News

Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics

August 13, 2020 13 Aug'20
Singapore firms struggle with RPA roll-outs

Almost three-quarters of Singapore business leaders say their organisations are facing difficulties in scaling up their implementations of robotic process automation
August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20
Police use of facial recognition found ‘unlawful’ in court

In a landmark decision, the Court of Appeal has ruled that South Wales Police’s facial recognition deployments breached human rights and data protection laws
August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20
UK lags in AI skills and AI project success

Global study by Microsoft shows that UK organisations have more artificial intelligence projects that deliver zero value than other countries
August 05, 2020 05 Aug'20
Five tips to lower S/4 Hana costs

With budgets being squeezed, how can organisations on SAP ECC reduce the cost of switching to S/4 Hana?

August 05, 2020 05 Aug'20
Home Office drops ‘racist’ visa algorithm

The Home Secretary has pledged to stop using an algorithmic decision-making system to assess visa applications after migrant welfare and technology justice groups challenged the tool for helping to create a hostile environment for migrants
August 05, 2020 05 Aug'20
Nokia to set up robotics lab at Indian Institute of Science

The Nokia Centre of Excellence for Networked Robotics will explore the use of drones, advanced communications and artificial intelligence in agriculture and industrial automation, among other applications
August 04, 2020 04 Aug'20
Police require radical reform to deal with 21st century challenges

Early findings from a major review of policing reveal forces are struggling to keep pace with the changing nature of crime
August 04, 2020 04 Aug'20
Nordic enterprises look for SAP price reductions as they navigate Covid-19

Businesses in the Nordics are using SAP Cloud Platform to address Covid-19 challenges and are also seeking price reductions
August 03, 2020 03 Aug'20
Private equity leads Nordic IT sector consolidation

Private equity firms and industrial giants are triggering mergers and acquisitions in the Nordic tech sector as investment slows amid the Covid-19 pandemic
July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20
ICO launches guidance on AI and data protection

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published guidance aimed at rendering the application of machine learning to data compliant with data protection principles

July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20
IFS CEO Darren Roos: Customer investment in cloud and digital has held up during Covid

Business applications supplier’s chief executive tells Computer Weekly that business has been surprisingly good during the coronavirus crisis
July 30, 2020 30 Jul'20
BASF partnership develops AI-powered smart mining

A collaboration with IntelliSense.io is being used to power AI-based optimisation of mining processes
July 28, 2020 28 Jul'20
Vector and AWS team up on ‘new energy platform’

New Zealand-based energy supplier Vector partners AWS to develop an IoT and analytics platform to speed up processing of smart meter data and to tailor products and pricing for customers
July 24, 2020 24 Jul'20
China doubles up on ‘new infrastructure’ investments

China is shoring up investments in cloud computing, datacentres and the internet of things, among other areas, to ready itself for the post-Covid-19 world
July 22, 2020 22 Jul'20
Inside Intel’s transition into an enterprise tech company

Computing giant Intel is pushing deeper into the enterprise with investments in data-centric and emerging technologies along with partnerships with local firms to develop new solutions
July 21, 2020 21 Jul'20
Santander consumer arm to automate further after Nordic project

Time and cost savings achieved by RPA pilot were high and customer experience improved, says bank
July 20, 2020 20 Jul'20
Businesses underestimate negative impact of bot traffic

Research from Netacea finds that although awareness of malicious bot activity is high, many are underestimating its true impact
July 17, 2020 17 Jul'20
How Australia is leading the charge in the Covid-19 fight

Researchers at the University of Queensland worked with IBM to develop a dashboard with machine-learning capabilities to analyse data for a global study on Covid-19 patients in intensive care
July 17, 2020 17 Jul'20
Unesco launches global consultation on AI ethics

The United Nations (UN) body opens up public consultation to help experts draft new global framework on artificial intelligence ethics
July 17, 2020 17 Jul'20
Government gives £24m boost to agricultural tech

Nine agricultural technology projects are receiving government funding to create more efficient food production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
July 16, 2020 16 Jul'20
NHS to use forecasting tool to manage post-crisis Covid-19 spread

