In Depth

In Depth

Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics

• How to deploy NVMe flash storage for artificial intelligence

  We run the rule over NVMe flash as a storage choice for AI applications and the key decision points in form factor and hardware specification  Continue Reading

• APAC buyer’s guide to human capital management software

  More Asia-Pacific organisations are turning to HCM software to recruit, engage and retain a new breed of employees who increasingly expect personalised services from HR teams  Continue Reading

• A tale of two smart cities: Manchester and Australia’s Casey

  How local government needs to focus on immediate returns, not pie in the sky, for a smart city agenda  Continue Reading

• How tech leads local government innovation in Vienna, Helsinki and Belfast

  Digital leaders in the cities of Vienna, Helsinki and Belfast are innovating new services to help citizens and local economies  Continue Reading

• Universities use data analytics to tackle student mental health

  UK universities turn to data analytics software to tackle student mental health. Are there duty of care lessons for other sectors?  Continue Reading

• Forward-thinking companies are listening to employees

  Technologies and programmes amplifying employees’ voices gain interest among companies keen to keep staff loyal and motivated  Continue Reading

• Rise of the machines: How AI is changing unified communications

  Artificial intelligence is now moving into live UC environments at scale. We look at the impact it will have and what lies ahead  Continue Reading

• AI storage: Machine learning, deep learning and storage needs

  Artificial intelligence workloads impact storage, with NVMe flash needed for GPU processing at the highest levels of performance – and there are other choices right through the AI data lifecycle  Continue Reading

• Oracle and The World Bee Project expand partnership following trials

  Trials of ‘smart hive’ technology have enabled The World Bee Project to collect billions of data points about the health and activity of honey bees, for scientific research and conservation efforts  Continue Reading

• Convenience, digitisation and the impact on the physical store

  Digital technologies and the need for convenience have changed the way consumers shop, but what will this mean for the purpose and size of physical stores?  Continue Reading

• How retail store technology is filling the ‘imagination gap’

  Retailers are using in-store technology to reduce the time between shoppers’ consideration phase and purchase, but how is it engaging them and triggering conversions?  Continue Reading

• Skills, digital and the manufacturing sector

  Manufacturing still accounts for a large amount of the UK economy, and when it comes to the fourth industrial revolution, the UK has aspirations to be a world leader – but does it have the digital know-how to back it up?  Continue Reading

• Norway’s autonomous ships point to new horizons

  Norway is a pioneer in the autonomisation of shipping, which conveys environmental benefits as well as efficiency gains – but human mariners are likely to stay on board for a while yet  Continue Reading

• APAC buyer’s guide to NVMe storage

  NVMe storage is becoming popular among Asia-Pacific enterprises that want to reduce latency and speed up application performance  Continue Reading

• How DataOps helps organisations make better decisions

  DataOps is helping organisations to accelerate the time it takes to derive value from the data they collect  Continue Reading

• Silicon Valley startups look to plug gaps in data value chain

  A group of California-based startups and early-stage data management companies are promising CIOs ways to plug gaps in the data-to-insight value chain  Continue Reading

• How modern business intelligence shapes up to big data

  Business intelligence and analytics strategies have evolved in recent years in the face of big data. Here, we get a supplier CEO perspective, some analyst counsel, and testimony from Nationwide, Schroders and King  Continue Reading

• How to find a much sought-after data scientist

  Every organisation seems to be hunting for a data scientist, but securing the right people with the right skills is a challenge  Continue Reading

• Futuristic logistics: retailers focused on rapid delivery

  From Asos Instant to Ocado Zoom, and a host of new services in between, rapid delivery is gaining traction in UK retail in an attempt to meet customer demand  Continue Reading

• Is it too soon for AI in the education landscape?

  This year saw education secretary Damian Hinds call for more tech in schools to help reduce teacher workload, but are schools ready, and how do we fix the pressing issues faced by UK education?  Continue Reading

• Can work allocation algorithms play fair?

