Better technology means better business, right? Companies should just gather all the scraping-edge tech their arms can hold. Cloud-native, microservices, artificial intelligence — can they go wrong with such sophisticated weaponry? They can if they don’t have an attack strategy planned out at the business level, according to Jim Comfort (pictured), general manager of global technology services ...

Some technology leaders insist that cloud computing is a verb; as in, the cloud is an operating model, a way to run applications that may or may not involve public cloud infrastructure. What exactly is the definition of cloud as a verb? And which vendors are best positioned to deliver products that embody it? We’re seeing a ...

We’re constantly told that we need massive data sets to do quality analytics; the more data sources, the merrier. But when there are a gazillion silos full of mismatched, mysterious data, where do companies begin combining it? How do they parse it, analyze it, and decide what to keep and what to throw out? They ...

The sands in Silicon Valley are shifting all the time. Building computing infrastructure from scratch used to be par for the course for startups; now, many opt for cloud. Major cloud hyperscalers are eating a ton of customers, but there remains hope for the market’s smaller fish. Crafty entrepreneurs today can make it with cloud-based vertical services, according ...

There is growing concern in the Bay Area that technology isn’t being all it can be in the social justice realm. Why aren’t tech companies working harder to cure societal ills? Can’t nonprofit organizations and charities use new tech as effectively as commercial businesses? One startup that aids individuals experiencing homelessness is taking these concerns ...

Information technology has morphed into a beast that companies 10 years ago couldn’t have imagined. Multicloud, distributed systems, software-defined everything — it adds up to a circus of unruly animals. The old methods — human surveillance and traditional monitoring — can’t tame them all. Companies need both human and artificial intelligence to navigate the new ...

It’s a known fact that online customer service, by and large, isn’t the most pleasant experience. Companies often have ambitious plans to improve it with automation and artificial intelligence (think chatbots). But such initiatives often lack the data-based fundamentals, specifically the right answers to common questions, to deliver a great customer experience. Inserting a vast pool of answers and ...

Waiting for Silicon Valley to solve the economic, industrial and social ills in Oceania? It might be smarter to pair advanced technology with local wisdom about region-specific problems. What comes out may be groundbreaking, globally scalable products and services. This is the idea behind Cisco Systems Inc.’s globally dispersed innovation centers; San Jose, California, doesn’t ...

There are several theories about why a company’s innovation projects, whether for big data or artificial intelligence, are failing. Some argue that nothing’s wrong with the technology; it’s the culture that keeps companies stuck. Indeed, many innovation plans are woefully out of step with the pace at which innovation is happening in the world, according to Vittorio Viarengo (pictured), vice ...

Trade show aisles are stuffed full of products that build software applications these days, serving every degree of customizability. Where one company may run a data center and craft its software from scratch, another might pick up some pre-built Legos and snap together an app in no time. Determining the level of prefabrication their software needs depends on their in-house skill ...