top – Lorenz Baermann

Top business needs driving IT spending today

Posted on 15/05/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with business, driving, general, needs, spending, today, top, topics

After years of prioritizing digital transformation and focusing on innovation, many CIOs are reporting that their No. 1 goal now is supporting operational efficiency.

CIO.com’s 2023 State of the CIO report, its 22nd such annual survey, showed that more CIOs today are seeing improved operational efficiency as the top imperative.

Some 45% of respondents listed “increasing operational efficiency” as a business need driving their IT agenda, propelling it to the top spot on the list of business initiatives driving IT budgets today, besting other critical business needs such as increasing cybersecurity protections, furthering transformation, and even improving profitability.

But IT leaders say there a host of other business needs shaping IT initiatives today that are not only nearly as important as driving operational efficiency but are frequently supportive of it.

That’s what Matt Mead, CTO of the technology modernization firm SPR, sees in the market.

“Driving efficiency is very much on everyone’s minds,” he says, while quickly adding that CIOs are investing in technologies that help them address multiple business needs. He cites automation as a case in point, noting that the technology can transform processes as well as improve customer and employee experiences, all while creating more efficient operations. Cloud migrations and data analytics projects do much the same, Mead says.

Top 15 business needs driving IT spend

The State of the CIO survey asked 837 IT leaders and 201 line-of-business (LOB) participants a range of questions regarding their current and future IT strategies, with 56% reporting that they expected their overall IT budgets to increase this year. In terms of business initiatives driving their IT spending this year, the top 15 enterprise needs are:

Increasing operational efficiency: 45%

Increasing cybersecurity protections: 44%

Transforming existing business processes: 38%

Improving the customer experience: 36%

Improving profitability: 27%

Increasing employee productivity: 25%

New product development: 22%

Increasing topline revenue for the business: 20%

Developing new digital revenue streams: 19%

Improving/optimizing the employee experience: 19%

Enhancing hybrid work technologies: 18%

Improving talent acquisition/retention: 17%

Meeting compliance requirements: 16%

Monetizing company data: 14%

Adhering to environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards: 11%

The top portion of this year’s list varies from last year’s findings in notable ways, with increasing cybersecurity protections having been the top business need driving IT budgets in 2022, followed by increasing operational efficiency, improving customer experience, transforming existing business processes, improving employee productivity, and improving profitability.

The shifts suggest that a portion of enterprises are moving on somewhat from last year’s protection posture in favor of revamping business processes and increasing efficiencies, and that the pandemic’s lens on employee productivity is giving way to an eye on profitability as economic headwinds rise.

Business pressures drive IT

Multiple CIOs across various industries say their IT agendas line up with the State of the CIO Report findings.

Woody Groton, the CIO for Draper, a nonprofit research and development organization, until April 2023, says the IT strategy he had put in place is a testament to that.

“Operational efficiency and profitability and productivity all tie into the business pressures we’re all seeing,” he says, adding CIOs continue to hear calls for IT to help reduce costs and drive efficiencies. “There’s a renewed focus on all this; that’s something I’m experiencing.”

But Groton says the pressure for operational efficiency isn’t about identifying technologies that can help slash costs — as had been the case in the past. Instead, the imperative is to determine how IT can improve operational efficiency while also meeting other key business needs, such as transforming processes and improving customer and employee experiences, he says.

The IT plans Gorton had implemented for 2023 at Draper called for moving the company from an on-prem ERP system to a software-as-a-service option; Groton says such a move enables business units to update existing business processes, with the expectation that the company will enjoy both transformation and improved operational efficiency as a result.

Groton’s IT strategy called for moving other systems to the cloud to gain efficiencies, spur additional process transformations, and boost the company’s cybersecurity posture — all top business priorities at Draper that correspond to the CIO.com research findings.

Automation efforts, such as robotic process automation (RPA), and implementing software with built-in AI capabilities are other key initiatives, given their ability to shift workers away from mundane time-consuming tasks to higher-value activities, thereby generating further efficiencies and improved user experiences, Groton says.

As Draper CIO, Groton also focused on meeting the company’s push for maturing its cybersecurity posture. To that end, Draper adopted a zero-trust security model, with IT implementing various technologies, such as network detection and response (NDR) software to support that defense-in-depth strategy.

Draper’s continuing drive to maximize its use of data also meant more investments in business intelligence and analytics tools, Groton says, while its ongoing hybrid work environment necessitates ongoing investments in technologies that support and improve both worker experience and productivity.

Max Horne, CIO and senior vice president of Colonial Savings in Texas, has a similar list of business objectives to fulfill. He specifically listed operational efficiency, cybersecurity, and “projects that can help us bring more business in” as top drivers at Colonial.

Maturing the bank’s data and analytics program and improving customer experience are also top business objectives today, Horne says, noting, however, that these items are perennial priorities, with their rankings on the priority list changing mainly based on fluctuations in economic and business conditions.

“I find my project portfolio has always had those things in it,” Horne says.

Addressing multiple business at once

Other research shows a similar list of business imperatives shaping the IT agenda this year.

The IT Priorities: 2023 report, conducted by research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan for tech company GoTo, surveyed 1,000 IT decision-makers and found that growing revenue was the No. 1 business objective for the year and that 83% of surveyed organizations intended to achieve that growth by acquiring more customers. Improving operational efficiencies was second on the list of business objectives, followed by reducing costs and increasing customer satisfaction.

Meanwhile, Snow Software’s 2023 IT Priorities Report found that reducing IT costs topped the list, followed by reducing security risks, delivering digital transformation, adopting new technologies to improve day-to-day operations, and driving company growth.

CIOs say they’re working to collectively address those multiple and often overlapping needs.

That’s the case for James Pennington, vice president, CIO, and HIPAA security officer at Southwell, a nonprofit healthcare system in Georgia.

He lists the business need to accelerate growth, strengthen the workforce, and reduce expenses as his top drivers for IT spending. He also cites the Southwell’s commitment to safety and quality as a top business need shaping IT today.

“As with most of the healthcare provider market, we are struggling to rebound to pre-pandemic volumes and revenue. Most of our technology initiatives are based on tangible ROI and/or maximization of our legacy investments. As such, our strategy centers around innovative solutions leveraging key strategic vendors in order to capitalize value,” he says.

Micha Albertijn, CIO of Meat&More, a vertically integrated Belgium-based company that incorporates food production and processing as well as distribution and retail activities, says he, too, is working to meet multiple business needs of near equal importance.

First, Meat&More is pushing for operational excellence. “The more efficient and effective our processes are, the better our company is running,” Albertijn says. “This can be translated to how we offer digital solutions to our employees and customers and vendors.”

The other two main drivers are becoming more customer-centric and containing spending, which means benchmarking activities from a financial point of view and working to “right size” in terms of budget, he says.

IT is working on various initiatives to support those business imperatives, with several IT projects delivering value in all three areas, Albertijn says, pointing to his team’s work with the sales and marketing department on data-driven know-your-customer projects, which help Meat&More be more customer-centric while supporting top-line growth and efficient use of marketing and sales spend.

“A topic that was already high on our agenda before my arrival but today is even far higher on the agenda is cybersecurity,” Albertijn adds. “We feel due to circumstances and also due to recent events that cybersecurity is asking for far more attention.”

Consequently, he and his IT team are spending more resources in that area, with money going to improving the team’s security skills and implementing next-generation security tools such as those that use AI to deliver more effective threat detection and response.

Focusing on the enterprise mission

CIOs say such intense focus on business needs — and aligning IT spending and the overall IT strategy to them — has become critical for enterprise success.

Bryan Kennedy, director of museum technology and digital operations at the Science Museum of Minnesota, speaks to that point, saying that the museum’s executive team is focused on “using technology to drive forward its mission.”

For Kennedy, that means investing in technologies such as automation and AI-based tools to streamline operations with an eye toward delivering efficiencies — echoing a familiar refrain.

It also means moving more workloads to the cloud, which is both helping the museum to transform processes while also cutting costs. And it means investing in data and analytics to help the museum become more data-driven — with the goal of using those insights to understand where it can grow and how it can move further into the digital space.

At the same time, Kennedy — like his CIO colleagues in other industries — says he has seen his business-side colleagues become more committed to maturing the museum’s cybersecurity posture. Kennedy has invested in various security technologies — including a password management tool and cloud access security brokers — as he moves the institute to a zero-trust security model.

Kennedy’s priorities mirror other findings in the 2023 State of the CIO survey, which noted that CIOs this year anticipate their involvement to increase in cybersecurity (70%), data analysis (55%), data privacy (55%), AI/machine learning (55%), and customer experience (53%).

The study further found that most respondents (77%) believe the visibility of the CIO role will continue to be elevated within their organizations. Already, 38% of LOB respondents consider the CIO as a strategic advisor who proactively identifies business needs and opportunities with another 25% viewing the CIO as a consultant who is evaluating and advising on business needs and technology choices.

Budget, Budgeting, Business IT Alignment, IT Leadership, Technology Industry

Top technologies that will disrupt business in 2023

Posted on 01/05/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with 2023, business, disrupt, general, technologies, top, topics

Despite economic uncertainty, the 2023 State of the CIO survey from Foundry reports that the vast majority of CIOs (91%) expect to maintain or increase their tech budget this year. The technologies driving these investments include data analytics, AI, and other means to improve the customer experience, as enterprises seek to drive new revenue to modernize legacy environments.

Security and risk management are also atop the list for most CIOs this year, having been cited as a top 5 tech investment by 40% of IT leaders surveyed in the report.

Meanwhile, developers are skilling up in cloud, blockchain, and machine learning, which Stack Overflow CTO Jody Bailey says are three of most searched topics by developers getting up to speed on in-demand technology.

“Technical questions around blockchain have increased by over 80% every year since 2010, cloud questions by over 50%, and machine learning questions by nearly 50%,” Bailey says. “We’re seeing an upswing in questions about languages like Python and Java Script that fuel interactive tech, including machine learning, that thrive in cloud environments.”

All these technologies have the potential to disrupt the business world, or are already doing so, as technology disruption is often the result of converging existing technologies rather than the introduction of something completely new, says Sanjay Macwan, CIO and CSO at Vonage, who sees several current technologies merging to create new gains.

“Convergence of rapidly advancing 5G wireless capabilities, cloud computing coupled with edge computing, and AI advances are ripe for disruptions across industries and use cases,” Macwan says.

Read on to see which technologies will shake up the status quo in the next year.

AI to upend data privacy and security

The widespread use of AI is prompting the need for guidelines and protections around its use, especially in areas such as education where interest is high and young people are involved.

Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Index reports the US is leading the world in AI investment: “In 2022, the $47.4 billion invested in the US was roughly 3.5 times the amount invested in the next highest country, China ($13.4 billion). As AI technologies have become increasingly ubiquitous, this education is being embraced at the K-12 level.”

