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Enterprise Mobility Bytes | Week of January 15 – 21, 2018
451 Research Shines Light On Enterprise Attitudes Towards Digital Transformation
Enterprises are fast approaching a tipping point in their digital transformation journeys where their technology investments offer them a competitive edge, rather than just supporting their day-to-day operations. That’s according to 451 Research’s inaugural Voice of the enterprise: digital pulse survey, which flags several emerging technology areas organizations are looking to embrace over the coming year, including business intelligence (BI), machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI) and big data.
Alexa For Business Likely To Win In Smart Office
Alexa, start my conference call.” “Alexa, turn off the lights in the office at 7 p.m.” “Alexa, schedule this room for 1 p.m.” These commands are coming to an office near you via an Amazon Web Services Alexa for Business playbook that includes a bit of developer democratization and Apple’s well-worn consumerization approach. Amazon has carpet-bombed your home with Alexa-powered Echo devices and now this inexpensive hardware will be landing at an office near you.
Office 365: Enterprise Usage Doesn’t Translate Into Enterprise Value
Although enterprise subscribers to Office 365 typically use a large number of the in-the-cloud-and-on-premises suite’s components, only two – email and the Office applications – provide significant value, a recently-released survey showed. The disconnect between usage and value was portrayed by research firm Gartner, which in mid-2017 polled more than 160 IT professionals to collect opinions on Office 365 in the enterprise.
Pros And Cons Of A Multi-Factor Authentication Mobile App
Multi-factor authentication is essential for any enterprise app that stores, processes or accesses sensitive corporate data or personally identifiable information — but its adoption comes with challenges that are well beyond those that accompany a username/password approach.
Gartner Sees IT Spending Hitting $3.7T In 2018, Led By Blockchain, AI, IoT
Global information technology spending will reach $3.7 trillion in 2018, up 4.5 percent from 2017, as Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain drive growth, according to Gartner. Gartner noted that there’s a good bit of uncertainty for 2018 including Brexit, currency issues, and politics, but businesses are going to invest in IT to drive revenue growth.
Cyber-Attacks Are A Top Three Risk To Society
Nations’ reliance on the internet and connected services means the potential damage from cyber-attacks is one of the biggest risks facing the world today, according to a report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). The threat of cyber-attacks and cyberwarfare sits behind only extreme weather events and natural disasters in terms of events likely to cause disruption in the next five years, according to the WEF’s Global Risks Report 2018.
Interest In New iPhones Nears Historic Lows In New Cowen Survey
Touted as the “future of the smartphone,” Apple’s iPhone X doesn’t appear to be sparking the kind of interest among consumers that the company’s products once did. A new survey by Wall Street research firm Cowen found that the number of current U.S. iPhone owners planning to buy a new iPhone “was near the lowest levels since conducting our survey.”
What Is The IoT? Everything You Need To Know
The Internet of Things, or IoT, refers to billions of physical devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, collecting and sharing data. Thanks to cheap processors and wireless networks, it’s possible to turn anything, from a pill to an aeroplane, into part of the IoT. This adds a level of digital intelligence to devices that would be otherwise dumb, enabling them to communicate without a human being involved, and merging the digital and physical worlds.
How Apple Developer Enterprise License Works
Apple’s growing enterprise position may not have engaged hearts and minds across the entire company – yet – but it is clearly a booming business for the company. This momentum behind this scheme is to make it possible for enterprise users to create and securely distribute/deploy apps for internal use. These could be meeting room finders, intranet services or whatever your enterprise needs to build and use.
IBM, Salesforce Expand AI Partnership For Deeper Customer Insights
IBM and Salesforce has announced an expansion of their strategic partnership that brings more data integration to companies so they can better interact with customers. Under the extended partnership, IBM will build a Watson app for Salesforce’s Quip Live Apps, launching AI tools on the collaborative document platform.
Microsoft Updates Dynamics 365 For Retail Store Productivity
Microsoft has updated its Dynamics 365 for Retail, offering customers new ways to track inventory, fill orders and keep sales associates in the loop. During NRF 2018, the National Retail Federation’s conference in New York City Jan. 14-16, Microsoft, showed off some of the new features the software maker has baked into its cloud-enabled business software and services suite for retailers. Among them are new associate productivity components that alerts brick-and-mortar store employees of changes that affect their workday or the customer experience.
