Copyright TechTarget - All rights reserved https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html Techtarget Feed Generator en Fri, 11 Sep 2026 15:01:34 GMT https://www.techtarget.com/cybersecurity editor@techtarget.com <p>Fleet management challenges are on the rise, with supply chains becoming increasingly volatile in recent years. CSCOs and COOs overseeing logistics and transportation must carefully balance factors such as efficiency, profitability and sustainability.</p> <p>Fleet management challenges can erode margins, disrupt production <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/tip/7-last-mile-delivery-metrics-to-measure-success">and delivery schedules</a>, and undermine customer confidence if they are not properly addressed. Here are some actionable steps that C-suite leaders can take to mitigate them.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="1. Overall costs"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>1. Overall costs</h2> <p>The volatility of global energy markets remains an obvious concern for fleet managers. However, numerous other factors are leading to high overall costs, including increased insurance expenses, higher maintenance expenses and rising labor costs.</p> <p>CSCOs and COOs should carefully monitor the total cost of ownership of their fleet assets and consider using telematics and AI-powered platforms for predictive maintenance and driver monitoring. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/feature/Predictive-maintenance-Definition-benefits-example-strategy">Predictive maintenance can help</a> prevent unplanned downtime, while dynamic routing tools can help reduce fuel usage.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="2. Increased regulatory scrutiny"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>2. Increased regulatory scrutiny</h2> <p>Regulations for emissions are in flux, but regulation is likely changing for safety standards, hours of service and, in some cases, low-emission zones, making compliance a key fleet management challenge. In addition, companies in some areas will have <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/it-strategy/feature/10-top-ESG-reporting-frameworks-explained-and-compared">sustainability reporting requirements</a> to navigate. Compliance violations can lead to fines, increased liability and reputational damage, while adhering to compliance regulations can help companies win over eco-conscious customers.</p> <p>CSCOs should consider having their company adopt automated compliance software that integrates with telematics, which will enable real-time reporting and recordkeeping that adheres to all required standards. CSCOs should also collaborate with legal and sustainability leaders at their company to ensure that fleet operations remain compliant.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="3. Supply chain disruptions"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>3. Supply chain disruptions</h2> <p><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/feature/Guide-to-supply-chain-management">Supply chain risk</a> reached its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic, but various global and regional factors continue to disrupt global trade. Supply chain disruptions complicate forecasting and budgeting, which can negatively affect CSCOs’ ability to meet service-level agreements.</p> <p>Supply chain uncertainty can also affect vehicle acquisition, upfitting and spare parts availability, which puts pressure on asset utilization and may lead to fleet managers continuing to use aging assets that require higher maintenance costs and more downtime.</p> <p>CSCOs and COOs should diversify their supplier relationships, create buffer inventory for critical components and use predictive analytics to anticipate needs. They should also look for opportunities to improve data visibility across procurement and maintenance teams so the groups have better insight into operations.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="4. Electrification and alternative fuels"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>4. Electrification and alternative fuels</h2> <p>The majority of fleets continue to use diesel. However, some companies have implemented other strategies or are looking into doing so.</p> <p>CSCOs should analyze ROI on a case-by-case basis and consider conducting EV pilots in urban environments or on medium-duty routes. Hybrid vehicles <a href="https://www.truckclub.com/trucking-news/electric-vs-hydrogen-vs-hybrid-trucks">may be</a> a good starting point for some companies.</p> <p>Today’s fleet management challenges require CSCOs and COOs to proactively plan for future problems and consider how technology could help solve those issues. Making fleet management a priority for the C-suite can help increase a company’s agility and efficiency.</p> <p><i>James Kofalt spent 16 years at SAP working with SME business applications and was a product manager for integration technology at Microsoft's Business Solutions division. He is currently the president of DX4 Research, a technology advisory practice specializing in ERP and digital transformation.</i></p> </section> Global energy market volatility remains a concern for fleet managers. Learn about some other challenges that CSCOs and COOs should be aware of and take action against. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/map_globe_g1254837834.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/tip/Fleet-management-challenges-that-CSCOs-should-be-aware-of Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:32:00 GMT <p><b>Editor’s Note</b>:&nbsp;<i>Welcome to Prompt, your weekly briefing on the shifting AI landscape. We provide an analytical look at the week’s biggest developments, paired with a curated roundup of the stories that matter.</i></p> <p>For years, companies developing AI have largely been responsible for evaluating their own systems' safety. California is starting to change that.</p> <p>California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed <a href="https://www.ciodive.com/news/California-AI-auditing-legislation/830104/">two laws this week that lay the groundwork for independent third-party AI audits</a>.</p> <p>The bills establish a framework for independent AI audits, outlining how third-party organizations can assess AI systems for compliance with state law while setting standards for auditor independence, transparency and integrity.</p> <p>California has been building toward this for several years. In 2023, Newsom issued an <a href="https://aibusiness.com/responsible-ai/california-to-regulate-state-use-of-generative-ai">executive order establishing guidelines for the state's use of generative AI</a>, followed in 2024 by a broader package of <a href="https://aibusiness.com/responsible-ai/california-governor-signs-9-bills-regulating-ai-generated-content">AI legislation addressing issues including deepfakes, watermarking, children and workers</a>. Last year, California enacted the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, requiring frontier AI developers to publicly disclose their safety frameworks and report certain critical safety incidents.</p> <p>The timing is notable because frontier systems are behaving in ways their developers didn't anticipate or authorize.</p> <p><a href="https://aibusiness.com/cybersecurity/openai-admits-more-ai-agents-went-astray-in-may">OpenAI this week acknowledged that more of its agents went astray</a> in May, bypassing sandbox restrictions and taking unauthorized actions on several websites. The company initially did not acknowledge its involvement in one of the incidents before later confirming its agents had written to several internet sites.</p> <p>The incident highlights a larger challenge as AI systems become more autonomous: developers are still largely responsible for investigating and explaining their own systems' behavior.</p> <p>Anthropic raised a similar concern this week,<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650194/Anthropic-calls-for-verifiable-effort-to-control-frontier-AI"> </a><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650194/Anthropic-calls-for-verifiable-effort-to-control-frontier-AI">calling for a “verifiable effort” to pace frontier AI</a> development after a July incident in which its Claude Mythos model circumvented safeguards. The proposal reflects growing recognition that AI safety measures may need to be demonstrated, not simply promised.</p> <p>Third-party auditing isn't only about regulators policing AI companies.</p> <p>For enterprises, independent audits could provide <a href="https://aibusiness.com/ai-policy/the-ai-safety-crunch-how-enterprises-should-deal-with-it">another layer of due diligence</a> when evaluating AI vendors, particularly as autonomous systems take on more responsibility inside organizations. That could become increasingly important as businesses give AI systems access to sensitive data, applications and workflows.</p> <p>If independent evaluation becomes more common, enterprises adopting AI could gain something they've been missing: outside evidence of whether vendor claims about safety, security, and governance actually hold up.</p> <p>The next phase of AI governance may be less about what companies promise and more about what they can prove.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Also in AI News This Week:"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Also in AI News This Week:</h2> <p><a href="https://www.manufacturingdive.com/news/qualcomm-custom-chips-amazon-4b-partnership/829914/">Qualcomm to Make Custom Chips for Amazon as Part of $4B Deal</a>: The chipmaker struck a major deal with Amazon to develop custom AI and data center chips, adding another hyperscaler customer as it pushes deeper into AI infrastructure.</p> <p><a href="https://www.informationweek.com/data-management/john-deere-harvests-data-insights-with-new-ai-technology">John Deere Harvests Data Insights With New AI Technology</a>: The agricultural company is adding generative AI to its farm management platform, helping farmers turn equipment and operational data into practical decisions about planting, harvesting and machine performance.</p> <p><a href="https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/dell-faces-widening-supply-shortages-as-high-ai-demand-persists/830083/">Dell Faces Widening Supply Shortages as High AI Demand Persists</a>: The multinational technology company is facing widening supply shortages as AI demand strains not only memory, storage and CPUs, but also the cooling, networking and power components needed to build complete AI systems.&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://aibusiness.com/generative-ai/ai-coding-startup-cognition-valued-at-48b">AI Coding Startup Cognition Now Valued at $48B</a>: The AI coding vendor raised $2 billion at a $48 billion valuation as investor enthusiasm for AI coding tools continues.</p> <p><span></span><a href="https://aibusiness.com/data-centers/google-invest-15b-finland-s-ai-infrastructure">Google to Invest $15B in Finland’s AI Infrastructure</a><span>: The search and AI giant plans to invest $15 billion in Finland’s AI infrastructure, expanding its data center footprint as demand for AI computing capacity continues to grow.</span></p> <div> <p><span></span><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650280/Inside-Google-AI-workers-union-drive-to-instil-company-ethics">Inside Google AI Worker’s Union Drive to Instill Company Ethics</a><span>: Google DeepMind employees are pushing to unionize over ethical concerns about the military’s use of the company's AI and cloud technologies.</span></p> </div> <div> <p><span></span><a href="https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/threat-groups-enhance-cyberattack-capabilities-ai/830055/">Threat Groups Enhance Cyberattack Capabilities With AI</a><span>: State-linked and criminal hackers are increasingly using AI and automation to scale attacks, find new targets and bypass traditional defenses.</span></p> </div> <p><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650228/AWS-AI-symposium-TeenTech-alumni-call-for-AI-literacy-in-schools">AWS AI Symposium: TeenTech Alumni Call for AI Literacy in Schools</a>: Alumni of the nonprofit are calling for more AI literacy in schools as skills shortages remain a major barrier to AI adoption.</p> <p><em>Liz Hughes is an award-winning editorial leader and content strategist with decades of experience across newsroom publishing, digital media and executive communication.</em></p> </section> California's new AI auditing laws point to a shift from companies making their own safety claims to proving those claims in independent review. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/ai_a238006601.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/ai/news/366650346/Prompt-AI-Governance-Enters-Its-Verification-Phase Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:43:00 GMT <p><a href="https://www.eurocontrol.int/">Eurocontrol</a> has extended its contract with BT to continue delivering the <a href="https://www.eurocontrol.int/service/new-pan-european-network-service">Pan-European Network Service</a> (NewPens) through to 2033.</p> <p>Eurocontrol supports European aviation by delivering technical excellence and civil-military expertise across the spectrum of air traffic management. Its activities touch on operations, service provision, concept development, innovation, Europe-wide project implementation, performance improvements and coordination with key aviation players at various levels, providing support to the future evolution and strategic orientations of aviation.</p> <p>The network supports 42 Member States and the wider aviation community across Europe and neighbouring territories, providing the secure connectivity used to exchange critical data for flight planning, airspace optimisation and coordination between national air traffic authorities.</p> <p>Since its launch in 2009, Pens has supported the transition from what was seen as fragmented connectivity arrangements to a common IP-based regional backbone.</p> <p>NewPens offers an IP-based infrastructure for exchanging critical and common aeronautical information in what is claimed to be a reliable, secure, safe and cost-efficient way.</p> <p>It looks to meet both current needs for the information exchange between air navigation service providers and other air traffic management (ATM) stakeholders, as well as future applications planned in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sesarju.eu/discover-sesar" rel="noopener">Sesar Programme</a>, which defines, develops and deploys technologies to transform air traffic management in Europe. It is also the technological pillar of the European Union’s Single European Sky policy, and an enabler of the European Commission’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.</p> <p>The system’s technical service catalogue has been written to evolve with technology and business requirements, while its architecture evolves in terms of levels of end-to-end control and authority.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about networks in aviation</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366634553/Qatar-Airways-checks-in-SD-WAN-to-take-operations-to-higher-altitude">Qatar Airways checks in SD-WAN to take operations to higher altitude</a>: Mena airline’s worldwide roll-out of airline technology provider’s software-defined wide-area network claimed to set a benchmark for aviation connectivity and performance.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366570832/SITA-enhances-aviation-SASE-with-automated-multi-cloud-networking-service">SITA enhances aviation Sase with automated multi-cloud networking service</a>: IT provider for air transport industry announces strategic collaboration with multi-cloud networking firm to gain enhanced access to secure cloud-based offerings.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650160/Ryanair-calls-for-government-action-over-Nats-IT-failure">Ryanair calls for government action over Nats IT failure</a>: The National Air Traffic Control System was not fully operational for over eight hours, causing major disruption to airlines and passengers.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366619013/Vietnam-Air-Traffic-Management-modernises-comms-for-improved-safety">Vietnam Air Traffic Management modernises comms for improved safety</a>: Southeast Asian country’s national aviation body to deploy multi-service network offering to upgrade its legacy network systems, and enhance the performance and flexibility of its air traffic network.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <p>In terms of scope, NewPens connects stakeholders across 44 countries and supports more than 48 users in over 100 locations, including air navigation service providers, ATM organisations, airports, airlines, military organisations and meteorological services. Eurocontrol believes it has become a cornerstone of cross-border operational information exchange in Europe.</p> <p>To stakeholders, NewPens looks to offer key capabilities including differentiated services, and flexibility of the offer encompasses support for applications, such as safety-critical applications with ATM-grade safety levels with, says Eurocontrol, up to 99.999% availability where needed.</p> <p>What are described as “elaborate” cyber security precautions are used to protect users in security-sensitive contexts. A Europe-wide service desk provides monitoring and reporting services through the NewPens service management framework.</p> <p>NewPens has been operated by <a href="https://business.bt.com/about-us/global-business-solutions/">BT International</a> since 2018, and the contract extension is designed to secure operational stability for the current service and provide what is described as a necessary transition period while the community prepares the governance, procurement and service framework for Pens 3.0, the next generation of the network.</p> <p>Pens 3.0 will build on the achievements of NewPens and respond to the evolving needs of European aviation, including growing digitisation, increased bandwidth requirements and the need for stronger operational resilience. Its planned dual-core architecture will provide resilience at network level through a common European approach, supporting more robust and cost-efficient connectivity for the aviation community.&nbsp;</p> <p>At a recent symposium, Eurocontrol confirmed the continued strategic relevance of Pens as a shared European infrastructure, and underlined the importance of managing the transition to Pens 3.0 in a coordinated, transparent and community-driven manner.</p> <p>With the BT contract extension in place and preparations for Pens 3.0 advancing, Eurocontrol says that, alongside its aviation partners, it will be laying a foundation for a “resilient, scalable and future-proof” communications network for European aviation.</p> UK’s leading comms provider extends its contract with European air traffic management firm to continue supporting and delivering resilient network services through to 2033 https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/Gatwick-Airport-North-Terminal-PR.JPG https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650171/Eurocontrol-extends-critical-European-aviation-network Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:30:00 GMT <p>Massachusetts is tying state permits for large new data centers to their power supply and community approvals, raising the requirements for projects above 25 megawatts (MW).</p> <p>Gov. Maura Healey signed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/executive-orders/no-658-establishing-requirements-for-responsible-data-center-development-and-operations-in-massachusetts-to-protect-and-support-ratepayers-communities-and-the-environment" rel="noopener">Executive Order 658</a> this week, directing the state environmental protection agency to develop protocols requiring covered data centers to procure sufficient incremental new clean electricity generation to meet their annual consumption.</p> <p>For data center operators and IT organizations planning large AI and cloud deployments, the order adds another hurdle to bringing capacity online. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/feature/Power-hungry-AI-data-centers-weigh-viable-energy-sources">Power procurement</a>, grid costs and community approval will have to be considered alongside the land, fiber, water, interconnection and construction plans for a new campus.</p> <p>"Massachusetts is moving beyond asking who pays for a large load and toward asking what a project must prove before the system relies on it," said Neil Osnato, founder of Persistence Analytics Group, an infrastructure analytics and advisory firm.</p> <p>The order applies to data centers built or expanded after September 8 that exceed 25 MW of peak electric demand. For an expansion, the threshold applies to an addition of 25 MW of peak electric demand.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="How EO 658 works"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>How EO 658 works</h2> <p>The electricity must qualify under the state's Clean Energy Standard. By Dec. 31, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) must also establish an alternative payment fee for projects not producing incremental <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/clean-electricity">clean electricity</a>. Money collected through that system will go into a Ratepayer Protection Fund to mitigate electricity supply costs for ratepayers, according to EO 658.</p> <p>For a large data center operator, power procurement becomes another dependency that has to mature alongside the project, Osnato said.</p> <p>"If you're contemplating a 100 MW, 300 MW or larger campus," he said, "the questions become: What resource backs that consumption? Is it actually new? When does it reach commercial operation? Is it deliverable into the relevant system?"</p> <p>Those questions can affect financing, scheduling, contracting and site selection before the first server is brought online.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Developers will have to prove where the power comes from"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Developers will have to prove where the power comes from</h2> <p>The order builds on a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/healey-driscoll-administration-statement-of-expectations-for-responsible-data-center-development-and-operations-in-massachusetts" rel="noopener">June framework</a> that Massachusetts called "Bring Your Own Clean Energy." The framework said new data centers should supply or directly procure clean-energy generation sufficient to meet 100% of their demand, with the resource on-site, connected or able to deliver into ISO New England, which provides much of the electric power system in New England.</p> <p>EO 658 directs MassDEP to develop protocols for covered projects above 25 MW. Developers can satisfy the requirement by procuring sufficient incremental new clean electricity generation. EO 658 doesn't specify that the generation must come from a dedicated plant at the data center.</p> <p>"Massachusetts is not necessarily telling a data center to build a dedicated power plant next to the facility or physically self-supply every hour," Osnato said.