Content management

Data leaders bewail employee data illiteracy

Report from data consultancy Carruthers and Jackson finds a significant majority of data function leaders consider their organisations’ employees lack adequate data literacy Continue Reading

How to stop data retention from killing the planet

In this week’s Computer Weekly, there’s a hidden environmental cost to the vast volumes of data being generated – we examine what can be done to address it. We talk to the CISO of consumer reviews site Trustpilot, about building trust in IT security. And we look at what IT leaders can do if they inherit a toxic team environment. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Protecting children as they spend years in virtual worlds

To protect children online, we must now focus on pre-emptive and robust regulation around immersive technologies Continue Reading

Indefinite storage: What it is and why you might need it

Indefinite storage addresses the issue that archived data may need to be kept well beyond the lifespan of the technology it was written for Continue Reading

NHS trust that deleted up to 90,000 emails cleared of deliberately concealing evidence

A tribunal found in a high-profile case brought by whistleblower Chris Day that an NHS trust had not deliberately concealed evidence when a director deleted up to 90,000 emails before he was due to testify Continue Reading

Justice transparency: A Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

We speak to The National Archives about how it is using semantic data to make court and tribunal judgments searchable Continue Reading

The rise and risks of sovereign data strategies

Data and analytics leaders need to understand what is happening now to mitigate risk and exploit data-driven opportunities Continue Reading

Digital Transformation Week Amsterdam: The growing divide between the haves and have-nots

The most successful companies carefully manage how data is taken in and processed – and they use tools to ensure they squeeze the most they can out of every bit of information Continue Reading

Improving finance and accounting software with AI

Artificial intelligence algorithms and datasets have potential value across many areas in finance and accounting, but usage isn’t yet widespread Continue Reading

Proposals for scanning encrypted messages should be cut from Online Safety Bill, say researchers

Automatic scanning of messaging services for illegal content could lead to one billion false alarms each day in Europe Continue Reading

How to design a data architecture for business success

To gain business value from data, enterprises need to get their data architecture right – and the right business leadership and culture is critical to that Continue Reading

CIO interview: James Fleming, Francis Crick Institute

Francis Crick Institute CIO discusses how Europe’s largest biomedical research institute has co-developed a framework for data sharing Continue Reading

Interview: Rachel Hilliam, chair, Alliance for Data Science Professionals

Rachel Hilliam talks about the origins, mission and future plans for the Alliance for Data Science Professionals Continue Reading

Unstructured vs semi-structured data: Order from chaos

We look at alternatives to relational databases that have emerged to help bring some structure to unstructured data and gain valuable insight by making it semi-structured Continue Reading

Growing importance of the data strategist in South Holland

Much has been written about the work of data scientists, but the lesser-known role of data strategist is just as essential – as is being demonstrated in the Netherlands Continue Reading

ODI: Smart data promise could founder against paywalls

The Open Data Institute’s Mahlet Zimeta examines the government’s smart data plan, which could boost competition and empower the public, but needs to be set up to allow rapid creation of new markets without barriers Continue Reading

CTO interview: Steve Otto, CTO, The R&A

The Open Championship was fully back in 2022 after Covid, and back at golf’s spiritual home of St Andrews – and it was an opportunity for the club’s CTO to reflect on where technology will take the sport next Continue Reading

Crown Commercial Service opens door to Salesforce

The Crown Commercial Service has agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Salesforce to facilitate public sector access to the supplier’s products and services, including Tableau, Slack and Mulesoft Continue Reading

Eurotunnel’s digital journey for the realities of post-Covid travel

In this week’s Computer Weekly, the travel industry was devastated by the pandemic, but we find out how Eurotunnel is turning to digital to better engage customers in the post-Covid world. We examine the impact of the economic slowdown on the tech giants. And we explain all you need to know about data gravity. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Bayern Munich sides with Adobe to enhance global fan experience

Bayern Munich is using Adobe’s Experience Cloud and allied software to better connect with its fans in Germany and worldwide Continue Reading

