News

IT for retail and logistics

• November 09, 2015 09 Nov'15

  IT and business process outsourcing surges after general election

  Business confidence following the general election is explained as the main reason for a massive hike in spending on IT and business process outsourcing by UK organisations

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  Disconnect between IT suppliers and retailers as need for retail tech grows

  The need for technology in retail environments is growing, but almost half of IT suppliers say retailers have no idea what tech they need

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  Communication Workers Union warns subpostmasters of flaw in Post Office Horizon accounting system

  The union that represents Post Office subpostmasters has warned of a problem with the Horizon accounting system at the centre of a long-running dispute

• November 05, 2015 05 Nov'15

  Rethink security by focusing on resilience, says Raytheon-Websense

  Businesses need to take learned behaviours and use them to reliably contain and neutralise emerging threats, says Raytheon-Websense

• November 04, 2015 04 Nov'15

  How IoT will impact the Asean cloud landscape

  IoT deployments are in their early stages in the Asean region, but experts predict as take-up of IoT apps increases it will have a big impact on IT infrastructures in the region

• October 29, 2015 29 Oct'15

  M&S data breach forces retailer to temporarily suspend service

  A glitch that allowed online customers to see each others' details forced retailer Mark & Spencer to take its website offline while it resolved the issue

• October 29, 2015 29 Oct'15

  Retailers will never have pure play, says Watchfinder founder

  Founder of luxury second-hand watch reseller Watchfinder explains that retailers will never have an entirely online or offline business

• October 29, 2015 29 Oct'15

  Morrisons’ staff data breach lawsuit underlines insider threat

  Thousands of Morrisons' employees are to sue the supermarket giant in what is believed to be the UK’s biggest ever claim in relation to a breach of data security

• October 29, 2015 29 Oct'15

  British Gas warns customers of security leak but denies breach

  British Gas has warned customers that account logins may have been leaked, but says its systems have not been breached and that no payment data has been exposed

• October 28, 2015 28 Oct'15

  Mobile attacks more vicious, insidious and malicious, says Blue Coat

  An increase in insidious and malicious attack types should sound an alarm to strengthen defences, according to a mobile malware report

• October 27, 2015 27 Oct'15

  Online extortion set to increase in 2016, says Trend Micro

  2016 will see continued growth in cyber extortion, hacktivism and mobile malware, alongside a shift to an offensive cyber security posture for governments and corporations, say researchers

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Post Office looking for IT head as CIO quits

  Post Office CIO Lesley Sewell will leave the organisation in November 2015, with an interim IT chief appointed until a permanent replacement is recruited

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Transforming Singapore Post through modern technology

  When Singapore Post realised it had to change its business model to survive, it appointed its first CIO to front the technology transformation

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Security Serious Week kicks off in London

  Some 70 organisations and more than 50 cyber crime and security experts are supporting Security Serious Week to help others become more security savvy and cyber aware

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Café chain Le Pain Quotidien deploys epos terminals with Aures

  Worldwide bakery café Le Pain Quotidien has launched its electronic point of sale (epos) system with Aures. Here its IT director, Robert Brown, explains why

• October 26, 2015 26 Oct'15

  Yakult uses data analytics to boost growth in the Netherlands by 20%

  Probiotics maker Yakult is using analytics and data visualisation tools to boost its sales in the Netherlands

• October 23, 2015 23 Oct'15

  IoT not necessarily a security disaster, says Maersk CISO

  A growing focus on the internet of things means there is hope that it will not be a security threat, says Maersk CISO

• October 23, 2015 23 Oct'15

  Security needs to shift to resilience, says consultant

  Resilience means accepting that defences will be broken and preparing to reduce the impact on the business, says security expert Martin Stemplinger

• October 23, 2015 23 Oct'15

  Ex-government digital chief Mike Bracken brings GDS colleagues to Co-operative Group

  Mike Bracken, former government digital chief, has outlined his plans for digital transformation in his role at the Co-operative Group

• October 23, 2015 23 Oct'15

  German rail and transport group turns to virtual reality in war for talent

  Deutsche Bahn claims to be the first company in Germany to use virtual reality as a recruitment tool