</p> <p>The state still has to set the rules. EO 658 measures the requirement against annual electricity consumption rather than hourly matching of generation and load. A data center could satisfy the annual clean-energy requirement while still relying on the grid for physical capacity and reliability.</p> <p>The state has yet to determine several specific requirements: What counts as genuinely new generation, when a project is real enough to qualify, what happens if a generation project is delayed, how electricity must be deliverable and how clean-energy attributes will be prevented from being counted twice.</p> <p>MassDEP also must establish the alternative compliance payment system by Dec. 31. The order doesn't set the payment amount, leaving a key question for developers: whether the fee will function mainly as a fallback or provide a strong financial incentive to secure new generation.</p> <p>Osnato said it's too early to assume the alternate compliance payment makes the clean-power requirement optional.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Grid costs and project credibility move together"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Grid costs and project credibility move together</h2> <p>The clean-power requirement is part of a broader effort to keep data center costs from increasing power costs for other electricity customers.</p> <p>EO 658 directs the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to continue developing large-load rate schedules designed to prevent other ratepayers from paying for distribution-grid upgrades or associated infrastructure needed to support data center demand.</p> <p>The order also directs the DPU to establish fees, deposits or other requirements to remove speculative data center projects above 25 MW from utility interconnection queues.</p> <p>A proposed data center can consume scarce interconnection study resources long before its actual load is certain to materialize.</p> <p>"If a 25+ MW project must put up fees, deposits or other evidence demonstrating that it's legitimate before consuming utility study and interconnection resources, Massachusetts is implicitly recognizing something the industry is dealing with nationally: Announced load is not necessarily executable load, and executable load is not necessarily durable operating load," Osnato said.</p> <p>The June Bring Your Own Clean Energy framework also said developers should bear the full cost of energy supply, infrastructure, system upgrades and interconnection required to serve their facilities rather than shifting those costs to other customers.</p> <p>For operators and their prospective customers, that makes project maturity increasingly important. A large proposed load must be supported by a credible power strategy, financing, interconnection plan and development schedule.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Local approval becomes a permitting prerequisite"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Local approval becomes a permitting prerequisite</h2> <p>EO 658 requires covered projects to demonstrate conformance with the state's data center framework and submit a community benefits agreement before state permitting agencies can issue permits or authorizations.</p> <p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/news/governor-healey-no-data-centers-without-local-approval" rel="noopener">Healey's administration described the policy more directly</a>: Data centers will need local approval before seeking state permits, and the community benefits agreement must meet state standards. The order also prohibits state permitting agencies from using nondisclosure agreements with data center projects, except where otherwise provided by law.</p> <p>The order allows the secretaries of energy, environmental affairs and economic development to jointly waive the requirements for a project under specified circumstances, including certain projects tied to accredited colleges or universities, medical care and state-sponsored programs.</p> <p>The environmental requirements extend beyond electricity. EO 658 directs MassDEP to establish protocols addressing water quality and quantity for covered data centers. It also requires Mass DEP to evaluate data center greenhouse-gas emissions against the state's Clean Energy and Climate Plan.</p> <p>Markley Group, a data center operator that has operated in Massachusetts for more than three decades, said it supports a statewide framework with consistent development standards.</p> <p>"We support policies that bring clarity and consistency to how data centers are permitted and developed in the Commonwealth," Jeff Markley, the company's founder and CEO, said in a statement to TechTarget. The company expects to balance growing customer needs with state and local requirements, Markley said. The company did not specifically address the new clean-generation requirement.</p> <p>Former U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm also praised the framework in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7503921006852378624/" rel="noopener">LinkedIn post</a> this week, calling it "one of the strongest frameworks" she has seen for supporting AI's economic opportunity while protecting communities and ratepayers.</p> <p>Granholm highlighted the clean-energy requirement, developer responsibility for grid infrastructure, water and public-health protections, transparency and community benefits agreements. She also praised provisions encouraging data centers to use flexibility, storage, virtual power plants and other tools that can help the grid.</p> <p>"Gov. Healey deserves real credit for this," Granholm wrote. "She isn't reflexively saying 'no' to data centers, and she isn't writing them a blank check either."</p> <p>For Osnato, predictable rules will help developers determine whether a project can move forward.</p> <p>"If a developer knows the evidence standard, cost responsibility and compliance path early enough, it can price them into the project," he said. "Uncertainty late in development is much harder to absorb."</p> <p>For projects with committed customers, financing and a mature power strategy, Massachusetts' requirements might be manageable. Projects whose megawatt requirements remain primarily a development forecast will have a harder time turning an announced campus into a permitted load.</p> <p><em>Shane Snider is a senior news writer at TechTarget, covering AI infrastructure, hyperscale data centers, cloud platforms, and the power and energy systems driving modern compute expansion. You can reach Shane at </em><a rel="noopener" href="mailto:shane.snider@informatechtarget.com" target="_blank" title="mailto:shane.snider@informatechtarget.com"><em>shane.snider@informatechtarget.com</em></a><em>&nbsp;or on&nbsp;</em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-snider-1727755/" target="_blank" title="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-snider-1727755/"><em>LinkedIn</em></a><em>.</em></p> </section> Massachusetts Executive Order 658 is making clean-power procurement, grid-cost responsibility and community approval part of the permitting path for large AI and cloud campuses. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/storage_g1197646065.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/it-infrastructure/news/366650375/Massachusetts-ties-data-center-permits-to-clean-power-grid-costs Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:25:00 GMT <p>The UK government is in the process of reducing its reliance on data from Capita in regard to the performance of the troubled civil service pension administration, which the supplier is responsible for.</p> <p>Capita has denied claims made in a Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) member forum that it could be years before the service meets expected standards, calling it “opinion” rather than “fact”.</p> <p>Since it took over the contract from previous supplier MyCSP in December 2025, Capita has failed to meet its delivery promises and <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639026/Thousands-of-unread-emails-and-20-million-database-errors-cause-civil-service-pension-hardship">left claimants in severe financial difficulties</a>, including months with no income.</p> <p>According to the government department’s director in charge of the scheme, the process of creating a team that will have direct access to Capita systems to check that data provided by the outsourcer is reliable.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Unwanted reliance"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Unwanted reliance</h2> <p>In an email exchange with a CSPS member, scheme director Richard Vianello admitted the government is “currently reliant on management information provided by Capita”, but said he is “looking to change that”.</p> <p>The CSPS claimant wrote that the government should stop relying on Capita’s figures. “It’s not an exemption to quote them without checking their veracity,” they said. “A cabinet office or independent person should be in there who can provide genuine data.”</p> <p>The process to do this has begun, Vianello told the CSPS claimant. “… We are in the process of sifting applications for a new Quality Assurance function in One Gov/Cabinet Office,” he wrote. “I have agreed with Capita that this team will have direct access to Capita systems, and be able to validate/assure the data we receive.”</p> <p>He added that the government is already “delving into the information provided and selecting cases at random for a quality assurance walkthrough” and has asked independent remedial advisor Grant Thornton to review a sample of cases.</p> <p>“Following feedback from members, I have committed to providing data going forward on the oldest cases, where the member or administrator has been waiting over 100 days,” said Vianello. “My aim is to provide this data consistently, so members can see progress over time. In previous updates we have shared different aspects of delivery, and I agree that it has been difficult to unpick progress as a result.”</p> <p>The Cabinet Office said it is “continuing to build capability in its management team to ensure continued strong oversight, including on data”.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Overdue payments"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Overdue payments</h2> <p>The email exchange began with the CSPS member bringing to Vianello’s attention claims being made on the CSPS member Facebook page that it could be years before the Capita service reaches the quality expected.</p> <p>Members of the CSPS scheme have contacted Computer Weekly and are deeply concerned about the allegations.</p> <p>The claims, said to be from a conversation with a scheme member and the CSPS helpline, were published on a member group forum, and have been sent to Computer Weekly by two people independently.</p> <p>The claims included that there were between 130,000 and 140,000 outstanding overdue payments waiting to be issued for people that have already had claims approved. Another, that it will take many months or even years for Capita to bring the delivery of their service in line with the service level agreement and the person making the claim, raised doubts that they will ever be able to do so.</p> <p>“If true, this is a huge concern,” said one CSPS member still waiting for his pension.</p> <p>In reply to the member, Vianello wrote: “I do not recognise the data that has apparently been shared.”</p> <p>In response to the claim, Capita said: “As you must accept, our brilliant and hardworking helpline colleagues are not party to the full detail of the remediation plan. If this exchange did take place as you described, the anonymous Capita team member would have been expressing an opinion, rather than a fact.”</p> <p>The Cabinet Office says it does not recognise the overdue figures quoted.</p> <p>Capita won the CSPS administration contract in 2023, when the Cabinet Office awarded Capita a seven-year deal worth £239m. It was set to replace MyCSP on 1 December 2025, but it has seen huge disruption and chaos for members since then.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Trouble from go"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Trouble from go</h2> <p>Early, in October last year, a couple of months before Capita was set to take over, a <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366621126/Public-Accounts-Committee-calls-out-legacy-IT">Public Accounts Committee</a> (PAC) report said there is a “real risk” that Capita will not be ready to take over the administration of the scheme on time. The outsourcer hit back, claiming it is “not reflective of the current state of the transition”, calling the report inaccurate.</p> <p>There have been multiple PAC hearings since, featuring both Capita and the Cabinet Office, with reassurances repeatedly given to MPs that Capita would get the service to the expected levels.</p> <p>Capita said: “We recognise there is more to do to restore the service members should expect. Our focus remains on resolving outstanding cases and delivering against the next milestone in the remediation plan at the end of September.</p> <p>“We remain sorry for the impact the service issues have had on members and are continuing to work closely with the Cabinet Office as we deliver the wider recovery.”</p> <p>The scheme looks <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650193/Government-has-seen-enough-of-Capita-failure-and-Civil-Service-Pension-scheme-to-be-moved-in-house">set to be brought in-house</a>, but such a move would be in line with the government’s plan to “move forward the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644790/UK-government-publishes-guidelines-to-end-era-of-outsourcing-will-IT-be-in-scope">biggest wave of insourcing</a>&nbsp;in a generation”.</p> <p>A Cabinet Office Spokesperson said: “The service levels following the move to Capita have been completely unacceptable. Our immediate priority is to stabilise the service to give current and former Civil Servants the service they deserve.</p> <p>“While robust commercial levers will continue to be applied in the short term, including withholding nearly £10m in payments, the government intends to move forward the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation and is actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house.”</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Capita and the Civil Service Pension Scheme</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Sept 2026: <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650254/Capita-meeting-self-imposed-civil-service-pension-targets-not-sufficient-says-government">UK government views the outsourcer’s overall performance as ‘unacceptable’ after it reports meeting a self-imposed target</a>.</li> <li>Sept 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650193/Government-has-seen-enough-of-Capita-failure-and-Civil-Service-Pension-scheme-to-be-moved-in-house">Government has seen enough of Capita failure and Civil Service Pension Scheme to be moved in-house</a>.</li> <li>Aug 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366648014/Capita-CEO-receives-scathing-rebuttal-from-employee-over-botched-contract">Capita CEO receives scathing rebuttal from employee over botched contract</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645827/PAC-raises-more-questions-over-Capitas-role-in-government?_gl=1*xbkv0w*_ga*Mjg4MTcxMzU3LjE3Nzk5NjUxNTU.*_ga_TQKE4GS5P9*czE3ODU5Mjk3MjIkbzI2NiRnMSR0MTc4NTkyOTcyNiRqNTYkbDAkaDA.">PAC raises more questions over Capita’s role in government</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645700/Capita-to-lose-money-on-pension-debacle-but-has-governments-private-parts-in-its-grip">Capita to lose money on pension debacle but ‘has government’s private parts in its grip’</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645462/Capita-civil-service-pension-contract-prime-candidate-for-insourcing-says-government-minister">Capita civil service pension contract ‘prime candidate’ for insourcing, says government minister</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645478/Capitas-rush-to-hit-civil-service-pension-deadline-risking-errors-say-staff">Capita’s rush to hit civil service pension deadline risking errors, say staff</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645354/Union-calls-for-insourcing-of-pension-contract-as-Capita-shit-show-goes-on">Union calls for insourcing of pension contract as Capita ‘shit show’ goes on</a>.</li> <li>Jun 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644692/Cabinet-Office-states-Capita-set-to-miss-Civil-Service-Pension-Scheme-deadline">Cabinet Office states Capita set to miss Civil Service Pension Scheme deadline</a>.</li> <li>Jun 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643878/Capita-launched-civil-service-pension-scheme-site-without-basic-web-security">Capita went live with its troubled civil service pensions administration without a basic Domain Name System security feature</a>.</li> <li>May 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643712/Ministers-refused-to-sign-off-563m-Capita-contract-amid-civil-service-pension-disaster">Ministers refused to sign off £563m Capita contract amid civil service pension disaster</a>.</li> <li>May 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643012/Civil-servants-to-protest-at-Capita-general-meeting-amid-pension-crisis">Civil servants to protest at Capita general meeting amid pension crisis</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642492/Was-Capitas-Royal-Mail-pension-contract-a-botch-too-far">Was Capita’s Royal Mail pension contract a botch too far?</a></li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641895/Capita-lacked-detail-and-thoroughness-in-planning-botched-Civil-service-pension-scheme-takeover">Capita lacked ‘detail and thoroughness’ in planning botched Civil Service Pension Scheme takeover</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642539/MP-committees-to-double-up-on-Capitas-civil-service-pension-crisis">MP committees to double up on Capita’s civil service pension crisis</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642312/Government-should-drop-Capita-from-civil-service-scheme-after-it-loses-Royal-Mail-role-says-union">Government should drop Capita from civil service scheme after it loses Royal Mail role, says union</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642152/Government-terminates-Capitas-Royal-Mail-pension-contract">Government terminates Capita’s Royal Mail pension contract</a>.</li> <li>Mar 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366640779/Capita-left-to-deal-with13000-civil-service-pension-cases-over-a-year-old">Capita left to deal with 13,000 civil service pension cases over a year old</a>.</li> <li>Feb 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639026/Thousands-of-unread-emails-and-20-million-database-errors-cause-civil-service-pension-hardship">Thousands of unread emails and 20 million database errors cause civil service pension hardship</a>.</li> <li>Jan 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366637837/Troubleshooter-steps-in-as-Capita-and-civil-service-bosses-apologise-for-pension-scheme-problems">Troubleshooter steps in as Capita and civil service bosses apologise for pension scheme problems</a>.</li> <li>Oct 2025: <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366633358/Capita-rubbishes-Public-Accounts-Committee-report-claims">Capita rubbishes Public Accounts Committee report claims</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> Cabinet Office is setting up a function to check the civil service pension scheme data provided by Capita https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/IT-outsourcing-offshoring-4-adobe.jpeg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366649749/UK-government-to-create-team-to-validate-Capitas-data-on-troubled-pension-scheme Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:30:00 GMT <p>With $3.5 billion in fresh funding, Mistral AI is building on a strategy focused on giving enterprises greater control over where and how they deploy AI.</p> <p>The Series D round, <a href="https://aibusiness.com/generative-ai/how-mistral-s-new-funding-bridge-sovereign-ai">closed on Tuesday</a>, pushes the Paris-based AI vendor’s valuation above $24 billion, making it the largest equity funding round for a privately owned European tech company.</p> <p>While the funding gives Mistral more capital to invest, the 2023 startup’s financial resources remain smaller than those of leading U.S. frontier model developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, making it difficult to compete on model development alone. Mistral is instead wagering that its offering of <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/it-infrastructure/opinion/Mistrals-3B-round-shows-value-beyond-AI-benchmarks">greater control and flexibility</a> -- key attributes of <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/Sovereign-AI-explained">sovereign AI</a> -- will help attract enterprise customers, even when other vendors might have a performance edge.</p> <p>But the test for Mistral is whether enterprises will see that added control as valuable enough to influence how they choose AI providers.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Mistral needs to win a different race"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Mistral needs to win a different race</h2> <p>Mistral's open-weight approach has been central to its pitch to customers that want more flexibility in how they deploy and customize their AI systems.</p> <p><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/feature/Kimi-K3-Chinese-open-weight-models-challenge-AI-status-quo">Open-weight models</a> are especially important for companies that want to keep sensitive workloads under their own control or avoid relying on a single provider. Mistral also hosts third-party open models, giving customers more flexibility in how they deploy AI.</p> <p>For enterprises, that flexibility can mean more control over where data is processed, how much a model can be adapted and how easily they can switch providers.</p> <p>"Open-weight models can reduce the risk of being locked into a single vendor by giving enterprises more options if its terms, pricing or access change," said Jeet Pattanaik, founder and CTO of Glokal AI, an enterprise AI provider.</p> <p>But greater control can also impose more work on customers, from managing infrastructure to maintaining models. For some enterprises, however, that added responsibility might be a reasonable price to pay.</p> <p>"That trade-off might be worthwhile for enterprises that don't need the absolute frontier model," said Akash Thakur, a site reliability engineering architect at Cognizant, a global IT services and consulting company. Many enterprises, he said, require a capable model they can own, customize and run on their own terms.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Unclear if enterprises will actually pay for control"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Unclear if enterprises will actually pay for control</h2> <p>In publicizing its new funding infusion, Mistral said organizations and governments increasingly want to use AI without surrendering control over the infrastructure, data and systems behind it.