GCHQ experts back scanning of encrypted phone messages to fight child abuse

Ian Levy, technical director of the NCSC, and Crispin Robinson, technical director of GCHQ, back client-side scanning software on mobile phones to detect child abuse Continue Reading

Employee experience joins CX for total enterprise view

Total experience is emerging to join up employee and customer experience for organisations intent on being holistic and progressive Continue Reading

NHS trust ‘deliberately’ deleted up to 90,000 emails before tribunal hearing

A high-profile case brought by NHS whistleblower Chris Day raises questions about the adequacy of information governance practices in NHS hospital trusts Continue Reading

ICO calls for review into government use of private email and WhatsApp messages

Information Commissioner’s Office reprimands Department of Health and Social Care after ministers and officials conducted government business on their own email accounts and messaging apps Continue Reading

First cohort of data science professionals certified by AfDSP

The Alliance for Data Science Professionals has certified its first cohort, with the imprimatur of the UK’s national statistician, Ian Diamond Continue Reading

Manchester United signs DXC for digital transformation

Football club is working with IT services firm DXC to support its digital transformation on multiple fronts Continue Reading

Netherlands’ AMdEX seeks to democratise the internet

Last year, five Dutch organisations launched an initiative to set up the Amsterdam Data Exchange to simplify data sharing and help democratise the internet Continue Reading

Composability set to be next big thing for digital experience platforms

Digital experience platforms are the latest word in increasing customer loyalty by engaging across all channels. Gaining real-time views of customers while managing data compliantly is critical Continue Reading

African health charity integrates digital tools with Cognizant

IT services supplier is working with African health charity to integrate digital tools through a five-month project Continue Reading

Executive interview: Chris Conradi, chief digital officer, FSN Capital

Chris Conradi is taking his learnings at Google into the private equity industry at Norway’s FSN Capital Continue Reading

Data leaders need to overcome their fears and unlock their creativity

Author and data management consultant Caroline Carruthers argues that data leaders need to tap into their creativity to make their analytical work pay off Continue Reading

Move with the times – in defence of WhatsApp in government

Former minister and current member of the House of Lords argues that the UK government needs to move with the times and embrace new communications tools such as WhatsApp Continue Reading

Harnessing the promise of data from space services for a better Earth

Mark Chang, an aerospace, defence and security expert at PA Consulting, looks at the actions that organisations need to take to harness the potential of space services data Continue Reading

Set innovation free and make great ideas a reality

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at Gartner’s call to innovate – and innovation across retail, the circular economy and the automotive sector. We talk to Verastar’s CTO about customer engagement in its small business services. And we examine how poor data quality is frustrating corporate desires to be data driven. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

ODI data literacy report laments technical skills inflation in government data strategy

An Open Data Institute report on data literacy and UK government data strategy sees a lack of clarity in definition, fragmentation of responsibility, and a disconnect between government and citizens Continue Reading

Disney combines digital, data and creativity to win advertising opportunities

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the executive vice-president for client and brand solutions at Disney Advertising Sales about how it is using data to subserve story-telling excellence. We delve into how rising energy costs negatively impacted the UK arm of Sungard Availability Services. And we look at the role of infrastructure as code in edge datacentres. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

How data sharing and collaboration can solve great challenges

Daniel Hirst and Arjan Dhaliwal from Ordnance Survey argue for the value of data sharing, collaboration and data skills enhancement to address social, ecological economic problems Continue Reading

Chinese state media use Facebook to push pro-Russia disinformation on Ukraine war

Facebook owner Meta accused of failing to follow its own policies by not disclosing how Chinese state media were targeting Facebook users with ‘propaganda’ ads about the conflict in Ukraine Continue Reading

Competition watchdog contacts Barclays and Lloyds banks over API failures

Barclays and Lloyds banks have failed to meet some of the open banking rules, says competition watchdog Continue Reading

University of Amsterdam teams up with MIT to use analytics for a better world

Dutch and US universities join forces with tech company to help non-government organisations and the United Nations to harness data analytics to achieve sustainable development goals Continue Reading

