News

Business applications

October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
SAP Q3 2017 results show steady growth in cloud revenue to €937m

SAP’s third quarter 2017 results show steady growth in cloud revenue, S/4 Hana adoption, and some uptake for its “digital transformation” spearhead SAP Leonardo
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Millions being lost due to downtime in industrial systems

Industrial companies are losing $260,000 per hour due to unplanned downtime, but predicting failure using digital twins can help overcome the problem
October 19, 2017 19 Oct'17
Post Office computer system legal case reaches important procedural juncture

Sub-postmasters group action against the Post Office reaches an important milestone
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
Apple Irish datacentre objectors to seek fresh High Court appeal against project

The remaining objectors to Apple’s plans to build a datacentre in Athenry, Ireland, are preparing to launch another appeal against the project, which has now been delayed by more than two and a half years

October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
SAP Hybris paints the future of commerce

Technological advancements and swathes of data have made machine learning and mass personalisation of products possible, but companies are still sailing on the edge
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
UK intelligence agencies ‘unlawfully’ sharing sensitive personal data, court hears

A secret court will decide whether Intelligence agencies are “unlawfully” sharing huge datasets containing sensitive information about the population with industry, government departments and overseas intelligence services.
October 17, 2017 17 Oct'17
AI adoption still nascent, says SAS survey

At its 2017 conference in Amsterdam, analytics software supplier discloses research into enterprise readiness for artificial intelligence, and identifies blockages
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
Puppet on why people, process and technology are mission critical to DevOps success

At the PuppetConf user and partner summit in San Francisco, Puppet and its customers shared insights on how best to address the people, process and technology sides of the DevOps success equation
October 16, 2017 16 Oct'17
Employees will book time off using Alexa-style devices

Voice recognition and artificial intelligence will take the drudgery out of HR, but CIOs need to help their HR team develop a long-term strategy
October 13, 2017 13 Oct'17
WEF gets to grips with risks posed by transformative technologies

World Economic Forum is bringing technology, insurance and government sectors together to better understand the risks posed by technology failures

October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
House of Lords committee hosts clash between AI enthusiasts and sceptics

In the first session of its enquiry into artificial intelligence and the UK economy, a House of Lords select committee takes contrasting testimony from academic enthusiasts and press sceptics
October 11, 2017 11 Oct'17
Teva Pharmaceuticals turns to cloud HR as it weathers difficult trading conditions

One of Israel’s largest manufacturing companies has invested more than $10m in cloud HR. The technology is helping Teva Pharmaceuticals turn its fortunes around.
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Global IT spending to hit $3.7tn next year, says Gartner

IT spending is taking on a different shape as organisations embark on, and accelerate, digital transformation projects
October 04, 2017 04 Oct'17
Manufacturers face skills and internal collaboration hurdles to digital transformation

Skills shortage is biggest challenge to digital strategies of 40% of senior IT decision-makers in North America and Western Europe, survey shows
October 03, 2017 03 Oct'17
Dubai Land Department launches interactive app

Mashrooi app will track real estate project progress and allow users to compare construction against developers’ plans
October 03, 2017 03 Oct'17
Investigatory Powers Tribunal faces challenge in appeal court over mass hacking

Appeal court will decide whether UK citizens have the right to challenge controversial decisions made by Britain’s most secret court, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal
October 03, 2017 03 Oct'17
TSB moves to Microsoft cloud applications

TSB bank is moving more of its productivity business software to the cloud, with Microsoft 365 products next in line
October 03, 2017 03 Oct'17
Irish High Court asks European court to rule on legality of EU-US data transfers

Latest round in Max Schrems’s legal battle with Facebook could have major implications for EU-US trade and the privacy of millions of European residents
October 02, 2017 02 Oct'17
OpenWorld 2017: Ellison declares autonomous database 'revolutionary'

Oracle’s Larry Ellison claims revolutionary cast for autonomous 18c database at the supplier’s 2017 OpenWorld conference in San Francisco
September 20, 2017 20 Sep'17
BMW opens its second tech startup programme in the UK

BMW has launched its latest programme to support tech startups in the UK
September 20, 2017 20 Sep'17
Salesforce world tour lands in Amsterdam

