All companies -- from retail, to media, to IoT -- are increasingly becoming software companies. Data loss, security threats, service downtime and performance issues can sink a business. As a result, DevOps has evolved from an island of marginalized system administrators to an organization-wide cultural shift.

Companies like Netflix, Ticketmaster and Etsy understand that DevOps entails established processes, interconnected systems for monitoring and diagnosing, and org-wide vigilance about incident response. As our businesses continue to become more software-driven, Heavybit’s community of developer-focused entrepreneurs, advisors and investors provide tips and tactics to scale your DevOps efforts:

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You are thinking about having an app built to help grow your business. After all, the biggest and the best all have apps, so should you, right? Ideally, you do need an app for your business.

In fact, a recent study published by the Gallup Poll reports that 52 percent of the population checks its smart phones several times per hour, and of the remaining 48 percent, 20 percent of the people claim to check their phones once per hour. These numbers are a marketing team’s dream! So many easy to reach people in one place! So yes, you need an app!

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2015 was a year for the record books in information and cyber security. Dozens of new vulnerabilities were uncovered, and government organizations, businesses and individuals continued to find themselves victims of high-profile data breaches.

As we settle into the new year, we don’t expect this trend to slow down. We foresee more security issues on the horizon that must be addressed in order to ensure privacy for companies and consumers in the year ahead. Here are our predictions on what’s coming in 2016:

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Geographically-distributed development, or GDD, has made a name for itself as an extremely-effective IT strategy model within global enterprises throughout the world. As a highly-advanced support tool, GDD replaces archaic methods of managing development projects that compromise a business’ operational goals and success.

Conversely, GDD establishes optimized communication, efficiency, cohesiveness and success potential within an enterprise. Because GDD is extremely accommodating as a support tool, businesses from one part of the world to the next can quickly respond to business changes as they occur.

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Using a mouse for long periods can be uncomfortable and in severe cases may even lead to repetitive strain injury.

There are various pieces of kit on the market to help you avoid this including ergonomically designed mice and wrist rests. Taking a slightly different and more innovative approach to the problem is the Penclic which is a sort of fusion of mouse and pen.

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Dell has announced an expanded lineup of Latitude laptops, 2-in-1 devices and monitors at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. The new Latitude products are: Latitude 13 7000, Latitude 12 7000 and Latitude 11 5000.

The Latitude 3000, 5000 and 7000 Series have been completely refreshed with thin and light designs, excellent efficiency and powerful processing options.

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Microsoft will release a service update to its Intune management software within the next week, introducing a number of new features and enhancements.

A large part of the update will be dedicated to Windows 10 support, ensuring that Intune is optimized for a number of features native to Microsoft’s new operating system.

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Researchers at Microsoft are partnering with Rambus in order to evaluate the future memory requirements of quantum computing.

The two technology firms will share their resources and expertise in order to determine the types of computer architecture that will provide the biggest improvement to memory capabilities and overall system performance. Gary Bronner, vice president of Rambus Labs said that existing architectures are struggling to meet the increasing demands of real-time data consumption.

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BlackBerry has heralded the new year with a new move -- that is, to shift to Android for its upcoming devices in 2016.

In BlackBerry’s statement, company CEO John Chen said that its BB10 operating system will take a back seat this year as the company intends to launch two Android-powered devices to accompany the BlackBerry Priv.

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Intel Security has expanded its partnership with VMWare’s enterprise mobility subsidiary AirWatch, placing a greater emphasis on mobile security initiatives.

The two companies aim to help organizations cope with the numerous security issues posed by mobile devices, as well as integrating enterprise protection across PCs, operating systems, networks and the cloud.

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Research from Sungard Availability Services, a provider of information availability through managed IT, cloud and recovery services, has revealed a dark side to hybrid IT systems.

Sungard’s findings based on a study which questioned 150 senior IT decision makers in UK organizations with more than 500 employees with an average IT spend of around £36m per year, found that over half of UK organizations believe that the complexity of their IT environment is hindering their ability to innovate.

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Don’t you wish you could give your users all the access they need, without worrying about them becoming frustrated with the increased security measures put on the business and then taking actions into their own hands to avoid those security measures in order to remain productive? Simply providing users with IDs and passwords for each application or data set will not keep your business secure…or productive... anymore. A truly successful security strategy must look at information in context, exploring the "who, what, when, where, and why" of access activities. Your strategy must understand where gaps exist, while supporting secure and convenient access to both legacy and emerging applications for users -- who expect to stay productive -- and the IT staff responsible for keeping the business secure.

The theory behind security is noble: IT should ensure that only approved users can access systems and data, that they access them only for the right reasons, and that they’re doing the right things once they’ve gained access. In practice, though, security has been a static process of IT administrators saying "no", denying access and placing barriers (multiple passwords and access protocols) between users and the resources they need to do their jobs.

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Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has revealed his company’s entry into the burgeoning drone market during a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Yuneec's Typhoon H drone utilizes Intel’s RealSense camera and infrared lasers to instinctively avoid collisions, making it the world’s first "intelligent consumer drone" according to Krzanich.

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Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced new details today at CES 2016 in Las Vegas regarding the button-sized wearable hardware module, Curie. The Intel Curie module features 32-bit Intel Quark SE SoC, (system on a Chip) and runs for extended periods on a coin-sized battery.

Intel unveiled the Curie SoC module a year ago, and demonstrated it through a partnership with BMX to develop the first smart BMX bike. Curie was able to measure through sensors on the seat and handlebars of the bike the speed and movement metrics. However, now the button sized SoC module is being used on athletic sports clothing to bring the same analytical capabilities to all athletes. "We believe it will change how athletes are judged, how they train", Krzanich said.

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At CES 2016, NVIDIA has announced the release of its Drive PX2 which is the company’s latest offering in the autonomous vehicle hardware market. NVIDIA hopes that the Drive PX2 will provide the ability to train, optimize and develop the neural networks which will be the foundation of self-driving cars in the future.

Several earlier NVIDIA components combine to form the Drive PX2 such as DIGITS and DriveWorks. However, Drive PX 2 hardware is also the successor to the Tegra-powered Drive PX released last year with the new Drive PX 2 representing  a major computational power jump with 12 CPU cores and two discrete "Pascal"-based GPUs.

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