Business intelligence and analytics

Re:Invent 2023: Selipsky cues Q to project future shape of work

At Amazon Web Services’ annual conference in Las Vegas, Re:Invent, CEO Adam Selipsky hails GenAI capacity of product Q to reshape the future of work Continue Reading

Datacentres or green belt? Why the UK has to choose

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the minefield around datacentre planning permission across the UK, after government blocked a major development next to the M25 motorway. The metaverse is making inroads into the indus-trial world – is this the real future for the technology? And we analyse the trends changing the application software market. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Palantir awarded NHS FDP data contract

NHS England has awarded a £330m, seven-year contract to US data specialist Palantir, prompting concerns from data privacy practitioners Continue Reading

AI productivity gains could result in four-day weeks for millions

Autonomy think tank publishes paper on potential for artificial intelligence-driven large language models to shorten people’s work weeks Continue Reading

NHS England hits 90% target for electronic patient records

Some 90% of trusts in NHS England have adopted electronic patient records in hospitals, ahead of government schedule Continue Reading

CW APAC: Trend Watch: Generative AI in APAC

Organisations are starting to incorporate generative AI into their everyday processes. In this handbook, focused on GenAI in the Asia-Pacific region, Computer Weekly looks at how it’s being deployed in healthcare, Australia’s GenAI journey, the technology’s relationship with the cloud and Red Hat’s issues with source code. Continue Reading

US civil society groups demand better conditions for AI workers

Some 24 US civil society groups and unions and have written a letter to the US Senate asking for action to improve the working conditions of the people who train and maintain their artificial intelligence systems Continue Reading

Oracle NetSuite CEO Goldberg: AI a sleeping giant coming to life

Speaking with Computer Weekly at SuiteWorld, Evan Goldberg, executive vice-president of Oracle NetSuite, discussed how artificial intelligence has emerged from obscurity to be a business moment Continue Reading

Capgemini and Heathrow strike deal to enhance passenger experience

Capgemini and Heathrow team up to provide development and operations support for the airport’s technology estate Continue Reading

Outgoing police tech watchdog warns of declining oversight

The outgoing biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner for England and Wales discusses police deployment of powerful new surveillance technologies, and the declining state of oversight in this area Continue Reading

SAP sustainability study reveals UK businesses lack funding

An annual sustainability study by SAP reveals UK businesses are on the right track, but still face barriers in the long run Continue Reading

Industry 5.0: What is it and what does its future hold?

As Industry 5.0 becomes a more popular topic of conversation in the business tech world, critics have come out to question its legitimacy as a revolution instead of a progression Continue Reading

The UK AI Safety Summit – what did it achieve?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look back at the UK government’s AI Safety Summit and assess what it achieved – and what it didn’t. Our latest buyer’s guide examines the future of business software and modernising legacy applications. And we find out how the UK Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act aims to protect your smart devices. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

As the jobs market evolves, maximise opportunities, mitigate AI risk

Heather Thomson, Director of Skills and Talent at The Data Lab urges society to keep calm and focus on the opportunities afforded by artificial intelligence Continue Reading

UK government does not see need for specific AI legislation

The UK government does not currently see the need for new artificial intelligence legislation, as many regulators are already dealing effectively with AI-related harms Continue Reading

Heineken lets the data flow

In this month’s CW EMEA ezine, we find out about Heineken’s mission to make the most out of the data it holds through an enterprise-wide data ecosystem. We also look at how the UK has turned its back on the German government-funded Gaia-X data platform, why cyber experts are urging the EU to rethink vulnerability disclosure plans, and how the IT industry is responding to the software developer skills shortfall. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

CDO interview: Lalo Luna, global head of strategy and insights, Heineken

The brewing giant is building a data ecosystem to bring new insights to the business and to make the most of emerging developments in artificial intelligence capabilities Continue Reading

AI Safety Summit review

Computer Weekly takes stock of the UK government’s AI Safety Summit and the differing perspectives around its success Continue Reading

How ExxonMobil is leading with data

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the leader of ExxonMobil’s data organisation, about the energy giant’s strategy to establish enterprise-wide principles for the use of data. As the UK’s Online Safety Act comes into force, we examine the tech sector’s concerns over the laws around end-to-end encryption. And we look at the software tools available to HR teams to help improve staff retention. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