</p> <p>Mistral is building products around this demand for greater control. In August, it introduced <a target="_blank" href="https://openrouter.ai/blog/announcements/us-in-region-routing/" rel="noopener">regional inference</a>, enabling customers to choose whether their processing takes place in Europe or the U.S. It has also said it plans to build up to 1 gigawatt of European compute capacity by 2030 and supports third-party open models on its infrastructure.</p> <p>The pitch is simple: Enterprises might give up some model advantages, but they gain more power over where and how AI runs.</p> <p>Mistral says it now serves more than 125 enterprises across 20 countries, including Airbus, ASML and HSBC. That gives the company a foothold with large enterprise buyers, but it doesn't necessarily show that sovereignty or control drove those purchasing decisions.</p> <p>For CIOs and CTOs, control is still competing with more familiar purchasing criteria: model performance, cost, reliability and ease of deployment.</p> <p>Pattanaik said open weights are more often a tiebreaker than a primary buying criterion, except for workloads involving regulated data or systems that need to be always up. In those cases, control can become a requirement, with performance considered only among models that meet that threshold.</p> <p>The challenge for Mistral is turning that decider into a reason to choose its models. A company might value greater local management over its AI infrastructure but still choose a U.S. provider if its model is substantially more capable or easier to deploy. Mistral has to prove that control is enough to sway the buying decision.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="European requirements make control more important"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>European requirements make control more important</h2> <p>That calculus could change if European customers increasingly make data locality and infrastructure control part of their AI procurement requirements.</p> <p>European companies aren't necessarily looking for sovereign AI as a product category. But procurement policies, data-governance rules and customer expectations could push AI vendors to show where their systems process data and who controls the underlying infrastructure.</p> <p>"Data location and control are increasingly becoming buying criteria, rather than simply compliance concerns," Thakur said.</p> <p>For U.S.-based companies operating in Europe, that could make questions about where AI runs, which laws apply and how easily workloads can be moved part of the buying process -- especially for sensitive workloads or companies looking to avoid dependence on a single provider.</p> <p>That could give Mistral an opening if those requirements become widespread enough to shape vendor selection.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Control is an advantage, not a moat"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Control is an advantage, not a moat</h2> <p>Mistral doesn't need to beat North American frontier labs on model performance to succeed. It wants enough enterprises to decide that control is worth paying for, even when another provider has the better-performing model.</p> <p>But greater autonomy doesn't mean complete independence. Thakur pointed out that an AI provider can offer control at the model and data layers while still relying on a broader technology stack it doesn't hold sway over. For enterprises, he said, "real resilience comes from knowing exactly where your dependencies live, not from a label."</p> <p>That leaves Mistral with a harder decision: to gauge how much control is enough to outweigh the advantages of <a href="https://aibusiness.com/generative-ai/openai-vs-anthropic-vs-google-model-isn-t-the-point">larger AI providers</a>. Enterprises still need models that perform well, infrastructure that scales and products that are reliable enough for production workloads.</p> <p>The bigger test is whether the approach Mistral is building toward -- AI that is more transparent about where it runs, more portable among providers and less dependent on a single vendor -- becomes something European buyers start expecting from every AI provider, including American labs.</p> <p>If it does, U.S. enterprises with European subsidiaries or customers could be among the first to feel the effects. They might increasingly have to answer not only whether their AI products and services are good, but also if they can prove where it runs.</p> <p><em>Kinza Yasar covers AI and emerging technology for TechTarget, with a focus on ethics, enterprise adoption, governance and business strategy. Before moving into journalism, she worked in IT and network support roles, giving her a systems-level perspective on how enterprise technologies are built, deployed and managed.</em></p> </section> The French AI lab is using a $3B fundraise to sell control over AI infrastructure, not just model power -- a shift in direction that could matter to U.S. firms in Europe too. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/ai_a264431831.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/ai/news/366650319/Mistral-bets-enterprise-AI-will-be-about-control-not-just-intelligence Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:22:00 GMT <p>AI is impacting enterprises in many different ways, and workplace collaboration is a fundamental use case. <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/definition/What-is-UCaaS-Unified-communications-as-a-service-guide">Unified communications as a service</a> has become the hub for how work gets done, and IT leaders need to understand how integrating AI is driving change not only in worker productivity but also in automating workflows across the organization.</p> <p>Let's explore how <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/definition/What-are-AI-agents-Types-and-examples">AI agents</a> make workflows better and best practices for using AI agents with UCaaS.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="How AI copilots and agents bring benefits to UC workflows"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>How AI copilots and agents bring benefits to UC workflows</h2> <p>By now, enterprises have learned how AI copilots <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/it-infrastructure/tip/7-task-automation-tools-to-increase-productivity-in-2026">help workers automate tasks</a>, but the emergence of agentic AI takes collaboration to another level. Both types are AI-driven and offer distinct benefits, and IT leaders need to support them both. Whereas copilots automate specific tasks as directed by workers, AI agents operate autonomously, with little or no human supervision.</p> <p>This broadens the scope for how AI enhances workplace collaboration, going beyond task automation to executing workflows end-to-end. Workflows may incorporate discrete tasks handled by copilots, but they also orchestrate tasks across lines of business apps and workflows across the organization.</p> <p>With the focus here being on AI agents, there are several benefits for IT leaders to consider when automating workflows. The following are some leading examples.</p> <ul class="default-list"> <li><b>Omnichannel communications support.</b> By integrating with UCaaS, AI agents get a complete picture of the communications activity related to a workflow, such as voice, email, messaging, video and documents. With today's <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/tip/AI-drives-new-speech-technology-trends-and-use-cases">speech-to-text capabilities</a>, AI agents can get accurate transcripts of related voice or video conversations.</li> <li><b>Cross-platform integrations.</b> AI agents can integrate with other business-level platforms such as CRM, ERP and HR. This enables AI agents to automate workflows tied to specific departments or lines of business.</li> <li><b>Flexibility when things change.</b> Simple workflows don't necessarily require AI for automation, especially those that are based on a fixed set of rules. The autonomous nature of agentic AI means <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/feature/Understanding-the-origins-of-complexity-in-enterprise-software">handling complex workflows</a>, where ambiguity and uncertainty are more likely to arise. Deterministic models are not built for this, and this is where agentic AI can take on a wider range of workflows.</li> </ul> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="High-value workflows for AI agents"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>High-value workflows for AI agents</h2> <p>All forms of AI need to show ROI at some point. With agentic AI, the stakes are higher because these agents are executing on workflows and making decisions along the way. Conversely, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.informationweek.com/machine-learning-ai/your-ai-agents-won-t-fail-your-processes-will-" rel="noopener">negative effect</a> can be significant if execution is poor or bad judgment leads to wrong decisions.</p> <p>Deploying AI agents for workflows implies a level of trust that better results can be achieved than with humans. It's important to note that this is a higher level of trust than with AI copilots, which just automate specific tasks. Workflows are more complex, but when AI agents can perform as advertised, the effect is much greater -- and that's what drives ROI.</p> <p>To that end, IT leaders need to identify workflows that provide high value in two ways. First would be the benefits of the workflow on the business, whether for a specific department or overall operations. Second would be the additive effect that AI brings with autonomous automation for that workflow.</p> <p>Since AI works best with large datasets and discrete forms of data, the initial focus should be on workflows that play to those strengths. To help identify those workflows, here are some defining characteristics:</p> <ul class="default-list"> <li><b>Workflows that generate and/or consume large volumes of data. </b>This includes tracking measurable activity over time or requiring computation across a wide range of variables.</li> <li><b>High degree of manual involvement.</b> These kinds of workflows are prone to human error. With AI being able to detect anomalies faster than humans, AI agents will reduce these errors.</li> <li><b>Rules-based parameters</b>. The more structured the workflow, the more effective AI agents will be. This is where initial deployments should focus, but note that AI can process unstructured, ambiguous inputs. IT can move on to those workflows as trust develops.</li> <li><b>Processes are repeatable</b>. The more predictable, the better AI agents will perform. For recurring workflows, such as processing renewals, planning for monthly meetings or submitting quarterly tax payments, where the inputs are known and the steps well-defined. Autonomous automation will manage these workflows faster and more efficiently than humans.</li> </ul> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Governance and guardrails"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Governance and guardrails</h2> <p>Governance is a must-have for any form of agentic AI that autonomously manages tasks or workflows. When AI bots are making independent decisions -- large or small -- there are direct factors to consider where AI must have a high degree of trust.</p> <ol class="default-list"> <li><b>Compliance.</b> <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/tip/AI-innovation-in-UCaaS-requires-compliance-balancing-act">Ensure workflows are compliant</a>, especially for industry-specific requirements such as HIPAA, SOX and PCI, and supported by a clear audit trail.</li> <li><b>Security.</b> This is largely related to cybersecurity to protect workflows from malicious threats or autonomous actions that could trigger security breaches and expose data to bad actors.</li> <li><b>Privacy.</b> IT must protect employees, customers and partners when their data is connected to workflows that are being automated by AI agents</li> </ol> <p>These are the basic guardrails for establishing trust with AI agents. A governance structure is needed for all AI use cases, not just for AI agents. This <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/feature/CIOs-must-rethink-governance-for-AI-collaboration-tools">framework will constantly evolve</a>, but requires a clear set of rules that define what AI agents can and cannot do when automating workflows. Not only that, but since each workflow is distinct, there should be <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/feature/Vertical-AI-agents-explained-The-future-of-enterprise-tech">policies specific to the workflow</a> rather than being based on generic policies.</p> <p>Central to all of this is <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/feature/Humans-and-AI-The-role-of-people-in-the-new-AI-world">human in the loop</a>. AI may be advancing quickly, but it cannot be fully trusted to autonomously automate workflows. Unlike task automation, workflows have multiple points of failure, and humans need end-to-end visibility to detect potential AI mishaps, such as incorrect routing decisions, sharing unauthorized files, providing access to workers who don't have permissions for this workflow and missing steps in a predefined process.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Best practices for using AI agents"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Best practices for using AI agents</h2> <p>With AI agents still new, a universal set of best practices has not yet emerged, but a guiding principle is to start off with simple workflows that already have well-established steps and processes. That way, human in the loop will be more effective with AI agents to produce the expected outcomes, especially to support ROI. To help <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/news/366649796/When-AI-agents-go-rogue-What-enterprise-leaders-need-to-know">mitigate risk and build trust</a>, here are two best practices to build around.</p> <p><b>1. Establish success metrics</b></p> <p>At a high level, three types of metrics will go a long way to defining success when using AI agents to automate workflows:</p> <ul class="default-list"> <li><b>Financial</b>. Driving revenue, cost savings and improving margins.</li> <li><b>Productivity</b>. Faster decisions, short timelines to complete projects and handling more inquiries.</li> <li><b>Quality</b>. Fewer errors, improved accuracy, reduced reworking and less duplication of work.</li> </ul> <p>To help develop these, team leaders responsible for the automated workflows should be involved. They have the hands-on familiarity to identify what those specific metrics should be and to map out the complete workflow, ensuring AI agents handle the entire workflow and not just part of it.</p> <p><b>2. Integrating AI agents into workflows</b></p> <p>This is another best practice that will help AI agents have maximum effect on workflows. Again, the focus would be on the workers and departments most connected to the workflow. Aside from having a working knowledge of the workflow, they can also play a direct role in getting those integrations just right.</p> <p>The latter is now possible due to the prevalence of low-code/no-code programming for building AI applications. Technical expertise in AI is not needed, meaning these workers are in the best position to properly integrate AI agents with workflows. Otherwise, these teams would have to rely on integrations built by IT, system integrators or AI vendors, who would lack the localized expertise of the teams tied to the workflows.</p> <p>By encouraging team members to be hands-on this way, not only will workflow automation results be better, but it will also build more buy-in from workers for using AI. Rather than viewing AI agents as a threat to their jobs, they will see them as tools to enhance their own performance and value to the business.</p> <p>As a follow-on benefit, when workers successfully automate workflows on their own, IT's workload will decrease. Overall, this helps accelerate AI adoption across the enterprise.</p> <p><em>Jon Arnold is principal of J Arnold &amp; Associates, an independent analyst providing thought leadership and go-to-market counsel with a focus on the business-level effect of communications technology on digital transformation.</em></p> </section> AI agents can boost UCaaS workflows, but IT leaders must follow best practices to identify high-value workflows, determine ROI metrics and establish governance guardrails. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/ai_a352095729.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/tip/How-AI-agents-transform-UCaaS-workflows-and-ROI Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:07:00 GMT <p>Artificial intelligence may live in the cloud, but its carbon emissions are decidedly earthbound.</p> <p>Most organizations have treated the adoption of generative AI as a software, data governance or productivity initiative. Few appear to have asked what it does to <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/feature/AI-carbon-footprint-Helping-and-hurting-the-environment">their carbon footprint</a>. This is partly because AI arrives through somebody else’s data center and partly because measuring its impact is frustratingly difficult.</p> <p>That difficulty should not become an excuse for ignoring it.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="AI's energy thirst"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>AI's energy thirst</h2> <p>The International Energy Agency <a target="_blank" href="https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai" rel="noopener">estimates</a> that data centers consumed approximately 415 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024, around 1.5% of global electricity consumption. It forecasts this could more than double to approximately 945 TWh by 2030. Accelerated servers, principally driven by AI adoption, account for almost half of that increase.</p> <p>This does not mean that AI is poised to consume all the world’s electricity. Data centers are still projected to represent less than 3% of global demand in 2030. However, the impact is concentrated geographically and natural gas and coal are projected to supply more than 40% of the additional electricity required by data centers up to 2030. The IEA expects data center electricity emissions to peak at around 320 million tons of CO2 by 2030.</p> <p>These are substantial numbers, but they do not tell an individual CIO what using Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT or an internally developed AI agent does to their own carbon inventory.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="The dangerous simplicity of “per prompt”"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>The dangerous simplicity of “per prompt”</h2> <p>There have been several attempts to calculate the footprint of an individual AI query. Google estimates that the median text prompt submitted to its <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641999/Google-launches-Gemini-Agent-Platform-eighth-generation-TPUs">Gemini applications</a> in May 2025 used 0.24 watt-hours of electricity, emitted 0.03 grams of CO2 equivalent and consumed 0.26 milliliters of water.</p> <p>Using those figures, one million prompts would consume approximately 240 kWh and produce 30 kg of CO2e. That sounds surprisingly modest.</p> <p>Unfortunately, it's not a universal conversion factor. The result changes according to several factors, including: the model; the length of the input and output; whether the system is generating text, images or video; the hardware operations; the data center location and the carbon intensity of the electricity being used. A complex reasoning task -- or an AI agent making dozens of calls to complete one employee request -- cannot reasonably be equated with a short chatbot response.</p> <p>Google also reports that the energy consumption of its median prompt fell 33-fold in 12 months. Efficiency is improving remarkably quickly, but total demand can still rise if usage grows even faster. This is the familiar rebound effect that making something cheaper and more efficient encourages much more use.</p> <p>The biggest organizational risk, therefore, may not be one extravagant AI model. It may be millions of apparently inconsequential interactions embedded invisibly into everyday processes.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Start by recognizing what you do not know"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Start by recognizing what you do not know</h2> <p>CIOs should resist the temptation to create a wonderfully precise spreadsheet based on gloriously imprecise assumptions. The more useful first step is to establish visibility.</p> <p>Create an inventory of sanctioned AI services, internally hosted models, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/it-strategy/feature/How-CIOs-can-avoid-the-AI-surprise-bill">API consumption</a> and significant AI features embedded in existing software. Include shadow AI where it can reasonably be identified. Usage should be measured by model, application, business unit and workload type, rather than simply counting licenses.</p> <p>CIOs should then ask cloud and AI suppliers for energy, carbon and water data attributable to customer usage. The suppliers should explain whether figures include cooling, idle capacity, networking and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/feature/Hidden-issues-complicate-sustainability-in-IT-manufacturing">embodied emissions</a> from manufacturing hardware. Google Cloud already provides carbon data by project, product and region, while Microsoft offers emissions reporting for its cloud services. The information is imperfect, but considerably better than pretending outsourced computing has no footprint.</p> <p>For most organizations, emissions from externally supplied AI services are likely to sit within <a target="_blank" href="https://www.carbontrust.com/our-work-and-impact/guides-reports-and-tools/what-are-scope-3-emissions-and-why-do-they-matter" rel="noopener">Scope 3</a> as purchased goods and services. Internally operated infrastructure may create Scope 2 electricity emissions as well as Scope 3 emissions associated with hardware and suppliers. Sustainability and finance teams should agree to use an accounting treatment rather than leaving AI consumption outside the reporting boundary.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Carbon needs its own FinOps discipline"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Carbon needs its own FinOps discipline</h2> <p>The practical mitigations look remarkably similar to good cost management.</p> <p>Use the smallest AI model capable of completing the task. Route simple enquiries to smaller models and reserve expensive reasoning models for <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/feature/To-justify-physical-AI-costs-choose-high-value-use-cases">problems that justify them</a>. Limit unnecessarily long prompts and responses, reuse results where appropriate and prevent autonomous agents from entering loops or making unlimited calls.</p> <p>Development teams should test energy and carbon alongside cost, latency and accuracy. Workloads that are not time-critical may be directed to regions or times with cleaner electricity, subject to data residency and operational requirements. Redundant models, experimental environments and unused GPU capacity should be retired.