Salesforce customers met up for the Dutch leg of the supplier's world tour with a distinctly non-techy crowd present
September 20, 2017 20 Sep'17
Oracle announces simplified pricing model for cloud computing

Ahead of Oracle’s OpenWorld 2017 event, Larry Ellison announces simplification of cloud pricing, attached to increased automation in database and middleware
September 19, 2017 19 Sep'17
Outlook outage: Microsoft blames European Hotmail downtime on load-balancing fault

Microsoft claims connectivity issues that blighted Outlook and Hotmail users for much of Monday 18 September have now been largely resolved
September 15, 2017 15 Sep'17
VMworld 2017: How to change the face of legacy

If change is the only constant, the IT industry is the 21st century engine of change, relentlessly grinding out more features at a faster rate
September 15, 2017 15 Sep'17
Oracle 2017-18 Q1 results: Cloud revenue jumps by 51%

Oracle’s first quarter 2017-18 results show jump in cloud revenue of 51%, boosted by NetSuite acquisition. Executives continue to be bullish on cloud growth, and the AI makeover of core database is flagged
September 14, 2017 14 Sep'17
£30m National Innovation Centre for Data launched

The government and Newcastle University have teamed up to launch a £30m National Innovation Centre for Data, as part of the Northern Powerhouse
September 14, 2017 14 Sep'17
Enterprise appetites for cloud-based financial apps on the rise, Gartner research suggests

Research into corporate appetites for cloud-based financial apps suggest demand is growing faster than expected, claims Gartner
September 14, 2017 14 Sep'17
Government aligns data laws with GDPR

The UK government announces details of its data protection law that will align with the EU’s GDPR
September 13, 2017 13 Sep'17
British Army enhances data-driven decision making to staunch churn

The British Army is continuing to use SAS analytics software to improve its data management, with a particular focus on reducing high-value personnel churn
September 13, 2017 13 Sep'17
DevOps salary survey highlights link between server farm size and practitioner pay

The Puppet 2017 DevOps Salary Report suggests practitioners working at larger firms, with sizeable server farms and low-level manual configuration management, get paid more
September 11, 2017 11 Sep'17
Why the best way to encourage digital innovation is not to fund it

Give people the space to grow and reward people for ideas rather than their output and innovation will come, says Frazer Bennett, a member of PA Consulting’s management team
September 08, 2017 08 Sep'17
Half of UK fintech firms confident in growth but have doubts over skills

UK fintech companies are confident that revenues will double over the next year, but have concerns over talent and customer take up of services
September 08, 2017 08 Sep'17
Hillarys Blinds unveils SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as SAP Hana OS

Blinds manufacturer Hillarys, a long-time SAP customer and Hana advocate, has revealed the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications to be the operating system underlying its stack
September 04, 2017 04 Sep'17
CIO interview: Adrenaline junkie leaps from big pharma to cloud services

Diana McKenzie, CIO of Workday and triathlon competitor, on analytics, data lakes and the relationship between IT and business
August 31, 2017 31 Aug'17
How an idea built on web freebies and low-cost tools evolved into a virtual NHS clinic

We speak to an NHS trust about how readily available web software helped clinicians get a pioneering project off the ground
August 23, 2017 23 Aug'17
Sub-prime lender links technology upgrade to financial problems

Lender partly blames new automation software for its poor performance
August 23, 2017 23 Aug'17
UAE telco Du pushes SaaS adoption in Middle East

The Middle East looks set to see strong growth in software as a service and IT departments need to take a different approach
August 21, 2017 21 Aug'17
HSBC streamlines mortgages with Capita software

Bank is using software to improve its mortgage application processes and subsequently increase business through brokers
August 18, 2017 18 Aug'17
Munich Re puts data analytics into services for a ‘riskier world’

Re-insurer combines a Hadoop data lake, SAS analytics and SAP Hana to create new cyber and other insurance services
August 17, 2017 17 Aug'17
Barclays ring-fencing project means downtime for customers

