IT operations management and IT support

CW Europe: February 2016

In Europe cloud is restricted and hybrid setups make use of local compute and storage. Continue Reading

Telstra is transforming Australian IT infrastructure

Telco is transforming its IT operation to make better use of the cloud, data and application programming interfaces Continue Reading

CIO interview: Ismo Platan, SSAB

Retiring CIO of Swedish steel company tells Computer Weekly about the progress made in merging two Nordic steel firms and looks at the biggest hurdles that lie ahead Continue Reading

Insurance giant RSA announces another outsourcing deal

Insurance company RSA has penned its second major outsourcing contract in a week as it extends a BPO contract with Accenture Continue Reading

CIO interview: Johan Kestens, ING Belgium

ING Belgium’s CIO talks to Computer Weekly in depth about the technology-driven changes in the banking sector Continue Reading

CIO interview: Jo De Vliegher, Hydro

The CIO at Norway's Hydro has established an IT department that allows for regional autonomy and central guidance at the same time Continue Reading

Blue light services should share control rooms and IT, Home Office says

The Home Office plans to make emergency services collaboration mandatory and to join up back-office IT and control rooms Continue Reading

Alstom outsources IT transformation to HCL Technologies

Train engineering company Alstom has outsourced its IT to HCL Technologies as part of a five-year transformation project Continue Reading

CIO interview: Mats Hultin, Saab Group

Saab Group's CIO talks to Computer Weekly about the huge challenge of integrating 40 separate IT organisations into one Continue Reading

Home Office e-Borders programme costs to reach £1.1bn by 2019, says NAO report

The failed e-Borders programme has cost £830m to date, with a further £275m projected costs before the Home Office produces new systems in-house, due to go live in 2019 Continue Reading

CIO interview: Jesper Riis, DSV

IT plays a business-critical role at Danish logistics and transportation company DSV. CIO Jesper Riis tells Computer Weekly about his current challenges Continue Reading

What type of CIO do you want to be?

There are three types of CIO, a major global research study has revealed. Which type would you like to be – trusted operator, change instigator or business co-creator? Continue Reading

Case study: Tideway uses private cloud to manage London ‘super sewer’ infrastructure

Infrastructure services director explains why Tideway has opted for a managed, private cloud setup to support sewer project Continue Reading

Spending review: Osborne gives NHS £1bn for technology boost

The NHS will get £1bn to spend on technology – including an interoperable patient record system – chancellor George Osborne has announced Continue Reading

CIO interview: Lone Bundgaard, Coloplast

IT development head at Danish medical products and services company plays core role in major change to how the company engages with its customers Continue Reading

Traditional datacentres ill-equipped to cope with IoT demands, warn technology experts

BBC data scientist and Coca Cola CTO question if the datacentre is the right place to store, process and analyse IoT data Continue Reading

Post Office IT support email reveals known Horizon flaw

An email from Post Office IT support reveals a problem with the Horizon system and supporting processes that could lead to accounting errors Continue Reading

NHS Education for Scotland chooses PA Consulting Group to develop digital learning resources

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) signs PA Consulting Group to develop its “one stop shop” digital platform of learning resources for NHS staff Continue Reading

Communication Workers Union warns subpostmasters of flaw in Post Office Horizon accounting system

The union that represents Post Office subpostmasters has warned of a problem with the Horizon accounting system at the centre of a long-running dispute Continue Reading

The pros and cons of treating internal IT like a business

Aligning IT with the business has become a CIO mantra – but now digitisation has pushed IT to the top of the business agenda Continue Reading

CIO interview: Torben Høeg Bonde, Vestas

The CIO at Danish wind turbine company Vestas is playing a key role in turning the company into a software supplier Continue Reading

Outsourcing renewals: Where do I source services?