  Allocating work by algorithm might have advantages for workers as well as employers. Can it be done fairly and with respect for “human capital”?  Continue Reading

• Inside the AI developer’s toolbox

  With so much artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning in development, we look at the kit programmers might find useful in their AI toolbox  Continue Reading

• West Midlands Police turns to predictive analytics

  Force is developing a system to identify potential perpetrators of violent crime and aims to target resources – but how viable is the system and what are the challenges?  Continue Reading

• The nightmare driving test: How to make sure self-driving cars are safe

  Simulating realistic environments using deep learning to enable self-driving cars to learn the rules of the road will prove more useful than any amount of real-world practice. We find out why, and meet the people doing something about it  Continue Reading

• Compute strategies for AI applications

  Devising compute strategies for AI applications can be challenging. Find out about the hardware, network and software frameworks available  Continue Reading

• Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky talks strategy

  Tableau’s CEO, Adam Selipsky, talks strategy and business intelligence trends with Computer Weekly. He asserts enterprise relevance for Tableau, predicts BI tools consolidation and a ubiquitous user base for analytics  Continue Reading

• Where next for AI? Understanding business use cases

  IT leaders share their views on artificial intelligence and how to take advantage of the technology to benefit their businesses  Continue Reading

• Interview: Andy Berks, digital product director, Asos

  Asos’s digital product director Andy Berks talks about how the online retailer has used AI and machine learning technologies – and why the needs of the customer have to come first  Continue Reading

• Time for a truce in IT’s battle with RPA

  Lack of governance and limited resources have put IT departments at loggerheads with business-led robotic process automation. But RPA and IT teams can help each other out – if they play nice  Continue Reading

• Managing digital change: The CIO challenge for 2019

  As technology changes have an increasing impact on organisations, 2019 is the year when CIOs must adapt their teams to better manage digital disruption and business innovation  Continue Reading

• Amazon AI debacle won’t stop adoption for recruitment

  The sexist artificial intelligence recruitment debacle at Amazon should prove a blip as the technology gains ground in and for human resources departments  Continue Reading

• Automation key to unravelling mysteries of the universe at CERN

  How CERN is using enterprise asset management from Infor and ramping up the automation of its IT services to plumb the depths of the universe  Continue Reading

• Antisocial media and AI in play at Oxford Science and Ideas Festival

  Facebook and other forms of social media were discussed at two linked events at the Oxford Science and Ideas Festival, alongside artificial intelligence and how it might augment humanity  Continue Reading

• IBM pushes boundaries of AI, but insists companies take an ethical approach

  Researchers at IBM are pushing the boundaries of what artificial intelligence and machine learning can do, but remain wary of the ethical implications that accompany the proliferation of this technology  Continue Reading

• A new era of collaboration for the NHS

  Great Ormond Street Hospital's new research and innovation unit, Drive, marks a significant shift towards greater collaboration between NHS organisations and third-party industry partners  Continue Reading

• Executive interview: Sebastian Krause, general manager, IBM Cloud Europe

  IBM Cloud Europe general manager Sebastian Krause opens up about Big Blue's big bets on hybrid cloud, enterprise IT and why the public cloud market is not one it is interested in playing in  Continue Reading

• Trust and openness vital to get benefits from supply chain automation

  Supply chain automation is benefiting from new technological developments, such as blockchain, 5G and machine learning – as companies such as Maersk, Opel and Nestlé are proving  Continue Reading

• Shell CTO Yuri Sebregts talks about using AI to amplify the human impact of its workforce

  Digital transformation is a multi-decade process for Shell, with artificial intelligence presenting the oil and gas giant with new opportunities to ramp up the productivity of its workforce, its CTO explains  Continue Reading

• Intelligent automation and the WAN: Is SD-WAN moving mainstream?

