Archive for July 2, 2019

Visa & PayPal Team Up To Allow Consumers & Small Businesses In Canada To Access Money Faster

Posted in Commentary with tags , on July 2, 2019 by itnerd

Visa and PayPal today launched a feature that allows consumers and small businesses in Canada to instantly access funds. PayPal’s new Instant Transfer, powered by Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time1 push payments solution, moves money from customers’ PayPal accounts to their bank account via their Visa debit cards – providing an experience that offers speed, security and convenience, 24/7/365.

The desire for faster payments is escalating: 60 per cent of consumers report that having funds available more quickly for personal use is a benefit of real-time funds disbursements2. For small businesses, the ability to manage cash flow is critical to their growth and success – 85 per cent of small businesses say they would likely switch to a new merchant acquirer who offered real-time payments3.

Instant Transfer for PayPal consumers is now widely available, and for small businesses it is currently available to an early access group of PayPal customers, with plans to be released across Canada in the coming months. For more information about Visa Direct, visit: https://usa.visa.com/run-your-business/visa-direct.html.

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Internal Communication Falls Short Between Security and Developer Teams In The Move To DevOps: Trend Micro

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 2, 2019 by itnerd

Trend Micro Incorporated today announced results from a recent survey that shows despite the enterprise benefits assured by adopting a DevOps culture, the majority of IT leaders polled believe communication between IT security and software development must improve greatly to achieve success.

Led by independent research specialist Vanson Bourne, the company surveyed the attitudes toward DevOps held by 1,310 IT decision makers from within both enterprise and SMB organizations across the globe. Those surveyed are at various stages of the DevOps implementation as they integrate their teams, application development, information technology operations and security, to shorten and secure the development lifecycle.

While three-quarters (74%) claimed such initiatives had become more important over the past year, an even higher percentage argued that communication within the IT department needed to improve.

Some 89% said software development and IT security teams needed to be in closer contact, while 77% said the same for developers, security and operations. A third (34%) claimed that these siloes are making it harder to create a DevOps culture in the organisation.

Respondents indicated the best ways to drive this cultural change include: fostering greater integration between teams (61%); setting common goals (58%); and sharing learning experiences across teams (50%). Yet over 78% of IT decision makers said improvement is needed in these areas.

Only a third (33%) of respondents said DevOps is a shared responsibility between software development and IT operations, which is another indication of the current communication breakdown between teams. It appears that each department feels responsibility or ownership to lead these projects.

Part of the challenge is believed to be — despite enthusiasm for DevOps, which has seen 81% of organisations already implement or currently work on projects — nearly half of respondents (46%) have only partially developed their DevOps strategy. IT leaders polled confirmed that enhancing IT security is more of a priority (46%) in DevOps than any other factor.

To learn more about Trend Micro’s approach and solutions for securing DevOps, please click here.

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OpenText CEM Enables Leading Telecom to Transform Digital Billing

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 2, 2019 by itnerd

OpenText who are a global leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM) today announced TIM S/A, a leading provider of telecommunications services in Brazil, has deployed OpenText Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions to digitally transform invoicing processes. With the new integrated e-invoicing system, the company’s 18 million post-paid customers can now access telecom bills from preferred digital channels and devices on demand. This has increased adoption of digital invoicing by more than 50 percent year-over-year.

TIM S/A is now processing nearly three million invoices every 48 hours, with PDF versions of invoices delivered to customers in less than three seconds. By sending reminder notifications to customers via their desired channels, TIM S/A is also improving invoice payment rates and reducing outstanding payments overall.

Working with OpenText, TIM S/A established a centralized digital content management system for invoicing that supports customer demand for self-serve, multi-channel access to billing information. Content and applications are aggregated to present consistent, personalized and compliant invoices.

TIM S/A is using OpenText™ Content Suite Platform, OpenText™ Exstream™, OpenText™ Portal and OpenText™ Web Experience Management to digitize invoicing. The solution suite fully integrates with the TIM S/A portal and other enterprise applications to manage billing information, while helping to ensure governance, security and regulatory compliance. Document storage is also maximized to decrease expense, mitigate risk and more easily fulfill archiving requirements.

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Google Assistant Comes To Sonos Speakers In Canada

Posted in Commentary with tags on July 2, 2019 by itnerd

The Google Assistant is launching today on Sonos in Canada via a free software update. Together with Google, Sonos has brought the best of the Google Assistant to Sonos’ sound experience – integrating the Assistant across their ecosystem of products and partners to deliver a seamless experience for listeners on Sonos. With the Google Assistant, Sonos was the first to bring multiple voice assistants to the same sound system, demonstrating the power of an open, multi-partner platform that prioritizes choice for customers.

Sonos owners can use voice with the Google Assistant built-in on the Sonos One or Sonos Beam, or with a connected Google Home product to easily start a song, queue a TV show, control smart home devices, and get updates about their day including calendar events and traffic delays. The Google Assistant is now available in the United States, UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, and The Netherlands, with additional countries to follow.

More details can be found in this blog post.

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Review: Urban Armor Gear Nato Strap for Apple Watch

Posted in Products with tags on July 2, 2019 by itnerd

Last week the folks at Urban Armor Gear sent me two of their Nato Straps for the Apple Watch:

 

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The Nato Strap comes in two colors. grey and olive. I gravitated towards the olive strap which is what I wore this past week:

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The branding is what you see in the picture above. The lugs have very little play as well and give the Apple Watch a bit of a different look.

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There’s black anodized stainless steel hardware and it’s made with high strength nylon that as a whole looks very militaristic. But overall, I will say that it will go well with causal clothing, or perhaps business casual clothing like I tend to wear (jeans with collard long sleeve shirts is what I usually roll with).

I wore the Nato Strap for a week, and I found it to be very comfortable in daily use. But I also did a couple of rides on my bike and it was equally of comfortable. And as a plus, it dries quickly when you do something athletic and get sweaty. That combination along with the fact that my Road ID for Apple Watch fits it perfectly makes it my go to for situations where I need to wear a band during the day doing my job and then going out for a ride after work or doing some other workout without changing bands.

Gripes? Only one minor one. A black color option would be welcome to those who want a bit more of a neutral option. But other than that, this is an absolutely brilliant Apple Watch band. Expect to pay $67 CDN for one.

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