With thousands of IT services contracts coming up for renewal, CIOs should take a careful look at where they source services from Continue Reading

CIO interview: Frans Westerlund, Fiskars

Fiskars CIO Frans Westerlund tells Computer Weekly about the challenges faced by IT when a business instigates a major strategic transformation Continue Reading

Nationwide Building Society outsources IT infrastructure

Nationwide has outsourced its IT infrastructure to Capgemini for the next five years to bring it up to date for the digital age Continue Reading

How CIOs can raise their 'IT clock speed' as pressure to innovate grows

CIOs are facing pressure from the board to roll out IT projects increasingly quickly. How can they do that without running unacceptable risks? This article, based on cutting-edge research among leading businesses, offers some answers Continue Reading

ServiceNow powers Royal Mail multi-sourcing

As part of its £500m IT transformation, Royal Mail has deployed ServiceNow to manage new suppliers Continue Reading

An introduction to the Microsoft Business Store

Microsoft is building a way to enable Windows 10 enterprise users get the business applications, enabling IT to deploy them centrally Continue Reading

Gloucester City Council extends Civica IT outsourcing deal

The council’s outsourcing deal with Civica will not end until October 2021, as it signs a three-year extension contract Continue Reading

Keeping app pirates at bay

In this week's Computer Weekly, we look at how digital piracy is affecting app developers – and what they can do about it. The man behind the controversial NHS Care.data project has quit – what will it mean for the troubled programme? And we find out how digital disruption is affecting the insurance market. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Case study: Philips takes agile approach to building bridges between business and IT

Dutch technology giant talks up the success of its attempts to embrace agile IT delivery methods, and how it's shaping future customer engagements Continue Reading

CIO interview: Elisabeth Stjernstoft, Apoteket

When the Swedish government introduced competition to the pharmaceuticals sector in 2009, the former monopoly faced a major IT transformation Continue Reading

Using SAP Hana as a data warehouse

Enterprises are using SAP Hana for in-memory data marts and SAP Business Warehouse implementations that integrate with other data warehouses Continue Reading

HMRC to transfer 250 Capgemini staff in-house ready for Aspire contract end

HMRC’s Aspire outsourcing contract will be replaced by slowly bringing staff in-house to give the department more control over IT Continue Reading

John Swainson, president of Dell Software, argues the case for rethinking datacentres

Having previously worked for Silver Lake, CA and IBM, Swainson now heads the company’s software business Continue Reading

Bet365: A company betting on its own technology innovations

While many sites make great use of agile development, run on the cloud and are built on Java and JavaScript, Bet365 is doing IT its own way Continue Reading

Case study: What the enterprise can learn from Etsy's DevOps strategy

Jon Cowie, operations engineer at online marketplace Etsy, advises enterprises on how to develop a DevOps-friendly business culture Continue Reading

The top 10 myths about agile development

Examining some of the most common misconceptions in the growing field of agile software development Continue Reading

A tale of two boxes: Choosing between Box and Dropbox

Box and Dropbox are in the content and collaboration business, but the two cloud services have taken very different approaches Continue Reading

Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth talks about space, drones and smartphones

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, strives towards the vision of a converged handheld device Continue Reading

Delivering first-class IT at Royal Mail

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to Royal Mail CIO Catherine Doran as her five-year IT transformation plan comes to fruition. We review Microsoft Office 2016 and evaluate its use for corporate collaboration. And we look at best practice in implementing customer relationship management software. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Whitehall technology chiefs vetoed new Windows XP support deal

Government technology chiefs vetoed a new deal with Microsoft to continue Windows XP support to force laggards to move off the OS Continue Reading

Vodafone sends network in a backpack to Nepal earthquake zone

Vodafone’s charitable arm, the Vodafone Foundation, deploys instant mini networks to help restore communications in quake-hit Nepal Continue Reading

HP Helion Rack looks to speed up enterprise private cloud adoption

HP wants to take the heavy lifting out of moving to the private cloud by offering enterprises pre-configured and tested infrastructure packages Continue Reading

Businesses need to equip staff with the tools to do the job

Workforces will become frustrated if they do not have the technology they need to deliver what their organisation wants Continue Reading

Prepare for two modes of business intelligence, says Gartner

IT needs to open up business intelligence to the broader business to support its consumerisation Continue Reading

Case study: How National Grid uses analytics to keeps the lights on

National Grid has started a project to supplement its existing asset maintenance system with predictive analytics Continue Reading

The more IT changes, the more technology issues remain the same

In the early 2000s Nigel Beighton was CTO at Lastminute.com. Yet, 15 years on, he says the technology issues he faced then have changed little Continue Reading

Former Lloyds bank and Barclays CIO Darryl West joins HSBC

HSBC has appointed Darryl West, who left Barclays in December, as CIO Continue Reading

CW Europe – February 2015 Edition

This issue of CW Europe looks at the results of the 2015 IT Priorities report, which questioned more than 1,000 technology professionals worldwide to reveal how IT departments are finally starting to shake off the effect of the 2008-2009 recession. But some regions are recovering at a faster pace than others. Continue Reading

