Month: June 2023

Smart Credit Card Tips for 2023

If you’re like most people, you probably have at least one credit card in your wallet. While credit cards can be a useful tool for building credit and earning rewards, they can also be a source of stress and debt if not used wisely. In this article, we’ll share some smart credit card tips for 2023 to help you make the most of your credit cards and avoid common pitfalls. You can also learn how some credit card companies forgive credit card debt at achieve.com.

Maximize Your Rewards

Many credit cards offer rewards programs that allow you to earn points, miles, or cash back for your purchases. To maximize your rewards, it’s important to choose a card that aligns with your spending habits and offers rewards that you’ll actually use. For example, if you travel frequently, a travel rewards card might be a good fit for you. If you prefer cash back, look for a card that offers high cash back rates on the categories you spend the most on.

Once you have a rewards card that fits your needs, make sure you’re using it strategically. Use your card for everyday purchases like groceries, gas, and bills to earn rewards on things you’re already buying. Some credit cards even offer bonus categories that change each quarter, so be sure to activate these offers and adjust your spending accordingly to maximize your rewards.

Stay on Top of Your Payments

One of the biggest pitfalls of using a credit card is racking up debt and accruing interest charges. To avoid this, it’s important to stay on top of your payments and pay your balance in full each month. This will not only help you avoid interest charges, but it will also help you maintain a good credit score.

If you do carry a balance on your credit card, make sure you’re at least paying the minimum payment on time each month. Late payments can result in fees and damage your credit score. If you’re struggling to make your payments, consider reaching out to your credit card issuer to see if they offer any hardship programs or payment plans.

Take Advantage of Introductory Offers

Many credit cards offer introductory offers like 0% APR for a certain period of time or a sign-up bonus for new cardholders. These offers can be a great way to save money or earn extra rewards, but it’s important to use them wisely.

If you’re taking advantage of a 0% APR offer, make sure you have a plan to pay off your balance before the introductory period ends. Otherwise, you could be hit with high interest charges that will negate any savings you earned.

Similarly, if you’re signing up for a new credit card to earn a sign-up bonus, make sure you can meet the spending requirement without overspending or buying things you don’t need. Also, be aware that some credit cards charge an annual fee, so make sure the rewards you’ll earn outweigh the cost of the fee.

Protect Yourself from Fraud

Unfortunately, credit card fraud is a common problem that can result in unauthorized charges on your account. To protect yourself, make sure you’re using secure websites and only providing your credit card information to reputable merchants. You should also regularly monitor your credit card statements for any unauthorized charges and report them to your credit card issuer immediately.

In addition, many credit card issuers offer fraud protection programs that can alert you to suspicious activity and help you resolve any issues. Be sure to enroll in these programs and keep your contact information up to date so you can be notified quickly if there’s a problem.

Forgive Credit Card Debt

If you find yourself struggling with credit card debt, know that there are options available to help you get back on track. Achieve Financial Freedom offers a guide on how to forgive credit card debt at achieve.com that outlines various options including credit counseling, debt management plans, and debt settlement.

Credit counseling can provide education on managing your finances and creating a budget. A debt management plan can a comprehensive review of your finances and work with your creditors to create a repayment plan that fits your budget. Debt settlement is another option that involves negotiating with your creditors to settle your debt for less than what you owe.

It’s important to remember that debt forgiveness programs may have an impact on your credit score, so it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of each option and choose the one that’s best for your financial situation.

Final Thoughts

Credit cards can be a valuable tool for managing your finances and earning rewards, but it’s important to use them wisely to avoid debt and financial stress. By following these smart credit card tips for 2023, you can make the most of your credit cards and protect yourself from fraud and debt. And if you find yourself struggling with credit card debt, know that there are options available to help you get back on track.

