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Business applications

November 21, 2012 21 Nov'12
Alan Pelz-Sharpe reported Autonomy to Serious Fraud Office in 2011

Consultant Alan Pelz-Sharpe referred Autonomy’s alleged shortcomings to the Serious Fraud Office before HP's $11.7bn deal went through
November 20, 2012 20 Nov'12
HP writes down Autonomy by $8.8bn

HP blames Autonomy for misleading the firm before acquisition and refers former management to the Serious Fraud Office
November 20, 2012 20 Nov'12
SAP users need more clarity on latest cloud, mobile and BI efforts

SAP customers continue to express confusion about the supplier’s more advanced initiatives, including cloud migration and recent acquisitions
November 19, 2012 19 Nov'12
Emirates takes Windows 8 HP ElitePad 900 to the sky

Airline Emirates is rolling out in-flight Windows 8 tablets to enable cabin crew to access core IT

November 19, 2012 19 Nov'12
BT rolls out toughened Windows 8 OS tablets for engineers

BT is deploying the Windows 8 operating system (OS) to 5,900 engineers in what is believed to be the largest roll-out of the Microsoft OS
November 16, 2012 16 Nov'12
WiFox claims 700% boost in Wi-Fi performance

New software created by researchers at North Carolina State University claims to boost performance of Wi-Fi by up to 700%
November 16, 2012 16 Nov'12
London Stock Exchange technology sales up

The growth of the London Stock Exchange’s MillenniumIT software has outstripped the wider business, with a 19% increase in sales of its trading software
November 16, 2012 16 Nov'12
Software engineer shortage pushes up salaries

Contractors raise their rates 10% or more as businesses struggle to recruit skilled software engineers
November 16, 2012 16 Nov'12
SAP certifies use of Business Suites on AWS cloud

SAP has certified Amazon Web Services (AWS) to run its business intelligence (BI) applications, including SAP ERP and SAP CRM, on the AWS cloud
November 16, 2012 16 Nov'12
Dell profits plummet 47%

Revenues for Dell’s mobility division take a beating as a result of a big drop in consumer sales

November 15, 2012 15 Nov'12
Vast majority of GPs use electronic medical records

Some 97% of GPs in the UK claim to use electronic medical records, according to the 2012 Commonwealth International Health Policy survey
November 15, 2012 15 Nov'12
Cyber security will change ideas of the nation state, says Stonesoft

The lack of cyber security is a major threat to the civilised world and will change how people see the nation state, says security firm Stonesoft
November 14, 2012 14 Nov'12
Interview: Accenture's in-memory data guru, Alexander Zeier

Alexander Zeier, co-designer of SAP's HANA appliance, speaks to Computer Weekly about the evolution of in-memory analytics
November 14, 2012 14 Nov'12
SAP builds on cloud strategy with Financials OnDemand

SAP has introduced its first cloud-based financial application for the enterprise, based on the company's Hana in-memory database system
November 13, 2012 13 Nov'12
Hillarys Blinds rolls out custom sales app using SAP Afaria

Blinds and curtains supplier Hillarys Blinds has developed an Android app for sales agents that synchronises with its back-end SAP ERP system
November 13, 2012 13 Nov'12
SAP TechEd Madrid: SAP chiefs urge businesses to go digital

SAP is urging businesses to rethink core business values to become more consumer-centric using mobile, social, cloud and BI
November 13, 2012 13 Nov'12
MPs quiz Google over UK tax avoidance

The Public Accounts Select Committee asks Google northern Europe vice-president Matt Brittin to explain why Google pays so little UK tax
November 12, 2012 12 Nov'12
EMI gains music taste insight with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Record group EMI is joining up data sources through Microsoft SQL Server 2012, to view how artists’ songs sell in different countries.
November 09, 2012 09 Nov'12
German retailer Otto invests in neural software to net future sales

German retail giant Otto improves demand forecasting with neural network technology from Blue Yonder, a predictive analytics start-up
November 08, 2012 08 Nov'12
Capgemini reduces consultancy charges