How to make applications resilient on AWS

Cloud services are susceptible to network and other outages. There is no silver bullet to boost the resilience of an AWS-hosted application Continue Reading

Forrester: IT maintenance saps budget as tech spending increases

Technology spending is set to rise modestly, but the majority of IT spending will still go on maintaining existing systems Continue Reading

Microservices: How to prepare next-generation cloud applications

A microservice architecture promotes developing and deploying applications composed of autonomous, self-contained units Continue Reading

Price cuts and posturing in the public cloud war

The price battle among commodity cloud players is set to rage on, but how much impact is it really having for enterprise customers? Continue Reading

CIO interview: Jon Rudoe, digital and technology director, Sainsbury’s

While supermarkets all over the UK are facing challenging times ahead of them, Sainsbury's is taking its technology and innovation into its own hands by developing digital products for its customers. Continue Reading

Pressure on Universal Credit’s digital service mounts as testing begins

Risks remain for Universal Credit as DWP continues its twin-track gradual roll-out of live and digital services Continue Reading

National Trust for Scotland overcomes legacy network challenge

The National Trust for Scotland has replaced a historical network infrastructure with a core service from Brocade Continue Reading

UBS move to Oracle HR in the cloud hits big delays

Swiss bank UBS has hit major delays migrating to a cloud-based HR system Continue Reading

Drinks maker Edrington outsources SAP enterprise resource planning operation to Atos

Glasgow-based distiller Edrington outsources its ERP development, support and hosting to IT services firm Atos Continue Reading

Migrating away from Windows Server 2003

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Microsoft prepares to end support for the popular Windows Server 2013 operating system, we assess the risk for organisations that fail to migrate in time. We hear from IT leaders delivering benefits from enterprise social media use to improve staff collaboration. And we look at criticisms from Oracle users about the supplier’s software licensing practices. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Why Shell, BP and PwC teamed up to launch platform-neutral IT4IT Forum

Lack of IT integration and workload interoperability is pushing enterprises such as Royal Dutch Shell to collaborate with IT providers to develop standards Continue Reading

The challenges facing HP as it splits in two

HP is splitting its business in two - but it is a reaction to the changing way that businesses and consumers buy IT Continue Reading

Salesforce issues advice on avoiding Dyreza attack

Salesforce has issued a set of guidelines on tightening security after a number of its customers were targeted by the Dyreza email virus Continue Reading

Morgan Motor Company swaps Sage for integrated IFS

Morgan Motor Company is replacing its Sage 500 accounting system with IFS Applications Continue Reading

Watermelon SLAs – making sense of green and red alerts

Often IT SLAs don’t reflect the real service and service experience of users. They also aren’t focused enough on the business results Continue Reading

Choice and ease of use: key elements of a good app store

Companies need to focus on individual user requirements and make sure their app store delivers the right tools for the right job Continue Reading

What ingredients go into the successful app store?

An enterprise app store should provide the controlled availability of apps for employees.We look at what is available for organisations to use Continue Reading

Why John Linwood is not to blame for BBC’s failed technology project

Former BBC CTO has won his case for unfair dismissal over the failed £100m DMI project, but what lessons can be learned? Continue Reading

AstraZeneca rolls out IT self service using ServiceNow

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has rolled out ServiceNow self service IT to 51,500 staff globally in four months Continue Reading

Bank of America: When software relationships turn sour

Tibco has filed a lawsuit alleging the Merrill Lynch division of Bank of America illegally used $300m of its software for a major IT project Continue Reading

IBM partners with Apple to deliver enterprise services for iOS

IBM has given Apple a major boost in the enterprise, through a partnership that will see it provide services and software for iOS Continue Reading

Diageo puts ServiceNow fizz in IT service desk

Diageo has gone live with an implementation of ServiceNow to automate IT services as part of a global transformation Continue Reading

Big Apple revolution: How to manage Macs in the enterprise

Apple’s products were once niche devices. Now, following a consumer-led initiative, they are widely used across the enterprise Continue Reading

The CIO Playbook – Innovation

Nicholas R. Colisto describes a comprehensive practical method to tap into your company's reservoir of innovation to solve real business problems in this extract from his book. Continue Reading

Accelerating Digital Marketing

This study from CEB debunks the myths over the relationship between CIOs and CMOs and shows how CIOs can play a critical role in accelerating digital marketing. Continue Reading