  Take-up of software-defined networking in corporates is slower than expected. Where have we reached on the journey to software-controlled networks – and SD-WAN in particular – becoming the norm?  Continue Reading

• Doorstep challenge: How retailers are innovating on delivery and fulfilment

  Every retailer selling online in 2018 needs great shipping options for customers who have got used to an expanding list of choices. How are some retailers developing the proposition, and where does technology fit into the equation?  Continue Reading

• How is Google taking on Microsoft Office in retail?

  Carrefour represents a big-name contract win for Google’s G Suite, but will Microsoft Office still be dominant across retail?  Continue Reading

• The use cases, challenges and benefits behind retail AI

  Retailers have been collecting customer data for years, and with AI technology now available to help them use it effectively, they’re jumping at the chance – but what challenges lie ahead?  Continue Reading

• Nigel Shadbolt on why the UK is well placed to lead on the ethics of AI

  Nigel Shadbolt, principal of Jesus College, Oxford and co-founder of the Open Data Institute, underscores the ethics of artificial intelligence, and says it will shape the naked ape as tools always have  Continue Reading

• Interview: Dame Stephanie ‘Steve’ Shirley: 'Scared silly' by Brexit

  Renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Shirley talks robots teaching children, and why Brexit has her “scared silly”  Continue Reading

• Future tech cannot be ‘defined by a particular population’, says CA executive

  As new technologies are developed, companies could take the opportunity to hire more diversely to ensure offerings cater to a wider demographic  Continue Reading

• Streamline infrastructure management through robotic automation

  Robotic automation is changing the infrastructure management game, helping IT departments make fewer mistakes and boost their productivity  Continue Reading

• Enhance efficiency by automating IT services

  We look at the role of artificial intelligence and chatbots in IT service management  Continue Reading

• Why AI must move beyond pattern-matching

  Artificial intelligence and deep learning have revolutionised applications such as computer vision, but more complex problems require a different approach  Continue Reading

• Let automation take away the tedium

  Computer Weekly looks at how far the suppliers of systems management tools and associated products have progressed with automation  Continue Reading

• Manufacturers, technology and the fourth industrial revolution

  A look at some of the innovations and technology investment focus areas for today’s manufacturing industry  Continue Reading

• Ethical AI requires collaboration and framework development

  Countries and companies are attending to the ethics of artificial intelligence technology use. Such efforts need to be collectively determined to result in solid frameworks  Continue Reading

• IPsoft’s digital worker is part of a shift in human productivity

  IPsoft used its annual user summit to allow customers to update themselves on the career of its cognitive digital agent Amelia  Continue Reading

• Canada’s tech sector is targeting Europe – does it have what it takes to compete?

  Following its free-trade agreement with the EU – and the contrast with its noisy neighbour – Canada is promoting its tech sector to European IT buyers. We take a look at what CIOs can expect  Continue Reading

• AI elevates predictive maintenance for Kone and ThyssenKrupp

  Kone and ThyssenKrupp are using artificial intelligence to improve predictive maintenance of their lifts and escalators  Continue Reading

• How artificial intelligence is fuelling engine maintenance innovation at Rolls-Royce

  The engine maker has established an innovation centre to enable the company to deliver analytics and artificial intelligence-powered services to airlines using Rolls-Royce engines  Continue Reading

• CW500: The advent of AI

  For better or worse, artificial intelligence is one of the most talked-about technologies today, and it is here to stay. The latest CW500 Club investigated what AI actually is and the opportunities it can offer  Continue Reading

• Chatbots demonstrate unexpected range of uses, from mental health to education

  Chatbots, software that uses normal language to communicate with people through text or voice, are proving their value in a surprising variety of ways – from accountancy support to mental health  Continue Reading

• Enterprise accessibility: How Cray is using HPC to open up AI use cases from the datacentre

  Enterprises interest in HPC is reportedly being fuelled by the rising demand for artificial intelligence-based applications and services, and Cray is one of a number of providers looking to cash in  Continue Reading

