Category: Comments & opinions

An IT expert weighs in on what many SMBs are missing out on by forgoing or not investing enough in emerging technologies. With decades of experience in IT analysis spanning DataQuest, Giga Information Group, Forrester Research and a who’s who roster of top-name tech companies, Rob Enderle, president and principal of the Enderle Group, offers one of the most valued perspectives in the industry. A quick scan of his most recent articles reveals the breadth of topics he addresses in some of the biggest industry outlets: security in higher education,…

Read More

It’s difficult to find an organization today that would openly reject innovation. This buzzword has become the mantra of every company seeking to provide the latest and greatest solutions to its industry’s problems. But if a company hopes to produce a steady flow of new and creative ideas, it must first realize that innovation is more complex than forging ahead with the first decent suggestion that comes along. “Innovation requires continual evolution,” said Scott Jewett, CEO and founder of research and development solutions providerElement-Y. “An innovative company can have an advantage…

Read More

Companies still patching computers that contain theHeartbleed bug now have to contend with other flaws found in the OpenSSL encryption protocol that secures data flowing between PCs and Web servers. The latest bugs in the open-source OpenSSL cryptography library include one that would let an attacker eavesdrop on traffic between a client and server. So-called man-in-the-middle attacks typically involve the hacker decrypting and modifying traffic to manipulate the data flow to his own benefit, such as stealing credentials to online services. The latest flaw is less of a risk than Heartbleed,…

Read More

Since the Nokia Lumia 1520’s six-inch display has the Windows Phone phablet market seemingly locked up, a number of Microsoft’s new Asian partners are going small. Since the Nokia Lumia 1520’s six-inch display has the Windows Phone phablet market seemingly locked up, a number of Microsoft’s new Asian partners are going small. Three of Microsoft’s newest partners–BLU, Prestigio, and YEZZ–announced new Windows Phones at the Computex show in Taiwan, with several 4-inch phones leading the way. YEZZ even named its phone “Billy” after founder Bill Gates, according to Microsoft. In…

Read More

Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, but it shapes the daily lives of many internet users. Here are the people behind some of the most important social media sites. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Mark Zukerberg is the CEO and one of the original co-founders of Facebook. Facebook was originally only available to university students, but once it opened up to the general public it became the most popular social network in the world. Image: James Martin/CNET Jack Dorsey, Twitter Jack Dorsey is the co-creator and co-founder of Twitter. Twitter was…

Read More

Terms such as ‘the cloud’ often get thrown around. But do you really understand what it is, and what it can do for your business? Cloud-based CRM combines the power of cloud computing with revolutionary business functionality in the scope of customer relationship management. Wish you could access customer data from your home office? Read on to find out how that’s not just possible, but it’s easy, too. Awareness and understanding are two very different things. Most people who I speak to, when technology is the subject of discussion, know that…

Read More

1. Urs Hölzle, Google Advances in networking led us to the cloud revolution. Here are ten people who were instrumental in making cloud computing a reality. Hölzle is senior vice president of technical infrastructure at Google. He was the eighth Google employee and played a major role in scaling the infrastructure to handle the demands of the cloud. Image: Stephen Shankland/CNET 2. Werner Vogels, Amazon Werner Vogels is the CTO and vice president of Amazon.com. Vogels is largely considered the driving force behind the growth of Amazon Web Services (AWS).…

Read More

To ensure a successful ERP implementation process, project managers should identify their top needs, choose a software vendor that addresses the company’s inefficiencies and determine if the ERP provider’s cultureblends with the manufacturing company’s business environment, according to ERP Focus. Those are just a couple steps that feed into the implementation process. Installing the software is a time-consuming and difficult endeavor, but it is the turning point for companies. It is the moment when a company sheds off traditional business processes and embraces streamlined and automated manufacturing methods. By following these steps, managers can…

Read More

As the world of technology continues to move toward mobile devices, these devices are becoming rich targets for malware, bad actors, and even government agencies seeking to increase the scope of their surveillance capability. Of course, there’s a lot that an enterprise can do to secure their mobile devices properly. However, the reality of today’s threat landscape is such that that organizations will likely need to conduct mobile forensics when—not if—the mobile devices of their users are compromised, or if detailed activity information is required to determine how a device…

Read More

The technology section of every newspaper, magazine or online entity lately is describing how point of sale (POS), and the use of your credit cards is a bit like playing Russian roulette with the retail POS terminals — are they or are they not compromised? The recent batch of retail breaches of payment card industry (PCI) data began with Target, then Neiman Marcus, Michaels, and a bevy of yet-to-be-identified entities and is feeding the fear that the retail ecosystem is in danger. The consumer is asking the industry, “Why can’t…

Read More