Cybersecurity is the UK’s hottest tech skill as demand and salaries soar

Cybersecurity expertise has risen to the forefront of the UK’s technology hiring agenda, becoming the most sought‑after and among the highest‑paid technical skill sets. 

Amid intensifying cyber incidents and mounting regulatory pressures, businesses are offering salary premiums to compete for a limited pool of qualified security professionals according to new research from global talent solutions firm Robert Half.

The firm’s latest data reveals intensifying pressure on the UK tech talent market, with cybersecurity emerging as the single highest priority skill set for employers, cited by 48% of technology leaders. This is matched by strong hiring intent: 44% of companies plan to recruit for cybersecurity and IT security roles within the next six months, outpacing all other technical specialities.

Skills shortages are driving salary premiums

As the talent gap widens, Robert Half’s data reveals employers are relying on premium pay packets to attract talent. 

The findings show 44% of employers report cybersecurity skills as a primary driver of salary increases within their IT functions. This mirrors global trends, with the WE estimating a worldwide shortage of over four million cybersecurity professionals, fuelling competition and inflating salaries as employers try to secure scarce expertise.

But with demand far outstripping supply, employers are being forced to rethink how they attract, develop and retain critical security talent.

Roles in cybersecurity on the up

Robert Half's proprietary job posting database reveals strong growth in the UK cybersecurity job market in the past year, with overore than 6,000 new security roles advertised nationwide, a 14% increase over the previous year.

Demand was highest for Information Security Analysts, with over 3,100 new vacancies, reflecting a significant (29%) year‑on‑year rise. The role of Information Security Manager also remained in strong demand, with over 1,300 new postings and an 8% year-on-year increase.

The UK’s leading hubs for cybersecurity hiring in the past year were London (over 2,200 new roles), Manchester (around 450 roles), Bristol (around 350 roles), and Birmingham (around 350 roles), underlining ongoing demand for specialist security talent across both major metropolitan and regional markets.

https://www.roberthalf.com/gb/en

That's Business: Manchester accelerator lands North’s only spot in ...

That's Business: Manchester accelerator lands North’s only spot in ...: A Manchester-based accelerator has been named the North of England’s only programme to feature in the Financial Times’ Europe’s Leading Star...

Aston University is first Midlands University to provide all staff with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Birmingham's Aston University is one of the first universities in the UK to offer Microsoft 365 Copilot to all staff with training and support, as well as providing access to Copilot Chat for all students.

The strategic partnership with the company which is the first announced by a Midlands university, will equip students with future-ready skills and will strengthen teaching and research. 

All staff will benefit from the full Microsoft 365 Copilot suite, including specialist agents such as Researcher and Analyst, and productivity apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that have Copilot built in.

The full roll out will be completed by July 2026 and will give students the skills they need to flourish in an AI-driven economy. The initiative will also help the University’s staff to benefit from tools to become more innovative and operationally efficient, giving them more time for higher-value, strategic activity.

Professor Aleks Subic, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Aston University, told That's Technology: “Our collaboration with Microsoft illustrates Aston’s strategy to be a transformational university, embracing digital innovation and equipping our students and researchers with emerging AI technologies.

“Having access to this AI platform from a sector-leading company will help students and staff thrive. We are preparing our students for the work environment of the future which will enhance their careers and create significant benefits across our research and innovation ecosystem.”

Jen Wyatt, director of education, Microsoft UK, said: “By embedding AI across the University, Aston is strengthening the student experience and accelerating the University’s research and innovation. It will help staff reduce routine workloads, move faster on high-value priorities, and equip students with the future-ready skills they will need in an AI-enabled economy.”

The University will be working with Microsoft to ensure transparency around environmental and wider impacts. Microsoft has stated it is committed to be classed as carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030.

The AI roll-out will enable researchers to accelerate interdisciplinary discovery and analysis at scale, while reducing time spent on routine tasks. Last year Aston University offered new AI fellowships to lead projects that will deliver real-world impact across society, business, and industry. The interdisciplinary positions are based within its business school, The Sir Peter Rigby Digital Futures Institute and its School of Computer Science and Digital Technologies.

aston.ac.uk

Teneo Eliminates Core Conversational Design Pain Points with New Real-Time Voice Testing

New technology directly addresses the three critical challenges that cause 95% of enterprise voice AI projects to fail: unpredictable user expectations, cognitive load management and optimising natural conversation flow

Teneo, a global leader in enterprise Agentic AI, today announced a breakthrough platform that directly solves the most persistent pain points plaguing conversational AI worldwide. 