• Siemens success sets the scene for growth in process mining

  German industrial conglomerate Siemens has turned to process mining to reveal inefficiencies in the way it pays suppliers, organises logistics and runs order-to-cash processes  Continue Reading

• Silicon Valley startups pitch in to the remaking of corporate IT

  Enterprise IT is being remade by DevOps, cloud, containerisation and the incursion of AI. We look at one group of Silicon Valley-based suppliers attacking different vectors of new model IT  Continue Reading

• How artificial intelligence can aid and replace higher order human creativity

  Much is made of AI augmenting human intelligence with simple automation, but might higher order human creativity go the same way?  Continue Reading

• Assessing the disparate initiatives tackling the UK’s technology skills gap

  As the UK’s skills gap widens, initiatives aim to ensure the population has the skills needed for roles now and in the future, but are these disparate efforts helping or hindering the cause?  Continue Reading

• Customer analytics applications add artificial intelligence to reduce market ‘friction’

  Customer analytics applications developers are seeking to add layers of intelligence to improve sellers’ interactions with buyers  Continue Reading

• Machines delve deep into customer minds

  Deep learning can help customer insight teams advance rapidly in their mission to understand their customers  Continue Reading

• What are the retail jobs that don’t exist yet?

  As in many industries, technology and new consumer behaviour is changing the shape of retail. But what yet-to-be-created jobs are on the horizon for the sector?  Continue Reading

• Data Lab CEO Gillian Docherty on how data can boost Scottish economy

  Gillian Docherty, CEO of The Data Lab, outlines the organisation’s mission to turn analytics and artificial intelligence to benefit Scotland’s economy  Continue Reading

• How AI will underpin cyber security in the next few years

  Cyber security risks are growing in complexity and volume, but artificial intelligence techniques can help businesses track and fight them in real time  Continue Reading

• Are you human? How to defeat the bots in e-commerce

  Theatres and other entertainment venues are in a constant war with ticket fraudsters commanding botnet armies, as are other purveyors of high-value, limited-edition goods  Continue Reading

• Shell downstream CIO Craig Walker: Invest time in your team

  Craig Walker, CIO for Shell’s global downstream business, says IT leaders need to invest time in their teams and take them and the business on any change journey  Continue Reading

• Smart speakers open new windows into customer behaviour for CRM

  Voice recognition has become a new frontier for customer relationship management. What does the new voice channel mean for understanding consumers and how will voice data integrate with existing customer intelligence?  Continue Reading

• How Southeast Asia is keeping pace with AI

  Forward-looking organisations in the region are embracing artificial intelligence, but uneven access to connectivity and a lack of skills and understanding of the technology are holding back wider adoption  Continue Reading

• The death of the mainframe is greatly exaggerated, says CA

  With mainframe software tools forming a key part of its overall growth strategy, CA Technologies remains proud of its mainframe heritage  Continue Reading

• Is the Budget enough to drive post-Brexit success for UK?

  The chancellor has delivered an innovation and technology-laden Budget, but has it eased the tech industry’s fears about Brexit?  Continue Reading

• ASEAN firms warming up to enterprise mobility amid roadblocks

  From startups to postal companies, organisations across the ASEAN region see mobility as strategic to their businesses, even as they face headwinds such as security and talent shortages  Continue Reading

• Brexit uncertainty dominates UK’s digital conversation

  Uncertainty over the impact of Brexit dominated conversations at TechUK’s second annual Supercharging the Digital Economy event. Can technology really lessen the impact?  Continue Reading

• Digital twins: Revolutionising product businesses

  Among the technological drivers in industrial firms are IoT platforms that implement the concept of a digital twin. We explore the benefits  Continue Reading

• Gitex 2017: How can blockchain make you a happier person?

  An initiative underway at Avaya hopes to use blockchain networks to help make the citizens of Dubai happy  Continue Reading

• Is artificial intelligence hype sowing damaging confusion?