Capgemini has lowered pricing in its consulting and local professional services businesses, according to its latest quarter results.
November 07, 2012 07 Nov'12
Apple loses patent case to VirnetX

Apple has been ordered to pay $368m in damages to VirnetX after a court ruled it had infringed on two of the software firm’s patents
November 07, 2012 07 Nov'12
University Hospitals Birmingham reorganises case notes with EMC Documentum

UHB reduces paper work and organises patient data into one central location through EMC Documentum
November 06, 2012 06 Nov'12
IT skunkworks powers Barclays innovation drive

Barclays Bank is changing its image through innovative IT In spite of the regulatory framework governing banking
November 06, 2012 06 Nov'12
EMC Momentum Vienna opens with Documentum product releases

EMC opened its Momentum show in Vienna with updated and new Documentum product releases from its Information Intelligence Group
November 06, 2012 06 Nov'12
Universal Credit programme director Malcolm Whitehouse steps down

Malcolm Whitehouse, programme director for the government's £2.2bn Universal Credit project, has stepped down
November 06, 2012 06 Nov'12
Gartner Symposium: RBS emulates Amazon with private cloud

Royal Bank of Scotland has developed a private cloud to support its application development process, using Amazon best practices
November 06, 2012 06 Nov'12
Gartner Symposium Barcelona: rewrite the rule book

Gartner is urging CIOs to change their IT budget to support a nexus of change arising from cloud, social, big data and mobile.
November 06, 2012 06 Nov'12
EDF blames system upgrade for customer complaint failures

EDF blames a system upgrade for failing to handle customer complaints to standard, but says it will resolve the issue by the end of the year
November 05, 2012 05 Nov'12
Financial services takes big data beyond pilot stage

Survey reveals financial services is embracing big data, with more than half of the respondents claiming to have a big data strategy
November 02, 2012 02 Nov'12
Mobile business intelligence cascades from boardroom to front line

Mobile BI has started to cascade down in organisations over the past year says Adrian Simpson, chief innovation officer, SAP UK
November 02, 2012 02 Nov'12
Endsleigh Insurance goes nearshore for application development

Endsleigh Insurance Services chose nearshore application development resources when it was stretched during the busiest time of the year
November 02, 2012 02 Nov'12
How will open standards change the future of government IT?

Are the government's open standards principles a blueprint for a radically new open IT architecture, or just another empty policy statement?
November 02, 2012 02 Nov'12
RBS pays customers extra £50m for IT failure

The IT failure that struck Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in June will cost more than expected as customers are paid an extra £50m compensation
November 01, 2012 01 Nov'12
SwissCom removes BI from IT to support business transformation

At a time of strategic integration, the business intelligence function at Swiss telecoms provider SwissCom proved the only place to get a view of the whole organisation. Find out how it supports business transformation.
October 31, 2012 31 Oct'12
Southwark Council outsources IT transformation

Southwark Council is upgrading all the IT that supports the delivery of council services, through a deal with Capita
October 31, 2012 31 Oct'12
Government dips toe in water for single ERP

The government is to test the feasibility of moving to a single enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform across Whitehall
October 31, 2012 31 Oct'12
Irish construction company reduces SQL Server storage with AvePoint

Walls Construction has saved €31,000 by moving stale content from SQL Server to cheaper storage, using software from AvePoint.
October 31, 2012 31 Oct'12
Apple squashes BlackBerry as Brent Borough deploys iPads

Brent Borough Council replaces BlackBerry and deploys MobileIron to securely manage almost 3,000 iPads and iPhones
October 30, 2012 30 Oct'12
Virtual Instruments opens development office in Tech City

The competition for engineers in Silicon Valley is so fierce that Virtual Instruments is opening an office in London’s Tech City to find new talent
October 30, 2012 30 Oct'12
Teradata brings big data into the SQL family

Teradata addresses the issue of combining unstructured, semi-structured and traditional row-and-column data warehousing in a single architecture.
October 30, 2012 30 Oct'12
UK datacentres are not ready for big data impact shows study

UK datacentres are not prepared for the changes that big data will bring, a study of 125 senior IT decision makers revealed
October 29, 2012 29 Oct'12
BSA fines First Choice Facilities after licence shortfall following an M&A

Safety specialist First Choice Facilities has been fined £18,000 for unlicensed software following completion of an acquisition
October 29, 2012 29 Oct'12
Could GM’s decision to insource IT start a trend?