How the UK crime agency repurposed Amazon cloud platform to analyse EncroChat cryptophone data

UK crime agency repurposed AWS-based analytics platform to triage EncroChat data and identify threats to life in messages sent on encrypted phone network Continue Reading

AI Summit: 28 governments and EU agree to safe AI development

In a joint communique at the UK government’s AI Safety Summit, all participating governments agreed to deepen their cooperation around the risks associated with artificial intelligence Continue Reading

UK government AI Summit already branded ‘missed opportunity’

The dominance of big tech firms, a focus on speculative risks over real-world harms, and the exclusion of affected workers, mean the AI Safety Summit is a wasted opportunity, say civil society groups Continue Reading

Devon County digitises with Unit4 ERP

Unit4 and Embridge Consulting have paired up to help Devon County Council digitise its organisation, data and services Continue Reading

FDM Group partners with ISACA to boost cyber training programme

The FDM Group has announced a partnership with ISACA to help develop and boost their cyber training programmes and credentials Continue Reading

How Elastic manages cyber security threats

Mandy Andress, CISO at Elastic, highlights the company’s approach to tackling evolving cyber threats through the use of AI tools and enhanced security measures while strengthening the capabilities of its security offerings Continue Reading

Sunak sets scene for upcoming AI Safety Summit

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has outlined how the UK will approach making AI safe, but experts say there is still too big a focus on catastrophic but speculative risks over real harms the technology is already causing Continue Reading

Government-led Smart Data Discovery Challenge launched to stoke innovation

A government-led coalition has launched an open-call competition for ideas using smart data to help support individuals and small businesses, emulating open banking Continue Reading

UK IT professionals express concerns about government’s generative AI goals

Research reveals 93% of UK IT professionals are concerned by the government’s current plan to become a global leader in artificial intelligence because of lack of training and risk assessment Continue Reading

CDO interview: Lalo Luna, global head of strategy and insights, Heineken

The brewing giant is building a data ecosystem to bring new insights to the business and to make the most of emerging developments in artificial intelligence capabilities Continue Reading

Brewing data insights at Heineken

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how brewing giant Heineken is building a data ecosystem to share insights and tap into AI capabilities. The UK is conducting a formal investigation into AWS and Microsoft’s cloud dominance – what will it mean for users? And we examine how generative AI could be used to improve customer experience. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

CTO interview: Pegasystems’ Don Schuerman on using AI to set business goals

Generative AI is on the cusp of allowing companies to automate business processes to meet business goals Continue Reading

Jaguar TCS Formula E racing team making breakthroughs that will fine-tune electric road vehicles

The Jaguar TCS Formula E racing team is using software and digital simulations to continually improve its electric racing cars, leading to better performing electric vehicles on our roads Continue Reading

SuiteWorld 23: Oracle NetSuite pushes business efficiency by way of AI

Oracle NetSuite’s Evan Goldberg posited AI old and new as means for organisations to do more with fewer resources, speaking at the company’s annual global SuiteWorld conference in Las Vegas Continue Reading

UK Apple Store workers detail ‘union-busting’ tactics

Apple Store workers in the UK are attempting to unionise, but say they are facing pushback from the company, which is allegedly deploying a variety of “union-busting” tactics Continue Reading

Oracle’s Steve Miranda: Customers nearing inflection point with Fusion

In a Q&A with Computer Weekly at Oracle Open World, applications head Steve Miranda discussed how its customers are moving from project-driven to business-driven approaches, and how GenAI is for real Continue Reading

Public sector buyers of AI tech must interrogate its suitability

The Ada Lovelace Institute has published a review on public sector use of artificial intelligence foundation models, looking at the risks and opportunities associated with the technology, and how these can be dealt with from the early stages of procurement onwards Continue Reading

Data-sharing strategy needs business buy-in

A Forrester Consulting survey for Capital One Software has found that data experts and businesspeople have differing views on success Continue Reading

Will computational storage meet data processing demands?

