Business intelligence and analytics

Change is in the air as Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service applies analytics to everything

Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service unearths additional benefits of data analytics following its decision to use Splunk software to analyse operational logs Continue Reading

Workday ringfences support in Europe after Safe Harbour ruled unsafe

US cloud HR and financial services provider reponds to Safe Harbour failure by ringfencing European data Continue Reading

SAP UK&I User Group Conference 2015: Newcastle University puts ERP on Hana

Newcastle University has put enterprise resource planning and data warehouse data on SAP’s Hana platform in a proof of concept project Continue Reading

First steps taken on 'omni-channel' customer experience

The future customer experience might be personalised, but there is a long road ahead yet Continue Reading

Suppliers lay the groundwork for IoT in Czech Republic

ICT suppliers are putting in place the technology infrastructure that will enable towns and cities in the Czech Republic to harness the internet of things Continue Reading

Amsterdam Arena aims to set digital example to others

The Amsterdam Arena is a digital powerhouse which, according to its CIO, wants to set an example for the city to follow Continue Reading

Met Office's new supercomputer to deliver £2bn of socio-economic benefits

The Met Office aims to realise a range of socio-economic benefits to UK industries thanks to improved forecasting with its new Cray supercomputer Continue Reading

Tech will turn HR into a ‘productivity department’

HR technologies are moving away from managing staff in favour of helping them become more productive Continue Reading

British American Tobacco saves £1.4m after automating candidate selection

British American Tobacco uses custom profiling software to cut the number of applications managers have to screen by half, as part of a major re-organisation of its recruitment processes Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

UK retailers could use data analytics more to cash in on Black Friday

Research by data visualisation supplier Tableau suggests British retailers could do better with analytics as Black Friday looms Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Is digital disruption a threat or an opportunity for banks?

Banks have been relatively unaffected by the digital revolution that has transformed other industries – but that's about to change Continue Reading

BT Openreach division expands services deal with Infosys to improve support for engineers

BT Openreach is using a software platform from Infosys that draws data from several sources to improve support for its engineers and customers Continue Reading

Opera chooses Workday over Oracle as it moves HR to cloud

Browser company Opera opts for slick internal IT as it competes with Apple and Google for skilled technologists Continue Reading

Low-power WANs overlooked for IoT connectivity, says Beecham

Beecham Research says machine-to-machine comms and the internet of things (IoT) will turn to low-power wide area networks (WANs) over mobile grids Continue Reading

South Manchester NHS signs up to take Allscripts EPR

University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust has become the latest trust in the region to choose an electronic patient record system from Allscripts Continue Reading

DWP looks to Facebook and LinkedIn for social services' digital future

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says it intends to learn from social networking firms and use external data to better understand people's lives Continue Reading

Singapore and UK researchers investigate privacy in big data era

Academic organisations in Singapore and the UK collaborate on the privacy questions raised by big data and the cloud Continue Reading

What's on your desktop?

In this week's Computer Weekly, Microsoft has released Office 2016 and is urging customers to migrate to Windows 10 – but is a desktop upgrade worth the hassle? We report from the Dreamforce conference on the latest products from Salesforce.com. Continue Reading

Workday seeks growth, not profit, as it expands in Europe

Cloud services company Workday is setting its sights on growth as it expands from cloud HR, to finance, learning and analytics Continue Reading

Free energy from radio waves could power the internet of things

A pocket-sized pollution monitor is one of the first applications to use free energy from Wi-Fi and mobile phone signals Continue Reading

Legal documents reveal HP's failings over Autonomy

The board of Hewlett-Packard (HP) knew about Autonomy’s failings – yet voted the $11.1bn acquisition through regardless, internal memos have revealed Continue Reading

NHS trust denies bullying and intimidation of IT whistleblower

Managers were already aware of whistleblower's concerns about the accuracy of NHS Southwark's data, tribunal hears Continue Reading

Al Rayan Bank finds business agility in cloud applications

Al Rayan Bank believes its investment in cloud applications gives it an edge in business agility Continue Reading

Why Pegasystems' CEO, Alan Trefler, has learned to think smaller

Pegasystems has made its name supplying CRM, analytics and case management software to the world's largest companies. Now CEO Alan Trefler plans to use cloud computing to broaden Pega's appeal Continue Reading

Councils explore options for online mapping tools

Councils are drawing on Ordnance Survey, Google Maps and OpenStreet Map for online mapping. What’s the optimal mix? Continue Reading

Will digital government remain on course?