  IT vendors have leapt on the artificial intelligence/machine learning bandwagon, spreading a level of confusion that threatens potential technology benefits with AI washing  Continue Reading

• Ethical software development: Ask Uber and Volkswagen

  Following TfL's decision against Uber, we investigate the role of professionalism and ethics in software development  Continue Reading

• What is intent-based networking, and what can it do for your business?

  Beyond the marketing hype, does intent-based networking mean anything, and can it improve how your infrastructure runs?  Continue Reading

• SAS CEO Jim Goodnight: Today’s AI turbo-charged with MPP

  SAS co-founder and CEO Jim Goodnight says the value of the vogue for artificial intelligence lies in massively parallel computing, as well as cheaper storage  Continue Reading

• How AI can aid, not replace, humans in recruitment

  Artificial intelligence is gaining prominence in a number of industries and brings advantages and disadvantages in the field of recruitment  Continue Reading

• Donald Farmer: Why business models are ideological

  Donald Farmer is a well-respected figure in data analytics, with significant spells at Microsoft and Qlik. He is turning his mind to the ideologies that determine the character of companies  Continue Reading

• The correlation between creativity, diversity and the future tech workforce

  Many believe the UK computing curriculum should put more emphasis on creativity to prepare young people for an automated future  Continue Reading

• Staying ahead in the cyber arms race

  Darktrace’s Asia-Pacific managing director, Sanjay Aurora, offers insights on what organisations can do to reverse the odds against them in combatting cyber threats  Continue Reading

• Automated decision making shows worrying signs of limitation

  AI and data-driven decision making projects need to be handled with care – worrying limitations revealed in the law and healthcare  Continue Reading

• How logic games have advanced AI thinking

  Pitting a chess computer against a chess champion used to be the end goal for machine intelligence. We explore how game play has improved artificial intelligence  Continue Reading

• Data management: What does the future hold?

  We explore how firms are replacing transactional database management systems with new database architectures  Continue Reading

• Blockchain no longer held to ransom as business adoption increases

  The blockchain digital ledger technology that came to prominence with bitcoin is beginning to find uses in and beyond finance, including for urban cycling scheme Buzzbike  Continue Reading

• MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor speaks about ‘expanding universe’ of BI

  Co-founder and CEO of MicroStrategy takes the long view on business intelligence and sees its universe expanding with mobile technologies  Continue Reading

• Retailers urged to change approach to demand forecasting

  To achieve optimal fulfilment performance, retailers must now forecast how consumers will shop and understand the influences behind purchasing decisions  Continue Reading

• Virtual reality as a healthcare tool

  Virtual reality is being used as a treatment tool across healthcare, tackling issues such as mental health, phobias and chronic pain management  Continue Reading

• Business applications embrace IoT, blockchain to face future

  Next-generation ERP systems could intersect with IoT, blockchain and smart contracts to drive a new wave of automation aimed at operational efficiency  Continue Reading

• How will automation affect the IT skills gap?

  According to research, automation is putting some job roles at risk, but could it also be the answer to the growing IT skills gap?  Continue Reading

• Users should stay grounded while ERP suppliers take to the cloud

  User organisations are advised to keep their heads while suppliers show signs of cloud intoxication  Continue Reading

• Blockchain starts to prove its value outside of finance

  Technology behind bitcoin is being adopted in supply chains, power networks and even to support independent musicians  Continue Reading

• AI automation starts to transform legal profession

  Artificial intelligence and automation are making inroads into legal work, but are more likely to support than displace lawyers and will draw IT more into legal service delivery  Continue Reading

• The rise of the machines

  Artificial intelligence in various forms is not a panacea for every problem, but it can help enterprises fend off cyber attacks and get better at what they do  Continue Reading

• Silicon Valley startups aim to make big data capture and prep slicker

  A group of California-based startup and early-stage data analytics and management companies are bidding to make big data, including sensor data, more tractable for analysis  Continue Reading

• APAC banks warming up to big data

  Financial institutions in the APAC region fear they may be left behind if they don’t embrace big data  Continue Reading