IT management

Hello computer. Wanna talk dirty?

The Turing Test is a famous challenge to computer scientists to create an artificial intelligence machine that is so convincing people believe they are talking to a real human being. Meanwhile, it ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Is HMRC making tax more taxing for non-digital taxpayers?

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has made tax data accessible online – but how should it cater for those unable (or unwilling) to use digital services? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

OnApp helps small public cloud firms take on AWS, Google and Microsoft

The OnApp Federation marketplace will help smaller firms compete more effectively with the public cloud giants, it is claimed Continue Reading

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• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Boots cuts 700 jobs in bid to restructure and improve tech

Cosmetics firm Boots has announced it will be cutting 700 non-store roles in an attempt to invest in technology and simplify back-office operations Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Case study: What the enterprise can learn from Etsy's DevOps strategy

Jon Cowie, operations engineer at online marketplace Etsy, advises enterprises on how to develop a DevOps-friendly business culture Continue Reading

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• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

HMRC denies reports of Verify causing users problems

HMRC has denied that problems faced by the public attempting to claim marriage tax breaks are caused by the Gov.uk Verify scheme Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

The top 10 myths about agile development

Examining some of the most common misconceptions in the growing field of agile software development Continue Reading

By

• Peter Measey

The file-sharing face-off: Box or Dropbox

In this week's Computer Weekly, we look at the two most popular tools for cloud-based enterprise file sharing and assess the relative merits of Box and Dropbox. We talk to some of the early pioneers in developing smartwatch apps. And we find out why IT security spending is shifting from prevention to detection and response. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Digital services not saving government departments money, says NAO

Government departments are not making the savings digital services were aiming to deliver Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

John Lewis incubator sees first round of second-year pitches

More than 20 startups have presented their pitches to John Lewis executives in the first round of this year’s Jlab accelerator Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

The state of NHS IT? Ring a random NHS trust and see if they have IT problems - it worked for us

We'd like to let you in on a little secret. In the past week, Computer Weekly uncovered IT problems at two NHS trusts in the north-west of London. In one, medical staff were unable to access ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Peugeot Citroën prepares for in-car apps with Sierra Wireless

French car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroën plans to deploy device-to-cloud technology to support its connected car strategy Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

HMRC looks for transformation partner ahead of Aspire end

HMRC is seeking transformational help ahead of the demise of its Aspire contract in 2017. Continue Reading

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• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

The drivers and inhibitors of cyber security evolution

A study shows a shift in IT security spending to detection and response – but why are most organisations falling way behind the more enlightened front runners? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government as a platform, or a platform for government? Which are we getting?

Government as a platform is the latest buzzword in Whitehall - but is that really what they are going to deliver? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab

Most of more than 733,000 police communications data requests approved

Big Brother Watch is calling for a curb on the scale of police access to communications data and greater transparency in the use of this data Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist

Find out who made the Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist Continue Reading

By

• Kayleigh Bateman, Computer Weekly

Marseille: Europe’s networking gateway to Africa

The city of Marseille in southern France is fast becoming a hub for datacentre and network operators who want low latency connections to Africa. Continue Reading

By

• Anne Morris

A tale of two boxes: Choosing between Box and Dropbox

Box and Dropbox are in the content and collaboration business, but the two cloud services have taken very different approaches Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Using green computing for improving energy efficiency guide

Green computing is no longer just a white-wash expression, as government schemes like the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme, the Climate Change Agreement (CCA) or the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), are encouraging companies to revaluate their use of IT resources. Finding new ways of improving energy efficiency is no longer a boardroom discussion, but a reality for many UK businesses. This guide has been designed to help you improve overall energy efficiency, within the IT department, and implement the right green technology for your business. This green technology guide covers green computing, government legislation and energy efficiency. Continue Reading

CIO Interview: Mike Young, CIO, Dentsu Aegis Network

CIO Mike Young describes how Dentsu Aegis Network used technology to become a consolidated company with a unified collaboration strategy Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

