4-10 June 2013 | ComputerWeekly.com

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GOOGLE APPS READY FOR THE ENTERPRISE

LEAN ANALYTICS TO CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING

INSURANCE FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY

DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS Is Google ready for GOVERNMENT

EDITOR’S COMMENT enterprise IT?

OPINION RISING CORPORATE ADOPTION SHOWS GOOGLE IS NO LONGER JUST A CHEAP AND CHEERFUL ALTERNATIVE BUYER’S GUIDE TO MOBILE DEVICE TO TRADITIONAL ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT

RUNREV LIVECODE 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE REVIEW

DOWNTIME

BACKGROUND IMAGE: HEMERA/THINKSTOCK GOOGLE IMAGE: VALENTYNA SAGAN/WIKICOMMONS THE WEEK IN IT

HOME Online security Healthcare IT UK masters students to help build NHS publishes £1.2bn GP IT framework NEWS trust in digital security The Department of Health has announced The UK national Cyber Security Challenge a £1.2bn framework for GP Systems of GOOGLE APPS and 15 UK universities are calling on Choice, a scheme that offers central fund- READY FOR masters students for ideas on improv- ing for GP clinical IT systems. The frame- THE ENTERPRISE ing confidence in, and the security of, work will last for two years, with a maxi- the internet economy and digital society. mum of 100 suppliers, and aims to provide LEAN ANALYTICS TO The Cyber Integrity and Meaning of Trust a range of GP IT systems and related CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING Competition offers winners an opportu- products and services to general practices nity to present their ideas to employers in the NHS in England, Scotland, Wales, looking to secure their online systems and Northern Ireland and the INSURANCE boost customer confidence. Isle of Man. access the latest FIRM ROLLS OUT it news via rss feed BYOD STRATEGY IT recruitment Cyber security IT professionals more motivated by More than half of UK citizens fearful DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS engaging projects than big pay rewards of nation-state cyber attacks GOVERNMENT IT professionals are more motivated by A survey has revealed that 53% of UK the prospect of interesting projects than a citizens are concerned about other coun- large compensation package, according to a tries launching damaging cyber attacks EDITOR’S COMMENT survey from recruitment consultant Robert against the UK. The survey of more than Walters. Its Career Lifestyle Survey found 1,000 UK consumers by security and that 57% of IT workers regard an interesting compliance firm Tripwire also revealed OPINION job or project “very important”, compared that 40% of respondents feel more vul- with only 37% who consider remuneration nerable to cyber attacks now than they BUYER’S GUIDE and benefits “very important”. did a year ago. TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT Mobile networks Internet infrastructure US mobile networks 75% faster than EU Half of the worldwide population will be RUNREV LIVECODE Mobile networks in the US are far more connected to the internet by 2017 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING advanced than those across Europe, Nearly half of the world’s population SOFTWARE REVIEW according to the mobile operator asso- will have access to the internet by 2017, ciation GSMA. A report from the group according to Cisco. The networking firm DOWNTIME claimed the speed of data networks across predicted 3.6 billion individuals across the the Atlantic were 75% faster than in coun- globe will be online in the next five years, tries in the European Union and predicted leading to a trebling of data going across this gulf would continue to widen. networks compared with today’s volume.

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computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 2 THE WEEK IN IT

HOME Mobile networks IT services Kroes pledges European telecoms Indian service provider growth NEWS legislation for 2014 drops by a third in 2012 Neelie Kroes called European politicians to Indian IT services firms suffered a dra- GOOGLE APPS arms recently to encourage them to back matic fall in sales in 2012, compared with READY FOR legislation to cut costs for mobile users and the previous year, but still far exceeded THE ENTERPRISE ensure a free internet. The vice-president of the average growth rate across the indus- the European Commission, responsible for try. According to Gartner, the top five LEAN ANALYTICS TO the digital agenda, claimed the European Indian suppliers’ revenues grew at an CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING Union needed “a different and very politi- average of 13.3%, compared with 21.8% cal discussion about delivering a telecoms in 2011. The industry average growth was single market” across the continent. 2% in 2012, compared with 7% in 2011. INSURANCE FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY Cloud computing Mobile technology Royal Opera House fine-tunes online Supermarkets and banks hold the key booking process with AWS cloud to mass adoption of mobile payments DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS The Royal Opera House has improved The use of mobile devices to pay for items GOVERNMENT customers’ experience of booking tickets and services instead of cash or cards online with a public cloud infrastructure would be widely adopted if supermarkets that eliminates the need for a virtual and banks were to offer an application- EDITOR’S COMMENT “waiting room” window on its website. based solution. In a study conducted by Scheduling about 500 performances payment provider Vocalink, over half of every year, the website provides a gate- UK smartphone users said they would be OPINION way for customers to book tickets for the encouraged to switch to mobile payments Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera. if supermarkets offered a service. BUYER’S GUIDE TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT Data breach Cyber security Drupal resets one million user China plans first digital war games passwords after hacker breach China’s state media say the country’s RUNREV LIVECODE Open source content management military plans to hold its first digital war 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING platform Drupal has reset the passwords games. A report by the SOFTWARE REVIEW for almost one million accounts after official Xinhua news access the latest it news via rss feed hackers gained access to its systems. agency said the exercise DOWNTIME According to the Drupal Association, the will “test new types of breach was the result of an attack that combat forces including units using digital exploited vulnerability in an undisclosed technology amid efforts to adjust to infor- third-party application. mationalised war”. n