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  New Zealand beauty firm moves business onto Netsuite

  New Zealand based beauty product supplier The Beauty Collective talks to Computer Weekly about its transformation to business software in the cloud

• October 22, 2015 22 Oct'15

  CIO interview: Frans Westerlund, Fiskars

  Fiskars CIO Frans Westerlund tells Computer Weekly about the challenges faced by IT when a business instigates a major strategic transformation

• October 21, 2015 21 Oct'15

  Mobile accounts for a quarter of Argos sales, but overall sales decline for Home Retail Group

  Mobile sales grew to account for a quarter of Argos's total sales, according to parent company Home Retail Group’s half-year results

• October 21, 2015 21 Oct'15

  James Arbuthnot takes Post Office IT fight to House of Lords

  James Arbuthnot takes his seat in the House of Lords and continues campaign for subpostmasters who claim to have been wronged by faulty Horizon IT system

• October 21, 2015 21 Oct'15

  Infosec pros should start preparing for the future, say experts

  Information security professionals need to grow their skills, engage with the business, increase security awareness, set business goals and tailor their messages, says a panel of experts

• October 20, 2015 20 Oct'15

  Mobile commerce catching traditional e-commerce in Asean

  Consumers in the Asean region are increasingly using their mobile devices to make online purchases, according to a study by Visa

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  Turning data into action still tricky for Australia's data scientists

  Australian businesses need to change their attitudes towards data scientists if they are to unshackle the benefits of data

• October 19, 2015 19 Oct'15

  Amazon sues sellers using paid-for product reviews

  Amazon’s brand is being damaged by "false, misleading and inauthentic" reviews – paid for by sellers – to lure buyers, the organisation says in a lawsuit

• October 16, 2015 16 Oct'15

  Retailers miss vital data about customers' website experience

  Mark Felix from John Lewis says retailers should do more to use the data they collect about how customers use websites to hone their online experience

• October 15, 2015 15 Oct'15

  Technologies to consider when renewing an IT services contract

  Technology changes quickly, so organisations should ensure flexibility is built into IT services contracts to avoid missing out on the benefits of the latest advances

• October 14, 2015 14 Oct'15

  Customers don’t know what they want from retail omni-channels, says Sainsbury's

  Head of online operations development at Sainsbury’s, Dave Crellin, says retail channels are growing so fast customers don’t know what they want

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  Retail sector will be London’s next big tech drive, says Tech London Advocates

  Retail technology industry predicted to follow in the footsteps of the financial technology sector by producing London’s next generation of industry-changing startups

• October 13, 2015 13 Oct'15

  Cyber security innovation is crucial, says security evangelist

  Visibility and automation are key areas of cyber security innovation, but firms should concentrate first on the basics and not overlook the human element of security

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Travelex rewrites its digital strategy

  Travelex’s digital transformation is based on short-term wins, long-term goals and disruption, according to its chief digital officer, Sean Cornwell

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  E-commerce steams ahead in the UK with more online orders than the rest of the EU

  Figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal 79% of people in the UK ordered online in 2014

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Samsung Pay isolated from LoopPay attack

  Hackers who compromised LoopPay’s computer systems had no access to Samsung Pay’s user data or other core information, says Samsung

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  Mitula aims to become a giant of the classified vertical search market

  Specialist Spanish classified search site Mitula is expanding across the globe using in-house-developed software which works the same way in any country

• October 08, 2015 08 Oct'15

  UK companies still not on top of cyber attacks, says PwC report

  Nearly 10% of UK firms do not know how many cyber attacks they had in the past year and 14% do not know how they happened, says PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

• October 07, 2015 07 Oct'15

  More businesses put ERP in the cloud

  Businesses are increasingly moving enterprise resource planning to the cloud to make expansion easier

• October 07, 2015 07 Oct'15

  Tesco decides to keep Dunnhumby after strategic review of business

  Supermarket giant Tesco has scrapped plans to sell analytics arm Dunnhumby after restructuring and analysing its assets