The real-time voice AI development and testing platform addresses the three fundamental challenges that contribute to the 95% failure rate of enterprise voice AI implementations: managing unpredictable user expectations, optimizing cognitive load and natural conversation.

The Hidden Crisis in Conversational Design

Conversational designers face an impossible challenge: creating voice experiences based on assumptions about how users will speak, only to discover that real conversations bear little resemblance to their carefully crafted dialogue flows.

Before LLMs, conversation design was like laying train tracks. The path had to be fixed, and if the user stepped off it, the system broke. Today it feels more like urban planning. You do not build every road yourself. Instead, you define the speed limits, set the destination, and mark the places the system should avoid.

"Every conversational designer knows the pain of spending months perfecting dialogue flows, only to watch them crumble when exposed to real user behavior," Per Ottosson, CEO of Teneo, told That's Technology.

"Users don't speak perfect sentences. They interrupt, rephrase, use incomplete thoughts, and bring contextual assumptions many design tools simply can't anticipate. Our platform gives designers the ability to hear and optimise how people actually talk, in real time."

Solving the Three Core Pain Points of Conversational Design

Teneo AI directly addresses the challenges that have plagued conversational designers since the inception of voice interfaces:

Pain Point #1: Unpredictable User Expectations

Traditional conversational design relies on training data based on "proper" speech patterns, but real users speak with incomplete sentences, omit subjects, rephrase mid-conversation, and assume contextual information. Teneo's native testing capabilities enable designers to hear actual speech patterns immediately, allowing them to optimize how people really communicate rather than how they theoretically should communicate.

Pain Point #2: Cognitive Load Management

Unlike text interfaces that users can review and navigate, voice interactions must be processed sequentially in real-time, creating significant cognitive burden. Designers struggle to balance information density with comprehension, often discovering their carefully structured responses overwhelm users in practice. Teneo AI allows designers to test and refine information architecture while hearing the actual cognitive impact on users.

Pain Point #3: Natural conversation flow

Creating natural-sounding conversations requires precise control of pauses, emphasis, volume, and rhythm, elements that are impossible to evaluate without hearing the actual output. Traditional design tools provide no way to test human-like speech patterns until full deployment, leading to robotic, unnatural interactions that damage user experience.

Measurable Impact on Design Effectiveness

Organizations using Teneo's Agentic AI platform report dramatic improvements in voice AI performance. This includes but is not limited to:

Intent Recognition Accuracy: Improved from an industry average to consistently above 99% through proprietary technology.

Time to Deploy: Reduced dramatically through native testing and streamlined deployment, eliminating the need for multiple production stages.

Design Iteration Speed: Reduced from deployment cycles measured in weeks to deployment cycles in hours and minutes.

Teneo AI is available now for new and existing customers. Teneo.ai provides deployment support, ROI modeling and migration assistance to help enterprises launch quickly and scale safely.

https://www.teneo.ai

Africa Mobile Network Surpasses 5000 Base Stations Transforming Connectivity Across Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) has achieved a significant infrastructure milestone, surpassing 5000 base stations and providing critical connectivity to more than 15 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa. 

The network’s advanced architecture now supports approximately 11.2 million billable voice minutes every day, further accelerating the digital transformation of the region. 

By deploying advanced RAN technology where traditional coverage once ended, AMN are proving that distance is no longer a barrier to digital inclusion, integrating communities without mobile network service into the global digital economy.

Sub-Saharan Africa represents a market of approximately 1.1 billion people, nearly one-seventh of the global population, with 62% residing in rural areas. Today, over 300 million people across the region live in villages with no mobile network coverage.

By surpassing 5000 deployed base stations, AMN is bridging this gap. AMN deploys its proprietary Radio Node (ARN) on all new installations, a versatile 2G/3G/4G small cell solution engineered to deliver 4TRX alongside HSPA+ within a single frequency band. Centred around AMN’s own future-proof, wideband Software Defined Radio (SDR) design, the ARN900 utilises open interfaces and a strategic disaggregation of hardware and software to provide opportunities for continued development.

AMN has deployed ARN900 to existing sites to provide significantly increased voice capacity and data services. By maintaining full ownership and control of the hardware, developed specifically for rural deployment and assembled in-house within the UK, the company ensures unparalleled operational agility and network security. AMN is currently deploying its first dual-band ARN, offering increased 2G and 4G resources across two frequency bands from a single unit.

A core differentiator of the AMN infrastructure is its total operational independence. By integrating high-efficiency solar power with VSAT backhaul, the system is truly ubiquitous, engineered for rapid installation in regions beyond the reach of conventional power grids or terrestrial network infrastructure. This self-sustaining architecture allows AMN to profitably deliver mobile connectivity to any global community exceeding 1,000 residents, effectively overcoming the geographical barriers to digital inclusion.

