From the Dayton, Ohio, suburbs to boardrooms in Dallas, the employees fueling AT&T’s next wave of growth aren’t fresh-faced college graduates with expensive four-year degrees. They’re skilled, blue-collar workers ready to get their hands dirty — and AT&T can’t find enough of them.
“We need people who know how to actually work with electricity. We need people who understand photonics. We need people who can go into folks’ homes and connect this infrastructure to make it work right,” AT&T CEO John Stankey told CNBC during a recent interview from the company’s Dallas headquarters.
“We find that we’ve got to go out and find them, train them, and incent them to come in,” he said. “It’s not like we’re growing them on trees in the United States.”
For much of the postwar era, the American bargain was clear: Go to college, get a degree and claim your place in the middle class. As factories gave way to offices and the U.S. economy increasingly rewarded credentials over physical labor, a four-year diploma became one of the clearest symbols of upward mobility. But as AI spreads across corporate America and begins to absorb the entry-level work that once gave graduates their start, that promise is beginning to fracture.
While the rapid spread of AI has not yet led to broad layoffs and empty offices, many new graduates, especially those in AI-exposed industries, are learning their degrees may no longer guarantee the opportunities they once did.
John Stankey, Chairman and CEO at AT&T, speaking at CNBC’s Invest In America Forum in Washington, D.C. on April 15th, 2026.
Aaron Clamage | CNBC
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Meanwhile, as AI implementation spreads and CEOs find they can do more with less labor, hiring is slowing. The downturn has hit hardest the workers with little real-world experience and those in industries expected to be most vulnerable to AI replacement, such as marketing, legal, accounting, human resources and IT.
If the trend continues, AI could reorder the U.S. workforce and global economy, redrawing the map of opportunity in ways that even some leading economists and technologists say they are only beginning to understand.
“Is the American Dream going away because of AI?… I think the fears are all very valid,” said May Hu, a 26-year-old tech consultant turned social media influencer who said she was laid off from Deloitte last year for what she described as nonperformance reasons. “I pursued college because… I think [for] most people who want to be working professionals … college is the route,” she continued. “That’s starting to change now.”
Like any technological revolution, the AI boom is expected to create new types of work. But, in a cruel twist for college graduates, many of those jobs will be blue-collar roles that for now don’t require a four-year degree, centered around the construction and maintenance of data centers.
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Still, it’s unclear how sustainable the blue-collar job boom will be once companies complete an expected wave of chip factories, data centers and other AI-fueled construction in the coming years.
“This is the largest infrastructure buildout in human history that is going to create a lot of jobs,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said during a panel at the World Economic Forum in January. “We are going to have plumbers and electricians and construction and steel workers and network technicians and people who install and fit out the equipment.”
He added that many of those roles will bring six-figure salaries as the U.S. addresses a “great shortage” of workers.
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Saline, Michigan, Construction of a $16 billion data center, developed by Related Digital for Oracle and Open AI.
Jim West | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
In March, AT&T announced plans to invest $250 billion over the next five years to expand its fiber network and meet the demands of AI data centers and a surge in network usage, fueled both by AI and a rise in mobile streaming and uploading.
About 15% of that investment will be used for hiring and training employees, but not necessarily for white-collar jobs at its corporate office. Instead, it will primarily be used for blue-collar front-line workers, the majority of whom are skilled technicians, the company said.
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“As a society and within the United States, we’ve put a huge premium in value socially on a college degree, maybe for good reason, but in some cases … we maybe have missed the mark,” said Stankey. “That hasn’t been optimal when you see the cost of education increasing at higher than the rate of inflation and yet we’re short HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] repair people, we’re short electricians, we’re short technicians that can go in and work on fiber.”
The birth of the American Dream
At the beginning of the 20th century, about 1 in 10 17-year-olds in the U.S. had finished high school while far fewer young adults had pursued higher education, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. More time in school meant less food on the table, and few Americans had the privilege of pursuing more comfortable work outside of factories and farms.
That all started to change after World War II, when the GI Bill offered veterans free access to college and public universities began cropping up across the country, fueling what labor historian Shannan Clark called an “explosion” in higher education.
