Software engineers are becoming exasperated at having to embed AI capabilities in applications, according to research from Gartner – a problem the firm says isn't likely to go away.

More than three-quarters (77%) of senior software engineers said demands to integrate AI within existing applications are a “significant or moderate pain point”.

Key factors behind this sharpened focus on AI integration lie in the need to improve features and functionality, the consultancy said, but the process appears to be creating more problems than it solves.

“With CEOs identifying AI as the technology that will most impact their industry, interest in offerings like AI agents is driving the most momentum,” said Gartner VP analyst Jim Scheibmeir.

Notably, Scheibmeir said that “execution is not easy” for engineering teams faced with the prospect of sprucing up existing applications with a dash of AI.

The push to modernize applications comes amidst surging investment in AI and C-suite demands to meet current industry trends, particularly agentic AI, which has emerged as the latest industry craze.

App modernization is a tricky task for any enterprise. A recent study from Pegasystems, for example, found that businesses face a delicate balancing act when approaching modernization efforts.

Many enterprises, Pegasystems noted, are caught in a “legacy dependency” which means they can ill afford to botch upgrades to existing legacy applications, many of which are business critical.

These challenges are not only hampering transformation efforts, the company warned, but are also impeding broader AI strategies, thereby leaving enterprises at a disadvantage compared to competitors in their respective industries.

Software engineers have a friend in AI

The plus side for engineering teams is that the use of AI to upgrade applications is becoming increasingly common. In fact, it has the potential to become a booming industry moving forward.

According to figures from Gartner, the AI application development platforms market is worth around $5.2 billion, and this is expected to rise significantly in the coming years.

“Both emerging vendors and established hyperscalers have developed and continue to enhance their platforms to alleviate the pain points experienced by enterprises,” the consultancy said. “Many dozens of emerging and established vendors are operating and innovating in this market.”

With a booming market comes a plethora of options, however, and Gartner warned engineering leaders should carefully consider which solutions or tools are best suited to their individual needs.

“Engineering leaders should opt for AI application development platforms or those with the best ecosystem, rather than a combination of disparate vendors, large language models (LLMs) and AI services,” Scheibmeir said.

Research from IBM earlier this year specifically highlighted tool sprawl as a key challenge in generative AI development, with nearly three-quarters (72%) of devs claiming to use between five and 15 AI tools in application development processes.

By opting for a more consolidated approach, Scheibmeir said teams can unlock marked benefits.

“This approach enables scaling, reuse and consistency in an area of technology and software engineering that is still very novel," he said.

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Application security is becoming an increasingly important factor in the purchasing decisions of software companies, with responsibility shifting towards development teams.

According to findings from Checkmarx' annual report, 49% of chief information security officers (CISOs) from a range of industries and regions said buyers regularly factor it in, with a quarter saying that application security is always a factor in those decisions.

This is predominantly the case in Europe, where regulatory frameworks like DORA led 58% of respondents to say that security is always a factor, compared with a third in the Asia Pacific region and only 8% in North America.

In nearly half of software-based product companies, security oversight has moved outside the CISO’s office entirely, the study found.

Engineering teams are increasingly responsible for ensuring secure, scalable delivery, while development teams are taking over AppSec decisions and budgets to embed security earlier and more efficiently in the development process.

"We’re witnessing a pivotal change: AppSec is now a competitive differentiator, a budget priority and a boardroom issue," said Checkmarx chief product officer Jonathan Rende.

"As development teams take greater ownership, CISOs must focus on governance, strategy and collaboration to keep security outcomes on track."

However, the report warned this shift in responsibility is leading to gaps in security coverage, with uneven protection across applications and fragmented tooling leading to blind spots.

Only four-in-ten business operations run on secured applications, and seven-in-ten organizations said that at least half of their applications lack robust security measures.

The good news is that AppSec budgets are growing, with 78% of respondents saying their budget rose last year, and four-in-ten saying the increase was ‘significant’. More than seven-in-ten reckoned their budget would increase this year, with a quarter saying the increase would be significant.

Budget increases were most frequently seen in Europe, where 56% of respondents reported significant growth, compared with roughly a third in both North America and the Asia Pacific region.

Communication barriers are causing problems

Despite positive signs with regard to budget growth and responsibility, the study did uncover problems with the way security is communicated at the executive level.

While 62% of CISOs report AppSec metrics to their board, most said they focus entirely on vulnerability counts, with only a quarter linking those risks to business outcomes like brand reputation or regulatory exposure.

Nearly one-in-five said they don't report on application security risks at all.

As a result, the report said CISOs need to try and redefine their role through governance, rather than direct control, and foster a culture of shared responsibility by incorporating developer feedback to redefine processes.

"As security responsibility migrates toward development teams, so does the funding," said Rende. "That’s why CISOs today need to lead with influence, creating guardrails, not roadblocks."

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One of the key routes to digitizing businesses is securely deploying applications at pace and in response to immediate customer needs. Application enablement can help achieve this by enabling organizations to deploy services and solutions with high levels of security, reliability and scalability, all while reducing the risk of disruption to existing IT infrastructure.

This process all comes down to forging key partnerships with cloud-centric telecos with the tools to make that happen, known as application enablement platforms (AEPs). In the age of AI it's more important than ever to know which platforms and providers are best geared to offer the benefits that the latest AI services are guaranteed to reap. This technology is fast-becoming the most impactful for industries across the entire global economy and intelligent enterprises of the future will be those that take advantage of it in all facets, including networking operations with AEPs.

What is application enablement?

Historically, telecom providers have focused on the network itself, with the key priority being the quality of service in the context of availability, quality, and reliability of connections. With the shift to greater web-facing capabilities and customers expecting much higher bandwidth, as well as the expansion of internet-facing devices, attention has turned to AEPs.

AEPs provide a comprehensive suite of tools and services that allow businesses, in partnership with providers, to develop, deploy, and manage IT applications at pace across networks. Usually based on the software as a service (SaaS) model, they comprise components including device management, connectivity and data analytics, as well as interface design and workflow management.

Together, these elements combine to accelerate the development and deployment of applications. This way, businesses can avoid having to dedicate massive amounts of time and resources into building the appropriate infrastructure required to power the building and deployment of an application. They can also deploy it much quicker than they would otherwise have done.

This is all based on a serverless infrastructure, on which is built authentication, object storage service, databases, middleware, and more. Layered upon this infrastructure is a cloud application engine, which serves as an app orchestration model. This infrastructure allows businesses to tap into audio and video functions, data processing, IoT, AI apps, web apps, mobile apps, and so on.

Some of the core benefits of buying into the application enablement model are freedom from the stranglehold of operations and maintenance costs, much faster rollout for applications, transitioning from weeks into days, and scaling in milliseconds.

How AI fuels application enablement

The rise of AI has taken many forms, ranging from machine learning models to large language models, but in terms of application enablement, it stands to support the aims of enterprises by vastly increasing productivity and improving outcomes. Platforms that integrate AI offer additional functionality to boost intelligent network capabilities, including increasing computing potential while overcoming bottlenecks in energy efficiency or computing power. There are also autonomous generative networks that can dynamically self-optimize and perform operations and maintenance autonomously based on real-time service needs.

An intelligent distributed computing infrastructure with AI-enabled application enablement also leads to a lower latency and much higher bandwidth, offering computing and network convergence services to end-users. AI agents can process multi-modal inputs, including images, gestures, and voice, to facilitate a closed-loop of service tasks. They can also offer more personalized experiences with agents dynamically scheduling network resources based on user need. They can finally also resolve complaints and respond to alerts with the use of natural language processing and AI inference.

The AI engines found in some telecom providers' suites represent a massive transition away from legacy processes and towards an AI-powered regime of network management and rapid application development. Enterprises need to consider, however, how best to utlitize these new tools and whether integrating them into the development cycle through an AEP ties in with core business objectives.

Application enablement in 2025 and beyond

Industries across the economy are tapping into application enablement to build new services and solutions for customers, and deploy these at pace. These systems can be particularly beneficial to industrial organizations – including companies in sectors like oil and gas, energy, transportation, and chemicals – but they also have uses in public utilities, the public sector, finance, and even retail businesses.

Some specific uses of AEPs include predictive maintenance – using platforms to analyze data and create solutions that can predict when equipment will need maintenance – or in remote asset monitoring, where companies can monitor industrial equipment from a distance and identify issues faster.

By tapping into new and emerging solutions that integrate advanced AI functionality, enterprises can finally realize an array of benefits including faster deployment, lower costs, improved security, and high scalability. If businesses analyze their needs and assess all the potential integration challenges in adopting application enablement solutions, they stand to benefit tremendously by rapidly responding to customer needs. This is all the more possible if they take advantage of new AI functionality, like autonomous agents, to optimize network resources and fuel greater efficiencies.

Across all industries, the need to find and recruit high quality talent has reached a significant point. Skills shortages are arguably now the greatest barrier to growth for many organizations, which is why recruitment and retention is now an increasingly important priority for business leaders.

According to a PwC’s Workforce survey, 23% of UK workers expect to change jobs within the next twelve months, up from 18% in 2022. This suggests that the ‘Great Resignation’ is certainly not over, meaning it’s up to employers to entice prospective employees more than ever.

With organizations battling rivals to gain traction within finite talent pools, they are having to showcase to potential hires an enhanced level of employee experience – from benefits to well-being through to flexible working, training and career development opportunities. They’re also having to demonstrate how their organizational values and purpose align with an employee’s own drive and priorities.

It’s vital to recognize however, that technology – and in particular, applications and digital services – now sit at the heart of the recruitment process. Global research by Cisco AppDynamics finds that the average person now uses a total of six applications or digital services when looking for or applying for a new job – and this increases to eight in the U.S. and nine in India.

Today's job seekers use a wide range of different digital services – including jobs sites, social media, employer websites and employer review sites. And most are using these services daily so as HR leaders double down on their strategies to attract talent, they must ensure their applications and digital services – whether that’s careers pages on their websites or email and messaging services for candidates – are performing at an optimal level. Otherwise, they risk annoying and alienating potential hires.

Jobseekers have no time for employers that deliver poor digital experiences

With people now entirely reliant on digital services to find, research and apply for new jobs, their expectations for these services are now sky-high. 97% of jobseekers state it’s important the applications they use to find and apply for jobs provide a fast and seamless experience, without any delays or disruption. Additionally, 64% claim that if these applications fail to perform, it puts them off working for the potential employer.

