News

Business applications

March 26, 2012 26 Mar'12
BSA fines Coverteam UK £6,000 for unlicensed Microsoft and Adobe software

The BSA has fined power conversion company Converteam UK £6,000 for using unlicensed copies of Microsoft and Adobe software
March 23, 2012 23 Mar'12
Information management: lessons from the public sector

Freeform Dynamics identifies the lessons organisations can learn from the public sector's approach to information management
March 21, 2012 21 Mar'12
'Big data' wades into mainstream

“Big data” is gathering interest beyond high-tech companies. But there is much confusion, a lack of governance and a skills shortage that won’t go away soon.
March 19, 2012 19 Mar'12
Case Study: US Xpress deploys hybrid big data with Informatica

US Xpress is using a suite of data tools and integration products from Informatica to boost its fleet management

March 15, 2012 15 Mar'12
Sky goes nearshore for agile CRM development

Sky has outsourced the development and support of its customer relationship management systems and operations.
March 14, 2012 14 Mar'12
Gartner: Rethink organisation structure to boost business

Businesses must radically rethink how they organise staff and collaborate if they want to make big improvements, according to analyst Gartner
March 13, 2012 13 Mar'12
Enterprise software procurement done right can save companies millions

Software procurement is frequently poorly conducted, argues consultant Andy Hayler. Intelligent software evaluation processes and savvy contract management can pay huge dividends, he says.
March 08, 2012 08 Mar'12
Buckinghamshire County Council cuts ICT support time by 50%

Buckinghamshire County Council has implemented a self-service desk management system in a move it expects will cut ICT call support by 50%
March 07, 2012 07 Mar'12
Government’s shared services strategy failing, says NAO

The government’s £1.4bn shared services centres have failed to achieve value for money, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO)
March 06, 2012 06 Mar'12
SAP boosts ByDesign ecosystem to support small business customisation

SAP is rolling out a partner programme for its ByDesign cloud-based product, to simplify implementation in SMEs

March 06, 2012 06 Mar'12
UK businesses lead the world in flexible working

Rising property prices and childcare costs are pressing UK organisations to introduce flexible working policies more than in any other country
March 06, 2012 06 Mar'12
CW500: Getting to grips with big data

Experts from Standard Life, Deloitte and Intelligent Business Strategies share some useful tips for CIOs on understanding big data
March 05, 2012 05 Mar'12
Justice ministry aims for £100m saving on £14m annual ERP costs

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spends £14m per year running its ERP systems, but hopes for major savings through shared services.
March 02, 2012 02 Mar'12
Universities investing in back-office IT systems

Increased competition and the need to cut costs are driving universities to replace archaic processes in the back office with software that automates key processes.
February 28, 2012 28 Feb'12
Investment in IT critical to recovery, say business leaders

Business leaders say that investment in IT is critical to promote economic recovery, according to a KPMG survey.
February 27, 2012 27 Feb'12
SAP reacts to BYOD trend with management tool

SAP has highlighted its ability to help customers meet the bring your own device (BYOD) challenges
February 27, 2012 27 Feb'12
Salesforce.com revenues jump almost 40%

Software-as-a-service supplier Salesforce.com has reported strong growth in the final quarter of its latest financial year.
February 24, 2012 24 Feb'12
Case Study: Eat deploys BI to take on Olympic challenge

Rene Batsford, Eat's head of IT, talks about how business intelligence software will help manage staff and supplies during the Olympics.
February 23, 2012 23 Feb'12
CIO priorities 2012: Chris Price, CIO, West Midlands Police

Chris Price, CIO of West Midlands Police, talks about his IT challenges for 2012.
February 23, 2012 23 Feb'12
SAP puts SuccessFactors at heart of cloud plan

SAP has unveiled plans to make SuccessFactors its core cloud-based HR product, which will integrate with the core ERP product family
February 23, 2012 23 Feb'12
Cloud software: benchmark your organisation