Realise Benefits from a Digital Strategy

Rob Lambert, visiting fellow at Cranfield School of Management, offers advice to CIOs on developing business cases and maximising the business value of digital technology projects. Continue Reading

Roadchef exits IBM Global Services for direct supplier relationships

Motorway services firm Roadchef ended an outsourcing deal with IBM Global Services when its IT was up for refresh and moved to SAP Continue Reading

Half of network equipment ageing or obsolete, survey finds

Dimension Data finds 51% of network devices near the end of their life as buyers take cautious approach to hardware refreshes Continue Reading

Interview: John Swainson, president of Dell Software

Dell Software president John Swainson's aims to make Dell Software a $5bn business Continue Reading

IFDS integrates UK and India service centres

International Financial Data Services has implemented software to balance workloads across UK and Indian delivery centres Continue Reading

HSBC makes executives responsible for application consolidation

In the next few weeks, senior executives at HSBC globally will have KPIs to reduce the number of applications they run Continue Reading

Engineering firm fined for using unlicensed Autodesk software

Project Options has been fined £16,000 by the Business Software Alliance, following an online tip-off Continue Reading

Air Transport Industry Insights 2014

This report from SITA looks at the impact of business intelligence on airlines and airports. Continue Reading

Government signs £5.5m Microsoft deal to extend Windows XP support

The government has signed a deal with Microsoft to support Windows XP across the UK public sector for 12 months after 8 April deadline Continue Reading

Understanding the real value of IT and proving it to the business

At a time when costs are being continually squeezed, there is more pressure than ever to demonstrate the business value of technology Continue Reading

Mine machine data to boost business value

Businesses risk losing their competitive edge if they are unable to drill down into the information captured by machine-generated data Continue Reading

The psychology of IT projects: Why they fail

Mark Seneschall, an experienced IT projects professional, explains why IT projects so often prove so challenging, why they are so prone to failure in this book extract. Continue Reading

Case study: How John Lewis conquered the web

An in-depth look at the inside story of John Lewis' £40m e-commerce strategy. Continue Reading

Three-quarters of UK charities are failing to adapt to digital

Charities in the UK are failing to adopt digital agendas in their organisations Continue Reading

Insurance Industry IT: What’s costing you dearly?

Its time to replace badly automated insurance business processes with more flexible systems, say analysts Rob Bamforth and Clive Longbottom. Continue Reading

Troubleshooting datacentre management issues

Gaining better control of the datacentre has to be a high priority to ensure high levels of performance and availability Continue Reading

Top IT priorities for 2014 in Europe

Exclusive Computer Weekly research showing how IT decision makers are spending their 2014 budgets. Continue Reading

User acceptance testing needs real training, not just a short course

In spite of its importance, user acceptance testing (UAT) is often chaotic, problematic and ineffective Continue Reading

Review of ITinvolve for Knowledge Management

Managing the knowledge of IT support teams is vital to reduce issue resolution times. The ITSM Review takes a look at the collaboration features in ITinvolve. Continue Reading

M&S uses instore IT to train staff in multi-channel retail

Marks & Spencer is using in-store iPads and kiosks to train staff to support its multichannel retail strategy Continue Reading

Call for graduates to apply for John Lewis technology scheme

Retailer John Lewis is encouraging university-leavers to apply for positions in its graduate development scheme Continue Reading

Executing Your Strategy 1: Ideation

Ideation is based on the concept that life asks three fundamental questions Continue Reading

Personal skills for professional success: influencing

Mastering influencing skills opens doors for your career by improving not just the ways in which you interact with important groups of people, but also by increasing your self-confidence in your ability to communicate persuasively. Continue Reading

A CW buyer’s guide to Human Capital Management

Computer Weekly looks at what steps the industry has taken to improve talent management; bridging the gap between the cost savings promised by cloud technologies and the value they deliver; and how to recruit expertise in emerging technologies. Continue Reading

Executing your strategy 2: Nature

This is the second of six part guide which explains the key steps of the Strategic Execution Framework, developed by the Stanford Advanced Management Programme, to help organisations stay focused on innovation, increase performance, manage change and scale the business. Continue Reading

How to build an effective User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Team

Learn how to build an effective User Acceptance Testing (UAT) team with this extract from User Acceptance Testing, a step by step guide. Continue Reading