Many Barclays services will be unavailable this weekend as part of the bank's project to separate retail and investment operations
August 10, 2017 10 Aug'17
Consumers unaware of bank account switching service despite £750m spent on IT system

TSB Bank believes the Competition and Markets Authority needs to do more to promote account switching system to consumers
August 10, 2017 10 Aug'17
IT pros urged to support ‘WannaCry hero’ Marcus Hutchins

Computer experts fear chilling effect on security research over US arrest of Marcus Hutchins who halted the spread of the WannaCry ransomware
August 10, 2017 10 Aug'17
Allied Irish Bank blends industrial and artisanal analytics to gain edge

Bank has bulked up its data analytics capability, partly with SAS, to gain a more intimate understanding of its customers
August 08, 2017 08 Aug'17
Top tips to avoid a costly Office 365 subscription bill

The Office 365 cloud-based productivity suite is Microsoft’s next strategic platform. We explore the licensing implications
August 07, 2017 07 Aug'17
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim gets 'faster in the head' with SAP analytics

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim has been using SAP’s Hana database and applications to speed up players mentally, as well as using SAP Hybris to sell shirts
August 03, 2017 03 Aug'17
Sub-postmasters allege 'bullying and intimidation' by Post Office over Horizon IT system

Campaigners have submitted initial evidence in group litigation against Post Office over controversial Horizon IT system
August 02, 2017 02 Aug'17
Fruit firm W B Chambers uses IFS suite to grow business

W B Chambers, a Kentish fruit farm, has chosen IFS to support its business growth and to guard against the labour pool uncertainties of Brexit
July 25, 2017 25 Jul'17
National Army Museum uses Tide for future personalisation plans

Following renovations to its physical space, the National Army Museum used Talisman’s Tide platform to integrate its current systems and allow for personalisation in the future
July 25, 2017 25 Jul'17
AA Ireland turns to predictive analytics in fraud crackdown

Roadside assistance company invests in analytics software to fight fraud and introduce dynamic pricing after its split with the AA
July 21, 2017 21 Jul'17
CIO interview: Marc Roberts, CTO, HiyaCar

The CTO at a company that is disrupting the car rental sector tells Computer Weekly about some of his major projects
July 20, 2017 20 Jul'17
SAP Q2 2017 results: cloud revenue €932m, 500 new S/4 customers

SAP’s second-quarter revenue of €5.78bn included €932m for cloud subscription and support – 16% of the total – while new S/4 Hana customers included Centrica and Google
July 19, 2017 19 Jul'17
Oracle expands Cloud at Customer, adds 1,000 cloud sales Emea staff

Supplier adds SaaS elements to hybrid cloud service and aims to recruit 1,000 staff in Emea to accelerate cloud business
July 19, 2017 19 Jul'17
Incoming SAP User Group chair sees tenure shaped by Brexit

New SAP UK & Ireland User Group chairman Paul Cooper’s tenure will run to the end of Brexit. This and continued digitisation will shape his term in office
July 18, 2017 18 Jul'17
Digital transformation at tipping point in Singapore

Businesses in Singapore are fine-tuning their digital transformation efforts, with a third of them moving public cloud workloads to on-premise systems
July 17, 2017 17 Jul'17
Post Office defence in computer system legal case due this week

The Post Office will this week present its defence against allegations brought by subpostmasters in a group legal action
July 17, 2017 17 Jul'17
Qatar ban scuppers Infor plans to open Doha office

Infor has puts its Qatar plans on hold amid GCC political crisis
July 17, 2017 17 Jul'17
Siemens to open Singapore digitalisation hub in IoT push

Siemens' digitalisation hub will be home to 60 specialists who will develop internet of things applications in areas including advanced manufacturing and healthcare
July 13, 2017 13 Jul'17
Google opens UK datacentre region to deliver low-latency cloud connections to enterprise

Internet search giant declares its UK datacentre region open for business, and promises users improved application performance
July 10, 2017 10 Jul'17
Experian admits mobile and online issues after system upgrade

Some customers of credit referencing company are having problems accessing a service they pay for following an IT upgrade and large customer migration to a new system
July 05, 2017 05 Jul'17
Online retailer Ocado sees increased order volumes as digital shopping grows

