News

News

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  ServiceNow Customer Service Management grows in Quebec

  ServiceNow telecom and financial services users targeted for growth as the company expands customer service offering in Quebec, its latest platform release.

• March 08, 2021 08 Mar'21

  SAP partners sound off on Rise with SAP program

  SAP customers considering a move to S/4HANA may be attracted to the simplicity of Rise with SAP, a recently launched program that may also be a boon for SAP partners.

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Schneider Electric shifts to hybrid workplace

  The hybrid workplace model is being embraced by Schneider Electric, which is moving to coworking offices for its employees. The firm sees it as an adaptable, if challenging, option.

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Microsoft revamps Teams webinars

  The latest Teams version lets webinar hosts register people and send notifications. Microsoft has also increased the number of view-only webinar participants to 20,000.

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Microsoft makes Productivity Score useful to tech buyers

  Microsoft's Productivity Score update lets an organization's tech buyers monitor, without the help of IT staff, the average performance of employees' PCs and mobile devices.

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  Sitecore makes personalization, e-commerce acquisitions

  Sitecore's $1.2 billion investment plan for cloud modernization kicks off with the acquisition of Boxever and Four51.

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  Employee poaching risk increases with remote work hiring

  Remote work opportunities may give rise to employee poaching, putting added pressure on HR departments. As geography starts to matter less, employee experience may matter more.

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  Microsoft makes Universal Print generally available

  Microsoft wants Universal Print to replace on-premises print servers. The cloud service provides printer management and eliminates the use of printer drivers.

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  Microsoft debuts AR/VR collaboration platform Mesh

  Microsoft Mesh lets people meet with colleagues as avatars in a virtual meeting place. Participants can work together on 3D models and interact through gestures.

• March 03, 2021 03 Mar'21

  Upland Software acquires BlueVenn marketing automation CDP

  Upland Software buys BlueVenn customer data platform for $54.3 million in cash, adding to Upland's growing cloud platform of marketing and analytics apps.

• March 03, 2021 03 Mar'21

  Epicor Software applications make transition to SaaS

  In this Q&A, Epicor CEO Steve Murphy discusses how the ERP vendor is moving its products from on premises to a SaaS model but gives customers the choice on when to migrate.

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Microsoft bolsters data security in 365

  Microsoft said the latest 365 security features provide better protection for corporate data. The improvements guard sensitive information against attacks and leaks.

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Salesforce tackles B2B rebate management automation

  Salesforce's tool for manufacturer rebates may have applications in other verticals, as it automates typically spreadsheet-driven processes.

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Review of global supply chains a delicate undertaking

  A federal review of vital global supply chains such as semiconductors will likely produce a 'carrot/stick approach' to change, according to Gartner's Kamala Raman.

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Microsoft adds intercompany collaboration to Teams

  Microsoft's Teams Connect lets companies message and share files with partners and customers through the collaboration app. Teams users have wanted the feature for a while.

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Microsoft Dynamics 365 adds customer journey orchestration

  Dynamics 365 users in marketing and sales get CX features forged from the pandemic economy that enable one-to-one digital experiences.

• March 02, 2021 02 Mar'21

  Lawsuit challenges Amazon's treatment of Black employees

  Amazon is facing a lawsuit from a corporate employee who details inappropriate behavior of co-workers and broad allegations about the firm's treatment of Black employees.

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Wages a sticking point for remote work best practices

  In the shift to remote work, wages could become a major point of contention for workers after COVID-19. A move to lower-cost regions could also mean lower pay.

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  News briefs: RingCentral provides calling in Salesforce

  RingCentral makes it possible for customers to make calls from Salesforce, Lifesize appoints a new CEO and Fuze receives a patent for a connectivity problem detector.

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Salesforce Field Service spring release adds map features

  Salesforce dubs pandemic and post-pandemic times 'the appointment economy' for field service operations and builds mobile app features to accommodate it.

• February 26, 2021 26 Feb'21

  Call to review critical supply chains praised, questioned

  The Biden administration is requiring federal agencies to conduct a review of critical supply chains, dividing analysts on what they see as the potential long-term effects.

