News

Business applications

November 30, 2018 30 Nov'18
CCRC may hold off subpostmaster decision until after Post Office Horizon trial

The Criminal Courts Review Commission is deciding whether to delay its decision on subpostmasters’ claims of wrongful prosecution until after a related court case
November 27, 2018 27 Nov'18
High Court trial over Horizon computer system completes witness cross-examinations

The High Court trial in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has reached an important stage
November 26, 2018 26 Nov'18
HPE makes bigger push in hybrid IT

Enterprise technology supplier HPE has doled out a slew of enhancements to its composable IT portfolio to help enterprises run IT more like cloud service providers
November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18
Finland invests in IT to upgrade electricity network

National electricity transmission grid operator Fingrid’s Datahub system will play key role in retail market’s transition to a centralised information exchange

November 21, 2018 21 Nov'18
Post Office held back information about Horizon IT system errors

Post Office director admits to Horizon errors and not sharing details with subpostmaster network
November 19, 2018 19 Nov'18
Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management turn to Workday to complete merger

Standard Life Aberdeen, created in August 2017 when two of Scotland’s largest financial services companies merged, is transferring 3,000 former Standard Life staff to Aberdeen Asset Management’s Workday HR system as it integrates the two businesses
November 16, 2018 16 Nov'18
Post Office executives cross-examined in Horizon IT system trial

A High Court trial, where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office for damages caused by an allegedly faulty IT system, ended its second week.
November 15, 2018 15 Nov'18
The Gym Group flexes its muscles with data analytics

No-frills fitness company The Gym Group is using analytics technology to find insights from its financial, HR and membership data, as it limbers up for rapid expansion in the UK
November 14, 2018 14 Nov'18
NetSuite finds sweet spot in Asia

With a fast-growing economy and government programmes to drive digital transformation, Asia is proving to be fertile ground for the cloud ERP pioneer
November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18
Thailand’s Democrat Party holds election with blockchain

The Zcoin blockchain was used to store file hashes of voting data and identities of voting members of Thailand’s main opposition party

November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18
Post Office trial throws up known problem with Horizon system

High Court case in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has revealed a known problem with the computer system at the core of the dispute
November 13, 2018 13 Nov'18
Microsoft’s Xiaoice chatbot is now designing textile patterns

Software giant claims the design knowhow of its popular AI chatbot is a breakthrough in the field of image-based creation
November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18
Singapore’s Redmart finds speed and agility with cloud ERP

Online grocer has slashed the time it takes to close the books from more than a week to just three days with Oracle’s cloud-based financial application
November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18
AWS CEO Andy Jassy confirms Oracle data warehouse switch-off at Amazon

Months after Oracle CTO Larry Ellison cited Amazon's use of its database tech as proof of its superiority, AWS CEO confirms its parent company is now migrating off it
November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18
Agfa’s move to cloud HR paves the way for healthcare IT spin-off

Agfa-Gevaert is moving HR systems from 40 countries into the cloud as the company prepares to turn its health IT operations into a standalone business
November 09, 2018 09 Nov'18
High court Post Office trial puts subpostmasters’ contract under microscope

Case against Post Office in relation to allegedly faulty computer system begins in High Court
November 08, 2018 08 Nov'18
Singapore’s SunMoon uses blockchain to trace apples

Fruit and vegetable distributor has implemented a blockchain platform that enables consumers and suppliers to trace the origin of Fuji apples – with other fruits to follow
November 07, 2018 07 Nov'18
Gartner finds Emea CIOs more ahead on digital than peers elsewhere

Gartner’s annual global CIO survey finds Emea CIOs driving digital transformation programmes to a greater degree than their peers in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region
November 06, 2018 06 Nov'18
Fujitsu powers forward with business restructure

Technology firm Fujitsu has announced a number of plans for restructuring its business, including the closing of its German manufacturing plant and a number of board resignations
November 06, 2018 06 Nov'18
VMware readies green blockchain

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger says the power used for blockchain computation will cause an environmental crisis
November 05, 2018 05 Nov'18
Robots deliver savings for Dutch postal service PostNL

Dutch delivery company PostNL is reaping huge efficiency savings by using robotic technology to automate time-consuming administrative tasks
November 05, 2018 05 Nov'18
Gartner Symposium 2018: Why culture hacks spell digitisation success