</p> <p>Procurement also <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/it-strategy/feature/Sustainable-procurement-strategies-and-policies-for-CIOs">has a role</a>. Requests for proposals should require suppliers to disclose their measurement methodology, regional energy mix, water usage and efficiency improvements. “Powered by renewable energy” is not enough on its own, CIOs should distinguish contractual renewable-energy claims from the carbon intensity of the electricity physically consumed.</p> <p>Finally, AI’s footprint should be considered against the emissions it helps avoid. An optimization system that reduces transport mileage or energy consumption may deliver a net environmental benefit. A tool generating meeting summaries that nobody reads probably will not.</p> <p>The objective is not to discourage AI adoption. It is to make carbon another visible unit of consumption, alongside tokens, API calls and pounds spent. An organizations can challenge what it measures. What remains hidden in the cloud will simply continue to grow.</p> </section> CIOs must proactively track and account for their AI-driven carbon footprint as AI's growing energy demand increases the difficulty of measuring per-prompt energy output. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/esg_g1400218353.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/it-strategy/opinion/CIOs-need-to-start-accounting-for-AI-carbon-footprint Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:06:00 GMT <p>When the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/General-Data-Protection-Regulation-GDPR" target="_blank" rel="noopener">General Data Protection Regulation</a> (GDPR) came into force, generative AI wasn’t embedded in everyday business applications, AI agents were not executing multi-step tasks across corporate databases and <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366636155/NCSC-warns-of-confusion-over-true-nature-of-AI-prompt-injection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prompt injection</a> was not a mainstream vector for data exfiltration.</p> <p>GDPR is one of the world's most important pieces of data protection legislation and its principles are highly relevant to AI. But it was designed around a very different data environment. AI has introduced fundamentally different ways for data to be processed, inferred, retrieved and exposed, introducing challenges and compliance risks that could not have been anticipated.</p> <p>This doesn’t mean GDPR has become obsolete, but we do need to question whether the way organisations demonstrate compliance is enough when the systems processing personal data can themselves be manipulated. &nbsp;Take prompt injection. An organisation may have strong access controls around a database containing sensitive customer information, and a clearly documented lawful basis for processing and robust policies around retention and deletion. But if it gives an AI assistant access to that database, an attacker could manipulate the AI into retrieving information that it has legitimate access to.</p> <p>The underlying data controls may be working but the vulnerability exists in the layer between the user, the AI and the systems it can access. One of the important differences AI introduces is that security is not just about preventing unauthorised access; it is also about preventing authorised AI systems from being manipulated into producing illegal outcomes.</p> <p>This risk escalates exponentially as enterprises deploy agentic workflows. An AI agent may be able to search internal documents, send emails, update records, access customer systems or interact with other applications. Every additional capability creates another potential route to personal data if the agent can be manipulated.</p> <p>When it comes to AI, are documented controls, a data protection impact assessment and appropriate policies enough to demonstrate GDPR compliance? Or should organisations also be able to demonstrate that they have actively tested the system? &nbsp;GDPR requires that organisations implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data. However, in an AI environment, those measures can’t be assessed just by looking at whether they exist. Organisations need to understand how they perform when an AI system is subjected to adversarial conditions.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about AI and privacy</h3> <ul style="list-style-type: square;" class="default-list"> <li>MP Jess Asato discusses her landmark legal case against xAI, explaining why she believes AI companies must be held accountable&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366648854/Why-sexualisation-of-women-by-Groks-GenAI-is-a-data-privacy-issue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for privacy violations</a>.</li> <li>Advisory guidelines clarifying when organisations can scrape and reuse personal data to build GenAI models are among a raft of announcements at the inaugural&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645910/Singapore-spells-out-how-personal-data-can-be-used-in-GenAI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Singapore Data Festival</a>.</li> <li>As part of a legal settlement over its child safety measures, Meta will have to pay $18bn over a 10-year period, and implement a number of changes to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366649788/Meta-pays-18bn-to-settle-US-child-safety-lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its Facebook and Instagram platforms</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <p>That means testing for prompt injection and data leakage, examining what an AI system can reveal through carefully constructed interactions and determining whether an agent can be manipulated into accessing or transmitting information outside its intended purpose. It also means testing the permissions given to AI systems and considering what happens when those permissions are abused.</p> <p>AI therefore needs to be treated as part of the attack surface, not as an application that can be assessed once and then considered secure. AI systems behave differently from conventional applications, with outputs influenced by inputs, context and interactions. A system that appears secure under normal conditions may behave differently when confronted with an adversarial interaction.</p> <p>A compliance assessment carried out when an AI system is deployed cannot necessarily tell an organisation how that system will behave several months later, after the underlying model has changed, new data sources have been connected or its permissions have expanded. GDPR compliance in an AI environment therefore needs to be continuous rather than static.</p> <p>There is also a capability challenge. Developers need to understand the security implications of the AI systems they build, while security professionals need hands-on experience defending against adversarial AI techniques. Crucially, organisations must evaluate human-AI readiness, proving that human operators have the technical dexterity to direct, validate, and override autonomous agents when they hallucinate or fall under attack. That knowledge cannot come solely from policies or theoretical training. Teams need opportunities to test these scenarios in realistic conditions and understand how systems behave when those attacks succeed.</p> <p>AI provides another route where personal data can be exposed and having a policy stating that an AI system must protect personal data is not enough. Organisations need to be able to demonstrate that the system has been tested, its permissions challenged and potential routes to data exposure investigated, alongside having people with the capability to respond when something goes wrong.</p> <p>GDPR’s principles around privacy, accountability, data minimisation and security are arguably even more important with AI. But the regulation can’t have anticipated every mechanism through which AI can expose personal information and organisations cannot rely on compliance approaches developed for a fundamentally different technological environment.</p> <p>The future of GDPR compliance will need more than governance and<b> </b>documentation. It will need evidence that organisations have actively tested their AI systems, challenged their assumptions and assessed how those systems behave under attack. It will also need evidence that the people responsible for building and defending them have the practical capabilities to identify and respond to emerging threats.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank on AI and GDPR</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Rik Ferguson, Forescout:&nbsp;<a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/AI-has-exposed-the-cracks-GDPR-was-already-trying-to-fix">AI has exposed the cracks GDPR was already trying to fix</a>.</li> <li>Javvad Malik, KnowBe4: <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/When-the-intern-has-admin-rights-GDPR-in-the-agentic-age" target="_blank" rel="noopener">When the intern has admin rights: GDPR in the agentic age</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> The Security Think Tank explores the intersection of GDPR and artificial intelligence, considering how data protection standards in the UK and Europe are changing in this new paradigm. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/Security-Think-Tank-hero.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/GDPR-wasnt-designed-for-AI-and-thats-a-security-problem Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:06:00 GMT <p>It’s a sunny morning in the City of London, and I’m off to the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/resources/IT-for-government-and-public-sector">AWS Public Sector AI Symposium</a>. From my hotel room, one end of Tower Bridge peeps through the gaps in nondescript office blocks. Crystal Palace Hill sits distant, and a railway line runs; less used than I expected it to be when I first spotted it. But it’s Fenchurch Street, so that figures.</p> <p>It is early autumn, just into September, and there is still damp on the rooftops from earlier rain. I check out of the hotel through a plush-but-unstylish lounge and out past the Princess of Prussia. It’s the kind of pub that looks like one I would want to drink in, though I don’t stop to find out whether it really does sell the stouts, mild ales and porter its century-old ceramic frontage suggests.</p> <p>The streets are cool and full of traffic; off towards Aldgate, vehicles moving at a crawl next to me, pretty much walking pace. F&amp;M men smoke outside a building. There’s a Tesco Express, city workers off to work, and blocks of public housing nestling where one would least expect.</p> <p>Opposite the social housing, it’s a mix of actual old buildings and 90s fake marble-fronted offices. One of them is the <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252515243/Rising-energy-costs-blamed-as-UK-arm-of-colocation-firm-Sungard-AS-enters-administration">now-defunct</a> Sungard Availability Services, which wears a rounded, perspex-fronted lift but is absolutely covered in graffiti anywhere in human reach – looks like it might not be too available anymore.</p> <p>On past hoardings plastered with posters: “Drum and Bass Weekender”, “You and Me Comedy”, “Dub Vendor”.</p> <p>Past the dragon-on-a-plinth marker of the City of London boundary, and past St Botolph Without Aldgate – the city belying its older existence. There is even a bingo hall, not something you expect to find in the city, though I suppose many here play bingo all day long in some sense.</p> <p>Our venue is 133 Houndsditch, and I nearly walk straight past, then turn to see it. In through the main entrance and a revolving door, then helpful staff, one of whom says “prass” instead of “press” in the way young home counties folk seem to these days. My e-ticket loads easily from email. Up to the second floor, where the event is happening, and I am early.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Croissants and listening walls"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Croissants and listening walls</h2> <p>Rows of tables hold miniature croissants (pictured), smoothies and juice. Partner stands line the walls. One firm, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/microscope/news/366642584/Version-1-and-Integris-hit-the-acquisition-trial">Version1</a>, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to listen to an entire room’s conversations to surface IT solutions in near to real time – like a useful version of everybody’s paranoid ideas about mobile phones that eavesdrop. An Indian man from <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/AI-wont-break-your-security-but-your-governance-might">PA Consulting</a> explains the messy business of migrating large public sector organisations. But it’s time to get to work.</p> <p>I am in my red-striped 1970/80s Van Heusen shirt, still awaiting my Amazon Web Service (AWS) press office guide, and I duck out of forced conversations to take my press seat in front of the stage.&nbsp;</p> <p>A data scientist from King’s College London plonks down beside me and introduces herself. My use of large language models (LLMs) in code editors has changed my work in data journalism significantly in recent times, and I’m keen to talk, especially to a “real” data scientist – I’m self-taught.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the session is due to start. IT event favourite Daft Punk ramps up over the PA. No dry ice, though. It doesn’t feel like a rave at 9am, which is a nice change from many vendor events.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Revolving doors everywhere"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Revolving doors everywhere</h2> <p>The building entrance, it turns out, was not the only revolving door. The keynote opens with the host, AWS’s Holly Ellis, a veteran of a number of government posts including the Home Office. By late-morning I’ve lost count of the AWS and supplier speakers that reference their public sector past lives.</p> <p>AWS’s David Appel opens by talking about the 1951 Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, “a million square feet of glass and iron built in just nine months”, and a pitch that references the high water mark of British Empire industry and capitalism, and <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Treat-AI-like-electricity-not-a-killer-app">the parallels between electrification and AI</a>. His colleague, Ash Thankey, brings the gush. “We love you guys,” he tells the room. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.”</p> <p>The numbers come thick and fast: 58% of public sector organisations have adopted AI, yet only 31% have reached the advanced stage, and redesigning workflows earns efficiency gains of 68% against 40% for basic users.&nbsp;</p> <p>Accenture’s Hacer Evans, a 27-year civil servant until recently, is more prosaic. She talks about “scalers” and warns that leadership, not technology, is the gap.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Social good peeps through"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Social good peeps through</h2> <p>A panel discussion follows. I grimace inwardly at the mention of The Tony Blair Institute, but its representative brings insight, talking of the cost of deprivation that results from the UK as “the third most unequal country in the OECD developed nations”.</p> <p>Later, Maggie Philbin, former <em>Tomorrow’s World</em> presenter, hands the stage to students Miranda and Safa, who talk about AI literacy, and the soft skills needed for a successful AI future. It’s another moment when the event stops selling and social good comes through.</p> <p>Afterwards, I am whisked (thanks again to my AWS press office guide) to an interview with Proximie and University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire.</p> <p>It’s lunchtime when I leave. Past registration, into the lift, down to the ground floor. I’ve taken in so much that it feels like an age since I arrived, but it has only been four hours. Information was densely packed; I later found out I’d recorded 30,000 words.</p> <p>I gather my bearings, go through the revolving door and emerge onto a street full of office workers. I duck through the alleyway to Aldgate Station, past a resting food delivery e-cyclist, enter the arched portal, flash the card at the ticket barrier, and the gates open. That is it.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more IT event travelogues</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643633/Datacentre-dive-From-rust-belt-to-megawatt-AI-factory">Datacentre dive: From rust belt to megawatt AI factory</a>: We visited Terawulf’s Lake Ontario 750MW datacentre development. Photos and recordings weren't allowed, so we took notes and wrote them up in more traditional ways.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Datacentre-dive-Through-the-looking-glass-at-Telehouse-South">Datacentre dive: Through the looking glass at Telehouse South</a>: We visit London’s Docklands datacentre cluster, where former docks now house windowless, aluminium-clad monoliths and Telehouse South is Thames-side fortress of edge connectivity.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> What goes on in the gaps between reporting on vendor events, with a morning spent absorbing thousands of words at the AWS Public Sector AI Symposium in London https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/computerweekly/aws-symposium-croissants.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/IT-event-dive-Through-AWS-public-sector-symposium-revolving-door Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:00:00 GMT <p>Voice of the customer tools help provide a complete view of the customer experience by collecting feedback across multiple channels. Collecting customer data can be difficult, but VoC tools can make the process easier.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="What are voice of the customer tools?"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>What are voice of the customer tools?</h2> <p><a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/voice-of-the-customer-VOC">Voice of the customer</a>&nbsp;tools are software applications that integrate feedback collection, analysis, distribution and action into a single, interconnected platform to help organizations understand and improve customer experience. Feedback collection channels can include email, websites, paper, text messages, voice interactions and more. These complement, and are sometimes integrated with, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/feature/What-CIOs-need-to-know-about-digital-experience-monitoring">digital experience monitoring</a>&nbsp;tools that improve quantitative analytics of user experience.</p> <p>VoC tools typically capture data from email, websites and voice interactions at scale. These tools reach well past surveys to include indirect signals such as reviews, social posts and contact center conversations, and inferred signals such as <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/clickstream-analysis-clickstream-analytics">clickstream</a>, purchase history and telemetry data.</p> <p>A successful VoC program provides in-depth and actionable feedback that guides new products and business models. It can also identify gaps or problems that enable teams to resolve issues before they grow out of control. VoC tools focus on improving the qualitative and behavioral aspects of the user experience, such as what the customer said, bought or clicked on.</p> <p>Recent innovations in generative and agentic AI are now starting to support auto-tagging of topics and sentiment, conversational assistants that answer questions about the feedback and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/news/366629754/AI-agents-evolve-how-automated-customer-service-works">AI agents that recommend or trigger the next action</a>.</p> <p>This article examines 10 of the top voice of the customer tools and services to consider based on research from sources including leading market research firms. The tools in this unranked list have the essential capabilities that organizations might need to use feedback to improve customer experience. The list is in alphabetical order.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Overview of voice of the customer tools"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Overview of voice of the customer tools</h2> <h3>Alchemer</h3> <p>Traditionally, Alchemer focused on services that allow businesses to automate the collection, workflow, integration and ability to act on customer feedback. Its key strength is weaving data from other applications and processes the organization already uses, such as email, enterprise communication tools, customer support systems, CRM and IT service management systems. All feedback and data can also integrate with business intelligence tools for deeper analysis and association with revenue and customer engagement models.</p> <p>Alchemer's acquisition of Chatmeter, an AI-driven customer intelligence platform, enhanced its ability to interpret indirect signals from reviews, listings and social media channels. Together, these capabilities support a single customer view across solicited and unsolicited feedback channels.</p> <p>It supports a wide breadth of features with integrations that route feedback into the tools that teams commonly use today. This can help teams spin up or enhance their VoC program to support various use cases and customer signals without requiring an extensive enterprise-scale implementation.</p> <p>The Pulse AI <a target="_blank" href="https://help.alchemer.com/help/getting-started-with-alchemer-pulse" rel="noopener">capabilities</a> add sentiment and theme analysis across reviews and social media channels. They also support image analysis using multimodal large language models. It's a strong fit for retail, hospitality and financial services. It's used by brands such as CNN, FedEx and Alaska Airlines.</p> <h3>Medallia</h3> <p>Medallia is well-known for an extensive range of VoC capabilities for capturing and analyzing feedback across various channels to build a unified view of the customer journey. AI and machine learning help tune incoming signals for processing across prebuilt components for many industries. Its Frontline-Ready AI <a target="_blank" href="https://www.medallia.com/resource/frontline-ready-ai-brochure/" rel="noopener">service</a> simplifies access for management teams. This extends to front-line employees and can be managed using its Org Sync features to enforce governance and controls.</p> <p>These capabilities also ease the dissemination of the appropriate level of detail contextualized across different types of teams and regions. Medallia is a good fit for large organizations that need strong governance controls and broad coverage. Some of its capabilities come with a higher cost of ownership and a longer implementation timeline than some alternatives. However, it may be a good fit for organizations, particularly in compliance-sensitive industries, when these features are planned appropriately.