Emboldened by enterprise adoption of BYOD, many employees are beginning to reach toward the cloud. Here’s a way to gain the fee and efficiency advantages of non-public cloud services while offsetting the hazards. Interop 2014: 8 Hot Technologies (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies have had a huge impact on enterprises recently, driven largely by employees’ desire to use their own mobile phones, tablets, and laptops at work. When it’s done right, the use of personal devices offers workers countless benefits, including flexibility, continuous access to data, higher productivity, and less dependence on central IT. BYOD can also be heavily disruptive to IT processes and policies, and it’s taken some time for enterprises to embrace the change. BYOD is acceptable in many workplaces, but phones, tablets, and laptops are still provided by IT in most enterprises. To minimize risk and ensure that employees use these devices appropriately, CIOs and CTOs must carefully consider and address the following factors: Industry-specific regulatory and... Read More »

Google’s latest updates to Gmail, Docs, and more assist you to stay organized and improve productivity. Google had a hectic begin to 2014: It acquired Nest Labs for $3.2 billion, launched Chromebox for meetings, and dropped Google Drive storage prices. But between its biggest headlines, Google also rolled out a handful of updates to its Google Apps productivity suite. The Google Apps suite, that’s now utilized by greater than 5 million businesses and 50 million people, added a handful of recent features and capabilities that may assist you be more productive and stay organized. Its most up-to-date updates include a library of add-ons for Docs and Sheets users, a brand new design in your Promotions tab in Gmail, additional Google+ controls, and new photo-editing capabilities in Google Slides and Drawings. Here’s a glance at Google Apps’ newest features, plus tips for a way you may make the foremost of them. 1. Use add-ons in Docs and Sheets.In March, Google launched add-ons, new tools created by... Read More »

With Windows 9, new developer tools, and a competitor to Apple’s Siri, Microsoft could pop out swinging on the Build conference. Interop 2014: 8 Hot Technologies (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) Microsoft’s Windows franchise is in transition. Almost a year and a half after launching, Windows 8 remains an underperformer that’s done little to prop up falling PC sales, compel upgrades from Windows XP users, or reverse Microsoft’s also-ran status within the tablet market. Thanks to this context, newly installed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella garnered praise last week when, in his first press appearance since replacing Steve Ballmer in February, he announced native Office apps for iPads. Nadella impressed not because commentators credit him for the recent products, whose development surely dates back for years, but because he so wholeheartedly championed cross-platform opportunities that iPads and other non-Windows devices pose for Microsoft’s software. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Those opportunities suggest Nadella doesn’t consider Windows the cornerstone of Microsoft’s future achievements — at the... Read More »

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made an excellent impression last week, but at Build he’ll need greater than rhetoric to reconcile new cross-platform tactics with Windows’ future. Microsoft In 2013: 7 Lessons Learned (Click image for larger view and for slideshow.) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s tenure got off to an auspicious start last week when he introduced native Office apps for the iPad. But with the Microsoft Build conference for developers kicking off this week, Nadella could have time neither to savor his victory nor to ease into the subsequent challenge. Ironically, Nadella faces pressure since the iPad apps had been so well received. Despite being in any case two years overdue, the goods represent a brand new tablet productivity standard. But additionally they represent a possible death blow to the single advantage Windows tablets had over iPad: running Microsoft Office. The iPad Office apps also indicate an accelerating shift far from Windows because the center of Microsoft’s strategy, even — as Windows XP’s remarkable longevity... Read More »

We’ve singled out 20 InformationWeek Elite 100 winners whose IT projects have transformed their businesses. Use them to inspire creativity and advance your plans. This is InformationWeek’s 26th year ranking US companies that use technology in innovative ways. This time the popularity is much more special because we’ve narrowed the collection of honorees from 500 to 100; we now call our ranking the InformationWeek Elite 100. The creativity represented by this year’s 100 organizations has not narrowed, though. An overriding theme of their accomplishments: innovative use of giant data. Out of this elite 100 we’ve chosen 20 of the most convenient ideas to give during this slideshow. Our list shows companies putting data analytics into action across a large range of industries. If these companies are any indication, in 2014 and within the years that follow business decisions should be more data-driven, data could be more visual and more mobile, more medical data may be made accessible to assist save lives, and more equipment and... Read More »