Benchmark your organisation's use of cloud software and services against your peers.
February 23, 2012 23 Feb'12
Predictive analytics used to cut costs in oil sector

Predictive analytics is being used in the oil and gas industry to better manage asset maintenance on capital equipment. And a more enterprisewide adoption of the technology is predicted.
February 23, 2012 23 Feb'12
HP reports 44% decline in quarterly profit

Hewlett-Packard has reported a 44% decline in earnings mainly because of poor sales of PCs, printers and enterprise equipment.
February 22, 2012 22 Feb'12
Dell fails to impress despite record financial year

Dell has claimed its most successful financial year ever, but failed to impress investors by missing fourth quarter profit expectations.
February 21, 2012 21 Feb'12
How will the CloudStore impact government IT?

The CloudStore could signal a new model for procuring IT, making it easier for the public sector to do business with SMEs and breaking up the traditional supplier monopoly.
February 21, 2012 21 Feb'12
Forrester: rethink your CRM strategy

The way people now buy products and services is eroding traditional approaches to customer relationship management
February 20, 2012 20 Feb'12
CIO priorities 2012: Ali Jaffri, ICT manager, Gallions Housing

Ali Jaffri, ICT manager at Gallions Housing, talks about the challenges of 2012.
February 19, 2012 19 Feb'12
Government launches CloudStore and names G-Cloud suppliers

The government has launched its CloudStore, a catalogue of 1,700 cloud-based, pre-approved IT services now available for the public sector to buy.
February 14, 2012 14 Feb'12
Software industry fails to plug security holes, says Secunia

Vulnerabilities are still rising despite industry investments in security, says Secunia
February 14, 2012 14 Feb'12
CIO priorities 2012: Paul Coby, CIO of John Lewis

Paul Coby, CIO of high street retailer John Lewis, talks about the challenges he faces in 2012.
February 13, 2012 13 Feb'12
IT professionals prioritise Windows 7 upgrade, but cloud takes a back seat

Windows 7 upgrade will drive virtualisation but businesses are slow to take up cloud computing
February 10, 2012 10 Feb'12
Government takes on proprietary software lobby in open standards battle

The government wants to push through open standards against vested interests keen to maintain the dominance of proprietary systems.
February 09, 2012 09 Feb'12
Oracle buys SaaS supplier Taleo for £1.2bn

Oracle has bought human resources software-as-a-service company Taleo for $1.9bn (£1.2bn)
February 09, 2012 09 Feb'12
CIO interview: James Lomas, CIO, Comparethemarket.com

Comparethemarket.com offers online price comparison for consumers and meerkats. CIO James Lomas talks about how IT supports business growth.
February 08, 2012 08 Feb'12
Application security not a top priority for UK organisations

As operating systems become increasingly attack-resistant, cyber criminals are moving up the stack, butt relatively few UK organisations are planning application security projects.
February 07, 2012 07 Feb'12
Oracle rejects SAP settlement and seeks new trial

Oracle has rejected a $1bn reduction in a jury verdict it won against rival SAP and is seeking a new trial for copyright infringement.
February 07, 2012 07 Feb'12
Survey reveals need for new approach to back-up and recovery

Traditional approaches to back-up and recovery of IT systems no longer work and a new approach is needed, a survey of more than 1,400 IT professionals worldwide has revealed.
February 01, 2012 01 Feb'12
Businesses confident of disaster recovery plans in 2012

Businesses are more confident in their IT systems' ability to survive a disaster, despite one of the most difficult years in 2011
February 01, 2012 01 Feb'12
Capita buys in more SAP resources

IT services firm Capita has acquired Newcastle-based Smiths Consulting to increase its SAP practice.
January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
SAP UK pushes mobility and Hana

SAP is pushing the benefits of Hana, its in-memory database and mobile data management, from the acquisition of Sybase in 2010
January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
Government inconsistency on ERP costs is 'inexcusable'

