Business applications
At the heart of enterprise software strategy are the key business applications upon which every organisation relies. From enterprise resource planning (ERP) to customer relationship management (CRM), financial and accounts software to business intelligence (BI), such applications demand high investments and can deliver high returns. We analyse the latest product developments and the news from major suppliers such as Oracle, Microsoft and SAP.
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News
30 Oct 2024
Alphabet results reveal extent of AI-powered programming
The parent company of Google is using its Gemini generative artificial intelligence tool to code a quarter of new software development initiatives Continue Reading
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News
30 Oct 2024
No simple replacement for digital evidence rules, says Post Office Horizon trial judge
Judge in Post Office Horizon trial says a more flexible approach to how digital evidence is used in court cases may be required as IT complexity increases Continue Reading
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News
18 Nov 2011
Special report on EMC
This 8-page special report from Computer Weekly, packed with graphs and diagrams, is essential reading for anyone considering EMC as a supplier. Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2011
Tesco trials in-store and online augmented reality technology
Tesco is trialling augmented reality (AR) technology in-store and online to change how customers interact with products. Continue Reading
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News
15 Nov 2011
TfL seeks BI worth £750,000
Transport for London (TfL) is setting up a framework agreement for a business intelligence tool worth up to £750,000 million to help reduce its number of head office locations. Continue Reading
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News
14 Nov 2011
CIO Interview: IT should drive company innovation, says SAP's Oliver Bussmann
Driving innovation has become one of the key roles of the chief information officer, says Oliver Bussmann, CIO at business software maker SAP. Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Nov 2011
CIO interview: Tony Prestedge, COO, Nationwide
Tony Prestedge took over as COO at Nationwide in 2010, mid-way through a five-year transformation project. He tells Karl Flinders how the company is transforming its business through a £1bn investment in technology, how the IT department changed from a development shop into an integrator Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Nov 2011
CIO interview: Martin Davies, head of technology at Bet365
The success story of £5.4bn-per-year online gambling company Bet365 is nothing to do with luck and everything to do with technology. Continue Reading
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News
03 Nov 2011
SAP on track to achieve 2011 greenhouse gas emissions target
Enterprise software maker SAP decreased greenhouse gas emissions by 2% per employee in the quarter ended 30 September, compared with the same period in 2010, according to the company's quarterly sustainability report. Continue Reading
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Feature
03 Nov 2011
RightNow: Oracle and next-generation CRM
In his opening keynote presentation at the RightNow Summit 2011 in Newport, Greg Gianforte, RightNow founder and chief executive officer, presented his view of device-aware CRM. Continue Reading
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27 Oct 2011
Analysis: What is the secret sauce in SAP's success?
The last major upgrade to SAP's core enterprise resource planning (ERP) product was released in 2005, so how is the company achieving record growth? Warwick Ashford reports Continue Reading
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News
26 Oct 2011
How Unilever took control of its software
Unilever has automated the processes it uses to manage its software globally through a service which has saved millions of pounds, reduced the complexity of its software portfolio and improved security. Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2011
Google previews new Dart web programming language
Google has introduced a new programming language, Dart , for building web applications. Continue Reading
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Video
10 Oct 2011
CW500: Martin Taylor, head of infrastructure and service delivery, Mitchells & Butlers
In this CW500 Club video, Martin Taylor talks to Computer Weekly editor in chief Bryan Glick to share his practical advice on how to move to the cloud. Continue Reading
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Video
10 Oct 2011
CW500: Andy Beale, technology director, Guardian News & Media
In this CW500 Club video, Andy Beale talks to Computer Weekly editor in chief Bryan Glick to share his practical advice on how to move to the cloud. Continue Reading
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Video
10 Oct 2011
CW500: Peter Ransom, chief information officer, Oxfam
In this CW500 Club video, Peter Ransom talks to Computer Weekly editor in chief Bryan Glick to share his practical advice on how to move to the cloud. Continue Reading
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News
07 Oct 2011
Bristol Council gets open source go-ahead after CESG discussions
Bristol City Council has been cleared to build an IT infrastructure using open source software after a visit from CESG, the cyber security arm of the UK intelligence services. Continue Reading
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News
07 Oct 2011
85 sub-postmasters seek legal support in claims against Post Office computer system
Over 80 sub-postmasters are interested in taking legal action against the Post Office in relation to an allegedly faulty computer system. Continue Reading
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News
06 Oct 2011
UBS systems detected $2bn rogue trader fraud, admits CEO Sergio Ermotti
UBS interim CEO Sergio Ermotti has admitted systems in the banks IT infrastructure detected the unauthorised trading of the rogue trader who cost UBS over $2bn, but nothing was done about the warning signals. Continue Reading
