News

Customer relationship management (CRM)

January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21
British Gas tackles omnichannel customer correspondence

Utility firm hopes to map out customer communications to help deliver a better customer experience and improve the business
January 03, 2021 03 Jan'21
Covid-19’s impact on the retail supply chain

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in the ability of retailers to mitigate supply chain imbalances
December 17, 2020 17 Dec'20
Guide Dogs data strategy navigates path to organisational view

Guide Dogs CIO Gerard McGovern is mapping out a data strategy that is aimed at taking the charity from an individual to an organisational view of data
December 03, 2020 03 Dec'20
Dreamforce 2020: Hyperforce shifts Salesforce to public cloud

Salesforce COO Bret Taylor announced “Hyperforce” during Marc Benioff’s opening keynote at the virtual version of the supplier’s 2020 Dreamforce event in San Francisco

December 02, 2020 02 Dec'20
Salesforce confirms rumoured Slack acquisition on eve of Dreamforce 2020

Salesforce has announced a $27.7bn stock and cash acquisition of Slack ahead of the virtual iteration of its Dreamforce 2020 event
December 02, 2020 02 Dec'20
CIO interview: Danny Attias, chief digital and information officer, Anthony Nolan

Digital transformation takes on a whole new purpose when it's helping to save lives – but leading IT for a charity also has its satisfying technology challenges
November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20
Robots taking jobs, but creating careers

Robotic process automation developers tell Computer Weekly about the job they never expected to be doing
October 27, 2020 27 Oct'20
SAP Q3 2020 results: revenue down 4%, cloud silver lining hailed

SAP’s third quarter 2020 results stated a 4% year-on-year reduction in revenue, with an 11% increase in cloud revenue lightening the gloom
October 26, 2020 26 Oct'20
BT brings out RCS business messaging to UK customers

Telco announces that platform based on next generation of rich mobile messaging is now through early-stage pilots and is available for businesses to enhance customer experience
October 12, 2020 12 Oct'20
Software AG caught in double extortion ransomware hit

Data stolen from prominent German software company by Clop ransomware gang appears on the dark web

September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20
Oracle OpenWorld 2020: Miranda – business model changes are driving turn to cloud

Steve Miranda, who leads Oracle applications development globally, spoke to Computer Weekly ahead of his keynote at the virtual version of OpenWorld. Supply chain management and customer experience are vectors where improvements are being made, he ...
September 28, 2020 28 Sep'20
Case Study: Douglas and Gordon uses video to make house searching safer

Estate agent Douglas and Gordon has made videos of prospective properties to make it safer and easier for house hunters to find their new home during the coronavirus pandemic
September 22, 2020 22 Sep'20
The inside story of Taiwan’s AI whizz

Not content with his stellar achievements in artificial intelligence, Chih-Han Yu wanted to create an impact with his work and formed one of Taiwan’s most important unicorns
September 14, 2020 14 Sep'20
Fintech Pledge launched to strengthen UK’s financial technology sector

The Fintech Pledge initiative is designed to foster closer collaboration between banks and fintechs so that the UK can continue building a globally competitive fintech ecosystem
September 11, 2020 11 Sep'20
Small businesses projected to add £1.8tn to global GDP growth by 2024

Small Business Digital Maturity research finds nearly three-quarters of global small businesses surveyed are accelerating their digitisation rates to address Covid-19 challenges and respond faster to the new normal of remote working
September 03, 2020 03 Sep'20
Insurers accept they were slow to adopt digital

Insurance companies know they must prioritise digital investment and are planning in-house development to help make up lost ground
August 27, 2020 27 Aug'20
Asda trials platform for customer parcel updates

Retailers Asda is trialling delivery management from tech platform Sorted to provide customers who have ordered clothing online with a better customer experience
August 26, 2020 26 Aug'20
Salesforce Q2 2020: Benioff says crisis will speed growth

Salesforce announces 29% year-on-year revenue growth for the second quarter, and grieves for Dreamforce 2020
August 19, 2020 19 Aug'20
Vodafone builds smart enterprise on SAP S/4 Hana

Holger Grewe, group head of corporate transformation, and Ignacio Garcia, CIO corporate systems, at Vodafone, convey how SAP S/4 Hana has been purposely implemented as part of an ongoing smart enterprise transformation
August 11, 2020 11 Aug'20
Hospitality sector is failing on contact-tracing obligations

Cyber security experts urge the government to do more to help small hospitality businesses improve their contact-tracing data-handling practices
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
July 31, 2020 31 Jul'20
Labour Party is latest victim of Blackbaud ransomware attack

Widening Blackbaud data breach ensnares the Labour Party as the cloud software firm continues to duck questions about its behaviour
July 27, 2020 27 Jul'20
SAP Q2 2020 results: SAP partially divests Qualtrics as positive results posted against Covid crisis

