Month: October 2023

Providing dedicated tech talent and instant solutions to businesses
As a global provider of remote, dedicated development teams and R&D centres to clients across various industries, Mobilunity bridges the gap between ideas and making concepts happen.
CEO, Cyril Samovskiy shares his Secrets of Success with Business Matters.
What service does Mobilunity provide and how does it work?
We offer a nearshoring service that provides dedicated development teams to clients across various industries and technology stacks, including Insurtech, Fintech, IoT, Embedded software, and more. With access to a talent pool of over 200,000 Ukrainian software engineers –  not counting our capacities in other Eastern European countries – each team member we provide is exclusively dedicated to our clients’ projects and has no other commitments to other projects, ensuring full focus. Our clients benefit from outstanding development capabilities, team size and structure flexibility, lower costs, and complete control over their development teams.
What problems does your company solve?
We address a critical challenge that businesses face regarding their tech talent needs, both in the long-term and short-term, whether in a specific technological stack or a specialised business domain. The core problem we solve for our clients revolves around their inability, and at times, their intentional choice not to solve these challenges internally.
The root of this challenge often stems from limitations within the local labour market. These constraints could manifest as extended recruitment agency timelines to find and place the right candidate or the necessity of engaging particular talents for a very brief duration.
To tackle this, our solutions are designed to be adaptable. We provide options for establishing technology teams in nearshore locations or within the UK, working collaboratively as part of a client’s in-house team, or maintaining an outsourced relationship with us as the vendor. This flexibility ensures that our clients can tailor our services precisely to their unique needs, whether they require long-term support or short-term specialised expertise.
What type of businesses do you work with?
Fortunately, we have a very diverse list of clients – from early stage startups that have just a few co-founders on board, to well-established corporations operating globally, with a 10,000+ headcount. However, we find it is the startups that have some form of advanced technology supporting their business concept  that align most closely with  our own mindset. Typically such clients are fast decision makers, they aim to leverage the most contemporary technology, and they have a big idea behind their plans. Our capacity to empower such businesses and show an immediate impact stands slightly above other types of client organisations.
What is your USP?
We work in a very competitive industry, so standing out requires clear differentiation. With our primary focus being on remote technology team services, we like referring to the ‘3Rs’ of successful remote team setup: Recruiting, Retention and Relationships. These three priorities, or USPs, guide our operations and streamline our proposals, ensuring our proposal is short, sharp, clear and well differentiated.
What are your company values? Have you ever had them challenged and if so, how have you dealt with it?
As we have grown and developed, our values have evolved. We tend not to focus on our past achievements because both the business environment and our clients are evolving rapidly. Therefore, we must also evolve to meet these changing demands.
After Covid, we continued growing fast, introducing new and more diverse business models into our offering. Right  now we work to the following company values. These define what we are, what you may expect from us, and what we will be once and if you work with us:

Transparency. Having 40+ clients from 10+ countries, we basically operate with a set of 40+ processes. We pride ourselves in the ability to effectively manage that, and without transparency being a first requirement to how we operate (with the client, with our tech teams, with our employees and partners) we would not be capable of being where we are now. As such, transparency lies in every significant process we have in place.
Growth. Related to both our clients, and to our own staff, we basically exist to make everything that we touch grow. This defines the types of clients that mostly come to us – the main driving factor they have in mind is their intent to grow (whether that’s to grow fast, grow stable, or grow to where the company would not have been without us).
Flexibility. While this was always a focus for us, recent years in business have highlighted the importance of flexibility. Financial crises, growth and drop in demand, new regulations in the digital world, pandemia with its “all remote” setups, and war in Ukraine – these all prove this value is a fundamental essence for our business and our models to be sustainable and have a future.