“The explosive popularity and interest in artificial intelligence will continue into 2023,” says Tim Pritchett, engineer operations manager at Matrix Integration. “Issues of data privacy with minors and validity of information generated by AI are already moving into the foreground of the technology discussions around AI.”

Jeetu Patel, executive vice president and general manager for security and collaboration at Cisco Systems, cites another area of concern: AI will drive sophisticated new security threats this year.

“AI will enable more advanced scams, including incidents of identity theft and convincing deep fakes,” he says. “Despite the tremendous positive impact AI can have, it’s more critical than ever that the industry ensures responsible and ethical use cases, guidelines are implemented, and, when appropriate, restrictions win out.”

And while AI will keep security pros on their toes, Vonage’s Macwan says the technology can, to a certain degree, be part of the solution.

“I’m excited to see significant adoption of AI-enabled automation across all enterprise workflows and processes,” Macwan says. “For example, ‘ask-IT’ and ‘ask-security’ chatbots that can answer and guide employees to fulfill many of their routine IT and security needs with ease and with accuracy.”

Generative AI to unlock new value from data

AI advances, in particular around generative AI solutions such as ChatGPT, will also shake up how enterprises address a key strategic imperative: getting the most from their data.

John Goodson, CTO of CCC Intelligent Solutions, specifically sees promise in areas where deriving insights from large amounts of data previously required a lot of manual manipulation.

“Underlying AI technologies such as ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, SageMaker, Azure AI, and others will be foundational in allowing innovators to quickly solve hard problems to disrupt vertical market processes,” Goodson says. “Most of these tools require little ramp-up time to get started with powerful impact. Where data is not structured or is more difficult to leverage, more sophisticated AI approaches will continue to dominate, causing disruption.”

Rahul Subramaniam, CEO at CloudFix, expects entire new product categories to emerge from large language models built by the likes of OpenAI, Google, and AWS — something that may help enterprises unlock hidden value in the vast troves of unstructured data in their stacks.

“Businesses have been looking to unleash insights from all their data,” Subramaniam says. “The challenge is the ability to assimilate this vast amount of data and summarize that knowledge into something actionable or useful. Until recently, this was nearly impossible. Large language models have made solving this much more feasible today.”

Chatbots to finally prove their CX/EX power

Chatbots are frequently heralded as an efficient way to handle internal requests and assist external customers, but they have yet to live up to the promise for many customers. Evan Huston, chief digital officer at Saatva, says this year should bring much-needed improvements in this area.

“AI chatbots have turned a corner and will disrupt the market,” Huston says. “Chat is an early solution for AI language models, but we will see it expand more broadly to content and marketing applications. SEO today is still largely based on human keyword analysis aided by intelligence tools, then human-drafted content targeting those keywords. AI will advance enough to automate this process. By the end of 2023, new AI-language model applications will emerge beyond chat, changing our approach to online content.”

CloudFix’s Subramaniam also sees a turning point for this area, and again, points to large language models driving the improvements across various types of data businesses collect.

“Up until now, products limited themselves to domain-specific knowledge and languages, and answering questions meant building specific dashboards for specific users and queries,” Subramaniam says. “I foresee chatbots using these new models to answer questions that require data from finance systems, CRMs, support platforms, and a variety of other internal solutions, negating the need for hand-built semantic models or needing to explicitly state where the data should be fetched from or how it should be joined with other data — delivering answers more efficiently to both customers and employees.”

Blockchain to build up business use cases

Blockchain financial products are another area that could be disruptive in the near future, says Evgeny Fil, CTO at EOS Data Analytics.

“There are many challenges in the traditional finance system that make it clunky for end users,” Fil says. “Things like centralization, with a single point of failure, lengthy know-your-customer and anti-money laundering procedures, high fees, and friction are big defects of the legacy financial system. Blockchain technology can allow for decentralized financial services — like liquidity providing — with all KYC/AML done almost instantly on blockchain and with lower fees.”

And, according to the State of the CIO survey, IT leaders expect the market to remain tight for blockchain expertise, as with other highly in-demand technologies, such as cybersecurity and data science and analytics.

“The global blockchain in telecom market will reach $16.48 billion by 2030, growing by 62.8% annually over 2020-2030,” according to a report from Pragma Market Research. “The market is driven by rising security concerns, high demand for fraud management, 5G implementation, and the increasing number of blockchain consortia.”

Digital tech to drive healthcare transformation

As a lasting result of the COVID pandemic, healthcare technology is ripe for disruption, says 1Path Chief Customer Officer Luca Jaboellis, especially in remote or otherwise underserved areas. The digital transformation of health services is creating opportunities for better, faster, and more personalized care.

“Telemedicine and remote healthcare services have led to a revolution in the way patients are accessing healthcare,” Jaboellis says. “With the use of teleconferencing and remote monitoring, doctors and clinics can provide timely and efficient care. Hospitals are becoming increasingly dependent on emerging technologies, too. From electronic medical records systems to handheld tablets for every staff member, the key is to stay ahead of the curve and be a leader in this new era.”

According to the World Economic Forum, the pandemic caused investments in the healthcare industry to nearly double to $57 billion in 2021, led by telehealth and mental health. “Tech companies are increasingly focusing on healthcare, while digital health startups are also growing rapidly,” the agency reports. “There is also growing attention being paid to data — better aggregation and analysis is enabling more informed insights and potentially also prediction and disease modelling. Meanwhile, AI is being used to support areas including diagnosis, clinical decisions, monitoring and treatment, and workflow. AI-assisted medical imaging is already in use, and many drug companies are exploring AI-assisted drug development.”

Sustainable tech to become an enterprise priority

Sustainability is top of mind for IT leaders, as well as their colleagues and customers in 2023. It’s an area where leading organizations are innovating new ways to do well by doing good. “Investments in sustainable technology also have the potential to create greater operational resiliency and financial performance, while providing new avenues for growth,” according to a Gartner report on strategic technology trends for 2023.

“The biggest disruptor in industry this year probably isn’t technology at all,” says Peter Zornio, CTO at Emerson. “Many of our customers are finding the business case for sustainability is critical to having an actionable path, similar to their experience with digital transformation a few years ago. At the intersection of the ways things have always been done to the tech-powered vision of tomorrow, this new architecture will create boundless automation that democratizes data so companies can optimize their business and sustainability performance.”

Keith Fritz, director of solutions architecture at QuesTek, specifically sees improvements in storing renewable energy as a potential disruptor in the making for this year.

“There are a number of players on the verge of disruptive battery technology,” Fritz says. “It’s not quite here yet, but 2023 could be the year we see a tremendous leap forward in battery size and capacity that could have implications for all sorts of industries.”

IoT to mature and converge

The past few years have brought a surge of IoT applications, says Preethi Janardhanan, lead product manager at Rapid Finance. And IoT is an area that’s making gains as it matures and converges with other technologies.

“We are seeing the influence of IoT across industries,” Janardhanan says. “Retailers are increasingly using IoT to streamline the shopping experience and make it more efficient and automated. IoT enables supply chain managers to get a good end-to-end picture of the process and timelines. And as security and fraud prevention become more and more critical, IoT devices allow banks and fintechs to identify the customer with more accuracy and confidence.”

The current economic slowdown caused research firm IoT Analytics to reduce its projections for growth in the market by 5%, yet still estimate enterprise spending will grow by 19% in 2023. The firm also noted IoT projects tend to be resilient amid tech layoffs: “Many IoT projects could get a boost by the influx of highly skilled software engineers that are victims of startup and tech layoffs. The long-term growth potential of the IoT enterprise market is resilient and expected to reach $484 billion in 2027.”

Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Digital Transformation, Emerging Technology, Healthcare Industry, Internet of Things, IT Strategy, Manufacturing Industry, Video, Virtual Reality

Top considerations for data modernization initiatives

Posted on 19/04/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with considerations, data, general, initiatives, modernization, top, topics

Most organizations are already well under way with their digital transformation journeys, particularly data modernization. For most companies, the drive for data modernization is attributed to the massive growth of data and a business goal to harness as much data as possible to unlock its potential in transformative ways. Adopting cloud-based solutions is, perhaps, one of the most popular means of modernizing. Moving data into a cloud-based environment enables faster data sharing, improves workflows, and can ease workloads on mainframe systems and data centers.

But moving critical infrastructure out of the data center is a process that is easier said than done. Anytime data moves from one environment to another, risks and security threats become a real possibility. For businesses that operate in highly regulated industries or handle large amounts of sensitive customer data, considerations around the potential for regulatory violations or data breaches make getting the modernization process done securely critical.

When executed poorly, data modernization can leave organizations with a jumbled mess of data, adding to workloads, sapping productivity and workflows, and harming employee and customer satisfaction. Businesses need both the right tools and partners to make cloud migration easier and move data quickly without sacrificing security. Here are four important questions IT leaders should ask themselves when it comes to data modernization.

How accessible is your data to employees?

An important part of any data modernization initiative is eliminating data siloes to improve decision making and customer experience. But the business of digital transformation often has the opposite effect, at least in the short term. As new technologies are implemented and data migrates, new pockets of siloed data can emerge, necessitating the use of multiple applications and systems to keep everything in line.

Employees need secure, remote access to the data that drives the business while this migration is happening—and after. With many modernization efforts taking a hybrid approach, businesses need to ensure they are leveraging tools that eliminate siloes and connect applications across environments. Using technologies that support a hybrid environment makes it easier to modernize with less disruption, improving workloads, keeping data accessible and ultimately driving greater revenue.

Is content management getting in the way of productivity?

Enterprises store a vast amount of data. When it comes to effective data governance, relying on manual processes can hinder productivity while also leaving businesses exposed to regulatory violations, human errors, and missed revenue opportunities. The amount of data moving across an enterprise is only going to increase as more innovation and disruption emerge. Ensuring content management systems are up to the task can be the difference between success or costly mistakes.

Incorporating intelligent automation into content management should be a top priority in every data modernization journey. Adding automation gives data professionals an extra level of support, reducing workloads, streamlining workflows, and jumpstarting productivity. Easing the strain on data management teams can help improve data quality and keep businesses one step ahead of the market.

What are your compliance needs?

Many enterprises are sitting on a trove of highly sensitive data and customer information that needs to be protected. But with more data moving to cloud environments and employees opting for hybrid settings, the risk of data sprawl and unstructured data has increased substantially. Without an effective data governance strategy, businesses are effectively flying blind, with limited insight into where their data lives at any given time.

The less visibility and awareness IT has over data, the greater the chance that it will be exposed. Particularly for businesses that operate in highly regulated industries, modernization initiatives must include a robust data governance strategy, capable of keeping pace with regulatory changes, while ensuring sensitive data is properly stored and cared for.

How agile are your operations?

