News - Ballard Chalmers

Ballard Chalmers joins Microsoft in pledge for responsible AI development

08/11/2018

Ballard Chalmers has been a Microsoft Gold Partner since inception in 2005 and today we are pleased to announce that we have teamed up with Microsoft in signing a Partner Pledge for responsible AI development. This reaffirms our commitment to use AI in an ethical way, consistent with AI design principles such as:

o Fairness – Use AI to drive efficiencies while protecting dignity and guarding against bias;

o Accountability – Decisions made by AI must be accountable to citizens and consumers;

o Explainable – AI must be explainable and understandable;

o Ethics – AI must assist humanity and respect rights, such as privacy.

In line with the pledge our organisation will also strive to wherever possible, ensure we are promoting apprenticeships, such as by reviewing minimum requirements in selection criteria for early-in-career roles – particularly whether a degree is truly required or not; and look to ensure a diverse workforce.

We have also pledged to be an ambassador of Microsoft UK’s Digital Skills Programme, by raising internal awareness for our staff to take advantage of all opportunities to provide them with new skills training.

Such goals align with our existing practices and acknowledge the role we in the technology industry can play in addressing broader societal concerns and challenges.

Ballard Chalmers receives highest business performance accolade for Software Development industry

05/11/2018

Ballard Chalmers has been given the highest possible business performance rating of “Strong” in a new analysis of the UK’s largest Software Development companies. This information has been provided to us by Plimsoll, experts in the field of company and industry financial analysis.

Established in 1987, Plimsoll Publishing Limited provides analysis of business performance that accounts alone struggle to give, delivering over 1,600 industry specific reports that analyse individual company performance alongside key industry trends and developments.

The 2018 Plimsoll Analysis for the Software Development industry individually assessed over 2,000 companies based on the latest information, which is constantly updated from Companies House.

The Analysis shows how each Software Development company has performed over the past 4 years, and as a result provides an overall rating of Strong, Good, Mediocre, Caution or Danger. Ballard Chalmers achieved the highest accolade of “Strong”.

“What is more impressive is that you have achieved this in a difficult marketplace where 476 of your competitors are in financial danger and a record number are making a loss,” said a Plimsoll Senior Analyst.

Microsoft Ignite: The Tour London 2019

05/11/2018

Microsoft Ignite is going on tour! The London event will happen at ExCeL from February 26-27 2019. There will be over 100 deep dive sessions and workshops happening, with the opportunity for one-on-ones with the Microsoft engineers who build the tools you use every day.

For more details and to register your place for free, visit the Ignite Tour website here.

Spiceworks State of IT 2019 Report

31/10/2018

Spiceworks, an online community where users can collaborate and seek advice from one another, has published its annual State of IT report for 2019. This year it is broken down into four sections: Budgets, Future Workplace Tech, IT Careers and IT Marketing.

So far the first two sections have been published, both with interesting findings after surveying over 700 business technology buyers in North America and Europe.

From the Budgets State of IT report, one of the key findings is that 89% of companies expect IT budgets to either grow or stay the same over the next year, with the need to upgrade outdated IT infrastructure being “the biggest driver of IT budget increases in 2019.”

Highlights from the Future Workplace Tech State of IT report include that adoption rates for emerging technologies such as AI, serverless and edge computing are up to 10 times higher in large enterprises than in small businesses. “Large enterprises typically have more advanced use cases and needs influencing their adoption of emerging technologies, such as the need to connect multiple sites and manage complex infrastructures,” says the report. Those in the Financial Services sector are the earliest adopters of such emerging technology, with government organisations having the lowest adoption rates.

We recommend taking a look at both reports which are available on the Spiceworks website here.

Report: Maximising the AI opportunity

31/10/2018

“Microsoft’s research shows that organisations already on the AI journey are outperforming other organisations by 5% on factors like productivity, performance, and business outcomes,” says a report released today. This report has taken 3 months to research and was compiled after extensive interviews with industry experts and a survey conducted with over 1,000 business leaders and 4,000 employees.

Details available via Cindy Rose’s (Microsoft UK CEO) tweet below.

Our just released report Maximising the AI Opportunity offers relevant and timely insights into the opportunity and responsibility around AI in the UK. #FutureDecoded #MicrosoftUK https://t.co/tEPYvVHQIv

— Cindy Rose (@CindyRose) October 31, 2018

^{Source: Twitter/@CindyRose}