As online retail becomes more popular, Ocado has seen a rise in orders, but its profits for the first half of 2017 have dropped after heavy tech investment
July 05, 2017 05 Jul'17
Sweden trials blockchain for land registry management

Swedish land registry is trying out blockchain as a means of proving ownership
July 03, 2017 03 Jul'17
Dutch bank cuts compliance data retrieval from weeks to hours

Rabobank has moved from tape libraries and robotic arms to a platform-based storage and retrieval system to help it comply with regulations
June 27, 2017 27 Jun'17
Unabiz secures IoT network operator licence in Taiwan

Internet of things connectivity provider plans to cover 95% of the island’s population by 2018
June 26, 2017 26 Jun'17
Middle East retailers urged to embrace e-commerce platforms

E-commerce in the Middle East makes up a tiny proportion of the region's GDP, but this will change as Amazon stokes the market
June 23, 2017 23 Jun'17
Housing developer rolls out HCM to pave way for stock market listing

Bonava, which provides affordable and sustainable housing in Northern and Eastern Europe, rolled out HR technology in record time to meet a deadline to list on the Stockholm Stock Exchange
June 22, 2017 22 Jun'17
Most SAP users plan to stick with older ERP due to costly Hana migration

Survey finds many SAP users are considering augmenting their existing enterprise resource planning with cloud applications rather than go to S/4 Hana
June 22, 2017 22 Jun'17
IT glitch brings rail ticket machines down in the UK

A failure related to a single software and systems supplier meant thousands of commuters in the UK were unable to buy tickets
June 22, 2017 22 Jun'17
Insurance industry transformation will mirror travel sector through insurtech

Insurtech is gaining momentum, and companies in the sector of all sizes and ages can learn from startups
June 22, 2017 22 Jun'17
Oracle 2016-17 results: cloud revenue up 60%, overall growth 2%

Oracle’s full-year and fourth quarter results for fiscal year 2016-17 indicate 2% growth in overall revenue, with cloud representing 12% of total. Executives are once again bullish on cloud ERP growth prospects
June 21, 2017 21 Jun'17
The human apprentices behind robotic automation

IT apprentices are helping large businesses transform their back-office processes through software robots
June 21, 2017 21 Jun'17
Pirated software used to spread malware in APAC

A regional study by a Singapore university has found that counterfeit software distributed through discs and file-sharing networks is plagued by malware
June 20, 2017 20 Jun'17
NTT Docomo turns to SAP Hana to boost customer experience

Japanese telco NTT Docomo rolls out in-memory database in eight months to analyse data from retail outlets and customer call centres in a bid to improve service levels
June 19, 2017 19 Jun'17
Hovis boosts job applications after HR tech roll-out

Baker and flour miller expects a quick payback from HR technology project
June 19, 2017 19 Jun'17
McKinsey AI research finds slender user adoption outside tech

McKinsey Global Institute research finds artificial intelligence adoption to be exiguous and experimental outside the technology sector, but registers rapidly growing investment
June 19, 2017 19 Jun'17
British & Irish Lions engage with fans via cloud platform

Fans of the British & Irish Lions rugby team are being offered more ways to digitally engage with the team while it is on tour in New Zealand
June 19, 2017 19 Jun'17
Australia’s blockchain adoption at tipping point

Although blockchain is no silver bullet, experts say Australian organisations should embrace and invest in the technology
June 16, 2017 16 Jun'17
Greggs bakes in business change programme with SAP

UK baker and food-to-go retailer says it has significantly advanced its business change programme with a full panoply of SAP software
June 14, 2017 14 Jun'17
HR technology essential to cutting-edge customer service, say big businesses

If you can’t get your internal HR systems right, the business will suffer – Jaguar Land Rover, Lufthansa and Russia’s Sberbank explain why
June 14, 2017 14 Jun'17
Lufthansa Systems ‘crowdfunds’ BI to mine flight data

Open source business intelligence tool enables airline to gain new insights from a decade’s worth of ticket sales
June 09, 2017 09 Jun'17
The Barcode Warehouse deploys ServiceNow to streamline managed services

