Internet World is officially Europe’s largest and longest running event for digital marketing and online business.

TechNET IT will be joining an estimated 11,000 visitors and 300 exhibitors at Earls Court from 24th-26th April.

If you are a company looking to engage a specialist supplier, or a candidate looking for their next career move, we want to talk to you.

Let TechNET show you the various additional services we can offer.

We are looking forward to meeting the visitors and exhibitors at Internet World 2012 – come and introduce yourselves and be entered into a prize draw to win an iPad 2!

We will be located on stand TS6, near Gate L and the Digital Markeing World Theatre.

Come and visit us from 24th-26th April.

According to their research, 41% of British people surveyed are getting bored of social media, despite a continuous rise in usage. 65% of the UK’s online population have used Facebook in the last month; the highest percentage for any social media site.

Within this statistic, a huge 95% of 16-20 year olds, and 74% of 21-24 year olds have accessed Facebook in the last month. YouTube is the next most popular with 50% of UK internet users visiting the site in the last month; Twitter had 23%, Windows Live 14%, LinkedIn 13%, Google + 12% and Spotify 10%.

The LinkedIn professional networking site have reported an increase in usage in the past 12 months, corresponding with results from the YouGov survey. 53% of UK LinkedIn users used the site more this year, and 30% expect to use it more in the coming 12 months. This is in contrast to Facebook users – 23% of whom have said they use the site less now than they did last year, and 19% saying they expect to use it less in the coming year.

The demand for improving social media appears to be increasing the popularity of more business and enterprise focused platforms; as well as LinkedIn, moneysavingexpert.com now has as many active users as Twitter.

These statistics signal a shift in the way users engage with their social media platforms, calling for a much more functional and productive experience, rather than just a traditional method of connecting with others. Businesses, in turn, should address their social media strategies to fall in line with the change in user behaviour and demand.

Dan Brilot, media consulting director at YouGov, said: “It appears that whilst social media can be a key tool in the brand marketer’s armoury, in particular to maximise commitment amongst those already highly engaged with the brand, it has not quite reached the effectiveness necessary to be considered as a truly mass media marketing tool.

With the ability to share, tweet and interact on any kind of site, almost a given, social media services increasingly need to have an extra raison d’etre beyond merely being ‘social’ to make an impact in today’s crowded market.”

Businesses can already use the social media platforms available. However, Indian IT service provider Infosys, has introduced a platform which aims to industrialise social media. The iEngage Digital Consumer Platform, as it is known offers business sectors including finance, high tech manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and retail a means of interacting with and managing customers.

What is the iEngage Platform?

1 – The first part of the platform supports sales and marketing through ensuring the business is getting the right online information, via social media, to and from customers.

2 – This links into an eCommerce system which enables customers to immediately buy in the same place as they receive information.

3 – Then comes the customer care part of the platform which manages the customer’s purchase lifecycle.

4 – The final piece of the pie is the employee collaboration platform, which helps businesses share knowledge. This enables information to flow between employees and customers, and throughout organisations, from entry-level up to management.

A partnership with HireRight, global leaders in employment screening solutions and services, allows us to introduce this additional service to our clients. With major issues such as identity theft, illegal immigration, and a surge in web-based criminal activity, it is increasingly important for businesses to have total confidence in the credentials of their prospective employees.

TechNET will offer a portfolio of pre-employment screening solutions to our clients; ranging from straightforward verification of candidate details, to more thorough and intensive checks.

We are now accredited to perform the following screenings:

• UK Credit Check
• Money Laundering Check
• Passport Validation (170 countries)
• Insolvency Search
• FSA Registered Search
• Media Trawl
• Criminal Record Checks (Standard Disclosure, CRB – Basic, Standard and Enhanced)
• Reference Checks
• Verification of Professional Qualifications

The Process

Depending on the intensity, specification and level of screening required, this process can take between one and ten business days.  These checks are authoritative and accurate, and will ensure a level of certainty for our clients in their future selections.

The internet giants were able to do this using a code designed to deliver the personalised content of user’s browsing sessions. Google claim that only users who had opted into this service were affected.

However, the code not only allows Google, but also third party advertisers, to see what websites Safari users are visiting. And according to Stanford University, who discovered the loophole, “millions of users may be affected”.