There was “a widespread belief, shared by Democrats and Republicans alike, that this was a good investment. It was good for people to have access to higher education and that this sort of increase in human capital and a more trained, more capable, more knowledgeable workforce would also be a more productive workforce, right?” said Clark, an associate professor of history at Montclair State University.
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In the coming decades, millions of Americans would trade sweltering factories for air-conditioned offices, hammers and nails for keyboards and mice, and hourly wages for sustainable salaries. Women and minorities entered the workforce in record numbers, wages grew and quality of life increased, fueling a rise in innovation, globalization and gross domestic product. By the end of the 20th century, society was in near universal agreement that an education and a little bit of grit were a sure path to the American Dream.
Data shows that four-year degrees still lead to higher wages and lower unemployment over a lifetime. Even so, the belief that college is the safest way to the American Dream has changed in recent years. First, the return on investment of a four-year degree came into question amid surging higher education costs and student debt. That return is still around 12.5% as of 2024, making it well worth the cost for many graduates, but it hasn’t budged beyond 13% for the past three decades, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Now, AI could put the value of a diploma under even greater pressure.
“What does AI do best? AI is basically an infinite supply of 21-year-old interns that are smart but have no context,” said consultant Aaron Cheris, the global head of Bain & Company’s retail practice. “The job they used to do is now the one that AI is doing, right? AI is doing the entry-level job.”
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That’s made it harder for new graduates to find work, some research and data suggest.
The average unemployment rate for recent college graduates ages 22 to 27 dating back to 1990 is 4.5%, but in 2025, that average jumped to around 5.4%, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The impact appears particularly acute among entry-level employees in AI-exposed fields.
Last year, Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab published a research paper titled “Canaries in the Coal Mine?” that found early-career workers in roles most exposed to AI, such as software developers, marketing professionals and sales managers, saw 16% slower growth in employment than the least exposed young workers between mid-2024 and September 2025.
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Using payroll data from ADP, researchers found the trend persisted even when they controlled for company-specific challenges, rising interest rates, remote work and other variables. Those who held jobs where AI was poised to augment their work versus automate saw growing employment in the same time period.
“It is notable that since we came out with the first draft of the paper, the effect has grown from 13% to 16%, so whatever it is, it’s not rebounding, or wasn’t some kind of temporary blip,” said Stanford University economist Erik Brynjolfsson, one of the paper’s authors and a leading expert on the economics of technology and AI. “If you just look at the top line of the ADP data, the overall effect, there wasn’t much going on. It’s only when you narrow in … that you start seeing the different kinds of effects.”
If the trend continues for young workers in AI-exposed roles, “we’re going to see it affect the broader labor market more,” said Brynjolfsson.
Lee Tucker, a senior economist with the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau, published a paper in April that built on Stanford’s research and found that the impact on early career workers was also showing up in a different data set: the agency’s quarterly workforce indicators.
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In his research, Tucker found that the hiring of workers between the ages of 22 and 24 dropped 9% immediately after ChatGPT in late 2022 launched for workers inAI-exposed industries such as finance, insurance and professional services, compared with all other industries.
Between the third quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2025, there was a 12% to 15% decline in employment for workers in those industries, leading to about 150,000 fewer early-career jobs, the research found.
While there is some evidence this decline may have started around 2020 and may not be fully attributable to AI, Tucker found the decline in employment was almost entirely due to fewer hires, not layoffs.
“I empathize with early career workers, especially new graduates that are trying to get hired or just starting sort of their first rung on the career ladder,” Tucker told CNBC in an interview. “It is true that it is tough out there, and the data really do back that up.”
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The vanishing investment banker
The advent of generative and agentic AI, and the technology’s ability to take over some entry-level work, has raised questions about the future of the junior consultant, the investment banking analyst and the first-year associate at a white-shoe law firm.
Should senior leadership keep recruiting large classes from top schools and devote the time and money needed to train them, knowing those workers will form the bedrock of their future talent pipeline, or should they invest elsewhere and let AI do those jobs?
In a recent interview with Derek Waldron, JPMorgan Chase’s chief analytics officer, CNBC asked if the bank has any plans to cut its recruitment classes. He said he didn’t know the firm’s specific strategy, but acknowledged “there may be some rightsizing.”