</p> <h3>Pisano</h3> <p>Pisano provides an integrated experience management platform, has a strong presence in EMEA markets and was founded in Istanbul. The company helps customize services for collecting feedback, analyzing the data and then identifying ways to address customer needs more efficiently. For example, it has programs to help companies make sense of metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS), CSAT and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/definition/What-is-a-customer-effort-score-CES">Customer Effort Score</a>, and take appropriate action to address complaints or enhance experiences tailored to local culture.</p> <p>Online feedback loops run the usual gamut of SMS, email, web and mobile apps. It can also help set up offline touchpoints using tablets deployed in retail locations and branch offices, or via low-friction QR codes.</p> <p>Pisano can also layer customer journey mapping and automated workflows for various use cases. It's a good fit for feedback-intensive sectors such as banking and retail, thanks to large programs for institutions, including one of Turkey's largest banks.</p> <p>A new generative <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pisano.com/en/en/knowledge-base/leo" rel="noopener">AI feature</a>, called Leo, orchestrates platform tasks and autonomous workflows. It's a rising star in its main markets thanks to its strong support network and extensive range of features and supported channels. It may be less of a fit for organizations outside its core market.</p> <figure class="main-article-image full-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/pisano_product_screenshot-f.jpg"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/pisano_product_screenshot-f_mobile.jpg" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/pisano_product_screenshot-f_mobile.jpg 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/pisano_product_screenshot-f.jpg 1280w" alt="A screenshot of the Pisano voice of the customer dashboard" data-credit="Pisano" height="315" width="560"> <figcaption> <i class="icon pictures" data-icon="z"></i>Pisano collects customer feedback, tracks customer satisfaction and provides insights into customer journeys. Its AI feature, Leo, orchestrates platform tasks and autonomous workflows. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> <i class="icon" data-icon="w"></i> </div> </figure> <h3>Qualtrics</h3> <p>Qualtrics is one of the largest VoC providers, offering a suite of tools tailored for various industries and large enterprises. Its XM platform combines survey-based direct feedback with XM Discover for analyzing structured and unstructured feedback across channels.</p> <p>It was acquired by SAP in 2019 and then taken private again in 2023 by Silver Lake and CPP Investments in a $12.5 billion deal. It has invested aggressively in AI and acquisitions. Recent acquisitions have included Clarabridge in 2021 and Press Ganey Forsta in 2026, the latter resulted in the acquisition of the Confirmit and InMoment services.</p> <p>Recent AI <a href="https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/sp-administration/artificial-intelligence-ai-administration/">innovations</a> have supported or improved conversational feedback, an assistant, synthetic research audiences and AI agents. It also provides a set of integrations and prebuilt components to improve the customer and employee experience.</p> <p>The company has strong relationships with nearly 200 consultancies and software partners to help customize and implement enterprise-wide rollouts. It does, however, have a relatively higher cost compared with other tools. It's a good fit for research-heavy programs and large rollouts, although costs may be higher than those of alternatives.</p> <figure class="main-article-image full-col" data-img-fullsize="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/qualtrics_dashboard_screenshot-f.jpg"> <img data-src="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/qualtrics_dashboard_screenshot-f_mobile.jpg" class="lazy" data-srcset="https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/qualtrics_dashboard_screenshot-f_mobile.jpg 960w,https://www.techtarget.com/rms/onlineimages/qualtrics_dashboard_screenshot-f.jpg 1280w" alt="A screenshot of the Qualtrics omni-channel overview dashboard" data-credit="Qualtrics" height="267" width="560"> <figcaption> <i class="icon pictures" data-icon="z"></i>In an omni-channel overview dashboard, Qualtrics tracks customer feedback, sentiment and points of friction. </figcaption> <div class="main-article-image-enlarge"> <i class="icon" data-icon="w"></i> </div> </figure> <h3>QuestionPro</h3> <p>QuestionPro is a relatively small VoC provider. It is well suited for SMBs -- particularly in the education, hospitality, healthcare and travel industries. Over the years, it has extended its integrated suite to support surveys, customer experience and employee experience.</p> <p>It has a strong value proposition, a relatively accessible price point and an associated consulting service. It excels at standing up VoC programs that can adapt to insights from small cohorts. Recent AI innovations include support for building conversational surveys.</p> <p>A key strength is the platform's support and associated consulting services for setting up VoC communities that provide richer insight into a small cohort of engaged customers. The company has also pioneered improvements that correlate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/tip/7-key-customer-experience-metrics-to-measure">NPS measurements</a>&nbsp;with revenue and make it easier for customers to guide improvements to product and service offerings.</p> <p>While it has a strong set of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.questionpro.com/help/" rel="noopener">surveying capabilities</a>, QuestionPro lacks more sophisticated analytics and aggregation capabilities without extensive support.</p> <h3>Revuze</h3> <p>Revuze is a newer AI-native entrant into the VoC space. The company built its platform on top of a proprietary LLM trained specifically for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.revuze.it/llm-info/" rel="noopener">VoC workflows</a> rather than bolting AI onto a legacy survey stack.</p> <p>The platform can work with a variety of VoC inputs, including reviews, social media posts and survey responses. A defining feature is its ability to mine these signals to make sense of customer sentiment, make recommendations and suggest next steps. It also helps assess the perceived customer experience, with granularity ranging from whole categories or brands to individual SKUs, in many languages.</p> <p>It's known for fast implementation and particularly for consumer brands. It also supports modules designed for different roles, including product, marketing, customer insight and e-commerce teams, that speed time to insight. It also comes with agentic AI integrations into common trouble ticket platforms like Jira, Zendesk and Monday.com.</p> <p>Revuze is a good fit for consumer packaged goods, retail, beauty and electronics brands. Its modules align well with customer support centers that focus on products and markets rather than service business operations. It may be less of a fit for companies seeking a traditional survey-driven feedback program in the service industry.</p> <h3>SMG</h3> <p>Service Management Group (SMG) offers a software with a service (SwaS) model that bundles hands-on support with data interpretation, benchmarking and program guidance to drive actionable customer experience improvement and outreach. It's a good fit for location-based services such as stores, hotels, restaurants and healthcare services.</p> <p>It offers a set of prepackaged modules that help companies improve specific experiences, such as click-and-collect. Its Service Profit Chain methodology quantifies the link between employee and customer satisfaction, long-term loyalty and sustainable sales growth.</p> <p>The company recently rebuilt its core offering on top of an AI core called Ignite, which supports a more consolidated approach to experience management, helping interpret signals from customers, employees and brands as a whole. The new platform supports AI agents and predictive modeling, combined with these signals, to surface root causes of problems and make recommendations to address them. It also supports Ignite Communities to help companies <a target="_blank" href="https://smg.com/ignite-communities" rel="noopener">test new offerings</a> and processes.</p> <p>It may not be the best choice for B2B companies, and its SwaS model may not be an ideal fit for brands seeking a do-it-yourself SaaS tool. Most multiunit brands can expect a full-service experience management program, which includes software and professional services.</p> <h3>Sprinklr</h3> <p>Sprinklr is a newer VoC platform that has developed a variety of AI-native customer experience management product suites, including Sprinklr Social, Sprinklr Marketing, Sprinklr Insights and Sprinklr Service. Users can work with VoC-related information across these tools using the appropriate combination of copilots, AI agents and customer feedback management capabilities. This approach supports numerous workflows across collaboration, analytics and customer experience automation.</p> <p>It's built on a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzeghscYfOw" rel="noopener">unified data management layer</a> that helps teams curate a coherent view of inferred signals from various channels and contact center interactions. This consolidated stack also supports governance and compliance guardrails grounded in the enforcement of business rules. It can also drive closed-loop feedback to automate responses to problems quickly, rather than just flagging issues in reports.</p> <p>Sprinklr is a good fit for large enterprises wanting to build or extend their VoC programs across more channels. It may not be the best fit for organizations looking to roll out a more focused survey-based VoC program.</p> <h3>Verint</h3> <p>The Verint Experience Management platform enables data collection and integration across digital, physical and contact center databases. Its key strength is its set of speech analytics capabilities built on top of its contact center expertise. These have become more comprehensive and sophisticated, with AI bots and natural language tools that enable the design of more helpful surveys.</p> <p>It also provides <a href="https://www.verint.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/cx-analytics-brochure.pdf">sophisticated analytics</a> that span unstructured text and speech, transcripts and behavioral inputs. It combines this with a predictive experience methodology to help organizations gain insights, automate decisions, keep teams on top of changes and issues, and link changes to desired business outcomes.</p> <p>As a result, it is best suited for high-volume industries such as retail, financial services, utilities, telecommunications and insurance.</p> <h3>Xebo.ai</h3> <p>Xebo.ai started as Survey2Connect to improve the customer surveying aspects of VoC. These core services have been enhanced to improve customer feedback collection across mobile apps, websites, SMS and email programs. The tools help curate dashboards, track NPS and manage the ticketing process.</p> <p>It's a cost-effective fit for companies wanting to jumpstart a survey program that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.xebo.ai/feature/sentiment-analysis" rel="noopener">interprets sentiment</a> from open text using tools for creation and analysis. It can also drive alerts in response to changes in feedback patterns. It has a strong EMEA presence, particularly in the Middle East, thanks to support for the Arabic language and local cloud hosting models.</p> <p>The voice of the customer market has deep roots in the CX world. Despite its longevity, it's still an active and evolving space with vendor consolidation and yet product innovation as the platforms now feature a wide range of capabilities. Like with other enterprise technology products, certain VoC platforms are best suited for certain business sizes and industries. As always, IT buyers need to vet the market and product options carefully before investing in the technology.</p> <p><em>George Lawton is a journalist based in London. Over the last 30 years, he has written more than 3,000 stories about computers, communications, knowledge management, business, health and other areas that interest him.</em></p> </section> Compare 10 voice of the customer tools that collect feedback, analyze sentiment and help teams act on customer experience issues. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/telecommunications_g1280903131.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/tip/10-voice-of-the-customer-tools-to-consider Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:45:00 GMT <p>Compliance with hospital price transparency rules is improving, but according to PatientRightsAdvocate.org, there's still room for growth.</p> <p>The nonprofit, which focuses primarily on promoting price transparency, <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-report-majority-of-hospitals-still-noncompliant-with-hospital-price-transparency-rule-302874609.html">released</a> its latest Hospital Price Transparency Report, finding that compliance has climbed to 49% of 2,000 reviewed hospitals. That's up from 21% just about <a href="https://www.patientrightsadvocate.org/seventh-semi-annual-hospital-price-transparency-report-november-2024">two years ago</a>.</p> <p>Implemented in January 2021, the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/revcyclemanagement/feature/How-the-CMS-price-transparency-rule-challenges-hospitals">CMS Hospital Price Transparency Rule</a> requires all U.S. hospitals to publish their standard prices online so patients can compare costs before receiving care.</p> <p>Prices must be published in a machine-readable format so computer programs or researchers can parse the information. For consumer-facing prices, the CMS requires hospitals to publish a patient-friendly list of at least 300 common "shoppable" services that patients can schedule in advance.</p> <p>Compliance with the rule has been notoriously bad. Six months after the rollout, compliance was only about 5%. By 2023, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/revcyclemanagement/news/366600344/Two-Years-In-Hospital-Price-Transparency-Compliance-at-36">PRA said about a third of facilities fulfilled rule requirements</a>, but that number dipped again in November 2024.</p> <p>Now, just shy of half of healthcare facilities adhere to Hospital Price Transparency rules, which PRA credits to clearer communication and stronger enforcement from the CMS. The agency has made updates to its GitHub specifications, FAQs and other communications, which PRA said help hospitals better comply with file format standardization and file access requirements.</p> <p>Moreover, the CMS seems to be cracking down harder on noncompliance. In June, the agency sent warning letters to more than 500 hospitals, which PRA said allowed contacted hospitals to understand their specific noncompliance issues. Additionally, the CMS fined 28 hospitals for noncompliance, which is up from only 15 hospitals as of PRA's last compliance report.</p> <p>"CMS has made progress enforcing its hospital transparency rules, but this report shows that most hospitals still owe patients clear, usable dollars-and-cents prices they can look up before receiving care," Cynthia Fisher, founder and chair of PRA, said in a press release. "Too many patients are still being denied the real, upfront prices they need to shop for affordable care and protect themselves from overcharges."</p> <p>Only 18% of hospitals surveyed publish dollar-and-cents prices for at least half the items or services in their price data file, PRA data showed. Additionally, many hospitals' algorithms or formulas require access to additional data before a price can be calculated and used by patients.</p> <p>There are some legislative fixes currently under discussion, PRA said. The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2355">Patients Deserve Price Tags Act</a> was approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in July.</p> <p>If passed, the bill would require hospitals, clinical laboratories, imaging providers and ambulatory surgical centers to post dollar-and-cents prices for both cash and health plan-negotiated rates. It would also require those entities to disclose any formulas, algorithms, schedules, contractual methodologies or other necessary information to calculate prices.</p> <p>"When patients have access to real dollar-and-cents prices, they can shop as informed consumers, spot wide price variation, and be protected from overcharges," Fisher stressed.</p> <p><em>Sara Heath is an executive editor at Xtelligent Healthcare Media, where she covers patient engagement, healthcare policy and health IT.</em></p> Experts say clearer communication from CMS and stronger enforcement actions have led to improvements in hospital price transparency compliance. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/money_g1270998711.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/revcyclemanagement/news/366650359/Hospital-price-transparency-compliance-improves-but-lags-at-49 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:53:00 GMT <p>Invitations are currently being sent to employers for a workshop on 8th October in Cheltenham to identify those willing to work together to update the UCAS <a href="https://www.ucas.com/">Choose your future</a> website to enable school leavers and others to <strong>make better informed career choices over the year ahead</strong>.</p> <p>Note that UCAS is not just for applications to University. It is probably the first point of contact for those looking to do Apprenticeships or other training programmes.</p> <p>This event and the associated briefing material and follow up activities (e.g. briefings for MPs via the Digital Policy Alliance 21CN Skills Group in co-operation with relevant APPGs) are&nbsp; therefore likely to be the catalyst for much wider change</p> <p>To make the best use of&nbsp; participants time the intention is to send out an advance briefing (see below for the current state of the text, the links to the supporting papers have yet to be inserted). The workshop will then have three sessions</p> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Round Table One – Challenges and opportunities for making digital career paths clearer</li> <li>Round Table Two&nbsp; – How can we best work together to bring digital careers to life</li> <li>Next Steps</li> </ul> <p>To reserve a place please click here “<a href="https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=RMorxstwe0WjVd6qXLfmiYQvKFax3YtKoQXXmPT4Ol1UNjVOVFdBV0xVSlQ3TUoxMkgxTVRKRlJUTi4u">Digital Careers in a Changing World: Skills Pathways and Opportunities</a>”</p> <p>DRAFT for DISCUSSION ONLY – Please Comment to Philip Virgo c/o community@winsafe.ltd&nbsp; or via Linked-In</p> <p><strong>Informing access to the flexible, hybrid, AI-assisted careers of the Future </strong></p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong><strong>Synopsis</strong></p> <p>Demand for <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9183a122-10b7-4707-a728-b61ab50da378?syn-25a6b1a6=1">coding skills is in decline</a> but demand for systems thinkers to use digital technology to improve productivity and address the problems of today and tomorrow, from on-line safety and security to climate change has never been greater.</p> <p>The long-predicted AI “revolution” has arrived. Its first large-scale impact has been the automation of routine technical tasks in the ICT industries. This has led to a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm21dvg8l1go">50% drop in entry-level tech job adverts</a> with graduate hiring hitting its <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/articles/uk-hiring-falls-demand-ai-230252675.html">lowest level since 2020</a>&nbsp; and a drop in student confidence in the return on investment of a computing degree. UCAS <a href="https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-releases/applicant-releases-for-2026-cycle/2026-cycle-applicant-figures-30-june-deadline">Applications to study Computing at University are down 9% this year</a>. &nbsp;An August 2026 <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/news/blog/shaky-foundations-where-will-the-new-job-opportunities-come-from">Work Foundation year on year analysis</a> indicates that the ICT sector is currently bottom of a jobs league in which public administration and creative industries are top.</p> <p>Digital employers complain that recent graduates the people-oriented attitudes and aptitudes necessary for the flexible, hybrid career paths they wish to offer. This is particularly so with regard to the skills to use AI to improve productivity and enable a shrinking workforce to support an ageing population. A growing <a href="https://industrialcyber.co/reports/sans-2026-report-flags-cybersecurity-skills-crisis-putting-critical-infrastructure-and-ot-sectors-at-measurable-breach-risk/">crisis of digital/cyber skills mismatches, rather than of numbers</a> puts society at increasing risk.</p> <p>How can we use the UCAS website to better inform pupils and their parents of the choices available to them? &nbsp;How can we work together to improve access to that material given the pressures on teachers and careers advisors and the structural changes underway?</p> <p><strong>Contents</strong></p> <h5><strong>1 The Current Situation: Cyber/Digital Demand and Supply</strong></h5> <p>The spring 2026 report on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-security-skills-in-the-uk-labour-market-2025/cyber-security-skills-in-the-uk-labour-market-2025#conclusions">Cyber security skills in the UK labour market</a> indicates that the recruitment shortfall of two years ago has been closed but there are increased skills mismatches between expectations of employers and recent graduates.</p> <p>Most UK published analyses use static definitions of digital skills unrelated to the industry standard <a href="https://sfia-online.org/en/the-sfia-framework">Skills Framework for the Information Age</a> . This is cross -reference by EU and US regulators (e.g. via US NIST standards) and is undergoing its 10^th refresh. &nbsp;Meanwhile 15,000 UK recruiters and over 20 agencies are working via <a href="https://www.betterhiringinstitute.co.uk/">Better Hiring Institute</a> to use the <a href="https://occupational-maps.skillsengland.education.gov.uk/maps/route/digital">Skills England Digital Occupational Map</a> launched this year. This also has cross refences to SFIA. The BHI is working on soft skills taxonomies (see <a href="https://www.betterhiringinstitute.co.uk/resources-hub/talent-matters">Talent Matters</a>) with Vitruvia and others.</p> <p>Most UK skills reports and policy recommendations fail to recognise that over 60% of UK private sector work force is in organisations too small to employ more than one or two full time cyber/digital staff let alone to supervise and support trainees.