Perhaps the best-known CRM company in the world, Salesforce, recently announced that they would be making a £1.9 ($2.5) billion investment into the UK tech market in the next five years. The cloud computing firm said that it's hoping to increase its data centre capacity, office space, and headcount in the UK, despite the rising feelings of uncertainty around Brexit.
Salesforce made the announcement just after opening their first European Innovation centre in London, which is set to support social, mobile, cloud, IoT and AI developments. Salesforce plans to open a second centre in 2019.
The announcement has generated a great deal of excitement, including a comment from Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, who noted that Salesforce represents the benefits that technology companies can deliver to the UK economy.
Good News Amidst Economic Uncertainty
It's no wonder that Mrs May is relieved and excited by Salesforce's decision to continue building its presence in the UK. Already, the PM is struggling with some serious issues regarding a government split over the exit from the EU. Apparently, leaders from the EU will be coming together to discuss the issues that the UK will face with Brexit at the end of June, and it's safe to say that we're all feeling the pressure.
Despite a lack of confidence in the economy right now, the UK has still maintained it's strength in the tech space. In fact, London is currently the biggest technology hub in Europe - despite Brexit. In 2017 alone, tech firms accessed over four times the funding of Germany. We even achieved a funding level more than Sweden, Italy, and France combined, with 2.1 million people employed in the tech space.
Though Salesforce's decision is clearly a positive one for the UK, many tech experts say that Brexit is still hurting the sector. Lack of access to European funds, and problems with attracting outside talent into the industry is making life difficult for innovators. In fact, UK funds saw a drop of 91% in funding between 2016 and 2017 from the EU investment fund.
