Tech fails one in two

Nearly one in two people say technology fails them once a week or more, a new study commissioned by Critical Software has revealed.

The OnePoll survey of 2,000 people also found that only half of people think the tech in their lives is properly tested before being sold, despite 98% stating that the reliability of the tech they use is important.

95% of people say that having technology properly tested by industry experts is important – much more than those who stress the importance of the brand behind the tech (73%), where it was purchased (70%), or where it was made (61%).

The study also found that people prefer to use tested technology that is proven to work over tech that is completely new. 52% of people say that using the latest and newest forms of technology is important to them, while 95% of people say that technology that’s proven to work is important.

When asked what the most important reason for technology needing to be reliable is, 61% of people identify safety or security as their main concern, with the next most important reason being ease of use (11%).

Nuno Silva, Critical Software’s Chief Test Engineer, said: “For all the awe-inspiring developments, people still seem to have concerns about the reliability of the technology we use in our lives. The pressure to release new technologies can sometimes come at a cost to reliability. The problem with this is that more and more technologies are becoming critical to our day-to-day lives, impacting things like safety and security, and the consequences of getting these things wrong can be catastrophic.”

95% of people say that some form of safety-accreditation is important to them when assessing the reliability of tech. A whopping 91% state that they would be concerned about using tech that had no safety accreditation.

Half of people say that a high price point offers them little reassurance that an item of technology is reliable. 71% say that celebrity endorsement does little to persuade them too, suggesting that companies wanting to build trust would be better off focusing on properly testing tech and providing guarantees, evidence and safety-accreditations.

Nuno Silva, Critical Software, added: “Today, more and more technologies are being used in important systems. For example, modern cars include complex systems that are increasingly responsible for safety features and banks use advanced security technologies to protect online systems. As these kinds of technologies have a bigger impact on our lives, the importance of ensuring they are reliable is more important than ever.”

When asked about the future, 42% of people believe technology will be more reliable, 42% think it will remain the same and only 6% of people think that technology will become less reliable. 10% say they are not sure.