How do you ensure that you recruit a team that reflects your company values?
Given that recruiting is one of our core offerings, we naturally place a special emphasis on how we recruit for our own company. Our 13 years of experience have taught us valuable lessons, and we’ve identified rules and practices that have proven effective during this time. They are:

A big chunk of our best people grew up in our company, from the very entry level roles to the highest existent positions where they are now.
A mix of “self-grown” and “external” key people ensures our Company grows in a way we expect.
In the long run, soft skills take precedence over hard skills. While hard skills alone may suffice for short-term engagements, it’s the soft skills that enable individuals to manage and leverage those hard skills effectively over time.

While you may not see our values in these three basic tips, if we overlay our business values onto these guidelines, they align more harmoniously. As we continue to grow, we must balance our immediate need for top-notch professionals and our strategic goal of cultivating a talent pool for the future. Our company-wide recruiting strategy essentially outlines how we intend to achieve this alignment and ensure the successful ‘3+3’ match between skills and values.
Are you happy to offer a hybrid working model of home / office post covid?
A big part of our service offering is  tech talent from all over the world remotely. Thus, we would not be honest with ourselves and our clients if we were not big fans of this model. Only 10% of our own staff show up to the office on a periodical basis. We do not demand it, for most roles, and we do not expect it, anymore. Instead, we learned how to remain effective; we traded some of the meetings to asynchronous channels of communication; and we invested heavily into the skill of proper goal setting, performance management and professional development. Why on Earth would we confine ourselves to the traditional office-only model when we’ve gained a competitive edge in the labour market? We possess skills that are in high demand, and we offer these skills as a service to our many clients who are eager to gain a similar advantage.
Any finance or cash-flow tips for new businesses starting out?
I won’t be too unique in these – a successful business starts with sufficient funding, a plan to generate revenue and hope that things will go more or less as they were planned. I myself dislike the idea of bringing in someone else’s money into something you yourself can build and/or fund, though I know many businesses (our clients inclusive) who were capable of building something great and huge purely because they were smart enough to attract the right external investment. I’ve also witnessed instances where entrepreneurs, in their pursuit of rapid growth and the necessary funding to achieve it, ended up losing sight of their original dream company and their personal motivation to work within it.
That said, my advice would be to carefully weigh up the necessity of external investments when starting your business. While external funding can make some aspects easier, it often comes with its own set of challenges that you might not have encountered if you were self-funding your startup.
If you could ask one thing of the government to change for businesses, what would it be?
If I could request one change from the government to benefit businesses, it would be to facilitate the seamless integration of global talent into local businesses. I understand that not every business needs this, but I’m specifically referring to those enterprises designed to grow on a global scale and compete with international players. The current limitations on working with a global talent pool put local businesses, especially startups, at a significant disadvantage. As long as a candidate’s location remains a major factor in shaping HR strategies for businesses, this constraint will continue to hinder the potential for innovation, efficiency, and the globalisation of these companies.
It’s important to note though that there are other aspects to these constraints, and while I acknowledge one here, I recognise that there may be additional dimensions to consider.
What’s your attitude towards your competitors?
We respect and learn from each other, I know for a fact they look at us and do the same. I am good friends with slightly smaller and slightly bigger companies in our domain, and we meet 2-3 times a year to exchange  news and observations, while understanding the information we share might empower our counterpart.
There are 3-5 quite big players and there are 2-3 very dynamically growing companies that permanently stay on our radar. I would not be able to name any that I think beats us in our niche markets, but of course every company has their own strengths and weaknesses, and knowing them helps us become a better vendor to our clients, and win the battles for the client on the presale stage.
Do you have any tips for managing suppliers or customers effectively?
As a service provider, we could write a book on what to do and what not to do with suppliers. In our industry specifically, we recommend following a few principles that make the supplier choice easier and more streamlined:

Size does matter. Your vendor’s size should be a match to your project size or else too many risks arise.
Transparency ensures delivery. The more your supplier and vendor knows in terms of what you expect, how you need it, and why – the higher the chances of you getting what you’re seeking. You do not want your vendor to be guessing what’s on your mind.
While building relationships requires resources, if you aim to establish enduring partnerships with your vendors, there’s no alternative but to invest in building and nurturing these relationships.