DEMAND FOR IT PROFESSIONALS TO GROW IN 2013

7% Decrease number Change in 2012 of IT staff Anticipated change in 2013 5%

69% No change 56%

24% Increase number of IT staff 39% Source: CompTia

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 3 ANALYSIS

HOME V AL EN T Y N Is Google ready for A S NEWS A G A N / W I K GOOGLE APPS I the enterprise? C O READY FOR M

M

THE ENTERPRISE O

N Google is now a legitimate alternative S LEAN ANALYTICS TO to Microsoft in collaboration CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING software. Cliff Saran reports

INSURANCE he enterprise business is core to FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY Google’s future. Its approach to col- Tlaboration has potential benefits. But are IT directors ready to give it a go? DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS Google is known for its software as service GOVERNMENT tools, which include collaboration and the Google+ social network. Big Query provides business intelligence in the cloud and it EDITOR’S COMMENT recently introduced the Google Compute Engine for infrastructure as a service. “We were trying to Academic publisher Pearson has embraced OPINION put a consumer product the Google model to deliver collaboration software with greater flexibility than using into a traditional BUYER’S GUIDE Microsoft Office and SharePoint. TO MOBILE DEVICE enterprise and we have MANAGEMENT Prior to Office 365 and Skype, Microsoft collaboration was based on the Windows grown up together platform. While Microsoft worked well in a ” RUNREV LIVECODE traditional IT-centric view of desktop ser- 6.0 OPEN SOURCE Pete Shorney, Rentokil PROGRAMMING vices, the world has moved on. SOFTWARE REVIEW Users share documents on cloud services like DropBox and other consumer-focused planning; Lucid Chart is a technical dia- DOWNTIME online storage services; they use their own gramming generation tool and Insight.ly Android and iOS powered smartphones and offers a simple CRM [customer relationship tablets to connect to corporate email. management].” Danny Attias, CIO at performance He said software roll-out and licence man- improvement firm Grass Roots Group, agement for these cloud tools is easy: “There moved the company from Outlook in is a central pool of licences so it is impossible February 2012 because he wanted to avoid to be under-licensed. There is also no need the cost and complexity of on-premise email. to deploy any software. They just appear in The group, which has 1,400 employees the More menu in the Google environment.” IaaS globally, now uses Gmail. It used solutions The products are not from well-known sup- product provider AppsCare to replicate all user pliers. Attias’ due diligence process involved Google inboxes and folder structures into Google. looking up the number of downloads, check- Compute Soon after, they began using Google Docs ing user references and calling the help desk. Engine made for collaboration and Google Hangouts for available online conferencing. The company is also Early adopter using a number of third-party apps from the Five years ago, Rentokil was one of the first Pearson integrates Google Play marketplace. organisations to deploy Google Apps on a Google Attias said: “There are at least three tools global scale for email and collaboration. The Enterprise and that are integrated into our environment: first Android phones were coming to market Office 365 Smartsheet provides real-time project and it was still early days for Google Apps,