SAP has announced a positive set of second-quarter 2020 results, hot on the heels of a declaration that it will spin out online survey business unit Qualtrics by way of an initial public offering in the US
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 14, 2020 14 Jul'20
Recon vulnerability puts thousands of SAP customers at risk

Users of multiple SAP products including S4/HANA should apply the security update as soon as possible to protect their systems
July 13, 2020 13 Jul'20
How SingEx is bracing itself for disruption

Singapore’s SingEx started its digital transformation journey a few years ago and has already pivoted its approach to cope with new challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic
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 08, 2020 08 Jul'20
Swisscom taps Hitachi to improve network-based customer service

Pentaho product helps business customer service reps of Switzerland’s largest telecommunications company and leading IT services provider provide better, faster service through centralised hub
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
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 27, 2020 27 May'20
PropertyGuru touts 3D virtual viewings with StoryTeller

Southeast Asian property portal PropertyGuru rolls out new capability in its FastKey platform that lets developers showcase properties to prospective buyers through 3D visualisation
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 07, 2020 07 May'20
SAP extends indirect licensing related programme to end of 2021

User groups extend cautious welcome to SAP’s extension of its Digital Access Adoption Program
April 21, 2020 21 Apr'20
Klein takes sole command of SAP as Q1 results show Covid impact

As Christian Klein becomes sole chief executive officer, SAP announces total revenue of €6.521bn for the first quarter, up 7% on Q1 2019
April 16, 2020 16 Apr'20
St Albans council integrates systems in effort to streamline processes

The council of St Albans has implemented a unified digital platform to streamline how citizens interact with its services, as well as its own decision-making processes
March 31, 2020 31 Mar'20
Gartner: Top-performing companies understand CX

Those businesses that measure customer experience, either through surveys, real-time analytics or the use of artificial intelligence, are more profitable
March 19, 2020 19 Mar'20
IT Priorities 2020: ANZ firms to spend more on cyber security

Over half of respondents in Australia and New Zealand plan to invest more in cyber security, especially in key areas such as data loss prevention
March 04, 2020 04 Mar'20
IT Priorities 2020: UK business applications investment in AI gathers steam

Artificial intelligence intensifies as an investment area for UK IT buyers, while cloud delivery is coming to ERP as well as other applications
February 28, 2020 28 Feb'20
CIO interview: Ian Cohen, chief product and technology officer, Addison Lee

At taxi and transport company Addison Lee, technology is focused around customer experience before worrying about datacentres, servers and what elements make up the IT infrastructure
February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20
Accenture’s tech vision draws inspiration from Black Mirror

Last year’s “Bandersnatch” Black Mirror episode on Netflix highlights a new opportunity for business, according to Accenture
February 04, 2020 04 Feb'20
Australia’s NAB taps AI to create brand voice

Using Amazon’s artificial intelligence smarts, National Australia Bank has developed a unique brand voice that will greet customers who dial up its contact centre
January 31, 2020 31 Jan'20
Australia’s Iconic Hotels taps cloud for speed and cost savings

The independent hotel operator in the Australian Capital Territory has saved IT manpower and costs by moving from an on-premise hospitality management system to a cloud-based application
January 27, 2020 27 Jan'20
LV= rolls out smart speaker skill

General insurance firm says customers will receive answers to commonly asked questions by invoking the skill on Alexa or Google Home Assistant
January 15, 2020 15 Jan'20
Case study: How Trainline keeps customers satisfied

The Trainline is encouraging customers to discover cheaper rail fares for the same journey with its AI-enabled SplitSave option
December 27, 2019 27 Dec'19
Top 10 business applications stories of 2019

The steady incursion of artificial intelligence into enterprise software was a major theme behind Computer Weekly’s in-depth stories in this area in 2019
December 10, 2019 10 Dec'19
APAC IT leaders lay out priorities for 2020

Robotic process automation and data analytics are among the top priorities for IT leaders in the Asia-Pacific region in the new year
December 05, 2019 05 Dec'19
London mayor Sadiq Khan opens Salesforce’s Ohana floor

Opening coincides with Salesforce announcing $1.25m funding for education charity Ark and a Pathfinder training programme
December 02, 2019 02 Dec'19
UKISUG 2019: Qualtrics unknown to 43% of SAP customers

On the opening day of its annual conference, the UK and Ireland SAP User Group unveils member research showing scant awareness of Qualtrics, and continuing slow adoption of S/4 Hana
November 22, 2019 22 Nov'19
Obama at Dreamforce 2019: Leaders orchestrate the conversation

Former US president Barack Obama spoke in a fireside chat with Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff at Dreamforce 2019. He cautioned on the dangers of the information age and offered some advice for business leaders
November 21, 2019 21 Nov'19
HSBC builds API digital platform with MuleSoft to forward open banking