As General Motors brings its outsourced IT in-house, Computer Weekly examines whether others will follow or whether it will prove a one-off
October 29, 2012 29 Oct'12
Manage licences and virtual machines to avoid VM sprawl

When considering asset management, firms should select a system to manage both software licences and virtual machine lifecycle
October 29, 2012 29 Oct'12
Big data could transform staff management

Data analytics has the potential to help businesses make dramatic returns by managing their workforce more effectively
October 26, 2012 26 Oct'12
Customer understanding drives investment in big data analytics

Better customer understanding is the main motivation for big data programmes, survey finds
October 26, 2012 26 Oct'12
Beware of unfair SaaS HR contracts

Businesses must be wary of signing unfair contracts as software as a service takes over from traditional HR technology
October 25, 2012 25 Oct'12
Businesses invest in learning management systems to reskill staff

Businesses are stepping up their investment in sophisticated IT systems to manage the training and development of their workforce
October 25, 2012 25 Oct'12
Microsoft launches Windows 8

Microsoft has finally released Windows 8, Windows RT and the Windows Store at a packed launch event in New York
October 25, 2012 25 Oct'12
Windows 8 OS is available now – but is it the right choice for your business?

Windows 8 combines a desktop operating system (OS) with tablet-touch functionality, which will bring benefits to some organisations - but not all
October 25, 2012 25 Oct'12
HR needs to understand business to avoid IT failures

The failure of human resources departments to understand how a business works is a common reason why HR IT projects fail
October 25, 2012 25 Oct'12
Government expected to unveil eight IDA suppliers for online services

The government is to announce suppliers – including PayPal, BT and the Post Office – to provide identity assurance (IDA) for online public services
October 24, 2012 24 Oct'12
CIO interview: Gerry Pennell, CIO, London 2012 Olympic Games

As the job of a lifetime nears its end, London 2012 CIO Gerry Pennell talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about his Olympic experience
October 24, 2012 24 Oct'12
SAP exceeds €1bn software sales in Q3, profitability weaker than 2011

SAP reports growth in Q3 revenue for HANA, mobile, cloud, but EMEA performance was weaker than in 2011
October 23, 2012 23 Oct'12
Smaller companies use IT to drive business in downturn

Almost half of small businesses will use IT to become more efficient according to an Economist Intelligence Unit Study
October 23, 2012 23 Oct'12
NFU Mutual automates paper processes with Tibco

Insurance company NFU Mutual is to automate its paper-based claims handling using business process management tools from Tibco
October 19, 2012 19 Oct'12
Case study: Novus Leisure doubles sales after IT upgrade

Bar chain Novus Leisure has moved its IT infrastructure into the cloud, boosting sales through lower costs and scalable IT
October 19, 2012 19 Oct'12
Microsoft revenues suffer as users wait for Windows 8 upgrade

Microsoft has blamed lower-than-expected results on businesses delaying desktop software upgrades until after Windows 8 is launched
October 18, 2012 18 Oct'12
Oracle pushes proprietary systems to avoid expensive IT consultants

Oracle is pushing its combined hardware and software product range as a way for CIOs to avoid costly consultant fees
October 18, 2012 18 Oct'12
Citrix debuts mobile virtual apps as analysts warn of obsolescence

Citrix debuts cloud and mobility releases, but analysts warn they may soon be left behind in an increasingly competitive and evolving market
October 17, 2012 17 Oct'12
Advanced analytics skills shortage stymies big data programmes