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 4 ANALYSIS

HOME which Google used to target consumers Location-based work with a free alternative to Microsoft Office. Sutton & East Surrey Water is another NEWS Pete Shorney, IT global operations director organisation running Google’s business at Rentokil, explains that both Rentokil and software. It has deployed Google Map GOOGLE APPS Google learnt from the experience: “We were Coordinate, which provides geo-location READY FOR trying to put a consumer product into a tradi- based scheduling for repairing water leaks. THE ENTERPRISE tional enterprise and have grown up together.” Jeremy Heath, network manager, said that Since 2009, this relationship has changed. working with Google is different to traditional LEAN ANALYTICS TO “Maturity has meant that Google now recog- CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING nises enterprise IT and IT departments as its customers,” he said. IT at Rentokil needed to adapt. Users “With Google, you INSURANCE needed to migrate to the new platform, but IT FIRM ROLLS OUT do everything online. BYOD STRATEGY needed to work in a more Google-like way. “We had a major shift in how we manage When I came across an Google as a supplier,” said Shorney. DRIVING DIGITAL issue I raised it online SERVICES ACROSS Unlike most traditional IT suppliers, Google GOVERNMENT does not work at the same pace as enter- and got an answer prise IT, so the concept of long release cycles I does not exist. “You cannot fight the tide of EDITOR’S back in 10 minutes” COMMENT innovation through change management,” Shorney said. Jeremy Heath, Traditionally, change management was to OPINION ensure an upgrade did not take the server Sutton & East Surrey Water down. “Since Google Apps is a web-based BUYER’S GUIDE software service we are never taking func- TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT tionality away, just adding more,” he said. However, Shorney admits they have expe- software companies, in terms of technical rienced a couple of issues recently, when support. “With Google, you do everything RUNREV LIVECODE Google dropped functionality. He said: “Our online,” he said. “When I came across an 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING relationship is such we get a heads-up, but in issue, I raised it online and I got an answer SOFTWARE REVIEW the early days ,the notification process was back in 10 minutes. The response actually not robust. Stuff was being switched off two came from Australia, which shows support is DOWNTIME days after we had been notified.” 24/7 around the world.” Now the notification occurs earlier. “Google What makes Sutton & East Surrey Water has two release tracks – rapid release and significant is that its application takes advan- scheduled release,” he said. tage of the Google API (application program- Shorney highlights the importance of ming interface) to create a line-of-business investing time to get users involved: “We application using geo-location targeted the roll-out on a division by division Similarly, Transport for London (TfL) has basis. Although we are UK-based, we trialled revamped its website, using the API in 700 users, starting in the US.” Google Maps to help commuters get around. The trial helped the IT team understand “We needed to create a good user experi- how to roll out Google: “A dedicated team of ence,” said Phil Young, head of online at TfL. Google admins The new site will use cookie-based person- › Haymarket dumps Exchange 2003 for Google – three to four alisation with mapping integrated into the › Lessons from going global with Google per location – journey planning application. › Google lacks enterprise credibility engaged with Such applications show that Google is no the business longer just a cheap and cheerful alternative divisions,” he said. The team went around to “proper” enterprise software. IT leaders the Rentokil sites wearing Google T-shirts to are increasingly finding that Google now provide users desk-side support. “Over a week offers a viable alternative to Microsoft for most users become confident,” said Shorney. collaboration software. n

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 5 INTERVIEW HOME How lean analytics has the potential NEWS

