Be more magpie

Low uptake of tried and tested technologies is an important facet of the productivity puzzle that can, and must, be tackled. UK business technology adoption levels are close to the EU average but far behind the front runners, lagging nearly a decade behind the Danes.

Better adoption of existing technologies could help businesses streamline day-to-day functions and create more time to concentrate on what’s core: whether that’s developing new products and services, or providing exceptional customer service. Getting this right would deliver a £100bn increase to UK GVA and could help save many of the 120 days’ worth of time per year every business spends on administration.

To achieve this, our report From Ostrich to Magpie argues that more businesses need to start behaving like magpies. They need to follow what successful firms already do, finding and adopting readily available technologies that will lift their productivity.

On one hand, Brexit acts as an imperative to invest: firms must be match-fit to respond to the UK’s changing relationship with the world. But now is also a better time to invest than ever before. More and more technology solutions are cloud-based and do not require large-scale one-off investments.

However, technology adoption presents its own challenges. This report explores how businesses have made a success of their investments, how they have overcome issues they faced along the way, and includes some top tips for other businesses thinking about becoming more magpie-like.