BetaNews Staff

A quick look at current rankings of the top Fortune 500 companies reveals a key finding -- most of today’s best performing companies have had to start from scratch when it came to digital transformation.

Of the top 10, only one -- Apple -- started as a technology company. The other highest performers, Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway and Exxon Mobil, all had to strategize to become digital after their company was well on its way to success. Being digital today isn’t about having a website -- it involves redesigning the experience based on the way we work, live and interact. A recent report by Forrester suggests that companies have underestimated just how difficult it is to pivot to mobile-led digital transformation. But, as the world around us becomes more and more connected, digital transformation is within reach -- and in our always-on society, it all starts with a "mobile first" mindset.

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Keeping in touch with other users is essential for your business. We use Skype to keep in touch with contacts all over the world, from freelancers writers, through to key contacts.

With this in mind, all we want is a relatively simple tool that enables us to perform our business without distractions.

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Facebook has expanded its Workplace enterprise suite with the launch of a real-time desktop comms offering called Workplace Chat.

Even though it is called Workplace Chat, the PC app offers much more than just text-based communication. It also offers video chat with a co-worker or a group, screen sharing and file sharing.

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Transitioning business IT from a primarily hardware based infrastructure to a high-performing cloud environment is compelling for most enterprises. Cloud computing has the power to streamline organizational processes and offers a reliable solution for data storage, access, management, business continuity, and analysis. IT teams stand to benefit from implementing a cost effective and scalable solution that is, in principle, simpler to manage than a traditional data center comprised of disparate hardware components. There are important challenges to consider when adopting cloud, such as vendor lock-in, security management, and redefining the organization’s culture.

Microsoft Azure has been adopted by the vast majority of IT teams globally. The cloud based platform allows IT managers to build, test, deploy and oversee applications on a global network of Microsoft data centers. The scalable as-a-service solution has proved extremely popular: by the year 2020, Gartner believes that 90 percent of organizations will adopt hybrid infrastructure management and that Azure, along with its larger counterpart Amazon Web Services, will dominate this market. However, while the pace of cloud adoption shows no sign of abating, migrating to, and managing data within a cloud environment comes with a set of unique challenges around accessibility, data protection and security. So how should organizations set about putting in place an effective Azure Active Directory?

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Nvidia has marked a new step forward in AI development with the release of its Nvidia GPU Cloud container (NGC).

The NGC helps developers make their first steps into developing deep learning by allowing free access to a "comprehensive, easy-to-use, fully optimized deep learning software stack."

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Everyone will tell you that you really need to backup your data. It’s simply the easiest way to quickly recover your computer if you suffer from malware or even a ransomware attack.

Backing up your data also makes sense for testing new software. Make a system backup, test as required, then simply revert back to the previous state by restoring the backup.

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Singles looking for love using mobile dating apps could be putting their device security at risk, experts have warned.

An investigation into many of the world's most popular dating apps by Kaspersky Labs has found that many services are not providing sufficient levels of data protection, with hackers able to potentially identify users and steal personal information.

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Data breaches have become commonplace these days, and it doesn't appear there will be any slowing down. Companies keep making headlines because either their data is ransomed, or it's been discovered that their data storage isn't properly locked down. Big, global brands are suffering at the hands of these attacks, and we are starting to see some common patterns emerge that might help us identify a new, different approach to cloud security.

One has to wonder if anyone is learning anything in the midst of all this hacking. How much high profile content must be leaked, and how many credit card numbers have to be exposed before someone says, "All the effort we're putting into security and compliance can be dismantled with a single, unnoticed misconfiguration. How can we avoid that?"

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Amazon Business users will soon be able to take advantage of free two-day shipping in a similar way to how Prime customers do to order a wide range of products right to their office.

In 2015, the online retailer launched its B2B marketplace, Amazon Business, that included a number of business-specific perks such as purchasing analytics, bulk pricing and free-two day shipping on orders over $49.

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Using passwords to get online may soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new launch from Intel.

The computing giant has revealed that its Intel Online Connect service will now ship in all 7th and 8th-generation Core processors, allowing users a smoother and easier way to get online quickly using just a fingerprint -- with users of Lenovo's latest PC devices the first to benefit from safer browsing.

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With the GDPR deadline now less than six months away, many companies are still coming to terms with how they will adapt to the new legislation, which could have a major effect upon the their business.

Fortunately, BlackBerry has launched a new branch of its software consulting service to try and guide businesses through the challenges that GDPR will face. Launched this week at the company's BlackBerry Security Summit in London, the platform aims to help BlackBerry partner with companies that are still unsure of what steps they need to take in order to fit with the new rules.

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As the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) and other connected devices increases and is projected to reach over 50 billion by 2020, Arm has unveiled a new systems architecture aimed at securing and protecting these devices from being exploited by cyber attackers.

The British semiconductor firm unveiled its new Platform Security Architecture (PSA) which is designed to serve as a common industry framework for developers and hardware manufacturers to increase the security of devices built on its system-on-a-chip (SoC) Cortex processors.

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WinZip International LLC has released WinZip 22, a major release of what is perhaps the world’s best-known archiving tool. Version 22 builds on changes introduced in version 21, primarily with speed and safety improvements.

WinZip 22 ships in three editions -- Standard, Pro and Enterprise (aimed at corporate users). The majority of the new features are available in Standard and Pro. The primary difference between Pro and Standard are the backup features.

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More than nine in ten (93 percent) of companies worry about storing their data in the cloud, once GDPR kicks in, new research has claimed.

A report from cloud solutions provider Calligo polling 500 IT decision-makers in companies with more than 100 employees, found than 91 percent of respondents worry how the new rules will affect cloud services.

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Mastercard has opened up its blockchain technology to developers who want to test their own solutions.

The company is looking to spur on development in the B2B space, saying that its technology is designed to increase speed, transparency and costs in cross-border payments.

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