Businesses today are faced with frequent disruption, shifts in consumer demand, and evolving regulatory guidelines. With highly integrative, agile content management software, they can take on modernization while keeping pace with the realities of a changing business landscape. Leveraging solutions like Rocket Software’s Mobius 12, businesses can opt for a hybrid approach to modernization. With Rocket’s solution, IT teams can streamline processes and move data to the cloud on their own terms, migrating at a pace that works for them.

Rocket solutions are uniquely equipped to support your business’ data modernization journey. Learn more about how Rocket Software and Mobius 12 can boost any hybrid cloud migration.

Data and Information Security

CEO directives: Top 5 initiatives for IT leaders

Posted on 20/03/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with ceo, directives:, general, initiatives, leaders,, top, topics

CIO Talvis Love has weathered a tsunami of rapid and significant changes at Baxter International over the past year — with little reprieve in sight.

In late 2021, the med tech company completed the $12.4 billion acquisition of Hillrom, the largest in its history, to expand the company’s digital health and connected care offerings. While Love and his 3,500-person IT team were working on that integration, the company announced in January 2023 plans to spin off its acute care and renal units, which is about a third of the business. One month later, Baxter began changing its operating model and restructuring the remaining company.

“Those are huge, significant changes that require us to pivot and adjust our approach, and tech is the linchpin to all of them,” says Love, senior vice president and CIO of Baxter. So he’s fast-forwarding his plan to embed IT within business teams to make these critical transitions. “The only way we can meet our goals is having the IT and business teams working close together as part of one team.”

Talvis Love, CIO, Baxter International

Baxter International

The need to strengthen business and IT collaboration tops the list of priorities that CEOs have for their CIOs this year, according to Foundry’s 2023 State of the CIO survey. As organizations face macroeconomic uncertainty and rapid changes to market conditions, collaboration between IT and business units are crucial to making those transitions quickly and smoothly.

Security, customer experience, and business and digital transformations also made CEOs’ top priorities lists for their CIOs this year. IT leaders describe how those priorities are playing out in their IT organizations today.

Foundry / CIO.com

Upgrading IT and data security

CIOs always have cyber and information security somewhere on their priority lists, but global turbulence with China and Russia have many CEOs taking notice too. More than a quarter of CEOs want CIOs to upgrade IT and data security to reduce corporate risk in the next 12 months, according to the survey.

Cybersecurity became a bigger issue this year for Josh Hamit, senior VP and CIO at Altra Federal Credit Union, due in part to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which touched off warnings about possible Russia-backed hackers stepping up cyberattacks on US targets. As a result, Hamit has brought extra attention to partnering with Altra’s CISO to perfect security fundamentals, cyber hygiene and best practices, and layered defenses.

More likely cyber scenarios have IT leaders increasingly concerned as well. For instance, three out of four global businesses expect an email-borne attack will have serious consequences for their organization in the coming year, according to CSO Online’s State of Email Security report. Hybrid work has led to more email (82% of companies report a higher volume of email in 2022) and that has incentivized threat actors to steal data through a proliferation of social engineering attacks, shifting their focus from targeting the enterprise network itself to capitalizing on the vulnerable behaviors of individual employees. This will require hardening email and collaboration tool defenses and response capabilities, but also securing the data they’re seeking.

Improving the customer experience

Customer and employee experience have become central tenets for successful digital transformation, and about a quarter of CEOs are continuing to invest in technologies and processes that improve the customer journey, according to the State of the CIO survey.

JP Saini’s top initiative at Sunbelt Rentals is “the obsession with our customers,” he says. For Saini, CIO and chief digital and technology officer, this means humanizing the business and technology aspects of each worker’s job and serving each persona — whether that’s the office workers, salespeople, equipment rental specialists in the stores, technicians, or even drivers, he says. Then he dissects each persona-based journey to understand what they go through in doing their daily jobs. That way “you’re designing a [technology or digital process] based on what they need,” to create greater efficiencies, he says.

JP Saini, chief digital and technology officer, Sunbelt Rentals

Sunbelt Rentals

Leading business and digital transformations

Nearly a quarter of CEOs place business and digital transformations as a top-three priority for their CIOs.

CIO Max Chan’s digital mandate at electronic components distributor Avnet is driving improvement in the supply chain and design chain. As a distributor that sits between its supplier partners and downstream customers, “we have all the demand and supply signals that we can help navigate, and then we can apply that to solve these supply chain challenges that everyone is having,” he says.

Max Chan, CIO, Avnet

Avnet

To that end, Chan’s team is working on machine-to-machine frictionless transactions between suppliers and customers, and creating a single pane of glass for suppliers to solve issues more easily. In the design chain, “we’re creating design capabilities where stakeholders can get together and come up with new designs faster to ultimately help enable customers to go more quickly to market,” he says.

New digital transformation projects will help foster more autonomy for employees at the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County. CIO Charisse Richards wants to empower the business to handle some technical tasks on their own without IT intervention. So she’s prioritized a ServiceNow implementation to automate tasks and give employees more control.

Charisse Richards, CIO, Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County

Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County

“We have a lot of people that call and email the service desk,” Richards says. “I want to see a reduction in the time that the helpdesk spends in those rote tasks — entering tickets and answering calls — and spend more time with our high-touch customers,” namely judges, she says. “We’re not getting more money for additional staff, so we need to be more efficient.”

Helping reach revenue growth goals

The CIO’s role continues to evolve from focusing only on uptime and availability, to cost-cutting and efficiency gains, to now holding a key position in the C-suite where technology influences every part of the organization. One in five CEOs now place corporate revenue growth as a top priority for their CIOs, according to the survey.

CIO Ajay Sabhlok believes his mandate is “to figure out how to generate revenue” for security technology vendor Rubrik. One example is the company’s lead-to-cash process. Data showed the company wasn’t closing expected orders, which was showing up as lost revenue in quarterly reports, Sabhlok says. So he and his team identified the need for a more advanced opportunity management process that has an engine for more accurate scoring of business leads, automates manual tasks that were holding up orders, and delivers data-driven insights through user-friendly dashboards. The result: more leads converted to sales, which boosted quarterly revenue figures.

Savvy CIOs should already be steps ahead of CEOs on these priorities and shouldn’t wait to be asked, says Baxter’s Love. “Create a deep understanding of what’s driving the business. Understand how your company makes money and how that’s changing over time, and what are the biz leaders’ goals and priorities,” Love says. “Don’t wait to ask to be at the table. Sometimes IT leaders wait to get asked to the party. I say invite yourself.”

IT Leadership

Top 5 Security Trends for CIOs

Posted on 15/03/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with cios, general, security, top, topics, trends

The post-pandemic reality. Macroeconomic turbulence. Explosive technology innovations. Generational shifts in technological expectations. All these forces and more drive rapid, often confusing change in organizations large and small.

With every such change comes opportunity–for bad actors looking to game the system. Cybersecurity cannot stand still, or the waves of innovation will overrun the shores.

Adversaries continue to innovate. Keeping up–and hopefully, staying ahead–presents new challenges. Here is a short list of recent considerations for CIOs as they work with their teams to shore up their defenses.

Multifactor authentication fatigue and biometrics shortcomings

Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a popular technique for strengthening the security around logins. With MFA, the website or application will send a text message or push notification to the user with a code to enter along with their password.

MFA fatigue or ‘push phishing’ is a popular hack that targets MFA by repeatedly sending the user superfluous, malicious MFA notifications in hopes they inadvertently accept one or simply click to stop the annoying flood of messages.

In other cases, MFA includes a biometric step–reading a fingerprint, scanning a face, and the like. Users appreciate the convenience of biometrics, but they have their flaws as well.

Sometimes they simply don’t work, perhaps due to a change in contact lenses or a new tattoo. Any spy thriller aficionado will also know it’s possible to ‘steal’ someone’s fingerprint or facial image–and once an individual’s biometric is compromised, there’s no way to change it the way we change passwords.

Security implications of ChatGPT and its ilk

ChatGPT and other generative AI technologies have taken the world by storm, but the combination of their sudden popularity and a general lack of understanding of how they work is a recipe for disaster.

In reality, generative AI presents a number of new and transformed risks to the organization. For example, ChatGPT is eerily proficient at writing phishing emails–well-targeted at particular individuals and free from typos.

A second, more pernicious risk is the fact that ChatGPT can write malware. Sometimes the malware has errors, but with simple repetition the hacker can generate multiple working versions of the code. Such polymorphic malware is particularly hard to detect, because it may be different from one attack to another.

Securing the software supply chain

The Log4j vulnerability that reared its ugly head in late 2021 showed a bright light on the problem of software supply chain security.

Most commercial enterprise software products and nearly all open-source ones depend upon numerous software packages and libraries. Many of these libraries are themselves open-source and depend upon other libraries in a complex network of opaque interdependencies.

Some of these components have professional teams that test and maintain them, releasing security patches as needed. Other open-source components are the result of some lone developer’s moonlighting activities from years past.

For each open-source component in your entire IT infrastructure, which are the well-maintained ones, and which are the forgotten work of hobbyists? And how do you tell?

Getting ahead of the ransomware gangs

Ransomware is big business for the criminal gangs who have figured out how to capitalize on it. The malware itself is easy to buy on the Dark Web. In fact, there’s a veritable bazaar of ransomware variations, as hackers maneuver to create the most pernicious version.

From the enterprise side, the ransomware problem is multifaceted and dynamic. The malware itself continues to evolve, as do the criminal strategies of the perpetrators.

The most familiar strategy–encrypting files on servers and then demanding a ransom for the decryption key–is but one approach among many. Other attackers steal data and threaten to release it to the public. Another angle is to target the victim’s backups.

No list of strategies and techniques does the ransomware problem justice, as the bad guys continue to innovate. CIOs and CISOs must remain eternally vigilant.

Managing costs while supporting digital transformation

The Covid pandemic accelerated many digital transformation initiatives as executives struggled to meet the suddenly changing needs of both customers and employees.

Today, economic challenges generate digital transformation headwinds as the needs of customers and employees change once again to address post-pandemic realities.

Cybersecurity budgets are typically caught between these two forces. Given the importance of meeting customer needs on limited resources, how important is cybersecurity?

It’s vitally important, of course – but it’s only one of the many risks CIOs must mitigate. Other risks include operational risk (the risk of downtime), technical debt risk (the risk of failures of legacy technologies), as well as compliance risk.

There’s never enough money to drive all these risks to zero–so how should executives decide which risks to mitigate and how much money and time to spend mitigating them?

Organizations must be able to engineer comprehensive risk management that quantifies each type of risk and establishes risk targets that conform to budgetary and human resource limitations.

This ‘threat engineering’ gives CIOs a justifiable approach to making cybersecurity expenditure decisions while also mitigating the other risks facing the IT organization.

Advice moving forward

This article highlights modern security trends for CIOs that weren’t on anybody’s radar as little as five years ago. Five years from now, the list might once again be entirely different.