A “critical” advanced analytics skills shortage is impeding big data programmes, research finds
October 17, 2012 17 Oct'12
Mike Lynch: Firms happy with 95% IT functionality should move to cloud

Former CEO and founder of Autonomy, Mike Lynch, believes cloud is right for a number of applications, but says ERP will always stay in house
October 16, 2012 16 Oct'12
Telefonica Digital saves 40% with cloud HR platform

Telefonica Digital is investing in a cloud-based HR system to manage its 6,500 worldwide workforce, saving 40% on the cost of non-cloud HR
October 15, 2012 15 Oct'12
Austrian hospital improves access to patient data with Imprivata

Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen hospital in Austria explains how it improved speed of access and security to its works stations.
October 12, 2012 12 Oct'12
Finance CIOs reveal plans to recover from recession

Research among bank CIOs reveal how financial services companies ravaged by recession are investing in IT to help them emerge stronger
October 11, 2012 11 Oct'12
Job prospects improving for IT graduates, says HECSU report

Job prospects for IT graduates have improved for the first time during the recession, says the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU)
October 10, 2012 10 Oct'12
Nationwide Insurance builds IT ledger for chargeback

Nationwide Insurance controls IT expenditure using VMware ITBM to provide a service catalogue and pricing for internal departments
October 10, 2012 10 Oct'12
HDS, NetApp and Nexenta launch storage stacks at VMworld 2012

Hitachi Data Systems revamps stacks to become VMware-centric; NetApp adds SME ExpressPod stacks to existing FlexPods; Nexenta launches VDI bundle
October 10, 2012 10 Oct'12
Shell plans to save 100s of millions with 'semantic' search

Royal Dutch Shell aims to cut training time for engineers with technology to identify and deliver information from databases, blogs and social media
October 10, 2012 10 Oct'12
SAP users voice licensing concerns, call for greater clarity

SAP users in the UK and Ireland demand more transparency in licensing and better value for money from the supplier.
October 09, 2012 09 Oct'12
The latest tech preserving Bletchley Park's past

Bletchley Park is embracing a range of modern technologies in order to boost visitor numbers, Iain Standen, CEO, tells Computer Weekly
October 09, 2012 09 Oct'12
Hays and Fiat welcome new enterprise search features from Google

New expert location, “entity recognition” and translation features have impressed Hays Specialist Recruitment and Fiat in Google’s new enterprise search appliance.
October 08, 2012 08 Oct'12
Lamborghini slashes web costs with Amazon Web Services

Supercar maker Lamborghini has revamped and accelerated the performance of its website by running it on Amazon Web Services
October 08, 2012 08 Oct'12
How French Connection automated stock replenishment to cut costs

Fashion retailer French Connection cut costs by deploying a stock replenishment automation system
October 05, 2012 05 Oct'12
Lloyds TSB system error causes ATM problems

Some Lloyds TSB customers have been unable to get money from ATMs or use online customer services as a result of a system problem
October 05, 2012 05 Oct'12
Samsung promises profit despite Apple patent battle

Samsung claims its profits will almost double this quarter, despite its high-profile court case with Apple over iPhone and Galaxy S3 patents
October 04, 2012 04 Oct'12
Meg Whitman unveils HP turnaround plan

HP CEO Meg Whitman has unveiled a five-year plan for the troubled enterprise, admitting the turnaround would take longer than expected
October 03, 2012 03 Oct'12
Strata spotlights data science in media sector

Strata in London: data science, data scientists and automation are changing the face of journalism. Opportunities abound for new IT programmer-journalists in face of data illiteracy.
October 03, 2012 03 Oct'12
Case study: Johnston Press rolls out Salesforce CRM on iPads

Johnston Press has mobilised its field sales team by running Salesforce.com CRM cloud software on iPads
October 02, 2012 02 Oct'12
Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn adopts BI dashboard

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Trust deploys Intuitive Dashboards, a business intelligence dashboard, to give staff a clearer view of each patient’s pathway through hospital
October 02, 2012 02 Oct'12
Toyota uses Microsoft for global communications