• February 25, 2021 25 Feb'21

  Mitel to release all-in-one collaboration app MitelOne

  Unified communications vendor Mitel will release an app called MitelOne that consolidates its voice, messaging and video offerings into a single interface.

• February 24, 2021 24 Feb'21

  Digital queues avert COVID-19 vaccine registration crashes

  Q&A with Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince on how digital waiting rooms can help public health agencies register their constituents for COVID-19 vaccinations.

• February 23, 2021 23 Feb'21

  Microsoft to add a text prediction feature to Word

  The feature, scheduled for release next month, makes suggestions as a person types in Word. Microsoft said the predictive text feature will make writing faster and more efficient.

• February 23, 2021 23 Feb'21

  Security top of mind for digital transformation projects

  Like the transformation of their IT systems, SAP customers will need to modernize their security strategies as they move to the cloud, according to a new ASUG and Onapsis survey.

• February 23, 2021 23 Feb'21

  Apple boosts smartphone market with 5G iPhone debut

  Apple injected much-needed life into the smartphone market with its 5G iPhone 12 line. Gartner said the company was the No. 1 phone manufacturer in the fourth quarter of 2020.

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  News briefs: Cisco adds features to Webex Rooms

  Cisco has added features from its cloud-based Webex Meetings platform to the video conferencing hardware Webex Rooms. The capabilities include access to digital whiteboards.

• February 22, 2021 22 Feb'21

  Microsoft announces Office 2021, Office LTSC

  Microsoft will launch two versions of Office for those who don't want Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Office 2021 and Office LTSC will be available in the second half of the year.

• February 19, 2021 19 Feb'21

  Cisco completes the IMImobile acquisition

  Cisco plans to use IMImobile's messaging and voice APIs to bolster its cloud contact center offering. The executive team of the U.K.-based company has joined Cisco.

• February 19, 2021 19 Feb'21

  Biden favors green cards over H-1B work visas

  The Biden administration is seeking major changes in work visa programs, proposing an expansion of the cap for employment-based green cards, but not for H-1B work visas.

• February 19, 2021 19 Feb'21

  Google overhauls education suite, adding 50-plus features

  Google has changed G Suite for Education into Workspace for Education, adding features to its Classroom and Meet apps to help educators with classroom management.

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Qualtrics vaccine management gains steam among states

  Qualtrics lands Missouri's state vaccine registration site as the voice-of-the-customer tech vendor claims 200 county governments and public health organizations among its users.

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Manufacturing outlook for 2021 focuses on resilience

  As midmarket manufacturers focus on recovery from the pandemic, many will take advantage of the opportunity to accelerate Industry 4.0 projects, according to BDO USA.

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  McKinsey: Post-pandemic workplace will see major changes

  In the post-pandemic workplace, businesses are likely to focus more on skills than job titles while also accelerating their adoption of automation and digital technologies.

• February 18, 2021 18 Feb'21

  Amazon bolsters e-commerce for small business with Selz buy

  Australian e-commerce platform Selz may have caught Amazon's attention because it employs Liquid, Shopify's template language, which will simplify migrations.

• February 17, 2021 17 Feb'21

  Microsoft crowdsources notifications for Edge

  Microsoft wants the crowd to determine which notification requests are seen in Edge. The company has introduced a system to show useful notifications and hide annoying ones.

• February 17, 2021 17 Feb'21

  AI deployed as employee burnout detection tool

  Employee burnout is one of the mental health issues that AI tools are helping HR to identify. The technology can analyze employee activities and communications for potential risk.

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  Microsoft launches iPad-optimized Office app

  Microsoft has pushed out a version of its Office app made with iPads in mind. The app combines Word, Excel and PowerPoint into a single offering and has some new features.

• February 16, 2021 16 Feb'21

  Email marketing tools sustain old channel with personalization

  Email is so 1990s. Yet as a marketing communications channel, it thrives into the 2020s with an assist from personalization technology and customer data platforms.

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  Microsoft cuts Surface Duo's price to $1,000

  Microsoft has slashed the price of its dual-screen Surface Duo phone. Experts said the device, which is focused on office work, failed to connect with consumers.

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  Digitizing the supply chain requires standards to succeed

  In this Q&A, Vector's Brian Belcher discusses why interest in digitizing the supply chain has soared recently and why standards are needed for wider use of digital technologies.