“It’ll depend on the pipelines, the opportunities. In some cases, bigger [classes], in some cases, frankly, could be smaller as well,” said Waldron.
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Waldron suggested the nature of work could shift for junior employees who do make it through the door — toward managing AI systems instead of doing the underlying work themselves.
“The world is moving to a paradigm where every employee becomes a manager, but a manager of AI systems,” said Waldron. “So whereas a new joiner in the past was basically primarily the worker doing the work, the expectation is that they would be able to come in and begin to act as a manager of sort of AI tools.”
In some ways, that shift could be good news for entry-level employees, because they’re AI natives and may be more tech savvy than their older colleagues.
“I want more of them,” WHP Global CEO Yehuda Shmidman said of entry-level employees at his firm, which counts brands such as Toys “R” Us, Vera Wang and Express among its portfolio. “If you’ve been using AI to help you with that final paper at school, we’re probably going to want to know how you’re going to use AI to help us with the next contract negotiation. So I’m all in favor of it.”
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But the shift also highlights how necessary it is for students to be graduating with skills in AI that go beyond using it to write an email or replace a Google search.
“If a kid comes out of school now and is like the expert in Claude and OpenAI … and is able to then say to even, like, an accounting team, ‘Hey, look, I can come in and I can do the job of three people versus you hiring them, because I can use AI,’ OK, that person will still get a job,” said Omair Tariq, the founder and CEO of startup Cart.com, which provides logistics, fulfillment and other services for retailers such as Adidas, Guess and Eddie Bauer, and has about 1,400 employees.
If they can’t, Tariq said, he’s not interested in hiring them.
“When you’re in college, all you know is what’s in your curriculum. The curriculum is available in a book or online. It’s all tangible, it’s all ones and zeros. It’s all the sh– that AI can read in 30 seconds that you took four and a half years to read,” said Tariq. “So tell me again what you can do that AI can’t do, because you don’t have any real-world experience.”
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Already, college campuses are feeling the pressure to change their curriculums and even their approach to higher education to adjust to an AI future.
“For graduates to compete effectively, they’re going to need to know how to do at age 22 what they used to do at age 27,” said Matt Sigelman, the president of the Burning Glass Institute, a think tank that studies the future of work. “They’re going to need to be able to start their careers in the middle and not the beginning.”
How quickly colleges can adjust could determine how much AI will disrupt the careers of graduatesin the future.
Tobias Sytsma, an economist at the think tank Rand who studies AI and the future of work, said recent graduates, those paying off college loans and students getting ready to enter college will likely face the most issues during this transition period. If the data continues to show an impact on early career workers, they could become victims of economic “scarring,” leading to unemployment, underemployment and lower incomes throughout their lifetimes. If there’s a major disruption to the middle class pipeline — the route young adults take from college to higher-paying jobs — that could have an enormous impact on the economy. Consumption could shrink, housing demand could fall and existing inequality issues could grow.
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“The size of that transition cohort is important. If it takes 20 years and … basically everyone that was thinking about going to college or just finished college is really struggling, then that’s a huge chunk of the future workforce that’s going through this scarring process,” said Sytsma. “If the transition is really quick and we’re able to kind of rapidly adjust the institution of higher learning so that we maintain value, then maybe the scarring cohort is a little bit smaller and the aggregate effects are a little bit smaller. But at this point, I think it’s pretty hard to tell.”
Suburban daydreams
Kyson Cook, 24, joined AT&T as a premises technician after leaving college and later returned to school with help from the company’s tuition reimbursement program.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC
In a small Ohio city between Dayton and Columbus, the American Dream is alive and well for 24-year-old Kyson Cook. The father of one owns a three-bedroom home, has no debt beyond his mortgage and ends most workdays around 4:30 p.m., leaving plenty of time to shoot pool, go fishing or spend time with family. He has a small plot of land with space for his daughter to play, along with enough money to buy her whatever toys she wants and regularly contribute to a mutual fund with her name on it, without needing to cut back on new clothes, vacations or eating out.
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In an interview, he told CNBC that the “coolest job in the world” pays for it all.
“I’m proud to tell people what I do. I climb telephone poles. It’s awesome,” said Cook, a premises technician with AT&T who helps connect the telecom giant’s fiber infrastructure to customer homes.