For employers, this is a stark message – if their recruitment-focused applications and digital services suffer from disruption or downtime, they are jeopardizing their chances of attracting almost two-thirds of potential new hires.

People now want the same level of digital experience from their employer (or potential employer) as they get in every other area of their lives. They expect their experience when looking for and applying for a new job to match that when they’re streaming movies and music, ordering groceries, or connecting with friends online.

HR leaders need to recognize that people are no longer willing to accept second rate digital experiences just because applications and digital services are work-related. And they also need to be aware that people’s reactions when they encounter poorly performing applications are now incredibly strong. 73% of people admit that they would feel anxious and angry if the applications they were using to find and apply for a new job didn’t perform properly.

Employers can secure leading talent by optimizing application performance

The message from job seekers to potential employers is clear – they simply won’t put up with disruption or downtime when using jobs-related digital services. In fact, more than half claim that employers have only one shot to impress them with their digital services. There are no second chances.

This is why it’s so essential for HR leaders to work with their IT departments to ensure that they are providing potential hires with fast and seamless experiences at every stage of the recruitment process.

Currently, many organizations are struggling to manage application availability and performance within multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Technologists don’t have the unified visibility they need to get a clear line of sight on applications running across on-premises and cloud native environments and this makes it extremely difficult for them to identify and troubleshoot issues before they impact end users – whether that be customers, current employees or potential new recruits.

To mitigate this risk, organizations need to implement an observability solution which spans across both cloud native and on-premises environments and allows technologists to monitor the health of key business transactions distributed across their entire technology landscape. With real-time insights from the business transaction’s telemetry data, technologists can swiftly understand the root cause of issues and expedite resolution, so that applications are operating at peak performance at all times.

Significantly, the research shows that employers that can deliver seamless digital experiences can take a big step towards becoming an employer of choice for candidates. 78% of people claim that they would want to work for an employer that provides brilliant, seamless digital experiences throughout the recruitment process.

At a time when HR leaders are looking for any advantage, they can get over their rivals in the jobs market, this is a potentially game changing benefit. By focusing on digital experience throughout the recruitment process, employers can steal a march on the competition and attract the high-quality talent they need to grow.

SAP has sold its stake in Qualtrics for $7.7 billion (£6.4 billion), after buying the company in 2018 for $8 billion.

The German software company sold its 423 million shares, a 71% stake, it announced this week as part of an acquisition of Qualtrics by technology investor consortium Silver Lake and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

With a purchase price of $18.15 per share, this values the company at around $12.5 billion in total, SAP said. The number of customers using Qualtrics has risen from 10,000, when it was acquired by SAP, to 18,000.

"Since we acquired Qualtrics in 2019 the company has more than tripled its revenue while delivering profitability,” said Christian Klein, CEO and member of the executive board of SAP SE. “SAP intends to remain a close go-to-market and technology partner, servicing joint customers and continuing to contribute to Qualtrics' success."

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2023. The company will continue to be led by CEO Zig Serafin and remain headquartered in Provo, Utah and Seattle, Washington.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with the team at Silver Lake, who deeply understand our business and will help us continue to build a high-performing company, invest in our innovation, and expand our ecosystem to help our customers succeed,” said Serafin.

Ilona Hansen, Gartner vice president in the ITLTP Applications Group, told IT Pro the deal is a “win-win” situation for Qualtrics.

She suggested the firm will come even stronger into the market and more open to other business relationships they weren’t able to have before under the SAP umbrella.

Hansen said that Qualtrics was acquired under the leadership of former SAP CEO Bill McDermott. However, when he left in 2019, the strategy around what to do with the company wasn’t driven forward anymore.

Taking the company publis in 2020 was a 'clever idea', she said, it gave freedom back to Qualtrics. SAP was essentially saying it would support Qualtrics with this move, but not to expect it to rip or tear it apart, or even integrate it further into SAP’s offerings.

SAP acquired Qualtrics for $8 billion in November 2018, four days before it was meant to go public, with the company revealing at the time it had more than 9,000 businesses on its books across the world. SAP was aiming to boost its cloud offerings and integrate Qualtrics’ platform into its portfolio.

In July 2020, the German software firm decided to make Qualtrics public and announced it would retain a majority stake in it.

At the time, SAP said it would lower its ownership of Qualtrics from 100% but said it wasn’t planning on divesting or spinning off the firm.

Oracle NetSuite has announced a range of updates to its tools designed to consolidate costs as customers battle recessionary cuts and sector-wide talent shortages.

Addressing delegates at its SuiteConnect conference in London on Tuesday, the company also affirmed its commitment to strengthening its localisation efforts for customers.

This includes adapting models for regional tax and regulatory requirements, as well as offering NetSuite's UI in 27 languages for a better user experience.

EMEA customers have specifically pointed to the complexity of VAT and customs compliance rules as piling on costs, particularly for organisations driven by product shipping or data transfer.

NetSuite has highlighted specific tools as antidotes for some of these regional issues. For example, the ERP giant has aimed to make supply chain management easier than ever through the use of products such as Oracle NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, the firm’s is a pre-built data warehouse based in the cloud.

In the new version of Analytics Warehouse, NetSuite has promised pre-built visualisations for industries such as manufacturing, software, and services.

This will include charts and graphs for greater insights, as well as key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be applied to a range of metrics such as project hours and case numbers.

Although US customers can also make use of these capabilities, the firm has drawn specific attention to them with regards to the needs of EMEA customers.

Complex VAT, customs, and data compliance rules have been registered as concerns across this region, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent fuel crisis have highlighted the need for flexible supplier prices.

62% of NetSuite customers identified rising costs as their primary concern in a recent survey, with energy prices a point of specific worry.

Although Analytics Warehouse has been available in the UK since September 2022, Evan Goldberg, founder and EVP at Oracle NetSuite, said that a number of improvements have been made to the tool based on customer feedback.

These include a range of new transaction types that the tool can draw on including data sets in sales, inventory, financials and support management. Data sets such as the new Cross Charge Journal, which allows financial teams to track charges across subsidiaries.

IT Pro was given the example of a company using this to seamlessly track invoices for a product shipped to an England-based customer from an Ireland-based supplier.

In the keynote speech, a representative from NetSuite customer Charlotte Tilbury praised the firm’s widening focus on prebuilt models. These can be applied to help businesses automate functions in a range of different tax and legislative environments.

“I’ve never come across another ERP which allows us to set up a subsidiary as quickly as NetSuite,” said Aman Deep, business systems director at Charlotte Tilbury.

“And not just setting up subsidiaries. We have had to change the organisational structure and hierarchies, there was much more to it.”

A global, local approach

NetSuite’s ‘Full Suite Ahead’ mantra buoyed it through its SuiteWorld conference in September, and stressed the importance of adopting an all-or-nothing approach in order to get the most value out of its tools.

At the time, Goldberg had stated that he was “not worried” about competitors located in regions into which NetSuite expands, as its unique full-suite approach is its selling point rather than any one service. The company has previously stated it aims to provide the world’s ‘most localised ERP system’.

“We have this tagline we use which is ‘act global, be local’,” James Chisham, VP product management at Oracle NetSuite, told IT Pro.

“So it's that notion of global capabilities on a kind of worldwide scale, but built for users in a specific market.”

NetSuite’s focus on prebuilt models for a number of different regions, which can react to changes in tax and regulatory requirements are part of this. But it is also reflected in the growing degree to which tools in NetSuite’s range integrate with third-party applications, even those of competitors.

Analytics Warehouse now comes with more than 40 third-party data sources including Google Analytics, Salesforce, and Shopify. NetSuite states that this simplifies the blends of data that an organisation may be handling, and strengthens the quality of analytics.

It’s a prime example of NetSuite’s current strategy, in which holistic customer experience appears to be prized over individual product returns.

“We’ve been really amazed by the takeup of NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, because NetSuite has built-in analytics”, Goldberg told IT Pro.

“First of all, we’re finding that our customers, not just in the software industry but in many industries, have a tonne of data in other systems. I just talked to someone here at the conference about how they’re excited to use it for legacy data from their previous NetSuite system, so we’re finding all kinds of use cases for that.”

Goldberg also stressed that EMEA leads the US in some NetSuite developments.

“There are definitely areas where we are EMEA-first, certainly on some of the automation of transactions. Europe and the UK are ahead of the US there.”

NetSuite has placed an increasing focus on automation in recent years. Core to its idea of centralising applications and data across businesses, it has emphasised its ‘full suite’ as uniquely capable of hosting the kinds of end-to-end automation that businesses can use to reduce strain on teams.

Asked about automation being used to tackle skill shortages, Chisham was quick to admit that individual needs still need to be addressed, and that automation is not a silver bullet for lack of talent.

“We want to use automation where it makes sense. Where we feel some of the skills shortage hits is availability of skill. You know what's happened over the last few years, it's well documented, tech companies have been hiring aggressively, you know?”

“So there's been a real difficulty in finding the right types of people. I think that that's the same for our customers as well, it's getting the right people in the right positions. And you know, automation in and of itself is not going to solve all of those challenges.”

A future led by automation

Going forward the firm will be investing more heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), which it already uses for products such as NetSuite Supply Chain Control Tower and its Intelligent Recommendations feature.

Cormac Watters, EVP of EMEA applications at Oracle, told IT Pro that rollout of AI would be greatly backed up by existing Oracle cloud infrastructure.

“NetSuite and indeed Fusion both run on our OCI platform. This means we as Oracle, when we deploy new machine learning or AI algorithms, techniques, data assessments, can make it available to all of the products and their portfolio.”

“I think the world has moved, and that AI and machine learning are now no longer considered gimmicky. I think it's real and it's there to be used. So there's actually an expectation from customers, ‘what's the latest piece of machine learning you can give me?’”

Further detail on these developments is expected at its next SuiteWorld conference in October 2023.

Microsoft has shut down a cyber criminal campaign attacking business' cloud environments by abusing a verification mechanism in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Programme (MCPP).

The cyber criminals' efforts, which involved exploiting third-party OAuth apps, were spotted in December 2022 and quickly stopped by Microsoft to prevent data theft.