TCS Cloud Study: Ireland CIOs Prioritise Cloud Investment, Despite Macro Headwinds

Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) latest survey of senior business leaders worldwide, ‘Connected Future: How Cloud Drives Business Innovation’ reveals that cloud remains a long-term investment priority for 74% of major corporations in Ireland, despite current macro headwinds and the recent slowing of growth of global cloud providers.

The global survey of 972 senior executives included 102 respondents from across the UK and Ireland. It reveals that innovation is a major driver of cloud investment, with 70% of Irish respondents reporting that cloud is crucial as a catalyst for innovation for their organisation’s future. This figure is significantly higher than the global average of 59%.

This appears particularly true for artificial intelligence (AI): 79% of Irish respondents invested in AI and machine learning capabilities over the past two years, while 83% plan to do so over the coming 12 – 24 months. Both technologies are highly dependent on access to large amounts of data and scalability through cloud.

68% of the Irish executives surveyed say they have invested appropriately in cloud while 11% recognised that they have under-invested in cloud-based technologies to date.

Over half of respondents from both Ireland and UK (56%) ranked ‘new ways of working to improve employee engagement and productivity (e.g., remote collaboration technology)’ as their most desired outcome for cloud-enabled innovation. Progress is underway, with 32% already realising their desired innovation outcomes in this area.

In addition, the study also finds a clear majority of respondents (75%) in Ireland and the UK are using cloud technologies to achieve their sustainability goals. This is higher than the global average of 67%, however, 48% reported difficulty in understanding the carbon footprints of cloud service providers. This suggests that while most respondents see cloud as an important—and thus far successful—part of their sustainability strategy and increasingly use cloud tools to assess their own carbon impact, they are now demanding the same visibility from their cloud providers.

Overall, despite significant progress in recent years, the study reveals that businesses still have a long way to go to unlock the full power and potential of cloud. Other key findings for Ireland and the UK include:

  • Industry clouds or ‘vertical clouds’ are rapidly emerging as a fast path to acquiring greater business expertise and capabilities, with an overwhelming majority of executives (79%) already assessing, adopting, or using them in business today. This is higher than the global average of 73%, indicating Ireland and the UK are ahead in leveraging the cloud for industrial applications.
  • 84% of respondents want to participate in digital ecosystems, but most are still far from realising their full value: 43% are still in the earliest stages of transition towards mature digital ecosystems.
  • Critical skills shortages continue to affect businesses in the cloud space, around half (up to 55%) of respondents report a lack of full cloud proficiencies in-house.

Gerard Grant, Director of Strategic Initiatives, TCS Ireland, said: “Despite the challenging economic climate, a majority of large enterprises in Ireland are prioritising long-term investment in the cloud to power innovations such as AI and drive new business models. Interestingly, Ireland is already making progress when it comes to industry-specific cloud deployments and achieving their sustainability goals. We expect to see an acceleration of innovation, as more businesses start to leverage cloud technologies for long-term growth and profitability.” 

Krishnan Ramanujam, President, Enterprise Growth Group, TCS, comments: “A desire for greater efficiency, resilience, and flexibility drove early cloud adoption, and these remain critical factors. Businesses now more fully understand how cloud drives business growth and innovation for the long-term, and for most, the journey is only just getting started.”   

“Cloud is a frequent source of short-term ROI anxieties, but growth and transformation is a long game. Reconciling these two realities is a challenge and a necessity, but fully achievable with the right strategy and planning. This is critical because cloud is now the unifying digital fabric of every enterprise, fuelling powerful technologies—from generative AI to edge and quantum computing—and is ushering the next wave of innovations now and into the future,” Ramanujam adds.

The 2023 TCS global cloud study surveyed 972 senior executives at companies exceeding $1 billion in annual revenue from multiple sectors across Asia, Europe and North America. A majority of the companies report annual revenues in excess of $5 billion. Individual markets surveyed include:

  • Continental Europe (Germany, Spain, France, Switzerland​, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg).
  • UK & Ireland
  • North America (USA, Canada, Mexico)​.
  • APAC​ (India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand).

