One of the favourites to be the next Prime Minister is tech enthusiast Matt Hancock. The MP for West Suffolk is the current health secretary and beforehand served in the equivalent role at Digital, Sport, Media and Culture. In both roles he has expressed a desire for the government to make more use out of technological developments.

In various speeches, Mr Hancock has called for ‘a culture of innovation’. Whilst working as the digital secretary, he oversaw the creation of the London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) which houses over seventy cyber security companies and focusses on ‘developing the cyber security technology of tomorrow’. In a speech at Tech Nation in 2018, Mr Hancock championed crowdfunding methods saying that the UK had ‘real strength’ in that area and his passion for technology continued when he moved into the role as health secretary.

Mr Hancock has announced that the use of pagers will be banned in the NHS, quite a big step when you consider 2017 research indicted that the NHS owned 10% of the world’s pagers. As an alternative, a ‘WhatsApp’ style communication method was piloted in an NHS trust in Mr Hancock’s own constituency. It’s not only pagers that are getting the chop, Mr Hancock has banned the NHS from purchasing fax machines with a view of phasing out the technology by April 2020 and making email the norm going forward.

The would-be leader has also formed the Healthtech Advisory Board where key NHS figures and tech industry stalwarts meet to help with creating policies with technological advancement in mind. Mr Hancock is already an influential figure, but should he get the top job, his enthusiasm for technology will influence more than just the NHS and influence every government department.

Left to Right: Dave (In-House Designer), Liv (Marketing Executive), Tom (Head of Digital), Henry (Communications Assistant), Annie (Senior Communications Executive) & Ritish (Business Analyst)

Tell us about your role at Kuflink

Tom, Head of Digital: I’m responsible for managing the team and developing strategies across all our marketing activity – I support and motivate everyone however I can.

Liv, Marketing Executive: I put the stands and materials together for our trade shows and exhibitions throughout the year, as well as preparing all new investments and uploading them to the platform.

Dave, In-House Designer: I produce our graphics, which are part of almost everything we do – digital advertising, print advertising and web design mostly.

Ritish, Business Analyst: I’m primarily a Business Analyst, monitoring our activities, but I also run some of our digital accounts such as Google and Bing.

Annie, Senior Communications Executive: My role is pretty varied as I work across PR and marketing – I write material for our investors and for industry publications.

Henry, Communications Assistant: I work closely with Annie to create lots of different written content, from press releases to blogs and emails.

What is a typical day in the marketing department?

Tom: There is no typical day in the marketing department! It’s such a fast-paced environment, one day we could be working on a TV ad and the next we’ll be writing a report on trends in the property market.

Liv: I’m usually busy making sure all our new investments are ready to go, which involves speaking to all the different teams and getting everything reviewed.

Annie: The industry is constantly changing, so our marketing reflects that. We keep on top of all the latest news and pass that knowledge on to investors. For example, when buy-to-let regulation changed, we stopped what we were doing and put a blog together on that topic.

What is your favourite project you have worked on at Kuflink?

Tom: We’re going to be launching a brand-new website soon, which has been a great chance to fine-tune our branding and hopefully reach more investors than ever.

Dave: As a designer, seeing my work as the finished article is always great, particularly if it’s for something a lot of people will see like our tv ad.

Liv: For one of our exhibitions last year, our stand was a fully stocked pub! It was great fun meeting everyone and we got to make a lot of new contacts.

What do you enjoy about working at Kuflink?

Tom: It’s fun to be involved in an ambitious company that is always looking forward.

Liv: There’s lots of support here to further your career – I started elsewhere in the company and moved over to marketing nearly two years ago.

Annie: Kuflink is a really fun place to work, but aside from that, I have learnt so much about finance and property which has been genuinely interesting and useful.

Henry: I only joined last month so I’m still settling in, but everyone’s been friendly and supportive.

Dave: The team are really open to ideas, so I get to play around with designs and concepts as much as I want to.

Ritish: It’s rewarding to help the team see what’s working and optimize our campaigns- and the hot chocolate from the coffee machine is amazing!

2 in 5 transactions are contactless

Over the past decade or so, tech has revolutionised the way we spend, save and invest. It is now estimated that 2 in 5 transactions are contactless; a trend so widespread that even the UK’s largest retailers are reconsidering their approach to transactions.

Sainsbury’s have just announced plans to trial till-free stores, beginning with the Holborn Circus branch of the store in London, where it is claimed that 82% of transactions are cashless. This is yet another significant vote of confidence for online technology, showing that the general public are not only comfortable with computer-based money management, but often prefer it to the more traditional methods.

Customers will be able to scan the goods as they go via a SmartShop scan, pay and go app which can be downloaded on their smartphone. Afterwards they can scan a QR code which acts as a receipt for the purchase. Whilst many of the leading supermarkets have trialed apps for customers to pay for goods, Sainsbury’s are the first to try going till-free.

Customers are preferring the computer screen to the shopkeeper’s hatch

It is old news that customers have embraced online shopping but with companies making it easier and easier to pay for things online, customers are preferring the computer screen to the shopkeeper’s hatch.

However, it is important for businesses to remember that consumers will embrace technology at a different pace, and while these advancements make life easier for the majority of us, they are too much, too soon for others. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that had you presented this idea of ‘scan and go’ even just a decade ago you would’ve raised many eyebrows.

Even though we’re a FinTech platform, Kuflink have a committed customer services team ready to assist by phone or email and are always ready to welcome customers to our Kent offices.

We have, and always will, strive to be at the forefront of the technology revolution in order to reflect how comfortable customers are managing their money online.