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Tag: Software

  • An Easier Way to Edit PDFs Online for Free

    An Easier Way to Edit PDFs Online for Free

    PDFs can be a pain to edit if you don’t have the right tools. They can be large and cumbersome to work with, which can make editing them a time-consuming task. Fortunately, there’s an easier way to do this—and it’s free! With online PDF editors, you can edit PDFs without having to install any software or use any complicated commands. Here are four of the best online PDF editors that you can use today: 1. Adobe Acrobat Reader, 2. PDF.Live, 3. Apple’s Preview, and 4. Canva

    Adobe Acrobat Reader

    Adobe Reader is a free download that can be used to open, view, and print PDFs. It can also be used to make light edits to PDFs, although this feature is limited compared to other options. Adobe Reader supports document properties such as fonts, colors, and annotations, but it does not support embedded files or forms.

    PDF.Live Cloud-Based Editor

    Another option is PDF.Live, a web-based PDF editing and conversion tool. They offer limited free tasks every day, and then a subscription-based model for regular edits. The advantage of using a tool like PDF.Live is that you don’t need to download and install software. It works across many devices, including Windows PC and Mac.

    Apple Preview to Edit PDFs

    Today’s Apple laptop and desktop computers come with a program called Preview that’s easy for viewing, printing and making edits to PDFs. Preview’s PDF editor is best used for proofreading-type edits, annotations and markups.

    Canva to Create and Edit PDFs

    For creating PDF documents from scratch and then making edits, Canva is a go-to tool for creating logos, business cards, fliers, invitations, ebooks and more. It offers a number of features for free, and then a monthly plan for professionals and teams. They offer special pricing for teachers and schools.

    Editing PDFs on a Mobile Device

    For many people, editing PDFs on their desktop or laptop computers is the preferred way to go. But what about when you’re on the go and want to edit a PDF? Well, there are a few options for you.

    One option is to use a mobile app. There are several available, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some allow you to edit PDFs from your phone or tablet, while others require you to upload the PDF first and then edit it.

    ●  Get Adobe Acrobat Reader from Google Play

    ●  Get PDF Editor for iPad and iPhones

    Another option is to use a website that offers free online editing of PDFs. Many of these websites offer features that paid apps don’t, such as support for drag-and-drop editing and annotation tools. However, some websites have been known to have issues with security and stability, so be sure to read reviews before using them.

    The best option may be somewhere in between these two extremes: a website that allows free online editing but also offers paid subscriptions that give you extra features (like password protection). This type of website, including PDF.Live, will offer the most flexibility and power for editing PDFs, while still being easy enough for anyone to use.

  • 5 SaaS Development Solutions to Improve Your Processes

    5 SaaS Development Solutions to Improve Your Processes

    When it comes to something as inherently fluid as SaaS (software-as-a-service) development, it’s important to acknowledge that you’re talking about designing and coding applications in multiple stages and cycles. For this to be successful, it requires a foundation of processes to be put in place to make the project run efficiently, all while reducing error as much as possible.

    Thankfully, there are a number of solutions that can help make this process far easier to that end. What follows is a list of some of the best SaaS development solutions that will assist software development teams with improving their processes across the board.

    Preview Environments

    One of the key SaaS development solutions that can help improve a team’s processes has to do with preview environments. These are on-demand, cloud-based environments that allow for the testing of new features before they’re merged together into the larger solution.

    They’re designed to be short-lived and used for a single purpose – indeed, they only exist as long as they’re needed to test a new feature, address a bug, and perform similar tasks. Not only can they dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes for troubleshooting, but they also speed up the process of merging new features together as well.

    The Power of Dashboards

    Because of the very nature of SaaS development, it’s always important to maintain a “bird’s eye view” of what is going on. But with so many different people working simultaneously on disparate tasks, doing so via the “old school” method of constant emails and progress meetings can only delay the proceedings, not help speed them up.

    That’s why custom dashboards are so good for this particular use case. Not only can they help you keep track of every task someone is working on, but they can let you see as much as possible at a glance about the project as a whole. You can see if people are on task with the deliverables they’ve been assigned and, if they’re not, you can easily check in to see if any assistance is needed before things get delayed too much.

    Many dashboard solutions also allow you to create your own custom widgets so that you can have the metrics that matter most to you rise to the forefront. You can use pie charts, graphs, and more – all to visualize project data in a way that makes it easy (and instant) to see how far you’ve come and where you still need to go.

    Communication is King

    Another one of the keys to success in terms of SaaS development involves creating an environment where constant communication isn’t just a recommendation, but a requirement. That’s why, especially during an era when more people are working remotely than ever, companies regularly rely on communication tools like Slack to bring everyone together again – albeit virtually.

    A tool like Slack is a great way to constantly check in with one another via live chat. It can also be used as a file sharing solution as well. If you’re looking for robust video conferencing capabilities, you might also explore options like Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx or even the ever-popular Zoom.

    Regardless, making sure that team members have access to the tools needed to communicate goes a long way towards improving collaboration as much as possible. This in and of itself can lead to more efficient processes (and a higher quality of work output) before you know it.

    Embracing Automation

    As is true with most types of software development, there are certain tasks and processes that – while important – can be time-consuming to say the least. There’s where automation via a tool like Quixy will absolutely come in handy.

    Quixy (or any other automation solution) can help streamline processes by automating a lot of those manual tasks that eat up a lot of a developer’s time. This in turn allows them to focus more of their attention on the matters that truly need them. Quixy in particular is also a highly customizable solution that includes advanced features like a rich text editor, e-signature capabilities for when it comes time to sign off on a deliverable, facial recognition, and more.

    Cloud-Based Code Management

    Finally, many SaaS development teams have found success in improving their processes with a tool like Cloud 9. This is a web-based platform that can be used for not only scripting, but also running and debugging code, all via the cloud. This also enables team members to work with Serverless applications, making the transition between local and remote activities as easy as possible. All told, it can be used to create a replica of the entire development environment – thus giving team members more control over what they’re working on and how they’re getting their critical work done every day. 

    In the end, these are just a few of the many SaaS development solutions that teams can use to help improve their processes. Having said that, note that it is entirely possible that not all of them will be equally valuable to all teams. You need to carefully consider not only the needs of the project, but the people who are working on it, when making a selection. Don’t select a SaaS development solution and hope it aligns with your requirements. Start with the requirements themselves and work your way backwards to the solution that checks as many of your critical boxes as possible.

  • LinkedIn Automation Security: Learn How Can It Assist In Enhancing Your Business

    LinkedIn Automation Security: Learn How Can It Assist In Enhancing Your Business

    What Is LinkedIn Automation Security?

    Using LinkedIn automation can be a great way to improve the efficiency of your outreach efforts and get the most out of your account. However, it’s important to use automation with care. Some automated tools can be dangerous. These include spam and scraped data, which could be a legal issue.

    The best way to protect your account is to follow LinkedIn’s guidelines. The company will monitor your usage and may limit your activities. If you fail to comply, your account could be permanently blocked. In addition, LinkedIn’s algorithms are strong and will look for suspicious activity.

    Using an analytics dashboard will help you determine the effectiveness of your outreach methods. You can see how many replies you’ve received, how many campaigns you’ve launched, and how many of your campaigns have been accepted.

    The Importance of LinkedIn Automation Security

    Using automation on LinkedIn is a great way to increase your outreach efforts and convert prospects to leads. It is important to use the right tools though, to make sure you’re doing everything legally and safely. Below are some do’s and don’ts to help you avoid getting banned from the platform.

    ●  LinkedIn has a strict policy against spam. This means that automated tools that scrape or collect data from your contacts can be a legal issue. Also, if you’re sending out all connection requests at the same time, this raises red flags. This can result in your account being blocked or suspended.

    ●  You should use a tool that allows you to set parameters. This will make sure that your account is not spamming. You can also choose a tool that uses a dedicated IP, which makes it harder to be blocked. You can also try to use a cloud-based tool to minimize risks. Some of the more advanced tools allow you to integrate your automation with your LinkedIn account. You can also find tools that offer smart search options.

    ●  LinkedIn uses an algorithm to detect suspicious activities. If you’re found to be spamming, your account can be suspended or blocked. This can damage your online presence and can even lead to jail. If you get banned, you will not be able to use your account again. It’s important to keep in mind that the algorithms are constantly changing, so make sure you use the best tools to ensure you’re keeping up.

    ●  You should always read the terms of service before you use any tool on LinkedIn. There are a lot of different dos and don’ts to follow. You want to be careful when automating your account, but if you’re doing it properly, you should be able to avoid any problems.

    ●  You should only use LinkedIn automation if you’re doing it for professional reasons. For example, if you’re a salesperson, it’s a good idea to use a tool that is specifically designed for salespeople. This will help you to generate leads and build a reputation, without wasting any of your time. It’s also an easy way to increase your presence on the platform.

    The Functions of A LinkedIn Automation Security System

    Having a LinkedIn automation security system in place can be a great way to keep your data safe. There are several ways to do this, including monitoring and controlling your accounts and limiting your use of them.

    Monitor

    To get the most out of your LinkedIn automation best practices you will need to devote some time to planning, implementing, and tracking your efforts. The best way to ensure you achieve your LinkedIn goals is to set up a workflow and tracking system that will allow you to monitor and manage your efforts in real-time.

    Stay Within Usage Limits

    Using automation on LinkedIn can be a good way to maximize your reach, but you need to make sure you stay within usage limits. If you go beyond your limit, you may be blocked from the site. There are some things you can do to help prevent this from happening.

    First, you need to look for a tool that allows you to set your usage limits. This will help you avoid flagging your account, and allow you to measure your success. The next step is to decide whether you want to be public or private when you use the tool.

    You should also keep in mind that your messages should be personalized. This will make them appear more like real conversations. It will help you build rapport with your prospect, and it will also improve the safety of your messages on LinkedIn.

    Avoid Human Behavior

    Using LinkedIn automation security measures can be the difference between being able to get the most out of your LinkedIn account or being relegated to a dark corner. You’ll have to choose the right tools for your account, stay within usage limits, and follow the proper safety guidelines. Otherwise, you could face a ban from the platform.

    The first thing you should do is research various LinkedIn automation tools. Look for ones with a good reputation. They are often able to stay in the system without getting flagged. You can also find a tool that has a limit on the number of connections you can make in a day. These tools help you build a profile with maximum efficiency.

    You can also consider cloud-based LinkedIn automation solutions. These systems don’t inject code into the platform, but they simulate human behavior. They offer multiple-account management systems and inboxes. These vendors are considered safer than those who sell Chrome extensions.

    Lastly

    Using an automated tool to execute a security playbook in a timely occurrence is an admirable feat in and of itself. The best part is that these eds have the right people at the right time and the right technology to boot. Using the aforementioned technologies in tandem with the aforementioned sysadmins will put you on the fast track to digital security success.

  • An Introduction to Marketing Software

    An Introduction to Marketing Software

    Marketing is crucial for businesses. Regardless of your product’s or service’s excellence, you won’t get customers without getting the word out. Your business’s success depends on its marketing strategy, and effective marketing campaigns can even help average products sell more. Marketing is a soft skill not everyone has, but online educational platforms can help you become a better marketer.

    Technology has facilitated many business operations, such as marketing. Digital marketing campaigns are essential to getting your business a broader reach on the internet. Several software and tools allow you to market your business more efficiently and gauge the success of your marketing campaigns. Here’s all you need to know about some critical marketing tools:

    Social Media Management Software

    Social media marketing is a promising digital marketing avenue. Over 4.7 billion people use social media platforms, so businesses must use social media to reach out to wider audiences. However, social media marketing can get complicated. You must post regularly on several platforms. To reach the maximum number of individuals, you must publish the same posts on all your social platforms. Social media management software automates this mundane task for you, saving you time and effort. These tools also show you how successful a particular post is so you can adjust your digital marketing campaign accordingly. 

    Business Intelligence Tools

    A successful business requires collecting, analyzing, and responding to data by changing your business strategy when needed. Business intelligence tools help a company efficiently perform these tasks. They deliver customer behavior data and allow the marketing department to profile their target audience. Knowing the characteristics of your demographic enables you to personalize the marketing campaign according to their preferences. Marketing departments gain insight into the audience through business intelligence tools and use them to launch more effective marketing campaigns.

    Customer Relationship Management Tools

    Marketing mainly focuses on generating new leads and expanding your customer base, but retaining your old customers and ensuring they purchase from you again is also integral to your business. A customer relationship management (CRM) tool allows you to gain insights into your existing customers and effectively market to them. They capture customer information and data about purchasing history. The software also allows automated and seamless communication with current customers, improving customer experience.

    Email Marketing Tools

    Email marketing is one of the most common and straightforward types of digital marketing. You send emails advertising your services or products to new and old customers. You incentivize them to buy your products by offering vouchers and discounts. However, manually sending so many emails is an arduous task. Email marketing tools help you automate this process, and you can effectively reach out to more people through email. The software also shows you the email engagement rate. Integrate the content style of high-performing emails into future emails to increase website traffic.

    Endnote

    Efficient businesses always consider how to effectively market their products or services to potential customers. As the world goes digital, so do businesses. Your company must use software and tools to automate its workflow and analyze data. Your marketing departments can use these tools to get insights into the target audience and automate their work. Typical marketing software includes social media management software, business intelligence tools, customer relationship management tools, and email marketing tools. These tools allow you to effectively improve their marketing campaigns by generating more leads and increasing customer lifetime value.

  • Why Businesses Should Be Using Git for Software Development and Releases

    Why Businesses Should Be Using Git for Software Development and Releases

    Git is the most popular version control system (for software development) globally. It is a dependable option for collaborative development, as it does not only reliably monitor the changes in the project files but also enables the reversion to specific older versions of a software project. These already make Git an excellent option for collaboration, but it also offers several other features developers love.

    However, it’s not going to be all fun and games with Git. Businesses that decide to adopt it, should also be ready for the potential problems. Issues are inevitable, although the benefits clearly overwhelm them.

    Veering away from unnecessary complexities

    While some may argue against the claim that Git is easy to use, many would respond that Git is indeed intuitive, especially in simple use cases. Using it gets harder as systems become more complex, but not to an extent that would make developers abandon it without second thoughts. Noted developer Mislav Marohnić admits that his view that “Git is simply too hard” is unpopular, a minority opinion.

    To be intimidated by Git is counterproductive. Most of the issues that emerge when using it are unlikely to be as overwhelmingly complicated as some think they are. For example, when encountering the common error “fatal: remote origin already exists” upon running the git add remote origin command, the solution is simply to check if the “origin” handler already exists. If it does exist, running the command “git remote remove origin” will get rid of it and restore normal functions. The handler may also be renamed, or its pointing URL updated.

    If the errors are appearing more frequently and in greater numbers or instances, organizations can use an automated troubleshooting solution that provides advanced features including in-depth visibility, change intelligence, and insights into service dependencies. This solution can serve as a single source of truth (SSOT) for all troubleshooting processes and ensure greater efficiency. It takes away the unnecessary complications in processes and supports more efficient development and releases.

    Building strong development teams

    Git can be great for recruiting and nurturing strong development team members. On GitHub, in particular, developers readily present their credentials and accomplishments together with details on their website projects, open-source development projects, and repositories forked. Companies can look for remarkable talents by examining the candidates’ involvement with Git.

    Also, Git is a great place for honing junior developers to become strong and confident development team members. It provides a safe and empowering environment to work on projects, where members do not have to be worried about messing up or crashing a system. They can freely proceed with their experiments and pursue novel ideas that can help them enhance their skills in the long term while developing something that can potentially become big in the future.

    Enriching design skills and experiences

    Another excellent advantage of Git is its featured branches or feature branch workflow, which is highly suitable for rapid prototyping. With this, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designers get a sandboxed environment where they can try out their ideas and look back at the chronology of the project.

    Git is primarily built for developers and IT teams, but designers benefit from it as they create mockups and prototypes that would be submitted to developers. It is useful in implementing design changes to a product that is already being produced or has already been launched. Additionally, Git helps in providing guidance to developers regarding the development of specific design elements crucial to creating good user experiences. Also, Git can create a shareable workflow for the benefit of both the developer and design teams.

    With Git, designers and developers can see all the changes and progress they have made over the life cycle of the project. They can see how everything will look and play out without having to worry about breaking existing product functionalities. This sandboxed environment is a great way to present UI/UX project updates to the management or stakeholders.

    Enhancing marketing and product management

    Git has marketing and product management benefits, which are based mainly on its ability to speed up releases and enable developers to work faster and respond more quickly to changes. With Git’s collaboration-supporting features and ability to plug into other systems, companies can rapidly make their products available to clients or customers and allocate more of their time and effort to other important tasks.

    The shorter development cycles afford more time for marketing initiatives and ample opportunities to discuss product changes or explain new product features to a broader target audience. At the same time, since Git supports version incrementing, companies also have the option to focus their marketing efforts on specific feature rollouts. They do not have to wait for feature upgrades or updates to be accumulated first and then rolled out in a single major release. This flexibility in marketing software products is definitely an advantage for organizations making do with their budgetary, time, talent, and other resource limitations.

    On the other hand, Git provides product management benefits because of the frequent client feedback. Since product releases can be done frequently and for specific feature updates or function upgrades, development teams do not have to wait for weeks to get actual user reviews. They get to promptly troubleshoot problems and improve functions based on user feedback.

    Providing competent customer support

    Software customers are meticulous when it comes to technical assistance. They know they are supposedly dealing with technical experts, so they expect nothing but top-notch customer support. Git allows companies to provide the kind of pre- and post-sales customer service customers are expecting by providing a comprehensive reference for everything that has happened with the development of a software product.

    Git streamlines the development cycle, so bug fixes and enhancements are well-documented and promptly implemented. In turn, the software vendor can easily inform its customer service arm on what they need to know about their software products. This allows them to be knowledgeable enough to address customer questions proficiently and to resolve customer concerns satisfactorily.

    Improving experiences for everyone

    The numerous advantages and benefits of Git are not exclusive to developers or development teams. Businesses engaged in software development and sales, as a whole, can see palpable improvements in their operations with Git integrated as part of their development process. The efficiency this popular version control system provides also has the advantage of reducing operating costs and cutting down processes that slow down product development and release.

  • Why You Should Consider Using Software Composition Analysis (SCA) for Open-Source Software

    Why You Should Consider Using Software Composition Analysis (SCA) for Open-Source Software

    The use of open-source software (OSS) has become commonplace in the modern software development landscape. A recent study by Deloitte found that 96% of surveyed organizations are using OSS, and that number is only increasing.

    Despite the widespread adoption of OSS, many organizations are still hesitant to use it due to concerns about security and license compliance. These concerns are not unfounded; without proper management, OSS can introduce vulnerabilities and licensing risks into your codebase.

    Software composition analysis (SCA) is a tool that can help you mitigate these risks by identifying the OSS components in your code and providing information about their security vulnerabilities and licensing restrictions. Moreover, there are many advanced tools like Mend SCA that drastically simplify software composition analysis by automating it. In this article, we’ll discuss what SCA is, how it works, and why you should consider using it for your OSS management needs.

    Why Use Open-Source Software?

    Before we dive into SCA, it’s worth taking a step back to discuss the benefits of using OSS in the first place.

    There are a number of reasons why OSS has become so popular in recent years. Firstly, it can help organizations save time and money. Developing software from scratch is a costly and time-consuming endeavor; by leveraging existing open-source components, organizations can get up and running more quickly and affordably.

    In addition, OSS provides access to a wealth of talent and expertise. Open-source projects are typically developed by communities of developers from all over the world. This allows organizations to tap into a vast pool of skill and knowledge that they wouldn’t have otherwise had access to.

    What Are The Challenges of Using Open-Source Software?

    While OSS provides many benefits, it also introduces some risks that need to be managed.

    The first risk is security-related. When you use open-source components, you’re effectively incorporating code from third-party developers into your own application. This can introduce vulnerabilities if the third-party code contains security holes that are exploited by attackers.

    The second risk is related to licensing. Many open-source licenses have strict conditions that must be met in order for the code to be used. For example, some licenses require that modifications to the code be made available under the same license. If these conditions are not met, organizations can be in violation of the license and subject to legal penalties.

    These risks can be mitigated with proper management of your OSS components. One tool that can help with this is software composition analysis (SCA).

    What Is Software Composition Analysis?

    Software composition analysis (SCA) is a tool that helps you manage the open-source components in your codebase. SCA primarily operates by scanning your code and identifying the OSS components that it contains.

    For each component, SCA provides information about its security vulnerabilities and licensing restrictions. This information can be used to help you assess and mitigate the risks associated with using the component.

    Using SCA For Identifying Open-Source Code

    One of the main benefits of using SCA is that it can help you identify the OSS components in your codebase. This is important because it allows you to track the dependencies in your code and keep tabs on which components need to be updated.

    It can also be helpful for compliance purposes. If you’re required to comply with a license such as the GNU General Public License (GPL), you need to make sure that all of the OSS components in your code are licensed under that same license. SCA can help you verify that this is the case by identifying all of the OSS components in your code and providing information about their licenses.

    Another benefit of using SCA is that it can help you identify security vulnerabilities in the OSS components that you’re using. This is important because it allows you to take steps to mitigate these vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers.

    For example, suppose you’re using a component that has a known security vulnerability. SCA would identify this vulnerability and provide information about it, such as the severity of the vulnerability and how it can be exploited. This information can be used to determine whether or not the vulnerable component should be updated or replaced.

    Conclusion

    Software composition analysis is a tool that can be used to manage the open-source components in your codebase. SCA works by scanning your code and identifying the OSS components that it contains. For each component, SCA provides information about its security vulnerabilities and licensing restrictions. This information can be used to help you assess and mitigate the risks associated with using the component.

  • A Look at Software Beta Testing

    A Look at Software Beta Testing

    In the world of modern software development, it’s no surprise that continuous testing would be an essential part of the software development life cycle especially to keep up with the many products out there in the market.

    Quality is one of the most important factors to achieve customer satisfaction and to build high quality software, this software needs to be continuously tested to make sure that it works as expected.

    Thus, many types of tests will be conducted along the software development process. Here, we will focus on one type of testing that occurs towards the end of this process: beta testing.

    What is beta testing?

    Beta testing is a type of testing whose aim is to check whether a software that is about to be released meets customer requirements.

    This is done by testing the software on a select number of users- beta users- in a live production environment to see how these users interact with the software and so that the development team can fix any issues that arise before doing a full release to the rest of the users.

    This type of testing also checks the reliability, security and functionality of the software and implements black box testing techniques, which mainly tests the software’s input and output functionality.

    Features of beta testing

    To better understand beta testing, we will list some of the most important features of this type of testing and what it entails:

    • Beta testing involves real users testing the product in a live production environment.
    • Users selected should be chosen to represent the target audience.
    • This ultimately helps minimize risk of product failure and improves product quality.
    • It occurs towards the end of the software development life cycle, when the product is almost ready.
    • This means the product should be stable enough and include all the features that are planned for the release.
    • It comes right after alpha testing, which is another type of testing to help validate the functionality of the release but the testers are internal users and not customers.

    Types of beta testing

    There are many types of beta testing but all have the purpose of improving the quality of the software being released, some of which are listed below:

    Closed vs open beta testing

    A closed beta test is when a select number of users are invited to participate in the beta test and so the number of testers is limited as it is not open to the public. Companies will need to do active research and recruitment of these users depending on the type of users they’re looking for.

    Meanwhile, an open beta test has no access restrictions, which means that anyone can sign up to test the beta product. As this test is wider in scope, it’s a great opportunity to collect quantitative data regarding your target audience and how they interact with your product.

    However, this can also make it harder to analyze the data when you have a large pool of users testing the product. Consequently, an open beta test may be time consuming.

    Technical beta testing

    In this scenario, beta users will consist of more tech savvy users with the goal to uncover more complex, technical issues that the average user may miss. These users would usually have more background and knowledge of the ins and outs of the software so that they can provide high quality feedback to the engineering team.

    Sometimes, these users could come from within the organization itself.

    Focused beta testing

    This type of beta test is focused on gathering feedback of a specific feature of the release, including key functionalities of the product.

    Post-release beta testing

    Here, the product is released to the market and feedback is collected for improving future releases.

    To sum up

    Beta testing is of great value during the software development process as it generates real time feedback from your most relevant users.

    This will result in better and improved products and hence greater customer satisfaction as you have the opportunity to optimize your releases based on your customers’ opinion.

    With beta testing, you basically minimize your blast radius so if anything goes wrong, only a few users are exposed to these bugs, which can be fixed for future releases of the product. What’s more, in the long run you will be releasing products that your customers actually like and need. Thus, beta testing has become a staple of modern software development.

  • Barely a Quarter of SMBs Buy Software That Meets Their Needs

    Barely a Quarter of SMBs Buy Software That Meets Their Needs

    A new survey shows that only 27% of SMBs buy software that meets or exceeds their needs.

    Unlike many large businesses and enterprises, small and medium businesses often rely on off-the-shelf software for their daily operations. Despite that, the vast majority are making significant compromises when buying software, according to a survey by Capterra.

    In a Capterra survey of 1,000 small-business leaders who have influence on software purchase decisions, only 27% managed to secure what we call a “Great Match” on the last software purchase for their organization.

    That’s it! The rest either compromise on their original vision, or purchase software that fails to meet expectations—leading to further problems, additional software purchases, or, in the worst cases, purchase regret that forces small businesses to start over.

    Capterra recommends SMBs follow specific steps to avoid this problem, including focusing on internal goals, involving decision-influencers in the discussions, verifying information through independent sources, using free trial periods and sticking with shortlists of the best candidates.

    At a time when SMBs are already under increased pressure, Capterra’s survey highlights the challenges they face with something as important as the software they rely on.

  • The Software Decade Is Now

    The Software Decade Is Now

    “The next decade looking ahead is going to be the Software Decade,” says Snowflake board member and Altimeter Capital partner Kevin Wang. “Trends of moving more software to the cloud are just persisting. Cloud has completely changed the way that software is built and run. Software itself is being completely transformed. If what you saw over the past decade was exciting I’m even more excited about the next decade.”

    Kevin Wang, Snowflake board member and Altimeter Capital partner, says that the next decade looking ahead is going to be the Software Decade:

    The Software Decade Is Now

    The past decade has been a prolific time for technology companies. When you look at what we are set up for in the next decade it’s good to pause right now to see what has happened during the pandemic. We’ve seen that software is an integral part of the global economy. During the pandemic, we’ve found that we couldn’t go through the pandemic without the tools that we have.

    Stanford research shows that just during the month of May over two-thirds of US GDP was created in our homes alone. That’s just incredible. These trends of moving more software to the cloud are just persisting. The next decade looking ahead is going to be the Software Decade.

    Software Itself Is Being Completely Transformed

    When we take a step back we look at how these companies are set up for the next ten years. It’s easy to get focused on what might happen in the short run. These trends are so powerful that they are going to power these companies and adoption for several years. It’s true that the pandemic has accelerated and pulled forward a lot of that demand. But a lot of the trends and behaviors we see are going to persist. For example, people are talking over Zoom and that’s just changed the way we are going to work. We can give a lot of examples of how that’s going to persist over the long run.

    Software itself is being completely transformed. If what you saw over the past decade was exciting I’m even more excited about the next decade. What you have to understand is that cloud has completely changed the way that software is built and run. As we know, as business are digitally transforming they themselves are building and running more software. When you think about how to do that cloud has changed that.

    Historically, you always had to decide better, faster, cheaper. You could only pick one or two of them. Now you can do all three. When you look at Snowflake, for example, you used to have to manage a cloud data warehouse, and that was a lot of work for your database experts. You don’t have to do any of that anymore. Snowflake will manage all of that for you.

    The Software Decade Is Now – Altimeter Capital partner Kevin Wang
  • Volkswagen Experiencing Software Issues and Delays With ID.3

    Volkswagen Experiencing Software Issues and Delays With ID.3

    Volkswagen is having trouble with the software in its all-electric ID.3, leading to delivery delays.

    The ID.3 is Volkswagen’s compact electric car, a first for the company. Depending on the battery options customers choose, it will have a range of 145 to 340 miles. The car is a five-door hatchback and is reminiscent of a sleeker Golf.

    Despite’s the vehicle’s promise, Volkswagen is having issues with the car’s software, according to The Verge. Individuals who ordered the “limited edition” could start receiving them as early as next week. The standard models, however, will likely not ship until September. Even then, “the company’s App Connect infotainment system and the car’s heads-up display won’t be activated until a software update arrives. And VW says it won’t start shipping full-featured versions of the ID 3 until closer to the end of the year.”

    Volkswagen has had a number of missteps over the last couple of years, and this is no exception. Given that the car was introduced as a concept car in 2016, and officially introduced in 2019, it’s hard to believe the project is experiencing this kind of software issue.

    Hopefully VW will be able to get a handle on things and deliver on the ID.3’s promise.

  • Lowe’s Goes the DIY Route For Software Development

    Lowe’s Goes the DIY Route For Software Development

    Lowe’s slogan is “do it right for less.” While that primarily applies to home repair and improvement, the company is also applying it to the world of software development.

    According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Lowe’s is looking to retool its e-commerce solutions. The goal is to have 80% of the applications it uses be built internally by 2020. This will involve looking at their application portfolio and replacing commercial, off-the-shelf applications with custom replacements. This will involve hiring as many as 2,000 software engineers, data analysts and infrastructure specialists.

    As Mark Driver, research vice president at Gartner, Inc. told the WSJ, “we’re in an age where people have their clothes custom fit. The same thing goes with software; it’s about gaining that advantage.”

    This is just the latest move on the part of the home-improvement giant to modernize its IT infrastructure. Shortly after being hired as CIO, Seemantini Godbole told analysts and investors the retailer’s technology was “well behind leading retailers in terms of strategy, architecture, process maturity and capabilities.” Ms. Godbole helped unveiled a plan to invest $500 to $550 million per year through 2021, in an effort to modernize the retailer’s decade-old e-commerce system.

    The announcement by Lowe’s is just the latest in a solid growth trend for the custom software development market, as companies increasingly turn to custom solutions to achieve tighter integration, better performance and lower cost.

     

  • It Is a Multi-Cloud World, Says VMWare COO

    It Is a Multi-Cloud World, Says VMWare COO

    “VMWare allows the datacenter to act like a public cloud,” says VMWare COO Sanjay Poonen. “It is a multicloud world. While AWS will be first and preferred for us, we want every customer that has VMWare in the private cloud but AWS, Azure, Google, IBM, and Alibaba, those are the top five hyperscalers, and all of them have embraced VMWare.”

    Sanjay Poonen, COO of VMWare, discusses the incredible growth of VMWare which is driven by their ability to connect companies to any and every cloud in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:

    Software Is Defining Everything

    We had a great quarter. You have to put the bigger picture in perspective. We’re in the golden age of software where software is defining everything. Software companies, in general, are doing well. What we have done as a company is focus on making the datacenter software-driven and we think there is a bright future there. We showed some examples of that in hyperconverged  (HCI) and in software-defined networking (SDN). 

    We also showed some incredible momentum with our partnerships in the hybrid-cloud. Amazon is obviously first and preferred there. We announced a partnership with Azure. There is also the digital workspace which is all of the devices. We think our future is bright and we just have to keep executing. Our view is always the long-run. 

    In This Software Future We Are Not Tethered To One Company

    I think there is a little bit of a misperception that we should nip in the bud (regarding correlating Dell’s earnings with VMWare). First off, VMWare’s business with Dell in these areas like hyperconverged, we’ve now surpassed companies like Nutanix who are number one in hyper-converged infrastructure, and in the digital workspace where we are partnering with Dell Laptops, those are going very well. We want Dell and VMWare to do well together. In the datacenter we work with Dell, HPE, Cisco, Lenovo, etc. There is no one hardware player that is the majority of our business. 

    In cloud we work with AWS, Azure, Google, Alibaba, and IBM. You won’t find another company that has got as many hybrid-cloud partners. In the digital workspace, we work with Apple, Google, and Microsoft. In this software future, we are not tethered to one company. We are optimized to Dell, we are not tethered to them. You need a software-based solution for any of these areas, the datacenter, the cloud, or the digital workspace during tough times and in good times. 

    It Is a Multi-Cloud World

    You should think about applications like mobile homes. They’re going to move from the datacenter to the cloud on this freeway called VMWare. The mobile home could go to one cloud and may come back. VMWare allows the datacenter to act like a public cloud. We make the hardware datacenter look like Amazon. Now if you are an Amazon customer, and they have 30-35 percent market share, number one in the market for cloud, they are our preferred cloud partner, we can help customers. We have many customers who are adopting VMWare cloud in AWS. 

    For those customers who said we are not an Amazon shop, for example, we quoted Walmart in our earnings announcement, they are using Azure. They have an option now because we announced a partnership with Azure. There are some customers that are going to have some other clouds. It is a multicloud world. While AWS will be first and preferred for us, we want every customer that has VMWare in the private cloud but AWS, Azure, Google, IBM, and Alibaba, those are the top five hyperscalers, and all of them have embraced VMWare. 

    IBM is a great partner of VMWare. We love their services business. IBM Cloud has 2,000+ customers. We are going to partner really well with Ginni Rometty and the team. We compete with a small part of Red Hat’s business in containers. Over 80 percent of Red Hat’s business is Linux, a good part of their business which is OpenShift and JBoss, is not doing so well. The future of containers is a small part of the business. We can walk and chew gum. We can partner with IBM and compete with that small part of Red Hat and that’s our focus. We want a big tent at VMWare. We want to partner with as many people as possible and compete with as few people as possible. 

    Make Your Story Sesame Street Simple

    First off, if you want to serve your customers well start by serving your employees. One of my professors at the Harvard Business School, Len Schlesinger, wrote an article and book on service profit chain. What he talked about is if you want to create shareholder value focus not just on customer satisfaction but satisfied employees. Hug your start. Take care of the best and brightest who come in there. 

    The second one is something that all of us can do which is make your story Sesame Street simple. All too often, I see product managers and account executives blabbering on with PowerPoints. Let’s tell the story just like you are telling the story to your mother or to your kids. Ironically, when you make things simple you’re going back to the basic principals of Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, or Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends and Influence People. It’s not that complicated. Have customer empathy.

    It Is a Multi-Cloud World, Says VMWare COO Sanjay Poonen
  • How to Write Code 10-20 Times Faster

    How to Write Code 10-20 Times Faster

    Writing code is at the heart of software and it’s what makes applications like Google, Facebook, and Tinder work. The problem for startups and large enterprises alike is that writing code is a tremendous undertaking, costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time. For years, companies have been trying to create code-writing software with limited success.

    Appian CEO and founder Matt Calkins says that their code writing platform is a generational improvement that will literally, according to an independent study, enable developers to write code 10-20 times faster because it takes the code writing out of code writing.

    Matt Calkins explains how their revolutionary code writing platform works in an interview this morning on Squawk Box:

    We Can Write Code 10-20 Times Faster

    These days companies compete based on the software they write, that’s how they impress us. As customers, every company has to be more efficient but also more appealing. It used to be just back office and now it’s front office too, now it’s appealing to everybody and differentiating from their competition.

    Every company’s got to write a lot of software and they need a faster way. We can write code 10-20 times faster because instead of writing it by lines you draw it like a picture. It’s a flowchart with boxes and arrows and you depict your intentions in the software and then we translate that into code. It’s an interpretation layer, you could think of it as a code already existing but it’s not blocks of code because that wouldn’t be smart.

    Built-In Artificial Intelligence

    The is absolutely AI in there, but AI is not the translation it’s just an augmentation. AI isn’t smart enough yet to actually write your code. The important thing here is there’s never an authoritative layer that you can go down to and modify. We’re interpreting your instructions, so you express what you want in software and then we interpret that on every mobile device and on any cloud in a scalable way.

    You write something in Appian and it’s going to end up being in a native app on your phone. It’s going to be a native app on every phone and every device. Appian is going to translate your intentions that you expressed in a flowchart in drag and drop ways into a piece of software that’ll run on your phone.

    What’s Missing in Code Writing is Simplicity

    Over the years there have been a lot of attempts to create an easy way to write software and this is the latest generation and I think it’s gone a lot further than the other generations. You can tell that because we’re being run by the biggest organizations in mission-critical ways, unlike these old attempts that kept it simple and weren’t powerful enough to do the top job. We’ve got some of the top firms in almost every industry around the world running multi-million dollar applications on the Appian platform which shows that it’s really industrial strength stuff.

    My mission is simplicity, with the organization too, everything about creating code should be simpler in order to allow people to develop more of it and change it faster. I think that’s what’s really missing in code.

  • Google Seeks to Transform Education with New Change Center

    Last week the Google for Education Transformation Center was announced as a hub and launch pad for school change. Google has long been involved in pushing technology to improve and modernize education, but with the launch of the Center it hopes to spur a community of educational thought leaders to action.

    Persuading schools to adopt innovative technology is not as simple as it may seem, there are often cultural obstacles that need to be overcome and leadership that embraces positive change and strategies to bring all stakeholders on board through transparency and learning programs.

    Technology can’t just be forced on educators, it needs to be first embraced as a solution by educators to a perceived problem. Finally, school leaders need to budget for change and improvement, so that technology is about student progress and not funding reallocation.

    “Over the past few years we’ve had the privilege to work closely with thousands of schools that are seeking to improve and innovate with the help of technology,” said Liz Anderson, who is Google’s Global Lead for their Education Adoption Programs. “Every school is different, but we’ve heard a lot of common themes from educators: that change is hard; that change is about a whole lot more than just technology; and that obstacles are often similar across districts.”

    She added, “School leaders face many of the same challenges and opportunities, but often have limited ways to share with — and learn from — each other. That’s why we’ve created a new hub for school leaders to share ideas, resources, and stories: The Google for Education Transformation Center.”

    The 7 Critical Areas for School Change

    Google brought educational leaders together from all over the US to create a “transformation framework” guiding schools to improving education through innovation and technology:

    • Vision – School change only happens when there is a strong vision at the start. When a school has a clear vision, it means the leader has ensured that the school and wider community are working together toward shared goals for the future.
    • Learning – School leaders empower their teams to create a set of instructional practices, curricula, assessments, and learning experiences that put students at the center – that engage learners deeply and meet their individual and collective needs.
    • Culture – Successful school leaders create structures, rituals, stories, and symbols that foster a culture of innovation and encourage people to learn from failure and success.
    • Technology – Technology is only one enabler of school change, but it’s a critical part. School leaders find, test, and gain their team’s support for the right technology (tools and processes) to meet the school’s vision.
    • Professional Development – Teachers have a lot on their plates. School leaders provide educators with effective professional development and ongoing coaching focused on applying tools and practices to meet student needs.
    • Funding & Sustainability – School leaders create a sustainable budget, identify a range of funding sources, and seek savings and reallocation opportunities that align directly to student goals.
    • Community – Schools serve diverse communities made up of parents, families, businesses, government, nonprofits, and residents. Throughout all stages of the transformation process, leaders ensure these partners support the school and the vision.

    Rich Ord is Co-founder of StudentGrowthWorks.org, a technology platform for monitoring student growth and making IEP’s meaningful.

  • Salesforce Einstein Announced–Artificial Intelligence for Everyone

    Salesforce Einstein Announced–Artificial Intelligence for Everyone

    In a major initiative that has been in the works for two years, Salesforce is integrating artificial intelligence into all of its CRM cloud platforms. It enables any business to use clicks or code to build AI-powered apps that get smarter with every interaction. Their AI system learns from all of the data you enter about your customers and prospects (CRM data, email, calendar, social, ERP, and IoT), and makes predictions and recommendations on actions you should consider. It can even automate tasks it certain situations.

    Salesforce Einstein is designed to help their customers take advantage of the huge amounts of data produced by making sense of it and seeing trends before humans typically do. What Salesforce has done is to make the use of artificial intelligence possible for all businesses, without have to employ their own data science teams.

    “Powered by advanced machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics, natural language processing and smart data discovery, Einstein’s models will be automatically customized for every single customer, and it will learn, self-tune, and get smarter with every interaction and additional piece of data,” writes Jim Sinai who is VP of Marketing at SalesforceIQ in their company blog announcement. “Most importantly, Einstein’s intelligence will be embedded within the context of business, automatically discovering relevant insights, predicting future behavior, proactively recommending best next actions and even automating tasks.”

    Salesforce Einstein is designed to be a simple and intuitive approach to deliver AI to companies using their cloud CRM products. They say that by “removing the complexity of AI” they are “enabling any company to deliver smarter, personalized and more predictive customer experiences.”

    “We couldn’t be more excited to finally unveil Salesforce Einstein after two years of hard work and targeted acquisitions,” added Sinai. “As we continue to build out AI for CRM, we are committed to understanding the next generation of AI technology and how it can best be applied to Salesforce. This effort will be led by Salesforce Research, a new research group focused on the future of AI, under the leadership of Dr. Richard Socher, our Chief Scientist.”

    Bringing Artificial Intelligence to Sales

    Adam Blitzer, the EVP & GM of Sales Cloud at Salesforce sees significant value in companies using AI within the sales process. “At Salesforce, we are focused on helping companies evolve from the first level, where the CRM is a one-dimensional system of record, to the second level, where the CRM is a system of engagement. And finally, we are helping companies make the leap to the highest level, where the CRM works for them as a predictive system of intelligence.”

    “AI arms teams with more intelligence, enabling them increase productivity and predictive capabilities across everything they do,” adds Blitzer. “Importantly, it gives sales teams better insights that build human relationships, an area where sales reps far excel beyond machine capabilities.”

    Screen Shot 2016-09-19 at 11.20.25 AM

    “This (Sales Cloud Einstein) makes people, teams and entire companies, better able to discover insights from data, recommend actions that help close deals, automate processes that give reps more time to build 1:1 relationships, and predict outcomes or hiccups that enable reps to be proactive and remain a step ahead of each customer’s needs and competitor’s potential attack,” stated Blitzer. “I’m excited for our customers to start experimenting with the features we’re announcing today—Predictive Lead Scoring, Opportunity Insights and Automated Activity Capture, you can learn more here. And, I’m even more excited about the business growth these AI solutions are going to drive.”

    Bringing Artificial Intelligence to the Service Industry

    “Until now, most customer service leaders have been unable to put intelligence in action,” stated Mike Milburn who is head of the Service Cloud at Salesforce. “With Service Cloud Einstein, companies of any size will be able to deploy a connected customer service experience that is predictive, automated and intelligent, bringing AI to the forefront of customer service like never before.”

    Milburn says that with Service Cloud Einstein, organizations of all sizes will be able to resolve customer service cases faster by utilizing history and trend data, automate routine inquiries and predict case resolution times.

    He also offered a bigger picture of how the Salesforce Cloud Platform could be integrated within devices far removed from CRM and marketing. “Consider this: a connected device–like a dishwasher–could self-diagnose that it needed routine maintenance from a field tech. The dishwasher is connected to Salesforce IoT Cloud, where it’s performance is monitored. When IoT Cloud identifies an issue, it triggers a case in Field Service Lightning and a dishwasher repair tech is dispatched automatically–without a customer or agent needing to be involved. That’s the future of service, and the amazing thing is that with Einstein and the Customer Success Platform, it’s possible today.”

    Bringing Artificial Intelligence to Marketing

    AI in marketing is about combining historical and real-time data in order to see trends, predict what’s likely to happen and offer contextual suggestions on what to do next. “We are giving marketers the ability to shift away from using analytics that only look at past behavior to analytics that predict the optimal timing, channel, content and audience for any marketing message,” says Bob Stutz, CEO of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud and their Chief Analytics Officer.

    Einstein integration within their marketing cloud enables companies to take advantage of Predictive Scoring which puts a percentage on the likelihood of a customer taking a certain action such as making a purchase, or unsubscribing from an email blast. With the Predictive Audiences feature marketers can group predictive actions based on their scores in order to more effectively modify marketing strategies. Finally, Automated Send-time Optimization predicts the best time to send new marketing messages.

    Screen Shot 2016-09-19 at 11.45.34 AM

    Stutz says that Marketing Cloud Einstein has been in beta for about a year with “tremendous” results. He says that ecommerce and coupons company ShopAtHome redefined customer engagement around predictive scores and experienced a 23% increase in email clicks, and a 30% increase in email opens.

    Bringing Artificial Intelligence to the Entire Salesforce Platform

    Salesforce has also added Einstein AI to their Community Cloud, IoT Cloud and App Cloud.

    “What is most important to Salesforce Community Cloud customers is that Einstein’s intelligence will automatically discover and surface relevant insights, predict answers to solve questions fast, and proactively make recommendations,” said Mike Micucci who is the SVP of Product Management at Salesforce. “It will even automate certain tasks. And you don’t have to do a thing. Einstein puts the best alternative right in front of you.”

    “With IoT Cloud Einstein, our customers will be able to unlock a whole new wave of innovation for the Internet of Things by pairing their IoT data with services powered by Salesforce’s new artificial intelligence platform,” notes Woodson Martin, the head of Thunder & IOT Cloud at Salesforce.

    Salesforce is also making it possible for companies to build custom apps using their Einstein AI technology. “Today, as we launch Salesforce Einstein, we’re democratizing the technology necessary for any business to build AI-first apps,” said Adam Seligman, Executive Vice President and GM of the App Cloud at Salesforce. “Einstein combines all of our adventurous reaches into data science, data management and modern app development into one set of platform services enabling anyone to build the next generation of apps, powered by AI, that customers will love.”

  • Amazon Is Acquiring Software Company NICE

    Amazon Is Acquiring Software Company NICE

    Amazon announced that Amazon Web Services is acquiring NICE, a software and services provider for high performance and technical computing.

    NICE will operate under its existing brand and continue to work with its customers and partners ad well as develop and support its EnginFrame and Desktop Cloud Visualization products.

    “Like AWS, we are a customer obsessed company and we are globally appreciated for the excellence of our support and professional services”, said Bruno Franzini, Support and Professional Services Manager at NICE. “With the backing of AWS, we will pamper our customers even more!”

    CEO Beppe Ugolotti added, “The entire team will be with us to open this new chapter of our history. Everybody is already dreaming about all the new technologies we will be able to develop working together with our future colleagues at AWS.”

    The agreement is signed and the deal is expected to close within the quarter. Terms were not disclosed.

    Image via NICE

  • Mac Users Get Microsoft Office 2016

    Mac Users Get Microsoft Office 2016

    Microsoft just released Office 2016 for Mac in 139 countries and 16 languages. It includes major updates across the entire suite of apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote).

    The company says this was its biggest Office for Mac beta ever thanks to customer participation, and that it collected over 100,000 pieces of feedback, which led to the releases of features like mproved Mail Merge in Word, Propose New Time in Outlook and support for External Data Connections in Excel.

    “If you already use Office on a PC or iPad, you will find yourself right at home in Office 2016 for Mac,” said Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for the Office Client Applications and Services team at Microsoft. “It works the way you expect, with the familiar ribbon interface and powerful task panes. Mac users will appreciate the modernized Office experience and the integration of Mac capabilities like Full Screen view and Multi-Touch gestures. With full Retina® display support, your Office documents look sharper and more vibrant than ever.”

    “Office for Mac is cloud-connected, so you can quickly get to the documents you’ve recently used on other devices and pick up where you left off. New, built-in document sharing tools make it easy to invite teammates to work on a document together,” h added. “When sharing documents, you won’t have to worry about losing content or formatting, as Office for Mac offers unparalleled compatibility with Office on PCs, tablets, phones and online.”

    Office 365 subscribers can get the new Office for Mac immediately by going to their account page. Students can also get it here. It will become available as a one-time purchase option in September.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Forever 21 Accused of Stealing Photoshop, Faces Lawsuit from Adobe

    Forever 21 Accused of Stealing Photoshop, Faces Lawsuit from Adobe

    Adobe, makers of Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, and more, is suing clothing retailer Forever 21 for “willful, intentional, and malicious” copyright infringement by using unauthorized copies of its products.

    Joining Adobe in the suit is Autodesk and Corel.

    “Plaintiffs are informed and believe and thereon allege that in conducting their business, Defendants have engaged in the unauthorized reproduction of certain of the Adobe Products, Autodesk Products, and Corel Products onto computers located at their premises, and that Defendants use copies of the Adobe Products, Autodesk Products, and Corel Products to conduct their business,” reads the complaint. “Plaintiffs are informed and believe and thereon allege that Defendants have not purchased adequate licenses for the Adobe Products, Autodesk Products, and Corel Products.”

    According to Adobe, Forever 21 continued to use its products illegally even after Adobe contacted them and told them to stop.

    As The Verge points out, Adobe’s recent move toward cloud-based versions of its software has been met with an uptick in pirating.

    Adobe is seeking an injunction to stop Forever 21 from continuing to use the “unauthorized” products, as well as damages and court fees.

    Image via Forever 21, Facebook

  • Software Revenue Rose 4.8% Last Year

    Software Revenue Rose 4.8% Last Year

    The PC market is in a funk, with PC manufacturers scrambling to find a way to make desktop and notebook PCs relevant within the new reality of mobile tablets and smartphones. That doesn’t mean, however, that the software companies providing the applications for the PC market are headed the same way. As businesses and consumers push forward with their already-capable PCs, software sales are still growing.

    Market research firm Gartner today released a new report showing that global software revenue hit $407.3 billion during 2013. This is up 4.8% from the $388.5 billion the industry earned during 2012.

    Though it is clear that the software industry is enduring the hardware shift of the past few years, software itself is also undergoing a major transition. According to Gartner this shift involves companies that are both supporting existing traditional software infrastructures while rolling out new cloud-based solutions and pioneering other subscription-based services. Even many of those PC hardware companies that are struggling to hold back the rising tide of mobile devices are re-configuring their business models to rely more on enterprise software and security services.

    “The software market has been changing shape over the past five years, and cloud is driving the bulk of this change as software vendors acquire and provide applications and infrastructure technology to support the cloud and the internet of things (IoT) movement,” said Joanne Correia, research VP at Gartner. “A clear indicator of this is that for the first time we have a pure cloud vendor in the top 10.”

    The cloud vendor Correia referenced is Salesforce.com, a customer relationship management (CRM) company that provides businesses with cloud-based CRM solutions. Salesforce ranks tenth on Gartner’s list of the top ten software vendors of 2013 ranked by revenue. The company saw its revenues increase by over 33% year-over-year in 2013, up to $3.8 billion.

    The list is led by the perennial heavyweight of the software business, Microsoft, which grew software revenue 6% to hit $65.7 billion in 2013. They are led by Oracle ($29.6 billion), IBM ($29.1%), SAP ($18.5 billion), and Symantec ($6.4 billion). Another heavily cloud-based business, VMware, rose to eighth place on Gartner’s list by increasing revenue 14.1% to $4.8 billion in 2013.

  • Square Acquires Appointment-Booking Software Maker BookFresh

    Square announced on Wednesday that it has acquired BookFresh, makers of appointment booking software.

    “Sellers use Square for far more than accepting payments: They manage their point of sale with Square Register, run loyalty programs and promotions for customers, and access important analytics that help them make better business decisions,” writes Suare product engineering lead Gokul Rajaram. “Sellers of all sizes want to grow their business, which is why we’re constantly working to provide them with simple, accessible, affordable tools that help them do so.”

    “Just like Square, BookFresh is designed to give time back to sellers so they can focus on their business,” he says. “To BookFresh customers: It’s business as usual. The team remains dedicated to maintaining and improving the product and supporting you.”

    BookFresh’s Evan Ginsburg writes on the BookFresh blog:

    Willem [CTO Avé}, the team, and I are dedicated to building seamless appointment booking tools that connect sellers and their customers in a simple, yet magical way — which is why it was an extremely easy decision for us to join Square. Square’s mission to make commerce easy resonates deeply with us. Together, we can bring simple tools to local sellers everywhere and help them grow their business.

    To our customers: You are the reason we come to work everyday and we are honored to be part of your business. We thank you, and we want you to know that not much will change for you. We will continue to provide the same great product and customer service that you have come to expect from us — but now you can expect even more. By joining Square, we have many great opportunities to make our product even better. – Evan

    Square and BookFresh will remain separate products for the time being.

    There’s a lot of Square news happening. The company is also testing a new app to let users order things from stores for pickup, and is reportedly testing a service in which it gives money to businesses to help them grow.

    Images via BookFresh

  • Apple Security Flaw Is “As Bad As You Could Imagine”

    Apple Security Flaw Is “As Bad As You Could Imagine”

    Apple is performing an emergency software fix this week to correct a security flaw putting both iPhone and Mac users at risk.

    After it was brought to their attention that hackers could enter systems by email, Apple, Inc. issued an official announcement acknowledging the oversight and their team promptly began to work on updated software to protect users. On Saturday, the company indicated that damage control would be forthcoming to halt hackers before they could lift private data from iPhones or Macs. Per the Orlando Sentinel on Sunday, Feb. 23, iPhone users probably already received their notification regarding that security update. Mac users, contrarily, remain at risk until updates can be issued for them too.

    Apple says those fixes are coming “very soon”.

    Why did this breach happen? There doesn’t seem to be one concrete explanation. However, researchers have said Apple itself was culpable in that it performed “inadequate testing.” It was likewise described as a “fundamental bug in Apple’s SSL implementation,” by Dmitri Alperovich, chief technology officer at security firm CrowdStrike Inc.

    In addition to iPhones and iPads, the report stated that any kind of desktop device or notebooks that run Mac OS X are also at risk, as the security error is present in them as well. Although iPhones are in the clear, the proverbial bad guys are likely working around the clock to concoct programs that pry into private data of Mac users before their resolution can arrive.

    One way in which tech-villains can do this is by gaining entry to a given mobile user’s network.

    This could be done in a coffee house or restaurant, where an unsecured wireless service is offered. In this situation, a hacker can observe and alter the interactions of someone using a protected website – be it their email or social networking site. Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor, Matthew Green explained that in the absence of a fix, hackers impersonate these sorts of protected sites. Then they can pilfer private data as they watch financial or other data go between the user and the actual site.

    “It’s as bad as you could imagine, that’s all I can say,” Green stated.

    Apple did not acquiesce to comment requests beyond a statement offered this week:

    “We are aware of this issue and already have a software fix that will be released very soon.”

    Image via Youtube