Jo Usmar's Blog

As one of the world’s leading cultural cities, London’s hospitality industry has historically been
big business. Prior to the pandemic, the sector accounted for around 3% of national economic
output, with the nation’s capital responsible for a significant chunk of that.

Few industries suffered the effects of the pandemic quite like hospitality, and consequently it has
spent the last few years more concerned with survival than growth. With life back to...

In an age of burgeoning artificial intelligence technology, London has established itself as a global hub for technological and scientific innovation.

Though the city has long been regarded as one of the most important in the world, much of its reputation was built off the back of its political, royal, and cultural influence.

To dig into the history books how...

For the longest time, Artificial Intelligence was something that belonged to an incomprehensible,
faraway sci-fi future.

With the sudden emergence of generative applications like Chat GPT however, AI technology is
now at the fingertips of the general public, and is being utilised to its fullest extent.

The jury is out on what AI means for mankind over the long haul (Brain chips? Killer robots?),
but this early iteration of the tech is rapidly changing ...

Unless you happen to be living in the forest or in the 19th century, chances are that passwords play a critical part in your life.  They are the barrier between your intangible belongings – money, personal data, media – and the outside world.

Fortunately thanks to modern security measures, you don’t have to spend every waking hour sweating about the safety o...

The COVID-19 pandemic upended business as we knew it, leaving all and sundry floundering and wondering how we would cope. One of the most significant mitigations — remote working — became a corporate fad for many companies in London. Employees embraced working from home enthusiastically. Bosses liked it, too, for the most part, because home working allowed businesses to continue operations during the pandemic. 

Some still clutched their pearls, won...

London may not be the most modern or futuristic city on earth, but amidst the gritty, centuries-old buildings, a technological evolution has been (not-so-quietly) taking place.

Set in the heart of East London, Tech City – informally known as Silicon Roundabout – has become a breeding ground for UK innovation and entrepreneurship. Here, a host of exciting tech-driven startups have established base, and are looking to modernise the way we think about...

For many of London’s businesses, online security has long been a cause for concern.  The various threats to internal systems and data – most significantly ransomware, cyber attacks, and phishing scams – remain the greatest contributor of technological anxiety since Y2K was ready to bring the world to its knees.

(Spoiler: the humans won).

Unlike calendar formatting catastrophes, cyber terror is a very real threat, and the risks it presents to busines...

Many of us have only recently cottoned on to the administrative maelstrom of post-Brexit reality. Contrary to our expectations, we still can’t see our desktops for paperwork and we’re asking with one voice the not-unreasonable question, “How did we end up here?”

Aside from the deluge of largely unwelcome new paperwork, Brexit has brought many changes to the UK’s business landscape, including changes to data protection laws, compliance regulations, ...

London businesses are often at wit’s end while trying to choose between an in-house IT support department and hiring an outsourced provider of IT support in London. To be fair, that’s a situation as tricky as any.

A dedicated in-house team may seem like the more reliable solution given that they are a part of the organisation, and you will play an active part in selecting the team.

But, is outsourcing really apt for a small to medium sized business? What real advantages do you get,...

An IT Support specialist is a jack of all trades and in all likelihood, a master of several ones too. It’s one of the most sought after jobs in London and rightly so. As the business world transitions from brick and mortar spaces to virtual marketplaces, our dependencies on computers and technology increases at an alarming rate.

As we all are aware, computers are modern day Pandora’s boxes. They can throw some real surprises at you when you least expect them to. A technical support engineer i...