Google has admitted bypassing the privacy settings of Apple’s Safari web browser on iPhones and computers to track users’ browsing behaviour.

According to reports, Google put the code onto some of its ads served by DoubleClick’s servers at doubleclick.net. The code then fooled the Safari browser into thinking the user was interacting with DoubleClick, which meant Safari allowed the code to enter where it had normally been blocked.

Apple has issued a statement saying: “We are aware that some third parties are circumventing Safari’s privacy features and we are working to put a stop to it.”

Google have now stated that the code was created ‘inadvertently’ and that it had already begun removing the code from Safari browsers. This comes in the wake of growing concerns over Google’s Privacy policies, particularly the firm’s plans to consolidate the data it keeps about people using different parts of its services such as Google Maps and Youtube.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation commented: “It’s time for Google to acknowledge that it can do a better job of respecting the privacy of web users.”

The EFF said Google needs to make a pro-privacy offering to restore users’ trust and commit to giving users a voice about tracking and then respecting those wishes.

There is now growing speculation that Google may be tracking users on other browsers through these codes.

These days each household will have numerous networked devices; smart phones, TV’s, desktops, laptops, even smart fridges. And for every connected device we own, it will need an IP address. IP addresses are essentially global telephone numbers, allowing one computer or device to dial another.

With each person owning plural networked devices, the demand for IP addresses grows – but simultaneously, the number of addresses available diminishes.

IP addresses are currently run through IPv4 – space that can support 4.3 billion addresses. However, this space is almost entirely saturated, meaning that there are virtually no more IP addresses available left to purchase in the UK.

Companies have been stock buying IPv4 addresses to support their internet facing applications such as email, payroll and supply chain management. However, an imminent switch over to IPv6, the next version of internet protocol, means that organisations will eventually have to upgrade their systems from IPv4 to IPv6.

The switch over will take place on 6^th June 2012, and organisations need to be aware of the implications that this change will have, and the steps they will need to take to ensure that their businesses are still visible to the outside world through the new protocol.

The deal had hit delays due initial concern from the European Commission that Google would restrict the use of the Android mobile operating system exclusively to Motorola. US and EC regulators had also shown concern that a deal between Google and Motorola would raise competition issues for mobile device operating systems.

If the deal does go ahead, it will mean that Google have access to more than 17,000 patents held by Motorola Mobility – and could effectively hinder competitors and monopolise the market. However, both authorities have said that they will monitor Google’s use of patents.

Industry analysts say the acquisition will allow Google to provide patent protection to device makers using its Android mobile operating system, which are currently facing legal attacks over patents from companies including Apple and Microsoft.

When the deal was announced in August, Google chief executive Larry Page emphasised that Motorola Mobility would remain a licensee of Android, and Android will remain open, with Mobility run as a separate entity.

This decline in sales – due in part to the growing popularity of smart phones and tablets – also corresponds with the cut in IT budgets, as CIO’s have been reluctant to invest in upgrading PCs and migrating to Windows 7.

PC shipments to the professional segment declined by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, say Gartner – a significant reduction for PC manufacturers. Economic upheaval hasn’t only affected the professional sector; austerity measures have seen a dent to the education sector as well, with a staggering 50% reduction in the shipment of PCs to schools, colleges and universities.

As PC sales to the professional and education sectors reduce, and adoption of both hardware and software upgrades is at a standstill, is it time for CIO’s and IT executives to readdress their IT practise?

Over the last decade, the consumerisation of IT products has exploded; as employees are generally more tech-savvy than previous generations, now would seem the time to move away from the centralised approach to desktop computing  - a move that could revolutionise corporate IT.

From the inception of the internet, IT consumerism has become a way of life. As a populace, we consumer technology on a daily basis, upgrading, downloading and syncing our lives with the newest technologies, installing and creating applications for ourselves that enhance our day-to-day operations. This level of engagement has produced a generation of IT users, in a near permanent state of connectivity, that run more sophisticated home networks across multiple devices, than their office counterparts are often capable of.

So what does this mean for business and IT alignment? Traditionally, IT has been there to support business, through the centralisation and shortening of processes for their employees. But when a business does not measure up to the IT capabilities of its employees, they must have an alternative route to enable IT optimisation.

One way to do this is through creating a ‘Bring your own device’ culture, where employees can be responsible for their own methods of IT processes; something that responds directly to an individual’s technological ability.

