ICYMI: Apple tests the theory that there’s no such thing as bad publicity

/dans , , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention. 

Sometimes, our work as PRs is as much about advising clients on what NOT to do, as it is telling them what they should do. Case in point: who approved this new commercial for Apple?

The tech giant has received a severe backlash for its latest ad, titled “Crush!”, which features a giant hydraulic press crushing various items used for art and music creation, followed by the emergence of the new iPad Pro.

Critics say the ad showed a lack of respect towards the materials being destroyed and for belittling creators, with some interpreting it as symbolic of the tech industry’s treatment of creative professionals.

Apple has since apologised, admitting that it “missed the mark” with the ad. The company’s Vice President of Marketing Communication expressed regret for not celebrating creativity appropriately.

Considering the number of approvals and discussion meetings the advert would have needed to go through, it’s remarkable that the ad was greenlit, with no-one noticing or foreseeing the potential damage to Apple’s brand and reputation or how the media might react to it.

On the other hand, Apple has left the advert up on YouTube, where it has garnered 2.5m views in less than a week. Perhaps the company subscribes to the proverb: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

Cyber threats to infrastructure

Speaking of reputational damage, we’ve previously discussed the rise in cyberattacks and the growing importance of cybersecurity. Companies risk significant harm to their brand and reputation (as well as costly fines) if they are forced to disclose that they have suffered a data breach.

Despite this risk, reports continue to indicate that most sectors are still lacking when it comes to cybersecurity. For instance, an article from German outlet Heise Online reports that the country’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has found that several critical infrastructure operators still need to make improvements when it comes to securing these vital facilities and minimising the potential risks from cyberattacks or other threats.

According to the latest statistics from the BSI, the IT sector in Germany is (perhaps unsurprisingly) well prepared to prevent security incidents, while healthcare and transport have catching up to do. The statistics also reveal how many IT incidents and attacks were reported in the first quarter of 2024. While the municipal waste disposal and food sectors remain in the single-digit range with one and three reported incidents respectively, significantly more incidents were reported in the IT and telecommunications (25), healthcare (26), transport and traffic (32), finance and insurance (34) and the largest sector, energy (50).

There is potentially scope here for cybersecurity clients to discuss how the sectors that are more often targeted can better defend themselves against cyber threats.

The end of the Great Resignation?

From 2021 to last year, two stories that received a lot of media coverage were the “Great Resignation”, which referred to a spike in the number of employees resigning in search of better or higher paying work, and “quiet quitting”, the trend for workers to do the bare minimum in their job. These linked economic trends reflected the turmoil in the jobs market after the pandemic, as well as the growing dissatisfaction among (usually younger) workers. However, the pendulum may now be swinging the other way.

According to a new story in UK publication The Times, more and more workers are fearful about changing jobs due to the uncertain economic outlook, opting for stability with their current employer instead. This is based on findings from the latest labour force survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional body for human resources workers, which indicated lower staff attrition and fewer job moves this year.

After several years of an ultra-competitive jobs market, which made it difficult and expensive for companies to hire talent, this new trend indicates companies are likely to be reducing their hiring plans to match the slowdown in the global economy. Based on this trend, there are likely to be further falls in both turnover and vacancy levels in 2024. Fewer resignations and vacancies mean that the balance of power could be “moving in the direction of employers and away from workers”, as the Times’ story puts it.

ICYMI: Press freedom, the tech sector, and why Android apps are at risk

/dans , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention.   

At Tyto, one of our core values is “Perfect Partnership”, which means that we make decisions with the best interests of all our stakeholders in mind and play an active role within the communities in which we operate. These include the tech sector, PR & comms, as well as journalists and the media industry. That’s why each year we pay close attention to the annual Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to understand more about how journalists are being treated around the world. 

According to the latest report, press freedom around the world is under increasing pressure, with a significant drop in the political dimension of the index. Governments are less willing to guarantee press freedom, leading to more political interference in journalism. The upcoming year is expected to bring even more political pressure, as over half of the world’s population will vote in 2024. 