Security firm Proofpoint uncovered the "malicious campaign" in which hackers created fraudulent OAuth apps that were able to satisfy Microsoft's verification requirements for authorised publishers.

As part of the campaign, threat actors used consent phishing' techniques to manipulate organisations into granting access to the malicious OAuth app and subsequently gain access to data including emails, company files, mailbox settings, and assorted datasets.

“We observed that the malicious apps had far-reaching delegated permissions such as reading emails, adjusting mailbox settings, and gaining access to files and other data linked to the user’s account,” researchers said.

“The potential impact to organisations includes compromised user accounts, data exfiltration, brand abuse of impersonated organisations, business email compromise (BEC) fraud, and mailbox abuse.”

OAuth abuse unpacked

OAuth is an open authentication and authorisation standard used by Microsoft and a host of major tech companies such as Facebook and Google.

OAuth enables users to share account information with third-party applications, acting as an “intermediary” between the user and the service, to provide an access token that authorises the sharing of specific account information.

In this instance, Proofpoint said threat actors deliberately abused Microsoft’s verified publisher status to leverage malicious OAuth applications and target potential victims.

Microsoft provides app publishers with this status after verifying their identity via the Microsoft Cloud Partner Programme. This means that users impacted by this attack method likely interacted with malicious apps due to a belief that they were authorising legitimate third-party applications.

“As users, we naturally trust verified accounts more,” Proofpoint said. “It is the same in the enterprise world with third-party OAuth app publishers verified by Microsoft. Unfortunately, threat actors have recognised the value of the verified status in the Microsoft environment.”

Proofpoint highlighted that this attack method was also “less likely” to be detected by organisations compared to traditional targeted phishing or brute force attacks.

“Organisations typically have weaker defence-in-depth controls against threat actors using verified OAuth apps,” researchers added.

OAuth protocols have been abused in the past, research shows. A 2021 study by Proofpoint uncovered similar techniques by threat actors and found that more than 180 malicious applications had been actively exploited.

In September last year, malicious OAuth apps were used in a campaign to compromise Microsoft customer cloud environments and Exchange Online settings.

Thousands of GitHub users were also targeted using malicious OAuth apps which enabled hackers to exfiltrate business-critical data.

Fix issued by Microsoft

After Microsoft was informed of the Proofpoint research, the company said it disabled malicious applications and has coordinated with affected customers to remedy the situation.

The firm has also implemented “several additional security” measures to improve MCPP vetting procedures to mitigate the risk of similar behaviour in the future.

In a statement detailing the attack, the tech giant confirmed that threat actors had successfully impersonated legitimate providers to enrol in the Cloud Partner Programme.

“The actors used fraudulent partner accounts to add a verified publisher to OAuth app registrations they created in Azure AD,” the company said.

“The applications created by these fraudulent actors were then used in a consent phishing campaign, which tricked users into granting permissions to the fraudulent apps.”

UK organisations affected

Microsoft revealed that this phishing campaign targeted a “subset of customers” primarily based in the UK and Ireland.

Proofpoint's research found that threat actors targeted “mainly UK-based organisations and users”, which Microsoft confirmed in its statement.

Targeted users included senior financial and marketing personnel, Proofpoint found, as well as “high-profile users such as managers and executives”.

The UK Government has announced plans for a “world first” code of practice to strengthen security protections across the app market.

Unveiled today, the new voluntary code aims to better protect users from malicious apps available on app stores such as Google Play and the App Store.

The new measures include requiring app developers to introduce processes that enable security experts to report software vulnerabilities and ensure that privacy information is more readily available.

In addition, the code will see the creation of a more “robust and transparent” vetting process for apps, require developers to keep apps up-to-date, and allow users to use applications even if they choose to disable certain functionalities, such as microphone access or location tracking.

As part of the move, the government said it will work closely with developers and operators to implement the code over a nine-month period. This will include collaboration with organisations including Apple, Google, Amazon, Huawei, Microsoft, Sony and Samsung.

Cyber minister Julia Lopez said the new policy aims to enhance trust in app ecosystems and improve safety.

“We’ve already strengthened our laws to boost security in consumers’ digital devices and the telecoms networks we rely on,” she said. “Today, we are taking steps to get app stores and developers to keep customers even safer in the online world.”

National Cyber Strategy

The new voluntary rules form part of the government’s National Cyber Strategy, which aims to protect and support the UK’s digital technology sector and strengthen national cyber resilience.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has backed the move as a positive step to creating a more transparent and secure app ecosystem for UK consumers and businesses.

“Our devices and the apps we rely on are increasingly essential to everyday life, and it’s important that developers and app store operators take steps to protect users,” said Paul Maddinson, director of national resilience and strategy at the NCSC.

“By signing up to this code of practice, developers and operators can demonstrate how they are delivering security as standard, as well as protect users from malicious actors and vulnerable apps,” he added.

Business Applications

The proliferation of malicious software on app stores has raised concerns for both consumers and business users in recent months. Research from Malwarebytes in November found that the Google Play store, for example, featured apps which infected devices with malware and malicious pop-up ads.

In total, the study found that just four malicious apps were downloaded over a million times by Android users.

This issue hasn’t gone unnoticed by operators either. Earlier this year, Android announced new policies for Play Store which aimed to mitigate security risks and force developers to update older apps.

For larger businesses, operating within a monitored and regulated applications environment provides a degree of security to mitigate threats and allow the use of safe, authorised apps.

However, small businesses and start-ups increasingly rely on a range of open source applications to support operations; from managing aspects of their business to boosting productivity and communications.

Michael White, technical director and principal architect at the Synopsys Software Integrity Group told IT Pro that the new code of practice could address lingering security concerns around the use of open source software by small businesses.

“This new code of practice promotes a sensible baseline and can be achieved using a variety of automated approaches and off-the-shelf tools to help developers achieve compliance in a non-intrusive way,” he explained.

“What should not be overlooked is the importance of transparency in the software supply chain. This includes exchange of Software Bill of Material (SBOM) information which may allow both app developers as well as app store operators to understand when an application component vulnerability exists, and alert app developers to the fact that a security review or upgrade may be needed.

“A good example of the need for SBOM transparency was highlighted by the widely-known Log4J vulnerability last year, however this was by no means an isolated occurrence: newly disclosed security vulnerabilities for open source software components are entered into public vulnerability databases every single day, many of which are of lower impact but some are occasionally quite severe.”

Mark Lamb, CEO of HighGround, welcomed the decision, adding that the new code of practice will help improve transparency and place a stronger focus on robust security practices across the UK's app market.

“This is definitely a good thing, particularly for the Google Play store, because Apple is already very strict around its own App store," he said.

“It will significantly increase the burden on developers to be more transparent on how apps are built, which in turn will allow consumers to make more informed decisions on app purchases, which they previously might not have questioned.”

Stuart Smith, partner and corporate and commercial lawyer at Simkins, echoed Lamb’s comments. However, he questioned how the new rules might be enforced given their status as a voluntary code.

“If implemented thoroughly, the code should result in cleaner app stores, with greater visibility for apps that are transparent about their functionality, comply with baseline security requirements, and are regularly updated,” he said.

“The DCMS say there will be a nine month period for adherence, and that they will initially focus on assessing adherence by app store operators, but this is still clearly described as a voluntary code, and so it remains very unclear what, if anything, DCMS can really do if app store operators choose not to adhere to the code,” Smith added.

Adopting an automated performance management (APM) strategy is the only way organisations can break through application challenges & fully realise the opportunity presented by continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD)-powered environments.

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Software developer OpenText has announced plans to acquire UK information technology company Micro Focus, in a deal worth $6 billion.

OpenText will pay 532 pence ($6.27) per Micro Focus share, which will be funded by $4.6 billion in new debt, $1.3 billion in cash and $600 million drawn from OpenText’s current revolving credit facility.

OpenText is Canada’s largest software company, specialising in enterprise information management (EIM), helping firms process their content and engage in essential digital transformation. 90% of the current Fortune 100 companies are OpenText customers, and the company’s network facilitates $9 trillion in commerce annually.

Micro Focus provides enterprise management software solutions to businesses, in competition up to this point with OpenText. One of the UK’s largest software companies, it reported a 12 month revenue of $2.7 billion in the period up to April 2022. It operates five offices in the UK and is headquartered in Newbury, but also operates offices in 48 countries for a total employee count of over 11,000.

The parties have announced intentions for Micro Focus to be on OpenText’s operating model within six quarters of the deal closing, which is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2023.

The acquisition will be subject to antitrust approval by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA has recently intervened in large tech deals such as Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision-Blizzard and had registered intent to investigate Nvidia’s acquisition of Arm, which was cancelled shortly afterwards.

OpenText’s 2016 acquisition of Documentum, another developer in the enterprise content management market, prompted Documentum’s co-founder John Newton to argue that the deal would stifle competition and innovation, hurting business customers.

"We are pleased to announce our firm intention to acquire Micro Focus, and I look forward to welcoming Micro Focus customers, partners and employees to OpenText," said OpenText CEO & CTO Mark J. Barrenechea.

"Upon completion of the acquisition, OpenText will be one of the world's largest software and cloud businesses with a tremendous marquee customer base, global scale and comprehensive go-to-market. Customers of OpenText and Micro Focus will benefit from a partner that can even more effectively help them accelerate their digital transformation efforts by unlocking the full value of their information assets and core systems."

Google has given Android developers a two-month deadline for complying with its latest Play Store data transparency rules, which require all apps to include details on how user data will be processed.

The new rules aim to improve users’ confidence when downloading apps from the Play Store, offering better detail about what each app’s data collection practices involve.

“We heard from users and app developers that displaying the data an app collects, without additional context, is not enough,” said Suzanne Frey, VP of product at Android Security and Privacy, in a blog post.

“Users want to know for what purpose their data is being collected and whether the developer is sharing user data with third parties. In addition, users want to understand how app developers are securing user data after an app is downloaded.”

Developers will have to complete a new section that lives on the app’s info page by 20 July, and include app information such as:

• If the developer is collecting data, and if so, for what purpose
• If the developer is sharing data with third parties
• Details of the app’s security measures, such as any elements of data encryption
• Whether the app’s security measures are validated against an industry standard, such as MASVS
• Whether the app complies with Google Play’s Families Policy

The details developers will need to provide fall broadly under the categories of data collection, data sharing, and cyber security.