Changing the way people do their day-to-day work is the hardest part of a CIO’s job. Gartner has a few tips on how to twist people’s arms
November 01, 2018 01 Nov'18
SAP’s Atzberger vaunts front to back office capability

Alex Atzberger, president, SAP Customer Experience, recently went through the company’s customer-focused software strategy with Computer Weekly
October 29, 2018 29 Oct'18
Chancellor Philip Hammond’s 2018 Budget dishes out £1.6bn for ‘advanced’ tech and innovation

The 2018 Budget promises £1.6bn to fund “advanced technologies” such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, £200m for rural broadband and £150m for tech fellowships, along with plans to impose a digital services tax for web giants
October 29, 2018 29 Oct'18
Retail tech spending will grow 3.6% globally in 2019, predicts Gartner

Global spending on technology in the retail sector is set to grow by 3.6% in 2019, according to predictions by Gartner analysts
October 29, 2018 29 Oct'18
Why subpostmasters and Post Office are battling it out in the High Court

After over a decade of controversy, next week marks the beginning of a court battle between subpostmasters and the Post Office over allegations of faults in an accounting system leading to unfair prosecutions
October 29, 2018 29 Oct'18
Philips looks to artificial intelligence to train its workforce

Healthcare company is looking to AI, chatbots and learning playlists to help staff learn new skills more quickly as it adapts changing business priorities
October 25, 2018 25 Oct'18
Firms will use AI to automate HR processes within two years

Companies are gearing up to automate HR processes with artificial intelligence and machine learning, while at the same time battling with outdated IT systems
October 24, 2018 24 Oct'18
Oracle bullish on growth in ASEAN

Enterprise technology juggernaut Oracle claims traction in cloud applications and growing interest in its cloud-based autonomous database service in Southeast Asia
October 24, 2018 24 Oct'18
Oracle Open World 2018: CEO Mark Hurd says SAP ERP customers will defect

Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd opined at Open World that SAP ECC6 customers will defect, in some measure, to Oracle in preference to S/4 Hana
October 23, 2018 23 Oct'18
Software suites will dominate the business applications market

Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd contends that having a common user interface and the ability to support data flows across a business are key capabilities that will spur the dominance of software suites over time
October 23, 2018 23 Oct'18
OpenWorld18: Ellison declares seek and destroy mission for database

At OpenWorld 2018 in San Francisco, Oracle founder and CTO Larry Ellison led on the putative resilience of the supplier’s “autonomous” database to cyber security threats
October 19, 2018 19 Oct'18
Zeppelin uses Splunk for pre-emptive maintenance

German construction equipment rental firm Zeppelin has been using Splunk to predict when its machinery will need maintenance before it breaks down
October 18, 2018 18 Oct'18
Amazon to open Manchester R&D centre and create 1,000 skilled jobs

Online retail giant will open a new office in Manchester and expand others to house 1,000 new skilled research and development employees in the UK
October 18, 2018 18 Oct'18
SAP Q3 2018: Cloud revenue up 39%

SAP’s Q3 2018 results show cloud revenue now at 22% of total and indicate momentum. S/4 Hana customers number 9,500
October 18, 2018 18 Oct'18
Best of VMworld Europe 2018 Awards nominations now open until 26 October

Read the criteria for the Best of VMworld Europe User Awards and find out how to submit your nomination
October 17, 2018 17 Oct'18
Microsoft signs pledge to assist people with dyslexia

Tech giant Microsoft has signed the Made by Diversity pledge to help more people with dyslexia use technology as part of their education
October 15, 2018 15 Oct'18
Atos and Google open London-based digital innovation centre to boost enterprise adoption of AI

Atos and Google follow up the news of their global joint push to increase enterprise use of artificial intelligence and cloud technologies by opening London-based innovation centre
October 10, 2018 10 Oct'18
SAP Customer Experience Live 2018: SAP steps up C/4 Hana efforts

SAP has used its Customer Experience Live conference in Barcelona to flesh out its C/4 Hana offer
October 10, 2018 10 Oct'18
Huawei Connect 2018: Huawei tackles barriers to effective AI

At its annual customer and technology event, Huawei chairman Eric Xu set out 10 key challenges facing AI, and revealed how the networking supplier’s strategy will help to address these
October 09, 2018 09 Oct'18
Blockchain adoption hotting up in Australia

The emerging technology is being tested in several industries in a country aspiring to be a global leader in blockchain development
October 08, 2018 08 Oct'18
Geospatial Commission pumps £5m into unlocking value of location data