• October 07, 2015 07 Oct'15

  Internet of things is next step along Infiniti Red Bull’s F1 journey

  Formula 1 team Infiniti Red Bull Racing is beginning to explore the potential of the IoT as it makes ongoing improvements to its networking infrastructure with support from AT&T

• October 06, 2015 06 Oct'15

  Researchers find credential-stealing webmail server APT attack

  Security researchers have discovered a new and unique advanced persistent threat (APT) technique that involves a malicious module loaded onto a webmail server

• October 03, 2015 03 Oct'15

  What to consider when IT outsourcing contracts come up for renewal

  Outsourcing contracts worth billions of pounds come up for renewal over the next few years – but unprecedented industry change complicates the CIO's decision

• October 02, 2015 02 Oct'15

  David Jones online customers hit by data breach

  Hackers have accessed the personal details of an unknown number of David Jones online customers, but the retailer says payment details and passwords are not affected

• September 30, 2015 30 Sep'15

  Smart peep-hole maker Peeple announced as 2015 Jlab winner

  John Lewis accelerator JLab announces Peeple, a smart peep-hole producer, as its 2015 winner

• September 29, 2015 29 Sep'15

  Two thirds of UK businesses never meet important customers

  British businesses don't always meet their best customers or the people they do most business with, because of trends in modern technology

• September 25, 2015 25 Sep'15

  Zalando opens Helsinki tech hub

  Fashion retailer will benefit from the mobile expertise found in Finland's capital, as it focuses on mobile apps

• September 22, 2015 22 Sep'15

  Industry is 12 months out from mass IoT adoption, says IDC

  An IDC survey of global IT decision-makers reveals that almost three-quarters have either deployed or plan to deploy internet of things systems in the coming year

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Starbucks European IT director moves to education publisher Pearson

  Robert Teagle quits the coffee company after eight years as European IT chief

• September 21, 2015 21 Sep'15

  Department store retailer House of Fraser appoints CIO

  British department store brand House of Fraser announces appointment of Julian Burnett as chief information officer

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  Rugby World Cup host city Gloucester gets free city Wi-Fi network

  BT tries out a free public wireless network in the centre of Gloucester as the city prepares to host the Rugby World Cup

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  Sainsbury’s hackathon showcases digital lab to improve customer services

  Sainsbury’s digital lab hackathon brings together the IT team and staff from the wider organisation to generate ideas to improve customer services

• September 17, 2015 17 Sep'15

  Singapore general election reveals growing importance of social media

  Organisations in all sectors in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries are recognising the influence of social networking

• September 15, 2015 15 Sep'15

  Almost 30% of retailers use facial recognition technology to track consumers in store

  Retailers are using more technology in store to track customer behaviour, with the younger generation finding it useful for their shopping experience

• September 15, 2015 15 Sep'15

  Why insurer Axa is entering the retail e-commerce market

  Digitisation in insurance is usually associated with digital policy documents – but Axa is using technology to take a lateral approach to the indemnity business

• September 15, 2015 15 Sep'15

  Most DDoS attacks hiding something more sinister, Neustar warns

  Smaller DDoS attacks can be more dangerous than a powerful attack that knocks a company offline but does not install malware or steal data, warns Neustar

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  John Lewis sales grow, but profit falls as restructuring shakes up the business

  The retailer reports a growth in sales, but blames omnichannel shift for a fall in operating profit

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  DD4BC cyber extortion gang adds social media to arsenal

  Cyber extortion gang DD4BC is using social media campaigns to garner more attention for its ability to create service disruptions by publicly embarrassing large organisations

• September 11, 2015 11 Sep'15

  Case study: French delivery company Chronopost looks to NoSQL for big data challenge

  French delivery company Chronopost is using open-source NoSQL systems to improve services and customer retention

• September 10, 2015 10 Sep'15

  Digital kiosks fail to stem Argos sales decline

  Retailer Argos reports a small increase in sales in comparison to its last quarter, but still suffers revenue decline year-on-year despite digital initiatives

• September 10, 2015 10 Sep'15

  UK tops global cyber crime hit list

  UK based criminals were the second highest originators of cyber crime attacks after the US in the second quarter, according to ThreatMetrix

