George O'Connor

The long and the short of IT London Tech Week Witch cakes- A dog’s dinner

We bid adieu to the London Tech week caravan. The event was not about technology. The event was about people, 30,000 attendees from 125 countries. Amongst them possibly some of those 7.5m future programmers that the PM wants. We are reminded of Witch Cakes On Substack tinyurl.com/5t3e6ab7

The long and the short of IT Valuation: Too warm, too cold, just right?

Tech valuation is enjoying a Goldilocks moment; we fret whether it is “too hot, too cold, or just right”. Companies are concerned about how a deteriorating macro might throttle back AI spending. Investors worry about AI ROI creating the same effect. Here on Substack: tinyurl.com/25k4uzbd

The long and the short of IT Tech's ‘verschlimmbesserung’ moment

There is a tendency in tech to over develop functionality and create verschlimmbesserung. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. OpenAI understands this. To guard against meaningless or making improvements worse OpenAI ‘bought’ ‘io’ or more correctly Sir Jony Ive. Substack shorturl.at/4AIBK

The long and the short of IT “I saw the spires of Oxford As I was passing by” (to Britain’s Got Startups)

To Oxford for the latest Britain’s Got Startups. Also: Hostelworld CMD; a headrush of results; updates, and M&A came bounding back. But the big take-away from our week was an IDC webinar on President Trump’s first 100 days - a thought-provoking picture. Here goconnor.substack.com/p/the-long-a...

The long and the short of IT The Oven-ready opportunity

As the IMF cuts growth forecasts, the increased foreboding is echoed by results. Randstad Robert Half, Northcoders HCLTech IBM Infosys LTIMindtree, Mastek ActiveOps GB Group SAP ServiceNow Relx Econocom Digital Realty Google Iomart Mobileye Oxford Metrics Alphawave On substack: goconnor.substack.com

The long and the short of IT 'Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.'

Q1/25 earnings growth is6.2% Y/Y,3.8% higher rev - a slowdown due to shifting sentiment to AI investment cycle and a mixed macro. Results: Freelancer Hays Robert Walters Atos Kainos TCS Wipro Accesso Cerillion Cirata Kooth tinyBuild Alphawave IP. See here goconnor.substack.com

The long and the short of IT When he was up, he was up, when he was down, he was down.

The uncertainty caused by ‘Liberation Day’ means companies will be reluctant to embark on large scale IT projects. Reporting companies have started to insert tariff-effect commentary. Latest results Ondo Quartix Staffline PageGroup Made Tech Cirata G&H. Substack goconnor.substack.com/p/the-long-a...

The long and the short of IT Keep calm and carry on coding

April is “the cruellest month” now with tariffs, a brewing trade war, higher UK gilts, and markets meltdown. The UK is in an entrepôt position has a stable backdrop, favourable valuation. Latest results Cancom, Gattaca, Cirata, Pinewood, Raspberry Pi. Substack: goconnor.substack.com/p/the-long-a...

The long and the short of it Spring has finally sprung, was it worth the wait?

We are in the last gasps of FY24 reporting, but some companies are now reporting on 2025 Spring conditions. For those hoping that a new season would spark new commentary, be disappointed. The belly-aching about “challenging end markets” persists See it here goconnor.substack.com/p/the-long-a...

The long and the short of IT Catch a falling 'knife' (and put it in your pocket)...

Investors are encouraged to catch falling stars and dodge falling knives. We want to ‘buy the dip’, not the knife. Results Reply Hexaware Korn Ferry Adobe Docusign Rubrik ServiceTitan Uipath Alfa Financial Craneware essensys Oracle Capita.
Read it here: goconnor.substack.com/p/the-long-a...

Chaos theory reminds us that in randomness there are patterns, interconnection where small changes in one state can make large differences elsewhere. The world has entered chaos. Tech has had an ‘up and down/spinning around’ week.

Check out my new post! substack.com/home/post/p-...

Just published on Substack the latest Q3 results from UK and US tech companies - this weeks roll call: Eagle Eye, GB Group, Intuit, Made Tech, Monday.com, Nvidia, Palo Alto, Redcentric, Sage, Snowflake, Softcat, Tracsis, Xero. To read please go: goconnor.substack.com/p/the-long-a...

Great to meet the team @brands2life.bsky.social for a tech roundtable this afternoon