silicon.com : Financial Services

Telegraph CIO on the rocky road to going Google

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:49:01 GMT

Businesses thinking of switching to cloud computing should expect a bumpy probation period, if the experience of The Telegraph Media Group (TMG) is anything to go by.

The company's CIO Paul Cheesbrough knows all about the challenges of moving to the cloud, after recently migrating 2,000 staff from Microsoft Outlook and Exchange to Google Apps Premier Edition and Google's email archiving service Postini.

Whose IT budget has been hit the hardest?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:58:01 GMT

While the debate over bankers' bonuses may still be generating headlines, it seems the financial services industry has found one way to cut back - slash IT budgets.

Financial services firms' IT budgets fell by 8.3 per cent between 2008 and 2009, meaning the banks have cut their budgets more than other industries, and saw spending fall by 6.8 per cent year-on-year.

Phishers set their sights on corporate accounts

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:36:01 GMT

Fraudsters have attempted to steal an estimated $100m from corporate bank accounts using malware and money mules, the FBI said yesterday.

The FBI is seeing several new victim complaints and cases every week, according to an Internet Crime Complaint Center report.

Photos: Google Waves hello to a new way of doing business

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:39:02 GMT

Since Google launched its Wave collaboration platform this year businesses have been testing how they can make use of the system.

The Wave platform offers users a chance to chat and work together in real-time within a window in a web browser that Google calls a 'wave'.

Microsoft to Office Accounting: Your number's up

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:37:01 GMT

Microsoft announced on Friday it is to kill off its Office Accounting product line.

Microsoft's Redmond campus. The software giant has called time on accounting software(Photo credit: Microsoft)

How to pay for your Amazon purchases with a feisty mango

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:48:01 GMT

Amazon has launched a new payments system based around a user's memorable phrase.

The PayPhrase service, launched yesterday in the US, will see Amazon users able to combine a set of payment details - such as their credit card information and shipping details - and then name the data with a memorable phrase.

Parking in the West End goes contactless

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:18:02 GMT

Drivers with contactless bank cards will soon be able to use them to pay for their parking.

From next year, parking meters in the West End will accept contactless payments from motorists with wave and pay functionality built into their debit or credit cards.

How will you use Google Wave? Recruiting, decision-making, dealing with complaints

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:40:01 GMT

It may have only been launched a few months ago but Google's Wave collaboration platform is already attracting attention from businesses, according to one of the key architects of the service.

Lars Rasmussen, Google's software engineering manager and co-creator of Wave, said unlike typical Google services, Wave has stoked early interest among both consumers and enterprises.

Photos: Top iPhone apps for business

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:45:01 GMT

Apple's iPhone might be seen by many as largely a consumer device, with games and media apps regularly topping the 'What's Hot' list on iTunes.

However, the App Store currently stocks more than 2,000 business apps and, with the iPhone currently dominating around 13 per cent of the smartphone market, the device's potential as a business tool can no longer be ignored. Here we take a look at some of the best business apps that can help turn your iPhone into a portable office.

Barclays CIO finds a new home with SAP

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:20:01 GMT

Don Trotta has left his role as CIO with Barclays and taken a new position with SAP.

Trotta has been appointed the ERP company's SVP and global head of financial services, responsible for product strategy, development and overall market positioning activities in the banking and insurance industries globally, according to SAP.

Vista jilted for Windows 7 midway through upgrades

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:18:01 GMT

Some businesses that are partway through upgrading to Windows Vista are asking to swap the OS for Windows 7, according to Microsoft.

Speaking at the London launch of Windows 7 today John Curran, the Microsoft exec who until recently headed up the Windows client group in the UK, said: "This is the first time that we have had customers talking about slipstreaming the deployment of one OS into another version, so they started with Vista and continue with Windows 7."

2010: When IT budgets start to grow again

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:53:02 GMT

If you haven't guessed already: 2009 was a bad year for IT spending, analysts have found. But fear not - things are looking brighter for the coming years.

According to research from Gartner, enterprise tech spending is down 5.2 per cent on 2008 figures.

Windows 7 will be business standard by next year

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:00:02 GMT

In just 12 months, Windows 7 will become the standard operating system for business PCs, analysts believe.