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News
06 Oct 2011
Technology industry figures pay tribute to Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs
Apple's co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs has died, aged 56. Jobs battled with pancreatic cancer, and had liver transplant surgery in 2009. He stepped down as Apple CEO in August 2011 after his second bout of medical leave since the start of the year. Continue Reading
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News
04 Oct 2011
HP completes £7.1bn Autonomy acquisition
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has completed its acquisition of software company Autonomy for £7.1bn. HP said the acquisition positioned it as a leader in the large and growing enterprise information management space. Continue Reading
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News
04 Oct 2011
Universal Credit deadline forced DWP to use “unproven” agile development
Tight deadlines left the Department for Work and Pensions with little choice but to use "unproven" agile methods to develop its £2bn Universal Credit (UC) system, said the Cabinet Office Major Projects Authority (MPA) in a confidential report obtained by Computer Weekly. Continue Reading
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News
28 Sep 2011
Microsoft starts roll-out of Mango update for Windows Phone 7
Microsoft has started rolling out the next major version of its Windows Phone 7 operating system, codenamed Mango. Continue Reading
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News
27 Sep 2011
Bristol Council's open source plan thwarted by security clearance problems
Bristol City Council's open source push has suffered another series of set-backs that point a finger of blame at CESG, the cyber security arm of GCHQ. Continue Reading
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News
27 Sep 2011
Cognizant acquires Zaffera
Outsourcing company Cognizant has acquired Zaffera, an SAP retail consulting and software development firm, for an undisclosed sum. Continue Reading
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News
26 Sep 2011
Boots launches mobile site to expand multichannel offering
Retailer Boots has launched a mobile version of its website to expand its multichannel portfolio. Continue Reading
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News
22 Sep 2011
Government pulls plug on ailing £11bn NHS IT programme
The troubled £11bn NHS National Programme for IT is to be axed, the government is expected to announce later today. Continue Reading
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News
22 Sep 2011
Researchers claim to have broken SSL/TLS encryption
Two security researchers claim to have found a way of breaking the SSL/TLS encryption that is widely used to guarantee the reliability and privacy of data exchanged between web browsers and servers. Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2011
Adobe releases Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 for video and enterprise apps
Adobe's Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 software support HD video quality across devices, such as Apple's iPhone and iPad. Other features include captive runtime for independent application updates, video content protection and 64-bit support on Linux, Mac OS and Window. Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2011
HP webOS lay-offs could affect European employees
Hewlett-Packard could lay off European employees as part of the company's decision to discontinue its webOS hardware division, including the Touchpad tablet range. Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2011
RightMove renders property maps with Google
RightMove is the UK's biggest user of Google Maps and one of the largest users of the mapping software in the world. Continue Reading
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News
19 Sep 2011
New Look increases sales by 45% after mobile site launch
Fashion retailer New Look has increased sales by 45% three months after the launch of its mobile commerce site. Continue Reading
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News
14 Sep 2011
IT development underpinning Universal Credits comes under fire from MPs and experts
The delivery of Universal Credits is coming under fire as observers are casting an increasingly critical eye on the IT systems underpinning the politically sensitive project. Continue Reading
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Photo Story
13 Sep 2011
Windows 8: A first look at new features for business users
A first look at Windows 8 from Microsoft's BUILD conference in Anaheim, shows what enterprise users can expect. Continue Reading
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News
13 Sep 2011
Sabre develops apps marketplace for travel industry
Sabre, the global distribution system for reserving hotels, airlines, cruise ships, rail tickets and car hire, has taken the concept of the app store and applied in to its own travel market. Continue Reading
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News
12 Sep 2011
Windows 8: Microsoft hibernates the operating system for faster boot-up
This week developers get a chance to try out Windows 8, the latest version of Microsoft's desktop operating system. Windows 8 offers a new graphical user interface using tiles rather than the start menu, which is optimised for touch. Continue Reading
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News
09 Sep 2011
Morrisons checks out a milestone in £310m IT transformation
Supermarket chain Morrisons has completed a major electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) roll-out as part of its ongoing £310m IT transformation programme. Continue Reading
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News
09 Sep 2011
Cambridge exam board outsources applications support to Cognizant
Cambridge University's examination group has outsourced applications management and support to Cognizant that will see the company replace 20-year-old bespoke applications with off-the-shelf alternatives. Continue Reading
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News