NATS failure down to bug from the 90s and redundant code

A bug present in Nats since 1990s has been identified as the root cause of the five-hour outage of UK air traffic control on 12 December 2014 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Civil Servants point to lack of skills as barrier to IT procurement

Adoption of IT for public services is held back due to a lack of skills, despite civil servants agreeing IT is a necessity, according to techUK Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Microservices and DevOps are changing software development

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to Hailo about its software development approach, which sees the taxi app use microservices and DevOps techniques. We hear from users of OpenStack, the open source cloud software, about how they are building digital businesses. And our buyer's guide looks at customer experience management. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Digital customer experience: Beyond the website

Organisations are faced with the challenge of delivering their customers with an online experience that goes far beyond just a website Continue Reading

By

• Rob Bamforth, Timefort

Air Traffic Control gallery opens at The National Museum of Computing

Sponsored by Nats, the air traffic control gallery features IRIS radar, a restored PDP-11 and high definition air traffic control simulator Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth talks about space, drones and smartphones

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, strives towards the vision of a converged handheld device Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

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

By

• Angelica Mari

CIO interview: Austerity drives joined-up council IT with Force.com

Peterborough has become a big user of software-as-a-service for council services. We speak to its IT head Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

G.fast ultrafast broadband test lab opens in Swansea

BT kicks off trials of G.fast broadband technology in Swansea and opens a new test lab for startups Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government cloud adoption hit by ongoing legacy tech investments

IT supplier Eduserv wants government departments banned from investing in legacy tech to drive up cloud adoption Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

BT and BDUK failed to make costs transparent, says report

A major report on BDUK commissioned by DCMS identifies a number of failures around the transparency of the scheme’s costs Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

GDS will not scale locally with continued bespoke approach

If the Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to develop bespoke digital services, the progress it has made to date will not scale at a local level, Eddie Copeland, head of technology at the Policy Exchange, has warned Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Vodafone returns to quarterly revenue growth

A minute rise in quarterly sales gives mobile network operator Vodafone hope that its financial situation is now stabilising Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Canonical offers SaaS pricing for on-site VMs and storage

Open source supplier Canonical has introduced software as a service pricing for on-premise storage in a move that could change the way traditional software is licensed Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Delivering first-class IT at Royal Mail

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to Royal Mail CIO Catherine Doran as her five-year IT transformation plan comes to fruition. We review Microsoft Office 2016 and evaluate its use for corporate collaboration. And we look at best practice in implementing customer relationship management software. Read the issue now. 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

By

• Peter Ray Allison

Whitehall technology chiefs vetoed new Windows XP support deal

Government technology chiefs vetoed a new deal with Microsoft to continue Windows XP support to force laggards to move off the OS Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

What does the end of the "Francis Maude era" mean for GDS?

Earlier this week, I wrote here that a new Conservative government could mean more changes in government IT than such administrative consistency would suggest. It already seems those changes may be ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Former nurse’s career blighted after blowing whistle on IT problems

Southwark's continuing care database included names of patients who had been dead for several years, a tribunal is told Continue Reading

By

• Julia Gregory and Bill Goodwin

New government, same government IT? Perhaps not...

On first impressions, the Conservative election victory appears to be business as usual for IT across government. The challenges before the election are the same challenges now; the civil service ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

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

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

EMC predicts return to double-digit sales growth

Storage giant's EMEA chief claims downbeat first quarter results are as bad as things will get for EMC, and that normal service will soon resume Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Huawei opens European Research Institute

Huawei opens doors of European Research Institute in Leuven, Belgium Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

EU revamp of payment services draws nearer

The EU cannot afford to continue with costly payment services if it wants to be globally competitive, says MEP Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The digital challenge for the new government

It's been said that the general election this week is the most important for a generation. That's probably true on a number of levels - and certainly within the microcosm of the IT and digital ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

CIO interview: Darrell Stein, vice-president of information systems at Reckitt Benckiser

Seven months after taking charge of IT at Reckitt Benckiser, Darrell Stein is pushing ahead with a strategy to increase digital revenues Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

