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Application Development & Management
Q headlines a bevy of announcements at AWS re:Invent 2023 in Las Vegas that shed more light on the cloud service provider’s AI strategy and where its differentiation from other vendors lies.
Automation is not a silver bullet solution to your workforce productivity challenges. Optimization and automation (optimation) must be used together to remove root cause inefficiencies and best use the features and capabilities of your automation solutions.
Traditional accounting practices are tailor made for waterfall project management. Organizations that have transitioned to the use of standing product teams using Agile and DevOps need to transform their accounting practices as well or they will leave valuable capital expenditure dollars on the table.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Q headlines a bevy of announcements at AWS re:Invent 2023 in Las Vegas that shed more light on the cloud service provider’s AI strategy and where its differentiation from other vendors lies.
Transparency, explainability, and trust are pressing topics in AI/ML today. While much has been written about why these are important and what organizations should do, no tools to help implement these principles have existed – until now.
Recently I attended the inaugural Emotion AI conference, organized by Seth Grimes, a leading analyst and business consultant in the areas of natural language processing, text analytics, sentiment analysis, and their business applications. So, what is emotion AI, why is it relevant, and what do you need to know about it?
Banking, Finance & Insurance
Finastra launches securities financing transaction regulation (SFTR) support ahead of the European Union’s April 11, 2020 deadline.
Three global banks launched a blockchain-based platform to bring the promise of open ledgers and contracts to the loan management market.
Wolters Kluwer suffers security breach after poor security management.
Commerce
POS system purchases are being driven by ease of integration. Identified as having the most satisfying of all POS systems when it comes to integration, Restaurant Manager displays that it understands the needs of restaurant operators.
As pick-up/takeout has been the only operating option for restaurants for the last few months, Silverware’s release of its “In-Seat Contactless Platform” will assist COVID-19 “new normal” restaurants to deploy mobile-first, phone-to-table contactless features that were once a convenience but are now features of necessity.
As COVID-19 swept across the globe, many food and beverage operators were forced to switch to pick-up or delivery methods only. PAR’s novel solution PARk it supplies operators with a mobile method to continue serving their customers during this time.
Communications & Collaboration
At ZohoDay24, the key themes were Zoho’s long-term growth strategy and social impact, Zoho’s financial performance and customer value proposition, Zoho’s unique approach to software development and AI, and Zoho’s global expansion and localization efforts.
This post provides a review of Zoom’s 2023 conference, Zoomtopia 2023. Core aspects covered include what major product releases and upgrades Zoom announced at Zoomtopia 2023, and what these announcements mean for Zoom’s market positioning in 2024.
Zoho, a multinational software and web-based business tool provider, has announced the launch of Trident – a hub that brings Zoho’s pre-existing and new unified communications capabilities into a single pane of glass. How will Trident’s addition to Workplace impact customer migrations from Microsoft and Google.
Construction & Engineering
Traditional accounting practices are tailor made for waterfall project management. Organizations that have transitioned to the use of standing product teams using Agile and DevOps need to transform their accounting practices as well or they will leave valuable capital expenditure dollars on the table.
So you’ve gone Agile. You do daily scrums, retrospectives, and all the “right” Agile ceremonies. But still your organization isn’t quite convinced. It is now critical to balance the drivers and goals of both Agile and traditional thinking in order to achieve organizational success.
When trying to implement Agile as a defined process, Scrum turned BAs or other roles into order takers with the title “product owner.” This undermines the entire value proposition of product management.
Content Management
Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer at Zoho, describes a major release of new apps and services focused on enabling hybrid work.
This note outlines Info-Tech’s Three C’s of Enterprise Collaboration framework to help buyers effectively navigate the collaboration software marketspace.
Zoho Workplace – a global enterprise collaboration platform – has reported that it is now supporting 15 million users and is experiencing a surge in usage for its business applications. However, compared to Microsoft’s Office 365 and Google’s G Suite, Zoho still has a long way to go in this marketspace.
Data & BI
Q headlines a bevy of announcements at AWS re:Invent 2023 in Las Vegas that shed more light on the cloud service provider’s AI strategy and where its differentiation from other vendors lies.
This note outlines some tips and tricks that you should be aware of when embarking on the installation and configuration of a Kubernetes cluster. Such an endeavor should only be attempted if the need for an enterprise-grade container orchestration solution is required.