08 Sep 2011
University challenge: using IT to improve services and reduce costs
Universities face a balancing act as they become increasingly expected to improve the experiences of more demanding students while making budgets go further, and IT is a critical tool in finding this balance. Continue Reading
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News
07 Sep 2011
CIO interview: Mike Bracken, UK government director of digital
Whitehall is not exactly known for being at the bleeding edge of technological innovation. But as the newly appointed government director of digital, Mike Bracken is set to change that perception. In an exclusive interview, he discusses the challenges ahead. Continue Reading
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News
07 Sep 2011
DigiNotar certificate authority breach: Why it matters
There has been much speculation around the identity and motive of the hacker who was able to breach DigiNotar and issue fraudulent digital certificates for hundreds of websites, but putting such speculation aside, what is the broader significance of the incident? Continue Reading
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News
06 Sep 2011
CRM failing business due to lack of focus
Customer relationship management (CRM) is failing to deliver business value, according to a study from the National Computer Centre (NCC). Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Sep 2011
How the financial services sector uses big data analytics to predict client behaviour
The financial services sector has gone through unprecedented change in the last few years. Customers are expecting a more personalised service from their banks. Regulators have reacted to the credit crunch with significant changes to regulation with more intrusive and granular supervision. Continue Reading
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News
30 Aug 2011
Small suppliers dominate social CRM market
Spending on social software for marketing, customer service and sales increased by 40% in 2010, but social CRM remained less than 5% of the total CRM application market, according to analyst Gartner. Continue Reading
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News
19 Aug 2011
What does HP's Autonomy acquisition mean for the UK tech sector?
HP's bombshell announcement that it is to acquire Autonomy has left many questioning where this leaves the UK software industry. Computer Weekly asks the experts what the deal means for UK home-grown tech talent and what HP is likely to achieve with the latest addition to its portfolio. Continue Reading
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16 Aug 2011
Microsoft to discontinue support for its e-book reader application
Microsoft is to halt support for its e-book reader application in a year's time, with no new content to be released after November this year. Continue Reading
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News
15 Aug 2011
Government must change the way it stores citizens' personal data, calls the EHRC
The government must bring in changes to better protect personal information, calls the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Continue Reading
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News
12 Aug 2011
Gist uses IBM cloud to improve supply chain messaging
Gist, a logistics company specialising in the distribution of chilled, frozen and ambient foods, has implemented IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services. Continue Reading
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News
11 Aug 2011
US woman sues Google over Gmail scanning
A woman has filed a class action suit against Google for scanning all e-mail sent to Gmail account holders to use for targeted advertising campaigns. Continue Reading
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News
11 Aug 2011
Government moves Alpha.gov.uk one-stop website to beta phase for public testing
The government has moved an alpha version of a pilot website - which could replace all .gov.uk URLs - to beta. Continue Reading
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News
09 Aug 2011
Windows 7 deployments delayed by economic uncertainties, says Gartner
Economic uncertainty may cause a slowdown in Windows 7 operating system (OS) deployments in Western Europe, according to research firm Gartner. Continue Reading
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News
08 Aug 2011
Royal Pharmaceutical Society outsources to cope with restructure
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has outsourced the management of e-mail and storage to support a major restructure. Continue Reading
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News
05 Aug 2011
Case Study: Data encryption at the Salvation Army
The Salvation Army in the UK supports flexible working from home using laptops owned by the charity, but says finding a good way of protecting data was a challenge. Continue Reading
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Photo Story
02 Aug 2011
Review of Visual Studio Lightswitch
A review of Visual Studio Lightswitch, Microsoft's simplified self-service development tool. Continue Reading
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News
02 Aug 2011
Tesco signs eight-year deal to use Microsoft products and services
Tesco has signed a software licensing and services deal with Microsoft aimed at helping improve the retail giant's global productivity and international growth. Continue Reading
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News
02 Aug 2011
Amazon closes Android appstore submissions in Germany after Apple lawsuit
Amazon has closed submissions for its Android app store in Germany following a lawsuit from Apple. Continue Reading
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News
01 Aug 2011
CIO interview: Michael Foster, European vice-president of IT, FedEx Express
What role should IT play in business? This is the question Michael Foster, vice-president of IT at Fedex Europe, tackles at the global courier. Cliff Saran reports. Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Aug 2011
What is big data and how can it be used to gain competitive advantage?
