Political uncertainty and the challenges posed by rising costs are considered the biggest threats to the IT industry. This was revealed within the results of Uninterruptible Power Supplies Limited’s (UPSL) latest industry survey, which questioned over 800 senior IT and data centre professionals across the UK and Ireland.
The 2018 edition of the poll revealed that over 35% believe political uncertainty is the biggest threat to their business over the coming 12 months. This was closely followed by rising costs (including energy costs), which received almost 32% of the vote. Increasing regulatory burden garnered nearly 13% for third place, with increased competition from new and existing competitors completing the top five responses.
UPSL sales and marketing director, Tim Wilkes, commented on the results: “We conduct the survey every two years and it is always interesting to see the impact time has on the responses. When comparing the latest results to those from 2016, it is clear there’s been a significant shift in attitudes. Political uncertainty didn’t register as a top ten response back then but that was before the Brexit vote and the impact that it’s had on the value of the pound.
“That rising costs is a close second is less surprising. In 2016, rising energy costs was the top response for over 77% of respondents, so it says a lot about how the UK’s IT and data centre business landscape has shifted in just two years.”