Computational storage promises performance for workloads that can benefit from dedicated oomph, but it’s not a cure-all. It may come at a cost, and with added application complexity Continue Reading

UK emphasises EU split by kicking digital trade scheme into long grass

Former Gaia-X CEO talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about UK inertia on cross-border data tech Continue Reading

ICO issues guidance on workplace surveillance

Guidance on employee monitoring covers how employers can conduct their digital surveillance lawfully, transparently and fairly, and warns against businesses intruding on their workers’ private lives Continue Reading

AI interview: Gavin Mueller, media studies professor

Author Gavin Mueller speaks to Computer Weekly about the history of resistance to automation, and why Luddite perspectives and practices are useful in pushing for more equitable digital futures Continue Reading

Top science journal faced secret attacks from Covid conspiracy theory group

A conspiratorial group of extreme Brexit lobbyists mounted an extraordinary campaign against one of the world’s most prestigious science journals – part of a series of joint investigations between Byline Times and Computer Weekly Continue Reading

CDO interview: Lalo Luna, global head of strategy and insights, Heineken

The brewing giant is building a data ecosystem to bring new insights to the business and to make the most of emerging developments in artificial intelligence capabilities Continue Reading

Versity targets Exabyte volumes in data archiving

Versity builds archiving for Exabyte data volumes on tape and in object storage. It has built its own S3 and transitioned to a GPL licence for supercomputing archives Continue Reading

Scottish watchdog urges wider biometric oversight

Scotland’s biometrics watchdog urges Scottish Parliament to extend oversight of biometric information to include the entire criminal justice system, not just police Continue Reading

IBM reorients to offset historic storage hardware decline

Storage profile: We look at IBM and the strategic shifts it has made towards the cloud, cloud-native and as-a-service offerings that aim to reverse a long-term decline in revenues Continue Reading

How Liverpool FC is tapping cloud and data analytics

Liverpool Football Club is leveraging data analytics and cloud technology to improve fan engagement and enable its media production team to work more efficiently Continue Reading

Lords begin inquiry into large language models

Lords will examine the risks and opportunities of large language models and look at how government can effectively manage them in the coming years Continue Reading

Oracle CloudWorld 2023: Ellison heralds dawn of generative AI era

Oracle’s founder and chief technology officer, Larry Ellison, lends his heft to the generative AI vogue Continue Reading

Microsoft to offer Oracle cloud database on Azure

Oracle and Microsoft have trumpeted an expansion of their joint activity with the launch of Oracle Database@Azure. Microsoft will be the only other hyperscaler to offer OCI services Continue Reading

KPMG finds growing demand for emerging tech

KPMG’s latest global tech report reveals an increase in the number of businesses adopting emerging technologies Continue Reading

Government AI taskforce appoints new advisory board members

An initial progress report published by the Taskforce provides detail on new appointments to its external advisory board as well as rebrand to focus on “frontier” artificial intelligence Continue Reading

Ryder Cup testbed to feature tech firsts in Rome

This year’s Ryder Cup will test out technology to improve how fans digitally consume the event while reducing the workload on IT teams Continue Reading

TUC launches AI taskforce for workers’ rights and societal benefit

The Trades Union Congress has launched what it calls an AI ‘taskforce’ to draft an AI and Employment Bill, aimed at safeguarding workers’ rights, early in 2024 Continue Reading

The challenges of integrating SaaS applications

SaaS has grown from a handful of applications to a vast market covering almost every type of business task. We look at the integration challenges Continue Reading

Police Scotland five-year digital strategy approved

Police Scotland’s new strategy outlines how the force will approach and invest in its digital transformation over the next five years, but notes its ability to achieve its ambitions is subject to the availability of funding Continue Reading

Home Office and MoD seeking new facial-recognition tech

The UK’s Defence and Security Accelerator is running a ‘market exploration’ exercise on behalf of the Home Office to identify new facial-recognition capabilities for security and policing bodies in the UK Continue Reading

GenAI outranks cloud as business IT strategic priority

Enterprise Strategy Group research on the use cases for generative AI shows it as strategic for corporate IT, with impacts on customer experience, software development and IT Ops Continue Reading

Met police data platform deployed with data protection issues

Met Police deploys integrated record management system despite data protection ‘compliance issues' that would inhibit its ability to retrieve data, meet its statutory logging requirements, and respond to subject access requests Continue Reading