“I’m immensely proud of the momentum our team has maintained since our inception. Their commitment to overcoming complex infrastructure challenges is what drives our progress everyday”. commented Michael Darcy, CEO of AMN told That's Technolongy.

“We are driven by the conviction that no community should be sidelined by geography. Our ‘zero exclusion’ is powered by our ARN, by maintaining total in-house architectural control, we possess the unique agility to connect Africa, one community at a time”.

Surmounting the 5000-station milestone proves rural connectivity is achievable at scale, sustainably, and with profound social impact. While these achievements are measured in infrastructure, AMN’s true success lies in the human opportunities unlocked; each site serves as a digital anchor that stimulates local economies and fosters global digital participation. W

ith a strategic target of 10,000 sites, AMN is building the foundation to bring life-changing connectivity to millions, reinforcing its commitment to a fully connected Africa. 

A comprehensive survey involving 37 villages across Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Zambia revealed a transformative shift in quality of life following the deployment of AMN’s infrastructure. On average across surveyed sites, 83% of residents in these previously unconnected communities have adopted mobile money services, representing a massive increase in regional financial inclusion.

AMN plans to deploy an additional 1,000 sites across Sub-Saharan Africa in 2026, expanding its networks in Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Liberia.

Guided by a focus on technological agility and operational excellence, AMN is bridging the digital divide, ensuring that Sub-Saharan Africa does not just join the digital world, but leads its own digital conversation.

For more information about Africa Mobile Networks and its rural connectivity projects, please visit amn.com. 

That's Business: Repair Week 2026: Why Fixing Things Is Big Busines...

That's Business: Repair Week 2026: Why Fixing Things Is Big Busines...: Repair Week 2026 is more than a feel-good environmental campaign. For UK entrepreneurs, sole traders and high street independents, it repre...

That's Business: SocialBox.Biz Urges London Firms to "Call Before Y...

That's Business: SocialBox.Biz Urges London Firms to "Call Before Y...: As the UK faces a staggering £15 billion annual cost for replacing potentially still reusable items, SocialBox.Biz has issued a critical up...

ISS Aerospace teams with Anduril UK to integrate sovereign launched effects into Lattice

ISS Aerospace has announced a partnership agreement with Anduril UK to integrate its ISSOS WASP multi-mission launched effect into Anduril UK’s Lattice software platform and uncrewed platforms. 

The integration will allow the companies to realise the full mission envelope of the WASP platform across ISR, counter-UAS, and strike missions, while also unlocking coordinated, massed operations with other launched effects from host platforms. 

WASP’s modular payload enables it to be configured for ISR, counter-UAS, or strike missions. 

Together, the companies have already demonstrated the capability that the collaboration will enable. Earlier this month, engineers from ISS Aerospace rapidly integrated WASP, a medium- sized, tube-launched, rocket-propelled uncrewed aerial system leveraging its open architecture and flight stack — into Anduril UK’s sovereign Lattice command-and-control platform in just one day.

ISS Aerospace and Anduril UK executed a successful flight test at ISS Aerospace’s Oxford facility, validating the open architecture of the Lattice software platform and the additional capability that can be unlocked by integrating with it.

The integration and successful flight test further bolster the UK’s ability to field advanced, interoperable capability on its own terms – with sovereign payloads integrated into a common, sovereign software backbone that accelerates sensing, decision-making, and action. The collaboration strengthens the UK’s sovereign industrial base and supports continued UK investment in launched effects. WASP is complementary to Anduril’s Altius launched effect, providing a shorter-range, more attritable capability.

ISS Aerospace and Anduril UK will continue to work together on a validation campaign for ground and air launch. In parallel, the teams will advance effector payload modularity and broaden the mission use cases enabled by the collaboration.

Ryan Kempley, CEO of IS Aerospace, told That's Tecgnology: “Speed matters. The ability to integrate, test and deploy capability at pace is decisive. WASP was deliberately engineered with an open architecture flight stack, which allowed our teams to integrate with Lattice and validate it in flight within a single day. ISS design & build integration-ready platforms. 

"That approach accelerates deployment timelines, enables partner software to run seamlessly on our hardware, and ensures sovereign UK capability can evolve as fast as operational demand requires.”

Rich Drake, MD of Anduril UK, said: “WASP represents what we look for in a sovereign effector with its size, range and ability to deliver rapid, real-time intelligence in contested environments. To successfully support our Armed Forces, speed of integration, manoeuvre and development are essential. We were proud to prove our ability to do this with ISS Aerospace, and look forward to our ongoing work with them and other local partners, using Lattice as a base for the ongoing capability development for the UK.”

