8 ways the cloud is more complex than you think

For a growing number of organizations, it’s not a question of whether they should move applications and development platforms to the cloud, but when. The cloud has become so well entrenched in corporate IT that it’s increasingly difficult to imagine business without it. Still, the move to cloud services is not without its share of…

Eaton’s RPA center of excellence pays off at scale

CIOs seeking operational efficiency are embracing robotic process automation (RPA), an emerging category of software programmed to execute routine tasks. The technology enables anything from low-level activities such as sifting through and generating response to emails, to orchestrating entire process flows in financial, HR and other corporate IT systems. Unlike artificial intelligence (AI) and machine…

Spotify this: How Zulily targets shoppers with hyper-personalized offers

Zulily has run surprise sales of clothing and merchandise since 2010, boldly operating in the shadow of Amazon.com. While most retailers fear the ecommerce kraken, whose tentacles seemingly know no bounds, Zulily consistently lures consumers with tailored offers generated by machine learning (ML) software.    Zulily CIO Luke Friang says the keys to successful hyper-personalization include…

IHG books big tech transformation

IHG is upgrading its IT systems and moving applications to the public cloud to remain afloat in a hospitality market where consumers have come to expect high-tech amenities ranging from mobile check-ins to robot concierges. Hotel chains have long under-invested in technology, opting to focus on white-glove customer service and other offerings that have a…

IT leadership’s new rules of engagement

In the lead up to Synchrony Financial being spun out from parent company GE and launching an initial public offering (IPO), Carol Juel was front and center explaining the newly independent company’s business strategy and innovation plans. Juel was even known to cart giant poster boards from meeting-to-meeting to help customers, partners, and internal employees…

6 reasons why AI projects fail

Eighteen months ago, Mr. Cooper launched an intelligent recommendation system for its customer service agents to suggest solutions to customer problems. The company, formerly known as Nationstar, is the largest non-bank mortgage provider in the U.S., with 3.8 million customers, so the project was viewed as a high-profile cost-saver for the company. It took nine…