Forrester Forecasts Five Percent Growth In Global Tech Market Over Next Two Years
Forrester projects that the global tech market for business and government purchases of technology goods, software, and services will grow by around 5 percent in 2018 and 2019 (subscription required) measured in constant currencies. Measured in US dollars, tech market growth will be stronger in 2018 at 6 percent due to a slightly weaker US dollar, then slow to 4.6 percent growth in 2019. The updated constant-currency forecast for 2018 is a percentage point stronger than prior forecasts, with 2016 and 2017 forecasts also higher due to better economic growth around the world.
Apple Says $350 Billion In Business Spending To Boost U.S. Economy
Apple says it’s preparing to launch a massive business investment program that promises to make the company bigger than ever and become an even more powerful force in consumer and enterprise information technology. This is going to happen because Apple announced that the company is planning business investments that will contribute more than $350 billion to the U.S. economy over the next five years.
Google Offers Up IT Support Certificates
Google has launched an education program aimed at preparing people with no prior experience for roles in IT support. The Google IT Support Professional Certificate is an online program hosted on Coursera, and forms part of the company’s Grow with Google initiative, which is focused on helping people get the skills they need to find a job.
Amazons Adds Voice Control To Alexa App For Android
Amazon is adding full voice commands to its Alexa app for Android. Previously, the app only linked hardware like the Echo and allowed users to manage Alexa skills. When the update is available, users will now be able to use the “Alexa” hot word to access to-do lists, news, weather, and other real time information, Android Police first reported. The voice assistant can also control smart devices, which we saw plenty of at CES 2018.
Slack Debuts Private Shared Channels
Slack is rolling out an update to its shared channels feature that aims to make it more useful for businesses dealing with confidential or classified content. First launched in beta back in September, shared channels makes it easier to connect collaborators from two separate organizations, creating a common space for both sides to use Slack’s communication platform. Recently, Slack is introducing private shared channels, and as the name suggests, the new functionality lets users keep certain conversations out of public view.
AI, Blockchain, VR Strongest Drivers Of Digital Transformation In Enterprise
Artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are driving digital transformation the most, according to new CompTIA research. While not all at the same pace, AI, blockchain, and VR/AR are taking on more prominent roles as more businesses shift or boost their digital operations. According to a survey of 700 business professionals, 43 percent say blockchain is currently making the biggest impact.
Microsoft Power BI Desktop Hides Analytics Pages Under Development
Microsoft has released a bevy of new updates to Power BI Desktop for January 2018. Power BI Desktop is the companion desktop authoring software to the company’s cloud-based business intelligence and analytics platform. The updates include new reporting functionality, including the ability to hide or show pages within a Power BI report. This option comes in handy while sharing a report that is still in progress or preventing users from directly accessing a page unless they find it using the navigational structure set by the author, stated Microsoft Power BI program manager Amanda Cofsky in a blog post.
WhatsApp Officially Launches Its App For Businesses In Select Markets
WhatsApp has officially launched its new WhatsApp Business app in select markets, including Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S., ahead of its planned worldwide rollout. The addition of business profiles and new messaging tools aimed at business customers is part of the company’s broader plan to generate revenue by charging larger enterprises for advanced tools to communicate with customers on the platform now used by over a billion people worldwide.
BSA: Digital Transformation Requires New Framework For Digital Trade
Today’s digital economy calls for a well-constructed and modern trade agreement that includes truly 21st century obligations that drive job creation, competitiveness and innovation, says BSA – The Software Alliance. In a paper entitled Modernizing Digital Trade: An Agenda for Software, the software industry alliance body said: “Data has transformed commerce for businesses of all sizes, from small entrepreneurial companies to large manufacturers. The software we rely upon depends on the rapid and seamless movement of data across borders.”
Telstra CIO: Customer Experience Leads The Digital Transformation
Telstra’s digital transformation is more about enabling its teams to continually make changes to improve customer experience by using the agile methodology than it is about a single IT project, Telstra CIO John Romano has told ZDNet. According to Romano, there are three key elements underpinning Telstra’s digitization: Improving customer experience or the experience of those providing customer service; building this on a digital platform; and delivering these in an agile way.