In this week's Computer Weekly, the UK government's digital chief has announced his shock departure, but what will it mean for the future of digital public services? Dell went back to a private company two years ago – has it proved to be a successful move? And our latest buyer's guide looks at big data appliances. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Data unlocks personalised customer service

In this week's Computer Weekly, we examine how companies are starting to use big data analytics to deliver more personalised customer services. We talk to the government's IT procurement chief about improving public sector tech purchasing. And Volvo's CIO tells us how connected cars will reshape the automotive sector. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Digital transformation needs business leaders to develop new skills

A panel of experts discuss the capabilities business leaders and corporate IT need to develop for digital Continue Reading

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 Continue Reading

Business cases emerge from growing pains of Hadoop 1.0

The hype around the early generation of Hadoop is giving way to the reality of business programmes based on Hadoop 2 and Apache Spark Continue Reading

Comparethemarket uses Cloudera to gain single view of customer data

Price comparison site Comparethemarket has turned to Cloudera’s Hadoop distribution to get a better view of customer data from different channels. Doug Cutting, the father of Hadoop, explains Continue Reading

Manchester City group joins forces with SAP to further global goals

The City Football Group, which includes Manchester City, has teamed up with SAP to further its global development goals Continue Reading

Cisco launches IoT System for enterprise and smart cities

Cisco unveils 15 products to address the growing complexity of internet of things deployments Continue Reading

Using data analytics to deliver more personalised customer service

Personalisation has been the goal for many retailers, but can the emergence of big data analytics be the solution they are looking for? Continue Reading

Waitrose uses ServiceNow for business continuity planning

Luxury retail brand Waitrose deploys ServiceNow to cope with business continuity across its supply chain Continue Reading

Pharmaceutical companies use BPM to cut cost of clinical trial drugs

Pharmaceutical companies have developed an IT system to secure the supply of medicines they need for clinical studies, saving hundreds of thousands on their drugs bill in the process Continue Reading

Royal Bank of Scotland goes back to 1970s values with big data

RBS, once the world's largest bank, is using analytics technology to go back to the era of personal customer service Continue Reading

CIO interview: Myron Hrycyk, CIO, Severn Trent Water

Severn Trent water company is working on technology initiatives to lower bills and improve customer service Continue Reading

Augmented reality business applications start to get real

Augmented reality applications have tended to be gimmicky marketing wheezes, but firms are starting to explore their business potential Continue Reading

PSNGB rebrands to drive information sharing across PSN

PSNGB, the trade association set up to promote the Public Services Network, rebrands itself as Innopsis and says its work is far from over Continue Reading

Wearable technology to transform laggards in insurance industry

Wearable and other smart technologies set to transform the insurance industry in the next three to five years Continue Reading

Sapphire 2015: McDermott declares SAP natively digital

SAP CEO Bill McDermott declares the company “digital” at Sapphire 2015 and made “empathy” the watchword of his keynote Continue Reading

Bill Binney, the ‘original’ NSA whistleblower, on Snowden, 9/11 and illegal surveillance

Always a patriot: Computer Weekly talks to Bill Binney, the senior NSA official who blew the whistle before Edward Snowden Continue Reading

Why self-service and automation will power mass adoption of BI

Tibco’s analytics head, Brian Gentile, believes business intelligence needs to adapt for mass-market adoption Continue Reading

Zurich Insurance turns to augmented reality to train 10,000 managers

The £74bn turnover company aims to harness the capabilities of augmented reality to train 10,000 employees in 170 countries Continue Reading

Security risk potential linked to young, mobile users

A study conducted by wireless supplier Aruba Networks has identified a distinct cohort of high-risk, security-agnostic workers Continue Reading

Juniper Networks goes after finance market with switch-integrated compute

Juniper launches a compact compute-integrated network switch to boost performance of sensitive applications for financial institutions Continue Reading

Foods manufacturer ConAgra expects to save $5m a year with data analytics

Food manufacturer ConAgra Foods is using data analytics technology to improve how it makes decisions about hiring and deploying its workforce Continue Reading

IT priorities 2015: How will IT decision makers spend this year's budget?