In terms of our customers, things are simpler, as our business grows when they grow. Not a tip, rather a fact. Meaning that we are so lucky to be in a business whereby we do not need to choose whose side to play.
Any thoughts on the future of your company and your dreams?
During our 13 year business journey, we’ve encountered various shifts in direction and have contemplated where our path may lead in the future. This experience reinforces our belief in maintaining our core competencies- HR and technology – as the foundation for our future endeavours as a company.
I am confident we will be able to open the world of remote talent to more and more global and local businesses, offering wider and deeper expertise within the fields of tech teams foundation, management and performance.
My dreams for the business’ future are closely linked to global economic growth and prosperity. I firmly believe that as technology takes on more fundamental tasks trusted by humanity, the role of technology should be to assist humans rather than exert undue control. This shift will create a growing demand for the services we provide to our clients, as we genuinely believe our offerings contribute to making the world a better place.
Read more:
Secrets of Success: Cyril Samovskiy, CEO of Mobilunity

Senior Tories are considering an “aspirational” pledge to slash stamp duty in an attempt to turn around the Conservative Party’s political fortunes.
Sir Keir Starmer positioned himself as the heir to Tony Blair after Labour won the previously safe Tory seats of Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth with swings of more than 20 percentage points in what the party hailed as a “political earthquake”. Repeating the swing in a general election would lead to a 1997-style landslide for Starmer.
While Rishi Sunak and his chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, are resisting calls to cut taxes in the autumn statement, senior Tories are weighing up a major offer on tax for the general election manifesto next year, providing the economy has recovered sufficiently.
It is understood that the Tories are discussing whether to go ahead with one of two major pledges for the manifesto next year: cutting stamp duty or abolishing inheritance tax.
One senior Tory said reducing stamp duty would be “aspirational” and boost the economy by making it cheaper to move, while appealing to middle-aged voters who had deserted the party.
Polling from YouGov for The Times showed that although the Tories are supported by 45 per cent of voters over the age of 65 this drops to 30 per cent of those between 50 and 64. Only 12 per cent of 25 to 49-year-olds say they will vote Conservative at the next election.
Figures released by the government in January revealed that residential stamp duty payments raised about £10.1 billion for the Treasury in 2021-22. However, this is understood to have fallen significantly in recent months, whereas revenues from inheritance tax have increased to about £6 billion.
One Tory source said: “Cutting stamp duty would cost a lot of money but it is not a good tax because it disincentives people from moving, which is not good for the economy.”
Others have cautioned that any cut could be negated by sellers putting up prices.
Stamp duty discussions are focused on increasing thresholds. At present people begin paying stamp duty at 5 per cent of the value of a property over £250,000, with the rate increasing to 10 per cent beyond £925,000 and as much as 12 per cent for houses valued at more than £1.5 million. Help for first-time buyers is also being considered.
Sunak is under mounting pressure from Tory MPs to act following yesterday’s by-election defeats.
In Mid Bedfordshire, Alistair Strathern overturned a bigger majority than any other Labour candidate since 1945. He won by just over 1,000 votes after a three-way race between Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Tories.
In Tamworth, Sarah Edwards overturned a 19,000 majority. Labour will hope the result is an echo of history — the party won the constituency from the Tories in a by-election in 1996, before sweeping to power at the general election the following year.
Sunak said yesterday that “mid-term elections are always difficult for incumbent governments”.
He added that he had set out “long-term decisions that will change our country for the better”, citing his scrapping of the northern leg of HS2, a phased smoking ban and reform of A-levels. “That is the change that we’re going to bring,” he said.
Starmer said: “Winning in these Tory strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it.”
Read more:
Tories plan stamp duty cut to win over voters