Such is the nature of cybersecurity risk management. The risks continue to evolve as adversaries improve their strategies. CIOs must remain vigilant while they leverage state-of-the-art cybersecurity tools and strategies to keep one step ahead of the bad guys.

Read the eBook: Views from the C-suite: Why endpoint management is more critical than ever before

© Intellyx LLC. Tanium is an Intellyx customer. Intellyx retains final editorial control of this article. No AI was used in the production of this article.

Security

8 ways to retain top developer talent

Posted on 10/03/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with developer, general, retain, talent,, top, topics, ways

Human-centric work is a growing movement that focuses on the needs of people, reaping business rewards in the process. As recent Gartner research shows, human-centric work practices leads to better employee performance, with workers 3.8 times more likely to be considered high performing in these environments.

As some of your most valuable employees, software developers should be considered specifically in how to best apply these insights. In the software world, “developer experience” is a key aspect to work satisfaction — one that is not well understood by non-developers.

By bringing together the insights of human-centric work and developer experience, IT leaders can create a work culture that builds and retains top performing developers. Here are seven ways to cultivate a developer-centric environment that will pay dividends.

1. Understand what developer experience is

The leader who understands what developer experience is and gets why it’s important to coders is ahead of the game.

At the most basic level, developer experience (DX) is about how it feels to use a tool or system when building software. It stretches from the very specific, like the difference in how languages handle functional programming, to the general, like the difference in how it “feels” to use different cloud platforms. DX doesn’t stop there, encompassing the culture and attitude of what it means to live the developer lifestyle. In this most broad sense, DX is a major feature of how developers, especially experienced ones, feel when working in an organization.

At the heart of the human-centric philosophy is the idea of autonomous accountability, which means giving people goals and holding them accountable for performance while giving them as much control over how they accomplish things as possible. The idea is that people know what is working and what isn’t, and they are best able to course correct in fast, iterable fashion. And it very much aligns with a valued developer experience.

2. Understand why DX matters

Developers have a self-referential relationship with developer experience: They often build the tools they use, appreciating the way things work and the creative engineering that goes into building the things they use.

Artistry and appreciation drive the software community forward. Ever since the early days of shared mainframes developers have joined together to create and collaborate on projects that stimulate their minds. The interest and uptake of developers in tech projects has become a key element in determining what projects are funded and find their way into common usage. DX is what distinguishes these projects among developers, and it acts as a kind of indicator of evolutionary suitability.

Dan Moore, head of developer relations at FusionAuth, draws a useful distinction about DX, saying, “Developer experience can be split into internal and external developer experience. The former is about enabling internal teams to build in a more coherent, secure, faster way by providing building blocks and guardrails along with self-service tooling. The latter is for increasing sales and building a sticky platform for developers outside your organization.”

To ensure those results, IT leaders must continuously ask what it is like to be a developer at their organization and find ways to make that experience better.

3. From DevOps to ‘DevEx’ — and back again

The expansion of DevOps has empowered developers to be involved in the full product lifecycle and influence that lifecycle in a holistic fashion. If you haven’t already embraced DevOps, that is a good first move in the direction of developer-centric practices.

DX takes DevOps to the next level. As Guillermo Rauch, CEO and founder of Vercel told me, “Organizations will move from DevOps to dev experience. Great developer experience leads to better developer productivity and improved developer velocity, directly improving your bottom line. Every organization should be thinking, ‘How do I empower my developers to spend more time on the application and product layer while spending minimal time on the backend and infrastructure layer?’”

Looked at this way, focusing on DX is a way to better enable developers to control how they work: Instead of figuring out what DevOps processes are best and then imposing them on teams, empower the team to devise processes and technology that best suits them. After all, empowered teams involved in processes firsthand can better design and build tools for their tasks in response to changing conditions.

Put another way, good DevOps is a natural outcome of good DX, and vice versa.

4. Have someone own DX

Including developers and IT staff in discussions around what tools to use — and giving them purchasing influence — provides an invaluable feedback loop about what is and isn’t working. It also ensures developers feel they are being heard, making them more likely to be invested in the project.

The key to nurturing benevolent cycles between the business and tech staff is finding and empowering the force magnifiers in the organization, those individuals who can help speak for the developer experience and provide a bridge to the business side. A great way to help here is to explicitly put someone, or several someones, in charge of DX. This might be part of someone’s responsibility or the sole focus of a group, depending on the scope of your organization.

Establishing an explicit focus on managing the health of DX and providing a way for those involved with DX to interface with the business will greatly contribute to the overall success of your DX efforts.

5. Don’t push developers to fail their second audience

Developers create software for two audiences: users and developers — that is, those developers who will work on the product. For users, product excellence is critical. But for developers, excellence inside the product is extremely important as well, and that has big implications for the business using the software. In this sense, DX is an indication of code quality, which says everything about the viability of software.

Here, the importance to the business is two-fold. First, systems with good DX are easier to maintain and extend, with software quality a key differentiator between code that can grow and evolve and code that is doomed to degrade and decay. Second, when DX is high, developers — especially senior ones — are more likely to be satisfied with working on the project. Because of this, the importance of code quality shows why project velocity is not a metric to be seen in isolation as it often is.

As the human experience of working on projects, DX is the most indicative characteristic of a project’s health. How it feels to work in the internals of a project is affected by everything from tooling to meeting tempo, and whether that feels pleasant or unpleasant says everything about how well things are going, how they will proceed, and whether people will want to continue working on it.

6. Provide opportunities to learn, teach, share

Learning, teaching, and sharing are major incentives for developers. And the more accomplished, passionate, and caring the developer, the more they typically matter. The ability to craft DX and help others see its value is essential. By inculcating a culture where everyone is participating in a larger journey that includes sharing, everyone finds a deeper well of inspiration.

Incorporating contribution to open-source projects is a great way to accomplish this. Many software-oriented businesses include an open-source component for good reason. It allows developers to express their creations, pulls in contributions from the wider world, and draws friendly attention to what’s being done in the organization.

Every developer’s experience is lifted up when their work feels a part of something greater.

7. Mitigate DX-killing red tape

The business longs for metrics and insights into what’s happening in the dark interior of software creation. But too much intrusion into developer workflow is a real DX killer. Instead, minimize unnecessary meetings and reporting, and keep an eye on what works most efficiently. Even just the sense that leadership is incorporating this factor into their strategizing will help.

The best software developers thrive in an environment where they can focus on what they do best — building software — and spend most of their time on activities that feel valuable. They have honed and invested in what they are good at, and they want to spend as much time as possible on those tasks.

Reducing friction between teams and areas of ownership is also important. IT leaders are in the position to help break down silos of ownership and exclusivity.

8. Automate (and de-stress) delivery

Recent research shows that 7 in 10 developers quit projects because of stress over delivery. A million and one things go into the detailed activity of building software and when it is all bundled up into a single discrete thing that is to be delivered without problems, it’s very stressful. There is a sense of never really doing enough, despite your best efforts.

The best way to address that is to build reliable automated systems. Continuous integration and delivery, automated testing and the like are becoming standard, must-have parts of dev processes these days, but they are only part of the story. A culture of support is just as necessary. How developers feel treated in their times of difficulty and uncertainty has a huge impact on DX. If successful organizations maintain a two-way street between business and IT, DX is the condition of the road.

Hiring, Software Development, Staff Management

Top 24 RPA tools available today

Posted on 03/02/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with available, general, rpa, today, tools, top, topics

Even the modern workplace can be boring and repetitive. Enter robotic process automation (RPA): a smart set of tools that deploys AI and low-code options to simplify workflows and save everyone time while also adding safeguards that can prevent costly mistakes.

What is RPA?

Robotic process automation (RPA) is an application of technology, governed by business logic and structured inputs, aimed at automating business processes. Using RPA tools, a company can configure software, or a “robot,” to capture and interpret applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses, and communicating with other digital systems.

In some organizations, RPA is a way to modernize old software without replacing it. Most organizations have business applications that work perfectly well but require users to click on the same boxes in the same patterns all day long. RPA tools aim to replace that tedium, adding a new layer to automate repetitive tasks without having to reinvent the application at the core.

RPA benefits

RPA is also a relatively simple way to integrate AI algorithms into old applications. Many RPA platforms offer computer vision and machine learning tools that can guide the older code. Optical character recognition, for example, might extract a purchase order from an uploaded document image and trigger accounting software to deal with it. The ability to suck words and numbers from images are a big help for document-heavy businesses such as insurance or banking.

The biggest benefit, however, may be how RPA tools are “programmed,” or “trained” — a process by which the platforms’ robots “learn” watching business users click away. This job, sometimes called “process discovery,” can use a click stream to imitate what your users just did — similar to how spreadsheet macros can be created.

Still, RPA isn’t automatic. Manual intervention and tweaking is necessary during training. Sometimes code must be written to handle what can’t be achieved by a preconfigured bot. But you won’t have to do much of this. Moreover, the bots keep getting smarter, making training easier and edge cases less frequent. AI routines can also help look for patterns that may speed up the bots in the future.

Top RPA tools

RPA tools have grown to be parts of larger ecosystems that map out and manage the enterprise computing architecture. These systems can manage the various APIs and services while also helping the data flow with extra bots.

RPA tools are also starting to take on roles managing the cloud. While the first iterations were aimed at desktop users, functions that help with backend control are more common. The boundaries between RPA for the desktop and maintaining the databases and services is blurring more and more.

The RPA marketplace offers a mixture of new, purpose-built tools and older tools that have been given features for adding automation. Some began as business process management (BPM) tools and expanded with new features. Some vendors market their tools as “workflow automation” or “work process management.” Others distinguish RPA from “business process automation” by saying that RPA includes more sophisticated AI and machine vision routines.

Following is an alphabetical list of the top RPA tools available today. For more on how to determine which RPA tool is best for your organization, see “How to choose RPA software: 10 key factors to consider.”