Other disclosures will also need to be made such as how the developer plans to deal with account information if they use that information in other areas of the app such as fraud prevention, for example.

The only developers that will be excluded from the deadline will be those who develop system services - apps that are pre-installed on some devices and cannot be uninstalled.

When visiting an app’s Play Store page, users can navigate to the app’s details and discover more details about the app’s privacy and security provisions, alongside the pre-existing safety details and miscellaneous app information.

“Apps should help users explore the world, connect with loved ones, do work, learn something new, and more without compromising user safety,” said Frey. “The new Data safety section, in addition to Google Play’s existing safety features, gives people the visibility and control they need to enjoy their apps.”

The worldwide enterprise application market is slated to reach $468.2 billion by 2027, according to a new report by Research and Markets.

A compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.0% is anticipated for the forecast period, driven by the increasing demand for regulatory compliance, audit management, and the need for improved transparency in supply chain data and procedures to combat data leaks and breaches.

Among the various enterprise application solutions are business process management (BPM) and software configuration management (SCM), which help organizations manage and control inventory and track production. These applications largely aid in boosting productivity and efficiency across the organization.

Commenting on the pandemic’s impact on the market’s burgeoning growth, Research and Markets notes that the closure of retail stores and malls has resulted in significant growth in enterprise application software adoption for managing web-based data.

For instance, among the deployment types of enterprise applications — on-premise, cloud, and hybrid — the cloud segment accounted for the largest revenue share in 2020. However, data security and privacy concerns are market restraining factors.

“Data collection and transmission from one channel to another are part of enterprise content management. Many firms believe that enterprise content management solutions are expected to result in data theft in their highly abstracted data sets caused by a lack of sufficient information about security standards and their implementation,” according to Research and Markets’ report.

The report also states that Microsoft holds the majority of the enterprise application market share. Oracle, IBM, and SAP are among other leading vendors in the market.

Based on region, Asia Pacific registered a promising revenue share, owing to rapid advancements in economic growth, globalization, foreign direct investment, smartphone penetration, and increased internet usage among the workforce.

Public cloud computing will surpass traditional IT investments in 2025, among addressable market segments, according to new research from Gartner.

The 'cloud shift' analysis by Gartner focuses exclusively on enterprise IT categories that are a good fit for the cloud, specifically within the application software, infrastructure software, business process services, and system infrastructure markets.

In each of these market segments, public cloud solutions will account for 51% of IT spending by 2025, up from 41% in 2022. Approximately two-thirds (65.9%) of application software expenditures in 2025 will be cloud-based, compared to 57.7% in 2022.

“The shift to the cloud has only accelerated over the past two years due to COVID-19, as organizations responded to a new business and social dynamic,” said Michael Warrilow, research vice president at Gartner.

“Technology and service providers that fail to adapt to the pace of cloud shift face increasing risk of becoming obsolete or, at best, being relegated to low-growth markets.”

In addition, Gartner predicts that traditional IT will grow at a slower rate than cloud, despite accounting for 58.7% of the addressable market in 2022.

Increasing demand for integration capabilities, agile work processes, and composable architectures will continue to boost cloud computing's market share in 2022.

Enterprise IT spending is expected to rise to almost $1.8 trillion by 2025 as cloud computing takes hold. New technologies, including distributed clouds, will further disrupt IT markets.

Gartner recommends technology and services providers target segments where cloud adoption is most rapid, as well as exploring new high-growth cloud opportunities. Infrastructure-related segments, for example, have a lower cloud penetration rate and are expected to grow faster than segments like enterprise applications, which have a higher penetration rate.

Apple has launched a feature for developers that facilitates the publication of apps for "limited audiences" to its App Store on an unlisted basis.

The new app distribution service is targeting the business and education sectors specifically, and unlisted apps will not appear in the App Store under any categories, recommendations, charts, search results, or other listings.

Possible use cases Apple suggested were apps built specifically for organisations, special events such as a corporate party or conference, research studies, or other employee resources. Feasibly, the feature would also be useful for businesses running remote workforces, but require business or sector-specific software on their staff's personal devices.

In addition to direct links, apps can also be accessed and distributed via Apple Business Manager - Apple's proprietary mobile device management (MDM) solution for businesses running Apple products, or Apple School Manager - its equivalent for the education sector.

Developers who have apps already approved and listed for public download on the App Store, and those whose apps have not previously been approved, can simply submit a request form to Apple which will then send them a link to their unlisted app.

Businesses who already have their app approved for private downloads in Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager will need to re-submit their binary in a new app record within App Store Connect, and set the distribution method to 'public' before completing the request form. If approved, the app will be visibly shifted to an unlisted app within App Store Connect and developers can continue updating the app according to the normal app release process.

Apps that have previously been made public will keep the same unlisted direct link as they did when they were public but developers also have the option of converting the link via a URL shortener.

Apple recommends "implementing a mechanism within your app to prevent unauthorised use" as although the app won't be publicly searchable, the direct link could still be shared with unwanted audiences.

Apple has had a similar private app distribution policy as part of its Apple Developer Enterprise Programme for a number of years now. Eligibility requirements include: developer houses to have more than 100 employees in the business, have systems in place to ensure only employees can download the app, and be legal operation, among others.

The programme was eventually abused by rogue developers as a way to distribute malicious apps or apps that otherwise violate the App Store policies. Illicit app stores were built to distribute such apps and Facebook was one of the higher-profile abusers of the feature, marketing a data-gathering app masquerading as a VPN in just one small branch of the much wider Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Microsoft has told managed service providers (MSPs) that it will charge a 20% premium on Microsoft 365 products unless customers choose to be billed annually.

The news has angered many in the MSP community, saying they stand to lose out if a customer goes bankrupt or chooses to decrease the number of licenses they need, for example. In this case, the MSP will still have to pay Microsoft, regardless of the alterations or complexities on the customer side.

Month-to-month billing affords customers the flexibility they often need and in some cases allows MSPs to budget more efficiently with other month-to-month billing products in their stacks.

The news comes as prices for individual products are also set to be increased too by a margin of up to 15% each.

Recently delayed until 1 March 2022, Microsoft's New Commerce Experience (NCE) will soon increase the prices of Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, and Microsoft 365 E3.

"To provide our customers with more options, we expanded our Microsoft 365 subscription terms to include a new month-to-month offering in addition to our annual subscription," said Microsoft to IT Pro. "As is typical with subscription models, the annual term offers a lower rate, whereas the month-to-month subscription provides greater flexibility at a higher monthly cost."

First reported by CNBC, the move to force customers into either paying a higher price for flexibility or a lower price for a longer-term has not been greeted warmly and a Change.org petition protesting Microsoft's decision has reached more than 1,000 signatures.

Discussions between MSPs have taken place on a Reddit thread where the feedback has been largely negative, though some recognised the move could provide some benefits to larger value-added resellers (VARs) but may hurt smaller businesses.

The Pax8 reseller said the NCE can help businesses prepare for future growth "thanks to improved revenue predictability, reduced licensing complexity, multiple term options, and features that enable new sales capabilities and operational efficiencies."

One of the key pushbacks MSPs are lobbying Microsoft to implement is for it to allow pooling of licenses.

In doing so, it will allow the partner to re-distribute a license should a tenant leave the company without having to pay Microsoft for an unused service after they leave during a one-year commitment period, for example.

To keep up in today’s market, digitisation is an essential part of your company’s innovation and the growth of your cloud services is integral to this.

In order to expand your cloud services successfully, your organisation needs to look at its security, privacy, and compliance to ensure it has the secure foundation to get the most out of its cloud applications without putting any data at risk.

Download this guide to understand:

• Key obstacles to cloud security
• Deployment options
• The cloud service provider (CSP) shared responsibility model

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Windows 11 may come with a strict list of hardware requirements, but that doesn't mean things won't go wrong if you still meet them. It is, after all, an operating system that can still get slow over time.

Thankfully, there are a number of straightforward steps you can take to speed up performance and keep your Windows 11 PC firing on all cylinders.

Disable Windows 11 startup programmes

One of the first problems users might notice is software loading in the background during the startup routine. This could load whether it's being used or not, slowing the start process, as a result. If you do find Windows 11 taking longer than usual to load after you start your machine, or if it's taking too long for the system to become usable, an unwanted startup programme could be the issue.

This, thankfully, is a simple fix: Go to settings, then 'Apps', and 'Startup', where you'll find a list of software that automatically loads during the bootup process. You need to switch off any non-essential software, particularly apps marked as "high impact". However, not all of these labels will be reliable.

Another way is to simply press CTRL + Shift + ESC to access the Task Manager window, where the same Startup menu can be found, but with an older UI.

It's important to not be overzealous here. Avoid uninstalling online backup services, like OneDrive or Dropbox, which could end up preventing your files from being synchronised properly. The same goes for security software, which could end up weakening your machine for the sake of a minor performance boost.

Windows 11 did add new software to the default startup, including Microsoft Teams - so feel free to disable that if it’s something you don’t use.

Migrate Windows 11 from hard drive to SSD

If your PC is still running on an old-fashioned hard disk, by far the biggest performance boost you could give it is to switch to an SSD. Solid-state disks have no moving parts, unlike those spinning hard-disk platters, meaning that applications load in a flash and files are retrieved near-instantly.

We’ve got a separate article showing you how to upgrade a Windows 11 PC from hard disk to SSD. It’s the kind of upgrade you can tackle yourself, but if you’re not confident, any PC repair shop will do the job for you.

The most immediate change you’ll see is that Windows will boot in a fraction of the time it took on your mechanical hard drive. What’s more, you’ll also be able to start using your system immediately, rather than wait for background apps to load. Beyond that, overall responsiveness for most activities should increase substantially on an SSD. We've also got plenty of reviews of the latest SSDs to hit the market, in case you need help picking one out.

Install Windows 11 apps from safe places

A good number of Windows performance problems are caused by app installations that bring all kinds of unwanted cruft with them: extra applications, browser toolbars, or even malware.

We’ve all been caught out by installers that have pre-ticked boxes for additional software in the rush to install a new app. However, there are ways to avoid them.

Only install software from reputable, well-known sources. Microsoft’s own app store – now called the Microsoft Store and found on the Windows 11 Taskbar – has been a vacuum in recent years, but Microsoft has made a big effort to make the Store a one-stop shop for all kinds of applications in Windows 11. If you’ve struggled to find the applications you need in the past, it might be worth another look. You can be assured that any app installed via the Microsoft Store won’t come with any unwanted baggage.

