 44% of the EV market versus NCM’s 56%.

It could be long and tough road for Western LFP cell manufacturers seeking to prosper against rivals from China, which accounts for about 90% of global production.

A shorter-term concern for such companies, according to BMI’s chief data officer Caspar Rawles, is a continued dependence on Chinese suppliers for refined materials.

LFP cells also contain more lithium than NCM rivals, and industry experts raise concerns that iron-based batteries’ historic advantage of being cheaper to produce could be eroded and even erased by rising costs of the metal.

NEVER LEAVE LOS ANGELES?

Tesla has been using LFP in some entry-level, U.S.-made versions of its Model 3 since last year, expanding their use of the technology beyond China, where about two years ago it started using LFP batteries made by Chinese firm CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, for some Model 3s.

Yet given the historic dominance of nickel-and-cobalt based batteries in the United States, the scale of Tesla’s usage of LFP cells in the first quarter of 2022 – fitted in roughly 150,000 cars produced – took some analysts and battery specialists by surprise.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Mitra Chem, co-founded by former Tesla battery supply chain manager Vivas Kumar, is working to build LFP battery materials, initially in California. He said he expected nickel prices would remain volatile because of supply chain dislocations.

“The best insurance policy that automakers have … is to incorporate more iron-based cathodes in their portfolio,” he added.

U.S. electric vehicle startup Fisker, which plans to use LFP batteries in its lower-range SUVs, plans to initially source cells from CATL. But CEO Henrik Fisker said that it was in talks with battery suppliers to source batteries made in the United States, Canada or Mexico from 2024 or 2025.

Local sourcing is important because it is expensive to ship the heavy packs from Asia, especially for low-cost, high-volume vehicles, according to Fisker. It is also not environmentally friendly, added the CEO, who is confident there will be a major place for LFP batteries in the global EV mix.

“(If) I never leave Los Angeles, I never leave San Francisco, I never leave London … I think that’s where LFP comes in really well,” he said of urban-dwelling EV owners who drive shorter distances.

Other premium carmakers are also looking at the chemistry following the outbreak of the Ukraine war, including Volkswagen’s Audi, which hasn’t used LFP batteries before.

“It may well be that we will see LFP in a larger portion of the fleet in the medium term,” Audi CEO Markus Duesmann said in March. “After the war, a new situation will emerge; we will adapt to that and choose battery technologies and specifications accordingly.”

BMW’s chief procurement officer Joachim Post also said recently that the company was examining the merits of LFP. “We’re looking at different technologies to minimize the use of resources and also we’re looking at optimizing chemistry,” he added.

DISCIPLINED, NO SCREW-UPS

Among their advantages, LFP cells tend to pose less of a fire risk than NCM cells, and can be fully charged continually without losing as much performance over the life of the battery.

As the global EV market expands, the chemistry is expected to find its way into more entry-level consumer and commercial vehicles where longer range is not as critical.

Yet the hurdles to widespread LFP cell adoption include finding solutions to improve energy density – thus reducing the size and weight – and grappling with the rising cost of lithium.

Here’s a graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/3uUejfn

Meanwhile, building out and scaling up LFP production in the United States and Europe will take time, underscoring the challenge to Western governments in reducing reliance on China.

American startups face an uphill battle of scaling up to compete with CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd), which is backed by Chinese government subsidies and supplies Tesla, among others, with LFP cells.

“Everything has to be disciplined manufacturing, without any screw-ups,” said Bob Galyen, a former chief technology officer at CATL who now runs a batteries consultancy, Galyen Energy.

He also noted: “A U.S.-based company does not have to worry about the geopolitical issues that China and U.S. have presently.”

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Paul Lienert in Detroit; Additional reporting by Christina Amann and Victoria Waldersee in Berlin; Editing by Pravin Char)