Certain regions saw their Press Freedom score improve: for instance, the Netherlands rose to the top five in the index, thanks to an improved safety score. But the conditions in other parts of the world are worsening: the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia (excluding West Asia) are among the worst-performing regions on the index. Additionally, specific areas like the Palestinian Territories were deadly for journalists, with over a hundred Palestinian journalists killed in recent months. The Ukraine conflict has also affected press freedom, with repression increasing in countries within Russia’s sphere of influence. 

It’s important for the PR industry not to take press freedom for granted and to consider how we can support journalists in their vital work. 

Move over Silicon Valley

As mentioned above, the tech sector is a key community in which we operate. The media discourse about the sector often feels very downcast, especially in the UK, with stories about ongoing economic and political uncertainty affecting tech businesses. 

However, new data from the accountancy firm RSM claims that the number of tech companies officially registered in the UK surged by 11% in Q1 to reach a five-year peak. This positive news story was picked up by several outlets including UKTN. 

With the UK fortifying its position as a global tech hub, it’s possible that we could see a new media narrative beginning to emerge, one that flips from focusing on funding droughts to new business opportunities. 

App-tastrophe

It’s a question that often leads to heated debate: which is better, Apple of Android? 

A news story over the weekend has likely dented the appeal of Android. According to a report by French publication 01net, a significant security vulnerability in Android devices has been uncovered.  

Last week, tech giant Microsoft wrote a blog post informing readers that a security flaw had been discovered in Android’s app communication system. Microsoft has identified several applications – including apps which have more than four billion installations – which are vulnerable to a “Dirty Stream” attack on the Play Store, which allows a malicious app to steal data and take control of legitimate applications.

This story is a reminder of just how important – and vulnerable – are our data and apps, especially at a time when cyberattacks are on the rise. From a PR perspective, this topic could be incredibly relevant for any app, mobile or security clients. It is especially relevant ahead of the biggest sporting event of the year – the Paris Olympics – where organisers anticipate a huge swell in cyberattacks. How can organisations keep public events like the Olympic Games safe, when the mobile phone of any attendee could represent a security threat? There is clearly scope for clients with security expertise to weigh in. 

ICYMI: PR has an important role to play in cybersecurity and fintech

/dans , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention. 

Cybersecurity and fintech are closely linked. Financial technology promises to make managing our money easier, quicker, and more efficient. But the more we rely on digital and online banking, the more exposed and vulnerable we become to cybercrime. Cybercriminals are constantly coming with new and innovative ways of targeting victims, and so cybersecurity companies are constantly trying to stay ahead of or catch up to these bad actors.

In fact, cybersecurity is one the “big three” tech topics that dominate online discussions among the technology influencers we track as part of the Tyto Relevance Index. According to our latest quarterly research, cybersecurity accounted for 12% of all the social media posts we analyse published by European tech influencers over the past three months.

Three recent media stories highlighted the link between cybersecurity and fintech. First, there was a troubling story published by The Guardian in the UK about how some university students are turning to cyber fraud to boost their income. According to police, sites on the dark web are making it easier for users to scam people and commit crime, with tutorial videos and a “customer service” to help users install the necessary software. Developments in technology and resources like these websites mean that fraudsters no longer need technical skills, like that ability to code, to commit cybercrime.

At the other end of the scale is this story from Le Figaro in France about this year’s big sporting event: the Paris Olympics. According to the report, technology companies like Atos, Orange, and Visa are actively preparing for the games. A Technology Operations Centre is already in action in Seine-Saint-Denis, where more than 2,000 experts will be working to ensure smooth technological operations during the event. Visa is prepping to handle all the transactions, including alternatives to bank cards, and cybersecurity is a major priority: the authorities anticipate up to four billion potential cyberattacks during the games, and so are running hundreds of scenarios to prepare for any situation.