</p> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td width="120">PAYE /VAT reg</td> <td width="120">United Kingdom</td> <td width="120">South West</td> <td width="120">London</td> <td width="120">+ unreg</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="120">&lt; 10 employees</td> <td width="120">2.4 million</td> <td width="120">210k</td> <td width="120">485k</td> <td width="120">3 million</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="120">10 – 50</td> <td width="120">240k</td> <td width="120">21k</td> <td width="120">42k</td> <td width="120">sole traders</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="120">50 – 250</td> <td width="120">44k</td> <td width="120">8,700</td> <td width="120">3,600</td> <td width="120"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="120">Over 250</td> <td width="120">11k</td> <td width="120">2,600</td> <td width="120">780</td> <td width="120"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>Fewer than 300 private sector employers have more than 1,000 staff. Fewer than 50 recruit most &nbsp;digital/cyber trainees. The good news is that most support those in their supply chains and the managed service providers who support their customers. The bad news is that government does not make it easy for them to work locally across a jungle of national, regional and local programmes funding via different funding silos: education, employment, local government, welfare, industrial and across. And the department policy teams have just been reshuffled: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/machinery-of-government-changes-fact-sheet">Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet&nbsp;</a></p> <p>[Link to back up paper: The cyber/digital skills problem is of mismatches not numbers]</p> <h5><strong>2 impact of AI and emerging technologies on career opportunities and the attitudes, aptitudes and cultural and neuro diversity sought by employers</strong></h5> <p>The increase in applications for AI-related courses has accelerated from 15% to 19% as programming and software engineering) have been automated and data and systems analysts are expected to use AI products and services to better identity user needs and &nbsp;generate and test solutions that address them. The terminologies used to describe the emerging roles are also changing. <a href="https://www.palantir.com/careers/">Palantir</a> uses <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-palantirs-echo-delta-roles-aldo-razzino-ytcvf/">Echo and Delta</a> for the 21^st Century equivalent of the Systems Analyst and Programmer. &nbsp;<a href="https://aws.amazon.com/careers/aws-talent-network/?trk=d99f4c97-e210-42bd-9558-53ea535b290b&amp;sc_channel=el">AWS</a> is offering the opportunity to be “part of an inclusive culture that brings together diverse perspectives and expertise” in teams that will <a href="https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/teams/amazon-web-services">Build with impact</a>. CGI similarly offers the opportunity to <a href="https://www.cgi.com/uk/en-gb/careers/early-careers">Join the innovation generation</a>. The messaging is about applications and meeting user needs not technology. It also needs to be put into wider context&nbsp; such <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beyond-aggregate-how-wage-productivity-growth-diverge-scott-corfe-0boqe/">(Beyond the Aggregate: How Wage and Productivity Growth Diverge Across UK Industries </a>&nbsp;[Link to back up paper]</p> <h5><strong>3 Barriers preventing young people from accessing the choices supposedly available. </strong></h5> <p>There is a need to collate material on the cultural, economic, geographic, social barriers as identified by participants in Digital Policy Alliance 21CN Skills Group round table for <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/When-IT-Meets-Politics/Will-2024-be-the-year-AI-begins-to-transform-Education-Recruitment-Training-from-cradle-to-dotage">2023</a> , &nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/When-IT-Meets-Politics/Will-2024-be-the-year-AI-begins-to-transform-Education-Recruitment-Training-from-cradle-to-dotage">2024 </a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/When-IT-Meets-Politics/Cyber-Skills-Today-for-Economic-Growth-Tomorrow">2025</a>&nbsp; and expressed most recently &nbsp;in the <a href="https://www.youthemployment.org.uk/dev/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-Youth-Voice-Census-Key-Findings.pdf">2026 Youth Voice Census Key Findings</a> . Others are less articulate leading to the harder question of how to reach and motivate UK NEETs suffering from&nbsp; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping">Tang ping </a>. Other recent data includes the Sutton Trust &nbsp;<a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Crossing-Paths.pdf">Crossing Paths</a>. [Link to back up paper]</p> <h5><strong>4 Schools, Colleges and Careers Service engagement structures</strong></h5> <p>Schools are mandated to deliver against &nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatsbybenchmarks.org.uk/">Gatsby Benchmarks</a> but the support they receive to do so is uneven and in increasingly depends on whether they are supported by an active local authority &nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-academy_trust">Multi-Academy Trust</a>&nbsp; (<a href="https://www.futuralearning.co.uk/our-schools/">Local </a>&nbsp;or <a href="https://unitedlearning.org.uk/about-us/our-schools">&nbsp;National</a>), &nbsp;<a href="https://www.franchise-uk.co.uk/language/">Franchise</a> or Network (from&nbsp; <a href="https://www.mariamontessori.org/">Montessori</a> to <a href="https://www.utcolleges.org/">University Technical College</a> (UTC) and/or a variety of <a href="https://schoolpartnershipsalliance.org.uk/champions/">School Partnership</a>s (again local, national and international). Also more than 10% are outside the conventional schools and reached, if all, by other routes, from colleges and youth services to a variety of charities. [Link to back up]</p> <h5><strong>5 Skills partnerships (sectoral, national, regional and local) and funding frameworks</strong></h5> <p>The replacement of the LEPs by Local Skills Partnerships has been complicated by changing local government structures. For digital skills the best forward may be to use TechFirst (via Cynam) to pull through co-operation with STEM hubs, the Sector Skills Councils, bodies like Tech Skills, the Cybersecurity Skills Council and &nbsp;Resilience Association and employer programmes &nbsp;like that announced by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-grid-backs-pms-education-reforms-with-new-5-million-jobs-programme-to-help-5000-young-people-into-work">National&nbsp;Grid</a> . In parallel we might aim to work with the Better Hiring Institute to join up guidance regarding the various programmes organised via DCMS, DBIST, DfE, DWP, MCHLG and user departments like MoD and NHS, working with, through and across the various as example. Hospitality Card as an example? <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jul/28/young-people-new-work-support-mcfadden-benefits">DWP</a>, DfE, Local Government, Social Values Procurement. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jul/28/young-people-new-work-support-mcfadden-benefits">&nbsp;</a>[Link to back up]</p> <h5><strong>6 UCAS Processes for funding/maintaining the website changes</strong></h5> <p><span style="font-size: 16px">Summary plus Link to Back up Paper</span></p> Demand for coding skills is in decline but demand for systems thinkers to use digital technology to improve productivity and address the problems of today and tomorrow, from on-line safety and ... https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/When-IT-Meets-Politics/Draft-Brief-for-Workshop-to-Update-UCAS-Website-on-Digital-Career-Choices Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:50:24 GMT <p>This week saw some channel players getting well-earned accreditations, the launch of an innovative partner programme and the introduction of more tools for partners to protect their customers.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Team Metalogic:</strong> The Welsh MSP has joined a very select number of UK partners that have been awarded the <a href="https://assurix.com/">Assurix Trustmark</a>. The firm gained the recognition after having its security and operational standards assessed. Mike Parfitt, founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.teammetalogic.com/">Team Metalogic</a>, said the accreditation underlined its commitment to delivering high standards to customers.</p> <p>“Becoming the first managed service provider in Wales to earn the Assurix Trustmark is a proud achievement for our entire team,” he said. “We chose to undertake the assessment voluntarily as part of our commitment to greater accountability and transparency, against the backdrop of proposed new legislation, and would urge others in the industry to do the same.”</p> <p><strong>Godel:</strong> The firm has been awarded Microsoft’s Agentic DevOps with Azure and GitHub Advanced Specialisation after an audit confirmed its agentic engineering capability.</p> <p>Leah Russell, head of strategic alliances at <a href="https://www.godeltech.com/">Godel Technologies</a>, said: “As AI investment accelerates, the market is crowded with providers claiming expertise in agentic engineering and AI-powered delivery. The difference is proof. That is what makes this achievement significant. Unlike partner accreditations that rely primarily on self-assessment, Microsoft’s Advanced Specialisations require independent verification of real-world technical and delivery practices.”</p> <p><strong>Onecom Partners:</strong> The telecoms and IT player has cut the ribbon on its CyberProtect and PenX services to offer channel partners access to a security proposition to help protect their customers. CyberProtect counters external threats and PenX is a penetration testing offering.</p> <p>“For most resellers, cyber security has felt like a specialist add-on rather than something they can genuinely own,” said Adam Cathcart, managing director at <a href="https://onecompartners.co.uk/">Onecom Partners</a>. “CyberProtect and PenX change that. With a white-labelled portal giving both resellers and their customers direct control and visibility, partners can have credible, ongoing security conversations, fully backed by the cyber specialists behind CyberProtect and PenX, without needing a dedicated security team of their own.”</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Five-tier Flare"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Five-tier Flare</h2> <p><strong>Flare:</strong> The traditional triple-tier – bronze, silver and gold – has expanded in recent years to include either a platinum or titanium level distinguishing those top-level partners. But for security player <a href="https://flare.io/">Flare</a>, those four tiers were not enough, with the vendor launching a programme with five.</p> <p>The Ignite programme’s tiers stretch from registered through to premier, based on partner-sourced annual recurring revenue. The vendor is also looking to cover a wide range of partner types, including resellers, cloud service providers, managed security service providers, managed service providers and global system integrators.</p> <p>Sarah Chmielewski, vice-president of sales at Flare, said: “With Ignite, we’re making a significant investment in the partner community by providing a clear path to growth, meaningful incentives, and the resources needed to build successful services and security practices around Flare.”</p> <p><strong>Blackpoint Cyber:</strong> The firm, which focuses on protecting small and medium-sized enterprises, is arming the managed service provider community with Identity Threat Detection and Response tools to counter threats. “Threats are becoming agentic, and identities are the new threat vector where attackers are entering the business,” said Sasmita Panda, vice-president of engineering at <a href="https://blackpointcyber.com/">Blackpoint Cyber</a>.</p> <p>“We aren’t here to merely defend, we are here to protect, and that requires more than adding another detection rule – it requires the ability to continuously recognise new attack patterns, make sense of identity activity in context and act immediately.”</p> </section> Developments this week at Team Metalogic, Godel, Onecom Partners, Flare and Blackpoint Cyber https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/German/article/data-manuscript-stack-paper-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/microscope/news/366650344/Channel-catch-up-News-in-brief Fri, 11 Sep 2026 07:45:00 GMT <p>A research project at <a href="https://www.waseda.jp/top/en/">Waseda University</a>&nbsp;in Japan has offered a way to use artificial intelligence (AI) to predict wireless conditions in advance and proactively adjust transmission settings for more reliable video delivery.</p> <p>Explaining the rationale for the study, the research team at Waseda – led by Jiro Katto and PhD candidate Kasidis Arunruangsirilert – say they have developed a lightweight AI model that predicts wireless conditions before they deteriorate, adjusting transmission settings accordingly.</p> <p>Outlining the background of their work, the researchers noted that cable television (CATV) remains a cornerstone of how national broadcasts and emergency information reach thousands of households. Yet they suggested that since many older buildings were not built <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366646601/EE-launches-8Gbps-full-fibre-broadband-as-switch-to-all-digital-beckons">with fibre optics in mind</a>, retrofitting them with the necessary wiring for CATV is too costly or impractical, leaving residents unable to access broadcast services.</p> <p>The emerging candidate technology to address this is 5G multicast and broadcast services (MBS), a <a href="https://www.3gpp.org/technologies/broadcast-multicast">3GPP-standardised technology</a> introduced in Release 17 that enables native point-to-multipoint data delivery over 5G new radio (NR) networks. It uses 5G wireless signals to deliver the same television stream to many households simultaneously. By making efficient use of the limited radio spectrum, it offers a realistic path to modernising CATV infrastructure.</p> <p>However, the researchers stressed that 5G multicast broadcasting has a fundamental limitation. Ordinary 5G connections on smartphones are two-way, so when a data packet fails to arrive, the receiving device can simply request retransmission. Multicast broadcasting may not support such return channels, which means lost data packets cannot be resent, causing the video stream to freeze momentarily.</p> <p>The research team believes conventional 5G communication protocols, designed around retransmission requests and maximising speed, are not built to handle situations where retransmission is limited.</p> <p>The AI model they created is designed to predict wireless conditions in advance and proactively adjust transmission settings, enabling stable, real-time video delivery via 5G broadcasting. In addition to improving quality of service in general, the researchers claimed that their approach could help enable more reliable delivery of high-definition television over <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366649809/VodafoneThree-claims-UK-connectivity-reshape-with-SuperMobile">local 5G networks</a>, particularly where installing fibre-optic cables is impractical, and bridge information gaps in underserved areas.</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about networks for video</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643663/EE-accelerates-UK-5G-roll-out-teams-with-Meta-to-boost-mobile-video">EE accelerates UK 5G+ roll-out and teams with Meta to boost mobile video</a>: UK mobile provider activates advanced 5G connectivity at more than 25 major events and in more than 30 tourist destinations, and teams with social media giant to bring about smoother video.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366649809/VodafoneThree-claims-UK-connectivity-reshape-with-SuperMobile">VodafoneThree&nbsp;claims UK connectivity ‘reshape’ with SuperMobile</a>: UK operator claims to set mobile benchmark around quality and performance&nbsp;with enhanced standalone 5G network.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644876/F1-Japanese-Grand-Prix-podiums-with-5G-SA-and-mmWave-use-cases">F1 Japanese Grand Prix podiums with 5G SA and mmWave use cases</a>: Ericsson and SoftBank reveal Formula One success in balancing diverse communication services on a single 5G network through the convergence of network slicing and mmWave.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366649189/ITV-tames-World-Cup-streaming-spikes-with-Akamai-TrafficPeak">ITV tames World Cup streaming spikes with Akamai TrafficPeak:</a> UK’s leading commercial broadcaster deploys network management and real-time data platform for operational intelligence deployed to safeguard live-streaming architecture during the World Cup.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <p>The AI model was trained using approximately 26 million measurements collected every 0.5 milliseconds from a commercial 5G network, enabling it to capture rapid fluctuations in radio conditions that coarse datasets miss. It relied on information already collected by smartphones during standard operation, and is compact enough to run in real time on consumer devices without requiring specialised hardware.</p> <p>Tests on a real-world commercial 5G network showed that the AI model selected an error-free transmission setting for approximately 87% of video segments, compared with only 32% for a conventional speed-oriented approach. The model also operated in less than 0.07 milliseconds on smartphone chipsets released from 2020 onward, introducing no perceptible delay to viewers.</p> <p>“Our study stands as a practical example of <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639876/NVIDIA-teams-with-global-telecom-leaders-for-6G-development">AI-native wireless communication</a>, in which AI takes on decision-making responsibilities in next-generation networks, and represents a meaningful step toward the long-sought convergence of broadcasting and broadband on a single, spectrally efficient wireless platform,” said the research team.</p> <p>Beyond improving television services, the researchers believe the same approach could benefit many forms of one-way wireless communication where retransmission is impossible, including satellite communications, <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366646959/Dubai-Future-Foundation-Oxa-launch-Shifft-to-gear-up-for-autonomous-vehicles">autonomous vehicles</a>, scientific exploration and <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643508/Ignite-OST-drive-to-solve-autonomous-vehicle-challenges-with-AI">industrial systems</a>.</p> <p>“Our study stands as a practical example of AI-native wireless communication, in which AI takes on decision-making responsibilities in next-generation networks, and represents a meaningful step toward the long-sought convergence of broadcasting and broadband on a single, spectrally efficient wireless platform,” said Katto.</p> Japanese university study presents ‘lightweight’ approach for improving the reliability of mobile broadcasting to help prevent temporary video freezing caused by lost data during wireless transmission https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/EE-smartphone-5G-4G-lifestyle-hero.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650343/AI-improves-reliability-of-5G-multicast-broadcasting Fri, 11 Sep 2026 07:15:00 GMT <p>The latest features from Alteryx advance its transformation from a data preparation specialist toward becoming a connective layer between enterprise data and AI tools.</p> <p>Unveiled on Sept. 9, the new capabilities include <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/feature/One-year-of-MCP-Support-a-must-for-data-management-vendors">a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server</a> and studio for transforming trusted datasets into agents. Collectively, they are designed to link AI applications with the information, including enterprise rules and previous analyses, that gives AI tools <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366646252/Context-is-king-as-agents-evolve-but-problems-persist">the context</a> to perform properly.</p> <p>As a result, as enterprises <a target="_blank" href="https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-zone3/us/en/docs/services/consulting/2026/state-of-ai-2026.pdf" rel="noopener">increasingly try to move past experimenting</a> with agents and put AI tools into production, Alteryx's new capabilities are valuable for the vendor's users, according to Stephen Catanzano, an analyst at Omdia, a division of TechTarget.</p> <p>"These capabilities represent strong additions because they&nbsp;shift Alteryx … to becoming connective infrastructure between AI agents and enterprise business logic," he told TechTarget.</p> <p>Of particular importance is that the new features don't require Alteryx customers to create a new context layer each time they build an AI application, <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/feature/AI-feature-spend-is-the-new-software-cost-control-problem">saving them both cost and effort</a>, Catanzano continued.</p> <p>"They [address] the practical challenge of organizations recreating the same business rules across multiple AI implementations while maintaining security, auditability and cost efficiency," he said.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Changing with the times"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Changing with the times</h2> <p>Before the AI era, enterprises often relied on specialists to build their data workflows, including vendors such as Alteryx for <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/feature/Top-data-preparation-challenges-and-how-to-overcome-them">data preparation</a>, Fivetran and Informatica for <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/feature/8-data-integration-challenges-and-how-to-overcome-them">data integration</a>, and Qlik and Tableau for data analysis. Now, AI tools can perform many data and analytics tasks on their own, reducing the need for specialized platforms.</p> <p>To remain relevant to existing customers and attempt to appeal to potential new ones, many data and analytics providers are evolving. For example, longtime self-service analytics specialists <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366640059/GoodDatas-Context-Management-aims-to-make-AI-trustworthy">GoodData</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366642778/Tableau-repositions-for-AI-unveils-new-knowledge-layer">Tableau</a> are re-positioning themselves as underlying layers for AI. Additionally, whether database providers such as <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366649199/MongoDB-intros-latest-features-to-fuel-AI-development">MongoDB</a>, data platform vendors like <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366644813/Databricks-intros-new-Genie-data-management-tools-to-aid-AI">Databricks</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366643795/Snowflake-barrage-adds-more-AI-development-analysis-tools">Snowflake</a>, or governance layers including <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366645666/Alation-launches-OS-for-building-governing-AI-agents">Alation</a> and <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366580432/Collibra-launches-AI-Governance-unveils-GenAI-capabilities">Collibra</a>, AI has forced data technology vendors to adjust.