TechNation200 Almanac 2015/16

TechNation200 Almanac 2015/16 | Partners
12 months of innovation and change
Vitamin T has been a partner
of TechCityinsider for the
past three years, as we
believe in recognising exceptional
talent in our peers as well as in the
talent we represent.
Vitamin T is a talent agency
for digital creatives. We are a
division of Aquent, created
to exclusively meet the
unique needs of ad
agencies, startups, midsized
companies and
the digital creatives we
all love.
We are all about
helping companies adapt
to change, fi nd new ways to
work, and stay competitive. We
offer creative talent a broad
range of services, from portfolio
reviews, expert interviews to
free online courses. This helps
global companies and creative
agencies add technical expertise
to their marketing and creative
departments, increase the
bandwidth of their in-house teams,
and more. With a notable client
list, international talent network,
and training opportunities, Aquent
and Vitamin T attract and place
in-demand talent on assignment
worldwide.
We listen to our clients
and act on their business
and industry needs. We
know that as a business,
if you want to meet the
needs of the clients and
do your best work, it’s
best to continuously adapt
to new media and be bold with
innovation, new approaches and
new possibilities.
2015 has been an interesting
year in the tech sector from our
perspective. We have seen the
death of Flash, which for most
online users is a positive move.
However, this has meant demand
for talent qualifi ed in HTML5. Upskilling
is even more important to
today’s digital creatives.
UX is ubiquitous. You can’t meet
with a new digital startup or be
immersed within the tech sector
without UX being a hot topic. We
have found more digital designers
are starting to cross over into this
discipline, as UX roles become
more defi ned. We have found that
many still don’t quite understand
the complexities of UX and the
roles within this skillset. If you are a
client it is important to understand
what you require for a project.
As talent, you need to know your
strengths within the UX spectrum.
The synergy between design
and content is becoming more
relevant, if not necessary. The way
clients want to convey their key
messaging via digital channels
is very much interlinked with the
design, and as a result there has
been an integration of content in
design roles.
In the current creative digital
landscape we have found a need
for all-rounders. Clients expect
more function in a role, someone
who has an eye for design but also
understands how to code. Talent
need to be prepared and equipped
for these demands.
Recently internet-ready mobile
devices have gone from a luxury
bonus to an everyday essential.
Users expect everything that is
online to be perfectly digestible
on a mobile device. Businesses
are ensuring their services
accommodate this expectation.
For creative, marketing and digital
recruitment requirements and
opportunities please call 020
7404 0077 or visit aquent.co.uk or
vitamintalent.co.uk
Three themes defining the year in tech
2015 has been the biggest
year for Tech London
Advocates to date. We’ve
hosted a series of international
events from Bangalore to San
Francisco and expanded into
Norway. We’ve tackled some of the
most important tech issues head-on,
making our voice as a unifi ed tech
community heard amongst the UK’s
policy makers and leaders.
As investment in London’s
technology sector reaches
unprecedented levels, the
capital’s status as the digital
home of Europe has never been
stronger.
However, challenges remain.
And in the past 12 months, three
main themes have defi ned this year
for the tech sector: infrastructure,
diversity and unicorns.
Infrastructure
In London, tech companies at every
stage of the growth trajectory are
lacking some of the most basic
tools for the industry. Without a
concerted, collaborative effort
to tackle London’s infrastructure
problem, the industry’s potential for
growth will be challenged.
Take connectivity, the bedrock
of digital business. Nearly half of
companies in a recent Tech London
Advocates report, Joining the Dots,
said that a lack of broadband in
the capital is damaging the city’s
reputation as a centre for digital
excellence.
From broadband to transport,
London’s digital businesses must
commit to some joined-up thinking.
If each of these infrastructure
issues is tackled through
private sector collaboration and
government support, London can
expect to continue to harness the
power of technological growth in
years to come.
Unicorns
A survey by GP Bullhound recently
showed that the UK already has
the largest number of unicorn
companies. London, and the UK
as a whole, is leading the charge
of new developments in this
fi eld. It is no surprise that 75% of
tech professionals in the capital
believe London is the digital
capital of Europe.
The future unicorns of the UK
lie in London’s retail tech sector.
This is according to a fi fth of Tech
London Advocates in a study of
the growth drivers of London’s
technology industry.
It is clear that London retail tech
has the right foundations to support
the next generation of unicorns. The
growth of retail tech will be one of
the defi ning developments of the
next few years. To continue our
success building billion-dollar tech
fi rms it is to these new emerging
sectors we must be turning.
Diversity
A survey distributed by Tech
London Advocates in the summer
revealed one in four (23%) fi rms in
London’s tech community employ
no women at board level. In fact, as
Baroness Lane Fox noted, there is
a greater proportion of women in
the House of Lords than in British
tech companies.
The sector is in need of a steady
stream of new talent. Experts
predict that by 2020 we will suffer
from a shortage of 300,000 digital
experts and 70% of Tech London
Advocates feel this is holding back
London’s tech sector growth.
Bringing more women into the
heart of the sector would mobilise
underused talent, which would
enormously benefi t the industry, as
well as the economy as a whole.
www.techlondonadvocates.org.uk
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