Alternatively, those more comfortable with the Command Line might prefer the Windows Package Manager. Those familiar with Linux should be right at home with the Package Manager. Once installed, it essentially allows you to install applications using a simple line of code, again avoiding any risk of something undesirable being bundled in with the application you wanted.

Installing an application becomes as simple as opening a Command Prompt and typing: winget install < appname > (without the spaces before and after appname).

Only certain apps are available via this route. You can find out more about the Windows 11 Package Manager here.

Don’t shut down Windows 11

Windows used to have a poor reputation for chewing through laptop batteries, even when the lid was shut and the computer was supposed to be sleeping. With help from modern hardware, things have massively improved in this department, meaning there’s really no need to fully shut down your PC if you’re not going to need it for a while – even for a whole weekend.

The graph displayed above shows the battery depletion for a Windows 11 laptop that was left in sleep/hibernation for almost four days. As you can see, the battery barely depleted at all during that period, and when we picked it up on the fourth day, it was ready to go from the instant we logged in. That’s much quicker than going through the full startup routine that a full shutdown would have required.

All that said, if you do find performance is getting a bit sticky with your PC, sometimes a shut down and restart is all it needs to restore its zip.

Tweak Windows 11's performance settings

Windows 11 has a selection of performance settings that are well hidden, but could make a noticeable difference to the responsiveness of the PC if you’re running the OS on a computer that just scrapes past the minimum hardware requirements.

To find these settings, open the Control Panel and then use the Search Control Panel bar in the top-right of that window to search for ‘performance’. Click on Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows.

Here, you’ll get a whole host of options to choose from, but if you choose to tick Adjust for best performance it will turn everything off. That’s overkill, as it switches off features such as ‘smooth edges of screen fonts’, which can make the onscreen typefaces very jagged and difficult to read.

Experiment with different options, but the ones most likely to boost performance are things such as animations, menu fades, and shadows under windows.

Switch Windows 11 into Best Performance battery mode

If you’re running a laptop on battery power, Windows 11 will, by default, throw the laptop into a ‘balanced’ power mode that compromises on performance to avoid the battery taking a hammering.

However, if your battery is fully charged and you need all the processing power you can lay your hands on to complete an intensive task, such as video rendering, you might want to throw the laptop into ‘best performance’ mode. To do this, go to Settings > Power & battery, and under Power mode select ‘best performance’.

This should give you the same level of performance as if the laptop were plugged in. Do keep an eye on the battery though, as it can dwindle pretty quickly when the system is being pushed to limit.

Alongside this tweak, we also have a few tips for improving laptop speed overall, which might also help improve your experience using Windows 11.

Microsoft is ending support for the OneDrive desktop application for users of older Windows versions starting in 2022.

Updates for the personal version of the application will cease on 1 January 2022 for anyone still using Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.

Microsoft suggests upgrading to a newer version of its operating system (OS) to keep the same secure experience, according to a blog post making the announcement.

OneDrive for business users will receive support for the desktop application aligned with the respective support lifecycles of the OS their devices run.

Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users will see extended support until 10 January 2023, while Windows 8 reached the end of support on 12 January 2016.

All personal OneDrive applications will stop syncing to the cloud on 1 March 2022 as Microsoft appears to be making the next step towards shifting its users to newer versions of Windows.

All files stored locally on the OneDrive desktop app will remain accessible in the app however, users will either have to upgrade to a newer OS or upload their files via OneDrive for web in order to sync files to the cloud.

Mainstream support ended for Windows 8 in 2016, Windows 8.1 two years later in 2018, and Windows 7 in 2020 - the more popular of the three versions.

Microsoft announced earlier this year, ahead of the Windows 11 launch announcement, that Windows 10 will also be going 'end of life' in 2025.

Currently, the most popular OS used worldwide, Windows 10 has just a few years of security updates left before the 14 October 2025 end date.

Windows 11 launched on 5 October 2022 with a new look and strong UI improvements, such as better window management. Experts said at the time there was a strong likelihood that businesses will be slow to adopt the new OS - perhaps taking a year or longer - due to concerns over availability and app compatibility.

Hackers are exploiting a flaw in the BillQuick Web Suite, a time and billing system from BQE Software, to deploy ransomware.

According to a blog post by security researchers at Huntress, cyber criminals were able to exploit CVE-2021-42258 to gain initial access to a US engineering company and deploy ransomware across the victim’s network.

BQE Software has a user base of 400,000 users worldwide. At the time of writing, it's not known who the hackers behind the exploit are.

According to Caleb Stewart, a security researcher for Huntress Labs, researchers were first made aware of the issue when several ransomware “canary files” were tripped within an engineering company’s environment that was managed by one of Huntress’s partners. These files were set up to trigger alerts if they’re changed, moved, or deleted.

Further investigations found Microsoft Defender antivirus alerts indicating malicious activity as the MSSQLSERVER$ service account. This, according to Stewart, indicated the possibility of a web application being exploited to gain initial access.

“The server in question hosted BillQuick Web Suite 2020 (WS2020), and the connection logs indicated a foreign IP repeatedly sending POST requests to the web server logon endpoint, leading up to the initial compromise,” said Stewart.

The researchers suspected that a bad actor was attempting to exploit BillQuick, so then began a process of reverse engineering of the web application to trace the attacker’s steps. With a local copy of the app, researchers identified concatenated SQL queries.

“Essentially, this function allows a user to control the query that’s sent to the MSSQL database - which in this case, enables blind SQL injection via the application’s main login form,” said Stewart.

Researchers were then able to recreate the victim’s environment and validate simple security tools like sqlmap easily obtained sensitive data from the BillQuick server without authentication.

“Because these versions of BillQuick used the sa (System Administrator) MSSQL user for database authentication, this SQL injection also allowed the use of the xp_cmdshell procedure to remotely execute code on the underlying Windows operating system,” said Stewart.

The firm has been in contact with BQE Software, which has since patched the flaw. It is still working with the company on “multipleother security concerns”.

Despite BQE Software’s cooperation, Stewart said other well-established vendors are doing “very little to proactively secure their applications and subject their unwitting customers to significant liability when sensitive data is inevitably leaked and/or ransomed”.

“In 2021, it’s still extremely common for vendors to sweep cyber security issues under the rug; we have the impression that BQE is taking our feedback seriously,” he added.

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The popularity of serverless strategies is growing because they provides the opportunity for faster time to market by dynamically and automatically allocating compute and memory based on user requests.

A serverless strategy also provides cost savings through hands-off infrastructure management, which enables organisations to redirect IT budget and development resources from operations to innovation.

In 2019, Deloitte introduced a framework for comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) for both serverless and server-based applications, factoring in infrastructure, development, and maintenance costs. Read this eBook to learn more about the TCO of serverless and server-based apps.

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Organisations want to innovate faster with modern mobile and web applications that delight customers and support employees.

Development teams must meet the ever-rising bar for user experience and complex cloud features—while delivering a scalable, secure, high-performance app at low cost—which is no easy feat.

Download this whitepaper to get started.

Google unveiled more app integrations and security controls for its Workspace productivity suite during its Cloud Next 21 conference on Tuesday.

The company unveiled two new third-party integrations for its Workplace suite and more customer control for Google Meet encryption.

There are now around 5,300 third-party apps available for users to integrate with various Workspace tools, according to Google. One of the newest is an integration of two collaboration tools, Chat and Spaces (formally Chat Rooms), and Atlassian's popular work management app Jira. This is a bot integration that lets Jira users create new tickets within the Chat and Spaces apps and also monitor issues and view Jira previews.

"Modern work requires people to switch contexts and tools faster than ever before," said Joff Redfern, the CEO of Atlassian. "We believe an open ecosystem and tight integrations among the tools that users rely on every day is vital to their success.

"Since 2017, our Trello integration with Gmail has been installed by more than seven million people. Today, we are excited to build on the partnership between Atlassian and Google to propel work collaboration further with the integration of Jira with Google Chat and Spaces."

The tech giant has also added an integration that connects Google's email platform, Gmail, with its no-code dev offering AppSheet. Google acquired AppSheet in January 2020, and it lets users create visual applications based on data in Workspace apps. Its Gmail integration lets Workspace users interact with AppSheet apps directly from their inbox, making it easier for workers to input relevant data or approve requests without switching screens.

There were also a number of security updates for Workspace, such as client-side encryption for Google Meet, which aims to give customers more direct control over encryption keys and the identity service they use to access them. Additionally, the firm also announced Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Google Chat which should help prevent sensitive and confidential information from leaking outside of an organisation.

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Modernise and accelerate application delivery by migrating your traditional virtualised workloads directly into container-based workflows within Red Hat OpenShift.

With Red Hat OpenShift, teams can achieve greater resilience and high performance for virtual machine-based workloads. Supporting this virtualisation will require persistent storage solutions, however, which provide data resilience, live migration, and more.

Download this resource to see how Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage compares to a competitive storage alternative.

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Migrating to microservices is a key step to speeding up development and innovation, and Red Hat Runtimes - a collection of cloud-native and enterprise standard runtimes for developing Java and JavaScript applications - can help take the headache out of the process.

This whitepaper is based on the findings of IDC interviews with organisations using Red Hat Runtimes solutions, revealing how using Runtimes as a foundation for applications in hybrid and multi cloud environments has increased agility and performance.

Download this report now to see how Red Hat Runtimes can:

• Improve application delivery time for DevOps and development teams
• Reduce operational risk
• Optimise direct platform and infrastructure costs

With NSX Advanced Load Balancer, teams don’t have to choose between over provisioning and potentially having insufficient load-balancing capacity. In fact, IDC's analysis shows that study participants are achieving significant value with NSX Advanced Load Balancer worth an annual average of $4.11 million per organisation by:

• Reducing the cost of providing application delivery and load-balancing resources

• Sharply reducing the time needed to deliver new load-balancing capacity

• Supporting the business with elastic scalability and improved network performance

Download this whitepaper to find out more.

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Legacy hardware-based load balancers don’t meet modern enterprise application delivery requirements in a multi-cloud environment.

