Drive Your Organization’s Digital Transformation with Citizen Developers and IT
According to a report from Gartner, market demand for mobile apps will outstrip IT’s organizations’ capacity to deliver them five to one by the end of this year. The use of low-to-no code platforms enable citizen developers to assist IT with the design and development of simple, task-based micro-apps that enable significant productivity and usability gains but, are not the most pressing nor require heavy lifting by IT.
Eight Considerations for Future Proofing Your Enterprise Mobility Strategy
A future proofed EMM strategy should enable organizations to connect users to the information and resources they need; protect data, applications, and networks; and transform how organizations support and manage mobile productivity. Here are eight considerations for building a future proofed mobility strategy.
Majority of Mobile Collaboration Firms Will Support Chatbots By End of 2017
More than half of mobile collaboration providers will support chatbots in their offerings by the end of 2017, according to new analysis from Aragon Research. The company evaluated 16 major mobile collaboration providers as part of its Tech Spectrum report on the topic, and found that while ‘several’ companies analysed already have chatbot capabilities more will follow before the year’s end.
Mind the Gap: Revenues Will Suffer If IT Remains Stretched
An ‘IT delivery’ gap is threatening to undermine business productivity unless organisations shape up, according to a new research report from app network platform provider MuleSoft. We’ve heard plenty about supposed skills gaps, yet according to the MuleSoft research only half of the more than 950 IT decision makers polled said they were able to deliver all projects asked of them last year, while 59 percent said business revenues will suffer within six months if the status quo is maintained.
A Steadier Approach to Digital Transformation in Financial Services
Banks, asset managers, wealth managers and insurers in Asia as elsewhere are pouring time and money into digital transformation projects. According to a survey by consultants PwC, 83 percent of financial services professionals globally, and 95 percent in banks, worry they will lose business to Fintech companies. On average they think almost a quarter of their business (23 percent) could be at risk.
How The CIO Role Has Been ‘Completely Transformed’ in Recent Years
One in three CIOs say their job role has been ‘completely transformed’ in recent years while another third say their job has become more important in their company’s hierarchy, according to a new piece of research from Bitdefender.
The Threats Associated with Enterprise Collaboration Apps
Using tools and technologies in the enterprise to collaborate and connect with employees and colleagues is not a new concept. But there is a new generation of collaboration apps that are getting smarter as chatbots rise in popularity. The ways in which businesses used to work are being seen as outdated, and more employees want to move to a new way of working. The problem, however, is the collaboration app a business chooses, or how they implement it can lead to unwanted security threats.
AppRiver Security Report Finds Ransomware Most Prevalent Cyber-Threat
Each year, security firm AppRiver releases a report detailing the good and bad in the security industry. But the 2017 Global Security Report is sobering. AppRiver assessed the threats facing businesses and consumers around the globe concluded that most of the trends that impacted people in 2016 are still posing problems in 2017. Ransomware was one of the most serious threats in 2016 and will remain so this year. Enterprises and individuals were victimized by sophisticated hackers targeting internet of things devices.
IBM Launches Machine Learning for Z System Mainframes
IBM has launched a new product that should fit in nicely with its Watson artificial intelligence service inside a mainframe-based private cloud environment: IBM Machine Learning. The company describes this as the “first cognitive platform for continuously creating, training and deploying a high volume of analytic models in the private cloud at the source of vast corporate data stores.”
Many Local Authorities Lagging Behind on BYOD
Almost half of local authorities in England do not have a bring your own device policy in place, according to new research from Annodata. The managed service provider submitted a freedom of information request to 79 council districts from all regions in England, and found 42 percent do not have BYOD implementation.
Google Announces General Availability of Cloud Endpoints
Developers creating applications and microservices for the Google Cloud Platform now have a new way to monitor, manage and secure their cloud Application Programming Interfaces. The company has announced general availability of Google Cloud Endpoints, an Application Programming Interface management suite for cloud services customers. The technology features a server-local proxy dubbed the Extensible Service Proxy, which acts as a distributed gateway for managing APIs on any Google cloud backend.
HPE Expands Big Data and IoT Security Capabilities
Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced new security capabilities at the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week to help protect big data and internet of things workloads as well as a new tool to help investigate threats.
Apple to Mark Smartphone Anniversary with ‘iPhone X’ Premium Handset
The market rumors about the next iPhone is beginning to coalesce. It’s now pretty certain that there will be three new iPhone models, including a premium device designed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. The other two models are expected to be the usual update of features included in the iPhone 7.