RPA toolMajor featuresUse cases

Airslate
Document editing and signature tracking
Contract and agreement processing

Appian
Java-centric bots offer cross-platform range
Client management and compliance paperwork processing

Automation Anywhere
The Center of Excellence (CoE) manager tracks the performance of the various bots in a centralized dashboard; Bot Insight drills down to track the performance of each bot
Opening up bot development and deployment across the enterprise

AutomationEdge
Pay-as-you-go pricing simplifies adoption
Chatbot management; front-, middle-, and back-office document processing

AWS Lambda
Automating backend data flows in the Amazon cloud
Fixing problems and smoothing data movement between services

Cyclone Robotics
Built for the Chinese market with a wide range of plugins tackling major platforms and services with AI
A wide range of markets, including mobile

Datamatics
Integration with AI for OCR and language analysis; mainframe integration; desktop version
Chatbot and call center support; desktop automation

EdgeVerve Systems
Open-source edition; tighter integration with AI for contextual and visual processing
Supply chain management, financial transactions

Fortra Automate
Integration with Microsoft desktop applications
Claims processing, service industries

IBM Automation
Deep experience with enterprise workflow; integration with many mainframes
Data capture, scientific process management; business decision automation, front-line customer care

Kofax
Integration with enterprise content management tools; microapps platform to simplify deployment
Managing content collections; data pipeline integration

Laiye
AI-powered chatbots and a cloud-native robots
The Work Execution System offers general support for document-centric business tasks

Microsoft Power
Focus on Windows 10 or 11 platform on the desktop or on Azure
Broad, enterprise-wide empowerment; AI integration

MuleSoft RPA (formerly Servicetrace)
AI-based OCR and a good editor encourages development; recent merger will bolster integration with API-based workflows
Banking, utilities, and other industries with heavy compliance-driven work

NICE
Integration between desktop assistants and server-side backend
Call center automation; customer service tools; speeding workflow by creating robots that first learn by assisting humans before graduating to full autonomy in the back office

Nintex
Tight integration with dominant desktop tools
Compliance pipelines dominated by documents

NTT-AT WinActor
Heavy integration with Microsoft tools
Email processing and database integration; spreadsheet automation

Pega
Fully integrated with suite of enterprise tools for developing, deploying, and automating data processing
Regulatory compliance and integration

Rocketbot
Python-based bots
Document processing and data extraction

Samsung SDS Brity RPA
Aimed at improving industrial and enterprise business flow through automation
Time-saving and quality improvement for enterprise-driven tasks

SAP
Integration with the SAP stack
Automating the business processes tracked and driven by SAP

SS&C Blue Prism
Big investment in AI, including machine vision and sentiment analysis for classifying and responding to all messages
Building a full chain of document and message processing

UiPath
Open environment allows integration of VB.Net, C#, Python, and Java code when challenges grow
Integration with full legacy stack solutions; transaction processing

WorkFusion
Digital workers tuned to common roles for RPA and workforce automation.
Email and client interaction; task routing

Airslate

Document-centric tasks such as PDF editing or generating eSignatures for contracts are one of the focuses for Airslate. The bots for simplifying the workflow are programmed with the drag-and-drop Flow Creator. Preprogrammed resources include connections to major backends such as Salesforce as well as a collection of templates for common processes.

Major features: Document editing and signature trackingMajor use cases: Contract and agreement processing

Appian

Appian acquired Jidoka in 2020 and changed the product’s name to Appian RPA while integrating it with its Digital Process Automation suite. Jiodka is a Japanese term that might be translated as “automation with a human touch,” a reference to how its software robots are trained to emulate humans interacting with the standard systems — mainframe terminal, web, databases, and so on. Appian RPA’s low-code integrated development environment (IDE) encourages fast creation of custom bots, while the dashboard tracks all the operating robots and can create a video of the screen to help debug the bots deployed across Appian’s cloud. The information is ingested into what they call a “Data Fabric” filled with not just numbers and letters, but relationships between elements. Deeper integration across both desktop platforms and mobile brings their tool to the edges of any enterprise network.

Major features: Java-centric bots offer cross-platform rangeMajor use cases: Client management and compliance paperwork processing

Automation Anywhere

The Bot Store at Automation Anywhere offers a collection of tools for the Automation 360 platform that perform standard clicking and tracking as well as processes that glue together complex data files. There are bots for extracting information from spreadsheets, files, or web pages, and bots for storing this information in databases for issue tracking, invoice processing, and more. Many of the bots rely on APIs such as Microsoft Azure’s image analysis API. One of the goals is opening up access across the enterprise with easy-to-automate tools such as AARI, which can turn any web application into an automated worker. They also offer a “community edition” that is free for small businesses with a limited workflow and a cloud-based service, saving you the trouble of installing and maintaining the RPA itself.

Major features: The Center of Excellence (CoE) manager tracks the performance of the various bots in a centralized dashboard; Bot Insight drills down to track the performance of each botMajor use cases: Opening up bot development and deployment across the enterprise

AutomationEdge

The bots at AutomationEdge offer “hyperautomation” through a mixture of API interaction and AI. The focus is interacting with web pages, databases, and Excel spreadsheets. Its “Conversational RPA” brings a natural language interface to many interactions. Many bots in the bot store are preconfigured for specific industries or sections of a business, such as human resources or customer relations. AutomationEdge also offers a free version that’s limited in time, steps, and reach. Some AI-driven options such as the Conversational RPA and Intelligent Document Processing aren’t included. A cloud-based service is also available for those who don’t want to install it.

Major features: Pay-as-you-go pricing simplifies adoptionMajor use cases: Chatbot management; front-, middle-, and back-office document processing

AWS Lambda

The Amazon cloud is filled with options for data processing. Lambda functions act like logical glue for connecting services and automating work flowing through their networks. The functions can be as small or as large as needed and they can be triggered when new data arrives. Lambda functions are aimed more at automating work on the backend, and they are most efficient when working with AWS services but can be connected to any service with extra work.

Major features: Automating backend data flows in the Amazon cloudMajor use cases: Fixing problems and smoothing data movement between services

Cyclone Robotics

The Cyclone toolset is growing into a broad selection of tools that support low code and not-so-low code development. Its RPA Studio brings together basic automation tools for building data pipelines with advanced AI tools for OCR and computer vision. It also offers a low-code option for integrating multiple tools into a cohesive, automated workflow. Small and midsize businesses can also run the tools in Cyclone’s cloud using the EasyPie service.

Major features: Built for the Chinese market with a wide range of plugins tackling major platforms and services with AIMajor use cases: A wide range of markets, including mobile

Datamatics

TruBots, the name Datamatics gives its individual programs, are created with TruBot Designer, a tool that enables you to create and edit the software. Much of the work is accomplished by dragging and dropping components in a visual designer, but developers can also adjust the system-generated code in an IDE. The bots can be coordinated with TruBot Cockpit, and the system emphasizes text processing with special tools for scanning images and making sense of unstructured text. The tool runs in the cloud but some features can be installed on your own machine with a personal edition for handling more personal tasks, something Datamatics calls the “democratization of RPA.” Teams with document-heavy workloads can use TruCap, a tool for template-free data ingestion.

Major features: Integration with AI for OCR and language analysis; mainframe integration; desktop versionMajor use cases: Chatbot and call center support; desktop automation

EdgeVerve Systems

The AssistEdge system helps build out your data processing infrastructure by integrating with major data sources and tracking users to discover common work patterns with AssistEdge Discover. Call centers and customer help portals can use AssistEdge Engage to automate the repetitive tasks of orchestrating multiple legacy systems. When possible, EdgeVerve relies on AI to provide contextual help and process incoming forms and other data. The document processing system, XtractEdge, for instance, offers OCR to speed form processing. The company also has systems optimized for industries such as supply chain management (TradeEdge) or banking. It offers migration from desktop to a cloud solution, and an open-source edition.

Major features: Open-source edition; tighter integration with AI for contextual and visual processingMajor use cases: Supply chain management, financial transactions

Fortra Automate

The RPA tools from Fortra (formerly HelpSystems) tackle business tasks ranging from responding to inquiries to generating reports. The core Desktop Automation tool scrapes data sources and interacts with web apps and local software by simulating events in the Windows GUI. There’s an emphasis on Microsoft Office tools to produce reports, both textual and graphical, consumed while managing a business. Larger jobs that span multiple desktops can use Automate Plus and Automate Ultimate for added scale. Document scanning is performed with Automate Intelligent Capture. All integrate security and audit capabilities to help managers after development.

Major features: Integration with Microsoft desktop applicationsMajor use cases: Claims processing, service industries

IBM Automation

IBM offers a wide range of options for automating menial tasks, split into separate products, and bundled under the umbrella of IBM Automation. IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation, for example, provides a low-code studio for testing and developing automation strategies. AI tools provide optical character recognition for documents. The Watson Assistant provides customer care with integrated bots. Teams can iterate over the workflows and explore hypothetical strategies with the Processing Mining tools. All the software can be deployed locally or in IBM’s cloud.

Major features: Deep experience with enterprise workflow; integration with many mainframesMajor use cases: Data capture, scientific process management; business decision automation, front-line customer care

Kofax

ImageTech Systems makes Kofax, a set of bots for document processing and workflow automation. Its Design Studio offers an IDE for turning code written in Java, Python, or another programming language into instructions for their bots. Some users will want to use its Automated Process Discovery code for tracking existing workflows and producing bots. Code can also be spun off into smaller tools called Kapow Kapplets that handle focused chores locally. All the behavior is tracked with standard analytics and reported through a dashboard so you can watch for robotic glitches.

Major features: Integration with enterprise content management tools; microapps platform to simplify deploymentMajor use cases: Managing content collections; data pipeline integration

Laiye

Laiye is another platform emerging from the Chinese marketplace to target retail groups and others with extensive customer requirements. The Automation Creator is a drag-and-drop IDE for turning workflow into Robots that can be deployed and tracked with tools like the Creativity Center.

Major features: AI-powered chatbots and a cloud-native robotsMajor use cases: The Work Execution System offers general support for document-centric business tasks

Microsoft Power

The Power Automate tool from Microsoft is part of the company’s Power platform for creating apps, virtual agents, and BI reports. The Desktop tool focuses on automating common Windows 10 (and higher) operations while the Cloud tool handles server-side tasks. The user-friendly interface enables everyone to track their workflow and convert it into an automated, editable routine. Power Advisor tracks statistics about performance to locate bottlenecks and other issues. Microsoft is integrating some of its AI into Power. Users can build new Automation scripts with natural language by describing what should happen. (It’s said to be in preview.) AI Builder can also create and deploy models that make predictions and even decisions, taking more work off of users’ shoulders.

Major features: Focus on Windows 10 or 11 platform on the desktop or on AzureMajor use cases: Broad, enterprise-wide empowerment; AI integration

MuleSoft RPA (formerly Servicetrace)

The Mulesoft RPA tool from Salesforce, once known as Servicetrace, is now part of a larger platform for workplace automation and enterprise architecture. The RPA tools use AI and machine learning to help decode documents and automatically collect data. Automation can be scripted with the drag-and-drop RPA Builder, which brings wizard-driven solutions, or collected automatically with RPA Recorder, which watches users to capture repetitive tasks. When the results are deployed with the bot Manager, the system’s vertical scaling enhances parallel operations enabling multiple bots to run simultaneously.