The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committees has criticised the government’s response to their digital exclusion report as the government highlighted they would not be creating a new strategy to address digital exclusion within the UK.
The response to the Committees recommendations has been described as lacking ambition and failing to engage with the concerns raised by the Committee’s inquiry and subsequent report. A UK Government digital inclusion strategy was last created in 2014, but the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has indicated limited appetite for a new strategy.
Broadly, the government has expressed that the principles from the latest strategy are still correct, that they are not keen on setting up a dedicated digital inclusion unit within Government and are not supportive of VAT removal on social tariffs or the removal of VAT on wholesale broadband.
Additionally, the government indicated that it did not plan to give Ofcom powers to ensure social tariffs are appropriately promoted, embedding digital skills targets across education life stages and expanding internet voucher schemes to more people in need.
There has been a commitment to setting up a cross-ministerial committee, involving all the major government departments that are looking at digital inclusion while a review into what government departments, particularly DSIT, can do in terms of device donations has been agreed.
Elizabeth Anderson, Interim CEO of Digital Poverty Alliance, said: “When we look at statistics that highlight 13 – 19 million people over the age of 16 are experiencing some form of digital poverty, while it is estimated that 20 per cent of children are in digital poverty, it is disappointing to see that there will be no new strategy to address this growingly urgent issue as more essential services – from homework to welfare services – move online only.
“It is positive to see the creation of a cross-ministerial committee and we will be very keen to engage with them to address digital inclusion, and we support activity to review what more government departments can do in terms of device donation.”
“However, we believe more must be done to demonstrate that digital inclusion is a government priority. Millions of people are still experiencing digital poverty, and the consequences of not being online are becoming more pronounced.  Government needs to adopt a long term and strategic approach to ensure that the millions of people offline do not get left behind – with new ideas and innovation. We particularly welcome the cross-departmental group to address the issue and will be keen too engage with government going forward. It is essential that government, businesses and the third sector work together to ensure we can meet our goal of eradicating digital poverty by 2030.”
Baroness Stowell, Chair of the Communications and Digital Committee said: “Digital exclusion is not a problem that will solve itself.  It is an ongoing challenge and we need clear direction from the Government about how they will prioritise making sure people are not excluded or left behind when it comes to enjoying the benefits of being online.
“Our report set out a series of key areas where the government could take the lead in tackling the digital divide, including in developing digital skills and confidence among those with the lowest level of digital capability.
“In their response the government have reasserted that digital exclusion is a priority, but their actions do not live up to the words. It is simply not credible to claim it is a priority when the key strategy for helping people keep pace in such a fast-moving area is over a decade old.  It is disappointing that the Government’s response has not taken up the Committee’s positive challenge and signalled the ambition needed to close the digital divide for the UK to thrive as a tech superpower.”
Read more:
House of Lords criticise Government response to digital exclusion report

Shoppers cut back on spending on clothes and other non-essential items last month as cost of living pressures and high energy prices began to bite on households.
Retail sales volumes fell by 0.9 per cent last month, exceeding economist expectations of a fall of 0.3 per cent, and wiping out the 0.4 per cent rise recorded in August.
The Office for National Statistics said the decline was the result of “continuing cost of living pressures, alongside the unseasonably warm weather reducing sales of autumn-wear clothing”.
Retail spending has held up well in recent months as the warm weather has encouraged greater spending and brought customers on to the high street but a key measure of household confidence unexpectedly fell this month, according to a survey by GfK, which reported an eight-point drop in sentiment in October to its weakest level since July.
Households have also said they will cut back on spending on food and gifts this Christmas as they battle with rising costs such as higher taxes, energy prices and mortgage costs.
Monthly spending in non-food shops declined by 1.7 per cent last month and online shopping by 2.2 per cent. Food sales was the only big spending category where spending volumes increased, by 0.2 per cent.
The September figures mean that overall retail sales contracted by 0.8 per cent in the third quarter of the year, compared with the same period last year. The data sends a worrying signal about the health of the economy, where growth has been kept in barely positive territory over the past three months. Latest figures for August showed that the economy expanded marginally by 0.2 per cent after a 0.4 per cent contraction in July.
Alex Kerr, at Capital Economics, said the figures suggested that the retail sector may have slipped back into recession after a brief recovery earlier this year. “The broad-based nature of these falls suggests that the lingering cost of living issues and the intensifying drag on activity from higher interest rates are at play,” Kerr said. “This doesn’t bode well for retail sales growth in the run-up to Christmas.”
Aled Patchett, head of retail and consumer goods at Lloyds Bank, said retailers would hope that continuing declines in inflation and sales during the festive period will entice consumers back to the shops by the end of the year.
Read more:
Shoppers are cutting back on spending as cost of living bites

