Insights, articles and news

Data is now one of the most valuable assets any organisation has. But before it can power smarter decisions, predictive models, or new digital products, it needs a place to live that is flexible enough to handle everything you throw at it.

Last week I had the chance to swap our usual office view of the River Don, for the canals of Amsterdam, as we headed over to attend both The Things Conference and TechEx.

How The Curve used Blecon’s low‑power BLE stack and gateways to deliver robust people and asset tracking in sparse, off‑grid environments—summarised from a conversation between our CTO, James, and Blecon’s CEO, Simon Ford.

Organisations are generating more data than ever before - through customer interactions, operations, financial systems, and digital products. Without the right approach, this information ends up siloed, inconsistent, or underused. A data warehouse provides a structured, centralised environment that brings all of this together. It doesn’t just solve technical challenges; it enables leaders to make better decisions, build trust in reporting, and create new opportunities for growth and innovation. In many cases, it also provides the foundation for more advanced initiatives such as automation, reporting dashboards and AI. There are many benefits to adopting a data warehouse, which I’ll cover below:.

Connected devices are everywhere — from smart speakers and security cameras in our homes to sensors, gateways, and wearables powering entire industries. But as our reliance on connected technology has grown, so too has the threat landscape. Vulnerabilities in consumer devices have become one of the most common entry points for cyberattacks, often due to poor security design, weak default credentials, and a lack of long-term support. To address this, the UK government has introduced the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act 2022 — legislation that sets legally enforceable security requirements for consumer connectable products. While similar in spirit to the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), PSTI is the UK’s standalone approach to raising the baseline for IoT security and ensuring manufacturers take responsibility for the products they sell.

The European Union will be introducing the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) from September 2026 which is set to fundamentally transform how technology products are designed, sold, and maintained. The CRA is a landmark regulation that establishes mandatory, horizontal cybersecurity requirements for all products with digital elements (PDEs) placed on the EU market. For any company developing, manufacturing, importing, or distributing connected hardware and software, understanding the CRA is now a critical business imperative.

In modern software development, particularly in connected devices and IoT systems, security isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s a fundamental requirement. As supply chains become more complex and regulatory standards tighten, understanding what’s inside your software is now just as important as knowing how it works. That’s where a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) comes in.

Utilising an MDV (Minimum Deliverable Value) approach has a host of benefits that can ensure that development and assumption validation is as effective and beneficial as it can be.

A Minimum Deliverable Value (MDV) is a lightweight, functional outcome that tests a core assumption or delivers operational insight without the bloat of a full MVP. This is ideal for validating a specific assumption, exploring a technical opportunity, or demonstrating early value before investing in a larger, traditional MVP or product build.

At a recent Sheffield AI meetup, I gave a talk that aimed to unpack a big question: Is AI coming for your job? Short answer? No. But not for the reasons you might think. Rather than fall into the trap of hyperbole, I approached the topic by stepping back and asking a different question: How have the skills and resources around building software changed over time?