IT for retail and logistics

Post Office made to repay public money it allocated to fund Horizon litigation

A senior civil servant asked the Post Office to repay public money it had wrongly allocated to paying legal costs Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Businesses losing out on early payment discounts due to outdated software

Chief financial officers need to upgrade their accounting software to benefit from discounts available for paying suppliers early Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How Sainsbury’s is developing a wider understanding of data science

Data is of increasing importance to retailers when it comes to dealing with needy customers. Sainsbury’s supermarket is developing its data talent to optimise its opportunities Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Mind the overlap between GDPR and ePD, warns privacy lawyer

Organisations need to be aware of the overlaps between European data protection and privacy rules, and which takes precedence, a privacy lawyer warns Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Data drives development at Halfords

Neil Holden, IT director at Halfords Group, talks about the business’s growing use of cloud and data analytics, and how it is exploring new technologies. Continue Reading

Nominet urges SMEs to register .uk domains to thwart squatters

The automatic right of .co.uk domain name holders to register the shorter .uk domains ends in June Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Which order management system features can improve customer service?

Great order management provides insight that shipping, production, marketing and other functions need to gain a competitive edge and keep customers happy. Here's what to know. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Turbide

CCRC watching Post Office Horizon trial closely

The Criminal Courts Review Commission considering judgment in subpostmasters versus Post Office litigation trial Continue Reading

Post Office ‘lacked humanity’ in the treatment of subpostmasters, says peer

Peer slams Post Office after High Court judgment reveals its oppressive style of managing the people who run its branches Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Growing board focus on cyber risk challenges current thinking

As digital transformation continues to drive change in the business and risk landscape, business and cyber security leaders need to improve discussions around this topic Continue Reading

By

• Marcus Alldrick

More than half of EU firms report cyber attack losses

More than half of European firms admit business disruption and data loss due to cyber attacks in the past 24 months, with UK firms among the most targeted, a survey shows Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post Office director cross-examination confirms lack of investigation into branch IT problems

A high court judge heard that the Post Office did not investigate a computer system error that could cause losses, despite being offered evidence Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIO interview: Martin Draper, CIO and change director, Liberty London

Department store’s IT leader is bringing a traditional retail business into the digital, omnichannel age Continue Reading

Post Office considered Horizon IT system ‘high risk’, court told

The Post Office considered Horizon a high operational risk in an internal review, a trial focused on alleged fallibilities in the system used in thousands of Post Office branches has heard Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Web @ 30: Thank you for global connectivity

For the last three decades since its introduction, the web has informed, educated and entertained society. It has given musicians, artists and businesses of any size connectivity to a global ... Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Tech under spotlight at High Court in second subpostmasters versus Post Office trial

The second trial in a court battle between the Post Office and the people who run branches analyses alleged bugs in the computer system they use Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 6

In this week’s episode of The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, the team talks about Mobile World Congress, Facebook’s latest data privacy row, the Ocado and M&S partnership, and how the technology industry can tackle unethical data use Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly Staff

Futuristic logistics: retailers focused on rapid delivery

From Asos Instant to Ocado Zoom, and a host of new services in between, rapid delivery is gaining traction in UK retail in an attempt to meet customer demand Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

What are the CDN options for enterprises?

We look at how content delivery networks can give your organisation’s web presence a literal edge Continue Reading

By

• Rene Millman

M&S and Ocado announce £750m food delivery joint venture

Deal will see M&S take a 50% share of Ocado’s UK retail business, with access to the Ocado Smart Platform Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 5

In this week’s episode of The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, the team discuss Greenpeace’s latest datacentre sustainability research, the work the government is doing to support the growth of the UK’s AI talent pool, and covers how Kellogg's is embracing virtual reality tech Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly Staff

Nordic tech is increasing diversity but more needs to be done

The shortage of women in the boardroom is a problem in the Nordics, like other regions, but work in its tech sector means the future could be more promising Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

CIO interview: Martin Draper, CIO and change director, Liberty London

Department store’s IT leader is bringing a traditional retail business into the digital, omnichannel age Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Royal Mail delivers safety training through virtual reality

At the Learning Technologies event in London, Royal Mail’s online learning manager talks about the organisation’s use of virtual reality to help postal workers avoid dog attacks Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Kellogg’s tests VR for developing merchandising strategy

Breakfast food brand Kellogg’s is working with Accenture and Qualcomm to test the use of virtual reality to develop a retail strategy for the launch of new products Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Six experiential retail businesses chosen for Jlab

