Conceiving an enterprise tech news brand during lockdown took blood, sweat and many Zooms, but finding its voice and nailing the content has been another challenge altogether. James Pearce reflects on TechInformed’s product development a year on from launch
December 16, 2022
2022 is coming to a close, but the end of another year also marks a special anniversary here at TechInformed – it’s one year since we went live.
In December last year, we switched the lights on at the newest online tech publication and sent out the first of our weekly newsletters. Our readership was small, our team even smaller, but we were finally live.
A year on, it is difficult not to feel reflective. When I first conceived the idea for TI, a publication that told stories about enterprise tech in a fun, engaging and educational way, putting that on to the page (or screen) was another challenge altogether.
TechInformed one year anniversary cake
Core to what we’ve done, of course, has been our weekly Editor’s Newsletter. Our first newsletter went out to subscribers on December 15, 2022. Our lead story was a talk with AstraZeneca’s analytics chief Vaibhav Verdan about the role AI played in the development of Covid vaccines, and how the technology would shape our future.
In a way, this set a precedent for what we have tried to do in our first year – to make sure we feature conversations with executives from the top companies discussing the role cutting edge technology is playing in how they operate.
In terms of enterprise brands, we’ve managed to scoop some big hitters. From McDonalds, to Heineken, EY to KP, and even my favourite toy brand, Lego, they’ve all featured, telling stories of their tech journeys.
As a new player, it is sometimes difficult to be heard above the noise in face of such competition. So instead of trying to shout louder than the rest, we focussed on delivering the best interviews and features, with insights into technology ranging from IoT and AI to carbon capture and robotic fruit farming.
We’ve looked for real-world examples of all that technobabble that can be read about elsewhere – blockchain, crypto, NFTs, and APIs – to learn how new technologies are transforming businesses in practice
It has, at times, been a steep learning curve. I’ve always tried to avoid using the phrase “digital transformation” while we were building TI, but that is what we’re writing about here. And it can be quite broad, too, given that we’ve covered stories from six of the seven continents (Editor’s note: Pitches from Antarctica ARE welcome!)
New, new new
Strengthening our brand across multiple platforms has been a key part of our strategy. We may only be one, but we’ve already launched a video series, hosted webinars, we are live across most of the major social media platforms, and this week, to celebrate our first anniversary, we have launched our brand-new podcast series, Informed in Four. The podcast will hear us quiz top execs about their technology journeys and we thought it only fitting to feature Yogesh Shah, the CEO of our parent company iResearch Services, for the first episode.
We’ve also tried to stick to another of our key differentiators by offering “research-led” content. This includes our in-depth feature content which has been a core tenet of what we’ve published throughout our first year.
It also includes our quarterly special reports. We launched the first one – Women in Work – in June, looking at how hybrid working has impacted women in the workplace. We spoke to female tech executives about their experiences, as well as looking at some core numbers of the impact the recent switch to hybrid and remote working models has had.
We followed this up in September with our Ransomware report. Our data shows that focuses on cyber security are always well received but ransomware in particular stood out as one of the most significant growing threats.
The report serves as a short, easy-to-read handbook for enterprises on how to tackle a ransomware attack – from preparation and mitigation, to what happens when you’ve been breached.
We’re set to launch our third report in January, which will cover Green Enterprise Tech. This will look at how enterprises are using new technologies to meet their sustainability goals, as well as some of the challenges they face in doing so.
Teamwork makes the dream work
When I first sat down with Yogesh at iResearch’s offices in London to discuss launching a new enterprise tech title (just before the world went into a winter lockdown that would last for almost half a year) I couldn’t have envisaged what we’d end up with or indeed what enterprise technology might look like the other side of the pandemic.
While I had plans to write about certain tech, and knew I wanted to focus in on how it was transforming business operations, there was much to flesh out. That was two years ago, but even when we went live last December, it was still unclear what TI would become – or if anyone would read it.
I’ve been lucky to work with a fantastic team – from the editorial which produces such brilliant content to our marketing and sales teams which continue to help us grow and develop.
TechInformed and IRS team
But what has astounded me is seeing the thirst for what we produce. So to anyone who has read one of our articles, watched one of our videos, or engaged with us somehow, thank you.
2023 will see us go further, faster, and harder. By that, I mean we will cover more ground globally, with plans to attend more conferences and feature more key industry figures. We want to see more examples of tech transforming businesses – and we want to show you the opportunities it can present. We plan to produce more of the same, with plans a foot to launch new streams of content.
And finally, we want to continue to improve the quality of our output and that’s where you can help.
If you have an interesting story that you would like TechInformed to tell, email editorial@techinformed.com
Or perhaps you just want to chat, in which case follow us on our socials, which can be found below.
After a busy first year, from the team at TI, I’d like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a wonderful new year. Thank you for reading and we’ll see you in 2023!
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