Major features: AI-based OCR and a good editor encourages development; recent merger will bolster integration with API-based workflowsMajor use cases: Banking, utilities, and other industries with heavy compliance-driven work

NICE

The NICE robots are designed to run as supervised assistants for humans or, if they’re competent enough, as unsupervised back-office tools. The goal is “Journey Orchestration” so customers or staff are helped along at each step of the digital pipeline. One assistant, NEVA, is billed as a friendly assistant and “workforce multiplier” for customer service issues. The Scene Composer for the Real-Time Designer can track how clicks and keystrokes interact with web pages. Data from other sources can be gathered through Connectors to standard back-office sources such as SAP, Siebel, and .Net servers. Its CXexchange offers hundreds of extensions and agents that speed integration. CXone, its open cloud platform, helps support this growth around the globe.

Major features: Integration between desktop assistants and server-side backendMajor use cases: Call center automation; customer service tools; speeding workflow by creating robots that first learn by assisting humans before graduating to full autonomy in the back office

Nintex

The RPA tools from Kryon are now part of the Nintex data automation constellation, creating a complete platform for managing processes and business workflows. Process Discovery helps find the work that needs to be automated and turned into bots that can be deployed and tracked. For document-heavy processes that may require signatures, Nintex’s collection of RPA bots focuses on integration with Office365, Salesforce, and Adobe tools to automate the process of creating documents and signing them in a digitized legal pipeline. The results can run either in the cloud or on premises.

Major features: Tight integration with dominant desktop toolsMajor use cases: Compliance pipelines dominated by documents

NTT-AT WinActor

NTT-AT’s WinActor was built to save Windows users’ time by automating the most common steps. It integrates with major Microsoft tools to build sophisticated workflows by recording user actions. These are turned into scenarios, and users can trigger these scenarios when a new event occurs such as the arrival of an email. A new request for information, for instance, can be turned into a qualified lead for the sales database with a few clicks. A wide variety of supplemental libraries can extend the tool to handle specific tasks such as creating PDF versions.

Major features: Heavy integration with Microsoft toolsMajor use cases: Email processing and database integration; spreadsheet automation

Pega

Pega from Pegasystems offers a wide variety of tools that speed up integration and processing for enterprises, including AI classifiers, chatbots, DevOps support tools, and pure RPA. Creating the right automation can begin with Pega’s AI-driven workforce intelligence tool, a bot that installs on desktops to track how people work. This survey will reveal bottlenecks where poor back-end processing can be automated now and in the future. Pega wants to deliver “self-healing” and “self-learning” applications that can use AI and other statistics to recognize new opportunities for better automation. Pega supports common use cases such as reconciling financial transactions and onboarding new customers. The company also offers low-code options for BPM.

Major features: Fully integrated with suite of enterprise tools for developing, deploying, and automating data processingMajor use cases: Regulatory compliance and integration

Rocketbot

Juggling documents with Python-based bots on Linux, Mac, or Windows desktops is the main focus of Rocketbot. Text can be extracted using Rocketbot Telescope and then fed into backed data using bots trained by Rocketbot Studio’s drag-and-drop editor. Rocketbot Orquestador will manage them, running them as needed while compiling statistics.

Major features: Python-based botsMajor use cases: Document processing and data extraction

Samsung SDS Brity RPA

Samsung SDS’s Brity RPA is split into three parts. Designer offers drag-and-drop flowcharting for both desktop and enterprise back-end legacy services through a variety of connectors. Bot schedules and runs the various jobs at pre-set times or in response to events, rebooting virtual machines and simulating all events that might be generated by a real human. Bigger, more independent jobs can be split off to run in the Bot processor. Samsung is also integrating a wide variety of AI routines (ML, NLP, visual, and analytic ) and is expanding to deliver collaboration software for teams.

Major features: Aimed at improving industrial and enterprise business flow through automationMajor use cases: Time-saving and quality improvement for enterprise-driven tasks

SAP

SAP now offers a Robotic Process Automation option to simplify many of the workflow operations with its software. SAP’s tool can watch current teams to imitate their actions. When it’s done, you can tweak the process in a drag-and-drop low-code IDE. The results are deployed into the SAP environment to live as either attended or unattended bots. Teams that want to leverage the work of others can turn to the SAP RPA store to download bots for common tasks such as unpacking Excel spreadsheets looking for orders to recognize and categorize.

Major features: Integration with the SAP stackMajor use cases: Automating the business processes tracked and driven by SAP

SS&C Blue Prism

SS&C B lue Prism, one of the earliest RPA companies that began in 2012, pushes “intelligent automation” that mixes more AI into the process to simplify scaling and adaptive processes. The emphasis is on using AI and machine learning to “create journeys” for your data as it’s handed off along a chain of bots that often make fully automated decisions through sophisticated machine learning algorithms. You string together a sequence of actions at the beginning, but then each action generates statistics that can be used to train and improve the choices made. The company also maintains a digital exchange where third-party plugins and add-ons can be purchased to extend the powers by creating connections with traditional databases such as MySQL, larger providers such as AWS, and social media outlets such as Twitter.

Major features: Big investment in AI, including machine vision and sentiment analysis for classifying and responding to all messagesMajor use cases: Building a full chain of document and message processing

UiPath

UiPath offers a full collection of tools for discovering workflows through Process Mining and Task Analysis and turning them an autonomous processes that can be edited and tweaked. These robots are controlled by Orchestrator, which triggers them in response to events while tracking behavior, generating reports, and controlling access where needed for compliance. UiPath is expanding into AI and is emphasizing machine vision tools that can extract information from images or screenshots. These are often focused on OCR to convert letters and numbers into machine-understandable forms.

Major features: Open environment allows integration of VB.Net, C#, Python, and Java code when challenges growMajor use cases: Integration with full legacy stack solutions; transaction processing

WorkFusion

The digital workers from WorkFusion come with individual human names and special focuses. Tara, for instance, is a “top OFAC / AML expert who is laser-focused on keeping your transactions risk-free.” Casey is a customer relations specialist who is “obsessed with creating a better, faster customer experience.” Enterprises can begin with them as a starting point or create a custom version that can deploy OCR and some AI to their particular tasks. The digital workers are deployed with Workforce Enterprise to either run autonomously or work as assistants for humans that remain in the loop.

Major features: Digital workers tuned to common roles for RPA and workforce automation.Major use cases: Email and client interaction; task routing

Open source

The major companies are generally selling proprietary tools, although community editions with limited functionality are common. Open-source processes are less cosmmon but you can often accomplish many of the simple tasks by stringing together some open source projects. You are likely going to have to do much more work to train the tools yourself, often by typing code into an editor. Still, they remain an interesting option. Check out Puppeteer, Selenium, and Headless Firefox for a basic start.

Major features: Full open source access to code; no vendor lock-inMajor use cases: Web integration; data collection; testing and verification
BPM Systems, Enterprise Applications

Top 6 roadblocks derailing data-driven projects

Posted on 30/01/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with data-driven, derailing, general, projects, roadblocks, top, topics

Data is what drives digital business. Consider how strategically important it has become for companies to leverage advanced analytics to uncover trends that can help them gain decisive insights they might not otherwise possess.

But data-driven projects are not always easy to launch, let alone complete. In fact, enterprises face several challenges as they look to leverage their information resources to gain a competitive advantage.

Foundry’s recent Data & Analytics Study looked into why organizations have difficulty making good on the promise of data-driven projects, and revealed several key roadblocks to success. Here are the top six reasons data initiatives fail to materialize and deliver, as revealed by the research, along with tips from IT leaders and data experts on how to overcome them.

1. Lack of funding for data initiatives

Funding can be hard to come by for any technology initiatives, particularly in an uncertain economy. This certainly applies to data projects. These undertakings might be competing with a host of other initiatives in need of financing, so it’s important for IT leaders and their data teams to present a strong business case for each project, and to not make them overly complex.

“While budget is always tricky, this is a question of priorities and right-sizing the body of work,” says Craig Susen, CTO and technology enablement lead at management consulting firm Unify Consulting. “Looking for obvious outcomes [does not] always require reworking the entire infrastructure.”

Being data-driven is as much a cultural pursuit as it is anything else, Susen says. “It requires designing/rethinking key performance indicators, capturing data in a smart timely manner, landing it in common areas quickly,” he says. “Then it can be evaluated and aggregated, either applying advanced visualization technologies or working it against machine learning algorithms. It’s all a complicated bit of science. Having said that, many companies overcomplicate this process by trying to do too much all at once or over-indexing in places that don’t drive true value to their businesses and customers.”

CIOs and other technology leaders need to develop strong working relationships with fellow C-suite members, particularly CFOs. In many cases it’s the finance executive who makes the decision on budget approvals, so to improve the likelihood of getting the needing funding technology chiefs need to be able to demonstrate why data-driven projects are important to the bottom line.

2. Lack of a clearly articulated data strategy

Lacking a complete data strategy to guide data-driven projects “is like not having an outline to guide a thesis,” says Charles Link, senior director of data and analytics at Covanta, a provider of sustainable materials management and environmental solutions.

“Every project should contribute some paving stones to the road leading to the desired destination,” Link says. “A data strategy identifies how to align information and technology to help you get there. Your business should be able to travel down the road as you deliver value.”

To be successful, a data strategy should have both a data management component — generally IT tools, technologies, and methods — and a data use strategy, Link says.

Oftentimes there isn’t a clear understanding within enterprises of what data is available, how the data is defined, how frequently it changes, and how it is being used, says Mike Clifton, executive vice president and chief information and digital officer at Alorica, a global customer service outsourcing firm.

Companies need to create a common language among stakeholders in advance of establishing any data-driven projects, Clifton says. “If you don’t have a solid foundation, budget and funding are too unpredictable and often get cut first due to a lack of clear scope and achievable outcome,” he says.

3. Technology to implement data projects is too costly

Making the challenge of getting sufficient funding for data projects even more daunting is the fact that they can be expensive endeavors. Data-driven projects require a substantial investment of resources and budget from inception, Clifton says.

“They are generally long-term projects that can’t be applied as a quick fix to address urgent priorities,” Clifton says. “Many decision makers don’t fully understand how they work or deliver for the business. The complex nature of gathering data to use it efficiently to deliver clear [return on investment] is often intimidating to businesses because one mistake can exponentially drive costs.”

When done correctly, however, these projects can streamline and save the organization time and money over the long haul, Clifton says. “That’s why it is essential to have a clear strategy for maximizing data and then ensuring that key stakeholders understand the plan and execution,” he says.

In addition to investing in the tools needed to support data-driven projects, organizations need to recruit and retain professionals such as data scientists. These in-demand positions typically command high levels of compensation.

4. Other digital transformation initiatives took priority

Digital transformations are under way at organizations in virtually every industry, and it’s easy to see how projects related to these efforts could be given a high priority. That doesn’t mean data-driven projects should be put on the back burner.

“If digital transformation efforts are taking priority over data initiatives, then you need to re-evaluate,” Link says. “All digital transformation initiatives should envelope data initiatives. You cannot have one without the other.”