</p> <blockquote class="main-article-pullquote"> <div class="main-article-pullquote-inner"> <figure> These capabilities represent strong additions because they shift Alteryx … to becoming connective infrastructure between AI agents and enterprise business logic. </figure> <figcaption> <strong>Stephen Catanzano</strong>Analyst, Omdia </figcaption> <i class="icon" data-icon="z"></i> </div> </blockquote> <p>Alteryx likewise doing so with its latest capabilities.</p> <p>David Menninger, an analyst at ISG, noted that enterprises and software vendors are attempting to figure out the best mix of deterministic processing that relies on fixed rules and probabilistic processing that uses statistical patterns when building AI tools. For agents that execute tasks such as data engineering and analysis, deterministic processing, which results in a consistent output when using the same input, is generally preferred.</p> <p>"This is where Alteryx has earned its bread and butter," Menninger told TechTarget. "The new Alteryx features provide the glue between the data and analytics processes it manages and the AI agents enterprises are deploying to help with automation and enhanced decision making."</p> <p>Specifically, Alteryx's latest new capabilities include the following:</p> <ul type="disc" class="default-list"> <li>Agent Studio, an environment where business users can transform existing, governed datasets into agents they can query using natural language.</li> <li>Alteryx MCP Server, a governed connection based on <a target="_blank" href="https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/2026-07-28/getting-started/intro" rel="noopener">the MCP open standard</a> that enables AI tools to interact with Alteryx to discover and operationalize relevant data.</li> <li>An updated version of Ask Alteryx that turns the conversational tool from an embedded assistant into the main interface for <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366623973/Alteryx-One-launch-aims-to-unify-simplify-vendors-platform">the vendor's Alteryx One platform</a>.</li> <li>Alteryx Insights for OpenAI, an integration that enables users to derive insights in ChatGPT based on proprietary data and business logic previously approved by their organization's analysts. Similar integrations with Claude, Gemini, Slack and Microsoft Teams are being developed, according to Alteryx.</li> <li>Alteryx Skills, a <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/it-infrastructure/definition/GitHub">GitHub</a> integration that teaches agentic interfaces such as OpenAI Codex and Claude Code to develop Alteryx assets similar to the way Ask Alteryx builds them.</li> </ul> <p>All but Alteryx Skills, which is in local preview on GitHub, are now generally available.</p> <p>User feedback led Alteryx to develop the new features, according to Ben Canning, the vendor's chief product officer. Through conversations with customers, Alteryx gleaned that enterprises were having trouble getting consistent answers to the same queries from agents built with different development tools such as Microsoft <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/news/366633987/Microsoft-opens-Copilot-agent-building-to-office-rank-and-file">Copilot</a>, Salesforce <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/enterprise-software/news/366640897/Salesforce-Agentforce-head-discusses-future-of-AI-agents">Agentforce</a> and Amazon <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/ai/definition/What-is-Amazon-Bedrock-AWS-Bedrock">Bedrock</a>.</p> <p>"You end up with [different] answers to the same question and no way to tell which is right, and every agent is paying tokens to re-derive logic the business settled years ago," Canning told TechTarget. "That is the problem we built for."</p> <p>With the business logic that agents need to deliver consistent outputs living in existing Alteryx workflows, the vendor developed tools that connect agents with Alteryx's environment, he continued.&nbsp;</p> <p>"The gap was that no agent could call them, so we built the layer that lets it," Canning said. "The business builds the logic once, governs it once, and exposes it to any AI system that asks."</p> <p>Menninger noted that Agent Studio is perhaps the most valuable of the new capabilities because it enables users to extend the value of their existing Alteryx workflows to agents.</p> <p>In addition, Alteryx's longstanding position as a connector between an organization's data and its analytics team is helping it stand apart from competing vendors as all data and analytics vendors <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/feature/Evolving-Alteryx-focusing-on-AI-ready-data-logic-for-agents">adjust to AI</a>, Menninger continued.</p> <p>"That unique position gives Alteryx building blocks to bring together the world of AI with data and analytics in ways that others can't necessarily do as easily," he said.</p> <p>Catanzano highlighted the MCP server because it enables agents to interact with Alteryx workflows in a governed and secure manner. Meanwhile, like Menninger, he noted that by positioning its capabilities between agents and enterprise data, Alteryx is carving out a somewhat unique position in <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/CW-Developer-Network/Series-brief-AI-workflow-platforms-tools">the AI workflow</a>.</p> <p>"These features position it as middleware or a business logic layer between AI agents and enterprise data rather than competing directly as another AI agent platform, which is a distinct architectural approach," he said.</p> <p>Other providers such Databricks, Microsoft and Snowflake provide AI-powered analytics, but they keep connections between data and AI functionality within their own environments, Catanzano continued.</p> <p>"Alteryx is explicitly designing for cross-platform governance and interoperability, which could provide competitive advantage for enterprises already committed to multiple AI tools," he said.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Alteryx's next steps in its ongoing evolution"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Alteryx's next steps in its ongoing evolution</h2> <p>Over the final months of 2026, Alteryx is focused on increasing the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/transparency">transparency</a> of agent workflows to engender more trust in AI outputs, according to Canning. That includes explaining to an end user why an output is reliable and enabling agents to better understand the information they're acting upon. In addition, Alteryx plans to add capabilities that enable agents to know how well their results hold up over time.</p> <p>"Connecting an agent to governed logic is the part we have solved," Canning said. "Knowing what happened after it ran is the part nobody has."</p> <p>Menninger suggested that Alteryx could benefit from better messaging. He noted that the new capabilities serve existing customers, but the vendor needs to show potential new ones how it fits in <a target="_blank" href="https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/openness-control-and-competition-generative-ai-marketplace" rel="noopener">the evolving paradigm created by AI</a>.</p> <p>"The key thing Alteryx needs to do to attract new customers is help the market understand better where they fit and how they can complement enterprise AI deployments," he said. "Its existing customers already know this."</p> <p>Catanzano, meanwhile, advised Alteryx to build <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/it-infrastructure/feature/How-providers-industry-specific-cloud-offerings-impact-IT">industry-specific capabilities</a> that enable governed workflows to easily work with the operational systems where organizations execute their business processes.</p> <p>"Additionally, developing more sophisticated workflow templates or a marketplace where organizations can share anonymized, governed workflow patterns for common business processes like supply chain reconciliation or compliance reporting could help attract new users," he said.</p> <p><i>Eric Avidon is a senior news writer for Informa TechTarget and a journalist with more than three decades of experience. He covers analytics and data management.</i></p> </section> New features such as an MCP server and a studio for transforming datasets into agents aid the vendor's transformation and help distinguish itself from competing providers. https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/onlineimages/ai_a199952058.jpg https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/366650345/Alteryx-evolving-to-become-connective-tissue-for-AI Fri, 11 Sep 2026 06:50:00 GMT <p>The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has welcomed the government’s stance on bringing the civil service pension scheme (CSPS) administration in-house.</p> <p>Plans to <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650193/Government-has-seen-enough-of-Capita-failure-and-Civil-Service-Pension-scheme-to-be-moved-in-house">bring the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) administration in-house</a>, amid the current problems under the stewardship of outsourcer Capita, are currently being worked on.</p> <p>PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote met with Sally Jameson MP, parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office, yesterday (10 September), to discuss the government’s plans to rescue a failed outsourcing contract that has left retirees in financial hardship.</p> <p>In July, the PCS demanded that the £239m contract to administer about 1.7 million pensions be brought in-house.</p> <p>Since it took over the contract from previous supplier MyCSP in December 2025, Capita has failed to meet its delivery promises, and left claimants in severe financial difficulties. The company has admitted it is set to lose money on the contract, with pressure mounting on Capita, which is heavily reliant on public sector business, due to the government’s current insourcing plans combined with its much-publicised failures.</p> <p>Heathcote told Computer Weekly: “I met with Sally Jameson MP yesterday to discuss the ongoing problems with Capita and it was a positive meeting. The minister confirmed that the government is looking seriously at bringing the service back in-house, something PCS has been calling for throughout this crisis.”</p> <p>A Cabinet Office spokesperson told Computer Weekly previously that the government was “actively shaping a long-term strategy to bring this pension scheme back in-house”.</p> <p>Jameson <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650254/Capita-meeting-self-imposed-civil-service-pension-targets-not-sufficient-says-government">reconfirmed this in a statement to Parliament</a>&nbsp;yesterday.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Inconclusive promise"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Inconclusive promise</h2> <p>Despite the seemingly unambiguous statement about the “long-term strategy to bring [CSPS] back in-house”, Heathcote said: “There is still work to do before a final decision is made, but I made clear that PCS wants to be fully involved and kept updated as this develops.</p> <p>“Public services, including our pensions, should be delivered by properly resourced public servants, not outsourced for private profit,” she added.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Capita’s failures have caused far too much stress and uncertainty for our members. Today’s meeting was a positive step, but we’ll keep the pressure on until we have a pensions service that people can rely on.”</p> <p>Capita has a huge UK public sector client base. According to figures from Tussell, Capita currently has 199 public sector contracts worth a combined £7.9bn. Despite the CSPS failures,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639758/Capita-secures-decade-long-government-contract-amid-failure-in-public-sight">Capita won</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/028834-2024#:~:text=The%20Synergy%20Programme%20has%20been,technology%2C%20and%20single%20commercial%20strategy.">Synergy Business Process Services contract</a> in March, which, according to the official tender, has an estimated value of around £959m over 10 years. The contract supports back-office services for the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.</p> <p>But the government’s proposed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644790/UK-government-publishes-guidelines-to-end-era-of-outsourcing-will-IT-be-in-scope">biggest wave of insourcing</a> in a generation will put pressure to perform on service providers such as Capita.</p> <p>The firm set a target to process cases within key performance indicators from 30 September 2026.</p> <p>Jameson said there will be a “substantive update” next month, following the conclusion of the technical audit and report from remedial adviser Grant Thornton.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="‘Not good enough’"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>‘Not good enough’</h2> <p>Capita said: “In the meantime, our focus remains on working through outstanding cases and improving the service members receive. Despite the progress made, we recognise the service has not been good enough, particularly for members waiting on bereavement, retirement and quotation cases, and we are sorry for the impact this has had on those members.”</p> <p>There have been multiple PAC hearings since, featuring both Capita and the Cabinet Office, with reassurances repeatedly given to MPs that Capita would get the service to the expected levels.</p> <p>During a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642539/MP-committees-to-double-up-on-Capitas-civil-service-pension-crisis">joint PAC and Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (Pacac) hearing</a> in July, Pacac chair <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645700/Capita-to-lose-money-on-pension-debacle-but-has-governments-private-parts-in-its-grip">Simon Hoare MP reminded Capita CEO Adolfo Hernandez and his colleagues of promises made</a> to government during the contracting process. The Cabinet Office was told “that the two-year transition period would lead to the digital artificial intelligence revolution to deliver a world-class, world-leading pension service”, he said. “None of that met neither the novel nor the basic.”</p> <p>In the meeting, Hoare asked: “Isn’t the stark issue, in essence, a company like Capita has the private parts of HMG [His Majesty’s government] very firmly in its grip?”</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about Capita and the Civil Service Pension Scheme</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li>Sept 2026: <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650254/Capita-meeting-self-imposed-civil-service-pension-targets-not-sufficient-says-government">UK government views the outsourcer’s overall performance as ‘unacceptable’ after it reports meeting a self-imposed target</a>.</li> <li>Sept 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650193/Government-has-seen-enough-of-Capita-failure-and-Civil-Service-Pension-scheme-to-be-moved-in-house">Government has seen enough of Capita failure and Civil Service Pension Scheme to be moved in-house</a>.</li> <li>Aug 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366648014/Capita-CEO-receives-scathing-rebuttal-from-employee-over-botched-contract">Capita CEO receives scathing rebuttal from employee over botched contract</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645827/PAC-raises-more-questions-over-Capitas-role-in-government?_gl=1*xbkv0w*_ga*Mjg4MTcxMzU3LjE3Nzk5NjUxNTU.*_ga_TQKE4GS5P9*czE3ODU5Mjk3MjIkbzI2NiRnMSR0MTc4NTkyOTcyNiRqNTYkbDAkaDA.">PAC raises more questions over Capita’s role in government</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645700/Capita-to-lose-money-on-pension-debacle-but-has-governments-private-parts-in-its-grip">Capita to lose money on pension debacle but ‘has government’s private parts in its grip’</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645462/Capita-civil-service-pension-contract-prime-candidate-for-insourcing-says-government-minister">Capita civil service pension contract ‘prime candidate’ for insourcing, says government minister</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645478/Capitas-rush-to-hit-civil-service-pension-deadline-risking-errors-say-staff">Capita’s rush to hit civil service pension deadline risking errors, say staff</a>.</li> <li>July 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366645354/Union-calls-for-insourcing-of-pension-contract-as-Capita-shit-show-goes-on">Union calls for insourcing of pension contract as Capita ‘shit show’ goes on</a>.</li> <li>Jun 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366644692/Cabinet-Office-states-Capita-set-to-miss-Civil-Service-Pension-Scheme-deadline">Cabinet Office states Capita set to miss Civil Service Pension Scheme deadline</a>.</li> <li>Jun 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643878/Capita-launched-civil-service-pension-scheme-site-without-basic-web-security">Capita went live with its troubled civil service pensions administration without a basic Domain Name System security feature</a>.</li> <li>May 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643712/Ministers-refused-to-sign-off-563m-Capita-contract-amid-civil-service-pension-disaster">Ministers refused to sign off £563m Capita contract amid civil service pension disaster</a>.</li> <li>May 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366643012/Civil-servants-to-protest-at-Capita-general-meeting-amid-pension-crisis">Civil servants to protest at Capita general meeting amid pension crisis</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642492/Was-Capitas-Royal-Mail-pension-contract-a-botch-too-far">Was Capita’s Royal Mail pension contract a botch too far?</a></li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641895/Capita-lacked-detail-and-thoroughness-in-planning-botched-Civil-service-pension-scheme-takeover">Capita lacked ‘detail and thoroughness’ in planning botched Civil Service Pension Scheme takeover</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642539/MP-committees-to-double-up-on-Capitas-civil-service-pension-crisis">MP committees to double up on Capita’s civil service pension crisis</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642312/Government-should-drop-Capita-from-civil-service-scheme-after-it-loses-Royal-Mail-role-says-union">Government should drop Capita from civil service scheme after it loses Royal Mail role, says union</a>.</li> <li>Apr 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642152/Government-terminates-Capitas-Royal-Mail-pension-contract">Government terminates Capita’s Royal Mail pension contract</a>.</li> <li>Mar 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366640779/Capita-left-to-deal-with13000-civil-service-pension-cases-over-a-year-old">Capita left to deal with 13,000 civil service pension cases over a year old</a>.</li> <li>Feb 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366639026/Thousands-of-unread-emails-and-20-million-database-errors-cause-civil-service-pension-hardship">Thousands of unread emails and 20 million database errors cause civil service pension hardship</a>.</li> <li>Jan 2026:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366637837/Troubleshooter-steps-in-as-Capita-and-civil-service-bosses-apologise-for-pension-scheme-problems">Troubleshooter steps in as Capita and civil service bosses apologise for pension scheme problems</a>.</li> <li>Oct 2025:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366633358/Capita-rubbishes-Public-Accounts-Committee-report-claims">Capita rubbishes Public Accounts Committee report claims</a>.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </section> PCS union chief met Cabinet Office minister to discuss troubled pension scheme run by Capita https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/HeroImages/London-Westminster-Parliament-government-Cabinet-Office-ED-ONLY-adobe.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650356/Civil-service-union-welcomes-pension-scheme-insourcing-plan Fri, 11 Sep 2026 06:30:00 GMT <p>Virtualisation has long been a quiet enabler behind ASEAN's digital transformation, allowing organisations to modernise and scale innovation without continually rebuilding their IT estates.</p> <p>Today, that model is being put to the test. Across the region, three-year virtualisation subscriptions signed after Broadcom completed its acquisition of VMware in late 2023 are coming up for renewal, with more due in early 2027.</p> <p><a></a>For many IT leaders, the new terms bear little resemblance to existing contracts. According to <a></a><a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/7091130">Gartner</a>, licensing costs have typically risen by 300% to 400%. Mid-sized businesses and regional service providers, often without the leverage to negotiate enterprise-wide agreements, end up bearing the greatest impact.</p> <p>To put this into perspective, imagine if your mobile provider suddenly tripled prices overnight. Most consumers would immediately start looking for alternatives. Enterprise infrastructure doesn't work that way. These platforms underpin critical business operations and are deeply interconnected, making it far harder to switch providers when commercial terms change.</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="There’s no clean break"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>There’s no clean break</h2> <p>At first glance, organisations appear to have only two options. They can absorb the new cost, or tear everything out and rebuild on containers. However, rebuilding every workload as a container is a slow and risky process. Virtual machines estates rarely sit on their own; monitoring, disaster recovery, patch management and audit trails are usually built on top of the hypervisor, and each has to be re-established elsewhere. It’s also difficult to justify a full rebuild when many applications can run effectively as virtual machines for years.</p> <p>As a result, tech leaders are choosing coexistence instead – keeping their existing virtual machines running while introducing modernised applications alongside them, and moving workloads over time. This only works if organisations have a platform that allows legacy and modern workloads to operate side by side. Open infrastructure provides that flexibility, enabling IT teams to modernise at their own pace instead of committing to a disruptive, all-or-nothing transformation.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Why openness matters in this region"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Why openness matters in this region</h2> <p>The choice of foundation carries more weight now than it would have a few years ago, because the demands on infrastructure have changed. According to SUSE’s <a href="https://www.suse.com/navigating-digital-resilience-2026/">global data</a>, implementing AI is a top budget priority, yet more than half of enterprise technology leaders admit their existing infrastructure was never built to scale for it.