Whitehall departments are spending up to three times more than others for the use of near-identical software, Computer Weekly can reveal.
January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
Oracle and SAP worst for government ERP cost differences

Oracle and SAP have been singled out as having the most inconsistent prices for ERP systems across government departments.
January 26, 2012 26 Jan'12
SAP accelerates plans to wean customers off Oracle databases

SAP is to accelerate plans to migrate customers away from Oracle databases by introducing in-memory computing support for its ERP product in 2012.
January 25, 2012 25 Jan'12
UK IT budgets under pressure in 2012

UK IT budgets will remain flat in 2012, a worldwide survey of more than 2,500 IT professionals has revealed.
January 25, 2012 25 Jan'12
SAP reports bumper results

Business software giant SAP has reported strong double-digit growth in sales and profit for last year, with software leading the charge.
January 25, 2012 25 Jan'12
Gartner: Business, analytics fail to connect, mobile BI gets real

Gartner’s BI London summit will show a landscape beset by strategic misalignment, intra-organisational struggle and weak cloud adoption. Yet mobile BI is becoming a reality.
January 24, 2012 24 Jan'12
Accenture predicts the rise of the data guru

Accenture predicts CIOs who understand the power of data will make great strategic partners for business
January 23, 2012 23 Jan'12
Will Google ever make it in enterprise IT?

While Google’s advertising revenue continues to grow, how well is the company doing selling enterprise software?
January 20, 2012 20 Jan'12
Microsoft sales up, profits slightly down

Microsoft reported a 5% year-on-year increase in revenue for its latest financial quarter, but profit dipped slightly.
January 19, 2012 19 Jan'12
IT strategic priorities 2012: BI for innovation gains new prominence

Managing information to improve corporate performance will be a top priority in 2012, according to three new surveys.
January 19, 2012 19 Jan'12
Review of IntelliJ IDEA: Commercial Java development tool or Eclipse?

IntelliJ IDEA is a commercial Java developer tool which competes with competition such as the excellent and free Eclipse and NetBeans projects
January 17, 2012 17 Jan'12
Tesco bags in-store software

Retail giant Tesco is implementing software to reduce the time and complexity of introducing digital services.
January 17, 2012 17 Jan'12
SOA and cloud leaders set technical standards

Technical standards unveiled today by an independent alliance of IT suppliers and users aim to help businesses adopt leading-edge thinking in cloud computing and service-orientated architecture (SOA).
January 17, 2012 17 Jan'12
Oracle integrates data management with Sun servers

Oracle is tackling the challenge of data management by providing pre-integrated systems based on Sun hardware.
January 17, 2012 17 Jan'12
SAP announces best financial results in 40 years

SAP has announced record preliminary full-year and fourth quarter results for the German-based company’s 40-year history.
January 17, 2012 17 Jan'12
Four key trends in business analytics in 2012

Deloitte has identified four big themes for this year, as businesses and governments exploit data analytics technology.
January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12
Businesses fight downturn with data analytics investment

Businesses are responding to the downturn by stepping up their investment in data analytics technology, claims business advisory firm Deloitte.
January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12
CIO interview: Steve Townsend, Transport for London

TfL CIO Steve Townsend is leading IT changes to ensure efficiency and value through the London 2012 Olympics and beyond.
January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12
IBM delivers social media analytics

IBM has unveiled software and services to provide social media analytics with cloud services and a social networking platform, IBM Connections.
January 10, 2012 10 Jan'12
CIO interview: Vince Groome director of IT solutions at HMRC

Vince Groome, director of IT solutions at HMRC, talks about Universal Credit, the role of system integrators and cutting costs with benchmarking.
January 09, 2012 09 Jan'12
Cloud business analytics full of promise but hitting barriers

Cloud analytics is expected to grow more rapidly than on-premises BI. As yet it confronts technical, performance and security barriers, but users like Cipal and Mindshare prove the concept.
January 05, 2012 05 Jan'12
CIO interview: Myron Hrycyk, chief information officer, Severn Trent