Ignoring the data aspects of transformation could invite failure of other initiatives. “I would be concerned to pursue digital transformation without a solid data strategy, as the results, iterations, and pivots needed to be successful should all be data-driven decisions,” says David Smith, vice president and CIO at moving and logistics company Atlas Van Lines.

“If this is an organizational roadblock, I would recommend using the digital transformation initiative as the genesis of a data strategy execution,” Smith says.

5. Lack of executive buy-in or advocacy for data initiatives

If senior executives are not sold on data-driven projects, their chance of success will likely diminish because of lack of adequate funding and resources.

“Lack of buy-in from the top can kill a data-driven project before it starts,” says Scott duFour, global CIO at Fleetcor, a provider of business payments services. “I am fortunate that isn’t a problem at Fleetcor, as I get buy-in for projects from our CEO by partnering with leadership running lines of business to validate the importance of big data for company growth and success.”

To get executive buy-in, technology leaders must be able to articulate from the beginning what the outcomes of data projects will be and align them to business priorities or pain points, Clifton says. Ironically, all digital-related deployments depend heavily on data to achieve benefits, “so whether or not the executives realize it, they are funding data initiatives,” he says.

The organization’s data strategy should inform executives about how data projects can support the goals of the business. “The data initiatives should focus on the accomplishment of those objectives through actionable intelligence and automation,” Link says.

In some cases, the lack of support might stem from the fact that business leaders do not really know what they want from data projects, and therefore do not understand the value, Smith says. “If they cannot see the value, then they won’t support it,” he says.

It’s a good practice to use small proof of concept opportunities to show the value through operational dashboards or the automation of manual tasks, Smith says. “This will create interest from the executive team,” he says.

6. Lack of appropriate skill sets

The technology skills shortage is affecting nearly every area of IT, including data-driven projects.

“Without enough IT talent and people with the right skill sets, it’s tough to get data-driven projects done,” duFour says. “And the IT employee shortage is real in several areas of IT.” To try to draw technology workers, Fleercor offers flexible working arrangements and provides training so employees can improve their skills.

“We have also cast a wider net in the talent search,” duFour says. “Although a four-year degree or more is ideal, companies should look for potential employees with associate degrees, IT-type certifications, and other pertinent skills that can help move data-driven projects forward.”

Hiring talent with the specific technical experience needed to lead and manage data-driven projects “is a challenge in this competitive job market, but it’s key in ensuring you have the right skills in place to successfully implement the projects,” Clifton says. “Without the right skills and expertise up front, companies can start a project and then run into issues where the team is unable to quickly and effectively identify and resolve the problem.”

Data scientists, data stewards, and data forensics experts are becoming mainstay roles, Clifton says, whereas data architects were the higher-end skills most needed in prior years.

“Affordable talent has been my biggest challenge,” Link says. “There is no one right answer. I have brought in fresh talent from recent graduates and invested time, only to have them poached at crazy salaries. In my experience, there is a lot of value in having people co-located for faster learning and collaboration. My latest approach is to work with organizations like Workforce Opportunity Services to build my own team from high-caliber workers. It will take time to get there but we are focused on the long-term results.”

Analytics, Data Management, Data Science

Top 17 cloud cost management tools

Posted on 26/01/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with cloud, cost, general, management, tools, top, topics

It feels like just yesterday that we were promised that cloud servers cost just pennies. You could rent a rack with the spare change behind the sofa cushions and have money left for an ice cream sandwich.

Those days are long gone. When the monthly cloud bill arrives, CFOs are hitting the roof. Developer teams are learning that the pennies add up, sometimes faster than expected, and it’s time for some discipline.

Cloud cost managers are the solution. They track all the bills, allocating them to the various teams responsible for their accumulation. That way the group that added too many fancy features that need too much storage and server time will have to account for their profligacy. The good programmers who don’t use too much RAM and disk space can be rewarded.

Smaller teams with simple configurations can probably get by with the stock services of the cloud companies. Cost containment is a big issue for many CIOs now and the cloud companies know it. They’ve started adding better accounting tools and alarms that are triggered before the bills reach the stratosphere. See Azure Cost Management, Google Cloud Cost Management, and AWS Cloud Financial Management tools for the big three clouds.

Once your cloud commitment gets bigger, independent cost management tools start to become attractive. They’re designed to work with multiple clouds and build reports that unify the data for easy consumption. Some even track the machines that run on premises so you can compare the cost of renting versus building out your own server room.

In many cases, cloud cost managers are part of a larger suite designed to not just watch the bottom line but also enforce other rules such as security. Some are not marketed directly as cloud control tools but have grown to help solve this problem. Some tools for surveying enterprise architectures or managing software governance now track costs at the same time. They can offer the same opportunities for savings that purpose-built cloud cost tools do — and they help with their other management chores as well.

What follows is an alphabetical list of the best cloud cost tracking tools. The area is rapidly expanding as enterprise managers recognize they need to get a grip on their cloud bills. All of them can help govern the burgeoning empire of server instances that may stretch around the world.

Anodot

The first job for Anodot’s collection of cloud monitoring tools is to track the flow of data through the various services and applications. If there’s an anomaly or hiccup that will affect users, it will raise a flag. Tracking the cost of instances and pods across your multiple clouds is part of this larger job. The dashboard produces a collection of infographics that make it possible to study each microservice or API and determine just how much it costs to keep it running in times of high demand and low. This granular detail gives you the ability to spot the expensive workloads and find a way to prune them.

Standout features:

Integrated with a broader monitoring system to deliver better customer experience at a reasonable priceAvailable as a white-label platform for integration and reselling

AppDynamics

Tracking and reining in containers in a Kubernetes environment is the goal for Cisco’s AppDynamics, formerly known as Replex. The tool is now part of a larger system that watches clusters in public clouds or running locally to ensure they are performing correctly. Tracking costs is just one small part of a system that is constantly gathering statistics and watching for anomalies. One important reporting process charges back costs to the teams responsible for them so everyone can understand what’s creating the monthly bill. AppDynamics also offers a proprietary machine learning engine to turn historical data into a plan for efficient deployment. A policy control layer offers granular restrictions to ensure teams have access to what they need but are locked out of what they don’t.

Standout features:

Integrates cost management with general application monitoringConnect user experiences and business results for every layer of the software stack

Apptio Cloudability

Apptio makes a large collection of tools for managing IT shops, and Cloudability is its tool for handling cloud costs. The tool breaks down the various cloud instances in use, allocating them to your teams for accounting purposes. Ideally, teams will be able to control their own costs and predict future usage with the reports and dashboards on offer. Cloudability’s True Cost Explorer, for instance, offers pivotable charts to switch between aggregated variables to establish accurate plans and predict future usage. Cloudability integrates with ticketing tools such as Jira for planning and with tracking tools such as PagerDuty or Datadog for monitoring.

Standout features:

Planning future purchasing of reserved instances to lock in savings for the constant demandAllocating upcoming workloads to available instances of the right capabilities

CloudAdmin

Dashboards created by CloudAdmin are simple and direct. The tool tracks cloud usage and offers suggestions for rightsizing your servers or converting them to reserved instances. Server instances can be allocated to teams and then tracked with a budget. If spending crosses a defined line, alerts are integrated with email or other common communication tools such as PagerDuty to notify personnel of the need for attention.

Standout features:

Carefully filtered data feeds extract the key details about spending to save time wading through too much informationAutomated alerts can stop runaway spending when it crosses thresholds

CloudCheckr

CloudCheckr focuses on controlling cloud costs and security. The tool is part of NetApp’s Spot constellation for cloud management and is responsible for cost management by tracking standard spending events, such as consumption, forecasting, and the rightsizing of instances. The tool supports reselling for companies that add their own layers to commodity cloud instances. A white label option makes it possible to pass through all the reporting and charts to help your customers understand their billing. There’s also a focus on supporting public clouds used by governments.

Standout features:

Monitor compliance with privacy regulations by tracking security configurationRightsize reserved instances by tracking baseline consumption

Datadog

Watching over cloud machines, networks, serverless platforms, and other applications is the first job for Datadog’s collection of tools. Tracking cloud costs is just one part of the workload. Its telemetry gathers data about performance and cost, and Datadog builds this into a dashboard to help organizations understand both application cost and performance. The goal is to facilitate decisions about application performance with an eye on the price of delivering it. Understanding the tradeoff can lead to cost savings.

Standout features:

Broad suite for infrastructure monitoring across multiple cloudsMonitoring of real users and simulated users make it easier to deliver a better user experience

Densify

Densify builds a collection of tools for managing cloud infrastructure by juggling containers and VMware instances. The best way to run your clusters, according to Densify, is to keep precise, meticulous records of load and then use this data to scale up and down quickly. Densify’s optimizers focus on cloud resources such as instances, Kubernetes clusters, and VMware machines. Densify suggests this approach improves scaling by 30%. Densify’s FinOps tool generates extensive reports to help keep application developers and bean counters happy.

Standout features:

Track loads on machines to ensure rightsized instance allocationBuild reports summarizing consumption to help developers rightsize hardware

Flexera One

The Flexera One cloud management suite tackles many cloud management tasks, such as tracking assets or organizing governance to orchestrate control. An important section of the suite is devoted to controlling the budget. The tool offers multicloud accounting for tracking spending with elaborate reporting broken down by team and project. Flexera One also offers suggestions for optimizing consumption by targeting wasteful allocations, and it provides automated systems to put these observations into practice. The tool also integrates machine learning and artificial intelligence to help analyze consumption patterns across multiple clouds.

Standout features:

Integrates reporting across multiple clouds to help business groups understand costsIdentifies options for rightsizing instances and eliminating wasteful spending

Harness

DevOps teams can use the CI/CD pipeline that’s the central part of Harness to automate deployment and then, once the code is running, track usage to keep budgets in line. Harness’s cost management features watch for anomalies compared to historic spending, generating alerts for teams. A feature for automatically stopping unused instances can work with spot machines, effectively unlocking their potential for cost savings while working around their ephemeral nature.

Standout features:

Deep integration with the development pipeline to make cost savings part of the software creation processAutomated compliance integrates cost management with regulatory and governance work

Kubecost

Teams that rely on Kubernetes to deploy pods of containers can install Kubecost to track spending. It will work across all major (and minor) clouds as well as pods hosted on premises. Costs are tracked as Kubernetes adjusts to handle loads and are presented in a unified set of reports. Large jumps or unexpected deployments can trigger alerts for human intervention.

Standout features:

Optimized for tracking how Kubernetes deployments affect costsDynamic recommendations track opportunities for lowering spending

ManageEngine

DevOps teams rely on ManageEngine to track a range of potential issues from security to API endpoint overload. Its CloudSpend tool will extract data from cloud spreadsheet bills and aggregate it to provide a useful, actionable level of understanding. Costs can be charged back to the specific teams, and ManageEngine’s predictive analytics will plan reserved instances based on historical data. Currently available for AWS and Azure.

