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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Storage has undergone some major changes in recent years. The growth of cloud usage, the Internet of Things and the exploitation of big data have all meant increased demand and a shift towards different solutions. But how has this affected the storage industry and and what further changes can we expect to see?

We spoke to Mark Lewis, Chairman and CEO of storage specialist Formation Data Systems to get his view on how the industry is evolving.

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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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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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Crowdfunding has become a popular way for smaller businesses and independent designers to gain backing for their projects. Now though funding platform Indiegogo is turning its sights on bigger business.

It's launching a new Enterprise Crowdfunding service to provide large corporations with specific services for engaging with Indiegogo's audience of early adopters, entrepreneurs and makers. This will allow enterprises to validate and optimize product concepts, as well as source new innovations.

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You might already know that the number of mobile-connected devices has already exceeded the world’s population, and in order to survive, businesses will need to respond.

Smart, connected devices can improve your business efficiency while reducing operational costs. In order to take advantage of these systems, it is important to know what they are, their benefits, and some of the best options to use within your organization.

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Flash is undoubtedly considered a superhero within the world of storage. However, it is unlikely to save the day all on its own. Whilst playing an important role, flash is just one of multiple solutions required to address the most common storage pain points in the data center.

Just like any superhero, it needs to work as part of a team in order to save the world or at least save you time. And in that respect, there is an underlying problem (or villain) that needs to be fought off. After all, without villains, there would be no need for superheroes in the first place.

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The aim of a paperless office was coined years ago, but is only slowly becoming a reality. Research by AIIM to mark 2015’s World Paper Free day in November found that the use of paper at offices is declining with solutions for a paperless office becoming cheaper, better and faster.

While many organizations still have difficulties becoming more sustainable and efficient, the survey shows that only 35 percent of organizations developed a policy on the use of paper.

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It's an increasingly rare business today that has all of its IT on its own premises. The cloud has led to many systems being moved off site and also contributed to the growth of shadow systems.

How can business manage these challenges and make sure that they're not putting their information at risk? We spoke to John Purrier, cloud visionary and CTO of business automation company Automic Software to find out.

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The eDiscovery process of extracting data for regulatory or legal purposes is generally seen as a bit of a niche in the IT field.

However, a new study by research specialists IDC forecasts that the market for worldwide eDiscovery services reached $8.2 billion at the end of 2015. This combined with an eDiscovery software market of just over $2 billion means the global eDiscovery market has passed the $10 billion threshold.

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If you've ever searched high and low for a tablet but found yourself unable to track down the perfect device, Lenovo may have the answer. Taking a leaf out of Google's Project Ara design handbook, Lenovo today unveils the new customizable, modular ThinkPad X1 Tablet.

Powered by an Intel Core m7 processor and Windows 10, the tablet boasts up to 10 hours of battery life, but if this isn’t enough, there's a clip-on Productivity Module to ramp this up to 15 hours. This is the ThinkPad X1 Tablet's unique selling point -- a series of modules that can be used to personalize, customize and tailor the device to specific needs.

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Regardless of your business size, there are numerous benefits in developing your own app. The ability to engage with potential customers on mobile devices is increasingly advantageous as smartphones increase their market share. An app allows you to provide consumers with a curated way to view your products and services, as well as increasing brand awareness.

It is not as easy as just creating an app though. It must serve as a fitting representation of your brand and integrate seamlessly with your operations. For every company that achieves this, many more make the most basic mistakes, wasting time and money. Never forget that creating an app can be costly and very time-consuming.

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2015 has played host to some significant cyber breaches. Experian, TalkTalk and Ashley Madison all fell foul of malicious attacks, and they weren’t the only ones. In 2016, businesses need to resolve to do better -- but the question is, how?

What bad security habits need to be given up to ensure a safer, more secure experience next year? What lengths could, and indeed should have businesses gone to this year in order to prevent some of the data breaches that occurred?

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Almost eight years ago, Bruce Schneier wrote a great article about the problems of ROI calculation for cybersecurity spending within organizations. Since then, both annual spending on cybersecurity and the cost of global cybercrime have significantly increased.

Despite that organizations increased their information security budgets by 24 percent in 2016, many security officers still have to justify to their management every extra thousand spent on cybersecurity. Traditionally, Europe is more conservative than US, and many more European security officers are asked to reduce their initial cybersecurity budgets by removing some items or replacing them with less expensive alternatives.

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