BSI launches sustainability-focused startup accelerator

Startups selected to participate in the BSI and Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership’s joint sustainability startup accelerator are working in a diverse range of areas and using a variety of technologies to positively affect society Continue Reading

Nutanix GPT-in-a-Box aims hyper-converged at AI/ML use cases

Nutanix targets a pre-configured bundle of AI/ML and GPT software with hyper-converged infrastructure and GPT to help organisations safely take advantage of learning networks Continue Reading

AI interview: Krystal Kauffman, lead organiser, Turkopticon

Remote Mechanical Turk workers are responsible for training artificial intelligence algorithms and completing other data-related business processes - we hear about the workplace issues they face Continue Reading

Pentland Brands marshals Google BigQuery to improve customer insight

The name behind Speedo, Berghaus, Canterbury of New Zealand and Kickers turns to Google BigQuery to improve customer data understanding Continue Reading

Workplace monitoring needs worker consent, says select committee

Employers looking to monitor their employees through connected devices should only to so with the consent of those affected due to negative impacts such surveillance can have on work intensification and mental health Continue Reading

How to improve developer productivity

In this week’s Computer Weekly, our latest buyer’s guide examines the developer experience and looks at how critical it can be for productivity. The tech sector still struggles with diversity and inclusion – we ask what’s standing in the way of ethnic minorities making it to the top. And Goldman Sachs’ CDO tells us how a ‘tech-nerd’ built a career in financial IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Vast Data Platform aims at storage everywhere for AI/ML workloads

Vast Data to offer storage with data lake and warehouse functionality built in natively, in anticipation of a huge surge in AI/ML workloads and a need for ever-larger data stores Continue Reading

Large language models harnessed for education

Large language models are being used to teach, support and assess students, enhancing education rather than impairing it Continue Reading

Chief data officer interview: Neema Raphael, Goldman Sachs

After two decades at Goldman Sachs, Neema Raphael tells Computer Weekly about his tech journey at one of the world’s biggest banks Continue Reading

How generative AI fuels customer experience programmes

Generative AI could be a game-changer for CX if firms think use case and not tech. What do recent AI developments mean for customer experience programmes? Continue Reading

ServiceNow Q2 2023: 23% year-on-year growth with GenAI to fore

ServiceNow has announced second-quarter 2023 revenue of $2.15bn, up 23% on the same quarter in 2022. The digital workflows automation supplier stressed GenAI developments and partnerships Continue Reading

Small satellite testing gets funding boost

A new facility has been established as part of the government’s £200m funding for Earth Observation Continue Reading

Getting comfortable with data

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to ‘Data Bob’ – the head of IT at furniture retailer DFS – about building trust in data. The vulnerabilities in MOVEit software continue to attract new victims – we assess the impact of the widespread breaches. And we find out how online investigators are trawling social media to gather evidence of war crimes. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Privacy and participation – technologies to open data for innovation

The Open Data Institute has launched Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) and participatory data programmes. The ODI’s Calum Inverarity explains why they matter Continue Reading

HR software and strategies to combat staff attrition

While there is no simple technological solution to the problem of staff attrition, a combination of management strategies and business applications can improve engagement and retention Continue Reading

Online Safety Bill screening measures amount to ‘prior restraint’

The Open Rights Group is calling on Parliament to reform the Online Safety Bill, on the basis that its content-screening measures would amount to “prior restraint” on freedom of expression Continue Reading

Time to sound the alarm as AI hype catches fire

One of the most worrying things that’s coming out of recent research, both ours and other people’s, is just how wildly different attitudes to AI – and especially generative AI – can be between ... Continue Reading

‘Significant gaps’ in UK AI regulation, says Ada Lovelace Institute

UK government’s plans to diffuse regulatory responsibility for AI among existing regulators will mean the tech is “only partially regulated”, while its data reforms will undercut already-limited existing protections, says Ada Lovelace Institute Continue Reading

Police Scotland use cloud for biometric data despite clear risks

Police Scotland confirms it has stored significant volumes of biometric data on a cloud-based digital evidence sharing system despite major ongoing data protection concerns, bringing into question the effectiveness of the current regulatory approach and the overall legality of using hyperscale public cloud technologies in a policing context Continue Reading