ISSAerospace.com

Vyoma awarded ESA data procurement contract for space-based data on small space debris

Munich-based Vyoma, a company providing Space Domain Awareness (SDA) capabilities, has been selected as the winner of the ESA tender on ”Data Procurement for Space-Based Statistical Data on Small Space Debris Phase 1”, funded via ESA‘s Space Safety Programme (S2P).

ESA’s Meteoroid And Space debris Terrestrial Environment Reference (MASTER) model provides a description of the space environment around Earth, supporting satellite designers, operators and others with risk assessments. 

Currently, there exists a significant temporal and spatial knowledge gap for observations of space debris with sizes smaller than the detection limit of ground-based sensors.

Vyoma's Flamingo-1 satellite is ideally positioned to generate the image data ESA is seeking. Flying “in-situ” at an altitude of 510 km, Flamingo-1's instrument can monitor large volumes of space at once. This sensor detects objects at long and short distances and captures small and fast objects reliably, improving data for the MASTER model.

“Space situational awareness data generated from space-based observers like Flamingo-1 play an essential role in safeguarding current and planned satellites and contributes to a sustainable use of space around Earth”, Dr Tim Flohrer, Head of ESA’s Space Debris Office told That's Technology,

“We are very pleased to welcome ESA as an important key customer, and we are looking forward to supporting ESA in its mission to help satellite operators keep their assets safe”, added Dr. Stefan Frey, CEO of Vyoma.

Vyoma leverages space-based and ground-based data to empower automated satellite operations and deliver space intelligence to the industry. Founded in August 2020, Vyoma offers services that enable efficient and scalable satellite operations in congested orbits around Earth, drastically reducing mission costs for its customers.

https://www.vyoma.space

PlanetWEST Unveils MIDAC G2: The “Second Act” for Carbon Capture as AI Dominates Global Energy Grid

As Artificial Intelligence rapidly scales, its insatiable demand for electricity is claiming nearly all forecasted renewable energy capacity, leaving traditional Direct Air Capture (DAC) projects in a precarious position. 

Today, PlanetWEST announces a strategic pivot for the industry with the launch of MIDAC G2(Mobile Intelligent Direct Air Capture), a next-generation technology designed to thrive in an energy-constrained world.

The Energy Crisis: AI vs. Traditional DAC

The meteoric rise of global data farms has created a "bullet to the heart" for first-generation carbon capture. Traditional DAC is notoriously energy-intensive; without access to massive amounts of dedicated clean energy, these projects fail to achieve true net-negative emissions. With AI now positioned as the world’s primary "renewable energy hog," the project-related hurdles for traditional DAC have become virtually insurmountable.

A Smarter Target: Black Carbon and PM 2.5

While the industry has been fixated on atmospheric CO2, PlanetWEST is shifting the focus to Black Carbon (BC) and PM 2.5—the second-largest contributors to global warming.

Unlike CO2, which is diluted uniformly across the globe, Black Carbon is concentrated in high-density "hotspots" within mega-cities—areas responsible for over half of all global emissions. PlanetWEST’s MIDAC G2 technology uses intelligent, mobile units to locate and neutralize these emissions.

Efficiency Without the Infrastructure

MIDAC G2 represents a radical departure from the resource-heavy models of the past. Key advantages include:

Low Energy Requirements: Designed to operate efficiently without competing with AI for the renewable grid.

Zero Water Consumption: Eliminates the massive water footprint associated with legacy DAC.

No Pipelines Required: Bypasses the need for the estimated 60,000 miles of energy-intensive pipeline fabrication and installation.

Minimal Waste Stream: A streamlined process that avoids the heavy chemical and other byproducts of traditional methods.

Authentic Impact, Not Greenwashing

PlanetWEST is committed to true environmental restoration. Because MIDAC G2 captures solid carbon—which is unusable for oil company Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) efforts—the technology serves as a pure climate solution rather than a tool for fossil fuel expansion.

"The energy landscape has changed overnight," says the PlanetWEST leadership team. "We can’t wait for a surplus of renewable energy that may never come. MIDAC G2 is the 'Second Act' of carbon capture—mobile, intelligent, and ready to clean our cities without demanding a dedicated clean energy power plant to do it."

About PlanetWEST PlanetWEST is a climate technology leader specialising in mobile, high-efficiency carbon recovery. By targeting solid-phase emissions in urban environments, PlanetWEST provides scalable solutions for the most pressing air quality and warming challenges of the 21st century.