GOOGLE APPS to change business decision-making READY FOR THE ENTERPRISE The authors of a business book on lean analytics claim the technique is set to become the norm and will be taught in business schools. Brian McKenna reports LEAN ANALYTICS TO CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING ttending to the “one metric that really matters” is one principle of a lean Croll: Lean Analytics INSURANCE analytics approach propounded by is “not just a FIRM ROLLS OUT A BYOD STRATEGY Alistair Croll and Ben Yoskovitz, co-authors shift for startups of Lean Analytics. but for business Croll argues that there is afoot a “funda- decision-making” DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS mental shift in how businesses are run and GOVERNMENT how decisions are made”. And despite the affinity between theirLean Analytics book and Eric Ries’ Lean Startup, Croll says this is EDITOR’S COMMENT “not just a shift for startups but for busi- ness decision-making. It will be considered normal in three years and required curricu- OPINION lum in business schools in five”. Montreal-based Croll is the founder BUYER’S GUIDE of Solveforinteresting.com and has been TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT involved in a slew of events, including prediction of the future that does not O’Reilly’s Strata and Techweb’s Cloud sound unreasonable is not useful,” he says. Connect. In 2000, he co-founded Coradiant, “Founders by definition are people who like RUNREV LIVECODE a “user experience management company” to build things, and who have an unusual 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING acquired by BMC Software in 2011. view of today, because they need to envi- SOFTWARE REVIEW sion something different. So they will reject Testing business ideas popular feedback and have a bias towards DOWNTIME At the heart of what he and Yoskovitz building things they want to build.” call “lean analytics” is a democratisation of data, underpinned by cloud and social Asking the right questions media technologies. They argue it is now As a corrective to this entrepreneurial much more possible to try out business cognitive bias towards ignoring data, the hypotheses quickly, and find out who really two authors are running a lean analytics cares about a company’s product. Geckoboard workshop, on 7 June in the He gives the example of San Francisco- East End of London, at which Croll says they based Lit Motors, the maker of a fully- intend to “bring a broad range of examples enclosed electric motorcycle: “The risky of people applying data-driven analytical part of that was ‘who will care?’ It took its thinking in business to find the right product $700,000 seed investment, built a proto- for the right market more quickly”. Get your types showroom, watched people play with “But this does not just apply to small start- copy of Lean the prototypes and got pre-orders.” ups. There is a subversive style of [iterative] Analytics Startup entrepreneurs have a “bias to thinking here that is not taught in traditional build” that blinds them to using data to find business schools,” he adds. Business out what people will buy, says Croll. “Traditionally the MBA would be the applications, data analytics “Making what you can sell sounds like decision-maker and the business analyst would can make common sense, but think about the peo- deliver a requested report. The former is now business lean ple who start companies – for them, any exploring the data for himself or herself. A key

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 6 INTERVIEW

HOME shift is democratisation of analysis tools that business and you are losing a quarter of cus- are more interactive,” says Croll. tomers per year. Is that good or bad? Losing NEWS “The business leader of tomorrow is less the 2% of customers per month in a SaaS busi- person who can persuade others to act in the ness means that most stick around for four GOOGLE APPS absence of information, and more the person years. That’s good.” READY FOR who asks good questions, recognising that THE ENTERPRISE their gut feel is just a hypothesis to be tested. The business has to tolerate them asking LEAN ANALYTICS TO questions. In the past, the person asking ques- “The business leader CHANGE BUSINESS tions all the time was just annoying,” he says. DECISION-MAKING of tomorrow is less Data-driven lean startup the person who can INSURANCE Croll speaks of a logical sequence for a data- FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY driven lean startup. Find 100 people who persuade others to care about your product and make them stick around; get virality; make some money; invest act in the absence of DRIVING DIGITAL to acquire new customers; then grow the busi- SERVICES ACROSS information, and more GOVERNMENT ness more conventionally with a more expan- sive sales and marketing organisation. the person who asks And so, a new restaurant business would EDITOR’S good questions COMMENT avoid expensive marketing and making fancy ” menu cards upfront, instead experimenting with different menus, and would move for- OPINION ward once it had hit on what was working. Croll’s advice for enterprise IT is to stop “Once you’ve got the right menu, you go jealously protecting technology that is not BUYER’S GUIDE for virality, then control costs, spend money so precious any more: “It was designed for TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT on ads to acquire new customers, and so on,” a world where computers were scarce. Now says Croll. they are abundant and we make money He says it is crucial to know what your key around it, not from it. It’s like being an author RUNREV LIVECODE metric is: “Most people don’t know what [of a business book] – you make money 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING metric to look at for their business. For exam- because you have a book, not so much from SOFTWARE REVIEW ple, you are a SaaS [software as a service] the book.” n

DOWNTIME ISTOCKPHOTO/THINKSTOCK

Data Lean Analytics authors Alistair hoarding and Croll and Ben Yoskovitz say it is bias among big challenges in now possible to try out business big data and hypotheses quickly analytics

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Because there’s no substitute for experience CASE STUDY HOME Insurance firm’s BYOD plan had to NEWS

GOOGLE APPS keep pace with security compliance READY FOR THE ENTERPRISE Straightforward GUI and the ability to retire a device from a network made MobileIron an appealing prospect for Hamilton Fraser. Jennifer Scott reports LEAN ANALYTICS TO CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING

INSURANCE THINKSTOCK FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY

DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS GOVERNMENT

EDITOR’S COMMENT

OPINION

BUYER’S GUIDE TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT

RUNREV LIVECODE 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE REVIEW nsurance firm Hamilton Fraser has signed high on my list, when I am looking at solu- up with MobileIron to help it roll out a tions, that they are resilient and secure. bring your own device (BYOD) strategy “It is a double-edged sword. Technology DOWNTIME I across the business. moves so fast, but so do security threats, and The company specialises in home insur- because we are tied to government contracts ance and is one of the government’s major we need to make sure everything is secure contractors for the tenancy deposit protec- – especially while working towards our tion scheme, made compulsory in 2006, ISO27001 compliance,” he adds. which gives both landlords and tenants an independent arbitrator to solve any disputes Supporting BYOD when moving from a rented property. Agathangelou began thinking about BYOD Hamilton Fraser’s main base is in Barnet, in 2012 when he saw the office environment Warren North London, where it houses 125 employ- begin to change. School ees. The company has a big focus on tech- “I noticed the youngsters who work for the upgrades nology, with 23 of its staff working in IT roles. company on their mobile devices at lunch- legacy IT for BYOD and “My own vision centres on the fact tech- time, playing games and using social net- flexibility nology is always on the move,” says Pete works. Then I noticed how the devices were Agathangelou, IT manager at Hamilton being used by senior managers who wanted Case study: Fraser. “Business resilience and security is their email on the go,” he says. City of London such a huge area in terms of credibility for a “Both these scenarios pose a risk. A dis- School goes firm like us, for potential partners, customers gruntled employee could easily send out wireless and anyone we serve. That means it is very emails uncontrolled if you aren’t careful.”

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 9 CASE STUDY

HOME The IT team had already embraced mobil- over a couple of months and MobileIron ity by rolling out corporate iOS devices was the best fit.” NEWS – iPhones and iPads – as these were both After deployment by ITSE, which took no cost-effective and popular with staff. more than a day and a half, the IT team was GOOGLE APPS “We had a look at what was available, and able to establish how many people were READY FOR as a relatively small company the overheads accessing the network for business and THE ENTERPRISE were not too bad,” says Agathangelou. In contrast, the cost of a full corporate roll-out LEAN ANALYTICS TO of BlackBerry devices would be difficult to e needed something CHANGE BUSINESS “W DECISION-MAKING justify for a small business, he adds. However, Hamilton Fraser realised Apple reliable enough to devices were not the only ones employees cope with whatever INSURANCE were using on the corporate network. FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY “You cannot control what people are going the industry throws at to bring in and there is no question iOS is extremely popular, especially with our us and we wanted to DRIVING DIGITAL board members and the business develop- SERVICES ACROSS make sure it was not GOVERNMENT ment people,” Agathangelou says. “But, at the same time, you can’t ignore the fact just about the price” Samsung is the biggest shipper of smart- EDITOR’S COMMENT phones, so Android is still a huge area for us. Pete Agathangelou, “We need something that will be reliable enough to cope with whatever the industry Hamilton Fraser OPINION throws at us and wanted to make sure it was not just about the price.” BUYER’S GUIDE whether they were using an approved device TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT Securing network access or circumventing the system another way. In September 2012, Agathangelou asked his team to draw up a list of suppliers which Acceptable use policy RUNREV LIVECODE could help identify the size of the existing “This was the first stage of our strategy with 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING problem and find ways to tackle the issue of MobileIron,” says Agathangelou. “Now we SOFTWARE REVIEW access to the corporate network with unau- are working on the second stage, which is thorised devices. tying those users down.” DOWNTIME Trials began with both paid for and free Teaming up with human resources, the IT solutions to see what would give the best department has created an acceptable use results for Hamilton Fraser’s environment. policy and is raising awareness among staff. “The BYOD market is extremely fast mov- Those who want to use their own devices ing, so we knew we would have to review the must have an application downloaded to strategy on an almost annual basis to make their mobile or tablet that will enable IT to sure we were compatible with any changes,” wipe any corporate data from the device if it he says.“MobileIron was not the cheapest, is lost or stolen, or wipe the entire device if but the GUI [graphical user interface] was the employee so wishes. straightforward and did not have the same “The user policy has been accepted and, delay issues in most cases, people have been reasonably as some of the positive,” says Agathangelou. “People don’t › BYOD to force mobile operators into services others. have anything to fear – all it does is vali- › Managing BYOD endpoint security › WatchGuard warns against security threat “The support date the way they access the data. The way from partner IT we have handled the communications has Security Experts involved marketing and explained what we [ITSE] was excellent and features such as are doing and why.” retiring a device from a system and it never Hamilton Fraser has regular contact with receiving corporate email again was better ITSE to keep on top of any future features it than wiping it. We conducted the survey could add to its BYOD deployment. n

