Technology

By: Jolyon Bennet

Behind every successful business, there is usually a story; some straightforward, some inspiring and others pretty nail-biting – the latter usually centred around risks involving money and sticking your neck on the line. But for a company to start and to grow, one of the common denominators is motivation. Whether you’ve had a light bulb moment, a great idea or, you’ve been fired from all your other jobs and realise that the only way you can hold a job down is to start your own business!

It’s not an easy route and along the way, you will face a barrage of hurdles, trials and tribulations, but if you are passionate about your idea and your product, then use these setbacks as valuable lessons. Turn them in to positives and enjoy the ride as this is your rollercoaster and it can be great fun.

There is no way of ensuring the success of a new company, but for the best chances of successfully building a technology company, entrepreneurs should think about the following:

Planning is everything

When you are starting your business, have an idea of what you’re going to try and do. For example, have your P&L (Profit and/or Loss), some idea of numbers, how much you need to sell, how much profit you’re going to make, what margins you’re going to make etc Have your model set up so you know that if you are going to do this, then you will be able to make a certain amount of money. Don’t launch a business and realise that the market is not big enough or that the margin is not going to be strong enough to maintain the infrastructure that you need in order to deliver the business. Planning is essential.

Execution

While planning is one of the vital tips, on its own it is never enough. It’s all about getting out there and getting on with it, and not allowing planning stages or process stages to slow you down from actually getting the job done. The best businesses that were ever being ‘planned’ or thought about or talked about, never actually came to fruition due to the fact that people didn’t have the gusto to go and just get on with it. It is understandable as it is a huge step of faith, but while planning is so important, it also needs to be balanced by motion and by being willing to crack on and go and do it.

Be brave enough to try things

Being conservative and worried about consequences may well hold you back from making a success of your business growing. You need to try things out; do things and allow them not to work. Do things and accept the fact that they are not going to work. Numerous founders will look back at their business career and will have failed so many times along the way. Embrace failure as a part of the process, try new things and accept that they may well fail. In some cases you will learn infinitely from that failure.

Brand is everything

In technology and in the modern world, brand is everything. Your brand is what defines you and just because you’re not a global organisation doesn’t mean that you don’t have a brand. You are the brand. It is essential therefore, to understand how you communicate with your consumers. In the current climate, social media is the main platform that people use to communicate, and a business must utilise to drive and grow all areas, from sales to marketing, customer service and e-commerce. Rather than focussing and getting lost and confused on print or other platforms, make sure your focus is on modern media, which is social.

Be willing to say no

Saying no is just as, if not more important, as saying yes.  Some of the best deals that you ever do in business are the deals you don’t do – the deals you say no to. So be willing to make tough decisions of choosing not to do business that doesn’t make sense.

ENDS

About Author

Jolyon Bennet is the charismatic Founder and CEO of Juice Global Ltd, manufacturers of mobile phone accessories supplying high quality, innovative, bold and colourful electronic accessories to a tech-savvy mobile generation.

By: Matt Parker, CEO of Babble unlocks the secrets to successful technology partnerships

The fastest growing, most efficient and resilient businesses usually have one thing in common – they have all implemented cloud-based technologies. From start-ups to large-scale corporations, the benefits of cloud-based communications are undeniable and offer organisations a competitive edge against others. Here, Matt Parker, CEO of Babble, explains how businesses can utilise cloud solutions for both futureproofing their ways of working and to grow more quickly.

A new normal – adopting a hybrid model

The past 12 months have made it abundantly clear that we’re on the cusp of a whole new way of working. The future of office life for many organisations will be a hybrid model, balancing working from home with office-based activities that can be completed more effectively through face-to-face interaction, for example for meetings and brainstorming. For those adopting a hybrid model, effective use of cloud technologies will be an essential tool in the armoury – facilitating agile working and collaboration amongst employees, as well as opening up endless opportunities for a company’s workforce. The ability to get online to access files and emails at any time or place has never been more important, and those that don’t adapt will pay the price when it comes to productivity and business growth.