At Dreamforce 2019, HSBC announced the building of a digital platform with Salesforce MuleSoft to forward open banking opportunities
November 20, 2019 20 Nov'19
Dreamforce 2019: Benioff puts data centre stage as protestors disrupt speech

Salesforce founder and co-CEO outlines data integration and data visualisation product vision underpinned by MuleSoft and garnished with Tableau
November 15, 2019 15 Nov'19
Businesses move key applications off public cloud to save costs

A new study has shown that while many enterprises are able to keep public cloud costs under control, spending can quickly escalate
November 15, 2019 15 Nov'19
How Slack is going beyond messaging in enterprise play

Deeper integrations with business applications and data residency support are part of Slack’s broader strategy to penetrate deeper into the enterprise
October 29, 2019 29 Oct'19
How Aussie Broadband is improving service levels with automation

Australian telco Aussie Broadband has improved customer service though automation, even with a lean team and a growing subscriber base
September 25, 2019 25 Sep'19
Executive interview: Speed is cloud apps benefit, says Oracle’s Miranda

In a Q&A with Computer Weekly at Oracle Open World 2019, applications head Steve Miranda discussed the supplier’s approach to cloud applications, digital assistants and machine learning
September 12, 2019 12 Sep'19
How Zendesk plans to crack the enterprise market

Zendesk has been courting enterprises by billing itself as a customer experience software company and is leaning on its design smarts to stand out among bigger rivals
September 12, 2019 12 Sep'19
Oracle Q1, 2019-2020: revenue flat, cloud progress vaunted

Oracle’s first quarter 2019-2020 results show revenue growth to be flat, but executives claim cloud headway and vaunt progress on autonomous database uptake. Co-CEO Mark Hurd takes leave of absence on health grounds
August 28, 2019 28 Aug'19
APAC is epicentre of the experience economy

The experience economy is emerging in the Asia-Pacific region, but to succeed, enterprises will need to understand both operational and experience data
July 24, 2019 24 Jul'19
Salesforce teams up with Alibaba in foray into China

The cloud applications giant is tapping Alibaba’s footprint in e-commerce and cloud in an effort to expand its business in the Greater China region
July 18, 2019 18 Jul'19
SAP Q2 2019: US-China trade war takes toll

SAP’s second-quarter 2019 financial results indicate cloud revenue at 26% of total, and 600 new customers for S/4 Hana. The US-China trade war has adversely affected results
July 03, 2019 03 Jul'19
One-third of people prefer instant reply from chatbot about finances to waiting for human reply

Consumers are warming to being supported by chatbots when it comes to financial services, but firms in the sector face hurdles to achieve true end-to-end automation
July 01, 2019 01 Jul'19
The Great Eastern way to digital transformation

Regional insurance company Great Eastern has rolled out a new digital platform to better serve customers while morphing its DNA from the inside out
June 25, 2019 25 Jun'19
Big companies face extinction unless they use IT better

Better use of IT could add £100bn to the British economy, says a CBI report into UK big business
June 19, 2019 19 Jun'19
How AirAsia streamlined its customer service

Integrating multiple customer touch points with Salesforce has enabled Asia’s leading low-cost carrier to shorten waiting time and improve customer service
June 18, 2019 18 Jun'19
Tableau sticking to data mission under Salesforce

Tableau President and CEO Adam Selipsky told the company’s European user conference in Berlin that Salesforce acquisition will not affect its mission of “seeing and understanding data”
June 10, 2019 10 Jun'19
Salesforce buys Tableau to add self-service analytics to CRM

Salesforce is set to buy business intelligence data visualisation pioneer Tableau as it seeks to amplify its customer analytics capability
June 10, 2019 10 Jun'19
Whittard spills the tea about its use of technology

CFO and IT manager of British hot beverages brand Whittard explains the firm’s recent investment in technology ahead of the business’s expansion into China
June 06, 2019 06 Jun'19
Co-op pushes to make customer care teams more co-operative

The Co-op operates in market segments ranging from funeral care to food, and its customer service strategy was disparate until it adopted Salesforce
May 16, 2019 16 May'19
How Open University went from bespoke IT to vanilla SAP

It’s hard convincing users their business processes are a dud. But this is what Chris Youles, chief information officer of the Open University, needed to do to transform the organisation
May 08, 2019 08 May'19
Sapphire 2019: McDermott dubs Qualtrics ‘elixir for cultural change’

At SapphireNow 2019 in Orlando, Florida, CEO Bill McDermott said the gap between what consumers expect and get makes up a $1.6tn economic problem addressed by SAP’s Qualtrics acquisition
April 24, 2019 24 Apr'19
SAP Q1 2019 results: 400 more S/4 Hana sign-ups, €1.5bn in cloud