The businesses and startups that will take part in John Lewis’ 2019 Jlab programme have seen selected following a pitch day Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Making the move to cloud work for you

Getting the best out of a move to the cloud means getting the size right, turning off what you don’t need, smart purchasing and continuously decluttering your new environment Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Gupta , PA Consulting

Central Saint Martins hosts Three’s 5G trial for London Fashion Week

Three’s trial 5G network will enable the world’s first augmented reality fashion show at Central Saint Martins, while consumers can test out a prototype network at its flagship store Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CIO interview: Neil Holden, IT director, Halfords Group

Motoring and bicycles retailer is growing its use of cloud, expanding on data analytics and exploring new technologies such as artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Dutch developer offers businesses nuclear security option for communications

Startup that created the secure platform for communication between world leaders at the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands seeks to revolutionise business mail Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 3

In this week’s episode of The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, the team covers Brexit (again), Marks & Spencer’s efforts to court startups in the name of digital transformation, and a watercolour-based digital preservation case study Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly Staff

Click & collect will grow 45% over next five years

Clothing and footwear lead growth as UK’s click & collect market is set to hit £10bn by 2023, research suggests Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Nordic region primed to pioneer 5G

The Nordic region could pioneer the commercial use of 5G, with Finland and Sweden hotbeds for the technology Continue Reading

By

• Jane Hamrin

UK’s IT and BPO spend plummets because of Brexit uncertainty

UK businesses cut their investment in IT and business process outsourcing last year because of confusion over Brexit, but there was a 68% rise in public sector spending Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Marks & Spencer launches charging banks as part of startup partnership

Retailer Marks & Spencer has announced it will be adding battery charging banks to its stores as part of startup partnership Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Cambridge launches urban data IoT project

The city of Cambridge will use Telensa IoT sensors and a Microsoft Azure platform to better manage its urban data assets Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Fundamentals of retail won’t change despite tech disruption, say experts

Digital is becoming a big part of the way customers shop and how retailers deliver services, but the focus will always be on the customer, says panel of experts at BRC event Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

New stolen credentials cache puts spotlight on authentication

The discovery of billions more stolen usernames and passwords in Collections #2 to #5 have prompted fresh calls for the implementation of better authentication methods across industry Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Global cyber attack could cost up to $193bn, study shows

A coordinated global cyber attack could have an economic impact of up to $193bn, an insurance industry-backed report claims Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IT leaders grapple with workforce skills gap as they deploy AI and digital technology

Organisations will have to find new ways of reskilling their workforce as they get to grips with artificial intelligence and other digital technologies. CIOs also need to keep their skills updated if they are to succeed Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

UK IT spending worth £27bn held back due to Brexit uncertainty

UK businesses are putting billions of pounds of IT investments on hold until they know the terms that the UK will leave the EU Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Time to deploy strong authentication, says Fido

The time has come for organisations to deploy cryptographically backed strong authentication, according to the Fido Alliance, which seeks to eliminate the world’s dependence on password-based security Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

AWS vs Google vs Microsoft: Competition concerns fuel retail war between the big cloud three

The retail market is no slouch when it comes to adopting cloud technologies, but competitive concerns appear to be influencing the cloud-buying decisions of some Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

BigCommerce migrates 60,000 merchants from IBM and AWS to Google Cloud Platform

E-commerce platform provider BigCommerce has swapped out IBM and AWS for the Google Cloud Platform to help its users give their customers a faster, more responsive online shopping experience Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Young Dutch cyber criminals get re-education rather than jail time

Young hackers in the Netherlands are being rehabilitated through punishments that educate rather than incarcerate Continue Reading

By

• Tijs Hofmans

Mastercard fined over half a billion euros for unfair payment fees

Mastercard has been heavily fined for having rules on interchange fees which distorted the EU single market Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Marks & Spencer introduces photo search for online shopping

British retail brand Marks and Spencer has introduced a photo searching capability to its mobile site to help people find products they like using other images Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Moving beyond network boundaries

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at how businesses are adapting to the challenges of perimeterless network security. We examine how digital transformation is bringing increased complications for identity and access management (IAM). And we ask if public cloud providers are becoming a threat to the funding model for open source software. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Vodafone and IBM prep user clouds for future network tech

Companies expand existing collaboration to enable enterprise customers to prepare for the impact of advanced networking technologies Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Swedish state and industry back autonomous vehicle testing facility