Finally, Het Financieele Dagblad, one of the main daily nationals in the Netherlands, reported on the growing collaboration in cybersecurity and fintech between Spain and the Netherlands as the Spanish King Felipe and Queen Letizia visited the country. According to the report, Spain’s fintech sector has experienced significant growth in recent years while traditional banks lagged behind. In fact, Spain now boasts more than a thousand fintech companies, making it the fifth country globally in terms of fintech quantity. The emergence of these fintech firms has helped to diversify Spain’s economy, which has historically relied on tourism. The collaboration between Spain and the Netherlands in fintech and cybersecurity highlights the significance of cross-border partnerships in tackling modern financial challenges and the increasingly pertinent threat of cybercrime.

From a PR perspective, it’s clear that there is an important need to educate audiences about both topics. As PRs, we have an important role to play in amplifying the voices of cybersecurity and fintech firms, either to reassure readers that their money and data is safe, or to inform them on the best practices to protect themselves in today’s digital environment.

ICYMI: A look at the brighter side of tech

/dans , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention. 

It’s easy to feel doom and gloom when reading about technology in the media. Journalists, understandably, want to engage their readers and sometimes that means reporting on concerns and problems with today’s tech. Some examples from this blog series include the environmental impact of AI, cybersecurity failings, and the challenges technology faces in navigating diversity. Rather than feed the negativity, this week we’re going to look at some more positive news pieces.

Let’s start with artificial intelligence. We often hear what businesses and CEOs think about AI, but what do everyday people believe? A new survey from the digital association Bitkom gives us some insight, indicating a broadly optimistic view of the technology. According to the survey of 1,004 people in Germany, almost two thirds (65%) consider AI to be the most important technology of the future and more than three quarters (77%) believe that AI will be crucial to whether German companies will be successful worldwide in the future. Only 29% believe AI is overrated or a hype, while more than half (56%) expect AI to change the world as fundamentally as the invention of the internal combustion engine or electrification.

The findings indicate that most people (in Germany, at least) believe AI will shape the economy in the future. The USA was considered the world’s leading AI nation by 36% of respondents, followed by China (24%).

200 years of history helping to solve a new tech problem

In other news, a story about a Japanese ceramics company highlights how innovation can come from some surprising places.

A recent profile in the Financial Times shared the story of Maruwa, a company with more than two centuries of history in making ceramics and porcelain tableware, which has seen its stock value skyrocket thanks to diversifying into manufacturing ceramic circuit boards and semiconductors.

After being overlooked by securities analysts for years, Maruwa was recently the focus of a report from Goldman Sachs. A major challenge across the tech industry, from electric vehicles to AI server farms, is managing the build-up of heat. Maruwa has been able to transfer its traditional craftmanship to building components capable of dissipating heat from electronics even when operating at high temperatures. As a result of Maruwa cornering this part of the market, it now has a market capitalisation of $2.75bn, with its share price almost doubling over the past year.

As the tech industry matures and new problems arise, it will be fascinating to see how other companies, like Maruwa, can rise to the challenge and address those demands.

Can you spot a fake?

We’ve written before about politics and technology, including how the EU is implementing new requirements on tech companies to fight election misinformation. Good news then that people (well, the Dutch at least) are getting better at spotting fake news.

According to a report from the Netherlands’ Central Bureau for Statistics, more than two thirds (67%) of the country’s population said they had come across information online they thought was not true. That’s up from 63% two years ago.

Of the people who had doubts about what they read online, 66% went on to check for themselves whether the information was true or not, either by visiting the news source, checking other websites, or talking about the information offline. This is important, as it shows people have the digital skills to challenge and research information for themselves.

From a PR perspective, is there an opportunity here for companies who can help citizens spot fake news or give them the tools to check and verify stories? Perhaps there is also a need to educate those who did not know or were unwilling to do this research?

This survey was carried out across the EU, and the Dutch had the highest percentage of inhabitants who claimed they’ve come across fake news, beating the EU average of 49%. It’s not clear from the report whether people in the Netherlands are exposed to more fake news than people in other countries or why they are better at recognising it, but with so much concern in media and politics about the impact of disinformation on upcoming elections, the results of this survey should be reassuring.