On May 24-25, Informatica held its annual conference in Las Vegas – the first time “in-person” since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Education
Student retention, already a major concern at higher education institutions, is an even greater concern as students are unable to learn in person and on campus.
Some major LMS conference cancellations or online alternatives have been announced in an attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19, though not all have canceled.
As the world responds to the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, closed schools in some affected areas are turning to eLearning and web conferencing to maintain continuity in course delivery and/or studying.
Finance & Procurement
Evaluating vendor proposals is one of the most critical aspects of the RFP process, secondary only to negotiations. The ironic thing is that we've seen too many clients try to abbreviate this activity, take short cuts, or even avoid it altogether. Providing ample time for your team to review the vendor RFP responses is critical to a quality review process, while not rushing the evaluation process ensures that you understand their complete offer and proposal.
When leasing IT equipment, the lessor (the company providing the equipment) has one main obligation. However, most leases overlook this critical aspect completely, exposing the lessee (the organization leasing the equipment) to unnecessary risk.
If you want to lease IT equipment, you have many options with regard to potential lessors (the leasing companies). In fact, some manufacturers lease equipment directly to their customers … or do they?
Gaming & Hospitality
IDeaS’ G3 revenue management solution will be highly sought after by properties looking to leverage data to make informed pricing decisions.
Bosch’s release of its INTEOX camera solution moves beyond the legacy “closed circuit” model of surveillance infrastructure to a Camera-as-a-Platform (CaaP) approach, enabling third-party apps at the surveillance perimeter edge to create innovative video-based business solutions and decisions.
Milestone Systems’ recently announced 2019R3 and 2020R1 software releases introduce several new features and capabilities to its XProtect video management software and related Smart Client.
Health Care
The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Indian Health Service (IHS) have formalized an overarching plan to support improved clinical and nonclinical operations across IHS, Tribal, and Urban healthcare facilities through RPMS EHR and HIT modernization.
Cerner and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are working together to expand access to clinical data battling the COVID-19 pandemic by sharing de-identified patient data with health researchers.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, healthcare organizations are looking for ways to expand digital patient care options. Patient management systems like Experian’s eCare NEXT help providers connect new digital clinical workflows to established workflows and revenue cycles.
Human Resources
On June 17, 2021, Smarp briefed Info-Tech on the latest updates to its communications and advocacy platform. Based out of Helsinki, Smarp provides solutions for over 300 companies worldwide, with industry specializations in professional services, banking, and fintech.
Breezy HR has made video assessment and interviewing tools free for business clients for a minimum of 60 days, in light of efforts to prevent COVID-19 pandemic spread.
What is changing in the HR technology space as a result of COVID-19? Some organizations are seeing an uptick in interest and customer support, while others are providing free access to their product.
IT Infrastructure
Q headlines a bevy of announcements at AWS re:Invent 2023 in Las Vegas that shed more light on the cloud service provider’s AI strategy and where its differentiation from other vendors lies.
Acronis hopes to overtake many competitors in the data recovery and endpoint protection solution space by forging partnerships with many MSSPs and appealing to the SMB market. The company has doubled down by hiring the former CEO of GoDaddy, who is committed to reinvesting in its technology and increasing and improving its product line.
Backup and recovery operations was once a set-it-and-forget it design architecture with a static reference architecture. Then along came the cloud, disrupting everything about how data is stored and processed. Now, more than ever, organizations are looking for their solution providers to lean in and help them navigate the shifting tides of “cloud backup.”
IT Operations
This analysis examines Zscaler's cloud-based security platform, with a focus on its Zero Trust Exchange (ZTE), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and broader suite of security solutions. It explores Zscaler's approach to overcoming the limitations of traditional VPN architectures, using artificial intelligence (AI) for threat detection, and integrating various security functionalities within a unified platform. Drawing insights from analyst demo notes, vendor information, and independent research, this analysis aims to provide a comprehensive and unbiased assessment of Zscaler's value proposition for security professionals.
In the market for software? Learn why it's important to have multiple vendors at the negotiation table.
The Morpheus cloud management platform (CMP) has moved beyond its original focus on DevOps automation and self-service. Morpheus provides a management control plane to enable users to deploy workloads anywhere. Such a control plane is the way of the future for managing complex enterprise technology stacks.
IT Security
The conversation around security awareness training and phishing simulations has changed in the past year. The training and tools of the past simply aren’t working against today’s more sophisticated attackers. Abnormal Security can mitigate an assortment of the most common types of business and vendor email compromise.
