Should enterprises dump legacy software?
It may be hard to believe, but many companies still rely on spreadsheets to manage their business. In fact, according to a survey, one in five businesses use them to communicate and track data internally. With big data, cloud and SaaS technologies at our fingertips (literally), why are companies still using them to get important work done?
A new TrackVia survey sheds some light on this phenomenon. It reveals that business and IT executives feel that current enterprise software is too expensive and inflexible, overly time-consuming, or excessively complicated to adopt. Due to this reality, employees have no other choice than to resort to emailing spreadsheets around to get their work done.
Microsoft Azure Stack Technical Preview 3 is now available
Microsoft has announced an extension of Azure technologies on-premises, as well as a couple of Azure Stack updates. According to a blog post announcing the new features, the updates will enable organizations with hybrid cloud environments to have the same flexibility and innovation capability to match their business objectives and app design.
Organizations looking to create new apps, or re-work their current ones, on both cloud and on-premises environments, now have three unique hybrid cloud scenarios on offer.
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Why Microsoft Office 365 adoption keeps rising
In the fast paced digital world we inhabit, there are a million different programs and apps vying for our attention. In fact, our time is so taxed these days that the market for apps that help you organize your life, manage your business, and otherwise help you keep your head from falling from your shoulders is booming.
Office 365 is a perfect example of a collection of cloud-based programs on offer to both the layperson and businesses, intent on helping people stave off chaos. It can be hard to whittle down just what program suits you and your business’s needs (that’s why handy sites like ITProPortal help with some of the heavy lifting), but Office 365 is looking to create further separation over the competition with every new iteration.
Why are enterprises embracing DevOps?
DevOps is seeing a mainstream push right now. More organizations have started to embrace DevOps practices across IT operations, services and app delivery, seeking to transform their business. DevOps has traditionally been the domain of early IT adopters. However, as previously held assumptions are dispelled -- from security through to benefits -- we’re seeing more risk-averse companies recognizing the need to shift their thinking. So, why are more organizations coming round to the critical opportunity that DevOps can bring into their business?
The DevOps Start Line
Why security will always be a people problem
We've heard the phrase, "users are the weakest link," more than we can count. Building a more resilient cyber security strategy means flipping the model on its head and making people part of the solution. Instead of starting with a technology-based strategy, Absolute discusses how and why organizations can take a people-first security strategy.
Paul Proctor, chief of research for risk and security at Gartner was quoted as saying: "we are facing a cultural disconnect [...] executives believe that IT risk and security is a technical problem." Of course, that’s wrong. Deep down, we know it’s wrong. Security, is, and always will be, a people problem. At least until the robots fully take over. Until then, though, we have to come to grips with the simple fact that with the way security is typically deployed in enterprises today, users will continue to click on things they shouldn’t, visit sites they shouldn’t, or make other uninformed or careless choices leading to breaches, incidents, or loss in availability of systems and data.
Digital transformation must be a priority in a cloud-first world
As the UK enters an uncertain economic future, the issue of falling productivity is once again center stage. Since the 2008 financial crisis, studies measuring how much output is produced per hour or worker have been constant disappointments when compared to the country’s global counterparts. According to the latest reports from the Office of National Statistics, UK productivity rose by 0.4 percent between July and September 2016. However, this figure is still far below the 2.1 percent average being achieved before 2008.
In response, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced plans to launch a national industrial strategy aimed at creating a prosperous post-Brexit Britain through the development of STEM skills investments in science and innovation, and infrastructure upgrades across every sector and in every corner of the country. With this plan the UK government has sent a clear signal: organizations of every size and within every industry must prioritize digital transformation if they are to succeed in a cloud-first world.
Enterprises with heavy mobile use are more profitable
There’s a new research report that says companies whose employees use mobile devices for multiple things are more productive than those with limited usage. It was commissioned by Synchronoss and conducted by Sapio Research.
The report says that 38 percent of enterprises use mobility solutions for basic tools like email and calendar. Such enterprises are 15 percent less productive and almost a third (29 percent) less profitable than those with more advanced mobile capabilities.
ITU drafts 5G specs: 20Gbps downloads, 4ms latency per cell
According to the latest draft report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) published on Thursday, the upcoming 5G standard must support one million connected devices per square kilometer and each single 5G cell will be required to have a total download capacity of 20Gbps.
Although the report is currently a draft, it is likely that the technical requirements for 5G will be approved this November. At that time, telecoms and chipset manufacturers can truly begin building the necessary technologies to power their 5G networks and devices. 5G will require at least 10Gbps uplink per each single cell.
Most financial businesses in the UK worry about the effects of disruption
More than three quarters (78 percent) of financial organizations in the UK worry about what digital disruption can do to their industry, according to a new Fujitsu report.
The company claims this makes the financial industry the most concerned one, compared with retail, public and manufacturing, and utility sectors.
SoftBank makes massive investment in WeWork
SoftBank is looking to invest between $3 billion and $4 billion into WeWork. According to a CNBC report, the deal is "close to finalizing".
At first, there will be a $2 billion primary tranche, followed by a secondary round worth anywhere between $1 and $2 billion. CNBC also says there is a "tender offer" for WeWork insiders, around $44.10 per internal share.
Google: Three in four Brits have a smartphone
A Google report, five years in the making and with information from 625,000 people, shows just how much the Internet and smartphones changed our lives in half a decade.
According to the report, five years ago, one in three consumers in 40 markets had access to a smartphone. Fast forward to 2016, the number has gone up to a "staggering" 70 percent.
Cyber attacks cost the UK economy £1.9 billion
Eighteen percent of UK businesses have been the target of a cyber-attack in the last 12 months, according to a new report by Altodigital. These attacks cost the economy £1.9 billion.
Back in 2013 33 percent of companies were hacked, so Altodigital sees the current figure of 18 percent as a "welcome improvement." Each individual attack cost more than £2,000 last year.
What can enterprise mobility experts learn from BI market?
I recently had the opportunity to meet with about 40 executives from a large international construction company. They operate in many different countries and you won’t be surprised to hear that they have a complex application environment. I’d ask someone a question like "How do you keep track of tools and supply inventories at various sites?" and invariably, the answer was a question: "In which country?", "For commercial or residential?" or "For corporate to track it or the site managers?"
They made it clear that while they had a myriad of needs for mobility, there were process differences, regulations, and legacy investments across their operations that made it hard to roll out a single technology solution to any particular business problem.
Training speech recognition to understand dialects
Dialects are an intrinsic part of who we are, and can represent home to many of us in a world becoming more global in nature. Many wonder though: how do we train speech recognition devices to understand such unique regional languages?
So what is a dialect? It’s a tricky question to answer that can get you into all sorts of political trouble in some areas of the world! In the past, central authorities were often skeptical of communities that claimed to have their own (regional) language, preferring rather to speak of a mere "dialect." In the reverse, smaller countries with a big neighbor often insisted they spoke its own language, not just a dialect of the neighbor's language. Luckily, linguistic variation today is often seen as a precious treasure of cultural heritage, but in many places linguist Max Weinreich’s summary that "a language is a dialect with an army and navy," is still valid. Avoiding those issues, I will use "dialect" in a pragmatic way, to encompass regional languages and accents.
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