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  News briefs: Reddit doubles valuation to $6 billion

  Reddit will expand into international markets after raising $250 million. It also announced plans to double its staff size and invest in video and advertising.

• February 12, 2021 12 Feb'21

  Salesforce's remote work hiring strategy raises questions

  Salesforce says its remote work hiring, or work-from-anywhere, model will improve its diversity and hiring goals. Hiring in inexpensive areas may be critical, according to experts.

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Oracle CX updates focus on loyalty tech, B2B selling, service

  Oracle releases Fusion Cloud Customer Experience suite updates that include tools for B2B selling, B2B customer service and loyalty programs connected to Oracle CDP data.

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Kinaxis fuels Technicolor's supply chain digital transformation

  Technicolor Connected Home digitally transformed its manual supply chain operations with the Kinaxis supply chain platform, resulting in improved forecasting ability.

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  Microsoft to drop Edge Legacy from upcoming Windows update

  Microsoft is doing some spring cleaning with its Edge browser. The April Windows update will uninstall Edge Legacy and replace it with the new, Chromium-based Edge.

• February 09, 2021 09 Feb'21

  Employee activism gives life to tech union organizing

  A rise in tech union organizing is linked to the rise in employee activism, according to experts. They also believe the climate for union activity is changing.

• February 08, 2021 08 Feb'21

  Adobe releases headless commerce developer tools

  At its developer conference, Adobe debuts Experience Manager features to enable faster headless e-commerce deployments and GraphQL functionality for content personalization.

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Microsoft unveils employee experience platform Viva

  Viva will offer Microsoft customers an employee experience platform that uses analytics and an intranet service to boost employee engagement and productivity.

• February 05, 2021 05 Feb'21

  Vaccine supply chain needs Starbucks -- not stadium -- model

  In this Q&A, Sylvie Thompson makes the case for small, localized distribution at places like Starbucks for COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

• February 03, 2021 03 Feb'21

  Microsoft to improve voice controls in Outlook mobile

  Microsoft plans to bolster mobile workers' productivity when using 365 by improving the voice controls in Outlook and adding handwriting transcription to Lens.

• February 01, 2021 01 Feb'21

  SAP earnings strong in Q4, but cloud growth questionable

  SAP had a strong Q4 in 2020, but long-term growth prospects are unclear as they depend on SAP's transition to a true cloud-first company.

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  Microsoft launches Application Guard for Office

  Microsoft's new Application Guard for Office opens untrusted Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents in a container to protect a user's computer from threats.

• January 29, 2021 29 Jan'21

  New COVID-19 HR tools: AI office design, vaccine management

  Major IT vendors are rolling out products designed for the post-pandemic office environment, including systems for managing in-house vaccination clinics.

• January 28, 2021 28 Jan'21

  Workday acquires Peakon for $700 million

  Workday is acquiring employee feedback software vendor Peakon. Experts described the timing as a proverbial shot across SAP's bow.

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  SAP acquires process mining software vendor Signavio

  Process mining and business process intelligence capabilities are a core part of SAP's new Rise with SAP subscription services and will be delivered through SAP's acquisition of Signavio.

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  Rise with SAP streamlines business transformation

  SAP debuted Rise with SAP, a new offering designed to help customers transform business models and processes so that they can become more flexible, resilient, data-driven enterprises.

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  Verizon resolves major Fios outage, seeks root cause

  Verizon has resolved an issue in its fiber optic network that led to a major outage Tuesday. The outage affected tens of thousands of customers on the East Coast.

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  Google DialogFlow CX brings industry-specific chatbots

  Google releases DialogFlow CX, a chatbot and voicebot platform geared for multi-channel enterprise customer service. It connects to leading telephony systems.

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  SAP, Microsoft partner against Salesforce

  Starting in mid-2021, Microsoft and SAP plan to integrate Teams into the latter's business application portfolio. The move is seen as a response to rival Salesforce.

• January 27, 2021 27 Jan'21

  ServiceNow, Salesforce deliver vaccine management tech

  Salesforce releases Vaccine Cloud, tools that enable tracking and distribution of COVID-19 immunizations. ServiceNow also enters the technology space.