</p> <p>In digitally mature cities like Singapore, regulation is adding another layer of pressure. <a href="https://www.imda.gov.sg/resources/press-releases-factsheets-and-speeches/press-releases/2025/advisory-guidelines-of-cloud-services-and-data-centres">IMDA’s guidelines</a> on cloud service and data centre resilience already outline expectations for strong operational practices, and <a>the </a><a href="https://www.mddi.gov.sg/newsroom/public-consultation-on-digital-infrastructure-bill/">Digital Infrastructure Bill</a>, which was just tabled in parliament, is expected to extend those requirements beyond cyber threats to hardware failures, misconfigurations and physical disruptions. The same expectations are taking shape across the wider region under frameworks such as the <a href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/asean-digital-economy-framework-agreement-singapore-november-2026-6151951">ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement</a>, which is built to support trusted cross-border data flows and expects businesses to know where their data sits and how it moves. Infrastructure visibility is becoming a regulatory mandate.</p> <p>All of this points to something larger than cost or compliance: digital sovereignty. In practical terms, that is the degree to which a business can run its core infrastructure on its own terms and move it when it needs to.</p> <p>Open infrastructure supports this directly. Because the underlying code is visible and modifiable rather than locked inside a single vendor’s stack, IT teams can see exactly how workloads are configured, where data resides and how systems depend on one another, which is precisely the kind of infrastructure visibility that regulators are now asking for. A company with limited visibility into its own systems will struggle to demonstrate that control, let alone exercise it. Platform choice then becomes not just a cost decision but the mechanism that determines whether a business can actually exercise that sovereignty when it needs to.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Migrate at your own pace"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Migrate at your own pace</h2> <p>The numbers make a compelling business case for openness. According to an IDC report commissioned by SUSE, enterprises that move off legacy virtualisation licensing and onto open infrastructure models can achieve a 258% three-year ROI, including millions in annual savings. Workloads can move onto modern open-source platforms and gain access to cloud-native capabilities, so that any further modernisation happens on the organisation’s own schedule rather than being forced up front as a single major transformation.</p> <p>That said, a migration of this scale still needs careful planning. Moving away from a deeply embedded platform involves more than a change of technology. Teams need time to adapt to new processes and new ways of working, and the most business-critical workloads will naturally demand the most attention.</p> <p>A practical approach is to start with lower-risk workloads, validate the process, then gradually bring more systems onto a unified platform as confidence grows. Switch, one of North America’s largest data centre operators, took this route. It began with a proof of concept&nbsp; before moving live workloads onto a unified, cloud-native platform that integrated with existing tools. That let the migration proceed at a pace the business could control, rather than one set by a vendor’s renewal calendar.</p> <p>A renewal notice does not usually trigger a wider technology rethink. In the current environment, though, it is a natural point to reconsider what comes next. The immediate concern will be cost. The bigger question is how much control and flexibility a business wants over its infrastructure in the years ahead.</p> <p>As resilience and the ability to govern critical systems become more important, that question only grows in weight. Keeping the platform open is what gives a business room to adapt as its needs change, while steadily reducing dependence on any single provider.</p> <p><i>Gayathri Peria is general manager for Southeast Asia at SUSE</i></p> </section> VMware subscriptions signed after the Broadcom deal are coming up for renewal across ASEAN, and the new terms look nothing like the old ones. Absorbing the increase or rebuilding everything on containers are not the only two choices https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/visuals/ComputerWeekly/Hero%20Images/virtualisation-e-fotolia.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Why-Asias-IT-leaders-are-skipping-the-all-or-nothing-virtualisation-rebuild Fri, 11 Sep 2026 06:07:00 GMT <p><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/resources/IT-for-government-and-public-sector">Public sector leaders</a> can secure artificial intelligence (AI) only by treating security as a fast-moving target, by demanding secure-by-default and interoperable technology, and by leaning on open source to build trust and resilience. They can also use their collective purchasing power to shape the market rather than simply buy from it.</p> <p>That was the message from two public sector voices on a security panel at this week’s <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641901/AI-adoption-is-rapid-but-many-stuck-at-basic-levels-says-AWS">AWS Public Sector AI Symposium</a> in London: Caroline Gorski (pictured, right), director of the Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence (DCCOE), and Laura Gilbert (pictured, left), senior director of AI at the Tony Blair Institute.</p> <p>The panel focused on a question government leaders keep asking: “How do I deploy AI securely?” The security backdrop came from Jason Gwartz, head of core technology at the AI Security Institute (AISI), a Cabinet Office directorate.</p> <p>The AISI tests frontier models against simulated corporate networks and pieces of critical national infrastructure that a model must attack end-to-end. Last year, models solved only a handful of steps on ranges it designed with 30 or more. In April, a model completed all 32 steps of one range autonomously for the first time. Gwartz put the doubling time of cyber skills at around five months.</p> <p>Against that context, Gilbert and Gorski offer two different answers to the security question – one technical, one commercial.</p> <p>Gilbert, who ran the data science and AI team in Downing Street for four and a half years before joining the Tony Blair Institute, which advises just under 50 governments on using AI for public services, opens not with security, but inequality. Done well, she argued, AI narrows the gap; done badly, it widens it and breeds unrest.</p> <p>She described the UK as “the third most unequal country in the OECD developed nations”, a position that “costs us somewhere between £35bn and about £70bn a year”. The upside is concrete: “Reducing inequality to the mid-level is predicted to reduce people being imprisoned by about 30%, mental health problems by about 5% and murders by 33%.”</p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Open source for security"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Open source for security</h2> <p>Gilbert’s answer to the IT security question is transparency, in the form of open source. In Downing Street, she “immediately adopted this mantra of radical transparency”, open-sourcing all of the team’s code, and publishing blogs on what they built and why.</p> <p>For government, argued Gilbert, open source does two things. It cuts cost: “I don’t think that we should be competing with big frontier apps on absolute top-tier technology,” she said. “We need models that are very cheap and that can be run on completely constrained infrastructure for security reasons, that are good enough.”</p> <p>And, counter-intuitively, it improves security: publishing code invites scrutiny rather than inviting attack. “We never once had anyone manage to hack into anything, but we would give them a prize if they did,” said Gilbert. “If you don’t open source, very often, what you’re doing is leaving a space for the bad actors to come in who might be better funded and more determined. And they will find the hole.”</p> <p>She made the point about how framing shapes acceptance, with the example of an “AI pharmacist”. Tell people “we’re building an AI pharmacist” and they recoil, said Gilbert, but point out that “in the UK, we kill about 22,000 people every year with bad prescriptions, and it costs about a billion pounds, and we don’t have the manpower to solve that”, and it “sounds like a little bit of a better idea”.</p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Public sector as leader"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i>Public sector as leader</h2> <p>Where Gilbert reaches for code, Gorski reaches for contracts. The DCCOE blends commercial, technical and delivery expertise and exists, she said, “to help the government and the public sector to become a more ambitious and more intelligent customer for transformative digital technologies”.</p> <p>The insight behind her argument is that the public sector is a buyer big enough to set terms. As “probably one of the largest single customers” for many AI services, it should “use more of that power and weight to actually shape the markets, not simply to buy what’s already available”. The <em><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cloud-challenge-book-2026">Cloud challenge book</a></em>, launched earlier this year, sets out those issues.</p> <p>“One of the things that we haven’t necessarily done well across government is understand our <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366566172/AWS-secures-894m-in-cloud-spend-across-three-contracts-with-UK-government-on-same-day">purchasing power collectively</a>, and what that frees us to ask for from our suppliers in a much more directive and pointed way,” she said.</p> <p>In practice, Gorski wants price discounts and opportunities to innovate to reach everywhere, “not just in central government, but also in the devolved authorities and the local government”. She wants “interoperability, portability, removing exit penalties” to be “baked into the way that we engage with our technology partners” – including “failover protocols that might fail over to competitors’ service provision” if a cloud region goes down.</p> <p>The underlying challenge, said Gorski, is for suppliers to deliver “the underlying capabilities to be secure by default, to be resilient by default, to be transparent by design, and to have public value as their primary objective”.</p> <p>The two arguments converge in the same place. Gilbert said the decisions made now – “who you allow to have access to your data” – will “fully impact the society that we go forward into, our children go forward into”. Gorski framed it as a duty: “Government’s role in emerging markets is to shape emerging markets. And we have a social responsibility to shape those markets in line with what our society wants us to do.”</p> <div class="extra-info"> <div class="extra-info-inner"> <h3 class="splash-heading">Read more about AI security and public sector cloud</h3> <ul class="default-list"> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366641901/AI-adoption-is-rapid-but-many-stuck-at-basic-levels-says-AWS">AI adoption is rapid but many stuck at basic levels, says AWS</a>: We report on the adoption figures and the £8bn datacentre investment behind this week’s event.</li> <li><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366562418/UK-government-quietly-renews-public-sector-preferential-pricing-agreement-with-AWS">UK government quietly renews public sector preferential pricing agreement with AWS</a>: We examine the procurement backdrop to the Cloud Challenge Book</li> </ul> </div> </div> <ul class="default-list"></ul> </section> As frontier models outpace cyber defences, two public sector voices set out different answers to the same security question – transparency and procurement leverage https://cdn.ttgtmedia.com/rms/computerweekly/aws-gilbertAndGorski.jpg https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366650031/AWS-AI-symposium-Public-sector-must-shape-AI-use-open-source Fri, 11 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400">This is a guest post for the Computer Weekly Developer Network written by </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ai2084/">Anil Inamdar</a>, head of data services at <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/data-technologies/news/252515719/NetApp-acquires-Instaclustr-for-database-as-a-service">NetApp Instaclustr</a>.</span></i></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400">NetApp Instaclustr is known for its work to provide a managed platform for open source data technologies including Cassandra, Kafka, Postgres, ClickHouse, and OpenSearch.</span></i></p> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400">Inamdar writes in full as follows…</span></i></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Just about everyone writing about managed edge computing right now wants to talk about the almighty </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400">node</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400">. Who patches it? Who orchestrates it? Who keeps a container cluster breathing on a factory floor three time zones from the nearest IT staffer?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">All genuinely hard problems, don’t get me wrong. But even if you get the orchestration perfect, I’d argue you’ve solved maybe half the job, because every node that’s been so beautifully zero-touch-provisioned is also spitting out data the moment it awakens, and much of your infrastructure might not have been built with that data firehouse in mind. Or to put it another way, inference workloads running at the edge just answer where the compute takes place, not so much what happens to the readings and alerts and predictions spewing out every second after that.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">One factory floor might run thousands of sensors, PLCs, and so on that all speak a slightly different digital dialect, at their own frequency, without any guarantee the link back to a control plane will survive the shift. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you’ve locked that ingestion schema down (centrally and rigidly) …well, you’re potentially just one new sensor model or one firmware push away from a broken pipeline. Teams then tend to respond by either throttling what they collect down to whatever the old schema can swallow, or bolting on a transformation layer that adds exactly the latency an AI inference use case cannot spare. Neither are great options and, in my opinion, your aforementioned perfect orchestration deserves better!</span></p> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Why the database deserves a seat"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i><span style="font-weight: 400">Why the database deserves a seat&nbsp;</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-align alignright wp-image-12590 size-thumbnail" src="https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/ZFAUuWxX_400x400-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/ZFAUuWxX_400x400-150x150.png 150w, https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/ZFAUuWxX_400x400-300x300.png 300w, https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/ZFAUuWxX_400x400.png 400w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px">Wide-column and document stores were designed for horizontal scale and loose schema from day one, which just so happens to describe the edge’s constraints almost too well. The fully open source version of Apache Cassandra, for example, can spread across a fleet of underpowered edge nodes and give each one a local writable replica.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">#Then, it keeps humming through the spotty connectivity that edge deployments are perpetually accustomed to. If the link is lost, a node just keeps writing locally. Once the link is back and the cluster sorts out the reconciliation on its own, you’re all set without a 2 am (human) video call.</span></p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Store-and-forward needs a data layer"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i><span style="font-weight: 400">Store-and-forward needs a data layer&nbsp;</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">This</span><a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/CW-Developer-Network/Series-brief-Connecting-the-dots-on-fully-managed-edge-computing?_gl=1*18edgb9*_ga*MTIwMjYxMzUxMi4xNzgwMDg3Mzgx*_ga_TQKE4GS5P9*czE3ODU5NjMzNTYkbzE5JGcwJHQxNzg1OTYzMzU2JGo2MCRsMCRoMA..#:~:text=may%20touch%20on%20%E2%80%9C-,store%2Dand%2Dforward,-%E2%80%9D%20architectures%20%E2%80%93%20systems%20that"> <span style="font-weight: 400">series already flagged store-and-forward</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> as central to the whole edge business-model debate, but the architecture underneath requires a storage layer that can hold data through a partition and merge it back cleanly later, without a human required to referee conflicts at every site. A masterless, peer-to-peer database can handle that by design, whereas conventional single-primary relational setups do the opposite (e.g. turning every node that loses signal into a liability the moment connections drop).</span></p> <blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Running a vision model or a small LLM on the endpoint is merely the flashy half of the story, albeit the one nobody skips. Those models produce inference results and embeddings that need to live somewhere fast and somewhere local, or the point of running inference at the edge (skipping the round trip to a datacentre) evaporates. If you ship every one of those results straight back to the cloud, you’ve rebuilt the latency problem you were trying to avoid.&nbsp;</span></p> </blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Keep it local instead, in a schema-flexible store built for distributed workloads, and edge AI actually delivers what the goal in the first place was.</span></p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Constrained hardware is fine print"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i><span style="font-weight: 400">Constrained hardware is fine print</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">None of this works if a Cassandra node chokes on a single-board computer with 2GB of RAM, though. Edge hardware is stingy (by design). It’s built for a single job on a factory floor and decidedly </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400">not</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400"> for running a database that assumes it is getting an entire server rack to itself.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">So getting Cassandra and Apache Kafka to behave on that kind of hardware is contingent upon tuning them for “less.” In practice, this means heap size gets pulled down and cache footprint shrinks; log retention also gets trimmed to whatever the disk can spare, rather than what a data center default just assumes is available.</span></p> <blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Lightweight and containerised builds are important too, by packaging only the pieces a certain node needs while avoiding a full deployment cycle central clusters would otherwise run. Pair that with local SSDs and compression, and storage now stretches further without asking for more hardware. Cassandra’s local-write model already leans into intermittent connectivity, and Kafka’s buffering does the same job on the streaming side (holding data nice and steady until a link comes back).</span></p> </blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">By avoiding processing every event the instant it lands, batching takes the real-time pressure off hardware that wasn’t sized for it, though it doesn’t work blindly. Monitoring what nodes </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400">actually</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400"> use (versus what they were provisioned for) helps keep edge fleets from finding out resource ceilings the (mid-deployment) hard way. It’ll also tell you when nodes have outgrown lightweight setups and are ready for a scaling plan or an edge-specific framework built for the handoff.</span></p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Streaming &amp; storage aren’t rivals"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i><span style="font-weight: 400">Streaming &amp; storage aren’t rivals</span></h2> <div id="attachment_12588" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12588" class="wp-align wp-image-12588 size-medium" src="https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/Anil-300x265.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="265" srcset="https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/Anil-300x265.jpg 300w, https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/Anil-1024x903.jpg 1024w, https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/Anil-768x677.jpg 768w, https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/Anil-1536x1354.jpg 1536w, https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cwdn/files/2026/09/Anil-2048x1806.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"> <p id="caption-attachment-12588" class="wp-caption-text"><span style="font-weight: 400">Inamdar: </span>Running a vision model or a small LLM on the endpoint is merely the flashy half of the story, albeit the one nobody skips.</p> </div> <p><b></b><span style="font-weight: 400">Kafka-style event streaming isn’t competing with the database; it’s working alongside it. Streaming moves data between edge and core, while the database decides what sticks around, gets queried, and gets served locally while a node is off doing its own thing.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Fleets treating these two as one connected data plane, as opposed to duct-taping a messaging layer onto whatever storage was already lying around, are the ones I see survive the leap from pilot to real deployment without a rebuild six months later.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">None of this is an argument against the fleet management and orchestration work getting most of the airtime in this series. Zero-touch deployment and centralised control planes are genuinely necessary. Necessary just isn’t always sufficient.</span></p> </section> <section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="Orchestration out of the block"> <h2 class="section-title"><i class="icon" data-icon="1"></i><span style="font-weight: 400">Orchestration out of the block</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">&nbsp;A fleet of well-orchestrated edge nodes that can’t reliably store, or replicate, or reconcile the data they produce will look beautiful on a dashboard right up until the point a site goes offline for an hour or day, at which point it looks like a pricey paperweight. Data resilience can’t be a footnote tacked onto the managed edge story.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Whether the whole architecture survives actual contact with a factory floor, a retail backroom, or a truck bouncing down a highway with no signal comes down to that resilience.</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </section> This is a guest post for the Computer Weekly Developer Network written by Anil Inamdar, head of data services at NetApp Instaclustr. NetApp Instaclustr is known for its work to provide a managed ... https://www.computerweekly.com/blog/CW-Developer-Network/Edge-series-NetApp-Instaclustr-Managed-edge-needs-a-place-for-data Fri, 11 Sep 2026 05:45:26 GMT 60 webmaster@techtarget.com