You need a modern software multi-cloud load balancer which separates the data and control plane to deliver application services beyond traditional load balancing solutions. Services such as real-time application analytics, security and monitoring, predictive autoscaling of application traffic, hybrid and multi-cloud global server load balancing, and end-to-end automation.

Download this eBook and learn how to:

• Deliver consistent services across multi-cloud environments

• Enable elastic on-demand autoscaling

• Automate routine application delivery tasks

• Gain real-time visibility and analytics

• Empower developers with self-service

• Simplify advanced security management

• Modernise microservices app delivery

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Today at SpringOne, Microsoft and VMware announced a new managed Spring Cloud service, Spring Cloud Enterprise running on Azure.

Building on the 2019 launch of Azure Spring Cloud, before Pivotal’s acquisition by VMware, it adds elements of VMware’s Tanzu with a focus on enterprise management. A private preview will be launching sometime later in 2021.

Azure Spring Cloud is designed to support running Spring Boot applications at scale, with Microsoft managing security updates, monitoring, and scaling, and it's so far been a successful offering, with customers like Digital Realty and Swiss Re.

There’s a lot of experience with Spring, with many big enterprise users running thousands of applications that have yet to be moved to the cloud and with nearly 60% of Java developers using Spring. In order for them to start this transition, they need additional tooling to support running and modernising these existing applications.

By adding VMware Tanzu tools to the existing Spring Cloud service, Azure Spring Cloud Enterprise is intended to fill this gap, adding an extra tier to the existing Basic and Standard offerings. While the underlying Azure infrastructure remains much the same, the new service initially adds support for Tanzu’s Build, Application Configuration, and Service Registry services. Spring Cloud Gateway and Spring Cloud Data Flow are planned for future updates. These tools will make it easier for customers to automate container creation and operations with Buildpacks, simplifying moving on-premises applications to Azure.

Jean Atelsek from 451 Research notes that Microsoft’s intent to focus on Spring Boot applications running on managed Kubernetes is key: “It is a best-of-both-worlds proposition, enabling quick builds using sensible defaults and accelerators but also allowing companies to tailor software to fit into their IT environments.”

At the same time, Lara Greden from IDC points out the benefits of bundling: “By recognising the importance of a fully supported experience for developers and architecture teams and with a pricing scheme similar to the Kubernetes offerings, the companies have put a beneficial wrapper on an already valuable set of technical capabilities.”

The new service also includes expanded support, with VMware offering Spring Runtime support services on top of Microsoft’s existing Azure support offerings.

Xero has unveiled its own app store designed to make it easier for small businesses to access software, such as accounting tools and CRM platforms.

Available at apps.xero.com, the Xero App Store lets customers find, trial, and buy apps, while also supporting the growth of its app partners.

This includes ​​workforce management platform Planday, which Xero acquired in March for €183.5 million (£158.5 million) in its biggest deal to date, as well as payment platforms such as PayPal and UK-based decacorn Wise.

Customers will be able to choose between over 1,000 apps based on their industry and functions, which range from accounting and CRM to inventory management and time tracking.

Xero's Executive General Manager of Ecosystem, Nick Houldsworth, said that the company had “been building towards the Xero App Store launch over the past 18 months and are excited to see the impact of this enhanced experience for our customers and partners”.

"The Xero App Store now provides strong foundations for encouraging greater digital transformation, while democratising access to technology for small businesses. As Xero scales globally, this is reflected in the calibre of services offered by our partners in the Xero App Store,” he added.

The cloud-based accounting software firm also announced that, starting today, app partners based in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand will have access to new subscription and billing capabilities allowing Xero customers to pay and manage their apps in one place. It will also benefit early-stage developers by simplifying the development process. The function will be rolled out in the US and Canada in the next 12 months, followed by Asia and South Africa, the company added.

Commenting on the launch, Xero chief executive Steve Vamos said that the company’s “vision for the Xero App Store is to be the place where small businesses go to discover and buy apps that complement Xero, and the place to help developers grow their business”.

“Today’s milestone is exciting because better connecting Xero’s platform to external apps — whether it’s to manage inventory, receipts or their customer relationships — is a powerful enabler for small businesses looking to grow, manage their workflows or digitally transform their business. With these improvements, we can better connect small businesses and developers to each other, in smarter and more seamless ways,” he added.

Infostretch and Unqork have signed a new pact to help businesses accelerate application design and development.

Unqork's all-visual and no-code platform helps organizations develop custom enterprise applications up to three times faster, without forgoing quality.

Per the new deal, Infostretch will link its digital engineering services with Unqork’s zero-code platform. Specifically, Infostrech and Unqork aim to help enterprises develop applications of any size and complexity.

The Infostrech-Unqork partnership is also geared towards helping organizations update and digitize their legacy systems. Notable platform capabilities include greater control over release processes, secure deployment, and improved compliance.

“Digital businesses continuously need to evolve to maximize opportunities for growth and innovation. There’s a catch, though - software teams struggle to keep up with the twin demands of maintaining business as usual and innovating digital products, until now. Unqork’s radically simple no-code platform enables large enterprises to build custom, enterprise-grade software faster, with higher quality and at a lower cost,” explained Rutesh Shah, co-founder and CEO of Infostretch.

Due to its intuitive drag-and-drop programming interface, Unqork significantly reduces errors in enterprise software, with fewer than 600 bugs per software unit. Additionally, the platform promises 99.99% uptime. The result is an optimized time-to-market, cost, and maintenance for both customer-facing and internal applications.

“As enterprises face continued pressure to digitize and modernize their operations, more and more are turning to no-code to fuel their digital transformations,” said Christian Barrera, vice president of alliances and ecosystem at Unqork.

“We’re excited to partner with Infostretch to help accelerate the adoption of Unqork, and help our joint customers bring new, higher-quality software to market faster and for less.”

As organisations shift to new distributed workforce models, new challenges have emerged requiring new solutions.

On-premises, physical infrastructure does not support the new, remote work model; however, organisations still need to leverage existing infrastructure investments even as they transition to cloud solutions. VMware Horizon Control Plane Services can manage virtual desktops from multiple locations, including on-premises, private or public hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Download this whitepaper to learn about the following:

• Universal brokering
• Image management
• Application management
• Monitoring
• Lifecycle management

Microsoft has finally called time on its Cortana mobile app, with users in the US no longer able to access reminders and lists created in it as of today.

The company originally revealed plans to retire the app in November 2019 and it ceased to operate in the UK and other non-US territories on 31 January 2020.

US users were initially given a reprieve, but in July last year Microsoft announced it would retire all third-party support of the AI tool after 31 March 2021.

This isn’t the end of Cortana, at least not for now. According to Microsoft, the virtual assistant, which was launched in 2014, will continue “its evolution as a productivity assistant”.

The move was fueled by the product proving to be less successful among consumers compared to rivals such as Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa. At the same time, Microsoft also acknowledged the popularity of competitors’ tools by allowing them to become more accessible on Windows 10. Since September 2019, users have been able to open their laptops as well as Amazon Echo devices by calling out 'Alexa', while Cortana had been moved into a separate app in the Microsoft store and away from the built-in search experience in the operating system.

Sunsetting the Cortana mobile app is in line with Microsoft’s ambitions to transform Cortana into an enterprise-focused tool. In 2019, CEO Satya Nadella said that Microsoft envisions Cortana as an assistant to Office 365, which is also primarily a desktop-focused product, rather than a mobile one.

Last year, Microsoft announced the decision to improve Cortana’s integration with Office 365 by allowing users to manage their calendars and email using voice commands. The tech giant also combined Cortana functionalities with Microsoft Teams, making it possible to join meetings, make a call, share files with colleagues, and even send chat messages using the virtual assistant.

Google has announced a number of new features for Chrome OS to mark the operating system's 10th birthday, including some new ones for enterprise users.

Starting today, businesses can download the Chrome OS Readiness Tool to help them identify which Windows devices in their organisation are ready to switch fully to Chrome OS and which need support from VDI or Parallels Desktop.

This is a free, completely private and customisable tool that allows enterprises to see if apps are compatible or whether they are cloud-ready or not.

Organisations can also now configure over 500 policies in the Google Admin console. New policies have been added over the past year including those affecting new security, updates, accessibility, network file sharing and more. Importantly, all policies default to a Google recommended setting ensuring that users only have to set up the ones they need.

Moreover, to help enterprises configure their policies at scale, Chrome is launching the Chrome Policy API. This allows user and printer settings to be managed via an API and enables users to configure settings through a script or command line. Chrome is looking to expand this in the future so it also applies to apps, extensions and device settings too.

These new additions come on top of other features announced including the Phone Hub, where users can respond to their phone messages, check its battery life and even locate it from their Chromebook.

In the coming months, the company plans to release “Nearby share”, a feature that allows users to securely share files between a Chromebook and other Chrome OS or Android devices without needing to share contact details.

These new features come after Google announced in December it was teaming up with other tech giants such as Intel and Dell to form the Modern Computing Alliance. The group hopes to foster greater collaboration and integration between their different systems.

IDC Research hails the recently launched IBM Maximo Application Suite, which provides asset monitoring, maintenance and reliability applications in one single integrated platform, as a "bold move in the right direction for IBM".

Read IDC's point of view on the new Maximo solution, with a particular focus on the flexibility of multi-cloud deployment as well as the new licensing model that helps businesses scale up by easily installing additional applications as needed.

Hybrid, multi-cloud adoption is only growing, and with it, an increasing number of data, applications, and workloads are moving to cloud. As more employees work from home and interactions shift from in-person to online, cloud usage is expected to hit a new high.

To keep critical business information safe, security analysts need complete visibility into their entire IT ecosystem—networks, applications, and activities—running on premises and in the cloud. They need the ability to detect threats in real time, identify the use of unauthorised cloud services, and gain clear visibility into whether their cloud accounts and resources are properly configured to maintain security.

The IBM Security QRadar security information and event management (SIEM) solution offers deep integrations with multiple cloud services, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Salesforce.com, Microsoft Office 365, IBM Cloud®, and more.

Learn more about how the QRadar solution can help you secure your cloud environment in this whitepaper.

Acer has unveiled its latest Chromebook, the Spin 514, which sees the company drop their usual chip provider Intel in favour of rival AMD for the first time.

The Chromebook Spin 514 is Acer’s first offering to come with AMD Ryzen 3000 C-Series Mobile Processors as well as AMD Radeon graphics.

Apart from new processors, the new Chromebook features a narrow-bezel 14-inch Full HD Corning Gorilla Glass touch display, newly-designed keys for improved typing, Google Assistant, and up to 10 hours of battery life. The device weighs 1.55 kg and comes with up to 16 GB DDR4 DRAM and up to 256 GB storage.

The Spin 514 is also offered in Acer’s Enterprise version which comes with comprehensive security features allowing IT administrators to easily control updates, configure apps, and update policies. Featuring Chrome’s zero-touch enrollment, the device can be drop-shipped to users and automatically enrolled into an enterprise's network as soon as it’s connected to the internet.

Acer’s IT Products Business general manager James Lin said that “the pairing of AMD Ryzen Mobile Processors with a durable design makes the new Acer Chromebook Spin 514 an excellent choice for users that need to get work done at home”.

“Users will be blown away by the new level of responsiveness and performance provided by the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 with AMD Ryzen Mobile Processors. Plus, the Ryzen 7 3700C Processor offers the best graphics available in an AMD-powered Chromebook, so our customers can take advantage of the growing range of apps and extensions to tackle even more challenging projects,” he added.

AMD has experienced phenomenal success since Dr Lisa Su took over as CEO from Rory Read in 2014. At the time, the company’s stock price hovered at around $3 per share, while today, it surpassed $95 per share – the highest it’s ever been.

However, despite its move to AMD, a company spokesperson confirmed to IT Pro that Acer “will continue to use Intel processors” across its range of products.

The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 is expected to become available in North America next month starting at $479.9, and in EMEA in March 2021, starting at EUR529 and £499. The Spin 514’s Enterprise version (CP514-1WH) will launch in March 2021, its prices starting at $749.99, EUR 799 and £599.

Almost a dozen tech giants have come together to create an organisation dedicated to fostering greater collaboration and integration between their different systems, from chipmaking to cloud computing.

The Modern Computing Alliance has been established to steer the wider industry towards a more collaborative culture, based on the understanding that innovation will depend on such principles to a much greater extent.

The full complement of founding members including Google, Intel, Box, Citrix, Dell, Imprivata, Okta, RingCentral, Slack, Zoom, and VMware will seek to shape thinking around areas such as security, but will also devise an investment strategy.

“By bringing together an alliance of the leaders from silicon-to-cloud we can shape the vision of computing together,” said Chrome OS VP & GM John Solomon.

“The mission of the Modern Computing Alliance is to provide a solution from silicon to the cloud that is truly differentiated. It provides users choice of applications they want to run, and is integrated, so you get that great seamless experience.”

This silicon-to-cloud vision will involve crafting a seamless pathway for businesses to navigate spanning hardware, operating systems, web browsers, security and management, virtualisation, and applications.

The Modern Computing Alliance also provides a platform and a forum for the industry’s biggest names to come together and be more effective when thinking about devising new standards, business processes, or reacting to changes in the landscape.

“The purpose of the Modern Computing Alliance is to work together with leading industry partners to create an actionable plan that will address the evolving needs of our commercial customers,” added Intel’s VP and GM Chris Walker.

Companies like VMware will provide a bridge from legacy to modern security, while the organisation will allow for better integrations and interoperability between apps such as Slack and Box with services provided by firms like Google.

Dell’s involvement will be based on giving customers a better Chrome OS experience on its hardware, with the company planning to collaborate with other partners to innovate for Chrome OS in its broader ecosystem. Intel, meanwhile, will serve as a founding silicon member, while RingCentral will offer to far more easily integrate its communications services into complementary platforms.

The group’s mindset is also geared towards thinking about ways to innovate and collaborate in the distant as well as near future, in order to ensure the future business landscape is one of interoperability and cloud-first in nature.

On Thursday, software development company Mobisoft announced the release of NEMT Pulse, a non-emergency medical transportation app.

NEMT Pulse will help people who’ve tested positive for COVID-19 travel from their current location to their designated quarantine spot safely. The app’s interface can help schools, hospitals and community health centers arrange isolated rides for individuals who need transportation to their quarantine location.

The program uses a three-way interface with a driver app, a patient app and a web admin portal. Providers can use the admin portal to schedule rides and manage patient and driver profiles.

Patients can choose the type of ride they need and monitor the driver’s progress while they wait, much like an Uber or Lyft. It can even incorporate a feature for contactless face detection and includes an SOS button.

"We pivoted our NEMT software that could be implemented to safely meet the needs of those affected by COVID-19," said Shail Sinhasane, CEO of Mobisoft. "This app provides a solution to ensure individuals who have tested positive can get to their quarantine location with one less thing to worry about."

The app is already in use in a few areas: a community health center in California and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign uses NEMT Pulse to schedule transportation for students moving to and from isolation and quarantine spaces in residence halls.

University students who test positive or who public health officials have determined must quarantine due to contact tracing can request transportation via a website. The university follows virus prevention protocols established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vetting the drivers’ tests statuses and designating specific vehicles for this service.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in tech innovations in recent months. Apps for contact tracing showed up last month. The virus has also led to an increase in remote work, causing tech companies to improve video conferencing through AI-based automated transcription and fun background effects and captions. NEMPT Pulse is yet another innovative solution to problems created by the current pandemic.

Adobe has urged Windows and macOS users to update their Acrobat and Reader applications after discovering that they contained flaws that could be exploited to execute arbitrary code.

Among the critical vulnerabilities are a heap-based buffer overflow (CVE-2020-24435), an arbitrary JavaScript execution (CVE-2020-24432), an out-of-bounds write bug (CVE-2020-24436) and two use-after free flaws (CVE-2020-24430 and CVE-2020-24437).

There are also bugs that allow local privilege escalation, including an improper access control flaw (CVE-2020-24433), a signature-verification bypass problem (CVE-2020-24429) and a race-condition flaw (CVE-2020-24428).

Another severe flaw comes from a security feature bypass that could enable dynamic library injection (CVE-2020-24431).

The flaws affect Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader DC Continuous versions 2020.012.20048 and earlier; (for Windows and macOS); Acrobat and Acrobat Reader Classic 2020 versions 2020.001.30005 and earlier (for Windows and macOS) and Acrobat and Acrobat Reader Classic 2017 versions 2017.011.30175 and earlier (for Windows and macOS).

Adobe said that users can update applications to Acrobat DC and Acrobat Reader DC Continuous version 2020.013.20064; Acrobat and Acrobat Reader Classic 2020 version 2020.001.30010 and Acrobat and Acrobat Reader Classic 2017 version 2017.011.30180.

The company has also removed all Flash components from its PDF products. In its listing of top new features, the firm said that Flash is now deprecated and no longer used in Acrobat.

“The various options available in a Form response file that were Flash dependent — Update, Filter, Export (All/Selected), Archive (All/Selected), Add, and Delete — are no longer available. These options are now replaced with the secondary toolbar having options to Update, Add, Delete, Export, and Archive the responses,” read the web page.

In addition, Adobe's PDFMaker menu in Microsoft's Word and PowerPoint apps have lost the Insert Media button. This enabled Office users to embed Flash content in documents.

"By default, Microsoft has disabled the ability to add Flash or Rich media content in the Office documents. If your document already has flash content embedded in it, Acrobat prevents embedding of Flash or Rich media in the converted PDF file and adds an image instead," read the web page.

"If you have enabled the Flash content in Microsoft documents, Acrobat adds a blank box in the converted PDF file."

With the development of cloud-native applications comes opportunity for advanced container architecture and service platforms, such as microservices-based architecture. Organisations are pushing cloud-specific strategies to differentiate themselves and deliver better business outcomes.

One major issue, though, is that DevOps teams are moving at a faster pace than traditional security can keep up with, and organisations are waking up to the fact that they will need new security techniques to protect and manage agile cloud development ecosystems.

This whitepaper outlines four ways to ensure your business’ cloud platforms are as secure as possible, without slowing down DevOps, so that you can continue to drive business success and innovation unhindered.

Technology leaders are responsible for determining which technologies will deliver the most value for the business—and how to prioritise IT investments in the midst of unprecedented change. Now, more than ever, the IT foundation powering the enterprise must be flexible, agile, and available—anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

The market is experiencing a massive shift in the way applications are built, run and managed. Along with these advances comes the reality of balancing the future state of existing applications with the expectations for new app portfolios and services.

This executive guide delivers a balanced approach to the app modernisation conversation, with best practices and guidance on the unique pathways and strategies that technology and app leaders can take to leverage and extend the value of both new and legacy applications to drive growth and differentiation.

Apps are constantly changing — and they quickly spread across your network. You need an ADC that can support hybrid cloud and application delivery in new ways with new technologies to create opportunities for innovation as your enterprise strives toward digital transformation.

How do you create a strategy for your networking and app delivery strategy?

This eBook identifies ADC key considerations for:

• Hybrid Cloud
• New generation application architecture
• Emerging security threats
• Infrastructure and app interdependence

Low-code is a visual approach to software development that enables the delivery of applications with minimal hand-coding. The approach is certainly proving popular. In 2020 the low-code development market sizes $13.2 billion, with this figure forecast to soar to $45.5 billion by 2025, helping to support incremental growth in software spend as a whole.

Good reason lays behind the surging trend-of-the-day, low-code, with a set of compelling business benefits on offer. To discover how low-code has the capability to enhance your business with its development pursuits, read on.

Wider range of people can contribute

By nature, low-code democratises the development process by empowering employees outside traditional IT teams to have continuous input into the application delivery process. Collaboration is encouraged as anybody within the organisation is able to contribute, no matter their IT skills (or, lack of).

This is made possible as low-code offers visual development, usually in the form of drag-and-drop interfaces, which makes it possible to build apps without code. Even for those without a technical background whatsoever, pre-built modules can be used to construct simple applications without input from developers at any stage.

In this way, low-code harbours the collective creative might of an organisation, deconstructing the barriers which would otherwise separate IT teams. Visual development also ensures projects don’t become distorted as instructions are relayed from team to team. Instead of a screen brimming with unintelligible code, non-IT professionals are greeted with user-friendly interfaces allowing them to closely follow the process even if they aren’t involved in constructing. The result is a finished product that mirrors the initial concept.

Reduces hand-coding

Hand-coding refers to the writing of functional code. Producing applications entirely in this way is a time-consuming process and can result in error-strewn applications; even still, many applications are still built along this approach.

Low-code gives developers a headstart by offering catalogues of pre-built modules in the visual environment, ensuring they don’t have to hand-code entire applications. Time spent on development is shortened, while developers don’t have to bother writing and rewriting mundane blocks of code. As low-code is a flexible approach, experienced developers can in this way rely on the pre-built modules for the fundamentals, then choose to switch to hand-coding for the more particular elements of design, for instance when something isn’t included in the solutions design library.

Essentially, by reducing the amount of hand-coding developers have to undertake, they are given the gift of time. Projects can be more tightly defined, ensuring they are fit for purpose, while developers can focus on more valuable segments.

App autonomy

For many organisations, particularly those falling into the SMB category, when it comes to development they suffer from a common problem: how to deliver applications fast and flawlessly without hordes of in-house developers. Off-the-shelf solutions are typically expensive, while freelance developers bring their own challenges.

Low-code allows even smaller organisations to produce tailor-made applications without input from innumerable developers. That’s because the low-code approach is much more efficient. Less people are needed to complete the process. And for those with an oversized development department, teams can be stripped down leading to quick cost savings.

In short, low-code development hands autonomy back to the business. They can produce the application they need to fulfil a business need, with fuss, cost and time kept to a minimum.

Agility

Identifying new business needs is key in moving organisations forward. Yet conventional approaches to developing the necessary applications to resolve these needs are cumbersome and protracted.

A business team will identify a new business need, then contact another team for a solution. Procurement teams can search for off-the-shelf solutions, or alternatively IT teams can begin development. However, off-the-shelf solutions can be expensive and difficult to integrate, while typical application development doesn’t provide a visual representation of progress; only after resources have been piled into the process does the business team realise whether the application fits their requirements.

Conversely, the low-code approach is capable of building and testing concepts quickly, meaning that as new business needs are identified they are fast-tracked to the boardroom. The quicker the concept gains approval, the quicker it can be deployed for the business’s benefit; or otherwise, the idea can be shelved without much wasted time and effort, and work on the next concept can begin.

The agility that low-code provides keeps businesses nimble enough to respond to evolving markets, ensuring opportunities can be capitalised upon.

What’s more, research shows that IT teams often have to refuse requests for new products as simply they lack the time to fulfil them. Often their time is spent working through backlogs rather than looking ahead. By quickening the development process, low-code empowers developers to work on the front-foot

Businesses must respond in new ways to survive and thrive against start-ups and other industry disruptors. They need to be prepared for anything, and shaped to adapt and evolve. Business leaders are placing increased demands on IT, but legacy infrastructure, applications and processes are holding them back from innovating effectively.

To increase agility, IT must leverage historical investments and securely unlock the value of the Microsoft cloud. With a focus on designing human-centered applications, those who adopt cloud native approaches can become Ready by Design.

This guide sets out how CIOs can adapt and evolve with cloud native: an ongoing journey that represents the best practices you will adopt in your IT strategy.

Download it now to learn how to position your organisation to create new business models, achieve faster time-to-market, and increase business agility with a cloud native infrastructure.

As global workloads accelerate, the need for greater agility and global deployment options have driven public cloud to be increasingly more attractive to customers. Customers view public clouds as a way to gain the flexibility and speed to respond to changing business needs, accelerate innovation and align costs.

But before reaping the benefits of public cloud businesses need to successfully move there. This is easier said than done. The first step is often the hardest, which is making the decision to move to the cloud at all. Once the decision is made, complexity abounds as companies struggle to adapt and migrate applications to run in a cloud environment.

This whitepaper supports those considering migrating applications to the cloud by helping them understand the challenges and how to choose the right solution to fit business’ needs.

Cloud-based subscription services are the key components of the modern business’ toolbox, embodying the screwdrivers and spanners necessary to construct a digital workspace. As such, they should be viewed as central to any digital transformation strategy.

Microsoft’s cloud offering Office 365 hit 200 million users in FY20 Q1, dwarfing it’s main competitor G-Suite. However, while Google’s cloud suite is but a drop in Office 365’s ocean, G-Suite is rapidly snapping up market share, and not necessarily to Office 365’s detriment.

That’s because the market’s growth is incremental. Year upon year, demand for cloud-based subscription services intensifies. In the past decade, AWS has emerged as a rival to Microsoft’s throne, while other applications have firmly embedded themselves within the enterprise, such as Salesforce, evidencing a trend which is showing no signs of slowing.

Building a future workspace begins with the deployment of cloud-based services, each offering a particular tool or set of tools which support a workflow. The best are those which are easily integrated with existing and additional applications; better still are single cloud-based, enterprise-wide services that provide a single-pane-of-glass approach, delivering a unified experience for both workers and customers alike.

Read on to learn which cloud-based tools are needed to deliver an optimised digital workspace for your business.

Workflow hub

Centralised collaboration tools are quickly becoming the heart of the digital workplace, providing a platform which often acts as the focal point of otherwise disparate cloud applications; all bridges - should they stem from email, analytics, or storage - lead to the workflow hub.

For example, Microsoft Teams is able to host the Office 365 toolset, facilitating a more collaborative, productive, and efficient way for users, teams and businesses to work; instead of jumping between apps, tools are accessed from one simple-to-operate platform, easing usability and boosting productivity.

Microsoft Teams is jockeying for market share with Slack. Though Slack outdates Teams, recently the scales have tipped in Teams’ favour. Workplace from Facebook is the new kid on the block, offering similar file-sharing, storage, and communication functionalities.

Storage

The aforementioned workflow hub equips users with file-sharing abilities through its instant communication channels, however often - as is the case with Slack, for example - shared files are downloaded straight onto servers.

Having a cloud-based file hosting tool allows employees to share documents and collaborate online, with files being downloaded securely and directly to the cloud.

Microsoft offers OneDrive as a core element of Office 365, a tool able to securely store files that can then be accessed by remote workers, regardless of their physical location. Documents uploaded to OneDrive can then be distributed by SharePoint, Office 365’s document management and storage system that integrates smoothly with the wider Microsoft Office suite.

Google does things a little differently. Sheets instead of Excel, Docs replace Word, and files are uploaded to Google Drive. Interestingly enough, Google has announced plans to add Microsoft Office file format support to its range of apps, adding an element of versatility to suite of collaboration tools.

Email

Email is obviously nothing new, but the advantages of embedding your system within a cloud application can transform a lethargic communication medium into a management tool, one that includes helpful additions such as a calendar, a task manager, and a web browser.

Hosting email systems in the cloud also brings additional backup and security features, while also bringing about a reduction in maintenance costs through rendering physical servers obsolete.

Business intelligence

Cloud-based tools don’t only allow employees to make better, faster decisions by smoothing communication channels. Business intelligence/analytics tools can be employed which use an organisation’s data to help employees make informed decisions.

Microsoft’s Power BI, part of the Office 365 suite, transforms data into a more visual form, making distinct analysis easy, while additionally allowing users to create bespoke reports and dashboards.

Cloud-based business intelligence is quickly becoming an integral part of digital transformation strategies, with an all-time high of 48% of organisations stating cloud business intelligence and analytics was important to their operations in 2019.

Reporting tools

The digital transformation process is overseeing migration en masse of applications to the cloud, and there’s no denying that this surfaces problems, cementing the role of reporting tools within the enterprise.

Reporting tools such as JIRA provide a centralised dashboard which employees navigate to post and resolve tickets, typically related to internal IT infrastructural issues. Whilst cloud versions of popular reporting tools may come with caveats such as limited capability, the general advantages of cloud-based applications apply, from lower costs resulting from cheaper and easier maintenance caused by not having to deal with servers, to backup solutions being easily implemented.

Cost savings and efficiency gains have traditionally been the drivers for cloud migration and application modernisation. However, more recently the goals have evolved from reducing costs and driving efficiency gains to increasing business speed, agility, innovation and performance.

This whitepaper examines the challenges that organisations with legacy IT and multicloud environments face, and how IBM's cloud application migration and modernisation services can help organisations establish, cultivate and nurture a long-standing cloud solution.

Download it now to learn how to foster rapid business innovation and elevate business performance whilst fully harnessing the benefits that modernised applications can offer.

Business pressures demand faster time to market and app modernisation. The best approach to modernisation depends on your existing estate. Modernisation approaches include refactoring into cloud-native microservices and replatforming traditional apps on container platforms.

This field guide provides a high-level overview of IBM’s application modernisation approach, including how to:

• Accelerate digital transformation
• Change the developer experience
• Accelerate delivery
• Deploy enterprise applications on hybrid cloud platforms

Three out of four applications produced by software vendors fail to meet the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top 10 standards when initially assessed for security, with over 60% of internally developed applications also failing to achieve compliance.

That's according to research from application security firm Veracode, which has recently published its How do vulnerabilities get into software report. The report continues to attest application vulnerabilities to faults present within the development process, which are consequently exacerbated and capitalised on by an ever-shifting threat landscape.

Exponential demand resulting from heavy reliance on software applications in the modern enterprise is creating a problem for development teams both in-house and within vendor companies.

Pressure is building constantly for developers to construct functional code, at a faster and faster rate. As functionality and speed are prioritised, security requirements are pushed back. In the worst cases, they are entirely foregone, with Veracode's report stating that 30% of companies don't scan for vulnerabilities during code development at any point.

Vulnerable components of code are then likely to be reused, as it's common practice to incorporate reusable, pre-built software components when constructing new applications. It can be difficult to pinpoint all the applications where a risky component is engrained, leaving literally countless applications vulnerable.

For organisations continuing to pursue their digital transformations, the applications which are becoming increasingly integral to core business processes have the unfortunate power to bring operations to a standstill.

Presented with IT networks debilitated by deeply embedded flaws, it's no surprise that cybercriminals are finding new ways to breach applications just as fast as developers are finding new ways of protecting them. Added to this is the increased reliance on software applications, providing cybercriminals with more scope for success in their attacks as simply they have more applications to target.

As multiple factors feed this insidious trend, there is no quick fix to reverse it. The threat landscape will not stop evolving, but cybercriminals success can be stunted by positioning security as a top business priority, integrating security with the development process, and giving developers the time and resources necessary to constantly test and fix issues as they arise. This would encourage the introduction of secure coding practices, going a long way towards reducing vulnerabilities and strengthening security.