Toyota Motor Corporation is globally deploying Microsoft software through a mix of cloud and on-premise software for its 200,000 staff
October 01, 2012 01 Oct'12
Family-run distributor uses Claranet to boost IT capabilities

Spray nozzle distributor Bete has adopted Claranet to support home workers
October 01, 2012 01 Oct'12
O2 to expand BYOD scheme

Mobile phone group O2 is to introduce its bring-your-own-device scheme to operations in Europe and South America, following successful UK roll-out
September 28, 2012 28 Sep'12
Buro Happold adopts Polycom video conferencing

Engineering firm Buro Happold cut costs and travel time with video conferencing facilities using Polycom RMXs and Microsoft Lync
September 28, 2012 28 Sep'12
BT and Yahoo block UK2 IP addresses

Customers of ISP UK2 have received no emails from Yahoo/BT Internet accounts for over a week after their IP addresses were blocked
September 27, 2012 27 Sep'12
B2B data integration offers bigger bang than big data, says Freeform Dynamics

Business-to-business data integration “could do better” as British and Dutch firms over-rely on manual process, says Freeform Dynamics study.
September 27, 2012 27 Sep'12
Martial arts retailer Blitz Sport drops Sage for SuiteCommerce

Blitz Sport, a supplier of martial arts equipment, is among a handful of UK firms implementing NetSuite’s SuiteCommerce platform
September 26, 2012 26 Sep'12
Skandia Team GBR analysed its way to victory at the Olympics

Business analytics software helped British sailing team, Skandia Team GBR, sweep up five medals against a target of four at the London 2012 Olympics.
September 25, 2012 25 Sep'12
Domino Printing Sciences puts service desk in the cloud

Manufacturer Domino Printing Sciences is cutting costs by putting its IT service desk in the cloud
September 24, 2012 24 Sep'12
Gartner: Stick with Windows 7 migration, Windows 8 is too risky

Businesses migrating from Windows XP should upgrade to Windows 7 rather than risk deploying Windows 8, says analyst organisation Gartner
September 20, 2012 20 Sep'12
Salesforce launches Marketing Cloud BI tool for social enterprise

Public cloud provider Salesforce launches its Marketing Cloud business intelligence (BI) tool to promote cloud in companies' campaign strategies
September 19, 2012 19 Sep'12
Activision uses Salesforce to serve gaming community

The Call of Duty designers use the Service Cloud and Chatter Communities to solve customer queries
September 18, 2012 18 Sep'12
White House deputy CTO praises NHS open-data strategy

The deputy CTO of the White House, Chris Vein, is working with the NHS to pass on experiences of making data more open in the public sector
September 18, 2012 18 Sep'12
EDF app enables smartphones to snap meter readings

Energy supplier EDF has released an app that enables customers to submit meter readings by using the camera on a smartphone
September 18, 2012 18 Sep'12
Microsoft updates Office 365 pricing

Microsoft offers 25GB storage and support for multiple devices to tempt users to its cloud-based Office 365 suite
September 18, 2012 18 Sep'12
Government plans for 200 digital managers

Government may appoint 200 digital managers to work across Whitehall departments as part of its transition to transactional digital services
September 17, 2012 17 Sep'12
E.ON outsources applications to Capgemini

Utility giant E.ON has outsourced application services to Capgemini as part of a five-year restructure of its IT services in a deal worth about €50m
September 17, 2012 17 Sep'12
Anglian Water uses InfoSys to deploy SharePoint 2010 intranet

Anglian Water has started a phased roll-out of a SharePoint 2010 intranet portal to improve the flow of information around the business
September 14, 2012 14 Sep'12
Dynamic Markets: CFOs see worth in data on balance sheet

About 20% of UK companies are assigning a financial value to their data, according to research sponsored by SAS. But only 16% of UK companies have a formal data management strategy.
September 14, 2012 14 Sep'12
CIO interview: Andy Haywood, Co-operative Business Group

The new group CIO at the Co-operative Group talks about his plans for technology across the organisation’s businesses