To read the full report and receive further information, please visit https://www.tcs.com/insights/global-studies/tcs-global-cloud-study

How to Harness Golang for Web Scraping

Web scraping is a vital technique that uses automated scripts and tools to extract data from websites. It grants us access to valuable information from the internet.

Web scrapers use different programming languages, including Golang, Ruby, Python, etc. Golang has become popular in the web scraping ecosystem because of its simplicity, built-in concurrency support features, and more.

Many websites employ bot-detection measures to detect and block the actions of bots. However, because we cannot waste tangible time getting data from different websites manually, we need to find a solution. This article outlines helpful tips to avoid getting blocked while carrying out web scraping in Golang.

Why Golang?

Golang offers multiple tools and libraries that make web scraping seamless. It stands out for its inbuilt concurrency support, i.e. allowing the user to perform requests simultaneously. This feature, with its short execution time, makes it ideal for scraping on a large scale.

Golang’s libraries and third-party packages like Colly or GoQuery are effective for parsing HTML, moving through web pages, and extracting the desired data.

Owing to its clean and easy-to-read syntax, developers may find it easy to understand the basics of web scraping. It also has cross-platform support. You can run Golang code on different operating systems without the need to modify it.

How to Avoid Getting Blocked While Web Scraping in Golang

Let’s examine different ways to avoid being detected and blocked while web scraping in Golang.

1. Use a Web Scraping API

A web scraping API is a service that enables developers and other web scrapers to get data from websites without doing so manually, by making API requests to receive the data.

The service provides a toolkit to bypass anti-bot measures, such as a rotating proxy, User-Agent rotator, and more. All you have to do is writing a script to carry out the logic and get the data for your desired purpose.

Using a web scraping API like ZenRows, highly compatible with Golang, will save you plenty of time and will provide more reliability to reaching your data extraction goals.

2. Take Advantage of Golang’s Concurrency Support with Parallel Scraping

Parallel scraping means carrying out multiple web scraping operations at the same time by splitting them across multiple concurrent requests. It is a great way to save time and increase your output.

Colly, a package in Golang, is known for its excellent support for concurrency. With Golang and this package, you can access a seamless workflow and avoid the truncation of your web scraping process.

3. Use a Headless Browser

Headless browsers are like regular web browsers but without a graphical user interface (GUI).

With a headless web browser, you can access websites that rely on JavaScript-rendered content and interact with them as a human user would. It simulates user actions, like hesitating and scrolling, reducing your chances of being detected as a bot. Choose one of the various headless browser library options available for Golang for smooth web scraping.

Conclusion

Web scraping in Golang offers great advantages for web scraping. In this article, we discussed why Golang is good for web scraping. We also explored different ways to minimize your chances of getting blocked, including headless browsers, parallel scraping, and using a web scraping API.

Other ways to avoid getting blocked include using a rotating proxy service, a user agent switcher, or a CAPTCHA-solving service. Instead of paying for these individual features, using an all-in-one solution like ZenRows will further simplify your web scraping process.

By utilizing the tips in this article, you can enhance your web scraping game and avoid getting blocked.

First Look and hands on with the new Instax Square SQ40 camera from Fujifilm

Just announced the all new Instax Square SQ40 camera from Fujifilm has dropped in for review and we take a hands on first look at the latest on offer today, this camera is by no means small however these cameras are popular and will fly off the shelves and we love their retro look and finish which is also solid, there is also a new camera film launched to coincide with the launch of the camera and we will of course be testing both these out during our testing over the coming week or two.

First impressions of the new camera is solid and simple to use as is all cameras from the company and this runs on two batteries so no cables required which is a nice bonus these days as there is just too many lying around. The camera itself is not that heavy either and you get a neck strap to keep secure, there is a flash of course a viewfinder and that twisting lens which I love and you can see the camera in action and how it works by twisting the lens and this also gives you you two shooting modes. And yes guys we can take selfies with it.. Think back to the Instax Mini 40 for a similar camera

Check out the hands on unboxing below and feel free to ask any questions, as far as a point and shoot goes you cant ask for anything easier and then to have an actual photo in your hand.