A “fire sale” of land bought for HS2 north of Birmingham is set to cost the taxpayer more than £100 million, analysis has revealed.
The government is poised to sell off land within weeks to prevent future administrations from reversing the decision to cancel swathes of the scheme.
HS2 Ltd, the government-owned company set up to build the project, had bought 2,900 acres of land between Birmingham and Crewe at a cost of £205 million.
Most is agricultural and was bought at a premium under compulsory purchase. It will be sold at market rate or even discounted.
According to Savills’ rural land values index, the average agricultural land value in the West Midlands is £9,000 per acre, meaning the land is expected to sell for only £26 million. HS2 has also bought 184 buildings on phase 2a, between Birmingham and Crewe, which will probably be sold. However, analysis by the High-Speed Rail Group (HSRG), the trade body, found that, optimistically, this would realise only a further £75 million, taking the expected income from land and property sales to about £100 million.
It represents a £100 million loss, which will be absorbed by the taxpayer if the government presses ahead with plans to sell the land, as set out in the “Network North” proposals announced at the Tory party conference this month.
HSRG and other campaigners are urging ministers to pause any sale of land until after consultation.
A spokesman for the group said: “At a time of extremely difficult public finances, the country surely cannot contemplate accepting a £100 million loss of taxpayers’ money like this. Land sales simply should not proceed until there has been a full analysis and a full consultation with stakeholders.
“Smart countries keep their options open for the future. Whilst the government say they cannot fund HS2 north of Birmingham today, we need to protect the option to build it in future when public finances allow.”
A critical report by the National Infrastructure Commission, published on Wednesday, said it was a “mistake” to sell off what had already been bought and that the government should keep its options open. Sir John Armitt, its chairman, called for caution to avoid a “kneejerk, snap reaction”.
“I think that the land should be kept for at least two or three years to give the opportunity for people to revisit that and look at what can be done within that space and find a more cost-effective solution, not write it off today,” he said.
Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said: “As chancellor, Rishi Sunak personally oversaw the soaring costs of HS2, and did nothing. Then he wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on a line he has now scrapped.
“Now millions more will be wasted in this fire sale of the land which so many people had to give up their homes and businesses for. This is a government with no direction, no plan and no regard for taxpayers’ money.”
Read more:
Taxpayers could lose £100m as HS2 land no longer needed is sold off