Paid-for advertising still not covered in Online Safety Bill

Consumer group Which? calls again for government to include measures against scam paid-for advertising in the Online Safety Bill Continue Reading

Why culture is critical for data integration

For data integration to succeed, the business needs to foster a culture of data sharing and collaboration Continue Reading

On a mission to track space junk

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the space experts tracking orbital debris using graph database technology. We meet the startups taking very different approaches in trying to develop commercial quantum computers. And we ask why it’s so difficult to build a data science team and how to overcome the challenges. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

‘Russian-backed’ hackers defaced Ukrainian websites as cover for dangerous malware attack

Kiev claims that a hacking group in Belarus – a close ally of Russia – was responsible for hacking Ukrainian government websites amid threats of military action Continue Reading

ICO investigates police use of app to covertly record calls from mobile phones

Surrey and Sussex police forces call in regulators after 1,000 police officers downloaded an app to covertly record phone calls on police-issued mobile phones Continue Reading

How far has Saudi Arabia come with open data?

While clearly on the right path, Saudi Arabia still has a lot to do before it reaps the full benefits of open data Continue Reading

Finnish government launches digital economy transformation projects

The Finnish government launches two transformation projects as part of the country’s mission to pioneer a digital economy Continue Reading

The rules for a safer internet

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the government publishes the Online Safety Bill, we look at what the laws mean for internet services. A ransomware victim shares the insider story of the trauma of losing their corporate IT systems. And we ask, what happens when quantum computers get too powerful to verify their output? Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Pandora Papers: How journalists mined terabytes of offshore data to expose the world’s elites

Six hundred journalists spent over a year mining 2.94 terabytes of data that revealed offshore companies and the politicians, world leaders and celebrities who secretly owned them Continue Reading

Harness data to make better business conversations

Productive business conversations require a data culture underpinned by data literacy and balanced by humanistic values Continue Reading

Societe Generale accelerates data and artificial intelligence strategy

French investment banking giant increases its focus on data and artificial intelligence as digital transformation matures Continue Reading

Government bodies refuse FOI requests on basis of misleading database search times, says academic

The Information Commissioner’s Office tells tribunal it would need to bring in external experts to search data using an Excel spreadsheet Continue Reading

Financial Conduct Authority chooses Aiimi for improved information discovery

The Financial Conduct Authority has awarded a three-year contract to UK enterprise search firm Aiimi to enable the regulator’s staff to find documents more easily and collaborate better Continue Reading

‘No-one extradited from UK to US has committed suicide,’ US tells court in Assange appeal

US government claims that a district judge has given WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a ‘trump card’ to avoid extradition   Continue Reading

CIO interview: Cynthia Stoddard, CIO, Adobe

Leading IT at one of the world’s best-known software companies brings its own challenges and opportunities around digital transformation Continue Reading

Using geospatial data to unlock innovation in the property sector

Louise Weale from Ordnance Survey argues that geospatial data is key to unlocking business innovation in the property sector Continue Reading

Civil Service Data Challenge announces longlist of ideas to improve data use

Dragons’ Den-style Civil Service competition to elicit ideas to improve data use in government has whittled a list of 200 down to eight. Four will be chosen in December for delivery Continue Reading

Interview: Chano Fernandez, co-CEO of Workday – a European co-helming a Californian enterprise

Chano Fernandez, co-CEO of Workday, explains how the company’s storied and humane employee culture needs constant tending, and looks forward to a post-Covid acceleration Continue Reading

Ordnance Survey Data Hub marks first anniversary with developer highlights

A year after its launch, the Ordnance Survey Data Hub is claiming a 50% increase in like-for-like downloads. The resource has proved its mettle during the Covid-19 pandemic for the London Ambulance Service and has benefited the National Library of Scotland Continue Reading

How Transport for West Midlands works with geospatial data

Covid-19 showed why greater data granularity is key, with Transport for West Midlands turning to geospatial data to understand demand for services Continue Reading