Cliff Saran discovers how big data can deliver big business benefits without excessive IT investment Continue Reading
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News
28 Jul 2011
ElasticStack delivers cloud with SAN-resilient storage on commodity hardware
Cloud platform provider ElasticStack has refined its software to deliver a cloud platform with resilient storage using low-cost commodity hardware... Continue Reading
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News
26 Jul 2011
Tate museum group chooses Drupal and cloud hosting for new website
The Tate museum group is scrapping the use of HTML code in favour of open source content management platform Drupal... Continue Reading
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25 Jul 2011
Automated web application attacks are the top security threat, study reveals
Websites are attacked about 27 times an hour or once every two minutes on average, peaking at 25,000 attacks a minute or seven a second, according to research... Continue Reading
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20 Jul 2011
Forrester: Seven trends to shape the future of enterprise applications and ERP
Over the next five years, technology changes will disrupt our long-held beliefs about the ownership and value of core enterprise application, writes Paul D. Hamerman, vice-president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. Continue Reading
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News
19 Jul 2011
Carphone Warehouse uses business process management to increase customer satisfaction
Retailer Carphone Warehouse is claiming a 25% jump in its customer satisfaction ratings after investing in BPM software to help staff deal with sales, queries and complaints. Continue Reading
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News
18 Jul 2011
Government shelves Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors database to save £11m
The government has shelved plans to create a database of electoral information, in a move estimated to save £11m. Continue Reading
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14 Jul 2011
Gartner urges IT departments to support end-user application development
Business IT users are increasingly looking outside the IT department for application development and in many cases are building applications themselves,... Continue Reading
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12 Jul 2011
Twitter uses Acquia to provide Drupal-based development community site
Twitter has launched a new developer community site using open source content management system (CMS) Drupal, provided by Acquia. Continue Reading
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11 Jul 2011
Microsoft packs a lot into July’s four Patch Tuesday security updates
Microsoft is to release only four security updates in this month's Patch Tuesday security update, but these will cover 22 vulnerabilities in Windows and Office. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jul 2011
Law firm uses RES Software to manage desktop transfer in office move
UK-based international law firm Stephenson Harwood used RES Software to retain and manage user desktop settings as well as upgrade desktop software during an office move. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jul 2011
Oracle releases iPad app for virtual desktop client
Oracle has released a virtual desktop client app for the Apple iPad to provide mobile access to server-hosted desktops and enterprise applications. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jul 2011
Kognitio ships data analysis tool Pablo
Data analytics company Kognitio is now shipping Pablo, a product that allows users to build and query virtual OLAP (online analytical processing) cubes without data warehouse specialists. Continue Reading
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Feature
05 Jul 2011
Case study: How a small business can benefit from SaaS
Professional beauty products distributor SweetSquared considers using Microsoft Office 365 alongside browser-based SaaS. Continue Reading
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Photo Story
01 Jul 2011
The IT that serves Wimbledon 2011
IBM provides an integrated end-to-end scoring system that delivers live tennis results to the BBC TV graphics, on-court scoreboards, match information displays, official web site and Wimbledon's own iPhone app. Continue Reading
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News
01 Jul 2011
DWP adds agile development into IT contracts for £2bn Universal Credit system
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has modified contracts governing the supply of its £2bn Universal Credit system by adding clauses encouraging agile development. Continue Reading
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News
29 Jun 2011
Update software to reduce risk of cyber attack, top suppliers tell business
Businesses are unnecessarily exposing themselves to cyber attack simply by failing to update to the latest versions of the software they are running, according to Microsoft and Adobe. Continue Reading
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News
23 Jun 2011
Interactive crime maps allow victims to track cases
The government will extend its interactive crime maps site to enable victims to track their cases online, according to Nick Herbert, minister of state for policing and criminal justice. Continue Reading
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News
22 Jun 2011
European Commission gives green light to CSC acquisition of beleaguered iSoft
The European Commission (EC) has approved CSC's acquisition of healthcare software maker iSoft. Continue Reading
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News
22 Jun 2011
Police National Database launched containing details of 15 million UK citizens
A national database to allow police forces to share locally held information across the country has been launched by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). Continue Reading
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News
22 Jun 2011
Mozilla releases final version of Firefox 5 for download
Mozilla has released a fifth version of its web browser, Firefox, available to download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2011
Chinese software flaw makes infrastructure vulnerable, warns report
China's public infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber attack because of vulnerabilities in software used to run weapons systems, utilities and chemical plants, according to Reuters. Continue Reading
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Photo Story
13 Jun 2011
Review: Visual Studio ALM
The benefits of making software development more transparent Continue Reading