Elon Musk has said his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, will launch two new tiers of premium subscriptions.
“One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads, and the other is more expensive, but has no ads,” the billionaire said in a post on X.
It comes as the firm started charging new users $1 in New Zealand and the Philippines for accessing the platform.
Mr Musk did not provide more details on the plans.
New users who opt out of subscribing will only be able to take “read only” actions, such as reading posts, watching videos, and following accounts, the company said in its website.
It is not clear if there will be any free options.
Mr Musk has long said that his solution for getting rid of bots and fake accounts on the social media platform is charging for the service.
Since taking over the firm in October last year he has looked to incentivise users to pay for an enhanced service, which is now called X Premium. Some users now opt to pay $8 per month for the blue check subscription service.
Its “Not A Bot” subscription method aims to reduce spam, manipulation of the platform and bot activity.
He has also tried to woo advertisers back to X with offers of discounts.
Mr Musk’s rapid changes, including mass layoffs and disbanding content moderation teams, has led to advertisers halting ads on the service.
He acknowledged that the platform has taken a hit on revenue and blamed activists for pressuring advertisers.
Wider issue
Other big tech companies have also experimented with a mix of ad-supported and subscription plans.
While Alphabet’s YouTube has both paid and free, ad-supported ones, Netflix’s ad-supported plans are also chargeable, though at a lower price.
YouTube, which like X is populated by content from users, shares a part of its subscription revenue with creators.
X, which also shares some of its ad revenue with content creators, did not disclose if content creators will be paid in ad-free subscription models.
Despite Mr Musk’s attempts to generate revenue on X, as the company faced criticism over lax content moderation, advertisers have not come flooding back over concerns their ads might appear next to inappropriate content.
Last week, the European Commission launched an investigation into X to see whether it complies with new tech rules on illegal and harmful content following the spread of disinformation on its platform after Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Read more:
Musk confirms X is set to have two new premium tiers

Many English winemakers say they are expecting to harvest their biggest ever crop over the next few weeks as a combination of favourable weather conditions and expansion boosts production.
Gusbourne, the Kent-based producer and one of the first major wineries to complete its harvest, said it had gathered its largest ever crop, up 25% on last year as the warm growing season last year meant vines emerged from winter in a healthy condition and then enjoyed favourable weather during the flowering period between April and June this year, producing “an abundance of fruit”.
The big brands Nyetimber, Chapel Down and Ridgeview have all said they are expecting their largest ever crop as a result of the weather and investing in additional acreage.
Most production goes to sparkling wines, which will not be available for at least two years, but still wines made this year could be on shelves in the spring.
Ned Awty, the interim chief executive of the trade body WineGB, the national association for the wine industry in England and Wales, said: “This year is shaping up to be a high volume and high-quality harvest. We’ve had reports about impressive bunch size and weight and ripe fruit from all across the country.”
Andrew Carter, the chief executive of Chapel Down, which is two-thirds of the way through its harvest, said he was expecting its output to be “materially larger” than last year’s, and the brand’s previous record, set in 2018.
The group, based near Tenterden in Kent, has added 200 additional acres to take it to 750 under production. Carter said the weather had also been a factor in producing high-quality grapes.
“The weather this year has been truly exceptional,” he said. Carter said the wet July and August had helped vines stay healthy and had not led to problems with disease because the weather had remained cool, and then the warm, sunny September had helped to ripen grapes. “The balance of sugars and concentration of flavours in the grapes is a joy to behold,” he said.
Britain’s winemaking industry is concentrated in Kent, but vineyards in Essex, Hampshire and Sussex also supply independent retailers and UK supermarkets. British wine is sold overseas and the industry has estimated that exports could be worth as much as £350m by 2040.
Winemakers have been expanding – more than doubling in the past decade – as financial investors bet on a market that has been helped by the changing climate and production becoming more professional.
There are now 943 vineyards across Great Britain, according to WineGB. The industry produced 12.2m bottles in 2022, a big step up on the 5.3m bottles in 2017 as investors have piled into the growing market.
Production is expected to reach 25m bottles by 2032, with 7,600 hectares (18,800 acres) of vines planted – almost double the 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) under production at present.
Read more:
English winemakers set to record record crop after ‘exceptional’ conditions