Key SQ40 features include:

Automatic Exposure function

The SQ40’s Automatic Exposure function automatically senses the level of ambient light when the shutter button is pressed, optimizing the shutter speed and flash output according to the scene. It allows even novice INSTAX instant camera users to take photos that are automatically adjusted regardless of interior or exterior conditions, producing high-quality photos on-the-spot.

Selfie Mode for quicker and easier selfies

Users can activate the Selfie Mode, perfect for taking selfies and close-up shots, by simply twisting the lens after powering the SQ40 on. Using this mode to take amazing selfies and close-ups is incredibly easy and convenient.

New Film Variety Introduced:

Also accompanying the launch of SQ40 is Fujifilm’s launch of the new INSTAX SQUARE “Sunset” variety of instant film. The design of this new square format instant film is inspired by the gentle gradation of the colors in the sky during a sunset. As with all INSTAX SQUARE instant film varieties, Sunset will be available in a single pack with 10 exposures.

Pricing and Availability:

Fujifilm’s INSTAX SQUARE SQ40 instant camera will be available at Fujifilm stockist’s nationwide at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price EUR 150.00 (incl. VAT) and is expected to be available for purchase on 29th June 2023. For more product information, visit www.instax.ie/cameras/square-sq40/

INSTAX SQUARE Sunset instant film is also expected to be available on 29th June 2023 at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of EUR 11.00 (incl. VAT) per pack (10 sheets). For more information about this new INSTAX SQUARE instant film variety, visit www.instax.ie/film/#film-selector.

Unboxing Video

Esri Ireland map celebrates history of Pride in Ireland

Esri Ireland, the market leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), has created an LGBTQ+ Pride Month digital StoryMap. The map highlights ‘The History of Pride in Ireland’ and features a full schedule of Pride celebrations across the country that will last all summer long.

Using the interactive map, developed with Esri’s ArcGIS digital mapping system, embark on a captivating journey that follows the story of the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland. Discover pivotal historical moments, significant locations, and transformative events that sparked a profound societal shift towards a more diverse and inclusive Ireland. The map also features LGBTQ+ Resource Centres that offer support, guidance, and meetups across the island of Ireland.

As citizens from every corner of the country prepare to unite in a radiant display of rainbow hues, the Summer of Pride Map is your guide to the vibrant tapestry of Pride festivals and parades that are happening around Ireland. This year, the iconic Dublin Pride Festival (19th – 25th June) celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first Dublin Pride Parade. From Belfast to Galway to Cork there will be theatre, live music, quiz nights, rock & roll bingo, parades, and more. To top it all off, this year Laois is making history with its first-ever Pride Festival on September 14-17th.

ANGOKA flying high as member of international drone group

Belfast cyber security firm ANGOKA has been accepted as a member of Geneva-based Global Uncrewed Traffic Management Association (GUTMA).  

ANGOKA, which specializes in securing the safe passage of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) and remote and automated road transport vehicles, says joining the group will enhance the firm’s international reach in this fast developing sector.  

GUTMA represents organizations involved in innovative drone services and smart mobility solutions enabled by services that keep drone operations at all altitudes safe and efficient. It engages in impactful research and development and in technical, regulatory and political processes to foster a global ecosystem in a fair global drone services market. 

Martin Hawley, ANGOKA Head of Business Development for AAM (advanced air mobility), says GUTMA membership brings ANGOKA into a new sphere of influence at a time when the drone industry is on the cusp of explosive development. 

“Cyber security in the uncrewed traffic management (UTM) space will cement the industry’s reputation as being serious about safety as well as the security of its cargo,” says Dr Hawley.  