“You feel like a superhero up there,” he added. “To other people, it might sound like, ‘Oh, it’s hard work. I don’t want to do that. You have to work in the elements.’ But there’s so many good things that come along with this job.”
Cook, whose father and grandfather both worked at AT&T, said he started at the company in April 2022, a few months after he dropped out of college and realized he’d rather work with his hands. In less than a year, he’d saved up enough to buy his house. When his daughter was on the way about two years later, he said, he went back to college and got a bachelor’s degree — paid for by AT&T — because he thought it could help him get promoted in the future, even if the management roles he’d be aiming for don’t require it.
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Cook is one of the thousands of technicians helping AT&T expand its network so the telecom giant can meet the needs of an AI future. AT&T’s global workforce has been cut by more than half over the last decade, but the company is increasing head count in some areas and working to recruit skilled tradespeople who aren’t required to have a college degree to join the company.
Kyson Cook, an AT&T premises technician, walks through an AT&T facility in Kettering, Ohio.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC
AT&T said it plans to hire around 3,000 technicians this year and is ramping up recruitment in places such as Nashville, San Francisco and North Carolina where it’s finding a dearth of skilled workers. That’s on top of the 10,000 the company has already hired over the last three years. To get employees up to speed, AT&T said it may spend anywhere between $50,000 and $80,000 in training per person.
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“We’re investing a huge amount of money. We’re putting fiber out there. This needs to be built,” said Stankey. “And so part of what we’re doing is, we need trade.”
AT&T’s hunt for blue-collar workers comes amid a national shortage for certain skilled tradespeople and a slight uptick in unemployment for college-educated adults.
This year, there’s a shortage of around 350,000 workers necessary to meet the demand for construction services in the U.S., a deficit that’s expected to grow to more than 450,000 next year, according to a January report from Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade association for the construction industry.
By 2030, about 2.1 million skilled trades jobs could go unfilled, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
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Shortfalls are more severe in areas with major projects such as semiconductor fabrication facilities, exacerbated by the fact that about one-fifth of electricians are over 55, said ABC chief economist Anirban Basu.
“Even if construction spending fails to exceed expectations this year and next, contractors will continue to struggle to fill open positions, especially in certain occupations and regions,” said Basu. “Recent industry efforts to accelerate skilled worker development have helped, but the industry is effectively swimming upstream.”
Meanwhile, college-educated adults over the age of 25 are seeing a slight rise in unemployment.
For nearly a decade other than the Covid pandemic, the unemployment rate for adults 25 and over who have a bachelor’s degree has been at 3% or lower, but in August, that number jumped to 3.2%, the first time the figure was over 3% in around nine years aside from during the pandemic, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows.
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Since then, the rate has largely hovered at 3% or higher before falling to 2.8% in April.
The unemployment rate for those 25 and up who have a bachelor’s degree or higher shows a similar trend.
Further, white-collar roles such as management, professional and office jobs have seen unemployment rise each year since 2023, while unemployment for blue-collar positions, like construction and maintenance jobs, largely declined or stayed roughly the same last year compared with 2024, BLS data show.
Still, the benefits of a college degree have hardly gone away. College graduates overall enjoy lower lifetime unemployment and higher earnings than those without degrees, who are more likely to be laid off during recessions or slowdowns. Between January 2000 and April 2026, the average unemployment rate for those with just a high school diploma was 5.7%, higher than the 3.2% average for those with a bachelor’s degree, BLS data shows.
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It’s tough to draw conclusions from minute changes in noisy data, and the figures are still emblematic of a relatively healthy job market and in line with historical averages.
But the divergence in unemployment among blue- and white-collar workers is a trend economists are closely watching.
“I’d be a little bit careful about drawing too much from these small trends. Maybe it could be indicative of future changes,” said Bharat Chandar, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and one of the authors of the “Canaries in the Coal Mine?” report. “I think we need to wait and see.”
High stakes
To woo more technicians such as Cook and other skilled laborers, AT&T said it’s had to be competitive. For field technicians, it pays sign-on and retention bonuses of between $5,000 and $10,000, and entry-level wages can range between $18.18 and $31.45 per hour, depending on location and experience. The roles can also come with full benefits, including medical insurance, a 401(k) plan, tuition reimbursement, paid parental leave, adoption reimbursement, and up to 50% off AT&T mobile and internet plans, among other perks, according to online job descriptions.