ICYMI: Sustainability in the Age of AI

/dans , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention. 

Sustainability is a major topic in 2024. Most people associate sustainability with the environment, but this issue goes beyond that. How do we sustain the integrity of our elections? How do we sustain our health and wellbeing? How do we ensure our businesses are sustainable? And what role can technology play in sustainability?

A few stories from the past week highlighted the varying aspects of sustainability. The first concerns artificial intelligence and its impact on the environment.

According to a report in Le Figaro, the creation and training of AI emits a significant amount of CO2, equivalent to hundreds of transcontinental flights or several cars over their lifespan. AI models that generate images consume 60 times more energy than ones that generate text: the example given in the article claims that generating text for 1,000 requests is equivalent to 16% of a smartphone recharge, but asking an AI to generate 1,000 images is equivalent to simultaneously and fully recharging 950 smartphones.

The report raises crucial environmental concerns associated with the increasing use of AI and highlights the importance of considering the carbon footprint of developing an AI. From a PR perspective, any clients who may want to talk about cutting their emissions and becoming more environmentally friendly, while also adopting or pursuing AI initiatives, will need to consider how to reconcile these potentially opposing objectives.

How many apps is too many?

In a related story, the American tech company Okta published a report on what apps we’re using the most in our offices, based on a survey of eight countries including France, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK.

According to the report, companies are using 93 apps on average. Larger companies (those with more than 2,000 employees) have a much high average at 231, while smaller companies only use 69. Surprisingly, tech startups use just 47 apps on average.

The report found app usage differs radically from country to country. Companies in The Netherlands use the most apps, with an average of 108. The fastest growing app in the UK is password manager 1Password, while in The Netherlands it is Google Workspace.

It’s worth considering the sustainability aspect of using so many apps. How many are essential, and how many are costly and redundant? The story also underlines just how essential digital skills are in today’s workplace to enable people to work effectively.

Combatting misinformation in the Age of AI

As we discussed previously, 2024 is a big year for politics. Given the power of AI, the risks from AI-generated fake news and misinformation are greater than ever, so it is worth paying attention to news that the EU is set to impose new election safeguards on tech companies.

According to the FT, the EU is preparing new guidelines requiring social media platforms such as X and TikTok to combat election disinformation. Failing to prevent the spread of misinformation could lead to fines of up to 6% of global turnover.

In such an important election year, protecting the integrity and credibility of elections is likely to be a major topic in the media. PRs should consider how their tech clients can help (or hinder) the fight against misinformation.

Cybersecurity in the healthcare sector

How safe is your medical data? According to a recent story in Heise, it may not be well protected. Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, BSI, conducted two studies into the IT security of the country’s medical practices. The first, a survey of 1,600 practices, found that only one third of respondents had fully implemented protective measures, while one in ten reported that had already been a victim of an IT security incident.

A second study looked at 16 practices in detail, and the BSI identified serious security flaws, including inadequate protection against malware, poor patch management and lack of backups. None of the practices used disk encryption to protect sensitive patient data.

Given how the threat of cyberattacks continues to rise, the story is sobering. Clearly more needs to be done to improve cybersecurity in our vital – and vulnerable – sectors.

The beauty of hindsight: The CEO guide to what advice successful leaders would give to their younger selves

/dans , /par

Building a successful business requires blood, sweat, and tears. Building a unicorn company worth over $1 billion requires an even greater level of effort and heartache. But the years of hard work mean that the CEOs and founders of these companies possess a wealth of experience. If they could turn back time, what pearls of wisdom would they offer to their younger selves?

That’s the question we posed to over 30 tech entrepreneurs as part of our Unicorn CEO interview series for our Without Borders podcast. We’ve collected the key pieces of advice these tech leaders would give to themselves and other entrepreneurs in our new Tech CEO Communications Playbook: Winning strategies for success, a free resource for any CEO, tech marketer, or entrepreneur to access. Here are some of the highlights from the guide in this series entitled The beauty of hindsight.

