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The term ‘enterprise transformation’ is frequently heard, relating to organisational change and moving away from legacy technologies. Accenture defines it as a “fundamental shift [of] strategy, in response to major disruptions through a complete, business-driven remodelling of how a company structures itself.” But how far down the company does change go?

Antonion Piraino, chief technology officer at IT management software provider ScienceLogic, argues...

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A new paper from Osterman Research in conjunction with CTERA Networks argues a clear need for organisations to adopt enterprise grade file sync and share (EFSS) software due to security and shadow IT fears.

Naturally, the conclusion of the report is less than surprising given CTERA’s continued push against consumer grade (CFSS) software. Back in July the firm released research detailing how three quarters of firms are looking for an alternative to public file sync and share services....

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The concept of the 1%, in economic terms, usually refers to wealth inequality; however, a recent report from CloudLock shows that in cloud environments, 75% of the security risk can be attributed to just 1% of users.

This instance, of course, has more in common with the Pareto principle, whereby approximately 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes, than anything else. Yet the report analyses a trend familiar to the readers of this publication; a key security risk when moving data...

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More proof arrives that financial organisations are becoming more comfortable with cloud technologies: according to the latest industry outlook from Skyhigh Networks, the average financial services company uses more than 1,000 cloud services, with collaboration tools the most popular type of application used. But is it a good thing?

The report, which focuses on real life data from 3.7 million employees at banks, insurance companies and credit card firms among others, found the...

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“We change our behaviour when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change” – Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

Successful businesses require the ability to change and increasingly to adapt quickly, to be agile to new approaches and technologies and be flexible to the needs of the business and customers.

We are at the wake of monumental change and how businesses service and engage...

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A new report from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services argues that as cloud usage in the enterprise continues to rise, collaboration is now the key benefit ahead of business agility.

The research, which had more than 450 participants and was sponsored by Verizon Enterprise Solutions, found 84% of respondents agreeing their organisation’s use of cloud computing had increased in the past year. 72% said their use of cloud increased collaboration options, while 71% argued business...

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Recently I read a fascinating article by Rachel King in the WSJ CIO Journal titled “Google moves its corporate applications to the Internet”. This article was of particular interest to me because I manage a company that offers a hosted desktop solution to SMEs, and what is described as Google’s “new approach” is the approach that our customers have been...

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When it comes to deploying IT infrastructure, selecting the right model is crucial. Fundamental to this decision, IT departments must make sense of the options available to them and understand their strengths and weaknesses.

But this isn’t as simple as deciding which model is better. It’s about understanding which model is right for the business — right now and into the future. With such a...

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Once again, the tea leaves and crystal balls are out at Gartner headquarters as the analyst house looks to predict the shape of the enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) industry. Accellion, Box, Citrix and Syncplicity occupy the top right leaders section in this iteration, while Microsoft, Google and – perhaps surprisingly – Dropbox again sits in the challengers square.

EFSS, as Gartner defines it, is “a range of on-premises or cloud-based capabilities that...

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Microsoft has reported a $3.2 billion net loss for the second quarter of 2015, the worst in the company’s history, but backed it up alongside continued strong cloud growth.

It was always going to look nasty. Following the $7.5bn writedown of its Nokia offshoot, the analysts were prepared to sink their teeth into the Redmond giant as its latest financial results came through. Yet Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was unrepentant, arguing the cloud and mobile gains were pushing the...

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By Phil Christensen, Senior Engineer, DevOps

Complexity is a huge security risk for the enterprise.

While security is always a top priority during the initial build phase of a cloud project, over time security tends to slip. As systems evolve, stacks change, and engineers come and go, it’s very easy to end up with a mash-up of legacy and cloud security policies piled on top of custom code that only a few engineers know how to work with.

The security of your system should not...

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A report from enterprise mobile collaboration provider harmon.ie argues Microsoft is making progress in moving its customers’ productivity software to the mobile cloud, yet on premise remains important.

The company, which offers a tool which puts all Microsoft productivity tools within a single screen, notes Microsoft has a stronghold on productivity suites. 97% of respondents polled said they expect their clients’ use of Office 365 to increase in the coming 12 months,...

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At DockerCon 2015 last week, it was very clear that Docker is poised to transform enterprise IT.

While it traditionally takes years for a software innovation — and especially an open source one — to reach the enterprise, Docker is defying all the rules. Analysts expect Docker will be the norm in enterprises by 2016, less than two years after its 1.0 release.

Why are Yelp, Goldman Sachs, and other enterprises using Docker? Because in many ways, enterprises have been unable to take...

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Updated A recent survey from cloud storage and data protection hardware provider CTERA Networks found that while employees at more than half of organisations use public file, sync and share services, almost three quarters said they were looking for an alternative.

The report recognised what CTERA highlights as a growing interest and need for enterprise-grade, private cloud storage solutions. Box portrays itself as...

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In late 2014, Oxford Economics and SAP collaborated on a survey of 200 senior business and IT executives globally regarding the adoption and use of cloud technology:

• 69% of enterprises expect to make moderate-to-heavy cloud investments over the next three years as they migrate core business functions to the cloud.
• 44% of enterprises are relying on cloud computing to launch new business models today, predicting this will increase to 55% in three years.
• 32% are using cloud computing to streamline their supply chains...

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Dropbox has announced its number of users has exceeded 400 million, with more than eight million business customers also on board.

The figures, disclosed on the occasion of the cloud storage provider’s eighth birthday, also reveal an impressive growth in the UK market, opened up six months ago. The company has grown from three to 10 offices over the past year.

According to the figures, 4,000 edits to documents are made each second on Dropbox, with users syncing 1.2 billion files...

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Enterprises are shaping the cloud to fit their needs, and the result is overwhelmingly a hybrid of public, private, and on-premises clouds. Today, nineteen percent (19%) of organizations manage hybrid clouds and an additional 60% plan to deploy them. Gartner estimates that hybrid cloud adoption will near 50% by 2017.

Why are enterprises going hybrid? Below are four use cases that demonstrate how enterprises determine what, when and how to move to the cloud.

Case 1: Testing...

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Tech giant IBM and enterprise cloud storage provider Box have announced a wide-ranging partnership, aimed at content management and social collaboration to improve the enterprise cloud and digital push.

The two companies aim to integrate their existing products and services to develop new solutions across multiple verticals, from medicine, to engineering and academia.

Among the developments proposed, Box will integrate with IBM’s enterprise content management solution, as well as...

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The Cloud World Forum event, which starts tomorrow in London and will have this publication in attendance, will more than likely discuss business cloud strategies, security fears, as well as the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and DevOps concepts.

Among the list of expected attendees, there is a not unreasonable amount of security professionals from the private sector. Also there is cloud-based enterprise collaboration...