Standout features:

Spend Analysis drills down deeply into the data to granular detailMulti-currency support for worldwide deployment

Nutanix Xi

Organizations with large multicloud deployments can use Nutanix Cost Management (formerly Beam) to track costs across a range of installations, including private cloud machines hosted on premises. The tool can be customized to generate accurate cost estimates of private installations by taking into account heating and cooling costs, hardware, and data center rent. This makes it easier to make accurate decisions about allocating workloads to the lowest-cost deployment. The process can be automated to simplify management and forward-planning for budgeting for reserved instances.

Standout features:

Metering of private clouds builds direct insight into the costs of on-prem hardwareBudget alerting and dynamic optimization help rightsize consumption to minimize costs

ServiceNow

Teams running extensive collections of microservices rely on ServiceNow to manage some of the stack. Many of the tools are customer-facing solutions like IT automation, but there are also more backend tools for optimizing IT operations by intelligently managing performance. Newer AIOps can deliver artificial intelligence solutions too.

Standout features:

Broad selection of tools for tracking and optimizing IT assetsRisk management well integrated with governance tools

Turbonomic

IBM relies on Turbonomic to deliver an AI-powered solution for managing deployment to match application demand with infrastructure. The tool will automatically start, stop, and move applications in response to demand. The data driving these decisions is stored in a warehouse to train the AI that will be making future decisions. The latest version includes a new dashboard and reporting framework based on Grafana.

Standout features:

Full-stack integrated graphics to understand demand and cost across an applicationDesigned to automate resource allocation to save engineering teams from the chore

VMware Aria CloudHealth

VMware built Aria Cost and Aria Automation under the CloudHealth brand to manage deployments across all major cloud platforms as well as hybrid clouds. The cost accounting module tracks spending, allocating it to business teams while optimizing deployments to minimize costs. The modeling layer can build out amortization and consumption schedules to forecast future demand. Financial managers and development teams can drill down into these forecasts to focus on specific applications or constellations of services. The larger product line integrates the cost management with automated deployment and security enforcement.

Standout features:

Spending governance ensures that teams are following individual budgets for resource consumptionIntegrate cloud costs with business metrics and key performance indicators to understand the connection between computational costs and the bottom line

Yotascale

Much of the responsibility for cloud costs comes from the engineers who write and deploy the code. They make the granular decisions to startup more instances and store more data. Yotascale wants to put more information in their hands to enable them to optimize their hardware consumption with tools designed to track machines and allocate their costs directly to the teams responsible. The forecasting tools can also spot anomalies, raising alerts to prevent any surprise bills at the end of the month.

Standout features:

Engineer-targeted tools deliver budget information directly to the teams building the software and starting up the machinesAutomated tracking delivers forecasts and flags problems and overconsumption

Zesty

While many cloud managers offer insights through sophisticated reports, Zesty is designed to automate the work of spinning up and shutting down extra instances. A key feature enables it to watch the spot market for deeply discounted instances with excess capacity on the cloud. It offers a tool informed by artificial intelligence algorithms that can work with AWS’s API to make decisions that keep just enough machines running to satisfy users without breaking the budget. The tool can even control the amount of disk space allocated to individual machines while buying and selling processor time on the spot from reserved instance marketplaces.

Standout features:

Deep management of details such as storage space allocation to minimize costsIntegration with spot market to take advantage of the lowest possible costs
Cloud Computing, Cloud Management

5 top IoT sustainability trends for 2023

Posted on 17/01/2023 Posted in Digital transformation, General topics Tagged with 2023, general, IoT, sustainability, top, topics, trends

The new year brings familiar problems for cities around the world. Many countries are still facing a multitude of crises: climate change continues to accelerate, economies are under pressure, and consumers are coping with inflation and skyrocketing energy bills.

But a new year also brings a renewed sense of optimism and fresh focus. Innovators are constantly discovering new ways in which IoT technology can help address difficulties and solve a number of problems both immediately and in the long term.

Here are the top 5 IoT sustainability trends to look out for in 2023:

1. LEDification of public lighting

Switching traditional lighting to LED is not a new concept, but the immense energy-saving benefits continue to be either misunderstood or overlooked. Most people are now aware that LED lighting is more energy-efficient than conventional lighting – at least 50% more efficient, in fact – but the full potential of what can be achieved remains unrealized.

For a start, connecting LEDs and managing them via a software-based lighting management system increases energy savings up to 80%. Cities account for 78% of global energy consumption, with 40% of that being lighting related. If every city in the EU27 switched to energy-efficient connected LED, the member states would save enough energy to power 55 million electric cars every single year.

But energy savings are just one side of the coin. The scenario described above would generate cost savings of over €65 billion. Imagine how much good that money could do for families struggling to stay afloat.

These are lofty figures, and perhaps too big to fully comprehend. But even if you scale the scenarios down, the potential is too obvious to ignore. Switching all lighting to LED in a city of 200,000 inhabitants, for example, would prevent around 18,000 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere per year – roughly the amount of carbon sequestered in a year by 850,000 trees.

Switching to energy-efficient LED is truly the most immediate and significant impact you can make in the fight against climate change.

2. Increased funding opportunities for infrastructure projects

City budgets are tight. Whether it’s the strain of post-pandemic regeneration or the global impact of the war in Ukraine, many economies are at the breaking point. City decision-makers may have the ambition to develop and improve their infrastructure, but without funding it’s simply not viable.

Luckily, governments are starting to take action. Slowly but surely, funding programs are being established that promise to support infrastructure projects and help cities achieve the goal of becoming sustainable while at the same time improving the health and well-being of citizens.

Take the EU Green Deal, which pledges to make trillions of euros available for cities looking to enhance the energy efficiency of their public buildings, improve mobility, or create jobs for future generations. In the US, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents the single largest investment in climate and energy in American history, enabling America “to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice.” The ASEAN Infrastructure Fund has been launched in Asia.

All of this means that as cities start to consider how they can modernise their infrastructure and explore IoT solutions to help in the fight against climate change, funding is one less barrier to overcome.

3. More accessible EV charging

The transportation industry has set itself the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. It’s an ambitious goal, and one which appears even more daunting when you consider that 72% of all transport-related greenhouse gas emissions come from cars and trucks. There are billions of vehicles on the roads, so how do you radically reduce their emissions? By going electric.

EV adoption has picked up pace in recent years, but the scarcity of charging stations around cities and towns is a serious stumbling block. Consumers value convenience, and the uptake of EVs will stall if they make it more difficult to get from point A to point B than their gas-guzzling predecessors.

Where does IoT technology fit in? For a start, connected LED streetlights can be designed to serve as vertical digital assets for cities to deploy connected capabilities – from public broadband access points to EV charging points built directly into light poles. Electricity savings from both LED street lighting and smart buildings can help balance the increased electrical load, keeping costs low and avoiding the need for additional power generation.

4. Banning of conventional fluorescent lighting

The EU has passed legislation that prohibits the use of conventional fluorescent lighting. The ban has been a long time coming—not only are fluorescent bulbs outdated and inefficient, but they also contain harmful materials like phosphorus and mercury. With the ban comes into effect in early 2023, the shift to energy-efficient LED is set to accelerate even more than it has over the last two decades.

Sometimes doing the right thing is a matter of not having the choice to do the wrong thing. The paradox of choice theory states that rather than providing freedom, having too many options actually complicates the decision-making process and causes more stress in the long run. The EU’s banning of conventional fluorescent lighting has removed that choice from building owners and city decision makers, steering – or rather forcing – them to explore LED lighting as not just the better option, but the only option.

The anticipated surge in LED usage means increased opportunities for connected lighting and IoT solution providers, as thousands of businesses and cities look to retrofit their existing lighting.

5. The year of the smart city — finally?

It feels like we’ve been predicting the new era of smart cities for almost a decade, but is 2023 finally the time that IoT technology adoption in cities explodes?

Smart cities do not only focus on making life comfortable for people — they improve the social, environmental, and financial aspects of urban living. And as city populations grow, smart cities will become a key ingredient in improving sustainability and quality of life.

IoT and smart city technology is developing rapidly. But as with every high-growth market, regulation and certification often has had to play catch-up. Only relatively recently have industry-wide standards, best practices, and coordinated initiatives begun to mature. In tandem with a general increase in experience and expertise, it should now be easier to recognise what a smart city is – and, crucially, what it is not.

AIoT, the combination of AI technology with IoT infrastructure, is promising to accelerate things further. Right now, IoT infrastructure requires a level of human monitoring and management. Imagine how efficient our cities could run with AI pulling the strings. Smart city experts anticipate AIoT solutions to emerge for managing energy and other resource distribution, traffic and other public service management, waste management, and more —all in the near future.

Learn more about IoT systems for smart cities here.

Renewable Energy

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Tag: top

Top 15 business needs driving IT spend

Business pressures drive IT

Addressing multiple business at once

Focusing on the enterprise mission

AI to upend data privacy and security

Generative AI to unlock new value from data

Chatbots to finally prove their CX/EX power

Blockchain to build up business use cases

Digital tech to drive healthcare transformation

Sustainable tech to become an enterprise priority

IoT to mature and converge

Upgrading IT and data security

Improving the customer experience

Leading business and digital transformations

Helping reach revenue growth goals

Multifactor authentication fatigue and biometrics shortcomings

Security implications of ChatGPT and its ilk

Securing the software supply chain

Getting ahead of the ransomware gangs

Managing costs while supporting digital transformation

Advice moving forward

1. Understand what developer experience is

2. Understand why DX matters

3. From DevOps to ‘DevEx’ — and back again

4. Have someone own DX

5. Don’t push developers to fail their second audience

6. Provide opportunities to learn, teach, share

7. Mitigate DX-killing red tape

8. Automate (and de-stress) delivery

What is RPA?

RPA benefits

Top RPA tools

Airslate

Appian

Automation Anywhere

AutomationEdge

AWS Lambda

Cyclone Robotics

Datamatics

EdgeVerve Systems

Fortra Automate

IBM Automation

Kofax

Laiye

Microsoft Power

MuleSoft RPA (formerly Servicetrace)

NICE

Nintex

NTT-AT WinActor

Pega

Rocketbot

Samsung SDS Brity RPA

SAP

SS&C Blue Prism

UiPath

WorkFusion

Open source

1. Lack of funding for data initiatives

2. Lack of a clearly articulated data strategy

3. Technology to implement data projects is too costly

4. Other digital transformation initiatives took priority

5. Lack of executive buy-in or advocacy for data initiatives

6. Lack of appropriate skill sets

Anodot

AppDynamics

Apptio Cloudability

CloudAdmin

CloudCheckr

Datadog

Densify

Flexera One

Harness

Kubecost

ManageEngine

Nutanix Xi

ServiceNow

Turbonomic

VMware Aria CloudHealth

Yotascale