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News
09 Jun 2011
Plan International moves global systems to SAP
International child welfare charity Plan International is rolling out SAP globally and in doing so is embarking on its first ever major application outsourcing project. Continue Reading
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News
02 Jun 2011
E-mail accounts of senior US officials targeted in Chinese hack attack
Chinese hackers have accessed the accounts of hundreds of Gmail users, including senior US officials, Chinese political activists, military personnel, journalists and officials in several Asian countries, Google has said. Continue Reading
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31 May 2011
Case study: Invensys saves £546,000 with SMS tokens for 150,000 users
Engineering firm Invensys is embarking on a global roll-out of software-based tokens from SecurEnvoy to replace physical token-based authentication. Continue Reading
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News
31 May 2011
Google Chrome OS keeps focus on notebooks despite tablet explosion
Google will keep the focus of its Chrome operating system on notebooks rather than tablets for now, according to a senior executive at the search company. Continue Reading
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Feature
30 May 2011
Clarion Events Extends the Life of its System i and JD Edwards environment with Magic Software
Clarion Events is one of the UK's leading exhibition and event organisers. For over 30 years Clarion Events has been creating and developing stimulating and effective exhibitions, conferences and seated events in the UK, EMEA, Asia and America. Clarion Events is implementing a new CRM system and an aggressive international growth strategy which already includes multiple subsidiaries and a steady acquisition of new businesses. Continue Reading
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27 May 2011
DWP prepares alternative to identity cards for Universal Credit
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is grooming a British tech start-up to play a key role in its £2bn Universal Credit benefits system. Continue Reading
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News
26 May 2011
Data warehouse and business intelligence projects fail to meet companies' requirements
Over half of businesses gave their business intelligence and data warehouse projects a rating of "average" when asked how well they met business objectives. Continue Reading
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26 May 2011
Twinfield offers mileage accounting on iPhone
Online accounting services provider Twinfield has created an iPhone application that will enable users to automatically record time and mileage. Available as a free download from the Apple AppStore, the app uses global positioning to track mileage. Continue Reading
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News
20 May 2011
Salesforce.com gains 5,400 customers but profit slumps by 97%
Salesforce.com posted a 97% profit slump since last year despite its subscription-based CRM software growing to be used by over 97,000 companies. Continue Reading
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News
19 May 2011
Microsoft attempts to cement Azure values at TechEd Atlanta
"Cloud Power Delivered" is the subtitle of this year's Microsoft TechEd conference, held in Atlanta and attended by around 10,000 IT professionals and developers. Tim Anderson reports from the event. Continue Reading
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News
17 May 2011
Government vigilance steps up after George Osborne reveals extent of cyber attacks
Security experts have called for UK government departments to be vigilant after chancellor George Osborne revealed that 20,000 e-mails are sent by hostile intelligence agencies to the UK government each month. Continue Reading
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News
17 May 2011
IBM qualification courses rolled out in Scottish universities
IBM has introduced qualification courses for its Power systems and System z mainframes throughout Scottish universities and colleges. Continue Reading
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News
13 May 2011
Government website pilot points to future public sector software development
Alpha.gov.uk is a pilot for a website that could put all UK government digital services and websites on one URL Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2011
Analysis: Will Android dominance increase IT security threats for business?
The Android Market is forecast to become the world's biggest mobile content platform by August 2011, according to research by mobile application research firm Distimo. Continue Reading
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Photo Story
05 May 2011
Oracle JDeveloper review
Tim Anderson finds that Oracle's home-grown tool for Java development, JDeveloper, may have a traditional feel, but its smart editor and productivity tools make it particularly useful if you are working with the powerful Oracle ADF. Continue Reading
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News
21 Apr 2011
National Archives scoops Queen’s Award for Enterprise
The National Archives has been awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise - the first public sector body to receive the gong in more than ten years. Continue Reading
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News
18 Apr 2011
Growth of NFC to drive overhaul of Chip and PIN equipment
The growth of near-field communication (NFC) in the UK will drive the replacement of retailers' Chip and PIN point of sale (PoS) equipment, according to an analyst. Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Apr 2011
Case study: Bell Canada rings up big revenues with Infor CRM
Bell Mobility, a division of Bell Canada Enterprises, implemented an Infor customer relationship management solution, Interaction Advisor, and worked with Infor to transform Bell Mobility’s two call centers - with a combined 550 customer service representatives (CSRs) - into selling centers. Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2011
Computer Weekly marks the end of an era as a new one begins
The first issue of Computer Weekly magazine in 1966 marked the start of an era in the UK IT industry - the first ever weekly technology publication. This is the story of how it all began. Continue Reading
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13 Apr 2011
Microsoft launches UK mapping service to rival Google Streetview
Starting in London, Microsoft has begun taking photographs of the UK for its street-level mapping service, Streetside. Continue Reading