“As cyber is seen as a driver of IoT (internet of things) adoption, it will in the same way drive market adoption of drone and uncrewed aerial vehicles solutions and AAM. I’m looking forward to meeting other members of GUTMA to see how we can support the industry.” 

“We are moving faster than ever towards the commercialization of automated flight across many sectors ranging from search and rescue to logistics and traffic management,” he says.     

GUTMA members include Boeing, Airbus, the Federal Aviation Administration and many other leading aviation, electronics and aeronautical businesses. 

ANGOKA has a proven record of creating impenetrable security systems to protect UAVs. The firm has partnered with a number of projects in the UK Research and Innovation’s Future Flight Challenge including Skyway in which air traffic corridors in the south of England have been designated for drones and unmanned aircraft. ANGOKA supplies the Future- Proof security for automated, teleoperated and uncrewed aircraft using these corridors.  

Tech Review – Fiitii HifiDots from MIFO

The FiiTii HiFiDots are the latest earbuds from the company which we have been testing for around a month which gave us plenty of time to get our ears around which is an excellent lead time it must be said to go over a product inside out and that is what we did with these having came on several trips which included one to Milan and here is where it all began and it was with the ANC alone that gets these in my top 5 earbuds this year.

The case is one of many things, how it opens and how it is built, the case has a small button to release the lid and it pops upward which is really cool and something new compared to most earbud cases out there today, the case is one of the most solid earbud cases you will find and due to its build and the materials used you are missing out on wireless charging which for me is no huge deal because of the product overall although I do prefer cases with wireless charging I will let them away with it.

The earbuds themselves are small but mighty they look cool fit well and are simple to use when it comes to the controls and being so small I thought my clunky fingers would be an issue but this was not the case at all. They are simple to control and easy to use and we go through this in the video review below along with a look at their app.

FiiTii HiFiDots by MIFO – techbuzzireland

How these sound of course is the main course for these and these are simply fantastic. When at first I got these I was delighted to see they had an app to go with the earbuds and something I suggested before with the MIFO S Active we review which again where tiny but might and these had no app so does the app make a big difference? Indeed it does and these sound great, the volume the highs lows and mids and the ANC is one of the best yet I have tried this year and gearing toward headphones status.

Once these are turned up to the max you can forget about what is going on around you even on a plane train or a bus, yes I have been on them all in my testing this time as lots of travel was going on which came in handy for testing these and another pair of earbuds and these clearly won right out in most aspects. Calls also excellent on these as at the time I again had to take many and clear both ends, no lag latency either noted.

The App

 

The earbuds feature a bass dynamic driver that is 10mm, with 2 layers of diaphragm, PU-DLC. This double-layer structure allows magnetic flux to increase by a significant 20%-resulting in lush, full mids and potently dynamic bass.
HiFiDots’s meticulously designed internal structure features 2 exclusively customised BA drivers. These BA drivers are placed closer to the opening of the sound tube for less treble loss. Overall, thanks to its design, not only do the A’s 2 BA drivers sound transparent, they also work perfectly with the bass dynamic driver for a cohesive sound, without disjointed treble and mids.

With Passive Crossover processing technology(2 years of audio debugging by audio engineers), it not only achieves strong balanced performance on treble, mids and bass, but also has no frequency division trace feeling. It meets the requirement of Hi-Fi digital, to be capable in recognition of its ability to bring you accurate high-fidelity audio as the artist intended.

Overall these earbuds are a clear winner for me and does what they say on the tin and the lack of wireless charging or auto play and pause can be easily forgiven. Check the unboxing below and we also check out the app and go through the earbuds in detail.