A forecasting tool based on machine learning is to be used by the NHS to identify Covid-19 hot spots and manage post-crisis spread
July 16, 2020 16 Jul'20
Banks face fairness challenges as they commit to AI technology

Banks working with artificial intelligence technology face governance challenges to ensure AI-based decisions are fair and ethical
July 16, 2020 16 Jul'20
Ocado hired 300 tech workers over past six months

Online supermarket Ocado has hired a significant number of technology workers over the past six months to cope with coronavirus demand, it announced in its half-year results
July 15, 2020 15 Jul'20
NUS develops e-skin system in neuromorphic computing breakthrough

The National University of Singapore has developed an electronic skin system that could give robots and prosthetic devices a sense of touch
July 15, 2020 15 Jul'20
HSBC chooses AWS for public cloud business operations

HSBC will use a cloud platform from Amazon Web Services across its business operations to accelerate its public cloud use
July 09, 2020 09 Jul'20
Majority of security pros fed up with alert fatigue

A vast majority of security professionals say they experience alert fatigue, and 88% are facing challenges with their current SIEM setup, according to a report
July 09, 2020 09 Jul'20
Oracle fleshes out Cloud@Customer with public cloud services for use in customer datacentres

Oracle has enhanced its Cloud@Customer service with capabilities derived from its recent raft of public cloud datacentres
July 09, 2020 09 Jul'20
Clearview AI faces ICO investigation over facial recognition

Controversial company that scraped data from the public internet to build its facial recognition algorithm faces a joint UK-Australian investigation into its practices
July 08, 2020 08 Jul'20
Interview: Mayank Prakash, global consumer CIO, and Daljit Rehal, CDO, Centrica

Two of energy giant Centrica’s tech bosses talk to Computer Weekly about the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown and the importance of company culture, innovation and using technology to make life easier for customers
July 06, 2020 06 Jul'20
How Infor Nexus is helping to digitalise Asia’s supply chain

Infor’s Nexus unit has been supporting digitalisation efforts in Asia’s supply chain industry before the Covid-19 pandemic, which has accelerated adoption of cloud-based offerings in the region
July 03, 2020 03 Jul'20
Is digital art coming of age under Covid?

Israeli startup Niio is advancing a digital art platform comparable with Spotify. Is the digital medium for high art coming of age in these Covid times?
July 02, 2020 02 Jul'20
Telco edge to accompany 5G roll-outs in APAC

Pilot projects are underway in the Asia-Pacific to deploy telco edge infrastructure to support high-bandwidth, low-latency applications
July 01, 2020 01 Jul'20
CIO interview: Richard Gifford, CIO, Wincanton

Transforming legacy systems, making use of real-time data and exploring emerging technologies are high on the agenda for the logistics giant’s IT team
June 29, 2020 29 Jun'20
IHS Markit commits to three-year data and infrastructure migration to AWS cloud

Global market research firm will downsize its datacentres and shift more of its infrastructure and applications to the AWS public cloud
June 26, 2020 26 Jun'20
CBI: Government must take steps to drive SME business innovation

The coronavirus pandemic has shown how much can be achieved in a short period with a strong partnership between government and industry – and this needs to continue
June 25, 2020 25 Jun'20
CBI: UK needs an immigration and training rethink

For the UK to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, vast swathes of the population will need retraining – and overseas IT specialists will also be needed
June 25, 2020 25 Jun'20
Kia Motors partners with Google Cloud to bring motorists AI-based paperless car manuals

South Korean car manufacturer partners Google Cloud managed service provider Megazone to bring artificial intelligence-based app to market
June 24, 2020 24 Jun'20
Google opens Jakarta cloud region amid Indonesia’s booming digital economy

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai lends weight to online launch event, underscoring cloud supplier’s resolve to carve out a bigger slice of the country’s fast-growing public cloud market
June 23, 2020 23 Jun'20
Huawei to invest S$5m in Singapore to boost tech ecosystem

Huawei is pumping in S$5m this year to develop joint partner offerings in Singapore with a focus on artificial intelligence
June 22, 2020 22 Jun'20
Immigrants’ rights campaigners take Home Office to court over visa algorithm