Cloud reduces costs

Cloud-based solutions reduce operating costs for businesses. Replacing the need to purchase expensive hardware with simple and transparent pay-as-you-go subscription services means that companies can reinvest their profits more strategically. The return on investment alone should make business leaders seriously consider switching to a cloud-based solution. If a business is hoping to rapidly grow and evolve over the coming years, then they’ll need to keep abreast of technological trends and advancements in order to thrive.

Prioritising customer service

Keeping customers happy in 2021 has never been more important, and those that maintain high standards of customer service will be ahead of the game. Transforming from a legacy contact centre to having all inbound and outbound customer communications handled in one central cloud-based solution allows businesses to talk to more customers and have better, more meaningful, and ultimately profitable conversations. This is something we’ve seen first-hand with Yopa, a full-service estate agent, that we helped transform. The automated contact centre solution that we implemented syncs all call data, ensuring agents are connected with specific leads that are most likely to generate sales, before moving on to dial the next lead with the best conversion potential. As a direct result, the company has seen a 75% increase in monthly talk time, improving from 400 to 700 hours of productive talk time over the course of the year.

Secure, flexible solutions that help your business thrive

This year, businesses must minimise operational challenges through implementing solutions that offer complete flexibility. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a start-up or large enterprise, cloud solutions can be scaled up or down depending on the ever-changing demands of a business. Not only does this give business leaders a competitive edge, but it also minimises the risks related to operational maintenance issues while saving on the costs of changing and purchasing physical infrastructure.

Playing it safe

Arguably, what’s really put the spotlight on cloud-based solutions this year is its disaster recovery capabilities. Storing data in the cloud means that it is always available, regardless of what happens to your team’s equipment. No matter what the emergency, the fast and efficient data recovery provided by cloud-solutions will ensure it’s business as usual for both staff and customers and there’s no downtime experienced.

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that businesses need to be ready for the unexpected, and cloud-based solutions have shown that they’re the most effective way of achieving this. It doesn’t matter how big your company is – security breaches can effect anyone. Authentication access control or data encryption are just some examples of how data can be protected in the cloud, but any businesses leader looking to cement a competitive edge mustn’t let cybercrime set them back on their path to success.

The need for businesses to be more resilient is more apparent now than ever before. Whilst the future’s unknown, leaders need to ensure that they don’t have their heads in the sand when it comes to reviewing their business operations and technology. In order to achieve long-term strategic goals, offer protection and increase efficiency,  businesses must make the switch to cloud-based solutions before they’re left behind.

About Babble

https://babble.cloud/

Babble is a leading technology business that is reimagining how we do work. Founded in 2001, the company works with over 3,000 organisations in a wide range of sectors – including financial, health and education, travel and accommodation, and public services – by sourcing and deploying the very best cloud solutions to deliver increased efficiency, customer engagement and profitability, whilst protecting customer’s businesses.

By: Reef Pearson, SecureTeam Correspondent

With hackers taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of a rushed and unprecedented shift to remote working cloud-based cybersecurity attacks increased by 630% when the pandemic hit. Despite how triggering this statistic is for businesses owner, the truth of the matter is that 66% of employers didn’t even offer antivirus software to their employees when they started working from home, and 44% didn’t provide any cybersecurity training whatsoever.

So when businesses haven’t been pulling their weight, how come there is so much responsibility being placed on staff to protect their company’s data when their employer isn’t taking the steps necessary to protect it themselves? With so many businesses eager for a full return to the office, the often misunderstood complexities of cybersecurity are an ideal scapegoat for employers desperate to see the end of remote working.

As human beings are integral to workplace success, staff welfare is a huge part of the cybersecurity and WFH debate that is currently being underrepresented. Remote working is proven to enhance the mental and physical wellbeing of working individuals without hindering productivity, which is exactly why staff need to be cautious of any employer wanting to sacrifice this under the pretense of ‘cybersecurity concerns’.

Why Wouldn’t Businesses Want Their Staff Working From Home?

Google recently made a statement declaring their motive for a shift back to office-working, claiming that it is essential to sustaining their company culture. However, with 45% of workers saying remote working has greatly benefited their overall wellbeing, surely this is evidence that the pros of working from home outweigh the sacrifice of what was once considered a good company culture.

For remote working to be a mutual success, trust is integral to the relationship between employers and their staff working from home. Naturally, there is going to be a loss of power over businesses that had an exceptionally watchful eye on their office-working staff, but it isn’t bold to say that this is likely to be for the better. According to the latest coronavirus and homeworking figures released from the Office of National Statistics, although one-third of employees completed fewer hours of work at home, an equal amount completed more, so there’s no actual evidence that employees work less from home despite employer paranoia.

The power dynamic of a business is compromised when employees are comfortable working at home and can escape intimidating people or situations easier, which is a threat to the hierarchy of a lot of companies and a relief for many workers. It is at this point that the line of business intent begins to become blurred, for example when businesses don’t have the notoriously good culture of Google, it is a lot more concrete to rely on cybersecurity reasoning as a mask for their true discomfort about their staff working from home. Staff members are a lot less likely to object to their employer telling them to come back into the office for security reasons compared to ‘culture’ reasoning, but businesses should not take advantage of that.

Why Would A Company Blame Their Staff For Cybersecurity Failures?

The evidence of increased cybersecurity and phishing attempts is concrete, however, it is unfair to say this increase is a result of the failures of remote working staff. The increase in phishing attacks is more indicative of scammers resorting to cybercrime as a result of them spending more time at home and having a new wave of vulnerabilities to exploit as a result of the rushed switch to remote working across the globe. In such unprecedented circumstances, this was to be expected. Although, the important difference is understanding that those vulnerabilities would have never existed in a situation where employers had sufficient time to plan and prepare for a secure transition to remote working.

The underlying issue here is that if employers are concerned about the security of their employees working from home then there’s plenty of precautions they can take, none of which require forcing employees back into the office based on cyber risks alone. Regardless of employer concerns, it is unfair to allude employees to believe that they are acting irresponsibly if they prefer to work from home.

How Can Businesses Prevent Cybersecurity Attacks?

If an employer is doing the most that they possibly can to protect their employees working from home then the cybersecurity risk of remote working should be no greater than in the office.

The primary precaution businesses can take for protecting staff (and themselves) is providing them with a company device that has remote access security controls installed, with two-factor authentication as a minimum. This isn’t an unreasonable request by any means, if businesses have the resources for staff in the office then they should be able to provide the same resources outside of the office. Certainly, if they’re expressing concerns over the risks of staff working from their personal devices then they need to be offering an alternative.

For businesses that have gone to the effort of providing business devices for their staff, they should go a step further and install a Remote Access VPN to ensure secure access to the company network. If installed correctly, it will make the remote working environment just as safe as the office.

As these measures are both effective and attainable, it makes it easy to spot when potential foul-play is occurring. For example, if a company is encouraging employees to use cloud-based software but then asking staff to resume full-time office work using the same software it would suggest their concerns go beyond cybersecurity as cloud-based technology poses the same risks regardless of where staff are working from.

Recognising Potential Coercion Attempts

The point of this discussion is not to invalidate the cybersecurity concerns of employers. The rise in cybersecurity attacks and threats are real, and it is of the utmost importance that businesses are vigilant, skeptical and take immediate action. However, unless a business is taking every precaution possible to ensure safe remote working for their workforce then they shouldn’t be telling happy and healthy remote workers to come into the office solely over cybersecurity concerns.

If employees’ mental and physical welfare is better when they have the ability to work from home then it is unfair to use cybersecurity as a scapegoat for a full return to the office, and if that’s what a business is doing then there is likely an alterer motive at play.

MANCHESTER, UK, 22^nd July 2021 – Nearly one in four IT decision-makers at large organisations (24%) rank ‘staff consumed by administrative tasks’ among the biggest challenges they face in managing their human capital management (HCM)/ enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems today, with one in five (20%) citing ‘lack of skilled support and resources’ and 19% highlighting a ‘lack of workforce/performance management technology’.

These were among the headline findings of new research commissioned by ERP, HCM and outsourced payroll services provider, Symatrix, polling the opinions of IT decision-makers in a range of organisations with more than 1,000 employees.

The problems extend to ‘evolving existing systems or implementing new ones’ with 42% of IT decision-makers referencing ‘lack of in-house skills’ among the main issues faced in implementing HCM/ERP systems in the cloud, well ahead of every option apart from ‘difficulties integrating systems’ (also 42%).

Charles Courquin, director, Symatrix said: “Firms are clearly struggling to manage HCM and ERP systems with the in-house skills that they have in place today. There is a push to the cloud to drive efficiencies.

“34% of respondents see a reduction in administration costs among the main benefits they expect to achieve from having their HCM/ERP systems in the cloud,” added Courquin, “but again in-house resources are an issue when it comes to implementing and running these systems. That’s where outsourcing the work and investing in managed services solutions can be such a benefit.”

‘Improved employee experience’, referenced by 23% of respondents, and improvements in employee engagement (19%) were seen as among the biggest benefits that respondents had struggled to achieve when investing in ERP/HCM in the past. Moreover, 36% ranked ‘improvements in employee engagement’ amongst the ways they measure the value of their investment in HCM/ERP systems today, and 32% said they expected ‘improved employee experience’ to be one of  the most influential driver(s) behind their HCM / ERP strategy post-pandemic.

About Symatrix

Founded in 2000 with the specific focus of providing services and expertise to organisations looking to implement and leverage Oracle HCM Symatrix has come a long way since then. Today, it provides end to end managed services for HCM and ERP on premise or in the Cloud.

More specifically, Symatrix delivers operational services, consultancy, training and ongoing support for Oracle HCM Cloud and Oracle’s E-Business Suite and for the Salesforce HR and payroll solution, XCD.

Symatrix is an Oracle ISO27001 and BACS-accredited managed services provider and the only company to provide a fully managed payroll on the Oracle Cloud solution and also on Salesforce. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.symatrix.com.

By Sam Nussey

TOKYO (Reuters) -When SoftBank Group Corp’s CEO Masayoshi Son unveiled the wide-eyed android Pepper in 2014, he painted a vision, once confined to science fiction, of a new era of personal robots in which his company would be the industry leader.

That vision, and the company’s expectations of demand for Pepper, proved overly optimistic, two sources familiar with the matter said. Seven years later, Pepper is clinging to life, with production shuttered and units cobbled together with out-of-date components.

SoftBank will end sales of new Pepper units in 2023 at the latest as those parts become obsolete, according to the minutes of an internal meeting held in Paris in late May and reviewed by Reuters. Sales of refurbished units will continue after this point, management told staff.

The company disputed the meeting minutes, and Kazutaka Hasumi, chief marketing officer of SoftBank Robotics, told Reuters the company is committed to ensuring Pepper survives in some form, perhaps with a new design.

“We will still be selling Pepper in five years,” Hasumi said.

The humanoid was custom designed for SoftBank by Aldebaran, a French robotics startup it acquired in 2012. Son hoped Pepper would transform robots from a factory tool into an everyday companion, just as computers had moved from offices into homes and pockets.

But Pepper’s appeal was limited by its basic functionality: it can make rudimentary conversation, engage in simple interactions through its chest-mounted tablet and sing while gesturing. It would frequently break down, the two sources said.

“Pepper wasn’t upgraded to take on real tasks. There was very little Pepper could do that you can’t do with an iPad,” said Morten Paulsen, head of Japan research at CLSA.

Retailing for 198,000 yen ($1,800) plus a 14,800 yen monthly fee, Pepper was out of reach for most households, and SoftBank was quickly forced to focus on businesses. Pepper was met with some early enthusiasm in that sector; shops and restaurants offered a more predictable environment where the robot could be programmed for tasks such as greeting customers.

But poor relations between Tokyo and Paris hurt Pepper’s development, according to the sources familiar with the matter, and two others. All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not permitted to speak to the media.

SoftBank propped up Pepper’s sales in the early days deploying units in its mobile phone stores said two of the sources. 27,000 units were eventually produced, one of the two sources familiar with the matter said.

Now, sales of Pepper have slumped to less than 100 units in some months, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

Production at a Foxconn factory in China was stopped last year as the number of unsold units mounted and the line has since been shut down, the documents show.

SoftBank has fewer than 2,000 Pepper units left, according to the documents. The heavy batteries that power the robot are decaying and the chest-mounted tablets run on an out-of-date Android operating system without the latest security updates, one of the sources said.

ELECTRIC DREAMS

Son, a self described “big talker”, has a track record of achieving the unlikely, breaking up Japan’s telecoms duopoly and securing $60 billion in Middle Eastern oil money for his Vision Fund.

The billionaire also has an eye for hits, famously bringing Apple’s first iPhone to the Japanese market. But when his company launched Pepper, it had little experience designing and building products – let alone androids.

And the expected market never materialised. Even as Pepper helped spread SoftBank’s name around the world, some customers were returning it when lease periods ended.

Two years ago SoftBank made a major attempt to reboot its robotics business with the launch of Whiz, an automated vacuum cleaner.

Sales staff struggled to persuade customers to pay $500 monthly for a product that could only clean open spaces and would break down, two other sources said.

Demand for Whiz has been boosted by the pandemic, with orders for 8,000 units in the April-June quarter, said Kenichi Yoshida, chief business officer at SoftBank Robotics.

SoftBank has considered other robot products, including one that makes ramen, the two sources said. It sells a food service robot, Servi, developed by California-based Bear Robotics, that can carry food to diners.

PURE INVESTING

The underperformance at SoftBank Robotics came to a head last year as the downturn forced Son to change strategy, selling assets to stabilise the group’s balance sheet and pushing portfolio companies to prioritise cash generation.

SoftBank Robotics embarked on a global restructuring, reported by Reuters last month, that includes plans to cut half of its Paris-based workforce.

The business is nearing profitability and listing is a possibility, Yoshida said.

The conglomerate has been shifting to pure investing through its Vision Fund and has sold down majority stakes in firms like Boston Dynamics. It continues to take smaller stakes in robotics related businesses.

SoftBank has struck sales deals with partners such as Iris Ohyama in Japan and RobotLAB in the U.S. There is a niche market for selling Pepper to corporate clients and in education, Elad Inbar, CEO of RobotLAB, said in an interview.

“Our job in this ecosystem is to show that there is market demand,” he said.

($1 = 109.7900 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

By Jarosław Porwoł, Lead Software Engineer at Future Processing

Selecting the best software architecture for your organisation can be a challenge. Thorough planning needs to take place when choosing the right architecture, plus a number of factors need to be considered to ensure the project will be a long-term success. This includes cost, time to market, the number of users, and time allowed for system unavailability. Many companies that have developed a system without any architecture pattern in place, can often find themselves in difficulty with multiple issues across the whole software network.

Jarosław Porwoł, Lead Software Engineer, Future Processing

The choice of software architecture will depend on the business in question, with a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration. These architectural patterns are vital as they are examples of the proven solutions that have been built and tested in software design, and can be applied to other businesses to drive success. The first step in choosing the right software architecture involves understanding the different patterns available, their benefits and types of applications that they are best suited to. 

Introducing software architecture patterns

• Layered Architecture

One of the most popular models deployed is layered architecture. With interconnected layers, software modules can be evolved and developed separately around the database for improved performance and flexibility. The code is arranged to enable the data to enter the top layer and works its way down each layer until it reaches the bottom, which is usually a database. Along the way, each layer has a specific task such as checking for data consistency or reformatting the values.

The advantage of layered architecture is the separation of concerns, which means that each layer can focus solely on its role. This ensures that the software is maintainable, testable, easy to assign and it’s quick to update or enhance the layers separately. What’s more, this architecture will have isolated layers that aren’t affected by certain changes in other layers, allowing for easier refactoring. Layered architecture is ideal for new applications that need to be built quickly or mirror traditional IT departments and processes, as well as for applications requiring strict maintainability and testability standards. 

• Event-driven architecture

Alternatively, event-driven architecture helps build a central unit that accepts all of the data before assigning it into separate modules that handle different types. This process will generate an “event” and it is delegated to the code assigned to that type. With this architecture, the browser orchestrates all of the input and ensures that only the right code sees the correct events, contrasting the layered architecture where all data will pass through all layers. 

Not only will event-driven architecture improve response time of an application, it is also easily adaptable to complex environments with real-time updates, leading to better business outcomes. In addition, companies can simply scale or extend the architecture when new event types appear. Typically, event-driven architecture is best suited for asynchronous systems with asynchronous data flow, user interfaces or applications where individual data blocks interact with only a few of many modules. 

• Space-based architecture

In many organisations, applications are built around a database and they function successfully as long as the database is able to keep up with the load. But as usage peaks and the database is unable to keep up with the constant challenge of the transactions, the application will ultimately fail. Space-based architecture is designed to help businesses avoid functional collapse under high traffic by splitting the process and storage between multiple servers. 

In this case, the data is spread across the architecture making jobs much faster with simplified tasks. This software architecture is perfect for high-volume data, low-value data that can be lost occasionally without drastic consequences or social networks. It’s important for organisations to consider that with space-based architecture generating enough load to fully test the system can be challenging, but the individual nodes can be tested individually. 

• Microservices architecture

Microservices architecture is a distinctive method of developing software systems that focuses on building single-function modules with well-defined interfaces and operations. This type of architecture has grown in popularity in recent years, as businesses look to become more agile and move towards adopting DevOps. For organisations, microservices eliminate the risk of vendor lock-in and provide the flexibility to try out new technology stacks. Ideal for smaller and faster deployments, this architecture creates opportunities to scale applications to create cost savings. 

Driving long term benefits 

Once the business has established an understanding of the different software architectures available, they need to clarify why it’s important to choose the right pattern. This can be answered from two key perspectives: the engineer and the client. Today, most engineers are familiar with common architectural patterns and will be able to help navigate the project structure, getting up to speed quickly with new features without any challenges. Furthermore, as new features are added to the architecture, they need to be able to easily identify which areas need to be modified and work together to make any amendments.

However, for clients, they need to be able to make sure that the engineering team that they have deployed are able to build their applications with their best interests in mind. Software architecture patterns allow for higher levels of quality to be achieved while still maintaining efficiency. Additionally, when a project is launched and new features are required, the client can be sure that this process will be as seamless as possible, as well-architected software can be modified much easier than software with poor architecture.

No one-size-fits-all approach

Selecting the right software architecture for the business is crucial for the long term success of the application. The architecture defines the model of the software, how it will function and defines the problems that the developers might encounter when it comes to implementation. Ultimately, it makes it much easier to make decisions and manage change, as well as better estimating the time and cost of the project. Whilst there is no-one-size-fits-all approach to software architecture, organisations can consider the strengths, weaknesses and successful use-cases, before making the decision that is best suited to them.

Study calculates total projected benefits of up to $1.7 million  

Bangalore, July 1, 2021 – Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today announced a new study revealing that its hybrid cloud security services can save thousands of person-hours per year on security administration.  Forrester Consulting surveyed and interviewed 97 Trend Micro Cloud One customers and drew the conclusion that the services can enhance developer value and save costs on breach risks, threat detection and response and legacy tooling. 

The Forrester study found that many organizations set-up up new cloud accounts and instances without protection or utilize either legacy on-premises solutions or platform-native services. This leads to gaps in protection, low visibility, too much manual work and inconsistent policy application across cloud environments. 

The Forrester study noted that the Trend Micro Cloud One platform enables customers to simplify their cloud security environments, and even accelerate their overall cloud migration. The study noted that “Trend Micro Cloud One enabled customers to reduce their risk of a security breach, view all cloud assets and threats from a single pane of glass, automate posture management and threat detection and response, and consistently apply the appropriate policies regardless of platform or cloud service provider.” 

“Digital transformation is at the top of the to-do list for today’s global organizations, as they look to support distributed working and drive post-pandemic agility and growth with cloud adoption. But emerging security gaps can undermine all this good work,” said Vijendra Katiyar, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro. “We’re proud to offer a leading cloud security solution on which customers can consolidate, simplify and drive-up protection whilst lowering costs and cyber-risk.”

It quantified the main projected benefits of Trend Micro Cloud One as follows: 

• Annual time saved on security administration of between 2,100 and 6,200 hours thanks to automation and posture management visibility. 
• Reduced cost of threat detection and response of between 19% and 27% by reducing false positives and automating investigation and response. 
• Added value to development of between 8% and 16% by reducing the time developers spent on security work and accelerating time-to-value of development work. 
• Reduced cost of ownership of legacy security tools between 8% and 26% by minimizing direct spend and outlays on servicing these tools. 
• Cost savings from reduced risk of a breach between 6% and 16%, thanks to improved security and employee productivity otherwise lost to breach downtime.

Over a three-year period, Forrester projected ROI for Trend Micro Cloud One of 12-188%, net present value (NPV) of $73K-$1.1 million and total projected benefits of $664K-$1.7 million. 

Trend Micro is continually innovating to deliver simple, robust, and industry leading protection for customers at any point of their digital transformation through its cybersecurity platform. An important part of this security ecosystem is Trend Micro Cloud One with services designed for applications, network, workloads, file storage, containers, open source and cloud security posture management across cloud and datacenter environments. This empowers consumers to confidently invest and grow their cloud adoption without sacrificing their security. 

Access a full copy of the Forrester study commissioned by Trend Micro, New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ Of Trend Micro Cloud One™ Security Services Platform here: https://resources.trendmicro.com/AMEA-TEI-Cloud-One-Study.html

Research Methodology 

Forrester aggregated the experiences of 97 interviewed and surveyed current customers of Trend Micro Cloud One and combined the results into a single composite organization for the purpose of this study. A three-year projected financial analysis was calculated for this global, business-to-consumer composite organization, which generates $2.4 billion in revenues annually, employs 5,000 people and is undergoing a three-year digital transformation program. 

About Trend Micro 

Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro’s cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.TrendMicro.com. 

PUSH launches first ever app, targeting businesses and employees that are most in need of professional and personal support, following the pandemic

Not just another office tool, it brings the human element into our new way of working, allowing us to think, feel and do better

Following the launch of ‘The Human Element Report’, which outlines the nation’s views on the return to work, PUSH has released its first ever B2B app: an easy-to-use platform that allows businesses and their employees access to an ‘always on’ wellbeing and positive performance companion.

Created in direct response to research that suggests personal wellbeing scores for life satisfaction are currently the lowest ever recorded (ONS) and the cost of poor mental health on employers is rising (Deloitte), the new app takes positive mental health as the absolute baseline and works from there to improve clarity, self-appreciation, motivation and more. Not only will it support teams to work brilliantly – wherever they may be – but it will also endeavour to improve the collective and
individual mindset, whilst aligning positive behaviours for the future.

Personalising content based on how you're feeling, PUSH in Your Pocket is divided into four sections to support every aspect of physical and mental wellbeing:

• Grow – learn tips, tools and hacks to help us live and work better
• Be – encouragement to find self-acceptance and tackle whatever life throws at us
• Move – taking proper care of our body, living a more balanced life both physically and mentally
• Connect – with friends and colleagues wherever we are, maintaining culture even when we
  can’t be together

Cate Murden, founder of PUSH and creator of PUSH in Your Pocket, comments: “We’ve been talking to our clients and coaches since the beginning of the pandemic and boy is there a lot going on! Our coaches could see first-hand what people were going through, and our clients felt that their teams needed different tools and frameworks to manage these unique times.

The world is different now, so it’s obvious we need new support, skills, behaviours and beliefs to work within it. Crucially, it’s not just about doing what we did before! And that’s what PUSH in Your Pocket will help with!”

Available to download now for a free demo, the app comes with a number of unique features and abilities to help across the board.

For employers:
– A quick understanding of how the team is feeling, no matter where they physically are
– Upskilling the team to work brilliantly now, as we continue on this hybrid journey
– Key data and insight to help evidence and make future people decisions

– Easy and safe integration into company EAP and internal programmes

For employees:
– Providing support to team members who need it most
– Help teams feel connected, even when apart
– Bi-weekly updated content from PUSH coaches, including yoga practices, breathing exercises, recipes and motivational hacks

– Personalised content based on mood and other factors

So why, when Cate originally said this is not a project she would ever embark on, does she now believe this is the resource we all need to move forward? “At PUSH we believe in live human interaction, but thanks to the global pandemic, this is now not always possible. So, the real concern moving forward is, how do we prepare people for the future, if we are holding onto old tools and mindsets? This app will build resilience and genuinely help people thrive. It improves how YOUR people think, feel and do, as well as futureproofing should something like this ever happen again.”

Companies looking for an even more tailored approach can opt for the Enterprise version, which allows for the integration of brand processes, additional data tracking and reporting as well as tailored company features and functionality.

Four councils (12%) confirmed they have been impacted by ransomware but did not pay the demand, with 42% taking preventative measures to counter the growing threat

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request by ProLion has revealed that nearly half of London’s borough councils (42%) have taken preventative action to counter ransomware, with four (12%) confirming they had been either impacted, or targeted by ransomware, but did not pay a demand.

The remaining 19 (58%) refused to confirm if they had been impacted by ransomware or have taken measures to counter attacks, citing Section 31 as a qualified exemption that ‘could prejudice the prevention, or detection of crime’.

Steve Arlin, VP Sales, UK, Americas & APAC, ProLion, stated: “With the problem of ransomware on the rise, it’s good to see almost half of London’s borough councils have taken preventative action. With four of boroughs confirming they have already been impacted by an attack, we would advise the other 58% to follow suit as a matter of urgency.

“The fact that 58% of the councils refused to answer if they had been affected by ransomware suggests they may have been victims of ransomware but do not want to publicly state this for fear of another attack. Organisations of all sizes and sectors are viable targets for opportunistic cybercriminals but the public sector is likely to hold more sensitive data, including Council Tax, medical records, and other financial records. This may explain why they are a preferred target and more likely to pay any ransom demands.”

The research also discovered the top preventative measures councils are implementing to counter future ransomware attacks, include antivirus solutions, multi-factor identification (MFA), web filtering, email scanning, firewalls, red team testing and cybersecurity training programs for all staff.

Arlin added: “It’s incredibly positive that a number of councils confirmed the measures they are taking to prevent ransomware, such as implementing cybersecurity training programs to all staff. However, despite authorities doing as we suggest by adopting a layered approach, there is no mention of any dedicated protection for file sharing, and many seem to be relying on basic endpoint protections, firewalls, and backups. This means that if something does get through their defences, there is no next step protection.

“Additionally, these measures don’t protect against insider threats, so with the increase in remote working and staff using their personal devices, the chances of being compromised are now even higher, as many employees don’t even know they’ve been hacked. There is a real need to have more rigorous IT policies around who can access, edit, copy and delete data, by having effective transparency tools and file share protections in place.”

Arlin concluded: “We would advise any organisation to make sure they are using the latest file protection solutions, as these can automatically block known ransomware signatures and files that have not been approved, while simultaneously monitoring users for any unusual behaviour. This is a vital final layer of cyber defence if all other security solutions fail.”