UK election special – who wins the digital vote?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the UK goes to the polls in the general election, we take an in-depth look at the political parties’ manifestos for technology, and examine what the IT sector wants from the next government. Our latest buyer’s guide covers collaboration software. And we analyse host identity protocol (HIP), an emerging standard for endpoint security. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Home Retail Group grows profits 15% with mobile and online channels

Mobile and online initiatives at Home Retail Group – parent company of Argos and Homebase – drove a 15% growth in its yearly operating profit Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Windows 10: Why you should work around PC price hike

IT departments planning a PC refresh to tie in with Windows 10 can expect to pay more due to the strong US dollar Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

If not GDS, then what?

The closer we've come to the UK general election, the more it seems the Government Digital Service (GDS) is taking a public bashing. You might wonder why.It's certainly true to say that GDS divides ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Met Police offers up to almost £200,000 for CIO role

The Metropolitan Police is offering up to almost £200,000 to fill its CIO position, which has been open since February 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Criminal Courts Review Commission set to review subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution

The Criminal Courts Review Commission (CCRC) reviews subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution by the Post Office due to IT problems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Vodafone sends network in a backpack to Nepal earthquake zone

Vodafone’s charitable arm, the Vodafone Foundation, deploys instant mini networks to help restore communications in quake-hit Nepal Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

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

By

• Fiona O'Cleirigh

The National Trust's great IT renovation

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to the CIO of the National Trust, Sarah Flannigan, about her £40m IT strategy to transform one of the UK's favourite charities. We examine best practice in how to set up applications on Amazon Web Services. And we talk to a UK challenger bank about how technology will shake up the sector. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Datacentre PUE: Who's keeping score?

With datacentre operators under increased competitive pressure to cut their PUE scores, are their ratings really all they seem? Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Gartner: Enterprises opt for open-source and cloud middleware alternatives

Gartner has reported a bigger focus on subscription-based licensing and open-source platforms in the middleware market Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

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

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

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

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

What’s slowing down your network and how to fix it

When using the network feels like wading through molasses, finding the cause can be a difficult process Continue Reading

By

• Rene Millman

SSE hooks up Manchester datacentres with 10Gbps connectivity

SSE Enterprise Telecoms launches Manchester Lightnow, a high-capacity optical network service connecting a number of datacentre facilities Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

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

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Can legislation stop cyber crime?

Rising cyber crime suggests criminal law does not deter criminals and that a better legal solution is required to prevent further rises Continue Reading

By

• Stewart James

NHS data security: Lessons to be learned

The NHS does not always provide a trusted repository for patient data, but some trusts are examples of good practice in action Continue Reading

By

• SA Mathieson

Would GDS like to airbrush rural payments out of its digital exemplar history?

Last month, I wrote in this blog about the problems that caused the new rural payments digital service to be withdrawn from use by farmers and replaced by paper forms. The system was one of the 25 ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

BBC Engineering restructures to support flexible media needs, says CTO Matthew Postgate

The BBC's technology department, BBC Engineering, will restructure to more effectively provision TV, radio and news, says CTO Matthew Postgate Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

CIO interview: Fernando Birman, head of the digital office, Solvay

After years of IT work to support major M&A activity, global chemicals company Solvay is focusing on innovation to drive internal efficiency Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Exit checks system for UK borders finally goes live

The Home Office launches a system for making exit checks of travellers at UK borders, following the scrapped e-Borders programme Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

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

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CIO interview: Bruna Pellicci, global head of IT, Ashurst

Global law firm Ashurst is rolling out a new IT strategy based on single platforms worldwide for its core business areas Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

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

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Mobile device management (MDM) vs backup

MDM tackles the challenge of mobile devices flooding the enterprise, but it doesn’t mean you can stop worrying about mobile data protection Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

To make Britain digital we need leaders who are part of the network, not apart from it

It's great to see so much debate taking place on social media - and hopefully in the real world - following Martha Lane Fox's Dimbleby Lecture broadcast on BBC1 last night. Regardless of what ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