An online survey carried out by researchers Freeform Dynamics reported that over 60% of the 1,600 IT and business professionals questioned, answered that they would be keen to use their own equipment at work.

Martha Bennett of Freeform Dynamics, who led the research, believes that thanks to plug-and-play technologies for home users, people are comfortable connecting their internet-capable TVs to the web to access BBC iPlayer, streaming music and video around their homes using DNLA, and sharing multimedia, documents and printers via a home file server.

In addition, users are turning away from traditional business software, as online versions of MS Office, such as OpenOffice, provide free and functional alternatives. With this is mind, now may be time for businesses to realign themselves with more efficient practises; while people are more technically capable, and in many cases have superior software and hardware at home, is it still necessary to have people travel to a place of work, which houses all their equipment, and productivity is measured in 8 hour increments?

IT consumerism seems to require a cultural change in business – with flexible working being crucial to retaining talent. Given the austerity measures businesses are now facing, can they really justify spending on business IT, especially when consumer technology is offering very compelling alternatives and users are happy to fund their own technology purchases and spend their own time putting IT together to make their working lives easier?

In this era of consumer-led computing, rather than specifying exactly which systems to use, CIOs can provide an approved list of devices, operating systems and applications that meet the criteria required by the business in terms of security, compatibility, reliability and support.

Facebook announce plans to introduce advertising to their mobile platforms.

According to The Financial Times, Facebook’s IPO application acknowledged that the mobile market segment “does not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue”.

Of the 845 million monthly users Facebook reported in December 2011, 425 million accessed the site on mobile devices – a huge captive audience for potential advertisers. Facebook has already discussed proposals with unidentified advertising agencies for displaying what it calls “featured stories” in the news feed seen by users on the site. This means brands will be able to pay to highlight Facebook users’ interaction with the advert or brand – and this interaction will then be displayed as part of their online activity through mobile as well as desktop devices.

The major test for Facebook will be balancing this move to protect the interests of shareholders – but vitally, users as well – many of whom will be unhappy and unwilling to accept the shift. While the generation of revenue through mobile advertising will no doubt increase the $5b IPO that was released last week, the question will be whether the move to mobile advertising is a fruitful one; with loading times, preferential advertising and generally slower operations changing the mobile experience, will users decide it’s time to disconnect?

They discussed plans to establish regional centres with recruitment and training programmes to support them, with early pilot schemes being rolled out in Dublin, Helsinki, Krakow in Europe, and Seattle and Cary North in the US. These Global Centres of Excellence (GCoE) as they have been dubbed, will give an indication as to whether this programme is a successful and viable outsourcing option, and HCL hope it will encourage similar Indian companies to follow suit.

Furthermore, HCL have teamed with 12 universities to offer courses, workshops on technology and management, and competitions to drive innovation.

HCL’s move is seen as response to widely levelled criticism of a business model that has traditionally seen UK IT workers subsequently replaced by lower cost workers from India. Recalling comments from Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, that companies investing in Europe must also create jobs, HCL CEO Vineet Nayer describes how he wishes companies such as HCL will be seen as ‘a solution, rather than being seen as a reason for the problem’. As these Indian companies become true global players, and they are establishing more operations in the UK and Europe, Nayer hopes that this perception will change.

“The first step we are making and I hope many other companies follow the trend. That would help making Indian companies appear much mightier, and also as those willing to solve local problems and socially-responsible enterprises” says Nayer.

Outlining their forecast for the coming 12 months, they predict trends in consumerism that will see a dramatic change in the way we share and receive information.

Escalating smartphone usage, expansion of cloud computing, and a global explosion of social media participation will continue to change the way people use technology; our increasing state of connectivity as a populace will ensure a proliferation of applications and tools to analyse and accumulate the data captured through these expanding channels of communication. Accenture’s chief technology innovation officer, Gavin Michael, believes it will be the IT leaders who build contextualised, consumer-tracking data, who will become the “most strategic players within their companies” as they will begin to establish the habits and preferences of the users, across a spectrum of platforms.

Adding value to existing architectures will be required throughout the technological transition. Developing processes for handling data, both structured and unstructured information, will a key priority for maintaining success; sharing data freely and coherently, and integrating that data in a way that generates new business and adds genuine value to existing business practices, will be the biggest challenge for CIO’s, say Accenture.