SAP’s first-quarter 2019 financial results indicate cloud revenue at 26% of total, and 400 new customers for S/4 Hana. Senior executive losses, restructure and Qualtrix acquisition cost bite into profit
April 07, 2019 07 Apr'19
APL Logistics fast-tracks global shipments with cloud

The Singapore-based supply chain firm has moved its transport management system and other business applications to the cloud, while keeping its ‘secret sauce’ on-premise
March 29, 2019 29 Mar'19
Middle East countries accelerate quantum computing research

Gulf countries must invest in quantum computing research to ensure they continue to to remain digital pioneers
March 27, 2019 27 Mar'19
Salesforce opens AI research outfit in Singapore

Cloud-based software giant Salesforce will train up to 100 postgraduate students over three years in artificial intelligence technology
March 15, 2019 15 Mar'19
StepChange uses Pegasystems to power digital efficiency drive

Charity StepChange, which helps people manage debt problems, has developed a modern IT system to help double the number of people it can support
March 12, 2019 12 Mar'19
Nationwide uses natural language processing to discover what annoys customers

SAS has run a proof of concept at building society Nationwide, using artificial intelligence and natural language processing to determine how to improve customer correspondence
February 25, 2019 25 Feb'19
SAP Malaysia MD Duncan Williamson talks up the ‘experience economy’

In a world where consumer experience can make or break a business, companies need to continuously reinvent themselves to stay relevant
February 22, 2019 22 Feb'19
Facebook planned to spy on Android phone users, internal emails reveal

Facebook planned to use its Android app to track the location of its customers and to allow advertisers to send political advertising and invites to dating sites to ‘single’ people, confidential documents show
February 19, 2019 19 Feb'19
IT Priorities 2019: UK investment intent for AI intensifies, SaaS applications mature beyond CRM

AI continues to strengthen as a focus for IT systems buyers in the UK, according to this year’s Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT Priorities survey, while cloud applications are maturing beyond CRM
February 15, 2019 15 Feb'19
Lucidworks CEO talks up ‘data experiences’

Will Hayes discusses Lucidworks’ Asian expansion plans, as well as efforts to help enterprises deliver rich data experiences for employees and customers through AI-augmented search engines
January 29, 2019 29 Jan'19
Australian government turns to Rimini Street for software support

A slew of Australian government agencies have switched out SAP and Oracle maintenance contracts for third-party support services
January 29, 2019 29 Jan'19
IT leaders grapple with workforce skills gap as they deploy AI and digital technology

Organisations will have to find new ways of reskilling their workforce as they get to grips with artificial intelligence and other digital technologies. CIOs also need to keep their skills updated if they are to succeed
January 29, 2019 29 Jan'19
SAP FY 2018: Cloud revenue nears €5bn, 10,500 customers for S/4 Hana

SAP’s full-year 2018 results show cloud revenue at 20% of the total, which was €24.7bn, while the fourth quarter saw 1,000 customers added to its flagship S/4 Hana
January 01, 2019 01 Jan'19
SAP user group’s Cooper: Indirect licensing progress welcome but slow

SAP UK&I User Group chair Paul Cooper on the state of play between SAP and users: sanguine about end of ECC6; S/4 adoption growth steady, indirect licensing still an issue; and C/4 remains unknown
December 31, 2018 31 Dec'18
Top 10 business applications stories of 2018

The steady modernisation of ERP systems, as they edge to the cloud and are complemented by new-generation customer software, was markedly evident this year. And blockchain and AI are making inroads
December 12, 2018 12 Dec'18
Christmas charity appeal increases donations with cloud-based comms

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity is using a pop-up cloud contact centre from supplier Sesui to help run its annual Christmas appeal in partnership with the BBC
November 20, 2018 20 Nov'18
How Singapore Airlines is flying the digital skies

Top Asian carrier Singapore Airlines has been building a digital foundation to fend off potential disruption, but it is not just the IT team that is leading the charge
November 12, 2018 12 Nov'18
UKISUG 2018: Upswing for S/4 Hana, C/4 Hana unknown to 39%

UK and Ireland SAP User Group discloses research showing steady rise in S/4 Hana implementation, but C/4 Hana is still an unknown quantity
November 08, 2018 08 Nov'18
Privacy International files GDPR complaint against Oracle

General Data Protection Regulation complaints against Oracle and six other companies filed with Information Commissioner’s Office
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 31, 2018 31 Oct'18
Triumph Motorcycles kick-starts changes with high-tech HR

The Leicestershire-based motorcycle company is deploying IT systems to give customers and its own staff a ‘premium brand experience’
October 30, 2018 30 Oct'18
How Avanade keeps pace with Microsoft and the market

Systems integrator Avanade has had to adapt to Microsoft’s evolution into an “ecosystem platform” that includes open-source software
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 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 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
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
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 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