Business news round-up: protection against cyber attacks, HSBC's cloud-first strategy & £36bn cost of Brexit

31st May, 2017

HSBC adopts cloud-first strategy to solving data management problems

HSBC has told Computer Weekly about how machine learning, big data analytics and cloud are changing the way the bank does business.

David Knott, the international banking giant’s Chief Architect, says the organisation is in the “early days” of its overall journey to the cloud, but a growing desire to do more with its big data reserves is set to accelerate this.

“Managing data is a core competency for us, and we found we have loads and loads of really important and really fascinating business opportunities that rest on the use of data,” he says.

The organisation has identified five areas where big data analytics could open up new lines of revenue; for instance, by assisting the bank with its investigations into anti-money laundering, risk analytics, and risk reporting.

Read the article in full on Computer Weekly.

WannaCry: How can you protect your business against cyber attacks?

The WannaCry cyber attack infected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries, affecting government, healthcare and private company systems.

Microsoft issued a patch for the vulnerability in its older Windows operating systems in March. If all IT departments everywhere had implemented this patch immediately, the WannaCry ransomware worm wouldn't have been able to affect so many computers across the globe.

David Venable, Vice President of Cyber Security at Masergy Communications, an IT services firm, is a former intelligence officer with the US National Security Agency.

He says: "There are a lot of practical challenges in deploying patch updates; from having unsupported operating systems that don't have patches available, through to the practicalities of rolling out sweeping changes across massive networks, potentially globally.

"But these aren't new challenges - anyone running these networks should have had this solved long before now. This isn't rocket science; it's an oil change."

Visit the BBC website for advice from David Venable about protecting your business against cyber attacks.

April 2017 sees fastest pace of output growth in UK manufacturing industry in 4 years

A survey compiled by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has revealed that manufacturing output has picked up pace, as order books improved in April and output growth accelerated in the three months leading to May.

According to the Industrial Trends Survey, which surveyed 432 manufacturers, around 28% of businesses said that their volume of output over the past three months had increased, making this the fastest pace of growth since December 2013. Moreover, manufacturers expect the "robust pace" of production to continue with further export order growth in the coming quarter.

"The summer sun has come out early for Britain's manufacturers", Rain Newton-Smith, CBI chief economist, said.

Access the findings and insights in full on the International Business Times website.

Losing access to single market in services could cost UK economy up to £36bn, new Brexit report concludes

Losing access to the single market in services after Brexit could have a particularly negative impact on financial services, telecoms and transport, a new report concludes.

The analysis, conducted by the Centre of Economic Business Research (CEBR) for the Open Britain organisation, which campaigns against a hard Brexit, outlines the potential impact of securing a trade deal that covers goods but not services.

It claims that leaving the single market in services as Britain quits the European Union could lead to a loss of £25bn to £36bn a year.

The CEBR report adds that the service sector where the single market has the biggest impact in absolute terms is financial services. “About a third of the losses from single market withdrawal result from lost businesses in financial services,” it adds.

Visit the Independent to read the article in full.

Finalists announced for E3 Business Awards 2017

Events Media, the host of the 2017 E3 Business Awards, has named the 67 finalists that will be competing for this year's 17 award categories.

The results will be announced at the E3 Business Awards Dinner, which will take place on Thursday 13th July at the Macron Stadium in Bolton. 

The E3 Business Awards were launched in 2013 to reward business excellence in the North West, particularly on the part of organisations that have shown investment in Enterprise, Education and Employment (E3).

The host, 1 Events Media (1EM), is an organisation whose senior managers have over 20 years’ experience in events promotion.

“Every year, the E3 name seems to get more widely known,” said 1EM Managing Director Mubarak Chati. "This year, the total number of nominations was 18% higher than last year. Importantly, too, we're seeing lots of new entrants; this year, 85% of the finalists will be new to the Awards.”

For more details about the Awards, visit the E3 website.