Technology and Communications

The technology sector is sometimes said to thrive on upheaval. Austerity can drive businesses to embrace innovation to lower operational costs or to go a step further and invent new customer markets. Similarly issues like climate change, financial sector corporate governance and the privatisation of public services offer developers opportunities at the same time as they challenge those directly affected.

The UK’s strong IT and technology industry has experienced recessional retrenchment, but it remains the largest in Europe. The internet, if considered an industry in its own right has begun to challenge financial services as a contributor to GDP.  Information systems and enterprise software are increasingly important for businesses wanting to understand and react to their customers’ needs. The concept of software as a service (SaaS) has now been understood and accepted.

Along with cloud computing, online and console entertainment, smart monitoring of energy and water use and the upcoming 4G mobile rollout are among the other evolving upheavals that give rise to a cautious optimism about the near future. Reduced government expenditure on technology, on the other hand, reduces previously expected opportunities for growth in that sector.

With so much change tempered by uncertainty it’s important that sector participants take control of their insurable risks. This doesn’t just mean protecting their people and operations from losses and disruptions. Shareholders can be unforgiving of management whose predictions of the next big thing are unrewarded. Products and programs exported or sold overseas may expose the supplier to new liabilities. And at home and abroad intellectual property rights need protecting and claims of claims of infringement defended.