FBI planned a sting against An0m cryptophone users over drinks with Australian investigators

Australian Federal Police and the FBI came up with the idea over drinks: build a cryptophone network with a built-in backdoor and sell it to crime gangs around the world Continue Reading

CIO interview: John Hunter of Council of Europe takes cloud route to document management

John Hunter, CIO of the Council of Europe, describes how his team has modernised the human rights organisation’s document management in the cloud Continue Reading

Databricks unveils data sharing protocol as part of data lakehouse

Databricks announces launch of open source project called Delta Sharing at Data + AI Summit, with backing of data providers and business intelligence tool suppliers Continue Reading

How the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium sequenced Sars-Cov-2

Consortium of universities and other institutions has harnessed datasets, analytics and cloud computing to sequence Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in a blisteringly short time Continue Reading

CDO summer school plots step change for data leaders

The summer school for chief data officers, run by Caroline Carruthers and Peter Jackson, promises data leaders a curriculum to match the elevated salience of the CDO role Continue Reading

Generation Z majority left cold by data literacy

Data literacy is a term with little currency among 16 to 21-year-olds, according to research commissioned by analytics database company Exasol, but more than half of those surveyed think data skills should be more prominent in education Continue Reading

Josh Bersin 2021 technology guide vaunts employee experience

Josh Bersin’s annual HR technology market guide for 2021 pulls out employee experience as the hottest area, as the sector shifts to productivity-boosting tech Continue Reading

Covid-19 and the art and science of data visualisation

The pandemic has seen political leaders and civil servants using data visualisation like never before – but there is more to the art than meets the eye Continue Reading

City of Helsinki adopts MyData principles to improve digital services

Principles on the use of personal data for the benefit of society will guide Finnish capital’s ambitious digital plans Continue Reading

Microsoft launches Viva as employee experience platform born out of Teams

Microsoft has launched an “employee experience platform”, based on Microsoft Teams, said to aid the integration of the working environment Continue Reading

APAC buyer’s guide to data management

In this buyer’s guide, we look at the challenges surrounding why enterprises are struggling to deal with data, the use of cloud data management platforms, artificial intelligence, and recommend some best practices Continue Reading

Becoming the orchestrator of the digital ecosystem

This is a guest blogpost by Anthony Finbow, CEO of Cambridge-based biotech firm Eagle Genomics. For data to become truly powerful, we need more collaboration and more data exploration technology, ... Continue Reading

Guide Dogs data strategy navigates path to organisational view

Guide Dogs CIO Gerard McGovern is mapping out a data strategy that is aimed at taking the charity from an individual to an organisational view of data Continue Reading

Learning on the job when working from home

Learning a new job and inducting hires when working from home has been tricky for employees and employers alike. We look at what workarounds have been adopted that could become the post-pandemic normal Continue Reading

Dreamforce 2020: Hyperforce shifts Salesforce to public cloud

Salesforce COO Bret Taylor announced “Hyperforce” during Marc Benioff’s opening keynote at the virtual version of the supplier’s 2020 Dreamforce event in San Francisco Continue Reading

CTRL, ALT, REPEAT – Why short-sighted digitisation strategies may see businesses revert to analogue

This is a guest blogpost by Stuart Bernard, Iron Mountain’s VP of Digital Solutions. In it he writes about a new study suggesting Covid-driven digitisation of business processes could be ... Continue Reading

Nordic countries to develop common digital system

Common digital platform will help small and medium-sized enterprises across the Nordic region with data sharing Continue Reading

Ethnic diversity, cloud apps for Gen Z, and accountants – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

In this episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast, Caroline Donnelly, Clare McDonald and Brian McKenna discuss workplace diversity in respect of ethnicity, a financial app for cashless Generation Z, and how accountancy firm Saffery Champness has benefited from a SaaS document management system Continue Reading

WikiLeaks published unredacted cables after password was disclosed in book

WikiLeaks published a cache of unredacted government cables after the publication of a book containing the password led to their publication on other parts of the internet, court told Continue Reading