AstaZero facility will “road-test” next-generation 5G and digital innovations to support the development of self-driving cars and other vehicles Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

UK tech firms favour second referendum as next move in Brexit stalemate

UK tech firms want to remain as close to the EU as possible and believe a second referendum on membership of the trading bloc would be the best way out of the current political stalemate Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Researchers discover new Magecart group

Security researchers have uncovered a sub-group of the Magecart hacking group, highlighting the wider risks of web-based supply chain attacks Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Thousands of known errors on controversial Post Office computer system to be revealed

Known errors log concerning Horizon IT system set to be announced during second High Court trial in subpostmasters’ long-running dispute with Post Office over financial losses Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Microsoft takes community approach to artificial intelligence in Sweden

Microsoft is making increasing use of artificial intelligence in Sweden as it shares experiences with the development community Continue Reading

By

• Jane Hamrin

UK firms say £6.6bn annual security testing cost too high

Avord launches platform to reduce the multibillion-pound annual cyber security testing cost that most UK firms say is too high Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

More than half of customers will shop for food online by 2021

Just over 40% of customers currently do their grocery shopping online, but with that number expected to rise to more than half by 2021, are retailers doing enough to meet customer expectations? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Enterprises are increasing the human workforce while deploying AI

Artificial intelligence is creating more jobs than it replaces, according to a study of businesses using the technology Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Interview: Andy Berks, digital product director, Asos

Asos’s digital product director Andy Berks talks about how the online retailer has used AI and machine learning technologies – and why the needs of the customer have to come first Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Downtime deterrent: Trustpilot SRE on using infrastructure as code to prevent site outages

Online reviews site Trustpilot has a huge global readership, and here its site reliability engineering manager shares details of how his team help to ensure its services are always on when its users need them Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

UK contactless card fraud surges

Fraudsters stole £1.18m from contactless users in 2018, with the average theft size also increasing Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

M&A in action: How Majestic Wine paired with Naked Wines to fuel cloud-led digital transformation

Find out how the acquisition of online-only wine retailer Naked Wines in 2015 has shaped the digital transformation plans of its parent company Majestic Wine Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Guide dogs not fazed by self-driving robots

Robotics startup Starship Technologies and charity Guide Dogs are collaborating on a series of tests exploring how service animals interact with robots Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Nordic digital transformation driven by traditional businesses

More traditional Nordic businesses are fuelling the region's digital transformation, finds report Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Subpostmasters suing Post Office over IT failures stunned by CEO’s honour

Subpostmasters’ campaign group attacks Post Office CEO Paula Vennells’ New Year honour amid ongoing court case Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Can we live without passwords?

Can you imagine a future in which we can be secure online without having to remember an unwieldly list of passwords? Solutions are emerging that could make passwords redundant, but there will be other security problems to resolve Continue Reading

By

• Bruno Halopeau & Adrien Ogee

Top 10 HR technology stories of 2018

Companies are turning to artificial intelligence, robotic automation and chatbots to take the drudgery out of human resource management Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Top 10 retail tech stories of 2018

Computer Weekly looks at what 2018 had in store for the retail industry – what technologies were retailers rushing to adopt and which brands fell behind? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Top 10 CIO interviews of 2018

IT leaders from across the UK and Europe shared their plans, strategies and best practice advice with Computer Weekly in 2018 Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Top 10 Middle East stories of 2018

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East enterprise IT stories of 2018 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ready, headset, go: Retailers racing ahead with VR for staff training

Has virtual reality found its prime retail user case as a staff training tool? Recent moves from Costa Coffee and Walmart suggest it has Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2018

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 cyber crime stories of 2018 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

CIO interview: Amitabh Apte, global director of digital integration, Mars

The consumer goods giant’s global director of integration talks about developing an API strategy, consistency and increasing customer focus Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Conversational commerce: small steps into the new retail frontier

GUEST BLOG: In this contributed blog post Jason Gregory, senior product manager at online retailer ASOS, discusses the growing popularity of conversational commerce - how consumers are increasingly ... Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Vodafone spreads Christmas cheer with a 4G drone

Vodafone has conducted a test flight of the UK’s first drone delivery controlled over its 4G network Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Australia passes controversial encryption law

Arguments continue over law that requires companies to work with government agencies to ensure that encrypted communications can be read if a crime is suspected Continue Reading

