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☆ Rush to Use Generative AI Pushes Companies to Get Data in Order
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/rush-to-use-generative-ai-pushes-companies-to-get-data-in-order-c34a7e13

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Google DeepMind Unveils AI System to Discover Faster Algorithms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-deepmind-unveils-ai-system-to-discover-faster-algorithms-90f7e242

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Generative AI Pilots Have Companies Reaching for the Guardrails
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/generative-ai-pilots-have-companies-reaching-for-the-guardrails-4326704c

☆ Software Misuse Costs Nutanix $11 Million After Internal Investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/software-misuse-costs-nutanix-11-million-after-internal-investigation-610f951

☆ Businesses Seek Out ChatGPT-Tech for Searching and Analyzing Their Own Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the recent Google I/O keynote session. Photo: josh edelson/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe hope that searching workplace documents could match the ease and efficiency of a consumer search engine has been largely unrealized. But now generative artificial intelligence may offer potential to help businesses do just that. So far, companies “have been unable to find and [deliver] an enterprise search that came even within an order of magnitude as good as Google search is outside,” said Brian McClendon, senior vice president of engineering at software development and gaming company Niantic.

☆ Slack’s New CEO Brings Generative AI to the Workplace Conversation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Slack CEO Lidiane Jones spoke at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival in New York on Wednesday. Photo: Bryan Bedder for The Wall Street JournalLidiane Jones, the new chief executive of Slack, is betting that the future of the messaging app—purchased by software giant Salesforce for $27.7 billion about two years ago—will rest on the combination of their technologies using generative artificial intelligence. Corporate technology leaders have questioned whether the addition of Slack’s collaboration and communications features makes Salesforce’s flagship customer-relationship-management software that much more useful. But the rise of generative AI, the technology behind ChatGPT, has prompted some to reassess the value of combining the two platforms.

☆ Ballooning Software Prices Complicate Tech Spending
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Last year, Microsoft raised prices from 8% to 25%, depending on the software and subscription type, for some of its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 business software. Photo: lucy nicholson/ReutersBusiness software price hikes are outpacing the rate of inflation, according to corporate technology chiefs who say they’ve been charged increases of 20% or more for certain cloud-based software than in previous years. Amid pressure to cut costs in a sluggish economy, more IT leaders are rethinking vendor relationships. Thomas Phelps , chief information officer of Long Beach, Calif.-based software firm Laserfiche and executive chair of the nonprofit IT executive leadership group Innovate@UCLA, said some cybersecurity vendors have asked for a 30% increase to renew a three-year software contract.

☆ Ballooning Software Prices Complicate Tech-Spending Calculus for CIOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Coding Tools for Novice Programmers and Business Users Get ChatGPT Tech Boost
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Since implementing new AI-based features in preview last October, users of Power Automate, part of Microsoft’s low-code Power Platform, have reduced the time it takes to build a workflow by 50%, according to the company. Photo: Microsoft Corp.Companies that offer low-code and no-code platforms—tools once billed as disruptive due to their ability to make software and application development accessible to anyone without coding experience—are preparing to be disrupted. As artificial-intelligence-based technologies like the viral chatbot ChatGPT become more prominent, low-code tool providers such as OutSystems Inc. are racing to add AI to stay ahead of the competition—and potential future irrelevance. Many are aiming to keep pace with Microsoft Corp., which last month said its low-code product, Power Platform, is being further augmented with generative AI capabilities.

☆ Uniqlo’s Parent Company Bets Big on Tiny RFID Chips
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Uniqlo’s store on Fifth Avenue in New York. The retailer said RFID has resulted in ‘significant reduction in out-of-stock’ items on the sales floor. At Uniqlo’s Fifth Avenue store in New York, shoppers can checkout simply by placing their goods in gleaming bins of automated stations. This next-generation process is powered by radio frequency identification readers inside the checkout machines, which automatically read hidden RFID chips embedded in price tags. It is the strategy of Takahiro Tambara , chief information officer of Japan-based Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing Co., Asia’s top clothing retailer.

☆ Accenture to Cut 19,000 Jobs as IT Spending Slows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Belle Lin | Will Feuer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Accenture PLC is cutting about 19,000 jobs, or 2.5% of its workforce, over the next 18 months as the professional-services company looks to slash costs and streamline operations, amid slowing IT spending. The company said it expects its business-optimization plan to cost about $1.5 billion, mostly from employee severance during the remainder of the current fiscal year and fiscal 2024.

☆ Generative AI Makes Headway in Healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center plans to roll out a generative artificial intelligence-based tool from Abridge AI that helps doctors cut down on the amount of time they spend on notes. Startups offering the same kind of artificial intelligence behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT are making inroads into hospitals and drug companies even as questions remain over the technology’s accuracy. Healthcare startups such as Pittsburgh-based Abridge AI Inc., whose product helps doctors write notes after seeing their patients, and San Francisco-based Syntegra Inc., which uses generative AI to create realistic copies of patient data for research, say they have applied generative artificial intelligence for the safest and most accurate current uses in healthcare.

☆ CIOs Build New Bonds With CISOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

As cybersecurity attacks directed at enterprises continue to evolve, some corporate technology leaders are elevating the roles of their chief information security officers and stressing the importance of directly communicating to their boards of directors how cybersecurity risk can impact their business. “I was trying to think, how do we get cybersecurity at the head of the train,” said Wendy Pfeiffer , chief information officer of cloud-software firm Nutanix Inc. She and other technology leaders spoke Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Network Summit in Palo Alto, Calif.

☆ Technology Chiefs Seek Help Wrangling Cloud Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Some chief information officers have turned to cloud management tools and established internal teams to oversee their cloud spending. Mr. Nimboorkar said the company has since built a dedicated team to manage its Amazon Web Services spending and invested in a third-party cloud spending management tool. Executives from all three cloud giants have said customers are optimizing or reining in their cloud spending, citing economic factors. Many of the best practices in cloud spending management have been codified by the nonprofit FinOps Foundation, which promotes cloud financial literacy and accountability, she said. That model allows Mr. Kanchi to wholly manage cloud spending, he said, but was only possible after UST figured out how to tag cloud usage by its various business units.

☆ Generative AI Helping Boost Productivity of Some Software Developers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

The technology, known as generative AI, has been pioneered by OpenAI, the lab behind the ChatGPT writing system and the Dall-E visual illustration generator. Copilot, as well as other tools from Amazon.com Inc., International Business Machines Corp. , and startups like Tabnine Inc. and Magic AI Inc., have quickly found a receptive audience among developers seeking a productivity boost. The AI model behind Copilot is trained on data from GitHub, which houses a popular open-source community where developers contribute and share code. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. And, with a tightening economy in mind, Hyland Software is holding back on spending for any new tools or technologies.

☆ Uber Signs Cloud Deals With Google and Oracle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Over 95% of Uber’s IT is currently housed in those data centers, he said. Uber declined to comment on how it plans to spread its data and applications between Google and Oracle’s cloud platforms. While Uber and Google have an existing partnership, the new cloud deal brings them closer together in other areas including launching new services, said Google Cloud Chief Executive Thomas Kurian. With Oracle, Uber is planning to integrate its freight business into Oracle’s cloud-based enterprise resource planning system, as well as other database-related projects, said Oracle Cloud Executive Vice President Clay Magouyrk. Mr. Zargahi said Uber eventually expects the cloud to cost less than its data centers, and will not renew certain data center leases as it moves to the cloud.

☆ Uber, Spurred by Hardware Supply Disruptions, Moves to Multiple Cloud Providers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Over 95% of Uber’s IT is currently housed in those data centers, he said. Uber declined to comment on how it plans to spread its data and applications between Google and Oracle’s cloud platforms. PREVIEWA tipping point came during the Covid-19 pandemic, when supply-chain disruptions pushed IT hardware delivery timelines to more than 12 months, according to Mr. Zargahi. Mr. Zargahi said Uber eventually expects the cloud to cost less than its data centers, and won’t renew certain data center leases as it moves to the cloud. With Oracle, Uber also is planning to integrate its freight business into Oracle’s cloud-based enterprise resource planning system, as well as other database-related projects, said Oracle Cloud Executive Vice President Clay Magouyrk.

☆ Security Gets Blended With Corporate Networks in New Cloud Platforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

As everything moves to the cloud, a new generation of cybersecurity platforms has emerged, combining corporate networks with security tools such as malware protection into a single system that tech leaders can manage centrally. Older technology can be upgraded to lay the groundwork for implementing a new platform, Mr. Franch said, but it needs to happen without disrupting the existing corporate network. PREVIEWAt Carriage Services, Mr. Franch wants to undertake a network modernization similar to one he oversaw as chief technology officer of commercial real-estate services company Cushman & Wakefield. Modernization tends to reduce complexity and increase visibility of what’s on the network, which can benefit security, according to Mr. Franch. Goya Foods Inc. CIO Suvajit Basu said the Jersey City, N.J.-based company uses cybersecurity services from about seven vendors and a total of about 12 cybersecurity tools, many purchased and implemented over time.

☆ IT Job Market Shrinks for First Time in Over Two Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The job market for information-technology professionals shrank in January for the first time in over two years, a sign that IT staffers are facing the same scrutiny as workers in other positions and sectors as companies slow spending. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. The McLean, Va.-based bank said those roles would be absorbed by its existing engineering teams and product managers. Still, employment in the overall technology sector hasn’t wavered, according to IT trade group CompTIA. “Not only do we need to provide capabilities to propel the business forward, but we need the best engineering tools, modern architectures and people in the right roles to respond to changing market conditions,” Ms. Caldas said.

☆ Cyber Startup Snyk Raises $25 Million From ServiceNow
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Cybersecurity company Snyk Ltd. announced on Tuesday a $25 million investment from enterprise software maker ServiceNow Inc. The Boston-based startup also announced an integration with ServiceNow that aims to provide cybersecurity and information-technology executives a view of potential security vulnerabilities originating from open-source code. “Security is a team issue that requires developers, security and IT professionals to work together,” Mr. Bedi said. “Vendors are starting to talk with each other more often and being able to exchange data,” Mr. Horvath said. The eight-year-old startup cut 14% of its workforce last year and now has over 1,000 employees, according to Mr. McKay.

☆ Capital One Job Cuts Signal Trouble for IT Labor Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Technology sector employment overall has remained stable, but job postings for future tech hiring have declined for the second consecutive month, according to IT trade group CompTIA. Companies across industries hired 137,000 tech workers in December, compared with 130,000 the month prior, CompTIA estimates based on an analysis of U.S. Labor Department data. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CIO Journal The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. News of the job cuts was reported earlier by Bloomberg. Some employers might be shedding the additional technology workers they hired to ramp up remote-work capabilities during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution.

☆ Guitar Center Details Cloud Move
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Guitar Center Chief Technology Officer Ravi Balwada Photo: Guitar Center Inc. Such downtimes can result in losses of more than $5 million for retailers like Guitar Center, Mr. Balwada said. Guitar Center had filed for bankruptcy in November 2020, citing Covid-19-related store closures and looming debt maturity, and emerged from bankruptcy in December of that year. Guitar Center has also reduced its cost per transaction by about 1.5% and increased its online shopping conversion rates by an estimated 1.6%, Mr. Balwada said. PREVIEWMr. Balwada said he aims to more fully integrate Guitar Center’s offerings so that customers are interacting with a single, common platform that is built on Oracle’s cloud.

☆ Startups Want to Help Airlines Prevent Tech Meltdowns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Airlines should take advantage of new cloud-based tools, industry consultants said, to help prevent the recent snafus brought on by the use of antiquated and siloed technology at Southwest Airlines Co. and the Federal Aviation Administration. Photo: JIM VONDRUSKA/REUTERSSanta Clara, Calif.-based Couchbase Inc., founded in 2011, said it helped United Airlines Holdings Inc. modernize its operations by providing a cloud-based database for its crew-scheduling software. United declined to comment on its operations technology. Airlines generate a massive amount of data every year from their aircraft, passengers, suppliers and internal operations. Gurobi Optimization LLC, a company that develops mathematical-optimization software for industries including aviation, said it provides optimization technology for airlines such as Air France-KLM.

☆ Cloudflare Takes Aim at a Top Security Threat: Your Inbox
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Cloud-infrastructure company Cloudflare Inc. announced Wednesday new email security capabilities aimed at helping businesses defend against phishing, malware and other cyberattacks commonly targeting corporate email accounts. It provides web performance, cybersecurity and other services to millions of customers, of which more than 156,000 pay for its services. Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare Photo: Cloudflare Inc.Chief Executive Matthew Prince said the new security functions are also in response to an increase in ransomware and other sophisticated cyberattacks, some of which are perpetrated by relatively unsophisticated hackers. Prince said, referring to the growth of so-called “ransomware-as-a-service,” where ransomware operators provide malware programs to affiliates to launch attacks. Prince said Cloudflare, which was itself a customer of Area 1 before pursuing an acquisition, has more closely integrated its existing cybersecurity services with Area 1’s email security platform.

☆ Cyber Chiefs Face Scrutiny and Challenges in 2023’s Uncertain Economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( James Rundle | Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

That leaves security teams, in real terms, working with fewer resources, Ms. Huth said. Inflation is pushing wage demands higher and the scarcity of cyber professionals—particularly within highly technical industries such as power—means security staff are in demand, Mr. Bojar said. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Cybersecurity news, analysis and insights from WSJ's global team of reporters and editors. Cyber staffs will need to vet third-party services while installing safeguards against new avenues hackers could exploit, Kohler’s Ms. Huth said. Retail giant Amazon.com Inc. hopes to grow its security team, said Chief Security Officer Stephen Schmidt, despite a company-wide hiring freeze and layoffs for up to 10,000 workers elsewhere in the company.

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