The 2015 Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT priorities survey has examined the investment plans of IT managers in the UK and Europe in 2015 Continue Reading

Prepare for two modes of business intelligence, says Gartner

IT needs to open up business intelligence to the broader business to support its consumerisation Continue Reading

Case study: How National Grid uses analytics to keeps the lights on

National Grid has started a project to supplement its existing asset maintenance system with predictive analytics Continue Reading

London’s Air Ambulance swaps A-Z maps for mobile apps

London’s Air Ambulance has halved emergency dispatch times through an incident information and routing app from Mubaloo Continue Reading

CIO interview: Paul Coby, IT director, John Lewis Partnership

Technology is an essential ingredient to the success of John Lewis, and the retailer is ploughing £100m into IT initiatives in 2015 Continue Reading

Tackling security with quantum physics

In this week's Computer Weekly, we examine research that promises to deliver new levels of encrypted communications using quantum teleportation. IBM has announced its latest mainframe – but will the company's problems hinder its future? And we find out how one company has used the low-cost Raspberry Pi in its enterprise IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Self-service BI, data integration top information management issues

Self-service business intelligence and data integration top information management challenges for IT and finance professionals Continue Reading

Former Capital One data analysts charged with mining customer data

US financial services regulator SEC charges two former employees of financial services firm Capital One with insider trading Continue Reading

What are the options for electronic patient records in the NHS after NPfIT?

Many hospitals lack comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR) systems. What are the options now, in the wake of the NPfIT disaster? Continue Reading

Case study: Antwerp port boosts profits with activity-based management software

How the Antwerp Port Authority has improved its business processes with SAS software Continue Reading

Case study: Hedge fund AHL Man Group uses MongoDB to feed quants with data

Hedge fund AHL Man Group replaces disparate relational databases with a single data platform built on NoSQL database MongoDB Continue Reading

SAP’s Cohen on 2014 results: Europe strong north and south

SAP’s Emea president Franck Cohen optimistic about the supplier’s growth prospects in southern and northern Europe Continue Reading

User groups defend licensing, but should Oracle rethink remuneration?

Two Oracle user groups have defended Oracle's licensing policy following open letter by Campaign for Clear Licensing Continue Reading

Case study: UniCredit uses Fico to apply prescriptive analytics to risk management

Italian bank UniCredit is using Fico software to apply prescriptive analytics to risk management Continue Reading

CIO interview: Mark Maddocks, Cambridge University Press

Technology has prompted unprecedented innovation and transformation in the media sector – Cambridge University Press is no exception Continue Reading

Cabinet Office begins procurement for next stage of Gov.uk Verify

The Cabinet Office has submitted a tender notice for a £150m three-year framework for the provision of identity assurance services Continue Reading

Lloyd’s Register Foundation grants £10m to Alan Turing Institute

The Lloyd’s Register Foundation has announced £10m in funding over five years to support research by the Alan Turing Institute Continue Reading

M&S turns to predictive analytics to keep shelves stocked over Christmas

Marks & Spencer is using predictive analytics to keep shelves stocked with mince pies and turkeys over Christmas. Continue Reading

CIO interview: Jon Rudoe, digital and technology director, Sainsbury’s

While supermarkets all over the UK are facing challenging times ahead of them, Sainsbury's is taking its technology and innovation into its own hands by developing digital products for its customers. Continue Reading

Police forces use private cloud to access Holmes database

Police forces across the UK will access the Holmes major investigation system via a private cloud service Continue Reading

Southampton university fuels research with IBM Watson analytics

The University of Southampton has begun a far-reaching initiative to redefine the future of research powered by IBM Watson analytics Continue Reading

Airbus interview: research, innovation and the future of aviation

IT plays a substantial role in creating the aircraft of the future, with research and innovation at the core of the Airbus business strategy Continue Reading

Ipswich hospital improves healthcare service with Esri data visualisation

Health pilots location-based technology that delivers data visualisation Continue Reading

Problems surface as first users attempt to use Gov.uk Verify

Problems have surfaced as users try to use Gov.uk Verify to prove their identities Continue Reading

Currency exchange business Travelex cuts HR costs by 25% with cloud IT systems

Travelex's cloud human resources (HR) project survived a budget overrun to cut costs and job recruitment times Continue Reading