Utility Severn Trent is looking to improve service for staff and customers with increased use of mobile technology and better use of data.
January 04, 2012 04 Jan'12
Shell moves SAP maintenance to Accenture

Oil giant Shell has transferred the management of its HR and payroll applications to Accenture as part of a multi-year SAP managed service.
December 23, 2011 23 Dec'11
Top 10 business software stories of 2011

Businesses and software suppliers are adopting new models, strategies and technologies in an increasingly cloud-based IT world.
December 21, 2011 21 Dec'11
RIM rebuffs Amazon and Microsoft approaches

Amazon considered buying troubled smartphone maker, Research in Motion, according to a report on Reuters.
December 21, 2011 21 Dec'11
RWE npower goes live with SAP CRM

RWE npower has rolled out a new SAP customer service system to 600,000 customers.
December 20, 2011 20 Dec'11
VMware puts Windows on Kindle Fire

VMware is making available preview versions of its View client software for the Kindle Fire, Mac and Linux, along with updates to the Android and iPad clients.
December 19, 2011 19 Dec'11
Foxtons slashes bank charges with Albany ePAY

Foxtons Estate Agents is using Albany ePAY electronic payments and collections software to process 6,000 weekly transactions with Bacs directly, saving £50,000 a year on banking fees.
December 15, 2011 15 Dec'11
SAP experts to see 23% hike in salaries

Pay rates for SAP specialists have skyrocketed as demand for SAP skills outstrips supply.
December 15, 2011 15 Dec'11
How HP played a key role in RAF air crew support in Libya

The Ministry of Defence has praised HP over its Advanced Mission Planning Aid system, most recently used to support air crew in Libya.
December 14, 2011 14 Dec'11
Microsoft expands Lync unified comms to Apple iPhone, iPad, Android and Nokia Symbian

Microsoft has released Lync 2010, its unified communications platform for Apple iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones and Nokia Symbian.
December 14, 2011 14 Dec'11
Post Office suffers disruption after IT failure

The Post Office suffered disruption this week after thousands of branches were hit by a computer crash.
December 13, 2011 13 Dec'11
Microsoft updates Windows Azure cloud platform

Microsoft has released new features of its Windows Azure cloud development platform, including open source capabilities and simplified billing and management.
December 12, 2011 12 Dec'11
Businesses take risks with faulty software

Unearthing software faults once software goes live is storing up problems for businesses.
December 09, 2011 09 Dec'11
'Big data' management: What big data is and how to cope with it

The “big data” deluge from email, social networks, digital images, sensor output and other sources is putting relational databases out of their comfort zone. How are UK organisations coping?
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
Software application code fixes cost additional £2.23m

The average big application costs an extra £2.23m as a result of problems with the code that need to be fixed after software goes live.
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
Eight out of 10 business apps fail on security, study finds

Eight out of 10 applications fail to meet acceptable levels of security, according to the latest State of Software Security Report by application security testing firm Veracode.
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
Adobe to release out-of-cycle patch for latest vulnerability

Adobe has issued a security advisory about a newly discovered and still unpatched vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat which is being used in "limited, targeted attacks in the wild".
December 06, 2011 06 Dec'11
Office365 fails BAE's legal team

BAE's experience of Office365 highlights the gulf between what the industry is trying to sell and the reality of big business.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
Does SAP’s acquisition of SuccessFactors make sense?

SAP is to acquire human capital management software-as-a-service (SaaS) supplier SuccessFactors, but appears to be paying a hefty premium.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
SAP buys SaaS firm SuccessFactors in $3.4bn deal

Enterprise software company SAP announces a $3.4bn deal to acquire software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider SuccessFactors.
December 01, 2011 01 Dec'11
Big business steps up IT spending despite downturn

Large businesses are stepping up their spending on IT following a period of cost cutting in the wake of the financial crisis, according to Deloitte’s IT consulting practice.
November 25, 2011 25 Nov'11
Government opens consultation on definition of IT open standards

The UK has put its open standards policy up for public consultation after opposition from the British Standards Institution and software vendors.
November 24, 2011 24 Nov'11
SAP extends Business Suite 7 maintenance: What is the real reason?

