SECTOR UPDATE
- Superfast Broadband Infrastructure rollout in the South West has restarted and there is a strong progress in mobilisation of the contracts which will enable a further 57,000 homes and businesses in the Connecting Devon and Somerset area.
- This news comes at a good time for businesses, they are responding to the new Covid-19 world by pivoting their models and ways of working to a more digital world. Many businesses have solely relied on home broadband for the last 12 months and so this is a good time to reflect that without the infrastructure investment in the last 5 years, our South West economy would have suffered significantly more.
- The importance of digital skills for businesses is still at the forefront of most businesses mind. Isolated employees with poor skills have suffered productivity losses and we have witnessed higher cyber breaches due to home working and poor awareness.
Digital is an all-encompassing term that includes telecommunications, networks, hardware, software and data. Over the last ten years, digital has become an important part of our infrastructure and during the Covid-19 pandemic, we now have a full appreciation of the vital role it plays for us all. Most businesses relied solely on digital infrastructure to keep trading and most people use it for socialising and purchasing goods.
Digital Infrastructure is now fueling the growth of world-class business and has become a game-changer for scaling and ambitious companies. It enables us to positively transform societies and economies especially in our net-zero future.
The challenge we face now is how do we continue to invest and exploit the infrastructure we have, to build out a future South West of smart cities and towns, agri-tech, peer-to-peer supply chains and automation of fundamental processes and systems?
There is a need for continued investment in building out the core systems so we can adopt higher-order solutions quickly and seamlessly to ensure our region gains competitive advantage and improved productivity in the years to come.