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 10 INTERVIEW HOME Government CTO sees technology NEWS

GOOGLE APPS as an enabler for digital change READY FOR THE ENTERPRISE Government CTO Liam Maxwell talks to Kathleen Hall about raising awareness of cloud services across government and taking a user-first approach to technology LEAN ANALYTICS TO CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING iam Maxwell, the government’s first In the future, shared services centres will chief technology officer (CTO), has provide much of the back-office functional- INSURANCE driven Whitehall’s IT transformation ity across departments, with desktop infra- FIRM ROLLS OUT L BYOD STRATEGY agenda for several years, previously holding structure connectivity now a commodity. posts as deputy government CIO and direc- Large mainframes running the old ICL VME tor of ICT futures at the Cabinet Office. operating system may remain in a few big DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS During his time at the Cabinet Office departments, such as the Department for GOVERNMENT Maxwell has earned a bulldog-like reputation Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & and is famed for responding to requests for Customs, “but once you move away from expensive IT projects by holding up a sign on that, the infrastructure can become com- EDITOR’S COMMENT his phone reading, “What is the user need?” moditised”, says Maxwell. But providing departments have seen the A user-need approach to technology light and agree that large-scale systems applies internally to civil servants as much as OPINION integrator-led projects are a thing of the past, to the public-facing piece. “That means we he is keen for Whitehall to realise that the can start implementing some of the same BUYER’S GUIDE Cabinet Office is there to help it save money. reforms that we have started to put into TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT To this end, the Cabinet Office has released digital public services into the technology we a set of documents aimed at providing a have,” he says. blueprint for CTOs redesigning Whitehall RUNREV LIVECODE digital services in its Government Service Cultural changes 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING Design Manual. Maxwell believes some departments have SOFTWARE REVIEW Does he see this as an aid to departments already built sufficient capability to take that have large IT contracts coming up for some of their previously outsourced tech- DOWNTIME renewal? “No. A lot of departments’ con- nology back in-house. “That is another key tracts finish in the next couple of years. If you part of it – the ability to get the skills back. look at the chart it goes like this after 2014,” We spent years outsourcing our IT. And we he says, drawing a steep downward curve. gave all our IT people away to the private “And you have to ask yourself, ‘Do we want sector, so we are now getting some people to continue spending £2,000 per employee back in.” The Government Digital Service is to run things like hosting?’ Probably not.” Some contracts may be renewed, he says, but the point is the models for delivering IT Government have changed. “This has been a really mov- departments ing field. Just three to four years ago, people CW500 handed manual were going out and buying a lot of tin, run- interview for digital ning it and hooking it up with massively high- Maxwell: “There is services speed fibre links. And in some places the a lot of confusion redesign relative cost per user is extremely high. Yet about what is digital now it’s available as a commodity,” he says. and what is IT” G-Cloud The cloud has transformed everything, says framework the model of the Maxwell. “That is a really big cultural change. future, says This is our way of making sure people are Liam Maxwell aware of that transition,” he says.

