Construction companies often find themselves managing large scale projects throughout the country. These sites need to be able to communicate with each other and with head office. Telephone isn’t good enough, they’ll need to review construction plans and collaborate with colleagues around the country, allowing decisions to be made faster and the job to get done quicker. Communication and...

Connected devices are becoming ubiquitous and the hotel industry is no exception. Guest-facing employees are starting to use devices such as tablets to record and track guest requests and preferences, saving time and improving services as a result. As we’ve previously discussed, the hotel industry is both highly competitive and operates under tight profit margins. Anything hoteliers can do to get...

Hotel marketing used to revolve around offline platforms, such as brochures, adverts and directories. The internet has not only created digital equivalents of these traditional advertising methods but introduced a whole new range of marketing opportunities for hotels. Modern hotels, whether they’re a small boutique hotel or part of a famous global brand, need sophisticated websites, SEO, videos...

According to PwC, occupancy levels in UK hotels are set to grow in 2016 (and were predicted to spike in London during Q4 2015 due to the rugby world cup – which, of course, may have changed due to the England team crashing out early). The hotel industry is notorious for its business issues – tight profit margins, occupancy rates that vary depending on weather, economic conditions and travel...

The UK Government wants 95% of the country connected to super-fast broadband by 2017, but as demonstrated by the House of Commons debate on 12th October, many areas of the country continue to have issues receiving a reliable, and fast, internet connection. “Hon. Members reading the Order Paper could be forgiven for thinking that this debate is about the roll-out of superfast broadband across the...

Forrester predicts that 44% of in-store sales will have been influenced by the internet by 2018. As we explored in our previous post, the impact of the internet doesn’t just lie in online retail, but in the ways that physical retailers can augment their in-store services using features that depend on a reliable, fast internet connection. In 2014, the Digital High Street Board recommended the...

High-speed broadband connectivity may not seem like a vital matter for high street retailers to consider, but those that have excellent connectivity, and who use it well, reap the benefits of using it. In fact, one survey shows that 80% of shoppers cite the ability of free Wi-Fi as influencing where they shop. Retailers that provide free in-store Wi-Fi are considering their customer’s experience....

Back in February 2015 the House of Lords committee on digital skills reported that London had one of the lowest average internet connectivity speeds in Europe; having fallen behind cities like Bucharest and Reykjavik. The chair, Baroness Morgan, said: “It's unacceptable that some urban areas still experience 'not-spots', particularly where the lack of internet directly affects the UK’s ability to...

As copper lines are being replaced by other ways to connect to the internet – such as super-fast broadband, 4G mobile and satellite broadband services – VoIP is becoming more popular. When using VoIP, calls are transmitted via the internet, rather than the traditional copper based landlines and telephone exchanges. Using VoIP, people can download apps to their smartphones and computers, enabling...

A few years ago, most offices made extensive use of local area networks (LANs). For example, accounting software could be installed on one computer, and used on several others that were connected to the same LAN. Now, that same office has the option of using online accounting software, which stores its financial data in the cloud. These days, there are business services apps and websites that...