Unobtrusive and relatively low cost, a beacon (or iBeacon when using Apple nomenclature) is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) device which contains its own battery unit which means they can be positioned pretty much anywhere. Although there are a variety of different beacons available, the most common flavour is when used in conjunction with a bluetooth enabled smartphone where the beacon’s signal triggers content for the smartphone when it comes into range.

Understandably it is the retail sector that has been pressing ahead with the technology, the ability to reach and inform consumers at the most opportune moment clearly a powerful marketing tool. However, to dismiss beacon technology as simply a new way to target customer would be to miss the point.

As this white paper sets out beacons can and will be used in a multitude of industries to aid transformation in digital services.

In this White Paper we explore:

• What is a beacon?
• How to they work?
• General uses
• Industry specific uses, including retail, academia, transport and events

Download your free copy of the Creative Uses for iBeacons white paper now.

Digital solutions should improve people’s lives. They should save time, save money and produce better outcomes for end users.

To achieve this, it is critically important that customers are willing to use a digital service, and that they find it intuitive, speedy and accessible. This means that investment has been well employed and that customers’ needs and preferences have been sufficiently taken into account in the design and implementation of the service.

In this White Paper we explore:

• How to design customer focused digital services including key strategies and best practice
• How customer focused services relate to current trends in digital technology
• Navigability and customer interaction with digital services
• Local Government and automotive case studies detailing radical improvements in services, through adopting a more customer-focused approach

In conclusion, we present a checklist of recommendations for customer-focused ecommerce websites, along with suggestions of ways to engage and retain customers.

Download your free copy of the Putting The User First White Paper now.

Adopting and implementing a digital transformation strategy is now an imperative. Enterprises and organisations of all sizes and types are seizing the initiative, as the brisk winds of digital change blow through international markets.

This white paper sets out the latest thinking on how companies and organisations can best harness the power of digital transformation, looking at the most recent trends, developments, risks and opportunities in this fast-moving sector.

Covering the latest trends and advancements in digital transformation, this white paper covers the following topics:

Cloud Computing

The paper looks at the growing importance of the Cloud and how the market will continue to grow for several years yet.

‘It is vital to choose the most appropriate cloud infrastructure to suit a business’s digital transformation, in order to meet users’ expectations and deliver a great digital experience, whether in online retail, providing information or in attracting talent.’

Bring Your Own Device

The paper explores the implications of organisations instigating BYOD policies and how it might impact productive and data security.

‘The roots of this shift are easy to spot: most people now own high-spec, fast, efficient mobile devices with giant memories that are more than capable of running enterprise software solutions and integrating with their employers’ office-based technology.’

Social Media

The paper looks at how ubiquitous social media websites have become, not just in a personal context but how they have become a necessary business tool.

‘The effectiveness of social media is no longer in question, but its omnipresence and the speed of its impact on commerce is consistently surprising.’

Mobile Solutions

The paper explores the growing number of people that only access the internet via a mobile device and what impact this has on businesses and organisations looking to interact with this segment.

‘Given the increasingly mobile nature of the global workforce, in both a literal and technological sense, those employers who ignore such demands may soon find themselves suffering from a talent drain as higher calibre employees move on. Investment in upgrading mobile technology has become a top priority.’

Download your free copy of The Digital Imperative White Paper now.

 

Way back in 2003, Arrk Group’s Executive Chairman Julian Howison was quoted in Computer Weekly (a June 24th article concerning the future impact of offshore on UK IT Services market) saying that when it comes to the offshoring of software development and support, “UK companies have no choice”. He said that for UK IT companies in particular it was “a matter of life or death”. At the time, it seemed pretty bold stuff.

However, between 2003-2008 Indian outsourcing industry revenues grew 210% from $10Bn to $31Bn and as predicted the offshoring of software development and support activities has become commonplace. The European proportion of this has grown very fast and now represents about 25% of the overall figure. Quite a feat.

In the heady rush offshore during the late 1990s and early 2000s, buyers of offshore services paid little attention to issues of productivity and quality. Management seemed only to care about saving money – and the more the merrier! The bigger the project, the faster it was thrown offshore.

Needless to say, not all such offshoring projects were successful. Indeed, having spoken to a great many senior IT managers and software product managers up and down the UK we find very few who talk 100% positively about offshore and we have talked to a significant percentage who are clearly still suffering a serious hangover as a result of their early offshore excesses.

The fundamental message that we at Arrk try to communicate to our Customers is that, as with most other walks of life, when it comes to offshoring software development and support there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Let’s be clear, offshoring can work. All too often we find ourselves sitting in front of a Customer who tells us with great solemnity that they are going to conduct a pilot project involving 3 people for 2 months so that they can determine whether or not offshore works! Hmm…

However, the careful reader will have noticed that we said ‘can work’ not ‘does work’. The truth is that offshoring is complex and for the uninitiated there are countless pitfalls and problems into which we see Customers falling time and time again.

Responsible offshoring

What we hope to do in this paper is to give the reader some sort of insight into what we believe makes offshoring fail – and by implication what makes it work. By passing on some of our experience, we hope that you will be able to avoid ending up with one of those unpleasant hangovers that can cause so much embarrassment at the boardroom table.

Download Thirteen Great Ways Your Offshore Project Will Fail White Paper now.

The devil makes work for idle hands – or so the saying goes. Nowadays however, getting ‘hacked’ has become far more than being infiltrated by a bored bedroom geek. Indeed, cyber crime is now such big business that it attracts real technical entrepreneurs chasing the promise of serious payback – either directly through fraudulent activity, or indirectly through the selling of any data with a perceived value. Wrong, yes. Devilish behaviour, most certainly. But idle? Far from it.

Protection from such activity has become big business too. From virus protection, anti-phishing tools and firewalls through to complex corporate network security and strict policy control regarding employee obligations, there is a constant battle between hackers and the security practitioners who have made profitable businesses out of security related products and services.

An area that is still so often missed however, is the area of security good practice within a business’ IT applications. We often find that whilst a company can exhibit good practice around Operating Systems, email and staff disciplinary procedures, the attitude to bespoke web software development is much weaker. There are a number of reasons for this – in our experience seven to be precise!

Written by Arrk Group’s security specialist partners, Matta Consulting, this paper aims to explore the most common sins and also exposes the myths that most often cause businesses to operate without appropriate web application security procedures in place.

Forewarned is forearmed!

To download the full White Paper free of charge please click here

In the world of increasing risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, regulators are becoming more strict and persuasive about how financial institutions are internally managing the risk. For the small and medium size companies cost of implementing compliance solution is always a concern.

This paper outlines the standard practices to implement solutions for Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Assessment of Affordability (AoA), especially in midsize financial institutions, and how IT can play an effective role in reducing the overall cost and time of implementation.

The white paper covers the following:

• Identifying key stakeholders
• Analysing organisation data
• Implementing AML and AoA for individual customers
• Implementing AML and AoA for corporate customers

Download your copy of the Anti Money Laundering and Assessment of Affordability White Paper now.