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Combating the shortage of skilled tradespeople requires not only government involvement but also a societal shift around whether college is the right move for every worker, Stankey said.
“We probably ought not to just assume that sending everybody to a four-year degree is the right answer,” he said. “We should be more thoughtful about what that four-year degree needs to look like, or what that advanced learning needs to look like, and also ask, does all work require that?”
Kyson Cook, an AT&T premises technician, inspects a utility pole in Ohio. Cook helps install and connect fiber service for AT&T customers.
Mickey Todiwala | CNBC
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It’s understandable that many people chose offices over more hands-on work decades ago and why some companies struggle to recruit certain blue-collar workers. A long-held prestige and social standing come with a college education and a white-collar profession. Blue-collar work tends to be more physically demanding and often risky.
Workers such as Cook have to scale telephone poles 25 feet or higher off the ground, and though AT&T says its technicians are trained closely on safety, the type of work he does is still dangerous. Telecommunications line installers and repairers have a higher rate of fatal workplace injuries industrywide when compared with workers overall, according to BLS data.
In addition, they need to be able to lift and move up to 60 pounds, be available on holidays, work in small spaces and be prepared to tolerate rain, snow and extreme heat, according to online job descriptions.
During a recent shift, Cook said, he had to work in the rain and was so chilled he couldn’t get warm until he made it home and showered. He said that despite the physical toll his role can take, he’d still choose being a technician over an office job any day. If he’d stayed in college the first time around and pursued a white-collar career path, he said, he’d likely be in debt, wouldn’t own a home and would be making less money than he is now.
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Plus, there’s another perk that’s proving to be quite important these days: Cook said he’s not even remotely concerned about AI taking his job.
“I don’t think robots can be climbing poles anytime soon,” he said, laughing. “Computers can’t do what we do.”
— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Steve Liesman, Hugh Son and Charlotte Morabito
WA Labor stalwart Bill Johnston will helm the Freight and Logistics Council WA, taking the role from Megan McCracken after she spent four years in the job.
In all industries, companies are making efforts to adopt digital solutions, automate processes, migrate to the cloud, and operate with data. Consequently, software development companies are now considered strategic partners rather than mere service providers.
If you need any custom platform, enterprise solution, mobile application, or product modernization, then software development firms in the UK should be your go-to choice owing to their technical skills, compliance practices, and foreign experience.
However, finding the right software developer is about more than evaluating their portfolio and price tags. Knowing exactly what professional software developers can deliver may prove to be useful for forming expectations.
Strategic Guidance Before a Single Line of Code
In many cases, companies initiate software development processes having a certain technical solution in mind. Companies that have years of experience usually start by questioning assumptions and making sure that a certain technical solution fits their goals.
In case you are going to upgrade legacy systems, it would be very beneficial for you to discuss this project with experienced professionals. You can learn more about finding an appropriate company from the following link: https://luminarybrands.co.uk/blog/software-development-companies-uk/.
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Instead of rushing into the process of development, UK companies usually hold discovery sessions, meetings with stakeholders, and do a lot of technical analysis.
The Development Process: More Structured Than Many Clients Expect
Another widespread myth is that software development starts right away after signing the contract. However, reputable UK-based companies tend to use an appropriate delivery methodology that aims at minimizing risks and increasing transparency. The typical process could consist of the following stages:
Discovery and requirements definition
Solution architecture design
UX planning
Development iterations
Testing and quality assurance
Delivery and release management
Support and optimization
During the development process, the client will have sprint reviews, demos, and progress reports regularly provided. Contemporary IT teams operate within the scope of agile methodologies, which allows evolving requirements without affecting the whole project.
In other words, this way of working enables businesses to validate their assumptions quickly and adapt their priorities based on new market realities. Moreover, it eliminates the need to wait for several months until the end of the project when stakeholders will be able to see how things look.
For big enterprise solutions, the development team might involve a solution architect, business analyst, developers, QA engineers, DevOps specialists, and a project manager.