• January 26, 2021 26 Jan'21

  Google's SAP on GCP investments may pay off

  Investing in data centers and bringing on former SAP executives, Google is hoping to turn its cloud platform into a public cloud destination for SAP customers.

• January 25, 2021 25 Jan'21

  Supply chain trends for 2021 include reshoring, digitization

  The diversifying of manufacturing, including reshoring to the U.S. and the adoption of new technologies, will be top supply chain trends in 2021, according to industry experts.

• January 25, 2021 25 Jan'21

  Study finds hiring bias by recruiters, especially tired ones

  Research published in Nature finds strong evidence of hiring bias by recruiters and uncovers notable patterns of when biased decision making is more likely to occur.

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  Massive Slack outage caused by AWS gateway failure

  An AWS Transit Gateway failure led to Slack being down for nearly five hours earlier this month. The companies said they made changes to prevent such outages in the future.

• January 22, 2021 22 Jan'21

  Diversity, equity and inclusion are hot, but tools need vetting

  The diversity, equity and inclusion tools market is going mainstream, giving HR buyers more options than ever before. But due diligence is needed.

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  Acquia launches headless commerce integration

  Acquia adds cloud e-commerce to its expanding digital experience platform via tight integrations with Lucidworks' AI-assisted product recommendation engine and Commercetools' headless commerce.

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  Biden revokes Trump's contested DEI training order

  President Joe Biden has revoked an executive order from former President Donald Trump that discouraged federal agencies and government contractors from conducting DEI training.

• January 21, 2021 21 Jan'21

  AWS contact center AI services expand to Salesforce, Avaya

  Cloud contact center vendors that compete with Amazon Connect for customers will push AWS AI-powered intelligent search, speech recognition and language processing services.

• January 19, 2021 19 Jan'21

  Data privacy law is coming, big tech privacy officers say

  At the digital CES 2021 event, privacy leaders at Google, Twitter and Amazon said the time is right for a data privacy law.

• January 19, 2021 19 Jan'21

  CES debates the future of remote work trends

  CES usually has a firm grasp on future technology trends, but when it comes to remote work, the road ahead seems unclear.

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  Capitol riots spark e-commerce terms of service enforcement

  Shopify, Salesforce and Google take action in wake of Capitol riots, as adware and customer experience platforms play an uncomfortable role in political events and discourse.

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  Workday adds vaccine management for 45M to its platform

  COVID-19 vaccine management is getting the attention of HR vendors. Workday announced its vaccine tool, which integrates with the platform's core HR data.

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  Big Tech's uneasy balance of capitalism, censorship

  Big tech companies' enforcement of acceptable use policies following Capitol riots is questioned, as some say First Amendment rights to free speech should extend to social networks.

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  ERP alternatives poised to take the stage in 2021

  The momentum for companies to adopt cloud-first and industry-specific ERP systems has created an opening for alternative ERP companies.

• January 14, 2021 14 Jan'21

  Democrats push for AI bias testing

  Lawmakers in states and Congress are showing increasing interest in guarding against AI bias. Legislation in California and New York City seeks system audits.

• January 13, 2021 13 Jan'21

  National Retail Federation tackles political unrest, COVID-19

  Retailers at NRF discuss COVID-19 operations and how they changed retail forever. Also: the technologies that keep customer experience consistent during supply-chain disruptions.

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  Digital vaccine certificate looms as HR's next problem

  HR departments may want electronic proof of an employee's COVID-19 vaccination, but it's unclear when digital vaccine certificates will be ready.

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  SAP Commerce Cloud dresses up digital storefronts

  SAP Commerce Cloud is designed to help companies launch digital commerce sites, which may be useful for large enterprises and digital commerce sites with complex processes.

• January 12, 2021 12 Jan'21

  Pegasystems acquires Qurious.io for Pega Customer Service

  Pegasystems acquires Qurious.io for its customer service-oriented AI, natural language processing and self-service automation tools.

• January 11, 2021 11 Jan'21

  Salesforce Ventures tops $3 billion invested

  Salesforce Ventures continues to invest heavily in partners to help build out its platform as the pandemic evolves customer needs. Q&A with managing partner Matt Garratt.