Currently, eight out of 10 new PCs run Windows XP, nearly eight years after the operating system was first released. By next year, that figure could drop by more than half, according to new research from industry watchers Forrester.

Virtualisation: How to get real benefits from your virtual investment

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:01:01 GMT

The mighty twin combination of cost-cutting (driven by the recession) and a desire to reduce IT power consumption (to tackle climate change) means virtualisation has become one of the hottest topics for the IT community, with a whole raft of associated terms such as bare metal hypervisors, virtual machines, and utilisation rates becoming standard parts of the vocabulary of the average CIO.

Virtualisation, is essentially about cutting the connection between the operating system and the underlying hardware it operates on.

CIOs waste energy and budget as one in six servers go unused

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:15:01 GMT

Wondering how to make that tech budget stretch a little further? Perhaps you might like to take a long hard look at your server estate.

IT departments around the world are wasting money supporting millions of servers that are not doing any useful work, and could make significant savings by decommissioning the hardware instead, it has been claimed.

Outsourcing - how to make sure it's reliable

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:33:01 GMT

Outsourced IT is of little value if it's not reliable. William Benn offers advice on how to make sure you can count on your technology.

Last month I wrote about the critical dimension of security when outsourcing IT. Security ensures a safe environment in which the technology can operate.

Revealed: The anatomy of an internet scam

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:01:00 GMT

Scareware is bad for your PC and your pocket - but the fake security warning messages popping up on your screen are only the most visible part of a complex scam.

Scareware is fake security software, often heralded by an ersatz dialogue box warning unsuspecting users that their PC is under attack by malware or that it's at risk of a virus infection. For a small fee, the scareware promises, it can solve those security woes.

Tax-refund phishing scams hit an all-time high

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:01:01 GMT

The number of scam emails offering fake tax refunds hit an all-time high last month.

According to HM Revenue & Customs, a record 83,000 such phishing attempts were reported in September.

Windows 7: The five things you need to be thinking about now

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:47:02 GMT

With the launch of Windows 7 just a week away, many businesses will already be thinking of how to shift their PC estate to the new OS.

According to analyst house Gartner, there are a number of issues companies should already be considering ahead of any planned switch - including the need to put an end to Windows XP.

Telecoms worker? You're in demand. Techie? Not so much

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:44:02 GMT

ICT workers looking for a new job should keep their eye on the telecoms sector.

The number of job vacancies in the industry rose sharply last month, according to new research.

Online banking fraud rockets as fraudsters get smarter

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:22:01 GMT

Online banking fraud jumped by 55 per cent during the first six months of this year as criminals become even more sophisticated in their use of technology.

Losses from online banking fraud hit £39m in the first half of the year, despite a decrease in the overall amount of credit card fraud in the UK.

Amazon offers to be man in the middle for mobile payments

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:41:01 GMT

Amazon is moving into the world of mobile payments with the launch of a new service that will allow consumers to buy goods, services and mobile apps using the payment information stored on their Amazon accounts.

The retailer has made APIs available for the service, called Amazon Mobile Payments Service, which will allow other merchants and mobile app companies to offer their users the ability to make purchases without the need to set up a separate payment account.

Video: 60-Second Pitch: Identity verification

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:34:01 GMT

CIOs spend hours listening to suppliers pitch their latest technology. How would these vendors fare with just one minute to get their message across?

silicon.com turns up the heat and gives vendors only 60 seconds to impress a panel of CIOs with their products. The IT chiefs then quiz them before delivering their verdict on the technology in the form of a red or green light.

iPhones unshackled, IT wages revealed and outsourcing explained

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:08:01 GMT

Once again, September saw another fresh crop of students head off to university for the first time, on their way to becoming the next generation of IT workers.

But how good are the UK's universities at turning out the skilled professionals that the tech industry needs? According to a silicon.com CIO Jury last month, the answer is not very. Asked if tech graduates are finishing university with the expertise their companies are looking for, only four out of 12 said yes.

Netbooks, Apple goodies, vintage kit and a futuristic datacentre

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:17:02 GMT

Bonhams previewed some vintage tech last month as the London auctioneer prepared to put a selection of classic hardware under the hammer.

The sale includes Sinclair computers such as the ZX81 machine and a ZX Spectrum 48K extension shown here.