London The Connected City

London, a vast city filled with enterprise. Canary Wharf is filled with budding businessmen/women and thousands of pounds exchange hands every day. Not allof it done 'in the real world'. Now more and more sales are taking place online. At Advansys, we specialise in providing you with the ideal eCommerce solution for your business.

Cities exist in order to allow people to have convenient and swift access to goods, people and services. For many living in a city is a positive and beneficial experience. Many people thrive in an environment when they are connected to others and no city is as connected as our capital, London.

The Connected City

London is a connected city in all aspects of the word. It's connected through transport, with its many train stations London is connected to the rest of Britain, it even has a train line connecting it to the world's second most connected city; Paris.

London is also connected to the world through culture, being the most diverse city in the UK.

Business In London

It should come as no surprise that a large number of people in London are connected to the internet. Only 8% of thepopulation of London do not have broadband. Online business is crucial to today's market. In fact, two years ago in 2014, over £1000 was spent per person over the year.

With over 50% of internet searches being mobile and around a third of those being local based searches it is more important than ever to get online. The internet is becoming more and more connected to the internet and this is seen in the capital of London, the most connected city in the world.

Transport Hub

Between 2014-2015 , there were 99.2 million entries and exits from London Waterloo. Almost all of the top 10 busiest stations in the UK are in London. The only exception is Birmingham New Street, which ranks 8^th.

London has a total of five major airports. London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London City, London Luton and London Stansted. With Heathrow being the busiest airport in Europe by passenger traffic and the sixth busiest airport in the world, it's no wonder that London is so connected to the world.

Perhaps one of the key features of London is its transport, specifically the London Underground, or the tube as it's known to the locals. Divided into 9 travel zones, zone 1 being central London and the other zones being progressively further away from the city. There is even a 'smart' way to pay, via the oyster card system. By looking at the London transport system, it really is becoming more and more apparent, that we are transitioning into a city wide internet of things.

The Internet Of Things

Perhaps one of the most interesting theories regarding the internet and networks is the internet of things. In short this theory suggests that eventually one day, everything will be connected to the internet.

One of the more comical examples of the usefulness of the internet of things idea is the April Fools joke, ' Razer toaster'. Razer is a company that produces various video gaming items. From keyboards to computer mice to headsets, this company provides thousands of people worldwide with the products they rely on to fuel their hobby. The newer range of Razer products come with a feature linking them together called 'synapse'. This allows Razer devices to 'talk' to each other, usually with colour and profiles depending on what game the user is playing.

With regards to the toaster, this would be used to remember how you like your toast, and let you have different coloured butter to your toast. Now having a toaster that's connected to the internet doesn't sound so outlandish. It gets better. Imagine linking everything to the internet, you put a nice stew in the oven, the timer bleeps to say it's done. Well with an oven connected to the internet, you could get a message on your computer alerting you that your food is cooked, which would be great for families with family members scattered around the house. No longer would you need a long chain of people telling each other “dinner's ready" a simple bleep and everyone is downstairs read for dinner.

It doesn't just stop at convenience. Moving forward in the future, the internet of things can help increase security. With everything connected to theinternet everything can take advantage of digital locks, which are far more secure than physical locks. For those who want to understand digital locks, CGP Grey has this explanation. Digital locks are unbreakable; they protect data and allow for secure online transactions of sensitive information. With regards to security here at Advansys we are PCI DSS Level 1 Compliant, the highest level of modern online security.

Looking To The Future

As London is a connected city, the next step is simple; a smart city. However this is quite controversial, after all the thought of an entire city being hacked is terrifying. Although, with protection from unbreakable digital locks, perhaps these fears are less warranted.

Samsung said in 2015, they wanted their entire product range IOT compatible by 2020. We're already half way through 2016 so it's not that long until their target. One can only dream of what an IOT house would be like, so imagine and entire city connected to the cloud.

London would not merely be connected by transport, culture and commerce, but also the internet. With Amazon's plan to launch adrone delivery service, and the interesting plans by Google for self driving cars, it may not be long until a computer drives people on the ground and another computer delivers their mail in the air. All whilst communicating with each other. So with traffic systems in London, your car, your home heating. Having all of these products work in synchronisation would be such a large convenience and improve quality of life for many people. If there's a traffic jam on your way home from work, the heating doesn't turn on at its normal time and instead wait for a few minutes until you arrive. It could also automatically send a text to somebody telling them you're stuck in traffic.

Soon we won't just be talking about how connected London is, we'll be talking about how connected the world is.

eCommerce In London

A quick search on Indeed.co.uk found 3644 jobs under 'eCommerce' within London. With more and more people looking to the internet for their daily tasks, it is only fitting that London should not only follow this trend but be leading it.

In fact London is such a leader of eCommerce, the eCommerce expo will be held in London this September.

eCommerce Expo is a B2B trade event where people from all walks of eCommerce business can gather and discuss eCommerce. Last year in 2015, representatives from such world leading companies such as Adobe, Apple, BBC, Sky and many more attended the event.

The Power Of eCommerce

eCommerce is an exceptionally powerful business tool. As CGP Grey said “there are no borders on the internet". Thanks to eCommerce you can now run a shop in the UK, buy stock from the USA and sell it to people in Eastern-Europe. The world really is a lot smaller thanks to the internet and with the current trends it's going to be a lot smaller.

Get In Touch With Advansys For Bespoke Responsive eCommerce Solutions In London

Here at Advansys, we can build a wide range of unique responsive and adaptive websites tailor made to ensure that your business can offer a great user experience (UX) on every device. If you want to improve clicks, conversions and sales for your business online, then it is essentially that you take advantage of highest-quality responsive eCommerce solutions today.

We have a highly talented team of staff and can build a website for any business. With over 50% of mobile searches it is paramount that your website is adaptive and can run on both desktop and mobile devises. We have the skills necessary to ensure that you customers have a great UX with you.

Don't be left behind in the dark, with the city of London becoming more and more connected, the rest of the world is not far behind, soon having a responsive website will be the norm so take full advantage now and start planning your own bespoke responsive eCommerce solution with Advansys.

For more information on the vast benefits you can receive from adaptive web design and development, get in touch with our team today on 0845 838 2700. Alternatively, you can email any questions or concerns you might have to sales@advansys.com and we'll get back in touch as soon as we can!