Custom Enterprise Apps Posing Shadow Cloud Threats: CSA
Companies run around 70 percent of business-critical applications on an average day. But while almost 50 percent of custom software programs – often called shadow cloud applications – that are unknown to IT departments [and are in the public or hybrid cloud] are posing threats to organizations as IT security teams are only aware of a fraction of those apps.
Google Home Taps Google Express Delivery Network for Home Shopping
Google has added shopping support to its Google Home connected speaker that rivals Amazon Echo. Google Home users will now be able to order from select stores, with their voice, through Google Express. Saying “Ok Google, order paper towels,” would result in Google Assistant placing an order for you, and a Google Express courier delivering the item same-day.
Seven Ways MDM Threatens Employee Privacy
Mobile Device Management is a technology that enables organizations to control every aspect of a mobile device, from permitted apps to outbound communications. But with that complete control comes the potential for abuse. To understand the extent to which MDM solutions could monitor and control BYOD devices, the Bitglass research team installed MDM software on several employees’ personal mobile devices with their permission. The outcome? Complete visibility into employees’ activities, personal interests and more at the click of a button.
IBM, Visa Partner to Make the Internet of Things Commerce Friendly
IBM and Visa envision a world where things will be trusted to conduct commerce for you. Welcome to the intersection of the Internet of things and commerce. Visa and IBM are forming a partnership that will connect the credit card company’s token technology and the Watson IoT platform. While this partnership isn’t yielding customer facing technology yet, both companies see new business models emerging. Visa powers 60 percent of the world’s payments.
SAP Harnesses The Cloud for Intelligent ERP ‘Copilots’
SAP recently updated its S/4HANA Cloud business application suite with an array of new intelligent software capabilities that the German software maker is betting will help organizations make smarter business decisions while their users spend less time pouring over enterprise resource planning data.
CIO Jury: More Than Half of CIOs Have No Formal Digital Transformation Plan
Despite evidence that digital initiatives can improve business outcomes, many companies still choose not to implement a formal, enterprise-wide digital transformation plan, according to a recent TechRepublic’s CIO Jury poll. When asked “Does your company have a formal digital transformation plan?”, seven tech leaders said no, while five said yes.
Why Digital Transformation Projects Fail
A recent survey by Forrester Consulting reveals that more than 60 percent of all digital experience transformations do not succeed. An even worse stat by Consultancy.UK pegs the shocking failure rate at two thirds.
Digital Transformation is a Marathon, Not a Sprint
Over the past 12-18 months, many organizations have initiated digital transformation strategies and are beginning to enjoy financial and business benefits. But it is a long journey, and others early in the process are still asking key questions around processes, business models and technology strategies. “Business leaders who are paying attention, understand digital transformation is poised to usher in a new era of convenience, affordability, and responsiveness,” says Jim Love, CIO of IT World Canada, “but for businesses that fail to embrace its promises, the possibility for significant disruption is real.”
Cloud and Blockchain to Drive Digital Transformation
Cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data analytics, blockchain and artificial intelligence will be five digital technology trends affecting enterprise transformation in Thailand this year, says a major software firm. “Thailand has Asia-Pacific’s second-highest growth rate for Microsoft cloud service adoption, in part because of the country’s digital infrastructure readiness and companies driving towards digital transformation,” said Orapong Thien-Ngern, general manager of Microsoft (Thailand), the local operating unit of US software maker Microsoft.
Gartner Smartphone Study Finds Device Sales Competition Heating Up
The smartphone market is growing and becoming more competitive. That’s the major takeaway from research firm Gartner’s latest report on worldwide smartphone sales for both the 2016 fourth quarter and calendar year. Gartner, which released its findings Feb. 15, reported that the smartphone market’s overall sales were up 5 percent in 2016 and 7 percent in the fourth quarter.
Forrester: Virtual Reality Isn’t Ready for Marketing Yet
For all the talk about virtual reality and how it can change the face of marketing, a new report from Forrester Research concluded that using virtual reality simply isn’t suited for marketing. The reason? Consumers aren’t ready for it – yet.
‘Unbounded IT’ Draws on Internal, External Resources
The enterprise must become more flexible and agile as the digital economy pushes out repeated waves of business change. Making IT part of that kinetic enterprise is no small task. Deloitte Consulting, in its eighth annual report on tech trends, outlined the ways an IT organization will have to change to keep up.
Why Digitization Requires a New IT Operating Model
Digitization offers IT teams unprecedented opportunities to create value by becoming digital change agents for the enterprise, but the way most IT teams operate cannot support this ambition. As technology becomes central to company strategy and growth, IT teams face faster business change and rising volatility in demand, and they must rethink how they respond to technology spending outside of IT.