Overcommunicate, overcommunicate, overcommunicate

Many founders struggle to spread their vision to others. They need to learn a crucial lesson that not everyone can necessarily see that vision or understand the goals, motivations and decisions going on in the founder’s head.

This was the experience of Zeb Evans, CEO and Founder of our client ClickUp. He says: “I think people always assume that everyone knows what’s inside of their head when they don’t.” His solution was to repeat communications regularly to everyone, including the team, partners and clients.

“If you repeat it, there’s no downside to doing that,” he adds. “You’re going to be able to get your vision across much more. If you have creative vision or marketing vision, you should continue reiterating that and repeating it as much as possible to drill it in.” 

The importance of transparency 

Is it better to try and be a perfect leader, or to show weakness and admit mistakes? Larry Gadea, CEO and Founder of the workplace platform Envoy, revealed that he tried to be a guarded leader, focused on showing that everything was going in the right direction, but over time he has learnt the power of being transparent and honest.

“I would say to myself, in the beginning, that you can tell the people that are with you more about your concerns, your fears,” he says.

Larry adds that, if he could do it all over again, he would invest heavily in building a culture of transparency and honesty right from the beginning, starting with himself and extending throughout the team. “Engage with the people on that honest front. That will be my advice to myself.”  

Make the hard decisions, quickly

The journey from start-up to success is rarely smooth sailing, and founders will face tough choices along the way. How you handle those moments can have a big impact. 

Mark Lee, co-founder of DeviceVM which later became the software provider Splashtop, shared the painful memory of having to downsize his company from 300 staff to 60 over the course of a year and half when the company experienced a tough period.

“In retrospect, it would have been better if we cut harder and faster versus extending that drive,” recalls Lee. “It was tough on our founders, too, because a lot of them considered their team almost as family members. So for them, continually letting go of new, different groups of people that we trusted and have worked with for years over an 18-month period was really rough.”   

In conclusion, the key pieces of advice leaders would want to give to their younger selves are: 

  • Communicate often and regularly. Remember that the audience may have a different viewpoint or understanding to you. 
  • Be transparent and honest, especially with your team. It’s okay to lower your guard. 
  • Make tough decisions more quickly. It will reduce the pain in the long run and show leadership in challenging times. 

For more insights and advice on other crucial business objectives, check out the Tech CEO Communications Playbook homepage and download your guide today. Other topics include managing internal communications in a remote setting, how to communicate your failures and encourage a healthy error-culture, and the role of mentors in the start-up world and lessons to pass on.  

And if you are interested in listening to interviews with these and other unicorn startup leaders such as Poppy Gustafsson, CEO and Co-Founder of Darktrace, Vijay Tella of Workato, Job van der Voort of Remote, or Greg Jackson of Octopus Energy, you can do so on our Without Borders podcast. 

In Case You Missed It: AI, AI, and more AI!

/dans , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention.

Last Tuesday was the 35th birthday of the World Wide Web. And how incredible it is to think that what started as a ‘simple’ idea for an information sharing system quickly turned into one of the most important developments for the modern world. Have a read of this interesting anniversary interview with CNBC, in which Berners-Lee shares his predictions for the future of the web – and how it will be transformed by artificial intelligence.

It wouldn’t be a predictions article of course, without referring to AI. And sure enough, Berners-Lee’s future does include personal AI assistants that know our health status and legal history inside out; and the ability to transfer your data from one place to another seamlessly without any roadblocks. By his own admission though, there is still a way to go on that ‘AI future’ and plenty of fundamentals still to be set.