AWS gets EU approval for data replication outside of Europe

The European Union Data Protection Authorities has approved Amazon Web Services’ Data Processing Agreement Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Rural payments service failed GDS assessment but still went live

The troubled rural payments digital service failed its most recent assessment by the Government Digital Service, but was still launched to farmers Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

KPMG teams up with Microsoft to boost enterprise cloud adoption

Advisory firm to draw on Microsoft technologies to deliver cloud-based data analytics, and business transformation services to clients Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

National Police ICT Company operational after four years of wrangling

The national Police ICT Company is operational and aims to save £465m a year – nearly four years after Theresa May proposed its creation Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

UK government pays £150m to Raytheon to settle e-Borders dispute

UK government agrees to pay Raytheon £150m to settle dispute over the cancellation of e-Borders contract Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Talk Talk moves HR systems to cloud

Managers now have accurate information on their workforce numbers, salary and overtime costs Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

MPs slam Defra for making rural payments 'digital by default'

MPs have slammed the government’s decision to make rural payment claims from farmers a 'digital by default' service Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

HP Helion Rack looks to speed up enterprise private cloud adoption

HP wants to take the heavy lifting out of moving to the private cloud by offering enterprises pre-configured and tested infrastructure packages Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Government backs tech in 2015 Budget

In this week's Computer Weekly, chancellor George Osborne's 2015 Budget was the most technology friendly ever – we examine the key policy announcements. Sainsbury's CIO talks about the challenges of going digital. And we look at how virtual reality could be coming to a workplace near you, thanks to the latest developments. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

IT priorities 2015 – IT budgets on the rise as economy recovers

Almost three-quarters of IT managers in the UK expect their IT budgets to increase or stay the same in 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Microsoft's Nano Server: What to expect from this leaner, meaner Windows Server

With Microsoft reportedly set to announce a stripped-back version of Windows Server, what can IT leaders expect to see? Continue Reading

By

• Janakiram MSV

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

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor
• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

What went wrong with Defra's rural payments system?

A £154m system to process payments to farmers has been forced to resort to paper forms. What went wrong – and is this a digital disaster? Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

BIS sets out to assist development of digital sharing economy

The government has set out a number of proposals to assist in the development of the £9bn trade body Sharing Economy UK Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ofcom finalises BT wholesale broadband pricing rules

Ofcom finalises plans to introduce wholesale broadband pricing rules to promote competition and investment in superfast broadband Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Internet of things and 5G network research priority in 2015 Budget

Research into the internet of things and the 5G networks to support it figured highly in chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 Budget Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Businesses need to equip staff with the tools to do the job

Workforces will become frustrated if they do not have the technology they need to deliver what their organisation wants Continue Reading

By

• David Johnson

Wi-Fi in the sky: The good, the bad and the ugly

With in-flight internet options spreading around the world, which services should discerning business travellers try, and which should they avoid? Continue Reading

By

• John Walton

CIO interview: Ivor Nicholson, Nottinghamshire County Council

Nottinghamshire County Council is facing £77m in cuts by 2018 and by rolling out new services, it plans to save £8m through technology alone Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

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

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

HSBC names replacement CIO for investment bank

HSBC has named the replacement for the departing CIO of its global banking and markets division, with an internal promotion filling the gap Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Smart meter project in danger of outright failure, government warned

A report from the Energy and Climate Change Committee has warned that plans to install smart meters across the UK by 2020 are veering off-track Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

2015 IT priorities: SDN yet to prove itself, fear of network hacks growing

In Computer Weekly’s 2015 IT priorities study, software-defined networking is still behind management and monitoring as a networking priority Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Sharing Economy UK launched to champion digital businesses

New trade body brings together digital businesses that encourage consumer and business asset-sharing, such as Airbnb and ZipCar Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Procurement guidelines saved government £91m in 2014, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude

The government made £91m savings in 2014 with “militant” guidelines around procurement, says Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

HSBC seeks new investment banking CIO as Sumeet Chabria leaves

HSBC is looking for a new IT head in its investment banking arm after Sumeet Chabria decided to leave after 21 years at the bank Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA