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.

As CI/CD increasingly becomes a key goal for enterprises, this whitepaper shares that when automation is introduced at every layer of performance management within an organisation, it can reduce costs and improve business outcomes by enabling the effective reallocation of staff time.

Download now to learn how to best implement automated APM as well as how to maximise CI/CD agility.

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Multi-cloud data integration helps ensure that the right data gets to the right people at the right time. But this is only possible when the right tools are in place.

This whitepaper reviews the growing complexity of hybrid cloud environments alongside multi-cloud data integration building blocks such as data virtualisation, replication, cataloguing and automation which can help tame the sprawl.

Download now to learn how multi-cloud data integration and the data fabric are related alongside real-world examples.

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Informatica offers a suite of cloud integration and cloud data management solutions, including Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), for connecting disparate applications and data deployed in diverse environments. Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS) is a comprehensive iPaaS consisting of data integration, application integration, and data management services for multi-cloud, hybrid environments.

To better understand the benefits and costs associated with an investment in Informatica iPaaS, Nucleus conducted an in-depth return on investment (ROI) assessment of several customers using Informatica technology. These customers realised an average ROI of 321 percent over a three-year period, with an average payback period of four months.

Download this guide to learn more.

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In 2021, organisations continued to embrace modernisation initiatives to improve agility and reduce administrative costs. Over the past year, companies have continued to deploy low-code environments to simplify integration processes, reduce costs, enable business users, and redeploy developers to more advanced areas and projects.

As we progress in 2022, increased demand for increased functionality in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation to simplify integration tasks and reduce the cost of supporting continuously changing software environments.

Download this paper to read how, by complementing large-scale modernisation initiatives with efficient integrations and workflow automation, the Integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) market now has a record number of new users.

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Application integration is a critical success factor for data-driven digital transformations. Integrating systems and applications that are scattered across multicloud and on-premises deployments helps you deliver the insights, processes and efficiencies you’ll need to unleash the power of data and take your business to the next level.

Trusted, real-time data will drive your competitive edge. But IT infrastructure often misses opportunities to fully leverage data for decision-optimising insights because the data is siloed in countless applications, databases, and across disparate cloud environments.

Download this whitepaper to learn how multi-cloud and hybrid integration can provide the right insights at the right time for high-impact business decisions.

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Discover why IBM ranked second highest in the Data Fabric Use Case according to Gartner analysts.

“A data fabric enables faster access to trusted data across distributed landscapes by utilising active metadata, semantics and machine learning (ML) capabilities. It is an emerging design; data fabric isn’t a common use case in the market yet. We picked it as a forward-facing use case — not every vendor has the full set of capabilities to deliver a data fabric design.”

Download this free Gartner® report to see how IBM is addressing this emerging design and has ranked second highest in the Data Fabric use case.

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With the wide-ranging capabilities that Netsuite offers, Netsuite integration projects can involve many applications. This guide can support you in simplifying this process with a checklist of things to consider in your planning.

From the people involved, to the data flow processes, the applications, and the data, this guide takes into account how to identify each stage, what you need to determine - including specifications and recommended methods - as well as common issues.

Download this checklist now to ensure your Netsuite integration is straightforward, and gives you a competitive advantage.

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This asset shares advice and tips on the technical requirements you might need, as well as key considerations for your Salesforce integration project.

From the people involved, to the data flow processes, and the applications, this guide takes into account how to identify each stage, what you need to determine, as well as common issues and customisation considerations.

Download this checklist now to future proof your Salesforce integration.

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Businesses are facing the need to transform digitally, and this has accelerated following the events of the pandemic, with just under half of IT budgets focussed on modernisation and innovation in 2021.

In order to streamline modernisation, organisations are adopting a flexible ERP approach, with foundational technologies in support, including integration platforms as a Service (iPaaS), in order to synchronise business processes and deliver unified customer experiences.

Download this whitepaper to learn:

• Why investing in innovation will give you a competitive advantage
• The top five modernisation priorities
• Common obstacles when modernising ERP systems
• The benefits of composable ERP and hybrid integration in your strategy

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Google has announced it will be working with leading names in the Windows PC space to enhance compatibility between Android smartphones and the most popular PC operating system on the market.

Announcing the news at CES 2022, Google said it's currently working with Acer, HP, and Intel to bring new capabilities to Windows PC for Android - the first time Google has built features for another platform.

Chief among these is Fast Pair, a better Bluetooth connectivity process that aims to make connecting Android devices to Windows much more seamless and unlock features to enhance productivity such as syncing text messages and sharing files using Nearby Share - a feature akin to Apple's AirDrop.

Fast Pair between Android and Windows will also allow users to connect Bluetooth accessories more easily. The feature is still in development but will arrive to Windows PCs later in 2022.

Fast Pair was the main announcement among a slew of others made by Google at the annual consumer tech conference, with its applications extending beyond Windows. While the Windows integration aims to increase productivity, it also aims to make the Android ecosystem experience smoother.

Google said users will be able to pair Bluetooth devices like headphones to other smart products more easily, including TVs and Chromebooks. The enhanced connectivity will be supported by the soon-to-launch Matter standard, which aims to improve connectivity between internet-facing devices.

The Windows integration will appeal to those whose jobs rely on integration between smartphones and computers, with the easy file sharing feature most likely to benefit the professional space.

Beyond Fast Pair, the 12 other software-focused announcements Google made at CES this year were consumer-oriented - although one feature that may appeal to the enterprise is faster unlocking of devices such as Chromebook and Android tablets. Android phones are already able to unlock Chromebooks, but Google is now extending the functionality to devices like smartwatches running Wear OS. Wearables will now also be able to unlock Android phones, tablets, and Chromebooks for faster logins.

The same technology will also be used to assist users in using their Android devices to unlock their BMW vehicles. Phones equipped with Ultra Wideband technology will be able to unlock users' BMW without even having to take it out of their pocket.

LastPass has announced a new integration with Google Workspace in a bid to provide a seamless login process for business users.

Employers can now automatically provide employees with a LastPass account through Google’s directory integration, allowing them to store all their passwords for seamless logins without compromising on security.

The integration allows users to access LastPass using their corporate Google Workspace credentials without any additional passwords, minimising password reset frustrations and time spent on logging into accounts.

The Google active directory also allows for employers to easily add and remove users, simplifying management and ensuring the security of the organisation.

Dan DeMichele, VP of Product Management at LogMeIn, said: “Between this new integration with Google Workspace, and the combination of zero-knowledge infrastructure and multi-key approach, this security model that is unique to LastPass offers a level of security uncommon with such a simple login experience.”

According to DeMichele, “this ensures the keys used to unlock a user’s vault only reunite locally on the end-user’s device”.

“LastPass is the leading password manager on the market, providing this level of security authentication for federated login integrations with identity providers,” he added.

The integration with Google Workspace comes months after LogMeIn, LastPass’ parent company, announced that users on the service’s free tier would no longer have unlimited access to their stored passwords on both desktop and mobile devices. Since 16 March 2021, users are only able to view and manage passwords on either desktop or mobile, being forced to choose which platform they want to use to access their password vaults and being locked out of the other.

LastPass’s Premium and Family subscriptions start at £2.60 and £3.40 per month, respectively, and include additional features such as expanded multifactor authentication support, dark web monitoring and improved password sharing.

LastPass’s business offerings start with Teams, priced at £40.80 per user, per year, and intended for SMEs or workgroups with up to 50 users, although this is a recommendation rather than a hard limit. This provides each user with an industry-standard password storage vault with optional two-factor authentication, shared folders for your team, and a dashboard to administrate everything.

The next tier up, Enterprise, has no recommended ceiling on user numbers and adds Single Sign-On support, personal customer support, API and app integrations and customisable security policies.

Many companies that have been experimenting with digital initiatives for the past few years have accelerated their plans as the business landscape has grown increasingly competitive. In this era of digital transformation, businesses are benefiting from lowered IT spend, improved customer service, and increased employee productivity.

However, technology has often been deployed in silos, resulting in a lack of integration across applications and devices. In order to maximise value from their offerings and deliver an easy, all-in-on experience for customers, business and IT leaders must rethink IT and create connected experiences that are enabled by the network.

Download this whitepaper to find out more about the importance of connected experiences to your business’ success.

Managing security is complex as a result of evolving threats, the need to retain talent, and a sprawling vendor landscape. Growing your business securely doesn’t just involve adopting new security technologies to counter new threats or keeping up with challenges introduced through new business processes.

If you continue to seek the exact technology to solve your newest security concern, however, you may end up multiplying security gaps and slowing your business down with more and more complex processes. What you really need is a way to simplify your security environment to accelerate detection and response.

This whitepaper explores how to build a secure network and provides you with foundational strategies, case studies, and starter questions to kick off your transition to an integrated security platform.

Dropbox has partnered with Facebook on a digital transfer project which will allow users to import data directly from their social media accounts.

Starting today, the new integration will help users securely transfer photo and video libraries from Facebook, as well as organise the files in any chosen way.

The integration also offers customisable privacy settings, and although the imported files will be set as private by default, users can choose to share the albums with others.

Commenting on the release, Dropbox’s VP of Business Development Jamie Perlman said that the company’s goal was to “provide products and services that make our users’ digital lives easier and less chaotic, so they can really focus on what matters”.

“People no longer accept being locked into one service or product, and want the freedom to use the tools they love. We’ll continue to look for ways to seamlessly integrate with best-in-breed products so that we can serve as the connective platform for all of today’s leading productivity tools and devices,” he added.

The release of the new integration comes weeks after Facebook called for appropriate legislation to be introduced in order to make it easier for users to transfer photos and videos to a competing tech platform.

In comments sent to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Facebook said it planned to improve on its existing data portability tools “in the coming months”. A hearing on the topic is scheduled for 22 September 2020.

Currently, Facebook already allows users in the US and Canada to transfer photos and videos to Google Photos.

Meanwhile, in June, Dropbox unveiled several other features which aim to help users stay organised while they work from home. The updates included a password manager service called 'Dropbox Passwords' and filing system called 'Dropbox Vault', as well as an automatic backup service, 'Computer backup', which saves Mac and PC folders to Dropbox for secure access on the go.

Amazon's Alexa voice assistant could soon be popping up on office printers and photocopiers.

The firm has announced an extension to its existing Alexa Voice Service Device SDK that would enable third-party manufacturers to add the voice assistant to their business devices.

The SDK would enable devices to sport Alexa and be managed as shared devices in organisations. Alexa for Business customers will soon be able to centrally manage and deploy supported products with Alexa built-in whether it's built by Amazon or third-party device makers.

The move would see the deployment of third-party devices to shared spaces such as conference rooms, hotel and dorm rooms, lobbies, kitchens, break rooms, and copy rooms, according to Sanjay Ramaswamy, a developer at Amazon.

The SDK would also enable device management as part of the device makers' existing management flow, such as room designation, device health monitoring, and location setting. There will also be skill management, such as public and private skill assignment for shared devices without publishing to the public Alexa Skills Store.

In a blog post, Collin Davis, GM, Alexa for Business, said that customers "love using Alexa on Echo devices to simplify meeting room experiences and have asked us to enable the same experiences on their existing equipment".

"We are excited to be working with device makers to bring the power of Alexa to our customers through the devices they already use around the office. Customers get all the benefits of Alexa for Business without having to install any new hardware," he said.

Amazon said it was working with devices makers such as Plantronics, iHome, and BlackBerry, and solution providers like Linkplay and Extron to bring Alexa to workplaces.

The Alexa for Business capabilities is provided as an extension to the AVS Device SDK, starting with version 1.10, available to download from Github. Device manufacturers can learn more about enabling existing Alexa built-in devices with Alexa for Business as shared devices here.

The pandemic and its multiple lock downs proved to be a perfect business use case for cloud computing. From video conferencing to SaaS platforms, the world managed to keep working from everywhere and anywhere that wasn't a traditional office.

Yet despite the clear benefits that cloud can bring to a business, not all IT decision makers are on board; its cost and how much it can take from the budget is still a big concern for many.

Individually, certain services may seem cheap, but adding more and more to your business can quickly rack up an expensive bill at the end of each month. In a large organisation, this can also be hard to keep track of and ultimately hurt the budget.

On a larger scale, the Bank Of England recently warned that UK institutions are too reliant on a small subset of cloud providers. What's more, Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services have all reported increased cloud adoptions throughout the pandemic, with record-breaking revenues driving their growth towards trillion dollar valuations.

While it's very clear that the cloud is here to stay, the main providers are only going to get bigger and IT teams are going to have to find ways to keep the costs down, while still keeping ahead of the competition.

Budget cloud services carefully

Historically, IT departments were able to scope out the setup, maintenance and upgrade costs of on-premises equipment and services, and based on that, create realistic forecasts and budgets.

However, cloud services require a new way of budgeting, particularly as the majority of services are usually offered on a subscription basis.

Licensing is often done on either a per-user basis or a usage basis, so getting the most accurate idea of the numbers of employees who will need to use the service is vital to have a clear picture of what the monthly costs will likely be.

Underestimating an organisation's demand for a service, which leads to exceeding or upgrading subscriptions, is one of the most common mistakes and can result in surpassing the original budget. But building flexibility into the monthly budget is a way of ensuring that fluctuations in users and usage won't be too disruptive.

Being vigilant about removing old or unwanted user accounts from employees who have left or no longer need the services is another quick win when it comes to finding small cost savings.

Manage cloud usage

With cloud services being used in so many ways across a business, costs can easily get out of control if employees don't fully understand the implications of their usage. If a cloud license is based on a usage model, applications left up and continually running by unaware staff can cause costs to accumulate.

One estimate states that enterprises can gain a 70% cost saving just by switching cloud services off when not in use.

Cloud storage is another area where planning and managing usage can bring significant cost savings. Inefficiently storing data can add extensive costs in the long-term, with multiple copies or unnecessary files taking up valuable space.

Having a thought-out plan when deciding which files should be stored in the cloud (often for backup purposes) and which could be stored on a local server at potentially lower cost, will help with managing costs.

Keep cloud services visible

Investing in tools that provide oversight of cloud usage and infrastructure may uncover significant savings elsewhere. These tools can help with choosing the best cloud options for various parts of the business, as well as identifying and removing apps that aren't being used and improving the functionality of existing apps.

Having knowledge of historical cloud usage and where savings could be found will make predicting future usage more accurate, and therefore the costs involved will be easier to anticipate and more straightforward to control. Cloud management platforms can be a useful way to do this.

Visibility over licenses and users will also help with billing. Cloud services present a challenge for businesses as costs can be difficult to split between departments. Having a clear way of tracking who is using what service will make it easier to split cloud service bills in the long run, which in turn will spread the financial burden across multiple departments.

Integrate cloud services

Many larger organisations will be using a mixture of on-premises and cloud resources across a hybrid cloud infrastructure, so ensuring that services are integrated across management platforms is important for monitoring usage and consistency with other business applications.

A standalone cloud service may be the best option for your business in some cases, but these are often less cost-effective than a packaged suite of services when everything is added up.

There are many benefits to ensuring your cloud services are integrated with other systems you use, such as easy data collection and transfer, and ease of use for employees - scrambling around different platforms for files is far from time efficient!

The healthcare industry must make better use of mobile technology to aid quality of care, increased productivity and ensure the welfare of staff, a panel of health and social care professionals said.

The role of mobile technology was discussed at a panel discussion hosted by TotalMobile in London this week, with pioneers of mobile technology in the health and social care sector calling for better use of the technology.

Julia Clarke, chief executive of community health service provider Bristol Community Heath CIC, said: "Mobile is a revolution I think people have been happy to join in with and it's certainly improved the way we work internally.

"There has been major changes for both the staff but also in the way we can provide care, which we see as delivering quality, productivity, staff welfare and patient well-being benefits. Big change in a positive way."

Continuing to address the delay in mobile gaining widespread acceptance throughout the NHS, she put forth that systems built years before, and inherited by today's workforce, were not designed with clinicians in mind.

"Instead," she said, "they were designed for reporting purposes for a wide range of different sorts of organisations, mental health, community and so on which might be fine for a back office system, but no good for a district nurse out with patients."

Integration is now a key concern for supporters of using mobile technology in healthcare facilities, Sarah Royles, service development manager at Nottinghamshire County Council, summarises, though this remains a sizeable challenge moving forward.

"[There's] a need for more openness in terms of exposing APIs, exposing important patient data requirements that need to be built into contracts plus defined at the policy level so as to make UK health and social care an open level playing field so our systems can interoperate with each other," said TotalMobile's chief technology officer, Gareth Tolerton.

Considering the benefits for patients, Royles said: "There are definitely benefits for our patients and when asked they say its use makes them feel more involved in their care."

"The ability to have a nurse with the information to hand being able to avoid admissions into the acute sector is great for any and all patients being treated at home as well as for the taxpayer," added Graham Softley, associate director of IT strategy and delivery for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust.