Recent Blog Posts
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WITsend
Computer Weekly readers receive 20% off everywomanNetwork annual fee
Computer Weekly readers are now entitled to a 20% discount on the annual cost of the everywomanNetwork! With the discount code of CW20 an annual rate will cost £39.99 + VAT instead of the usual standard rate of £49.99 + VAT. The online membership is being offered by everywoman, with the aim o...
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Inside Outsourcing
Gartner has spoken and IT spending must increase, barring disaster
Gartner announced its Enterprise IT spending prediction for 2013. It seems after a really tough year there will be an increase in IT budgets next year.This could even be sustained if senior business executives have their way with technologies such as social media, mobile, analytics and the cloud.Gartner re...
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Inside Outsourcing
Inside outsourcing interview: HCL discusses targeting potential customers unhappy with current suppliers and having a DNA like IBM.
I caught up with Bindi Bhullar yesterday. He is a director in the UK at Indian IT services provider HCL.HCL has been one of the fastest growing of a fast growing bunch of suppliers based in India over recent years so it was good to catch up. Bindi told me about HCL's strategy to offer a wide range of servi...
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When IT Meets Politics
McAlpine and Petraeus: removing the illusions of Internet anonymity and privacy
The news that Lord McAlpine's lawyers intend to identify and extract damages from those twats (shorter than twitterers) who down not own up and apologise brings an overdue dose of reality to the muddled debate on the "right" to be able disguise your identity over the Internet which is implic...
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Open Source Insider
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean arrives
Google has released the source code for the next version of Android. The open source operating system's next iteration will be known as Android Jelly Bean 4.2. NOTE: Jelly Bean comes in alphabetical order in the Android family of naming convention which has previously seen versions named Cupcake, Donut, Ec...
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CWDN
We're having a merger, call the developers
During the throws of a typical company merger there are (unsurprisingly) a large amount of board-level C-level (e.g. CEO, CIO etc.) executives called into attendance to ponder meeting minutes, eat the chocolate shortbread squares and drink copious amounts of coffee, water and various Taurine-based energy d...
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Downtime
One-in-20 people use their mobiles during sex
Yes, you read the headline right, more than half of people regularly use their mobile devices in bed, with 5% shockingly using their mobile while in the middle of having sex with their partner.* Narly half check their social networks and emails on their mobile devices instead of listening to their partner,...
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Downtime
The new boring
It has taken some time for IT professionals to shake off the "boring geek" image of its bearded and sandal-wearing past, but Downtime still feels that a forthcoming event in London will appeal to parts of our constituency. Boring 2012 describes itself as "the conference dedicated to the mundane", and this ...
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Identity, Privacy and Trust
The significance of the Identity Assurance programme
Consumer empowerment think-tank Ctrl-Shift is carrying an interview with me on the significance of the Identity Assurance programme, in which I speculate on how IDA will grow over the coming months and years: How do you see the identity assurance market developing? Over the next 18 months the selected IDPs...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
Testing out 4G in London
Last week my colleague and networking editor, Jennifer Scott, received an EE Huawei MiFi device to test out the speeds of the new network's 4G superfast mobile internet.We were both very impressed with the wireless hotspot, to which three of us connected our smartphones and tablets and hit the big dow...
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Inside Outsourcing
Would you offshore your IT to China?
I blogged earlier in the week about how Indian IT services association Nasscom expects software and services export growth for this year as a result of European and US customers holding back spending. It still expects double digit growth, but only just. It seems the Chinese IT services sectoris also feelin...
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Inside Outsourcing
Xerox announces 2,500 job cuts with services arm taking biggest hit
As exclusively revealed on this blog last month Xerox is cutting its workforce. A US website has reported that Xerox officials have confoirmed there will be about 2,500, cuts but does nt reveal any of the finer details apart from that the services arm will take the biggest hit. This blog has already reveal...
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CWDN
SAP data analytics from concrete to handbags
The traditional recipe for concrete consists of aggregate, cement, water with the possible addition of gravel, limestone, rocks and/or sand. It has been this way for a while. According to SAP, the contemporary recipe for concrete could now include aggregate, cement, water, mobile, social, cloud and busines...
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When IT Meets Politics
How do you rebuild trust: whether in Banks, BBC, the Internet or a Regulator?
The Newsnight debacle and the impending libel actions have not only dented trust in the BBC but also in the Internet as a source of reliable information on what is being kept from us and where comment is free. The challenge of Guido Fawkes to the Information Commissioner's appeals tribunal&#...
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Networks Generation
Talari - It's Not Channel Bonding!
Some of you may have seen earlier blogs, and even the Broadband-Testing report, on our recently acquired US client Talari Networks, whose technology basically lets you combine multiple broadband Internet connections (and operators) to give you the five-nine's levels of reliability (and performance) associa...