• September 08, 2015 08 Sep'15

  Britain a smartphone-obsessed nation, says Deloitte

  Smartphone owners in the UK collectively check their devices 1.1 billion times a day, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte

• September 07, 2015 07 Sep'15

  School kids would rather study coding than a foreign language, says Ocado

  A year since computer science was added to the school curriculum Ocado discovers kids would rather learn to code than to speak another language

• September 01, 2015 01 Sep'15

  DDoS attack on NCA highlights need to be prepared, says Barracuda Networks

  A Lizard Squad DDoS attack the NCA says is a fact of life highlights the need for organisations to be prepared, according to Barracuda Networks

• September 01, 2015 01 Sep'15

  Webroot to help enable IoT security

  Webroot has released an IoT Security Toolkit for device makers, systems integrators and technology partners

• September 01, 2015 01 Sep'15

  Google accused of abusing market position in India

  Google has until 10 September 2015 to respond to the findings of an Indian Competition Commission investigation into allegations of anti-competitive business practices

• August 28, 2015 28 Aug'15

  Police arrest six UK teenagers for using DDoS cyber attack tool

  Police arrest six UK teenagers on suspicion of using a DDoS attack tool targeting a national newspaper, a school and online gaming companies and retailers

• August 28, 2015 28 Aug'15

  Google denies abusing dominant market position in Europe

  Internet giant says the preliminary findings of the EC's investigation into its business practices are “wrong as a matter of fact, law and economics"

• August 27, 2015 27 Aug'15

  Intel invests $60m in Chinese drone company Yuneec

  Intel's $60m investment follows smaller investments in two other drone manufacturers as part of the chip maker’s strategy to gain ground against competitors

• August 26, 2015 26 Aug'15

  Many firms not getting to grips with third-party data security risk

  Supply chain data security risk is pervasive, but being unable to deal with it is down to basic failings, says a cyber risk expert

• August 26, 2015 26 Aug'15

  UK Amazon Marketplace sellers see 400 million orders in past year

  Online retail giant highlights popularity of Amazon Marketplace and the growing demand for faster delivery

• August 26, 2015 26 Aug'15

  CIO interview: Elisabeth Stjernstoft, Apoteket

  When the Swedish government introduced competition to the pharmaceuticals sector in 2009, the former monopoly faced a major IT transformation

• August 26, 2015 26 Aug'15

  Millennials dissatisfied with online data security, study shows

  Fewer than 5% of UK and US 16 to 35 year olds believe their digital identity is completely protected by effective safeguards

• August 19, 2015 19 Aug'15

  Logistics software innovator Sendle takes on Australia's package-delivery monopoly

  Software is shaking up the delivery services sector in Australia. The creator of a new challenger talks to Computer Weekly

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  Q2 DDoS attacks double in a year, says Akamai report

  For the past three quarters, distributed denial of service attacks have doubled compared with the equivalent periods the year before, according to the latest Akamai security report

• August 18, 2015 18 Aug'15

  Australian Cyber Security Centre sets baseline for businesses

  The ACSC wants more organisations to take responsibility for protecting their information resources and computer systems

• August 17, 2015 17 Aug'15

  Vodafone tests app-based connected vehicle parking system

  Vodafone has teamed up with Westminster City Council and plumbing firm Pimlico Plumbers to test a connected vehicle parking system in London

• August 17, 2015 17 Aug'15

  Sage Summit 2015 – How to use Facebook to grow your business

  Founder of online retailer Lolly Wolly Doodle told Sage Summit 2015 how she used social media platform Facebook to grow her startup fashion business

• August 07, 2015 07 Aug'15

  Many firms still failing to test and secure web applications, says Rapid7

  Web application security is not getting the focus and attention it needs because of a lack of awareness of the risks by security professionals and developers alike, says Rapid7

• August 06, 2015 06 Aug'15

  Government digital chief Mike Bracken to become chief digital officer at the Co-op

  The Co-operative Group has announced outgoing GDS director Mike Bracken as its new digital chief

• August 05, 2015 05 Aug'15

  BlackHat 2015: Firms must switch focus to data security, says Imperva

  Without using any exploits, hackers can turn synchronisation services such as Dropbox, GoogleDrive and Box into a devastating attack tool, warns Imperva

• August 03, 2015 03 Aug'15

  Why the time is ripe for security behaviour analytics

  Recent months have seen an uptick in announcements by security suppliers around behavioural analytics, but what is driving this trend?