Campaigners claim built-in algorithmic bias makes processing of visa applications ‘discriminatory’
June 19, 2020 19 Jun'20
Technology firms come under scrutiny for ties to law enforcement

Three major technology companies have committed to not selling facial-recognition tech to law enforcement, but remain silent on how other technologies can be used to fuel racial injustice and discriminatory policing
June 19, 2020 19 Jun'20
AI bias and privacy issues require more than clever tech

The new AI Barometer report from the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has assessed the threats and opportunities of artificial intelligence in the UK
June 17, 2020 17 Jun'20
HPE aims to hit right note for 5G with edge orchestrator

Tech firm says new release gives power back to telcos to offer value-added edge computing services such as AI-powered video analytics, industrial automation and VR retail services
June 17, 2020 17 Jun'20
Oracle full-year results: 1% revenue decline as Covid-19 bites

Oracle sees 1% decline in full year-on-year 2019-20 revenue, and a 6% drop in its fourth quarter, but takes comfort from OCI Zoom win in pandemic crisis
June 16, 2020 16 Jun'20
Sapphire 2020: Christian Klein steps back from products to push ‘intelligent enterprise’ resilience

Christian Klein used his first Sapphire keynote as CEO of SAP to underline the supplier’s support for supply chain resiliency and automation against Covid-19 pandemic and climate change backcloths
June 15, 2020 15 Jun'20
UK quantum technology projects get a £70m boost

Government is funding 38 projects, one-third of which are focused on quantum computing
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
UN secretary general calls for global digital cooperation

Antonio Guterres launches roadmap for digital cooperation and calls for world leaders to come together to “connect, respect and protect people in the digital age”
June 12, 2020 12 Jun'20
Coronavirus outbreak will speed up enterprise automation

Forrester calls for enterprises to automate with empathy as they deploy an increasing range of intelligent technologies to reduce their dependence on human labour
June 11, 2020 11 Jun'20
Amazon bans police use of its facial-recognition technology for a year

Tech giant claims it has been an advocate for stronger government regulation on the ethical use of facial recognition
June 11, 2020 11 Jun'20
How Tableau is riding on its Salesforce synergy

Tableau has bolstered its presence in Asia-Pacific following its acquisition by Salesforce and is combining its analytics capabilities with Einstein Analytics to deliver AI-powered insights
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
Dowden: AI and data science conversion path open and diverse

DCMS says 2,500 places on university artificial intelligence and data science conversion courses – 1,000 targeted to produce more diversity in tech – are now open for application
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
CogX 2020: Rethinking technological innovation

Innovation processes and relationships must be fundamentally restructured to bring in more stakeholders, and spread the benefits of technological change as far as possible
June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20
How Australian firms can defend against supply chain attacks

Supply chain security risks can wreak havoc if measures are not taken to deter cyber attackers from exploiting a supplier’s security gaps to target another firm
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
Covid-19 global co-ordination is off the mark, Tony Blair tells CogX

Former UK prime minister, now head of a global institute that advises governments, tells CogX attendees that global co-ordination to combat Covid-19 is far from where it needs to be
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
AS Roma to develop video tracking with Acronis AI expertise

Italian football club will get variable-price ticketing using artificial intelligence expertise to develop systems. It has also deployed Acronis cloud backup
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
Bankers say artificial intelligence will separate winners and losers

The application of artificial intelligence at banks will be the difference between the ones that succeed and the ones that fail in the coming years
June 09, 2020 09 Jun'20
Australia’s AGL to move most systems to Azure cloud

Energy supplier is moving more than 200 applications and most systems to Azure in a three-year deal with Microsoft
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
NHS Covid-19 datastore contracts published under pressure from privacy groups

The government has published the contracts with Palantir, Faculty, Microsoft and Google for the controversial NHS datastore ahead of court proceedings initiated by civil liberties organisation OpenDemocracy
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
Businesses develop apps quickly to manage disruption of Covid-19

Healthcare companies, insurers, government agencies and big tech companies have used technology from Pegasystems to develop apps to manage the disruption caused by coronavirus
June 05, 2020 05 Jun'20
CaixiaBank gets ready to modernise IT using IBM Cloud Pak