Some of those fundamentals were thrown into light in this interview with Mira Murati, Sora’s CTO last week. Sora is OpenAI’s new text-to-video AI model and while it can certainly do great things, it was interesting to see how awkwardly Murati ducked questions about how the model was trained… 

MEPs adopt historic AI regulation

With the media flooded with news and stories on AI right now, one thing we’re always doing is keeping an eye out for those moments and happenings that give our clients a chance to share insightful thoughts and comments. The regulatory calendar is often helpful there, and last week did not disappoint. In case you missed it, the European Parliament has approved the long-awaited AI Act. Though the legislation is pending final adoption, it will have a significant effect the world over. It’s an important milestone and aims to protect EU citizens from potential abuses while preserving fundamental values and allowing responsible innovation. Grand ambitions!

The Dutch get a warning from Google on AI

In other AI news, Google last week warned the Netherlands that it risks lagging behind on AI. According to Google’s research, the Netherlands is facing a shortage of AI experts, trailing behind in research efforts, and offering limited support for AI startups. In research aiming to understand the impact AI is going to have on the Dutch labour market, one of the main findings was that two-thirds of all jobs in the Netherlands could involve AI in the coming years, but only 38% of respondents believe AI will have a positive impact on their work. While we don’t know how other countries would have fared in the same research, that ‘skills gap’ is certainly an interesting angle to consider.

Are journalists reporting on or in fact feeding the AI hype?

And finally… to sign off this week’s AI-heavy roundup, I’d recommend sparing a couple of minutes to read a piece from BBC Tech Reporter David Silverberg on the role that journalists play in the age of AI. Are they simply reporting on the news, or are they contributing to the direction we’re going in? For those of us who are regularly approaching journalists with AI stories, the message for me is clear – keep it real. Easier said than done you may think (especially given the nature of AI!) but yes, helping journalists find the real stories, the real developments, the real people working on this technology would, it seems, certainly help, as the media grapples with the challenges of trying to cut through the hype, the scare stories and the same-old-same-old industry narratives.

 

In Case You Missed It: where politics and technology intersect

/dans , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention. 

Politics and technology are deeply entwined. And given that there will be several high-profile elections in 2024, including in the UK, the US, India and elsewhere, journalists around the globe will increasingly look at everything – the tech sector included – through a political lens.

We’re already starting to see the effect of the general election on the media landscape in the UK. This week, IT Pro reported on a new survey of UK tech firms from innovation funding consultancy Ayming UK, which found overwhelming support for the left-wing Labour party, with only 9% of firms saying that they expect the impact of a Labour government to be negative. According to the report, many firms say that they are put off claiming available R&D tax credits due to the current government’s aggressive compliance programme.

This article underlines how even now, months away from the vote, the general election is having a big impact on all sectors of media. PRs need to factor this into their pitching and ideation process when coming up with creative angles for clients.

It’s the EU vs Apple as the DMA comes into force

In other news, European media is focusing on the Digital Markets Act, which came into force on March 7. According to Le Monde, the DMA specifically targets large tech companies, identifying them as “gatekeepers”, and aims to prevent them from using their dominant positions to stifle competition and innovation.

The DMA mandates more choice for consumers, including allowing third-party app stores and payment methods onto tech platforms. This could significantly open up the market for new entrants, as well as impact the revenue models and exclusivity of tech giants. Apple in particular may be affected, and it is contesting the EU Commission’s decision.

For tech PRs, this move is significant, as it signals a shift towards greater market regulation of the tech industry and reflects growing global concerns over the power wielded by tech giants. For companies within the tech sector and related industries, this could mean navigating new compliance challenges and competitive dynamics in the future.

Cybersecurity issues plague Germany’s armed forces

The intertwining of technology and politics can have positive and negative results. For an example of the latter, we have this story from WirtschaftsWoche on “the Taurus leak”, where the audio recording of a conversation between high-ranking members of the German armed forces was published on a Russian social media site.

The leak has fuelled a debate about Germany’s national security. Russia is accused of trying to discredit the German state and divide society, but the story also points to cybersecurity shortcomings in the German state. For businesses, the leaks underline the importance of proper IT security and the potential reputational damage that can result if it is neglected.