• January 08, 2021 08 Jan'21

  Microsoft slow to fulfill request for more Teams channel control

  Microsoft won't prioritize a feature that would let Teams users move channels between groups, despite tens of thousands of requests. Users have asked for the capability since 2016.

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Capitol insurrection leads to job loss, search for participants

  Employers interested in whether their employees took part in the U.S. Capitol insurrection and stormed the building may want to proceed with caution, legal and HR experts said.

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  Twitter, Facebook bounce President Trump from their platforms

  Twitter has permanently suspended President Trump's account. Facebook has banned the president until the end of his term and possibly beyond.

• January 07, 2021 07 Jan'21

  SAP Business Network, S/4HANA critical for SAP in 2021

  SAP's 2021 will be a mix of familiar challenges such as moving customers off legacy systems to S/4HANA and new opportunities such as its SAP Business Network, according to experts.

• January 06, 2021 06 Jan'21

  Dell adds Microsoft Teams to video conferencing monitors

  Dell introduced three video conferencing monitors with Microsoft Teams integration this week, as part of its emphasis on a hybrid work model. It also announced new laptops.

• January 05, 2021 05 Jan'21

  Slack restores service following major outage

  Slack's messaging service is back up following a global outage that forced many customers to return to email for communications. Slack had not determined the cause.

• December 30, 2020 30 Dec'20

  Lower prices possible for AI headsets, webcams in 2021

  In 2021, Jabra, Logitech and Poly could sell AI-powered headsets and webcams at prices more affordable to companies supporting employees working from home.

• December 29, 2020 29 Dec'20

  Salesforce Slack buy biggest step yet outside the CRM realm

  Salesforce has tried to buy its way into the rest of the enterprise before. Is Slack the golden ticket that will take it beyond CRM to directly compete with ERP vendors?

• December 29, 2020 29 Dec'20

  SAP in 2020: COVID-19, Klein takes command and Qualtrics IPO

  From leadership changes to the massive disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a year like no other for SAP. Here are some of the most important SAP 2020 stories.

• December 29, 2020 29 Dec'20

  2021 HR trends include widening pay gap between men, women

  2020 was an eventful year for HR and may act as a trigger for some significant HR trends to play out in the new year, according to Gartner's Brian Kropp.

• December 28, 2020 28 Dec'20

  SAP files for Qualtrics IPO

  SAP announced plans for a Qualtrics IPO in July. On Monday, the official paperwork was filed.

• December 28, 2020 28 Dec'20

  Virtual visits to mature in 2021

  The pandemic forced virtual care's hand in 2020, but healthcare systems and patients have found that the benefits of telehealth outweigh the drawbacks.

• December 24, 2020 24 Dec'20

  RingCentral acquires AI speech analytics startup DeepAffects

  California-based startup DeepAffects uses AI speech analytics to collect data on voice and video calls. The information helps customers measure the productivity of meetings.

• December 23, 2020 23 Dec'20

  DoD eyes blind recruiting-type technology for promotions

  The Pentagon may investigate blind recruiting-type technology to remove bias from the promotions process. It wants to improve the diversity in its officer ranks.

• December 23, 2020 23 Dec'20

  Salesforce's acquisitions lead CX tech buying spree in 2020

  Most CX vendors acquired new companies to enhance their platforms, none bigger than Salesforce buying Slack. Facebook's Kustomer buy might be the most intriguing.

• December 23, 2020 23 Dec'20

  Customer data platforms dominate CX technology headlines

  As the tech titans release their CDPs, it raises a question: Can this technology save itself from becoming another data silo in the marketing stack?

• December 22, 2020 22 Dec'20

  Content drives new B2B e-commerce

  COVID-19 forced B2B e-commerce companies to create and enhance new revenue pathways. Two Sitecore users share how investments in digital experiences kept their companies rolling.

• December 22, 2020 22 Dec'20

  Zoom China exec accused of working for government

  The Justice Department has accused a China-based Zoom executive of sending Chinese dissidents' personal information to the government. Zoom has fired exec Xinjiang Jin.

• December 21, 2020 21 Dec'20

  Supply chain faces greatest challenge with COVID-19 vaccine

  Developing a COVID-19 vaccine was only the first step in beating the pandemic. Now the supply chain must manage the challenges and complexities of getting those vaccines delivered.