Commission wants to unlock the value of location data held by its partners through the use of emerging technologies
October 05, 2018 05 Oct'18
Telenor retrains 20,000 staff as it prepares for impact of digital tech

Norway-based mobile phone company Telenor, which provides phone services in Scandinavia and Asia, is challenging its workforce to spend 40 hours a year learning digital skills as it prepares for the impact of digital technology
October 04, 2018 04 Oct'18
Digital Catapult launches Ethics Framework for AI and machine learning

Innovation centre hopes to foster responsible and ethical development of artificial intelligence and machine learning systems
October 04, 2018 04 Oct'18
How Starbucks is using Splunk to automate mundane security tasks

Coffee giant Starbucks is using Splunk to automate some of its more tedious security tasks to reduce the workload for its cyber staff
October 02, 2018 02 Oct'18
How Bank of England is using Splunk for proactive security

Head of the Bank of England’s security operations centre talks about how Splunk is helping it to take a more proactive approach to preventing cyber attacks
September 28, 2018 28 Sep'18
Data analytics cuts queues and flight delays at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport

Aeroporti di Roma’s CIO, Emiliano Sorrenti, describes how the city’s main airport is using data analytics technology to reduce delays and queue times, securing it an industry award for customer service
September 27, 2018 27 Sep'18
Open for business: Microsoft on using cross-industry collaboration to drive AI use in the enterprise

Microsoft's multi-year effort to drive adoption of artificial intelligence technologies has entered a new phase, with the firm banking on openness and cross-industry collaboration to boost enterprise take-up
September 26, 2018 26 Sep'18
Dreamforce 18: Benioff calls for ‘inclusive capitalism’

At Dreamforce 2018 in San Francisco, Salesforce founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff argued for what he called “inclusive capitalism” and urged the technology industry to set the highest possible ethical standards
September 25, 2018 25 Sep'18
MI5 admits to ‘unlawful’ spying on Privacy International

The UK's intelligence agencies acted unlawfully by intercepting communications data on NGO, Privacy International, the UK's most secret court ruled.
September 25, 2018 25 Sep'18
Dreamforce 18: Salesforce vaunts Apple partnership and 'Customer 360'

As Dreamforce 2018 gets underway in San Francisco, Salesforce trumpets a partnership with Apple, a customer 360 service, and an upgrade to its MuleSoft “Anypoint” platform
September 25, 2018 25 Sep'18
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlights importance of sharing the wealth of digital transformation

During the opening keynote of the Microsoft Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida, the company CEO Satya Nadella talked up the importance of ensuring the spoils of digital transformation are spread far and wide in society
September 18, 2018 18 Sep'18
Oracle first-quarter 2018-19 results show weak growth

Oracle’s first-quarter results for 2018-19 reveal $9.2bn revenue and 1% growth, with co-CEO Mark Hurd calling out “spectacular growth” for the NetSuite cloud ERP for SMEs business
September 17, 2018 17 Sep'18
Cutting through the blockchain hype

Blockchain adoption is still in its infancy, with security challenges standing in the way of more widespread deployment, according to a blockchain expert
September 14, 2018 14 Sep'18
How SAP is riding on Asia’s growth story

The enterprise software behemoth’s Asia-Pacific business is growing and believes its latest C/4 Hana suite is uniquely geared to the scale of the region
September 11, 2018 11 Sep'18
Fashion retailer Desigual boosts sales opportunities with data-sharing technology

Spanish fashion group Desigual reports 2% fewer lost sales after investing in technology to share stock, sales and pricing data between stores, websites and franchise partners
September 10, 2018 10 Sep'18
Pladis aims to get closer to consumers with S/4 Hana

Pladis, a UK-based Turkish-owned multinational biscuit and chocolate maker, has turned to cloud-delivered SAP software to move from a product-focused to a customer-centric way of doing business
September 05, 2018 05 Sep'18
Tibco plugs streaming data gap in Spotfire

New streaming data analytics capability in Tibco Spotfire X is expected to be well-received by enterprises in competitive markets across Asia-Pacific
September 05, 2018 05 Sep'18
How Ocado has disrupted its own model

At the Disruption Summit in London, Ocado’s head of technology explained how the firm built a technology-based model for efficient grocery delivery and how it has been disrupting that ever since
September 04, 2018 04 Sep'18
Element AI teams up with AI Singapore