By

• Beverley Head

Most UK retailers plan to up cyber security

The majority of UK retailers are planning to increase cyber security measures during the Christmas season, a survey reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UKtech50 2018 – the most influential people in UK IT

Computer Weekly has announced the ninth annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK IT sector Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Manchester’s evolution from rag trade to digital hub

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we visit Manchester to examine the city’s expanding digital and e-commerce industry and find out the key to tech sector growth in the former home of the UK rag trade. We look at the challenges of IT security in the quantum computing age. And we talk to Bloomberg’s CTO about tech innovation, machine learning and blockchain. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Quarter of all UK shopping now happens on mobile devices

UK’s high-street spend is the lowest across Europe as mobile devices account for a growing portion of online shopping Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Finnish government announces research and development ecosystem

Finland has launched an innovation ecosystem that will support IoT and AI developers amongst others Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Court orders Post Office to explain inability to access encrypted file

Post Office unable to open encrypted recording of an interview that forms part of its evidence in High Court case Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Complex Post Office Horizon case set to continue into 2020

Court case where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office set to span at least four trials and extend into 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Douglas Engelbart, the forgotten hero of modern computing

Half a century ago, Douglas Engelbart demonstrated an experimental computer that laid the foundations for modern computing. His vision to use computing power to solve complex problems in all areas of human activity has become reality, but not in the way that he imagined Continue Reading

By

• Jake Charles Rees

Fashion retail’s sustainability challenge and how technology can help

UK fashion retailers were grilled in Parliament last month on sustainability, so how might technology like blockchain or online recommendation tools help as they look to improve their green credentials? Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

Software failure paralyses O2’s 4G network

O2 is racing to fix a major outage on its 4G network that has left millions of mobile subscribers without access to data services Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Australia races towards commercial quantum computing

Universities make headway in the challenge of commercialising quantum computing Continue Reading

By

• Beverley Head

Nike and Zara drive fashion retail’s self-service future

New store openings from Nike and Zara show it is not just in grocery stores where self-service technology is impacting retail. Continue Reading

By

• Ben Sillitoe

UK consumers threaten data breach backlash

Most UK and global consumers are willing to walk away from businesses that fail to look after personal data, with retailers most at risk, research shows Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

CCRC may hold off subpostmaster decision until after Post Office Horizon trial

The Criminal Courts Review Commission is deciding whether to delay its decision on subpostmasters’ claims of wrongful prosecution until after a related court case Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

E-commerce sites warned of heightened DDoS threat

E-commerce sites are being urged to ensure that they have adequate DDoS protection ahead of the vital holiday trading season after attacks ramped up on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Agile becomes mainstream

There are clear parallels between the conditions that led the IT industry to adopt agile approaches and the challenges facing business today Continue Reading

By

• Simon Masters

More effective digital transformation through the power of your own people

The old model of escalating decisions up and down the management chain does not work any more. Business leaders need to delegate responsibility for projects to business and technology specialists and eliminate the fear of failure Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ironside, KPMG

Amazon sets about speeding up space data processing in the cloud with AWS Ground Station

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is aiming to take the cost and complexity out of processing space data to make it more readily accessible by colocating managed ground station antennas with its cloud datacentres Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Businesses failing to win consumer trust

Businesses are still largely failing to win the trust of consumers to keep their personal data safe as data breaches continue to make headlines Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

ASOS launches digital assistant to help customers find right size

Online fashion retailer ASOS has launched an artificially intelligent assistant to help consumers find the right size of clothing before they place an order Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

IKEA to focus on digitisation and convenience shopping

Swedish furniture brand IKEA will be cutting jobs and focusing on smaller stores and its digital pipeline in a bid to usher in a new era of business transformation Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Interview: Comms sector ripe for disruption as climate change takes hold

Humanity has just 12 years left to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5⁰C and prevent climate meltdown. Paul Dickinson from the Carbon Disclosure Project discusses how CIOs can help take steps to avert disaster by changing their attitude to business communications Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Post Office held back information about Horizon IT system errors

Post Office director admits to Horizon errors and not sharing details with subpostmaster network Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Securing the SD-WAN: The next network challenge

Every time an enterprise weighs up whether or not to try SD-WAN, security is an essential part of the picture Continue Reading

By

• Christian Annesley

Post Office executives cross-examined in Horizon IT system trial

A High Court trial, where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office for damages caused by an allegedly faulty IT system, ended its second week. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA