Sumillion has received a King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development, placing the Basingstoke-based IT provider among a small group of businesses recognised under the long-running honours scheme.

The recognition comes as the company argues that many organisations still buy technology in ways that increase both cost and environmental waste. In its view, procurement should put sustainability at the centre of decision-making rather than treat it as a secondary issue.

His Majesty The King approved the Prime Minister’s recommendation that Sumillion receive the award in the sustainable development category. The honours programme is widely regarded as the UK’s top formal business recognition.

Sustainability model

Sumillion works with organisations seeking to update their IT estates while reducing environmental impact. Its model centres on carbon-tracked procurement, circular lifecycle management and end-of-life processes designed to cut waste.

The business focuses on extending the working life of devices, improving their use across organisations and handling disposal more responsibly. It argues that these steps can lower carbon intensity per employee and per unit of revenue while reducing unnecessary spending on replacement equipment.

That position reflects a broader debate across the technology channel, where customers are under pressure to manage budgets more tightly while also meeting environmental targets. Suppliers and buyers are increasingly expected to show not only what equipment they purchase, but how long assets remain in service and what happens to them when they are retired.

Chief Executive David Manners set out that argument in direct terms.

“Too many organisations are still buying IT in a way that creates unnecessary cost and waste. Sustainability is often treated as an afterthought rather than a core part of procurement. We have shown that it is possible to reduce impact, improve efficiency, and deliver better outcomes at the same time,” said David Manners, Chief Executive, Sumillion.

Operational model

Sumillion’s internal environmental governance includes ISO 14001 certification, Carbon Literacy training and external assessment through EcoVadis, where it achieved a Silver rating this year. It also says changes to operations and energy use have helped reduce carbon intensity as the business has expanded.

Its environmental target is to reach Net Zero across Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030. Those categories cover direct emissions from owned or controlled sources and indirect emissions from purchased energy.

The company links its environmental work with a social impact programme. Through its Green Partnership initiative, it says it has supported clean water projects in Ghana that have provided more than 85,000 people with access to safe drinking water.

It also says education projects backed by the programme have distributed more than 50,000 books and improved digital access. Those figures form part of Sumillion’s broader claim that commercial activity can be tied to measurable outcomes beyond its own operations.

Procurement pressure

The award comes at a time when IT procurement is receiving closer scrutiny from both finance and sustainability teams. Rising expectations around reporting, combined with pressure to control spending, have pushed organisations to look more closely at refresh cycles, asset utilisation and disposal routes.

In practice, that has led more buyers to examine refurbished hardware, longer deployment periods and more structured recovery of equipment at end of life. Providers that can document carbon impact and support reuse are taking a clearer role in those purchasing decisions.

For Sumillion, the award offers external recognition of a business model built around those themes. It believes the balance between cost, performance and sustainability will play a larger role in defining how organisations buy IT.

Basingstoke remains the company’s headquarters as it works with customers looking to modernise their technology estates while reducing waste through lifecycle management and procurement choices.

Canva has published research showing that most UK marketing leaders plan to increase spending on AI. It also found that British consumers are more accepting of AI in advertising when it makes adverts more useful or relevant.

Based on a survey of marketing leaders and consumers across seven countries, the report points to a widening gap between the speed of AI adoption in marketing teams and the care brands must take to maintain consumer trust. In the UK sample, 92% of marketing leaders said they already use AI in everyday creative work, while 98% expect to increase their AI budgets.

That uptake reflects pressure on marketing departments to produce more content with limited resources. More than half of UK marketing leaders surveyed said AI now acts as a “director” within their teams, while 31% described it as a “collaborator”.

Many marketers also reported practical benefits. The findings show that 94% save at least four hours a week through AI use, while 28% save more than eight hours. Another 63% said AI had increased marketing-influenced business decisions.

Trust gap

Consumer sentiment was more mixed. While 71% of British consumers said they do not mind AI in adverts if the result is more helpful or relevant, many also said current AI-generated advertising lacks originality and emotional depth.

Seven in ten UK respondents said AI-generated adverts are missing their soul, while 64% said such adverts are so obvious they are laughable. The findings suggest consumers judge advertising less by how it is made than by whether it feels authentic.

That tension runs through the report. Although many consumers accepted a role for AI in making ads more relevant, 82% said they would still rather see adverts made by people, even if AI could improve them. Another 91% said the best advertising still requires a human touch, and 72% said they would be more likely to buy from an advert created entirely by humans.

There was also concern that the growing use of AI could make brand communications look increasingly alike. In the UK, 76% of consumers said the future of advertising will look and feel like the same AI-generated output. Among marketing leaders, 36% said so-called “AI slop” was already a considerable challenge.

Human role

The study found broad agreement that some parts of marketing remain difficult to automate. UK marketing leaders pointed to empathy and emotional intelligence, brand intuition and creative judgment, and the human imperfections that can make work feel original as areas AI cannot replace.

That view may explain why many executives do not see AI as removing the need for creative staff. Eighty per cent of UK marketing leaders said they expect creative roles to grow over the next five years, with greater emphasis on imagination, judgment and direction rather than routine execution.

Age also shaped consumer attitudes. Among Gen Z and Millennial respondents, 72% said they pay more attention to the vibe of an advert than the method used to create it. Three quarters said they do not mind AI polish as long as real people are featured.

Even so, personalisation remains a sensitive issue. Nearly a third of UK consumers said it becomes too personal when an advert seems to know what they are about to buy before they have searched for it. A larger 63% said they do not want brands using AI to predict what they want.

Calls for rules

The findings show strong demand for clearer rules on how AI is used in advertising. More than three quarters of British consumers said they would feel more comfortable with AI-generated adverts if formal company policies governed their use.

There was also a clear expectation that AI-made advertising will soon become harder to identify. The survey found that 86% of UK consumers believe it will one day be impossible to tell whether an advert was made with AI unless the brand discloses it. Most expect that point to arrive within a few years.

Consumers were also specific about what would improve trust. The most common answers were data protection, disclosure of AI use, guarantees that AI is not replacing jobs, and the ability to opt out of AI-generated adverts. A large majority also said they would like a form of privacy control that lets them decide how personal adverts should become.

Emma Robinson, Head of B2B Marketing at Canva, said the issue for brands is not whether AI belongs in marketing but how it is managed. “AI has changed how marketing gets made, but not what makes it effective. Speed and scale matter, but they don’t build trust on their own. The opportunity isn’t only producing more content. It’s building smarter systems where AI drives efficiency while brand governance and creative judgment protect what makes a brand distinctive,” Robinson said.

The survey covered 1,415 marketing leaders at organisations with more than 500 employees and 3,547 consumers across the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and India. In the UK, the sample included 200 marketing leaders and 509 consumers.

The Brews and Books café is run by volunteers of the Wantage Literary Festival from 9.45am to 1.30pm, Monday to Friday.

Due to its success in its first year, the Vale of White Horse District Council, which own and manage The Beacon and Wantage Literary Festival, has agreed the café is to stay permanently.

This news comes ahead of the inaugural Wantage Children’s Books Festival, managed by the literary festival, which will be held on Saturday, May 30.

Money raised from the café helps cover the costs of these annual events, helping them to continue attracting greater authors to the town.

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Helen Pighills, cabinet member for community health and wellbeing at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Since its opening, the Brews and Books Café has brought a buzz, providing a welcoming space for the community to meet up, relax, and maybe read a book.

“We are looking forward to continuing this partnership and are grateful to the volunteers giving their time to support it.”

Judith Knight, director of the Wantage Children’s Literature Festival, said: “The café began as a welcoming social space where authors and festival‑goers could meet, talk, and feel at home during the annual festival.

“The response was so positive that when the opportunity arose to make it permanent, we jumped at the chance.

“It has become not only a much‑loved community hub but a vital source of funds for the festival.”