Major online firms including Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvisor have united to fight fake reviews.
The group, which also includes workplace review site Glassdoor and review platform Trustpilot, will share information on deterring fraudsters.
It follows concern that chatbot-like AI systems are being used to write bogus online reviews for profit.
Fake reviews can damage a company’s reputation and lead consumers to buy poor-value products and services.
A recent government report found that bogus reviews of products alone could cost UK consumers around £312m each year.
Up to 15% of all reviews on e-commerce platforms in three common product categories – including consumer electronics, home and kitchen, and sports and outdoors – were probably fake, it said.
The government plans to use the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill currently going through parliament to combat buying, selling or hosting fake reviews.
In the US the Federal Trade Commission is proposing similar action.
It comes as the increasing power of AI raises the prospect of an arms race between the fake review fraudsters and retailers.
Some members of the new group, which calls itself the Coalition for Trusted Reviews, are already using AI to help detect fake reviews, but AI could also make it cheaper, and quicker to write large numbers of convincing bogus reviews.
The cross-sector group will fight the fraudsters by:

agreeing industry-wide standards on what constitutes a fake review
sharing best practice on hosting and moderating online reviews
sharing intelligence on companies selling fake reviews and businesses trying to use them to improve their reputations.

Announcing the new group, Amazon vice president Dharmesh Mehta said the fraudsters were a global problem affecting many industries.
“Through greater collaboration and sharing across industries, including information on fraudsters’ tactics and how they operate, we can more effectively shut down fraudulent review activity, deter other bad actors from attempting to game our systems, and protect more consumers,” he said.
Travel booking site Tripadvisor identified 1.3 million fake reviews on its platform in 2022.
Becky Foley, a vice president for the platform, said fake review writers “often operate outside of jurisdictions with a legal framework to shut down fraudulent activity, making robust cooperation even more important”.
Read more:
Amazon, Glassdoor and Trustpilot unite to fight fake reviews

Amazon is trialling humanoid robots in its US warehouses, in the latest sign of the tech giant automating more of its operations.
Amazon said the move was about “freeing employees up to better deliver for our customers”.
It said it was testing a new robot called Digit, which has arms and legs and can move, grasp and handle items in a similar fashion to a human.
A union said Amazon had “been treating their workers like robots for years”.
“Amazon’s automation is [a] head-first race to job losses. We’ve already seen hundreds of jobs disappear to it in fulfilment centres,” said Stuart Richards, an organiser at UK trade union GMB.
As the announcement was made, Amazon said its robotics systems had in fact helped create “hundred of thousands of new jobs” within its operations.
“This includes 700 categories of new job types, in skilled roles, which didn’t exist within the company beforehand,” the firm said.
According to the tech giant, it now has more than 750,000 robots working “collaboratively” with its human staff, often being used to take on “highly repetitive tasks”.
Amazon Robotics’ chief technologist, Tye Brady, told reporters at a media briefing in Seattle that people were “irreplaceable”, and disputed the suggestion that the company could have fully-automated warehouses in the future.
“There’s not any part of me that thinks that would ever be a reality,” he said.
“People are so central to the fulfilment process; the ability to think at a higher level, the ability to diagnose problems.”
Legs not wheels
Rather than using wheels to move, Digit walks on two legs. It also has arms that can pick up and move packages, containers, customer orders and objects.
Scott Dresser of Amazon Robotics told media this allowed it to “deal with steps and stairs or places in our facility where we need to move up and down”.
But he said the robot was a prototype and the trial was about seeing whether it could work safely with human employees.
“It’s an experiment that we’re running to learn a little bit more about how we can use mobile robots and manipulators in our environment here at Amazon,” he said.
Mr Dresser suggested that the fears over human jobs being replaced didn’t match what had happened at Amazon.
“Our experience has been these new technologies actually create jobs, they allow us to grow and expand. And we’ve seen multiple examples of this through the robots that we have today.
“They don’t always run unfortunately and we need people to repair them,” he said.
Amazon has ramped up its use of robots in recent years, as pressure has grown to cut costs.
Last year it announced it was trialling a giant robotic arm that can pick up items. It already uses wheeled robots to move goods around its warehouses, and it has started using drones for delivery in two US states.
Read more:
Amazon to launch humanoid robots to ‘free up’ staff