A tech business support organisation has gone into voluntary liquidation, saying remote working has hit its job ads revenue.
Wired Sussex, which provided training and networking for IT and digital companies from its base at New England House in Brighton, announced it was winding up on LinkedIn yesterday.
It said while it had moved to adapt to the “substantial transformations” the industry has gone through since the pandemic, it had suffered from loss of income from its jobs board and “increasingly challenging” landscape for project funding.
It said: “The tech and digital industry, ever dynamic, has undergone substantial transformations, especially in the post-covid era.
“Wired Sussex has been resolutely adapting to these new trends and developments while unwaveringly supporting our thriving community.
“Our local Jobs Board, a vital pillar of our services, has played an integral role in connecting job seekers and employers within the digital and tech sectors.
“However, recent years have presented formidable challenges for the Jobs Board, with the trend towards hybrid and remote working impacting its revenue. The landscape for funding of our valuable projects has also become increasingly challenging.
“We wish to extend our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you who have been integral to Wired Sussex’s journey. Your unwavering support, innovative ideas, and passion have been the driving forces behind all that we have achieved – for, and with, our community.”
Scores of tech industry workers commented under the post.
Will McInnes, who worked with Wired Sussex when he set up Nixon McInnes, said: “Wired Sussex was genuinely a transformational support for us as wannabe digital company builders back in the day. We were basically nothing, not much track record, not many clients, just a couple of ambitious, naive, friendly chumps and we found support, partners, team members and accessed all kinds of seriously beneficial support through Wired Sussex.
“We owe Wired Sussex – the community, the restless small team of leaders through the ages, and the boards and funders and supporters along the way – a huge amount. I am sad to see it end.”
Seb Royle, founder of the Platf9rm co-working space, said: “Sad news indeed. Phil Jones and the team played an enormous part in the beginning of PLATF9RM ‘s journey, providing the base of organisations and infrastructure, with many of our members also being Wired Sussex members.
“We hired our first employees through the jobs board, and Phil was a part of the C2C board that we received our funding through so integral to the decision making behind that, and hugely supportive.
“They pioneered the co-working model in Brighton and were big champions for the provision of quality office space in the business and tech community.
“We owe them a huge debt of gratitude for all of their work to create what is a transformed digital landscape in the city. Thanks for your leadership and support, we’ll miss you and hope and trust that the team will find new careers and opportunities beyond this.”
It is hard to estimate the huge positive impact Wired Sussex has had on the image of our city and opportunities for people working here.
David Lepper (Former Chair of Economic Development, Brighton Borough Council.)
Every business is struggling after the lizz truss nonsense last year. Economy is in the bin currently as no one is spending money
Yup Liz Truss caused a global inflation event, single handedly caused Putin to invade Ukraine etc. It has nothing to do with the excess money that governments printed so people could stay at home during covid.
Great point , so yes even whilst all you mentioned went on Lis still decided to do something so abjectivly stupid it tanked the UK economy .
It took three months and the economy is at the level it was during that Truss mini budget. You can’t blame her for this. She wasn’t given any time to make it work.
That is in large part down to Bank of England policy of raising interest rates. The very intention of that policy is to slow the economy, which means higher mortgages, less spending, job losses and in theory to cause pay restraint.
It doesn’t work.
It would have been far better for the Government to have used more price controls (it did in part with energy) to control inflation, including clawing back excessive profits, given the cause of inflation isn’t an overheating economy but external factors, particularly energy prices.
This is a very sad loss to the Brighton economy, and I hope the staff get settled into new roles quickly.
I’ve always found their events very informative and helpful, and they’ve supported the growth of so much local business over the years.
As an active member for many years I was sad to hear of their demise. Though I’m confused why remote and hybrid working has impacted job listings. Surely companies hiring for remote and hybrid roles still need to advertise those jobs. Or is it a case of no longer needing to advertise on location specific websites?
My thought exactly.
I expect if you are remote working employers care less if you live a 10 minute walk from the house and are happier to recruit people from places like Worthing, Hastings etc.
Very sad to hear this news. My late husband Ian Hallworth used your services, found work and helped others through Wired Sussex with CV clinics and other events. You’ve been a big support to the digital industry in our city. Thank you and I wish all the staff good luck, Caroline Sutton.
So sad to read this. I was involved in the design and refurbishment of their workspace. It was such a pleasure to work with Phil and his creative team. I wish everyone the best in their next step.