CIO interview: Julie Berry of Saffery Champness advances business advisory role for IT

Julie Berry, IT director at accountancy firm Saffery Champness, describes how her team has enhanced its advisory role to the business, in part through the implementation of a cloud-based document management system Continue Reading

CW APAC: Buyer’s guide to business intelligence and data analytics

Businesses today are seeking to discover, interpret, extract and communicate meaningful patterns in data to increase efficiency and better serve their customers. In this handbook, focused on the use of business intelligence and data analytics in the Asia-Pacific region, Computer Weekly looks at some examples of how making sense of data makes good business sense. Continue Reading

Julian Assange held back 15,000 documents to prevent harm to US government

Investigative journalist John Goetz said today that WikiLeaks held back publication of thousands of documents that could harm individuals Continue Reading

TikTok-Oracle partnership moves forward for consideration

Joint venture proposal could create thousands of jobs and secure TikTok’s future outside China Continue Reading

Is our drinking data-driven?

Caroline Carruthers, CEO of Carruthers and Jackson, cogitates on the balance between gut and data in making personal risk decisions, ahead of a CDO summer school Continue Reading

Political parties harvest personal data to create profiles on voters, most of it wrong

The UK’s three main political parties are collecting personal data on voters, but much of it is wrong and its use may fall foul of data protection laws Continue Reading

Facebook allows US users to disable political ads

Users of the social media platform will soon be able to opt out of seeing politically motivated posts Continue Reading

Norway’s contact-tracing app suspended over privacy concerns

Norway has been given until 23 June to justify the location tracking of citizens who download its contract-tracing app Continue Reading

Collaboration technology is breeding burnout – keep it real

The Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably caused the use of collaboration platforms to spike. But as fatigue sets in, organisations try to keep their use cases focused Continue Reading

Max Schrems accuses Ireland of ‘Kafkaesque’ delay in Facebook GDPR investigation

Privacy campaigner Max Schrems has urged the European Commission to intervene after the Irish Data Protection Commission allegedly used ‘Kafkaesque’ tactics to delay investigations into Facebook’s compliance with GDPR Continue Reading

FBI search warrants reveal Trump aide’s messages to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

FBI search warrants reveal Trump campaigner Roger Stone sent private messages to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after the site published thousands of documents that damaged Hillary Clinton’s election campaign Continue Reading

Designing software to include older people in the digital world

The Covid-19 coronavirus crisis has accentuated the importance of including older people in the digital world. How can software firms design products to include generations that came to maturity before the internet? Continue Reading

Data excess linked to climate change

IT departments are unwittingly contributing to climate change by storing too much data, much of which will never be used Continue Reading

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be legally extradited for ‘political offences’, say lawyers

Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange argue that he has been charged with political offences and cannot be legally extradited to the US under the US-UK extradition treaty Continue Reading

Assange extradition is a politically motivated ‘abuse of power’, court hears

US government’s attempt to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges in the US is politically motivated and an abuse of process, court told Continue Reading

Refinitiv uses Google Cloud to revolutionise delivery of huge datasets

Financial data giant is expanding delivery of its services in the cloud, removing the need for customers to use hard disks and trucks to transport large datasets onsite Continue Reading

Dutch tech firm transforms real-life football through video game concept

Tech company that helped the Belgian football team in the last World Cup is changing the way footballers are scouted and teams are trained Continue Reading

Smart use of data takes Dutch railways further

De Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways), ensures, among other things, that 1.2 million train passengers arrive at their destination every day. Through a subsidiary, it’s using data to improve both the customer experience and internal processes Continue Reading

How IT can back up ESG efforts to do environmental and social good

Organisations’ environmental, social and governance programmes depend on IT leaders for technological backup Continue Reading

Russia’s VTB and Rostelecom focus on big data

Russian financial services and telecoms enterprises to create a platform that will allow them and other organisations to utilise big data technology Continue Reading

Top 10 information management stories of 2019

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 information management stories of 2019 Continue Reading