Features

2BA-1Dynamic speaker drivers
Lossless audio
Bluetooth 5.3
MAdaptive active noise cancellation
6H battery life 30H with case
2C/3C fast charging
Noble metal case design
APP support
Personalized sound
IPX7 waterproof

Specs

Transmission profiles: HSP/HFP/A2DP/AVRCP/SPP
Battery life: Moderate ANC 6H Strong ANC: 4.5H
Transparency: 4.5H
Bluetooth codec – SBC/AAC/Aptx-Adaptive/ Aptx-Lossless
Weight(earbuds): 4.2g 2
Waterproof: IPX7
Speaker Frequency: 20Hz-40KHz
SPOR Full Charge(earbuds) -45 mins (2C fast charging)
Battery capacity(the case): 460mAh
Bluetooth vers 5.3
Battery life with the cases Approx 30 hrs
Full Charge(the case) -1 hrs (3C fast charging)
Battery capacity(earbuds) 35mAh
Weight(the case): 98g
Product size(earbuds) 20.4 26 17.3mm  the case 52 62.5 32.6mm

Charging types Type-C

Buy on the official website： https://bit.ly/hifidots

Buy on Amazon:
US link: https://amz.run/6frU
UK link: https://amz.run/6fri
CA link: https://amz.run/6frd
AU link: https://amz.run/6frj
De link: https://amz.run/6frv

20% Off amazon discount
20% Code: AL22ZI4N
End Date: 31/07 /2023 11:59 PMPDT

Video Review

Useful Information You Should Know About On-page Optimization

Are you a business owner who wants to make your brand more available to internet users? Do you struggle to find the right way to boost your website’s viewership? There are many ways to optimize your website to make it more appealing to potential customers. 

These useful tips on how to make the most of your online presence can be implemented one by one or simultaneously. Check out each one and decide which tasks will work best for the benefit of your website.  

Optimizing Your Site With SEO

Whether your business is large or small, one of the most important tools you have at your disposal is SEO, which stands for search engine optimization. This is the process of maximizing traffic to your site by ensuring that your website appears high up on search engine results pages.

Almost nobody browses page two of search results pages on Google or other popular search engines. So, if you want your business to be discoverable, you need to make sure your site comes up at the top of page one. Employ SEO techniques like keyword use and link building, professional web design, and the creation of relevant, high-quality content across multiple channels to achieve this goal. 

Keywords and Link Building

A couple of classic SEO optimization techniques are the use of keywords and link building. Keywords are words and phrases that are relevant to your business and feature on the sites and blog posts of your competitors. You can use online tools to discover which keywords are most relevant to your business and make sure to use them in natural ways throughout your web pages and in your content.Furthermore, understanding the intricacies of SEO and link building can be challenging, especially for businesses new to the digital landscape.

For those seeking guidance, resources like those offered by Digital Spotlight AU, a specialist in SEO strategies, can be invaluable. Their insights and expertise can help demystify these concepts, ensuring your SEO efforts are both effective and aligned with the latest industry practices.

Meanwhile, link building is the process of generating a lot of backlinks to your site from well-reputed blogs, news sites, and other relevant websites. This improves your search engine ranking as it associates your page with reputable and trusted sites. You can also create internal links to other pages on your site to encourage readers to visit your site and learn more. If you are mentioned in any large publications, make sure to feature this on your site, as it makes your company look more legitimate.

The Power of a Well-Designed Website

If you want to optimize your online site for maximum traffic, you first have to understand the importance of a well-designed website. Experts at Paddle Creative highlight the power of a fully-optimized website that is responsive, boasts relevant compressed visuals, and advanced animations, for generating new leads and making sales. Only when your website is designed by professionals with search engine optimization in mind can you achieve a wider global audience and business growth

Webflow is software used by companies for website building and hosting. Its online visual editor platform allows users to design, build, and launch websites without a lot of previous experience in web design. It is easy to use and produces great results in terms of creating a usable, reliable, and appealing website that ranks well on search engines. 

Create Relevant and High-Quality Content

Another essential technique for improving your on-page optimization is the creation of relevant and high-quality content. You should generate informative blog posts about your products or services and related topics. Then, visitors to your site will see that you are an authority in the field and a great source of useful and up-to-date information.