The Canadian upstart is co-developing AI applications for local industries as part of its efforts to build new research capabilities via local talent pools
September 04, 2018 04 Sep'18
Three forthcoming government services to use Gov.uk Verify

Government Digital Service is in the process of private beta testing its identity assurance platform with three new central government services
September 03, 2018 03 Sep'18
CIO interview: Ian Cohen, global CIO, Addison Lee

Addison Lee’s global CIO is building a business strategy and ensuring the transport company has a flexible platform for growth
September 03, 2018 03 Sep'18
Dutch bank ING sees financial boost from employee performance management rethink

ING claims business has improved after replacing ‘scattered and fragmented’ IT systems to change the way it manages employee performance
August 30, 2018 30 Aug'18
Blockchain gains foothold in Australia

A number of blockchain projects are under way in Australia, but questions remain about whether the technology is wanted
August 29, 2018 29 Aug'18
IT leaders at a crossroads as they grapple with digital technology

CIOs have the opportunity to influence their company strategy as digital technology reshapes business. A survey of CIOs across 70 countries charts a path for IT leaders through emerging technologies
August 29, 2018 29 Aug'18
Heineken and Oracle create chatbot helper for polo events

Beer brand Heineken has enlisted the help of Oracle to create a chatbot to assist people attending the annual Heineken Urban Polo events ahead of expansion in 2019
August 23, 2018 23 Aug'18
No Deal Brexit papers warn of stark future for UK tech

The government has published the first of its No Deal Brexit contingency planning notices, containing sobering messages for the UK technology industry
August 23, 2018 23 Aug'18
KT shows off 5G’s potential at Asian Games

The South Korean telecoms bigwig is showcasing a host of 5G applications at the Asian Games in the run up to the commercial launch of its 5G network next year
August 22, 2018 22 Aug'18
Candy Crush maker King in Hadoop cluster move to Google Cloud

Online gaming firm is moving its massive big data analytics store off-premise and into the Google Cloud Platform
August 22, 2018 22 Aug'18
How Imperial Brands is taking control of its software licences

Central control gives the tobacco company the data required to manage software licences and ensure it pays only for the assets it needs
August 20, 2018 20 Aug'18
Job losses caused by artificial intelligence will dwarf those of Victorian revolution

The disruption to the jobs market caused by artificial intelligence will be far greater than that caused by industrialisation in Victorian times
August 17, 2018 17 Aug'18
Office 365 outage: Sign-in issues blight users across Europe and the US

Microsoft claims to have resolved a “subscription activation” issue that left Office 365 users unable to access its services yesterday
August 17, 2018 17 Aug'18
CIOs being welcomed back to marketing

The role of CIOs in shaping the technology buying decisions of marketers is being reinstated as more marketers realise the importance of integrating their services with IT systems
August 16, 2018 16 Aug'18
Lidl dumps €500m SAP project

Discount supermarket chain Lidl has spent millions on a SAP Hana system, and found it will need to spend even more to make it work
August 14, 2018 14 Aug'18
How Unit4 punches above its weight in APAC

The supplier of enterprise resource planning software is giving users the ability to tweak its software easily without the need for consultants, turning the traditional enterprise software business model on its head
August 09, 2018 09 Aug'18
Rentokil robot Trevor kills off mundane processes

Pest control firm has deployed artificial intelligence robots to take out manual processes and progress its learning organisation approach
July 31, 2018 31 Jul'18
Briton ran pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign that helped Trump deny Russian links

A British IT manager and former hacker from Darlington ran a disinformation campaign that duped former US intelligence agents and provided Donald Trump with manufactured “evidence” to deny that Russia interfered with the US election
July 26, 2018 26 Jul'18
Google brings machine learning data processing to IoT edge environments

Google is expanding its internet of things data processing offering by extending the ability for enterprises to carry out machine learning tasks in edge environments
July 23, 2018 23 Jul'18
IBM results leave Watson thinking

Artificial intelligence is at the heart of IBM's long-term strategy, yet its cognitive solutions business experienced a slight decline. Oh dear, Watson
July 20, 2018 20 Jul'18
Cloud sales stoke Microsoft’s strong growth

Microsoft says cloud-based Office products made a huge contribution to sales growth
July 19, 2018 19 Jul'18
SAP Q2 2018: Cloud revenue shows momentum, 600 more S/4 customers