SAP has extended maintenance for Business Suite 7 from 2016 to 2020, supposedly to give customers predictability and remove the burden of upgrades.
November 24, 2011 24 Nov'11
IBM begins expanding operations in India

IBM has expanded operations in India by opening three new regional branches, taking the total number of offices in the country to 18.
November 22, 2011 22 Nov'11
CIOs must be in driving seat, or get bypassed, says SAP CIO

Chief information officers must be in the driving seat for implementing mobility and cloud computing in the enterprise, otherwise the business will bypass them, said SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann.
November 22, 2011 22 Nov'11
SAP can help business harness disruptive tech, says UK MD

Businesses currently face three disruptive technologies – mobility, big data and cloud computing – that will change the IT landscape forever, according to Steve Winter, managing director of SAP UK.
November 22, 2011 22 Nov'11
SAP needs clear, easy comms with no red tape, says UK&I SAP User Group

Unnecessary red tape is hampering SAP’s newest programme for getting feedback from customers around its short-term plans and current products, says the UK&I SAP User Group.
November 21, 2011 21 Nov'11
SAP user group calls for better engagement from SAP

SAP UK & Ireland User Group chairman Alan Bowling has called on business software maker SAP to continue to focus on customer engagement and communication.
November 17, 2011 17 Nov'11
Tesco trials in-store and online augmented reality technology

Tesco is trialling augmented reality (AR) technology in-store and online to change how customers interact with products.
November 16, 2011 16 Nov'11
Tech will transform the workplace in 2012, says Verizon

In 2012, enterprise technology will help business leaders re-engineer the workplace, power more effective customer service models, and create opportunities for broad societal benefit, says Verizon.
November 15, 2011 15 Nov'11
TfL seeks BI worth £750,000

Transport for London (TfL) is setting up a framework agreement for a business intelligence tool worth up to £750,000 million to help reduce its number of head office locations.
November 15, 2011 15 Nov'11
Google, Oracle surpass Microsoft in vulnerabilities, study shows

Google has replaced Microsoft as the number one software supplier for reported vulnerabilities, with a total of 82.
November 15, 2011 15 Nov'11
National Rail seeks contract for content manage system

National Rail is buying a content management and storing system to runs its journey-planning website nationalrail.co.uk, which has an average of 18 million visits per month.
November 15, 2011 15 Nov'11
SAP to invest $2bn in China by 2015

Business software maker SAP has announced plans to invest more than $2bn and almost double its workforce in China by 2015 to grow its business in the world’s second-largest economy.
November 14, 2011 14 Nov'11
CIO Interview: IT should drive company innovation, says SAP's Oliver Bussmann

Driving innovation has become one of the key roles of the chief information officer, says Oliver Bussmann, CIO at business software maker SAP.
November 11, 2011 11 Nov'11
Adobe releases security update for Flash Player

Adobe has issued a security update for Adobe Flash Player 11.0.1.152 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris, as well as Adobe Flash Player 11.0.1.153 and earlier versions for Android.
November 10, 2011 10 Nov'11
Majority of IT directors failing to make use of mapping technology

Businesses are failing to utilise mapping technology to cut costs, increase productivity and improve customer services, according to research.
November 10, 2011 10 Nov'11
SAP showcases in-memory innovation at Sapphire Now

SAP innovation has the potential to massively simplify the IT landscapes of its customers, according to Vishal Sikka, chief technology officer at SAP.
November 09, 2011 09 Nov'11
Colomer Group improves sales efficiency with Accenture and SAP

The Colomer Group, a Barcelona-based hair and beauty products firm, has increased the speed of processing sales and optimised staff work schedules with a salesforce automation tool based on technology jointly developed by Accenture and SAP.