Editor
Editorial desk, VETTDD
VETTDD is the leadership publication for UK B2B technology. Its editorial desk writes the interviews, analysis, columns and The Brief, to the standard set out on the Editorial standards page.
Free Cyber Advisor sessions work, but too few small firms know to ask
Roughly one in five small organizations that approached the NCSC’s free Cyber Advisor scheme have since certified, on the agency’s figures. But a scheme that waits to be asked will reach few of the UK’s 5.64 million small businesses
Everflow’s £44m raise tests whether SMEs want broadband with their water
Business water supplier Everflow has raised £44m to grow a multi-utility offer that now includes connectivity. But with the copper phone network closing, one bill is a weak reason to choose a line
Co-CEOs are a merger sedative, not a leadership model
SoftwareOne has ended the co-CEO pairing it built to carry the Crayon deal, a year after completion. Shared leadership bought calm rather than a decision, and buy-and-build channel firms should settle who runs the business before they sign
Half of surveyed security providers refer to UK security codes
Government-commissioned research maps a supply side made up mostly of micro and small firms, where penetration testing dominates and services for securing AI after deployment are still patchy
UK venture money is back, but it is reaching fewer small firms
UK startups had their best half-year of funding since 2022. Official data on smaller businesses shows seed deals down by more than a quarter and longer waits between seed rounds
Claranet buys rival MSP Six Degrees through an administrators’ sale
Two London managed service providers with falling UK revenues become one, in a deal completed through the administration of a Six Degrees group company
The SME ‘CTO as a service’ is still a discovery project
The government has published its update on the SME Digital Adoption Taskforce’s 10 recommendations. But the AI help small firms were promised is still mostly roundtables, pilots and reviews
Openreach trims leased line costs as business fiber rivals spread
Openreach is cutting Ethernet connection and construction fees and offering discounts to customers that re-sign for up to 10 years. But the best deal comes with a lock-in, just as business-only networks expand
UK organizations now need a data protection complaints process
The last parts of the Data (Use and Access) Act are in force. The regulator says its focus is on helping firms comply, but many still think the change passes them by
FortiBleed shows the VPN password is still the weakest door
The NCSC has told FortiGate users to check whether their VPN credentials were leaked in a global campaign. But the real fix is one more than half of UK businesses have yet to make: two-factor login
Most UK firms using AI have no policy for it, official survey finds
More than half of small and mid-sized businesses that handle digital data use AI, but written rules on how staff use AI tools and company data lag far behind
Whitehall’s scale-up concierge and the capital question it leaves open
Ministers want the UK’s fastest-growing firms to scale at home, with a concierge service and visa refunds. But most UK tech companies are small, and the biggest growth rounds still lean on foreign money