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Technical Expertise Across Modern Technology Stacks
The technology industry in the UK has built up a solid reputation in the realm of engineering. Several software companies are well-versed in multiple technologies, thereby enabling them to make recommendations in accordance with the needs of a specific project. Some examples of contemporary software partners include:
Area
Common Technologies
Frontend Development
React, Angular, Vue.js
Backend Development
.NET, Java, Node.js, Python
Mobile Development
Flutter, React Native, Swift, Kotlin
Cloud Infrastructure
AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud
Databases
PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, SQL Server
DevOps
Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform
In addition to development frameworks, several UK-based firms have added other competencies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud native technologies, cybersecurity, and data engineering.
Businesses must anticipate that their software development partner will translate any technology into business-related language. In essence, the most competent organizations should be able to connect architectural considerations to scalability, security, maintenance, and costs.
Communication Becomes a Competitive Advantage
The distinction between a good and bad outcome for an IT project is often defined by communication.
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In the UK’s leading companies, transparency is highly valued. Clients usually get access to project management systems, sprint updates, development environment access, and stakeholder meetings.
Think about a project as a voyage on the sea. Without frequent navigation adjustments, even the most high-tech vessel will go astray. Communication ensures that everyone involved understands what direction the vessel takes in terms of business and project objectives. You should be able to rely on:
Timelines and milestones
Points of contacts
Escalation plans
Risk management processes
Demonstrations of delivered products
All this provides stakeholders with the opportunity to take decisions based on the knowledge gained and eliminates surprises close to project completion.
UK IT companies can be very appealing to international clients because of their excellent English language skills and vast experience with distributed and international projects.
Security, Compliance, and Risk Management
A security vulnerability discovered after launch is often significantly more expensive to fix than one identified during development. Once an application is live, even minor weaknesses can lead to service disruptions, emergency development work, customer dissatisfaction, and regulatory scrutiny.
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For this reason, reputable UK software development firms invest considerable effort in security planning throughout the project lifecycle. They evaluate risks before development begins, monitor security during testing, and verify that protective measures remain effective during deployment.
This disciplined approach reduces the likelihood of costly remediation projects while helping businesses maintain compliance and protect valuable customer data. As cyber threats continue to evolve, early security investment has become a practical business decision rather than a purely technical concern.
Modernization Has Become a Business Priority
Current software development projects revolve around the concept of modernization because many large enterprises utilize old platforms plagued by accumulated technical debts. Although these technologies are effective, they often prevent innovation and raise maintenance expenses. In addition, it is not easy to integrate such platforms into modern processes.
Areas of Transformation
Depending on the business needs and available technologies, companies approach modernization differently. For example, some businesses migrate to the cloud. They opt for the decomposition of monolithic applications to enable flexible scaling and easier system updates. Programmers upgrade programming languages, enhance the user interface and develop APIs to establish data exchange between systems.
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Why Incremental Change Works Better
The misconception regarding modernization that persists even today is that old systems need to be wholly overhauled. However, practical experience from reputable software development companies in the United Kingdom indicates that it is rare for them to suggest such a complete overhaul. The reason is that most companies opt for implementing changes in phases.
Such an approach enables enterprises to modernize their critical systems without causing any disruption in their functioning. It gives organizations the time to test results, minimize risks, and make changes in their priorities. With businesses investing increasingly in cloud native applications, phased modernization emerges as an excellent option.
Life After Launch
One of the areas which are least considered during software development is the post-deployment stage.
The software cannot be considered an asset that will never change in the future because expectations of customers change, technology develops, and other business needs come up.
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UK-based software companies tend to provide a range of services after the software release, including:
Monitoring and maintenance
Performance tuning
Updating for security
Managing infrastructure
Adding features
Support
Sometimes cooperation does not end right after the software launch because many businesses consider the development company a consultant that participates in further decisions on the products and digitalization.
This approach allows companies to stay competitive without burdening their internal resources.
Evaluating Success Beyond Delivery Dates
Launching software on schedule is important, but delivery milestones tell only part of the story. The real measure of success emerges after implementation, when organizations begin to see tangible business outcomes.
Operational impact. Effective software should make everyday work easier. Teams may spend less time on manual tasks, complete processes faster, and gain better access to information needed for decision-making.