Spanish bank extends IBM relationship with the roll-out of Cloud Pak to modernise IT, which it says will allow it to innovate in quantum computing and blockchain
June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20
Why GovTech is building its own robotics stack

Singapore’s Government Technology Agency has developed a robotics technology stack that will power robots using capabilities from commercial suppliers and the open source community
June 03, 2020 03 Jun'20
Aston Martin swaps out legacy antivirus for AI-driven service

Luxury car manufacturer says the advent of artificial intelligence-powered services will revolutionise its security posture
June 02, 2020 02 Jun'20
How to succeed at site reliability engineering

Adoption of site reliability engineering is growing in Asia-Pacific, but organisations need to have the right organisational structure and culture to succeed
May 29, 2020 29 May'20
Salesforce Q1 2020: 30% growth, Benioff sees ‘new normal’ by 2021

Salesforce announces 30% year-on-year revenue growth for the first quarter, and displays Covid-19 crisis alleviation activities
May 29, 2020 29 May'20
UK fintech investment reaches record high

Huge increases in UK fintech investment over the past three years has seen the sector explode, but most of the activity is still concentrated in London
May 28, 2020 28 May'20
How AI can improve food safety

Fujitsu has developed a computer vision model that recognises hand washing gestures to ease the enforcement of stricter food handling rules in Japan
May 27, 2020 27 May'20
BCS calls for computer coding in scientific research to be more professional

BCS position paper finds the software coding practices of non-computer-science scientists to be insufficiently professional
May 22, 2020 22 May'20
Why businesses will need to make change the new normal

The lockdown is forcing organisations to change how they operate, and a new study has found that businesses are keen to use automation where possible
May 21, 2020 21 May'20
Facial-recognition suppliers race to identify hidden faces

The number of companies claiming to have developed facial-recognition tools that can identify masked faces has skyrocketed since the start of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic
May 21, 2020 21 May'20
How machine learning can bridge the communication gap

Amazon Web Services has developed a machine learning model to translate sign languages into text in a showcase of assistive technology
May 20, 2020 20 May'20
SAS seizes World Bee Day to promote analytics

Data analytics supplier SAS took the opportunity of World Bee Day to say it is decoding bee communication through machine learning, and generally promoting bee health
May 20, 2020 20 May'20
Microsoft Build 2020: Nadella praises developers for their work during pandemic

IT has played a key role in supporting people and businesses during the coronavirus lockdown
May 20, 2020 20 May'20
Build 2020: How Microsoft aims to build trust in artificial intelligence

Microsoft has outlined its toolset for making AI models explainable with the InterpretML and AboutML tools
May 20, 2020 20 May'20
Coronavirus: How CIOs can prepare for business recovery

Economic recovery will require business to work differently. CIOs may be asked to automate more and support high levels of remote working
May 19, 2020 19 May'20
Microsoft Build 2020: Focus on protecting data for AI development

Microsoft Build is always a vital event for developers across the IT industry. This year, Microsoft has expanded its AI emphasis
May 19, 2020 19 May'20
NHS trusts sign up to automation app store

Healthcare trusts extend relationships with automation supplier through access to a cloud-based marketplace of pre-baked automation
May 15, 2020 15 May'20
Rolls-Royce uses digital twins in Power Systems Customer 4.0 strategy

The Power Systems unit has begun using technology from Iotics to collect data points for engines in the field and build digital simulation models
May 15, 2020 15 May'20
Royal Berkshire NHS Trust uses AI to speed up stroke treatment

Trust has deployed an artificial intelligence app to help read and interpret scans so that clinicians can treat stroke patients better and more quickly
May 14, 2020 14 May'20
CenturyLink digitally revamps sales framework

The difficulty of navigating information silos during the sales process and high customer churn prompted CenturyLink to adopt new digital tools that get the right information to the right sellers
May 14, 2020 14 May'20
Coronavirus: Asos launches See My Fit to replace model photoshoots

Online fashion brand’s augmented reality technology enables customers to see how an outfit might look on them
May 13, 2020 13 May'20
COO interview: Suresh Viswanathan, TSB