UCLH uses machine learning to cope with emergency beds demand

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has deployed a machine learning tool which uses real-time data to predict how many emergency beds will be needed Continue Reading

Improve business outcomes by managing data and analytics risk

An effective data and analytics risk and control environment requires a full understanding of data, analytics and AI risks, related risk decisions and their impact on business outcomes Continue Reading

Civil society groups call on EU to put human rights at centre of AI Act

Dozens of civil society groups are calling on EU institutions to prioritise people and human rights in AI legislation as secretive negotiations begin Continue Reading

MPs launch inquiry into government use of data

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee is to investigate the possibility of reforming the way government collects and analyses data, and whether the UK census could be scrapped Continue Reading

CaixaBank adds hundreds more IT professionals to support digital transformation

CaixaBank is recruiting 200 more IT professionals in Spain to support its ongoing digital transformation Continue Reading

Digital public services ‘riddled’ with problems, says TUC

The UK’s increasingly digitised public services are plagued by design, governance and workplace issues that are undermining the government’s stated goal of improving efficiency, but can be alleviated by giving public sector workers a greater say in how new technologies are being developed, deployed and controlled Continue Reading

EU formally grants data adequacy to US

The European Commission has formally granted the US data adequacy, allowing companies and organisations to freely transfer personal data across the Atlantic via the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. But privacy activist Max Schrems has already committed to legally challenging the decision Continue Reading

How to assess and stem digital transformation failures

Digital transformation projects have bred a litany of failure. How can this tendency be reversed? Continue Reading

Finland’s VTT partners Nokia on data market

Finish state’s involvement in Nokia project will add weight and capital to work on creating a market for data Continue Reading

Met Office bids to make climate data more accessible with Esri

The Met Office is offering a new data portal, built on Esri’s geographic information systems technology, to enable users to understand local and national impacts of climate change Continue Reading

Biometrics watchdog calls for public space surveillance review

The biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner is calling for a review of public space surveillance to gain a clearer picture about the proliferation of Chinese surveillance technology across the public sector, but warns against applying double standards on companies just because they are from China Continue Reading

Privacy campaigners call for UK data adequacy to be revoked

The European Commission should revoke the UK’s data adequacy if its Data Protection and Digital Information Bill passes, which campaigners argue ‘flies in the face’ of the decision Continue Reading

An AI crash is coming: don’t let it drag you down

All the signs are there that an AI crash is coming: overinflated claims and dodgy hype, a serious lack of expectation management, fears around privacy, ethics and fairness, over-enthusiastic ... Continue Reading

CDO interview: Robert Michael, group head of data, DFS

‘Data Bob’ is transforming data strategy at furniture retailer DFS, aiming to build a digital twin of the company to improve business modelling – but his first task is to make sure people can trust data Continue Reading

Salesforce to invest $4bn in its UK business over five years

At its recent London conference, Salesforce UK managing director Zahra Bahrololoumi announced the supplier will invest $4bn in its own UK business over the next five years Continue Reading

Hitachi Vantara: Small part of a big corp and analytics focus

We look at Hitachi Vantara, its storage, its cloud offer, the workloads it targets, and its efforts in containerisation and consumption models of storage purchasing Continue Reading

Scottish government tech accelerator opens latest funding round

The Scottish government’s CivTech accelerator is seeking technology businesses to help develop new tools to improve public services, as well as to address pressing social and environmental issues Continue Reading

Why an ecosystem helps IT projects move forward

It used to be the case that IT departments would build or buy, but now there’s an alternative to help organisations integrate different data sources Continue Reading

Could social media revolutionise war crimes trials?

Computer Weekly speaks with open source investigators about how they use social media to gather evidence of war crimes, and the trouble with using such evidence in legal proceedings Continue Reading

Government announces £21m AI diagnostic fund as NHS hits 75

To coincide with the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS, the government has announced a £21m fund for NHS trusts to buy diagnostic tools that use artificial intelligence Continue Reading

Why low code/no code opens doors but no panacea for skills shortages

Citizen development is not without risk but it has a bright future in the enterprise, especially as a way to handle skills gaps Continue Reading

Health and care staff have three months to move to latest NHS patient record service

NHS England has told health and care workers they have until the end of September to switch to the latest patient record system Continue Reading