Articles about Money

IT experts will be doing a lot of job switching with the start of next year, according to a new report by Spiceworks. Releasing the report during SpiceWorld 2016 Austin, the company says more than a third (37 percent) of IT professionals will start looking for a new job next year.

More than a quarter (26 percent) plan on accepting an offer next year, as well. A vast majority (69 percent) want to do it in order to advance their IT skills, but 64 percent say they want a higher salary. Four in ten say they want to work in an organization where IT takes more priority.

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If your organization ever gets infected by ransomware (and there are good chances it will) it is better not to pay up because you probably won’t get your data back, even if you do pay the ransom.

This is according to a new report by security firm Kaspersky Lab, which urges organizations to instead report the incident to the authorities. It bases its conclusions on a couple of research results -- more than a third (36 percent) of organizations pay the ransom, but around 20 percent still don’t get their files back.

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A new report has revealed that the UK government could save £2 billion by 2020 if it took the appropriate actions needed to shift its citizens to digital services and away from outdated technology and legacy contracts.

Independent charity the Institute for Government argued these points in its latest report titled Making a Success of Digital Government, in which it noted how the government has yet to see a significant return when it comes to the savings that could be generated by a transition to digital services.

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Cash is overrated among businesses, a new study by NTT DATA suggests. Consumers don’t really use it that much, and expect the payment industry to move more towards digital wallets in the future.  This is according to a new report, based on a poll of 2,000 consumers and 300 executives.

A third of consumers expect mobile money to dominate within a decade. But there is a strong discrepancy between executives and consumers -- 40 per cent of executives, in various industries, think people will pay the same for transactions in a decade than they do today. Among consumers just 27 percent expect transaction values to stay the same.

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In an effort to make it easier for users to pay through its messaging service, Facebook has added PayPal as a new payment option in the Messenger app.

The deal between the two companies will allow customers to use PayPal when shopping through Facebook Messenger -- and they will even be able to use the service to pay for items purchased through merchants' chatbots. The online payment service had added that it will also be making it easier for users to link their PayPal account to their Facebook account.

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In one of the biggest media acquisitions of all time, AT&T wants to buy Time Warner, in what is an $85 billion deal. This will enable the carrier to expand beyond being a telecommunications company and allow it to offer the media company's wealth of content to its customers, as it is currently the parent company of CNN, TNT, HBO and Warner Bros.

AT&T will pay $107.50 per share of Time Warner's stock, which is a large premium compared to what the stock was trading for the previous week. Overall, the deal is valued at $109 billion, when the media company's debt is taken into account.

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Microsoft has posted its earnings for Q1 FY2017 (Q3 CY2016), revealing revenue of $22.34 billion, operating income of $7.1 billion, net income of $5.98 billion, and earnings per share of $0.76 cents. The software giant beat analyst expectations of $21.71 billion in revenue and EPS of $0.68. The stock is up around 5.5 percent over yesterday, with shares trading at over $60 -- a record value for the company.

How do the latest numbers compare to Q1 FY2016? A year ago Microsoft reported revenue of $21.66 billion, operating income of $7.07 billion, net income of $5.66 billion and EPS of $0.70. So the revenue, operating income, net income, and EPS are up.

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When GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) comes into force in 2018, businesses not adhering to cybersecurity best practices risk either €20 million in fines or four percent of their annual global turnover, whichever is bigger.

The media has been buzzing about this a lot lately, but how much is four percent really, at least among UK organizations? According to PCI Security Standards Council -- that could be up to £122 billion. Here’s how PCI SSC came to that conclusion.

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You can save big on plane tickets. The trick, as you know, is to buy them at the right time. And since it may not be easy to foresee, Google Flights has received an update to let you know when is the best time to take out your credit card.

With the holiday season just around the corner, Google says that 69 percent of the US leisure travelers worry about finding the cheapest flights or making the right decision when buying their tickets, so Travel will now inform users when it expects prices to change.

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According to new research, a private cloud can be much cheaper than using a public cloud service, though only when it's running on a large scale.

The analyst firm 451 Research has released a new report exploring the costs of private, public and hybrid cloud services, revealing that when a private cloud is large enough, it can actually be cheaper than public cloud services. There are, however, upsides and downsides to both approaches.

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Fintech is certainly mentioned a lot in business circles, but without a clear understanding of what the term actually means it risks becoming just another technology buzzword. Not only that, when you consider that investment in fintech had grown from $4.05 billion in 2013 to $12.2 billion by the start of 2015, it’s clearly something that is worth having an understanding of.

As a portmanteau of financial technology, it is hardly surprising that fintech refers to any kind of technology that relates to the financial sector. More specifically, however, the term has gained much greater traction in recent times due to the rapid adoption of the Internet, smartphones and mobile applications. So many aspects of our lives have been disrupted, enhanced and revolutionized by digital technologies, and the financial services sector is no different.

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After the continued difficulties and now recall of its Galaxy Note7 smartphone, Samsung has cut its third quarter profits forecast by $2.3 billion after issuing much higher figures only last week.

The company made the announcement that it would be cutting its profits forecast during a surprise regulatory filing after South Korea's financial markets had closed for the day. This week has been particularly bad for Samsung after it was forced to completely scrap the Galaxy Note7 as the replacement batteries it shipped to consumers were also prone to overheating and exploding.

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Market analyst company Gartner has issued a report that says that investment in big data is up, but fewer companies are actually planning on investing in this field. While 48 percent of companies have invested in big data in 2016, up three percent compared to the year before, the percentage those who plan on investing within the next two years is down from 31 to 25 per cent.

According to Paul Cant, EMEA head of enterprise solutions operation for BMC Software, businesses are giving up on big data because they failed to implement it properly and are not really reaping the benefits.

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MasterCard has just rolled out a new feature that should simplify online shopping, without making any compromises in security. The feature, called Identity Check Mobile, allows users to use biometrics like fingerprint scanning or facial recognition to verify their identity before making a purchase, eliminating the need for passwords or PIN codes.

At the moment, the technology is being introduced in 12 European countries: the UK, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Worldwide rollout is expected next year, although no specific dates have been given.

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In an attempt to improve its financial capabilities, IBM will acquire the Promontory Financial Group which will be integrated with its global business and will aid in training its Watson artificial intelligence (AI) platform. The company announced the acquisition on Thursday but it did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Promontory was founded by Eugene A. Ludwig, who is a former top banking regulator and a friend of of former President Bill Clinton from law school. The Washington firm became one of the leading financial organizations following the 2008 financial crisis. Promontory's current employees include many former financial regulators from across the globe, and it has advised numerous banks on regulatory matters.

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