With 2016 drawing to a close and businesses looking ahead to 2020 and beyond, companies are increasingly being tasked to rethink the traditional relationship between Finance and Human Resources.
What’s 20 and already gasping for breath? That would be the SMS – or short messaging system, in many parts of the world the poor man’s email. It is still used by over two billion people on the planet, double the number of email users. But that’s all changing rapidly. Why, the SMS could even die – or probably metamorphose into an avatar of social messaging.
Like all buzzwords, cloud computing is widely known but not always understood. To many businesses that are actually the target for such cloud services, things are, well, cloudy. Even resident IT professionals find it hard to analyse the full range of cloud computing benefits, not to mention assess its future.
Over the past decade, the media, notably print publishers and television companies, have struggled to come to terms with the onslaught of the Internet. What changed this doom and gloom? The consumerisation of IT, in the form of smartphones and tablets. Devices led by the iPhone and iPad have led to mass adoption, and additionally enabled a variety of payment options.
Yammer’s got some great numbers. Its software is used by five million people at 200,000 companies, nearly 85% of the Fortune 500 companies. What’s more, reports suggest Yammer reached seven-figure revenues at least two years ago. But will it be the answer to Microsoft’s social ambitions?
Facebook is the default social site of the world. With 900 million members, it would be the third largest “country” in the world, behind only China and India. In comparison, Google+, a late and weak effort from the search giant, is a “ghost town.” So where does Microsoft, the giant that likes to sleep in, fit into the picture?
The first billion was easy. So were the next few. But the next is going to take some doing, it seems. That is the outlook for the cellphone industry, which has quickly grown from a nimble startup and, today, has nearly five billion users. Still, the industry resembles a frustrated teen in a hurry for further growth.
Facebook is altering the way we communicate, according to new research by the good peeps at Ovum. Almost half of UK consumers responding to Ovum’s survey said that social networking platforms have adversely affected their use of email services. But wait, there’s more. A cool 40 per cent blamed Facebook for a decline in the use of voice fixed services, 34 per cent said they made fewer mobile phone calls due to you-know-who, and 29 per cent said the number of text messages they send was heading south.
The worth of the Asia Pacific digital games market will grow from $13 billion in 2011 to $30 billion in 2016, according to Ovum. Behind the growth is the rise of the casual gamer, who uses platforms such as tablets and smartphones to play digital games, and the free-to-play model.
Holy multitasking. According to a new study by telecoms stat gurus Ovum, a cool 74 per cent of consumers with a broadband connection cruise the interwebs while watching the telly.
Ovum’s latest report puts the Australian and New Zealand business software market on the verge of a massive growth across all categories. The market is expected to hit $7.3 billion in 2015.
Windows 8 or bust? Microsoft’s fate in the post-PC world is inextricably linked to Windows 8, the newest version of its ubiquitous but antiquated operating system. The computer goliath desperately needs to transition its desktop operating system to new devices such as tablet computers and slates. Microsoft has launched a developer preview, a pre-beta version,…
There’s been a flurry of shy interpretations, punditry and, yes, speculation, too, since Google agreed to buy Motorola Mobility, the handset maker, for $12.5 billion. Some see the deal as a defensive play that secures Motorola’s treasure trove of patents as Google protects its mobile Android operating system from lawsuits. Some others see in the deal a threat to other mobile makers who build phones based on the Android. Can Google pull it off?
Google’s recent announcement that it had snapped up Motorola Mobility for a cool $12.5bn cash has techie types all a-quiver. Top smartphone and tablet manufacturers that use Google’s Android operating system to power their devices have put on their game faces following the announcement. However, many pundits have speculated that they’re collectively bricking it (our words, not theirs).
Ovum’s “Is your city smart enough?” says that cities should start integrating information technologies into their infrastructure so they can become more competitive in the future. The report also states that this implementation has to happen in two different ways: by Digital-City strategies and by Digital-Society initiatives.
Ovum’s latest report states that Facebook is invading mobile operators space and could potentially become a very serious threat. However, mobile operators aren’t taking Facebook as a serious competitor but rather as a business partner.
The Australian Government invests big bucks in research each year. But which nerdy boffins pocket the cash, and at what benefit to the community?
By the year 2015, one billion people globally will access the internet solely through mobile devices, according to new research from analyst Ovum. Yet another reason for the mobile industry to feel smug. But does this mean fixed broadband will go the way of Betamax, Commodore 64, and stone wash?
Over the next five years, internet protocol TV (IPTV) is expected to grow, globally, at an annual rate of 24%, reaching 109 million households. But this number is still very far from the 573 million homes that cable TV is expected to reach by 2015, at a growth of 3% per year, predicts Ovum in its most recent report.
A service that employs a real person to call you each day to tell you how awesome you are — and charges $45 a month for this ‘feel good’ moment — was the forehead-slapping winner of Ovum’s annual Wireless Turkey Awards.
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