February 04, 2016

World Quality Report 2015-2016

Based on analysis of five respondent groups: CIO, VP Application, IT Director, QA/Testing Manager and CDO/CMO, the report surveyed respondents from across the globe through quantitative interviews followed by qualitative deep-dive discussions. Key findings from this year’s report: The impact of IT quality on the end-user experience is a driving force for today’s digital transformation initiatives; QA and Testing budgets have increased 9% year-on-year; Enterprises are widely embracing agile and Development and Operations (DevOps) methodology; Shorter program and application lifecycles are creating increased demand for testing hardware and infrastructure.


The first Ubuntu tablet is a desktop too

Behind the scenes, Ubuntu's convergence is designed to help the ecosystem to grow. There's no point buying into a new ecosystem if there aren't any apps, but equally there's no incentive for developers to make those apps if nobody's buying the phones. This is a real hassle as developers have to build different versions of their apps for the iPhone, iPad and iMac or for different Android devices, but less of a problem for Ubuntu when they only need to build one app and it will work on any Ubuntu phone, tablet or computer. The M10 tablet has a 10.1-inch high-definition display. The screen is protected by Asahi Dragontrail glass, a rival to the tough Gorilla Glass used for the displays of devices including Samsung and HTC smartphones. It's 8.2mm thick and weighs 470 grams (16.6 ounces), feeling lightweight and easy to handle.


Best Agile Method For Your Team: Scrum Vs. Kanban

One of the key differences between scrum and kanban is that kanban places the project and its needs at the heart of the process. In scrum, the sprint and its time box is at the core. Kanban radically changes the way that projects are managed within the non-project environment of the organization, while scrum is more appropriate for organizations in which development is constant rather than episodic. So which is right for your team or company? It really depends on what problem you're trying to solve. Kanban is more linear; scrums are intensely multi-threaded. Kanban looks at agile from the project perspective. Scrum assumes that work on products and systems never ends.


Collaborative Overload

Any effort to increase your organization’s collaborative efficiency should start with an understanding of the existing supply and demand. Employee surveys, electronic communications tracking, and internal systems such as 360-degree feedback and CRM programs can provide valuable data on the volume, type, origin, and destination of requests, as can more in-depth network analyses and tools. For example, Do.com monitors calendars and provides daily and weekly reports to both individual employees and managers about time spent in meetings versus on solo work. The idea is to identify the people most at risk for collaborative overload.


Cybercrime Costs More Than You Think

Cybercrime has become big business. Instances of cybercrime cost the global economy about $450 billion annually. Beyond the monetary damages associated with the crime itself, an instance of cybercrime can severely damage a company's reputation, indirectly affecting the bottom line for years to come. In this paper, we explain how companies can mitigate the reputational risk associated with a cybercrime through internal and external communications practices. Our findings include: The median cost of cybercrime has increased by nearly 200 percent in the last five years and is likely to continue growing; The reputational risk associated with cybercrime extends well beyond monetary damages; and Having a plan in place for how to respond to a cyberattack could save millions.


Hackers claim to have hijacked NASA's Global Hawk drone; NASA says not true

The drone takeover allegedly occurred on April 9, 2015. The zine states, “After countless months of successfully retrieving NASA drone logs automatically, we noticed some weird traffic;” a single .gpx file was pushed out to Global Hawk each time it returned to base, indicating it had a “pre-planned route option” sent over WLAN. The group decided to do something “sinister,” using a man-in-the-middle attack to upload its own custom. gpx file to control the drone and “to crash the Global Hawk into the Pacific Ocean.” ... Shortly after the drone left its predetermined flight plan, NASA noticed and took manual control of the drone.


4 Things Employees Hate About IT (And How To Fix Them)

Chapleau's team used its PÜLS software, ... to find out what their biggest IT complaints were, and how businesses could address them to derive more value. The results were published in Green Elephant's IT User Satisfaction Annual Report. It turns out, getting back to basics is the key. ... "What we wanted to do was emphasize that, to bring greater business value from IT, you have to take user satisfaction and your users' needs into consideration, first and foremost. It's about trust and being able to meet basic user needs; if your users' basic needs aren't being met, they won't trust you to introduce new, cutting-edge and innovative technology, and they won't use it," Chapleau says. Here are the top four things users hate about IT, and how to fix them.


How AI and automation could hollow out the US job market

The argument that automation will worsen inequality is sometimes rejected on the grounds that business owners won't act against their own interests. The reasoning goes that if business owners impoverish their workers they undermine those workers' ability to buy goods and services from that business. However, Kopczuk says this argument is undercut by there being no simple mechanism for employers to collude to keep workers employed and well-paid in this way. "It's a very old argument. I think I would associate it with Henry Ford, 100 years ago. You pay your workers so that they can afford to buy your cars."


Cloud security culture a building block for today's businesses

"An analogy you might think of is a neighborhood block watch," Reavis said. "If you have everybody aware what's going on in the neighborhood, it can be a real strength and really augment the overall security posture of an organization." Lillie has a multilayered approach for cultivating a security culture. Part of it involves a "fleet of tools" --cloud access security brokers, software that protects cloud services; identity management tools; mobile device management; and laptop system protection, to name a few. But just as important as technology is bringing on security team leaders who can communicate the value of crafting and executing a security strategy, and can build relationships across the teams they're going to work with -- from applications to infrastructure to business departments.


CIO interview: Fergus Boyd, vice-president for digital, Yotel

Despite having several partners that help deliver the IT that underpins its operations, the global team delivering the technology and digital initiatives is composed of only four people, while the flagship New York hotel has its own team. The department will grow this year to aid work going into the new hotel openings. Boyd says the main challenge he faces as a leader in a fast-changing and highly competitive sector is to manage tight budgets, as well as retaining talent and developing good in-house expertise. “We have a very aggressive growth plan for the company, so keeping up with that and the pace of change of new technology will be key to success,” he says.



Quote for the day:


"The thing that makes you say, 'I want to do something' -- that is the beginning of talent." -- Stella Adler


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