Customisation of cloud-based tool has enabled ruggedised mobile devices company to streamline its business processes
June 09, 2017 09 Jun'17
Patent group prepares for tough data protection laws by moving HR to the cloud

CPA Global to replace ERP-based HR system as it gears up to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation
June 08, 2017 08 Jun'17
Watchdog fails to audit intelligence agencies’ sharing of surveillance data with industry

New privacy concerns raised after intelligence watchdog confirms it has never audited or inspected the way intelligence services share sensitive surveillance databases with industry partners
June 08, 2017 08 Jun'17
Dubai Airports automates resource planning

Airports in Dubai are using automation software to co-ordinate resources such as check-in gates and aircraft stands
June 07, 2017 07 Jun'17
Challenger bank technology arm hires former ABN Amro IT executive as CIO

Bank and banking technology supplier Fidor hires an experienced banking CIO to support its international expansion
June 06, 2017 06 Jun'17
HSBC launches global social network for businesses

HSBC Bank is helping its business customers connect with potential partners through a digital hub
June 05, 2017 05 Jun'17
GE digital facility in Paris introduces its first set of startups to customers

The first five software developers to graduate in GE's Foundry are now in front of the company’s customers
June 02, 2017 02 Jun'17
Doug Cutting, ‘father’ of Hadoop, talks about big data tech evolution

In a Q&A interview, the “father” of Hadoop, Doug Cutting, talks about the cyber-security applications of the stack, as well as Hadoop’s evolution
June 01, 2017 01 Jun'17
Australia’s Icon Group taps IBM Watson to boost cancer care

Watson for Oncology will provide oncologists with medical information and treatment options to support clinical decision making
May 31, 2017 31 May'17
Hundreds of sub-postmasters have applied to join IT-related legal action since March

The number of sub-postmasters who claim to have suffered as a result of a faulty Post Office IT system has reached 1,300
May 31, 2017 31 May'17
Norwegian bakery chain gets the taste of mobile reporting

Baker Brun, a bakery company in Norway, is modernising its business processes through the latest technologies
May 28, 2017 28 May'17
Australia dials into IoT amid connectivity challenges

The internet of things may have benefited industries such as oil and gas, but issues such as connectivity are holding back adoption in Australia
May 24, 2017 24 May'17
SAP aligns with Saudi Arabia’s IT transformation agenda

Global software giant SAP sees an opportunity for its wide portfolio in Saudi Arabia as the Middle Eastern country transforms
May 24, 2017 24 May'17
Interview: Nick Bleech, head of information security, Travis Perkins

Last year, Travis Perkins implemented Splunk to help it to respond more quickly to security threats. Now, the business is looking into machine learning and a single customer view
May 23, 2017 23 May'17
Economic and political uncertainty drives organisations to rethink IT strategies

CIO job satisfaction reaches a three-year high as organisations hire more IT staff and invest in innovative digital technology
May 23, 2017 23 May'17
SAP Leonardo positioned as digital transformation catalyst

SAP’s leadership explains how it has devised Leonardo as a cloud-based product plus services concept for moving organisations beyond mode 1 IT to mode 2, drawing on AI, ML, IoT and blockchain
May 22, 2017 22 May'17
Processing system glitch hits airports across Australia

Flights delayed by outage in the passenger processing system that clears travellers for international travel
May 17, 2017 17 May'17
SAP wants to be cloud leader in APAC by 2020

The business software supplier expects its cloud portfolio to contribute at least a third of its revenues in a region that includes key markets such as Australia, Japan and Southeast Asia
May 17, 2017 17 May'17
Sapphire 2017: McDermott declares SAP indirect licensing policy change

At SAP’s annual Sapphire Now conference in Orlando, Florida, CEO Bill McDermott ruled out charging for static read access from third-party systems, after recent controversy
May 16, 2017 16 May'17
SAP pushes deeper into machine learning

With its expanded Leonardo platform that includes machine learning capabilities, SAP hopes to go beyond its stronghold of supplying core ERP systems
May 15, 2017 15 May'17
Airport group uses cloud-based software to support insourcing

Manchester Airport Group is using cloud-based ITSM software to support its in-house service