You can also create engaging videos about hot topics in your field. Just make sure that your videos are concise, informative, and meaningful to your target audience. The idea is to grab the attention of potential leads and turn them into paying customers. Include a call to action in your videos and blogs to subscribe to your newsletter, try out a product, or visit another page on the site so you can retain the viewer’s interest. 

An important thing to remember with this kind of content is consistency. High-quality content is only considered high-quality if every post is of the same caliber. A consistent message will give your brand a good reputation and lead to customer loyalty. 

Use Multiple Social Media Channels 

Once you have generated content like informative articles and entertaining videos, you can upload them onto popular sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Make sure all of your content features your business name and logo clearly and there is a link to your site in the description. This way, you will attract a wider global audience to your well-designed and SEO-optimized site. 

You can even feature some of your TikToks or Instagram reels on your website to hook visitors and encourage them to explore your social media channels in more depth. One of the great things about social media posts is that they are shown to social media users who are most likely to want to engage with your products or services. This is due to the clever algorithms that govern social media “for you” or “discover” pages. 

By using multiple social media platforms to disseminate your engaging, relevant, and high-quality content, you can maximize your reach to various corners of the planet, build a following online, develop a strong online presence, and encourage conversations about your business and its products or services. 

Having a positive online presence and an easily-recognizable brand will be very beneficial for attracting new leads and retaining customers. Highlight your presence on social media on your website so people know that you are a transparent company, easy to get in touch with, and have a large following.

 

The optimization of a web page can be tackled in many different ways, as highlighted by this article. The key to really knowing how to optimize your viewership is to know what works for your brand. 

Any number of these suggestions can be put into place in order to bring more people to your website and usually, the key is a combination of all of them. Keep these tips on hand and see how they can make your business grow its online presence. 

Less than half of business leaders think their company is adequately prepared to respond to a cyber breach

A survey from Irish IT service provider Auxilion has revealed that less than half (44%) of business leaders in Ireland think their organisation is adequately prepared to respond to a cyber breach.

The survey of 100 C-suite executives in larger companies or enterprises (more than 250 employees) across Ireland, carried out by Censuswide, also revealed that more than a third (36%) of businesses fell victim to a cyberattack in 2022 and 44% of business leaders think their company will fall victim to a cybersecurity breach this year.

Moreover, some 42% don’t believe they have enough skills within their organisation to guide it through a cyber-attack and a similar proportion (41%) don’t believe their cybersecurity budget is adequate to protect against all risks.

Furthermore, 34% of respondents don’t believe their leadership team or board is doing everything it can to safeguard the company’s digital assets and data. Despite these concerns, just 20% of business leaders expect to invest in cybersecurity solutions in 2023.

The research also revealed that only 36% of business leaders think their organisation upholds governance adequately and 43% have had to abandon a project due to poor governance. The average cost of failed IT projects during 2022 came in at €840,671.

However, a little over half (51%) undertake an annual self-assessment of performance relating to governance or compliance. To improve governance, 43% said outsourcing to a third party would improve their company’s governance, with 44% already using a managed services provider.

The top benefits of working with managed services providers were found to be 24/7 assistance (21%), increased project delivery (21%), cost savings (20%), plugging the skills gap (20%), and improved productivity (19%). Eighteen per cent said supporting compliance, while enhanced security was cited by 17% of respondents.

Commenting on these results, Philip Maguire, Auxilion CEO and founder, said: “The survey highlights the need for organisations to identify and implement IT strategies which directly support business goals and address concerns – some of which could prove, or are already proving, to be quite costly.

 “Not only are companies facing the possibility of cyber breaches due to inadequate safeguards, but failed IT projects are also impacting the bottom line. That’s not to mention the worries business leaders have around plugging the skills gap and achieving company objectives.

 Organisations really need to look at what digital solutions and services they can deploy today to overcome such obstacles and capitalise on potential opportunities. As well as rectifying the areas of poor governance and inadequate cybersecurity, these technologies can also boost efficiency, support productivity and drive growth.”