How the BBC became digital in three-and-a-half years

The BBC has undergone a digital transformation that started 18 months prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games Continue Reading

Met Police trials analytics to fight gang crime

The Metropolitan Police is experimenting with analytics software to help predict which criminals are likely to re-offend Continue Reading

Disney spreads the magic through wearable technology

The Walt Disney Company is using wearable technology to improve customer experience and engage with visitors Continue Reading

Comic Relief’s digital challenge: talent, data and the No Make-Up Selfie

Social media campaigns such as the No Make-Up Selfie and the Ice Bucket Challenge threaten charities such as Comic Relief with their digital reach Continue Reading

Fear and loathing could hold back UK internet of things, says KPMG report

More than two-thirds of UK consumers fear growing number of interconnected devices make it too easy for things to go wrong Continue Reading

SAP teams up with Birst to offer cloud analytics on Hana

SAP is working with cloud BI supplier Birst to provide “instant analytics in the cloud” on the Hana in-memory database platform Continue Reading

Oracle Openworld 2014

Every September, San Francisco plays host to Oracle’s user conference, where customers, users and developers descend on the city to learn the latest on the supplier’s products and services. Continue Reading

Q&A: MarkLogic CEO Gary Bloom talks strategy

Gary Bloom, CEO of NoSQL database supplier MarkLogic, talks to Computer Weekly about strategy Continue Reading

The digital CIO: Why embrace digital innovation?

Having the right digital strategy can make or break an organisation Continue Reading

Larry Ellison: Of plane, sails and zen

After 35 years at the helm, Larry Ellison has stepped down as Oracle's CEO Continue Reading

Muji takes on cloud platform to increase sales

Retailer Muji is using a cloud-based platform from IT services firm Infosys to help it understand customers and target sales Continue Reading

Clarks shoes steps into digital

Shoe manufacturer Clarks is replacing its legacy e-commerce sites with a global cloud-based system next month Continue Reading

Retailers need to adopt ‘fail fast’ attitude to technology

Retailers experimenting with digital technologies must take a “fail fast” approach so they can deliver new innovations quickly Continue Reading

Boots to roll out real-time stock visibility in coming weeks

Health and beauty retailer, Alliance Boots, is about to roll out real-time stock visibility to its stores and customers using SAP Hana Continue Reading

Accenture: 48% of UK survey respondents fail to find big data talent

An Accenture survey has found that nearly half of UK respondents are struggling to find enough skilled data management professional Continue Reading

EY seeks tech startups to address challenges of right to be forgotten

Professional services firm Ernst & Young is looking for startups to find technology solutions to the ‘right to be forgotten’ regulation Continue Reading

Sweden’s Klarna and Spotify design big data architectures to aid business growth

Many organisations still don't know how to capitalise on big data. Swedish firms Klarna and Spotify are making use of its possibilities Continue Reading

Ordnance Survey to release open data on green spaces

The Ordnance Survey is to release information and statistics on green space in England and Wales as open data Continue Reading

Bayern Munich teams up with SAP to hit sporting and commercial goals

FC Bayern Munich and SAP today cemented a sports analytics and enterprise software partnership at the club’s Allianz Arena Continue Reading

FT turns to cloud to manage advertising bookings

Business newspaper replaces 20-year-old ad-booking system with a cloud-based service Continue Reading

CIO interview: Dave Ubachs, CIO, Staples Europe

Staples is undertaking major IT projects in Europe that will see e-commerce improvements and back-end consolidation in 16 countries Continue Reading

Why John Linwood is not to blame for BBC’s failed technology project

Former BBC CTO has won his case for unfair dismissal over the failed £100m DMI project, but what lessons can be learned? Continue Reading

CW Europe - August 2014 Edition

The hype around data mining may have receded, but it remains a critical discipline for the data scientist. This issue of CW Europe looks at what exactly data mining is, how and when it is used – and why it should not be mistaken for business analytics. Continue Reading

Wearable technology will up the game for sports data analytics

Wearable technology is a big industry thanks to the ‘quantified self’ movement. It’s now giving a boost to professional sports data analytics professionals Continue Reading

Oracle in-memory option creates licensing pain and audit risk

A former Oracle employee has highlighted a major issue in the way the new Oracle Database 12c Release 12.1.0.2 is licensed Continue Reading