SAP’s second-quarter results show cloud revenue now at one-fifth of total, indicating momentum. S/4 Hana customers now number 8,900
July 11, 2018 11 Jul'18
Oracle’s deal with Chile should go global

UK Oracle users may eventually see the ripple effect of a court ruling in a country almost 7,500 miles away
July 04, 2018 04 Jul'18
Singapore company turns to blockchain to improve food security

SMC Nutrition is using a blockchain distributed ledger developed by a Singapore-based company to gain visibility across its supply chain and ensure food security
July 02, 2018 02 Jul'18
Case study: Logistics firm GWC moves from paper to digital HR in three months

Qatar-based logistics firm Gulf Warehousing Company introduced smart appraisals for employees, cut the time it takes to recruit, and gave staff and managers access to accurate HR data by replacing paper systems with human resources software
July 02, 2018 02 Jul'18
Singapore’s Fullerton Health gears up for the cloud

Private healthcare service provider Fullerton Health is moving business applications to Microsoft’s cloud services before rolling out data analytics and artificial intelligence to enhance operations and patient care
June 27, 2018 27 Jun'18
HSBC puts humanoid in New York branch

HSBC has put its first humanoid member of staff into a branch role in New York City
June 25, 2018 25 Jun'18
SAP outlines approach to data management

Through its Hana Data Management Suite, SAP hopes to alleviate the challenges of managing data amid growing data security needs in an increasingly hybrid IT landscape
June 22, 2018 22 Jun'18
IBM early findings on disastrous TSB core banking system migration released

Report released by Treasury Committee criticises lack of rigour in preparation for core banking system migration, but TSB says report’s content is out of date
June 21, 2018 21 Jun'18
CDO interview: Andrei Belevtsev, Gazprom Neft

Russian oil giant will harness the latest technologies right across its business, says chief digital officer
June 20, 2018 20 Jun'18
Teradata sues SAP over Hana for stealing trade secrets

Data warehousing supplier Teradata is suing SAP in a Californian court for stealing trade secrets, copyright infringement and antitrust violations
June 20, 2018 20 Jun'18
Nine out of 10 enterprises will use robotic process automation by 2020

Robotic process automation take-up expected to reach 92% of European enterprises within two years, finds ISG survey
June 20, 2018 20 Jun'18
Oracle full-year results show 6% growth, but cloud revenue opaque?

Oracle’s full-year results for 2017-18 reveal total revenue of $39.8bn, up 6%, but reporting of cloud with on-premise revenue under “bring your own licence” policy has raised qualm over cloud weakness obfuscation
June 20, 2018 20 Jun'18
More APAC consumer goods firms expected to adopt blockchain

The adoption of blockchain technology is likely to increase in the consumer goods industry as more businesses use the technology to address fraud and improve supply chain management
June 20, 2018 20 Jun'18
Chief data officers go to summer school

Authors of the “Chief data officer’s playbook”, Caroline Carruthers and Peter Jackson, are running a summer school, supported by data governance software supplier Collibra
June 14, 2018 14 Jun'18
Government Geospatial Commission opens up OS MasterMap data

The Geospatial Commission, announced by chancellor Philip Hammond in his 2017 Autumn Budget, has opened up some Ordnance Survey MasterMap data to boost small businesses
June 11, 2018 11 Jun'18
London wants to show it’s open for business in Tech Week 2018

London Tech Week 2018 kicks off with attracting young people into tech a key theme
June 11, 2018 11 Jun'18
SAP banks on “intelligent enterprise” at Sapphire 2018

SAP, at its SapphireNow 2018 conference, promoted the “intelligent enterprise”, with Hasso Plattner and head of machine learning Markus Noga setting out the philosophy
June 07, 2018 07 Jun'18
IT spending reaches 10-year high as CIOs struggle with digital technology strategy

IT leaders have seen their budgets and headcounts rise for the first time in 10 years, but face challenges implementing their digital strategies
June 06, 2018 06 Jun'18
What SAP C/4 Hana means for the APAC enterprises

The cloud-based CRM suite could find takers, but it may not be enticing enough for Salesforce.com CRM customers that also run SAP’s ERP software to make the switch
June 06, 2018 06 Jun'18
Sapphire 2018: SAP will take over CRM market, says McDermott

SAP’s chief executive Bill McDermott tells 2018 Sapphire conference the supplier will storm the CRM market with its C/4 Hana business applications suite