• July 30, 2015 30 Jul'15

  Facebook confirms mobile ad success, but profits dip

  Despite the better than expected second-quarter results, Facebook's share price fell by 5.4% in after-hours trading before rallying

• July 24, 2015 24 Jul'15

  Contactless card fraud highlights need for 2FA

  A Which? report on contactless card fraud highlights the need for multi-factor authentication for payments, say security experts

• July 24, 2015 24 Jul'15

  Amazon's shares up by 18% after reporting surprise Q2 profit

  Amazon reported second quarter sales of $23.18bn, up by 20% compared with the previous year and well ahead of analysts’ predictions

• July 23, 2015 23 Jul'15

  Software project will save Ford tens of millions a year in car repair bills

  Car maker Ford is rolling out sophisticated warranty software to 12,000 dealers worldwide in a project that is expected to bring rapid financial returns

• July 22, 2015 22 Jul'15

  Worldwide public cloud spend tipped to hit $70bn in 2015

  Latest IDC cloud spending data highlights growing appetite for public cloud services across several vertical markets

• July 21, 2015 21 Jul'15

  Retail should invest in upskilling to close employee skills gaps

  A report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills suggests retailers will need to invest in upskilling to prevent a drop-off from older employees and appeal to the younger generation

• July 16, 2015 16 Jul'15

  Specialist clothing brand Musto deploys Cybertill point of sale system

  Luxury sailing brand Musto signs payments company Cybertill to redesign its point of sale (POS) system for its multichannel operation

• July 14, 2015 14 Jul'15

  CIO interview: Mattias Forsberg, Systembolaget

  Systembolaget CIO Mattias Forsberg says IT and business need to have a relationship of co-operation and expects every successful IT project to include some pain

• July 13, 2015 13 Jul'15

  Government launches £10m smart cities contest

  DCMS teams up with Innovate UK to offer one collaborative R&D project exploring smart cities a prize fund of up to £10m

• July 10, 2015 10 Jul'15

  Nordic countries differ wildly in their e-commerce needs

  Businesses need to take different approaches to e-commerce in different Nordic countries

• July 10, 2015 10 Jul'15

  OpenSSL bug serious – but no Heartbleed, say experts

  OpenSSL certificate verification flaw lets attackers impersonate cryptography-protected websites, email servers and virtual private networks (VPNs)

• July 09, 2015 09 Jul'15

  Grexit threatens to cut Greek IT spending by $3.7bn

  Greek IT spending set to fall steeply if the country leaves the Euro, following the "no" vote in the referendum

• July 09, 2015 09 Jul'15

  CIO interview: Lars Ruben Hansen, Rema 1000 Denmark and Reitan Distribution

  The CIO of supermarket chain Rema 1000 Denmark and wholesale company Reitan Distribution wants his staff to love coming to work

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  CIO interview: Andy Haywood, group CIO, N Brown

  Digital transformation is driving the technology agenda at retail group N Brown, previously best known as a specialist in catalogue-based selling

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  Marks & Spencer online sales grow as relaunched website takes off

  Online sales rise at food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer as it comes out of the other side of a redesign for its e-commerce website

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  Retailers failing to utilise mobile generation, says Shoppercentric

  Retailers know consumers are becoming more mobile and want an omni-channel experience, but customers still seek more

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  Successful IoT projects beget further innovation, says Vodafone

  Vodafone’s M2M Barometer report says that, once organisations extract value from an internet of things (IoT) project, they quickly find further applications

• July 08, 2015 08 Jul'15

  MtGox chief Mark Karpeles arrested for fraud

  Former chief Mark Karpeles is under arrest on suspicion of $1m fraud and involvement in the disappearance of 650,000 bitcoins