TSB’s chief operating officer is overseeing the bank’s operations as it strives to build the right kind of IT reputation
May 13, 2020 13 May'20
Google-powered algorithm set to modernise insurance brokering

Algorithm, developed in conjunction with UCL, drives a Lloyd’s of London syndicate electronically
May 12, 2020 12 May'20
Coronavirus: Nationwide’s human expertise used to quickly build smart agent amid pandemic

Nationwide Building Society is the latest financial services company to quickly automate customer services related to Covid-19
May 12, 2020 12 May'20
Companies lose out as digital transformation costs skyrocket

Many projects fail to deliver because of other pressures on IT and the complexities of multicloud technology
May 12, 2020 12 May'20
Police failing to consult public on new technologies

A freedom of information campaign has revealed that UK police are largely failing to consult the public on their use of new technologies, with the potential to undermine the principle of policing by consent
May 12, 2020 12 May'20
Cobots: From Robbie to Armar-6

In science fiction, robots work alongside people. Ocado Technology recently unveiled Armar-6, a robot that takes this concept a step closer to reality
May 07, 2020 07 May'20
Privacy International to Palantir: We are watching you

Privacy International expresses a qualified welcome for Palantir’s responses to questions about its data integration role in the NHS Covid-19 data store, but continues to raise concerns
May 06, 2020 06 May'20
Pure Storage FlashBlade OS v3.0 brings protected snapshots

Pure also adds remote replication and aims at storage use cases for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads in its all-flash NAS and object nodes
May 06, 2020 06 May'20
Armar-6 shows how helper robots can work in Ocado warehouses

Collaborative robot is the result of the five-year SecondHands project with academia to develop a robot that can support human workers
May 05, 2020 05 May'20
Singapore to test 5G in Industry 4.0 trial

Trial, spearheaded by IMDA, IBM, Samsung and M1, will test the use of 5G, along with AI and IoT technologies, in manufacturing
May 05, 2020 05 May'20
Coronavirus: TSB develops smart agent to help staff during pandemic

TSB took just five days to design and implement a smart digital agent to answer customer questions during the Covid-19 pandemic
May 04, 2020 04 May'20
UK transport research body calls for safer in-vehicle technologies

Voice-controlled systems are the future of autonomous, according to TRL, whose recommendations follow a report into Apple CarPlay and Android Auto demanding improved standards in voice-activated infotainment systems
May 04, 2020 04 May'20
SAP S/4 Hana projects seem set to repeat security missteps

Management consultancy Turnkey’s managing director, Richard Hunt, cautions SAP customers not to repeat errors of the past by making security an expensive afterthought
May 04, 2020 04 May'20
Coronavirus: Using computer simulation to minimise cross-infection

The architects behind China’s largest makeshift hospital turned to computer simulation to model the airflow regulated by ventilation systems in a bid to minimise cross-infection
April 29, 2020 29 Apr'20
Privacy International puts Palantir in the dock for NHS data analysis work

Civil liberties campaigner questions role of US data analytics specialist in health service’s data work in battle against Covid-19
April 27, 2020 27 Apr'20
Funding released to support winners of coronavirus technology challenge

To help support the most vulnerable during the pandemic, NHSX and its partners are testing a range of digital solutions submitted as part of fast-track technology competition
April 24, 2020 24 Apr'20
Intel clean rooms work through lockdown

Intel has reported an increase in PC and datacentre processor sales, reflecting the shift to online and home schooling and working
April 23, 2020 23 Apr'20
Keeping coral reefs healthy with AI

Underwater video cameras equipped with artificial intelligence smarts have been deployed in the waters off Pangatalan island in the Philippines to track the barometers of coral reef health
April 22, 2020 22 Apr'20
How DBS is reaping the dividends of digital transformation

At DBS Bank, the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak has demonstrated the value of technology and the investments it made over the past decade to modernise its technology stack
April 21, 2020 21 Apr'20
Coronavirus: Leeds Building Society uses robots to cope with mortgage holiday demand

Building society initiates more automation software to cope with growing demand for mortgage deferrals