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Customer value. Successful projects often improve customer interactions through faster services, smoother user experiences, and more reliable digital products. These improvements can strengthen customer satisfaction and retention over time.
Business growth. Technology investments should support broader business objectives. Increased revenue opportunities, improved scalability, and lower maintenance costs are often stronger indicators of success than the number of features delivered.
The most effective software development firms keep these outcomes in focus throughout the project, ensuring that technical decisions contribute directly to measurable business value.
Final Thoughts
What UK software companies deliver besides programming services is strategic advice, technical direction, modernization, security know-how, and operational assistance.
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Any business entering into a software development relationship will find processes, transparency, governance, and emphasis on business results as key characteristics. Be it a creation of a brand new piece of software or modernization of existing assets – a competent software development partner may make a difference for your company.
When businesses treat software firms as partners who share their interests, rather than just contractors working on specific projects, more success is possible. It can be particularly important now that the global economy is becoming more and more digitized.
The Wansbeck Business Park firm has issued new accounts showing its performance
Inside the Raytec factory(Image: Raytec)
Industrial lighting maker Raytec says the outlook looks “extremely positive” amid an increase in turnover.
The Ashington-based manufacturer, which employs close to 100 people in the town, says there is increasing global demand of its low-energy and low-maintenance LED lighting systems. New accounts for the Japanese-owned business, which specialises in lighting for hazardous areas, lighting for video surveillance, lighting for the transport sector and heavy industrial lighting, show sales grew 8.3% to £18.7m, from £17.3m in 2025.
Operating profits fell slightly from £2.8m to £2.6m as pre-tax profits grew from £3.05m to £3.2m. Ordinary dividends of £1.89m were paid during the year.
Raytec describes itself as a world leader in LED lighting for security and safety, with a focus on smart and connected lighting products fed by ongoing research and development efforts. It supplies products to international markets through a network of distributors, a US subsidiary and directly to other manufacturers with exports accounting for about 67% of sales.
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Its main markets are Europe (52%), the Middle East (6%), America (19%) Oceania (11%) and the Far East (12%). The firm said it had grown its product portfolio during 2025 through investment, which is expected to benefit 2026 sales.
In November last year, it was announced Raytec had acquired Finnish portable lighting specialist Atexor. The Espoo-based business brought 21 staff to Raytec’s operation and strengthened its position, with Raytec bosses saying at the time that the move brought enhanced research and development capabilities and a wider support network.
Atexor, which was founded in the early 1980s, provides products used across the oil and gas, petrochemical and manufacturing sectors. It continues to operate as an independent company and brand following the acquisition.
Writing in the 2025 Raytec Limited accounts, managing director David Lambert said: “The company’s sales increased by 8.3% year-on-year and the long-term business outlook remaining extremely positive, with increasing global demand for high performance, low energy, low maintenance LED illuminators across the specialist niche markets in which the business operates.
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“Year-on-year, sales have increased to £18.7m (2024: £17.3m) generating profit before tax of £3.2m (2024: £3m). The company has continued to strengthen its product portfolio through 2025 through investment in research and development and expects new products to contribute significantly to sales in 2026.”
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US and Iran digitally signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at France’s Palace of Versailles, a venue that has witnessed some of the most important diplomatic moments in modern history. The agreement aims to end hostilities between Washington and Tehran and sets a 60-day timeline for negotiations on a broader settlement.
The Versailles agreement includes commitments related to ending military operations, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, addressing Iran’s nuclear programme and beginning a process for sanctions relief and economic cooperation. The MoU also states that Iran will not pursue nuclear weapons.
The choice of Versailles as the venue has drawn attention because the palace is closely linked with another landmark agreement signed more than a century ago, the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended World War I and later became one of the most debated peace settlements in history.
Why Versailles matters in world history
Located near Paris, the Palace of Versailles was once the centre of French royal power before becoming a symbol of diplomacy and international negotiations.
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The palace has hosted several agreements that changed the course of global politics. But none is more famous than the Treaty of Versailles signed on June 28, 1919, between Germany and the Allied powers after the end of World War I.
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The treaty officially ended the war but imposed strict conditions on Germany, including territorial losses, military restrictions and financial reparations. It also created the League of Nations, an early attempt to build a system to prevent future conflicts.
