Increasing marketing technology investments are demanding more involvement from IT leaders to enable marketing to achieve full business value from its investments, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2015, IT leaders supporting marketing will need to build a stronger partnership with marketing and help to evaluate solutions (architecture, functionality, scalability, performance and security), source data, manage and consolidate the application portfolio, and integrate solutions. “Marketing continues to be a hot area of IT investment and technology innovation with a rapidly growing application portfolio that demands greater integration and focused investment,” said…

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PC shipments in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) reached 25.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014 — a 2.0% increase year on year, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Strong consumer demand during the holiday season helped keep the market at positive levels for the third consecutive quarter, albeit modest and patchy across the region, leading to 5.5% growth for 2014 with 93.3 million PCs shipped in EMEA. LONDON, January 20, 2015 — Once again, there were strong regional differences in EMEA. Western Europe continued to drive growth with shipments…

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It’s the time of year for businesses to look forward and make their cloud computing plans for 2015. But it’s also a good time to look back at the cloud trends that evolved in 2014 for guidance. “Cloud services have matured to the point where they can absolutely deliver value for many use cases,” said Ed Anderson, research VP of cloud services at Gartner. Here are five ways enterprises can tap into 2014’s top cloud trends to achieve a competitive edge in the year ahead. 1. Hybrid Clouds Gartner broadly defines…

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At first glance, the IT markets of EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe appear to be as cool as the rest of the European Economy. The rule of thumb that IT markets typically exhibit twice the growth rate of GDP has fallen by the wayside, at least for 2015. Prague, January 16, 2015 – Depending on the source, GDP growth forecasts for most CEE EU member states run from around 2% to 3.5% (with Croatia a notable exception, where growth is expected to be flat). Regionally, IT spending is expected to rise…

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New Frontier Group wanted to know: how fit are companies in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) really for the digital economy? Are established businesses in CEE embracing change or are they rather being bulldozed by startups and young entrepreneurs? How much do the companies operating in the region invest in digital technologies and how are these resources being managed? Photo credit: JDHancock/Flickr In order to answer our questions and better serve the CEE market with our digital transformation consultancy services, we partnered with the research firm IDC and conducted a series of interviews with high-ranked executives in Czech Republic,…

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By developing a flexibility management system for the electricity grid, ERDF and Schneider Electric are demonstrating their commitment to the growth of smart grids. As part of a partnership launched over a year ago, ERDF and Schneider Electric have joined forces to develop and test innovative software and solutions for medium and low voltage grid management, for the design and monitoring of substations of the future and to facilitate the increase in renewable generation. The increasing integration of variable renewable energies in addition to load management initiated by external operators…

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In many ways, 2014 was a year of survival for Microsoft.  With a new CEO, a newish “One Microsoft” mantra, a giant acquisition of Nokia’s phones businesses, the Xbox One, Microsoft Band, and even a surprising winner in the third generation of Surface, Microsoft spent 2014 setting expectations, re-aligning, and laying the groundwork for an even bigger year ahead. There’s no doubt, 2015 will be the year of Windows 10, and all its permutations.  While Windows 10 may finally deliver the Windows 8 we wanted all along, it will even…

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