Chipmaker turns the screws on Dutch government

Another way we can see tech and politics combine occurs when tech companies decide to criticise politicians.

Last week, chipmaker ASML, one of Europe’s biggest tech companies, threatened to move part of its business away from the Netherlands, putting pressure on the Dutch government. ASML cited the worsening Dutch business climate, a lack of housing for employees, power grid congestion and less attractive tax breaks for expats as important reasons for this consideration.

The Dutch business climate has been the subject of criticism for a while, but this statement from ASML is perhaps the most prominent statement so far. In fact, ASML’s criticism was published at a similar time to the latest State of Dutch Tech report from Technleap, which represents the Dutch tech industry. The report provides a data-driven overview of all 2023 developments in the Dutch tech sector, compared to other leading regions. The report claims that the Dutch tech ecosystem is showing signs of slowing growth, as well as a lack of domestic investment.

Interestingly, managing remote teams was cited as one of the biggest people and cultural challenges by 31% of startups in the Netherlands. As a location-agnostic organisation, we are proud to offer remote working to our staff, and are always on hand to offer advice to clients trying to navigate this challenge.

Making remote work, work. The CEO guide to tackling internal comms while working remotely

/dans , /par

The rising popularity of remote work has proven invaluable for start-ups who otherwise may struggle to compete with far bigger organisations in the search for talent. Employees love the flexibility it offers, while businesses can run operations far more leanly and hire the skills needed from anywhere in the world.  

But handling comms in a remote setting can be a challenge for start-ups. Operating remotely requires an entirely new way to consider your internal communications and leadership strategy.   

As part of our Unicorn CEO interview series for our Without Borders podcast, we spoke to over 30 tech leaders about their journey to success, and a major theme in those conversations was how to nail team communications in a remote setting. 

We’ve collected the best insights and advice from tech leaders on this issue and more in our new Tech CEO Communications Playbook: Winning strategies for success, a free resource for any CEO, tech marketer, or entrepreneur to access. Here are some of the highlights from the first guide in this new series, entitled Making remote work, work.  

Cultivating office culture online  

Remote working teams need to work much harder to create the bonds and culture that form organically in a shared office. Maintaining this culture is even harder as the company grows larger: “The hardest thing to scale remotely is culture and connection,” revealed Zeb Evans, CEO and Founder of ClickUp.   

The advice from the CEOs we spoke to included deliberately scheduling the kinds of meetings that would have happened spontaneously in the past, and ensuring teams have regular chances to connect and form bonds, not just discuss work. Organising activities and meetings that are informal and not focused on the day-to-day are crucial to foster this sense of community and culture. 

Empathy and creating a safe space 

For remote teams, it sometimes requires more active effort for people to be courteous, provide constructive feedback promptly, and show understanding. It can also be challenging to notice when remote workers seem upset or disengaged.

Leaders of remote workforces need to create a safe space where employees can vocalise how they are feeling. One way to create such an environment is to communicate more openly, honestly and empathetically with team members.   

Larry Gadea, the Founder and CEO of the workplace platform Envoy, told us that being vulnerable and open in this way is vital to being a good leader and foster that safe space for employees to share how they are doing in an honest way. “If I make a mistake, I will always tell people about it and I will proactively tell people about it,” he said.   

Transparency and taking teams on the journey 

How do you make sure a remote team is engaged with your company’s mission? Many of the CEOs we spoke to recommended being more open and transparent about your company’s strategy and performance. Letting your people know where the company is headed, what’s going on and why certain tasks or processes are in place can help to bring employees on the company’s journey, as well as avoid unnecessary confusion. 

“I see my main job as communicating and making sure people understand what our mission is, what our purpose is, what the problems are,” says Joshua Motta, CEO and Co-Founder at Coalition. “A lot of companies don’t want to talk about their problems. It’s uncomfortable, but I very much see my job as to do almost exclusively that.” 

