Find Computing and Office Supplies expertise in United Kingdom

The computing industry in the United Kingdom is well developed by world standards. According to the International Telecommunication Union, 87% of households in the UK owned a personal computer in 2011, while the percentage of individuals using computers in the UK was 88.5% in 2012 (ITU-D, 2012). Internet usage in the UK is high by world standards. The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 recorded the percentage of the population using the internet as 82%, giving the country a score of 14 out of 144 countries included in the report. The country’s broadband prevalence is also high; 32.7% of the population have broadband internet subscriptions, while 62.3% subscribe to mobile broadband. The UK has the sixth highest international internet bandwidth speed of all countries included in the WEF report, with an average speed of 166.1 kb per second for each user (WEF, 2013). Imports of computing and office related machinery by the UK amounted to 3.18% of the country’s total imports for 2010 (Observatory of Economic Complexity, 2010).

Many large computing companies have their roots in the UK.  Acorn Computers Ltd proved incredibly popular in the 1980s and early 90s with the UK education system. The company was broken up into several separate operations in the late 1990s and was rebranded in 2011 under the original name. Acorn Computers Ltd now specialises in the design of new technologies, developing energy efficient cores for central and general processing units.  Another widely known computing company originating in the UK is Alienware, although the company was taken over by US company Dell in 2006. Alienware specialises in high specification PCs for the computer games market. MESH computers is a UK born and owned company, operating within the hardware design and sales industry. The office supplies market in the UK is largely dominated by office supplies superstore Staples. Staples is well known as the largest office products company in the world. The firm specialises in the distribution of office supplies including stationary, technology and furniture.

All major multinational computing and office supplies firms are in operation in the country. Shops specialising in the sale and support of Apple, HP and Microsoft products are widely found throughout all large cities within the UK.

There are several companies within the UK working towards developing and expanding the country’s information technology (IT) sector. The British Computer Society (BCS) previously known as The Chartered Institute for Information Technology is an internationally recognised organisation representing those working within the computing sector in the UK and worldwide. BCS aims to encourage the presence of computing within education systems, and increase awareness of information technology to the benefit of professionals and the general public. The demand for computing expertise is high in the UK, with a vast majority of businesses and individuals using computing products every day. In addition to this the computing and office supplies product and service sector is abundant in terms of both expertise and the type of products available.

The United Kingdom has a well-established and developed computing and office supplies industry. The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 rated the UK as 6 out of 144 countries for the availability of the latest technologies, giving the country a total score of 6.5 out of 7, with 7 being the most advanced. Firm level technology absorption has another high rating of 23 out of 144 and 5.7 out of 7, with government procurement of advanced technological products having a slightly less notable score of 45 and 3.9. The UK’s results for the Global Competitiveness Report are comparatively similar to many surrounding countries.