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Identity, Privacy and Trust
DWP Announces First Identity Assurance Providers
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has announced the first seven Identity Providers (IDPs) who will be eligible to provide consumer-facing services within the government's new Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP). IDAP will be critical to the delivery of DWP's flagship Universal Credit programme,...
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Public Sector IT
Universal Credit on-track - and thanks to agile, says discharged IT boss
Universal Credit is not turning into a car crash, the programme's discharged boss has told Computer Weekly.Speaking out after he and other managers were moved off the unfinished project, Steve Dover said the programme was still on track.And he said it would live up to its name as the most ambitious agile s...
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Inside Outsourcing
UK government to continue to outsource services as its kicks off second half
Often when suppliers are called into the Cabinet Office it means bad news. According to this article, Paul Pindar who is CEO of back office service provider Capita, had a nice experience when he last visited. According to Reuters, this is what he had to say after meeting with the Cabinet Office. "One ...
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Inside Outsourcing
What value can analytics provide BPO?
I recently wrote a feature about how BPO was changing and one of the factors that is making BPO more valuable is the ability to mine and analyses the massive volumes of data collected. Businesses armed with this data translated into business metrics can use it strategically. Accenture sent me some detail a...
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Inside Outsourcing
Even Indian IT firms feel the economic pinch - sign of how hard things are?
Nasscom, the association represents India's IT services industry, has had to reign in its software and services sales growth expectations this year as a result of European and US customers holding back spending. The fact that companies offering low cost services are reducing their expectations in the curre...
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The Full Spectrum
Citizen puts EE in its place - it might be better to wait for 4G
There has been endless coverage of EE and its 4G roll out hitting the UK, but who can blame us? It seems to have taken forever for the UK to get on the 4G train and it is exciting that it is now possible to get the much speedier connections. I was given a wireless hotspot by EE for a week to test out its c...
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When IT Meets Politics
The evolution of broadband from raw speed through concealed bandwidth rationing to active traffic management to achieve delivered quality of service
Those of you who have moved from 5 to 15 to 50 mbs broadband will have discovered that it does not always lead to significant improvement in delivered service. The causes are many and varied: from line quality, through PC security to "traffic management" at various levels. At one level are the...
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CWDN
What to expect from SAP Sapphire Madrid
German efficiency meets Spanish flair and iconoclasm. That may the impression that SAP is going for by hosting its Sapphire NOW and TechEd 2012 conference in Madrid. This week's event will lean heavily on customer experiences with SAP. This in itself will need to be a carefully orchestrated affair given th...
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Inside Outsourcing
Should I outsource my IT onshore, nearshore or offshore?
Professor Ilan Oshri at Loughborough School of Business has contributed this article to the blog. He recently set up the Centre for Global Sourcing and Services' (CGSS) at the university to do independent research on the trends and practices in global sourcing of IT and business services and to improve sou...
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WITsend
BCSWomen event offers practical advice for technology start-ups
This is a guest blog from Sarah Burnett Research Director for Public Sector BPO at NelsonHall Readers of Witsend might know from my last blog post "Help UK's Technology Industry Win Gold" that I am very keen to help the IT industry in the UK, particularly new technology companies with fresh ideas. This is ...
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Inside Outsourcing
India won't miss UK aid because intra company transfers are as charitable as can be.
The UK will stop donating money to India in 2015. It is hard to believe that the UK still gives India about £200m a year when the country has a space programme. But when it comes to being charitable to India many believe the UK government's immigration policy, which allows Indian IT firms to undercut UK wo...
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When IT Meets Politics
When should we commemorate the centenary of cyberwarfare - or has it already passed?
It causes surprise when I inform those who say that UK, EU or International legislation on electronic signatures and transactions is urgent that the first test case on whether a cable is an enforceable contract went to the New Hampshire Supreme Court in 186...
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The Full Spectrum
Stop procrastinating RIM and get the OS launched
Image via CrunchBaseToday RIM finally made a public announcement that its new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system, along with two handsets housing the software, will launch on 30 January. Executives from the company have been leaking this information left, right and centre for a few months now, but RIM i...
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Inspect-a-Gadget
12 Days of Christmas Inspect-a-Gadget review special
The Christmas season is soon upon us, and while I dislike speaking of holly and mince pies before at least the middle of November, the party invites descending my inbox tell me that I need to start planning ahead. Inspect-a-Gadget will be conducting a 12-part special in true "Santa Claus" style. Starting t...
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Inside Outsourcing
Are charities and outsourcing suppliers a match made in heaven?
I was sent some research about how IT departments within charities are focusing more on strategy and as a result are struggling to do their day to day role due to a shortage in resources. The research from MSM Software of 100 IT managers, at charities, found that 92% believe the It department's role h...
