IT management

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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Huawei opens European Research Institute

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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

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• 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

China and US cross swords over software backdoors

Barack Obama criticises Chinese plans to force tech firms trading in China to share encryption keys and put backdoors in software Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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

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

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

CIO interview: Connected cars set CIO agenda at Volvo

IT has always tried to align with the business, but for Klas Bendrik, group CIO at Volvo Cars, it seems business has aligned with IT Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Cyber crime: What every business needs to know

Computer Weekly gets the low-down on cyber crime from law enforcement officers and investigators Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

$/GB vs $/IOPS and how to compare enterprise storage pricing

While raw drive prices are pennies per GB, the actual cost of enterprise storage is much higher. Finding a baseline can save you money Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

TUPE or not TUPE? That is the question

Designed to enable employees and business units to be transferred from one owner to another, TUPE legislation is now 33 years old Continue Reading

By

• Adam Bernstein

Bank of England considers issuing digital currency

The Bank of England could issue its own digital currency in the future, in the same way that it does with bank notes Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

SMEs seek legal advice over controversial Capita contracts with government

SMEs that claim to have lost significant revenue through two government contracts are seeking legal advice over alleged breaches of competition law Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

£700m spent on Universal Credit yet to deliver value for money, say MPs

The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £700m on Universal Credit so far, but has yet to convince MPs it is value for money Continue Reading

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• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

ARM unleashes internet of things potential with starter kit

Chip-maker ARM has collaborated with IBM to launch the mbed IoT Starter Kit, pitched at SMEs and application developers Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Apple invests in European datacentres as EU investigates tax break

Apple is investing €1.7bn in two European datacentres to support iTunes, the App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Banks take the fight to the web giants

In this week's Computer Weekly, with internet giants like Google, Apple and Facebook offering banking services, Santander is leading the fightback by launching a cloud storage service; but can it win? Our latest buyer's guide looks at cloud-optimised IT. And we examine how the economic trends will affect CIOs this year. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

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

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

By

• Angelica Mari

Windows 10 Build 9926: A first look

We install and test-drive the latest build of Windows 10, which introduces desktop Cortana and Continuum for moving the GUI across devices Continue Reading

By

• Simon Bisson

Home Office wins appeal against £224m Raytheon payment over e-Borders cancellation

The Home Office has won an appeal against a tribunal decision to award £224m to supplier Raytheon over the cancellation of its e-Borders contract Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

DWP starts national Universal Credit IT rollout

The next phase of the national IT rollout for the controversial Universal Credit programme has started Continue Reading

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• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Why it's time for the IT community to engage with politicians

No blood was spilled, but listening to the three main political parties debate their digital policies together for the first time this week laid out the battleground for their likely general ... Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

General election 2015: Major parties focus on tech agenda

With advancements around data protection and state surveillance of internet traffic, the UK is heading into its first tech-aware general election Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

What is government as a platform and how do we achieve it?

There are lots of discussion going on at the moment about digital “platforms”, and the impact they might have on UK public services Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab

The more IT changes, the more technology issues remain the same

In the early 2000s Nigel Beighton was CTO at Lastminute.com. Yet, 15 years on, he says the technology issues he faced then have changed little Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Former Lloyds bank and Barclays CIO Darryl West joins HSBC

HSBC has appointed Darryl West, who left Barclays in December, as CIO Continue Reading

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• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Symantec continues cloud investment in spite of poor Q3 results

Symantec has reported third quarter 2015 revenue of $1.64bn, a drop of 4% compared with $1.70bn over the same period in 2014 Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

National Police ICT Company finally set to start operations

A national Police ICT Company is set to begin operations after finally being approved by the UK’s police and crime commissioners Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

How to combat VM sprawl

VMs are easy to create, but when unmanaged they proliferate around your infrastructure. Here, we explain VM sprawl and how to combat it Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

FCC’s Tom Wheeler offers up net neutrality plan

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may rule in favour of a strong regulatory environment to preserve the open internet Continue Reading

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• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CW Europe – February 2015 Edition

This issue of CW Europe looks at the results of the 2015 IT Priorities report, which questioned more than 1,000 technology professionals worldwide to reveal how IT departments are finally starting to shake off the effect of the 2008-2009 recession. But some regions are recovering at a faster pace than others. Continue Reading

Newport to get resilient fibre ring for community safety projects

As part of a wide-reaching regeneration plan, Newport City Council deploys resilient fibre optic network to support community safety Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

National Grid uses IBM to add predictive maintenance capabilities

National Grid is using cloud-based analytics powered by IBM SoftLayer to provide preventative maintenance Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Cloud storage: The top five things that go wrong – and how to avoid them

Cloud storage provides cost savings and ease of management, but there are pitfalls – and here are the top five things that can go wrong Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

Five questions every board should ask after Sony Pictures breach

What can the board do to avoid having to answer embarrassing questions at the next shareholder meeting? Continue Reading

By

• Sarb Sembhi

Government and Labour trade accusations and insults over Universal Credit progress

The political battle over the future of Universal Credit is heating up, as shown in an extraordinary exchange of letters last month Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Apple success shows the importance of making IT invisible

It's been impossible to ignore the biggest technology headline of the week - especially as it became the biggest business headline in many places too. Apple declared the largest quarterly profit in ... Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

IT sector outdoing rest of economy despite rise in IT supplier insolvencies

Insolvencies among information and communication suppliers increase by a fifth as the economy continues to pull out of recession Continue Reading

By

• Tim Wood and Henry Kirby

Microsoft gets a step closer to Office everywhere with Office on Android

Microsoft has released a preview version of Office for Android, almost 10 months after the iPad version was released Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Universal Credit costs will not be revealed until after general election

The government will not reveal the full cost of its troubled Universal Credit system until after the general election in May 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

Case study: Park Resorts engages customers through responsive website

Holiday resort management firm Park Resorts' recently launched responsive website delivers new features and improves the user experience Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Windows 10 proves this is a different Microsoft - but is it different enough?

The software company with 14% share of the global operating systems market announced the latest version of its flagship product this week. It's called Windows - you might have heard of it. It's not ... Continue Reading

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• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Mobile phones a waste of time

While many people are obsessed with their mobile phones and never put them down for a minute, research shows that for many others they are just a waste of time. In fact, the average Brit will spend ... Continue Reading

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• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst