BriefingsDirect Podcasts

T he next  BriefingsDirect enterprise architecture (EA) discussion explores how a comprehensive portfolio of open standards and associated best practices powerfully supports digital business transformation. As companies chart a critical course to adopt agility using artificial intelligence (AI)-driven benefits, they need proven and actionable structure to help deepen customer relationships, improv...

T he next  BriefingsDirect expert interview podcast explores best practices for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) with a focus on sustainability and strategic business benefits. As AI rises as an imperative that impacts companies at nearly all levels, proper concern for efficiency around energy use and resources management has emerged as a key ingredient of success -- or failure.  It's becomi...

T he next  BriefingsDirect  mobile devices security and privacy discussion examines how a new balance needs to be struck between giving users at the remote edge all the productivity they want, while protecting the most sensitive information. Listen   to the   podcast . Subscribe to  it on   iTunes . Read a full transcript or download a copy.  S tay here to learn how a Minnesota law firm puts the p...

T he next BriefingsDirect IT security best practices discussion examines how a leading German home builder has adjusted to a major economic market disruption. Germany's home building demand has recently reversed, putting pressure on builders to reduce IT costs while remaining secure. Subscribe to the podcast on   iTunes . Read a full transcript or   download a copy.  S tay tuned here to learn how...

T he next  BriefingsDirect  business modernization discussion focuses on how optimizing and automating accounts payable (AP) functions gives businesses improved insights and levers to better transform. We'll examine how improved control and management over cash flow, payables, and related fiduciary functions elevate overall financial situational awareness. Via adoption of intelligent automation, s...

T he next   BriefingsDirect  security enhancement discussion examines how innovative managers are increasingly benefiting from interactive dashboard analytics. The resulting actionable knowledge elevates security situation awareness to the higher order value of overall business risk assessment and mitigation. Learn how  Bruce Auto Group has gained such deep insights -- not only into how its distri...

T he next   BriefingsDirect  security innovations discussion examines how the rapid shift to remote work has accelerated a rethinking of security and IT processes at a New York-based publishing organization. Rearchitecting the security posture of a business means adjusting work patterns and IT in ways that both reduce risk and heighten performance. But the trick is to do so without alienating work...

A mid rapidly growing IT security costs and the added complexity of distributed workforces, the challenges facing IT services providers are clearly outrunning past practices. That's why more automation, integration, and acquiring security "as a service" are in hot demand. Subscribe to the podcast on   iTunes . Read a full transcript or download a copy. S tay with us now as the next BriefingsDirect...

F or managed service providers (MSPs), making the IT infrastructure as invisible as possible isn't just a "nice-to-have" — it's also elemental to delivering the best customer experience. Securing IT for these tech services and support users is no different. The less complexity and interference with productivity from the underlying security apparatus — the better. The next  BriefingsDirect  securit...

A n underappreciated aspect of enhancing  IT security  is the impact on an end user's comfort and trust in the services provided. In the case of health care services and support, making the patient feel welcome and safe can be a game-changer as they seek access to needed services and care.  The next  BriefingsDirect security innovations discussion  examines how  Macmillan Cancer Support in the Uni...

A special breed of company -- even though it has a relatively small number of employees -- does very big jobs with those lean and often distributed workforces. A perfect example of such a concentrated and efficient business is  A-Core Concrete Specialists , which builds large and complex structures across the Western United States. When it comes to managing IT, the lean-and-mean mantra also holds...

W e're all now part of a massive worldwide experiment about the very definition of work . Remote, in-office — or tightrope walking along some sliding scale between the two? How each business and each worker finds the next new work-life balance remains an ongoing "work in progress." In the post-rapid adoption of remote work world -- a full two and half years after the onset of COVID -- there's no d...

F or those tasked with delivering unwavering performance of their apps and data, there have never been more unknowns to account for and manage. That's because today's hybrid clouds and mixed-network environments come with a multitude of dynamic variables -- and an unprecedented degree of complexity. Yet modern digital business demands that the entire constellation of these far-flung cloud services...

T he growing prevalence of complex multi- and hybrid-cloud environments has opened a  Pandora's Box  of unseen risks around security and performance.   But unlike when IT and network operators had the tools and access to track their own internal systems and data, the mixed-cloud model of today is much harder to know and secure. Pandora's Box is open but observing what's going on in and around it i...

A s businesses worldwide seek to maximize their value to their customers and communities, the total value equation has expanded to now include the impact on sustainability for the environment . The ways that companies, along with their partners, suppliers, and employees best manage and govern their resources and assets speaks volumes about their place among peers. And it allows them to take a lead...

T he world's office workers have more clout and influence now than ever over where and how they do their jobs. Those who have worked from home and want to continue are spurring on their employers to do more than just embrace hybrid work. They're seeking to reinvent the very nature of employment. Subscribe to the podcast on  iTunes . Read a full transcript or download   a copy. S tay with Briefings...

C losing the gap between the applications and services a company needs -- and the ones they can actually produce -- has long been a missing keystone for attaining digital transformation. For increasingly software-driven organizations, the speed by which developers produce the needed processes, data flows, and business transactions has been much too slow for much too long. Fast-forward to the press...

J ust as cloud computing initially seeped into organizations under the cloak of shadow IT , application programming interface (API) adoption has often followed an organic, inexact, and unaudited path.  IT leaders know they're benefiting from APIs -- internal, via third parties, and often outwardly exposed -- they just don't know where they are, how much they support key services, and how they're b...

P redicting the future took on a whole new degree of difficulty the past two years. And while we can't always know what Mother Nature will throw our way, we can learn from what worked -- and what didn't work -- in 2021.  Clearly, adjusting swiftly to persistent change and leveraging digital -- and often virtual -- tools, environments, and processes were major benefits. Now, how will 2022 shape up...

C omplexity and security challenges can hobble the growth of financial transactions for private-data-laden, consumer-facing software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. Add to that the need to deliver user experiences that are simple, intuitive, and personalized -- and you have a thorny thicket of software development challenges. So how did streamlined and cost-efficient home-brokerage-enabler Houwz...

T he so-called great resignation has anywhere from half to two-thirds of U.S. workers looking for something other than their current situation. Whatever the percentage, there's no question that workers across the board have and continue to quit in droves . And whether the exit is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the culmination of decades of various trends, or some combination, the bottom line is tha...

W ay back in 1996, when web browsing was novel and central processing still ruled the roost of enterprise IT, The Open Group was formed from the merger of the Open Software Foundation and X/Open . This October marks the 25th anniversary of remarkable achievements in the technology standards arena by The Open Group. Beginning with a focus as the publisher of the single UNIX specification technical...

I n the last BriefingsDirect sustainable business innovation discussion , we explored how operational resiliency has become a top priority in the increasingly interconnected financial services sector . We now expand our focus to explore the best ways to anticipate, plan for, and swiftly implement the means for nearly any business to avoid disruption. New techniques allow for rapid responses to man...

T he speed and complexity of microservices-intense applications often leave their developers in the dark. The creators too often struggle to track and visualize the actual underlying architecture of their distributed services. The designers, builders, and testers of modern API-driven apps, therefore, need an ongoing and instant visibility capability into the rapidly changing data flows, integratio...

T he rapidly expanding use of application programming interfaces (APIs) to accelerate application development and advanced business services has created a vast constellation of interrelated services -- often now called the API Economy . Yet the speed and complexity of this API adoption spree has largely outrun the capability of existing tools and methods to keep tabs on the services topology -- le...