This analysis examines Zscaler's cloud-based security platform, with a focus on its Zero Trust Exchange (ZTE), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and broader suite of security solutions. It explores Zscaler's approach to overcoming the limitations of traditional VPN architectures, using artificial intelligence (AI) for threat detection, and integrating various security functionalities within a unified platform. Drawing insights from analyst demo notes, vendor information, and independent research, this analysis aims to provide a comprehensive and unbiased assessment of Zscaler's value proposition for security professionals.
In today's cybersecurity landscape, managing machine identities and digital certificates across complex, hybrid multi-cloud environments is a growing challenge. As the volume of digital certificates used to secure machines, applications, workloads, services, and devices continues to grow exponentially, organizations often struggle with a lack of visibility and manual processes, resulting in critical service outages and security vulnerabilities. AppViewX CERT+ is a next-generation automated certificate lifecycle management (CLM) solution that simplifies PKI and certificate management. It combines the best of automation, security, and insights to meet enterprise machine identity and digital trust requirements. AppViewX CERT+ features are purpose-built to address both the operational and security challenges of certificate management to, in turn, help organizations prevent application outages and security breaches. By enabling enterprise-wide crypto-agility, AppViewX CERT+ enhances machine identity trust, eliminates security gaps, promotes compliance, and supports post-quantum cryptography readiness.
Marketing
AI-powered “answer engines” are revolutionizing the way the audiences retrieve information online. These engines respond to user queries with short, straight answers, unlike traditional search engines that show lists of links.
Starting May 2021, these measurements will inform the search ranking algorithm. Google's objective is to promote websites that are fast, responsive, and visually stable. How can optimize your website for good Core Web Vitals?
How can software marketing and sales teams win in 2021? Learn how emotions affect software buying habits and how to build better customer relationships.
Other
5G networks are the next generation of mobile phone service delivered at higher frequencies that requires shorter distance between “backpack” sized cell sites. Municipalities are challenged when negotiating with carriers regarding the installation of these small cell sites due to the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) 5G Order on Small Cell Siting.
Visually presenting data assists the public understanding of complex issues. Using GIS mapping tools is an effective way of layering data from various source for quantitative analysis.
Esri made several big announcements at its Developer Summit in Palm Springs, CA, in March 2019. ArcGIS for Developers is a suite of developer tools and resources specifically for the creation of web-based and native applications.
Privacy & Risk
In the digital realm, trust is currency. Without robust identity verification, online interactions become a breeding ground for fraud and exploitation.
The recent Schrems II invalidation of the EU-US Privacy Shield has added a layer of difficulty for organizations that operate across borders, as they now require additional contractual clauses and measures in place to ensure data can transfer freely. Privacy program management vendor Proteus-Cyber offers a streamlined solution with the release of its Transfer Impact Assessment tool.
By exploiting a five-year-old configuration error, a hacker was able to access Amazon’s S3 cloud storage buckets on which Twilio’s code was loaded. As a result, customers were able to unknowingly download the modified code for twenty-four hours.
Sales & Service
Contact center as a service (CCaaS) enterprise providers are steamrollering ahead with embedding generative AI functionality in their platforms – whether organizations are prepared for it or not. In this post, I explore a positive outlook for how generative AI can be used to enhance organizations' customer experience capabilities while generating ROI. This includes: 1. Listing the major use cases for generative AI in the contact center. 2. Discussing how we might calculate ROI from utilizing generative AI in the contact center. 3. Considering what organizations can do to prepare for CCaaS vendors’ release of generative AI functionality.
ServiceNow’s Orlando release introduced Now Intelligence, a set of features that strengthen ServiceNow’s lead in the AI-powered IT service management (ITSM) and digital transformation space.
Business Insider reported three years ago that 80% of businesses will invest in chatbots by 2020. And it was not alone in making such predictions. So, where do we stand with this technology? Who is using chatbots and where? Read on to find out.
Supply Chain & Logistics
JDA’s Workforce Management and Warehouse Labor Management software functions are now offered in an integrated manner to drive productivity gains in the warehouse.
Many people are challenged by the economic constraints of car ownership. Rising vehicle prices, registration fees, automobile insurance, ongoing maintenance, fuel, and parking fees can bleed people dry. In response, technology companies are developing innovative ways to offset the costs.
A powerful combination of supply chain visibility and global trade management is now available through E2open and its acquisition of Amber Road software.