To summarise, leaders of remote workforces need to: 

  • be proactive and mindful in building company culture, 
  • share their mistakes to encourage teams to be more open,  
  • and communicate transparently to take people along for the journey and not lose site of the company’s end goal. 

For more insights into communicating within a remote environment, and for advice on other crucial business objectives, check out the Tech CEO Communications Playbook homepage and download your guide today. Other topics include how to communicate your failures and encourage a healthy error-culture, advice CEOs would give their younger selves, and the role of mentors in the start-up world and lessons to pass on. And if you are interested in listening to interviews with these and other unicorn startup leaders such as Vijay Tella of Workato, Job van der Voort of Remote or Greg Jackson of Octopus Energy, you can do so here. 

 

In Case You Missed It – on the agenda this week: interconnection, AI, and cybersecurity

/dans , /par

Welcome to ICYMI – a weekly snapshot of European news stories that have given me pause for thought. ICYMI is a chance for you to go beyond the front-page headlines and find out what other stories may be worthy of your attention. 

Last week, the biggest story in tech PR was Mobile World Congress. This annual gathering of mobile technology and connectivity companies usually showcases some unusual and fascinating announcements, and this year was no exception.

Xiaomi presented a robot dog that costs $3,000, and Motorola showed off a rollable phone. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced an 11-point plan for its AI datacentre governance called the “AI Access Principles,” once again highlighting how AI is dominating the news agenda. If you missed coverage of MWC, TechCrunch has a useful wrap up.

It’s also worth highlighting comments from the keynote speech that kicked off the 5G Industry Evolution Summit at MWC. According to Computer Weekly, GSMA and Huawei said that 2024 is going to be a pivotal year for the mobile industry, with the imminent introduction of 5G Advanced networks: “The introduction of 5G Advanced/5.5G networks will be the cornerstone of an intelligent economy expected to be worth more than $18.8 trillion.”

This “intelligent economy” and the convergence of 5G, AI and Cloud Computing is going to be a major theme for the rest of the year, and PR agencies need to think about how it will impact their clients. This theme is already playing out in other recent news stories, for instance…

Companies neglect cybersecurity in their race for AI

IT-Daily.net has a story about a new study from Kaspersky showing that while more than half of companies surveyed have already implemented AI and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, installing cybersecurity measures to protect these technologies is proving to be a challenge.

According to the study, companies are struggling to take appropriate cybersecurity precautions for these interconnected technologies. The study shows that the less widespread the implementation of technologies, the more difficult it is for companies to protect them. This vulnerability to threats from cyberspace poses a major risk, as these technologies are becoming essential to the “intelligent economy” discussed by GSMA and Huawei. In fact, concerns about cybersecurity are even attracting political attention…

US launches investigation into cybersecurity risks from foreign cars

The Biden administration has initiated an investigation into the potential security risks posed by foreign cars on American roads, with a particular focus on automakers from “concerning countries” such as China, according to a report in Business Insider. There are worries that Chinese-made vehicles could gather sensitive data on American citizens, infrastructure, and corporations.

The investigation holds significance for any client in the cybersecurity space. As 5G and AI technology intertwines with automobiles, connecting our vehicles to our phones, navigation systems and infrastructure, the potential for threats extend beyond traditional cybersecurity spaces.

Europe takes on the tech giants

Another angle to this connectivity theme is how governments will attempt to regulate companies that will be major players in the “intelligent economy.” We can see this play out in a report from Les Echos about how Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft and ByteDance have until March 6 to comply with all the obligations imposed by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a cousin of the Digital Services Act, designed to counter the anti-competitive practices of digital champions.

The DMA requires these companies to make their platforms interoperable with those of their rivals, obliges operating system developers to allow third-party stores to download applications, and prohibits marketplaces from siphoning off their partners’ data for their own use.

This legislation is an attempt by the EU to try and break the de facto monopolies around major tech platforms and support European companies. The EU is also using the DMA as a show of force to become a global leader in regulation. How successful the EU will be at combatting tech monopolies remains to be seen.