The Treaty of Versailles and the road to World War II
While the treaty was designed to prevent another major war, many historians argue that its harsh terms contributed to economic and political instability in Germany.The resentment created by the settlement was later exploited by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, helping fuel the rise of extreme nationalism. These developments eventually contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Because of this historical legacy, Versailles remains both a symbol of peace negotiations and a reminder of how post-war settlements can influence global politics for generations.
Other major agreements linked to Versailles
The palace has been associated with several other important treaties over the centuries. The Treaty of Versailles of 1757 strengthened the alliance between France and Austria during the Seven Years’ War, reshaping European power politics.
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The Treaties of Versailles of 1783 formed part of the settlement after the American Revolutionary War and helped adjust the balance between European powers.
Another agreement signed at Versailles in 1871 followed the Franco-Prussian War and marked a major shift in European power after the emergence of the German Empire.
Iran US Deal
The memorandum of understanding signed by US and Iran is being viewed as an attempt to bring an end to a costly confrontation and restore stability in a region that has faced months of tensions. However, analysts caution that the agreement remains vulnerable, with several major issues still unresolved and the possibility of fresh clashes threatening the progress made so far.
The deal, reportedly facilitated partly through Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts, focuses on immediate confidence-building measures. Under the framework, Iran would allow commercial movement through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy routes, while the United States would begin steps to withdraw naval pressure and ease restrictions.
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What the Iran-US agreement includes
The proposed arrangement includes a phased easing of sanctions, the possible return of Iranian oil exports to international markets, and the release of some frozen Iranian financial assets. It also outlines a withdrawal of US forces operating around Iran within a specified period.
In return, Iran has committed to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for commercial shipping for an initial period and has reiterated that it will not develop or acquire nuclear weapons. However, questions remain over long-term nuclear monitoring, enforcement mechanisms and how both sides will respond if either party believes the commitments are not being followed.
The agreement’s broad promise of removing sanctions has attracted attention because it appears to offer Tehran significant economic relief. Some analysts believe Washington’s willingness to make concessions reflects its desire to reduce its involvement in a prolonged regional conflict.
Strait of Hormuz holds the key
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has immediate global implications. The narrow waterway between Iran and Oman is a critical route for global oil and gas shipments, with a large share of the world’s energy supplies passing through it.
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Any disruption in the region has the potential to affect fuel prices, shipping costs and inflation worldwide. The return of commercial vessels through the route has been seen as an early sign that markets may begin stabilising, though traders remain cautious.
The 60-day test
The biggest challenge for the agreement will be the next 60 days, during which Washington and Tehran are expected to negotiate a broader settlement.
Key questions remain unanswered, including how nuclear commitments will be verified, what guarantees will prevent a return to conflict and whether both sides can maintain political support for the deal at home.
Analysts describe the MoU as a starting point rather than a final peace agreement, with its success depending on whether both countries can convert the temporary measures into a lasting arrangement.
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Israel’s role remains a major factor
A major uncertainty surrounding the agreement is Israel’s position. While the US and Iran have signed the framework, Israel has not joined the deal and has expressed concerns about Iran’s regional activities.
The agreement calls for an end to military operations across multiple fronts, including Lebanon. But continued Israeli actions against Iran-backed groups could create new tensions and risk triggering responses from Tehran or its allies.
The future of the deal may therefore depend not only on Washington and Tehran but also on whether other regional players accept the framework and avoid steps that could reopen hostilities.
A fragile path towards peace
The agreement has created an opening for diplomacy, but several risks remain. Military incidents, disagreements over sanctions, disputes around nuclear commitments or attacks involving regional allies could quickly derail the process.
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The coming negotiations will determine whether the Versailles agreement becomes a historic turning point or another temporary pause in a long-running geopolitical conflict.
A historic venue for a modern geopolitical moment
The Iran-US agreement has now added another chapter to Versailles’ long diplomatic history. Supporters see it as a possible turning point between two long-time rivals, while critics have questioned whether the commitments will translate into a lasting settlement.
More than a century after the 1919 treaty, Versailles once again finds itself at the centre of a global diplomatic moment — carrying both the promise of peace and the lessons of history.
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