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 11 INTERVIEW

HOME additionally building a recruitment hub to digital transactions – the most challeng- help departments re-skill. ing aspect of the goal to move to a digital NEWS He points to Estonia as an example government. of a country doing successful digital Maxwell says this is progressing at speed. GOOGLE APPS government, due to its high in-house “Transactions are going like gangbusters at READY FOR technical expertise. “The whole point of this the moment,” he says. “Digital transactions THE ENTERPRISE is to help people take charge of their own for the government are the future. The tech- destiny and be able to be in control of their nology piece is to support that. But the big LEAN ANALYTICS TO own IT,” says Maxwell. priority at the moment is the transactions.” CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING “Part of our time also is what we call collo- quially ‘the bench’, so it’s about co-delivery, which is where we have a department “Just three to four INSURANCE saying ‘actually, we need some help’. That FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY is a more positive and collaborative way of years ago, people were working,” he adds. The term “ICT” has been dropped from the buying a lot of tin, DRIVING DIGITAL government’s lexicon, with “IT” also a fast SERVICES ACROSS running it and hooking GOVERNMENT disappearing acronym, he says. The pre- ferred language is to talk about technology it up with massively as an enabler for digital change. EDITOR’S high speed fibre links COMMENT “ICT is redolent of the aggregation of IT, - . but over the past 18 months we’ve been dis- In some places the aggregating and doing exactly the opposite, OPINION which is why we have moved away from the relative cost per user phrase,” says Maxwell. BUYER’S GUIDE “Increasingly, we are talking about tech- is extremely high. Yet TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT nology because we are focusing on users’ needs.” As technology such as hosting now it is available becomes commoditised, they are turning as a commodity” RUNREV LIVECODE into “technologies” rather than “IT functions” 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING that require layers of management to run. SOFTWARE REVIEW “‘Government as a platform’ is the He says the Government Service Design approach we are using in the digital space, Manual will support the move to put 25 big DOWNTIME but it is also the approach we are using in transactions online across government in the technology space,” says Maxwell. This the next two years: “This is a key compo- involves identifying common areas that can nent of preparing the ground for that, and it be shared and then redesigned. ties in with that.” “There is a lot of confusion in some quar- Maxwell estimates there are around 50 ters about what is digital and what is IT individuals in CTO roles across government. – [until] you state what the nomenclature But is there a danger that by appealing to this is and what things actually mean, which is group he is preaching to the converted? what the “The manual is not just for the CTO com- › Interview: Mark Hall, CIO, HM Revenue & Customs manual munity,” he says. “Our whole approach is › Interview: Gwyn Thomas, CIO, Welsh Government does,” we want to publish and be open with every- › Interview: Sally Howes, CIO, National Audit Office he says. one. So this is also for senior leaders in the “Digital is civil service – it’s not specifically technical, a transformation play; it is about transform- although there are some technical aspects.” ing the business – it just happens to involve Maxwell acknowledges that change cannot quite a lot of technology.” be driven from the centre with a stick alone. “We are looking for feedback as well. We Moving to digital are very keen on peer review and being very Breaking silos and moving to a platform open to people. We don’t have a monopoly approach will also be important in enabling on the best way of doing things,” he says. n

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 12 EDITOR’S COMMENT HOME Those who ignore the NEWS Computer Weekly/ComputerWeekly.com 1st Floor, 3-4a Little Portland Street, London W1W 7JB

GOOGLE APPS changes in IT sector GENERAL ENQUIRIES READY FOR THE ENTERPRISE 020 7186 1400 could drop off a cliff EDITORIAL LEAN ANALYTICS TO Editor in chief: Bryan Glick 020 7186 1424 CHANGE BUSINESS [email protected] DECISION-MAKING atching the IT industry at the moment is like reading a good crime novel. There are Managing editor (technology): Cliff Saran 020 7186 1421 pieces of evidence appearing, often appar- [email protected] INSURANCE W ently unconnected, but which all point to one ines- FIRM ROLLS OUT Head of premium content: Bill Goodwin BYOD STRATEGY capable conclusion. 020 7186 1418 The difference in IT is that this is not a question of [email protected] “Who done it?” but of “Who hasn’t done it?” Services editor: Karl Flinders DRIVING DIGITAL 020 7186 1423 SERVICES ACROSS The nature of the disruptive change underway in the IT [email protected] GOVERNMENT sector is not gradual and evolutionary, but a path to a cliff Security editor: Warwick Ashford – and once you’re over that cliff there’s no going back. 020 7186 1419 It is the case in the PC market, with Dell and HP bound [email protected] EDITOR’S Networking editor: Jennifer Scott COMMENT to the past by inertia and old business models as PC 020 7186 1404 sales suffer record declines. It is happening in business [email protected] too, with retailers like HMV, Comet and Blockbuster fail- Senior reporter: Kathleen Hall OPINION 020 7186 1426 ing to spot the dramatic shift to digital. [email protected] And another area the cliff is going to suddenly appear BUYER’S GUIDE Special projects editor: Kayleigh Bateman in front of a lot of suppliers is the cloud – and here is 020 7186 1415 TO MOBILE DEVICE [email protected] MANAGEMENT another clue to the how this one is going to play out. Research from Morgan Stanley has predicted a dra- Datacentre editor: Archana Venkatraman 020 7186 1411 matic increase in revenue to Amazon Web Services [email protected] RUNREV LIVECODE (AWS), the web giant’s cloud computing operation. 6.0 OPEN SOURCE Storage editor: Antony Adshead PROGRAMMING Morgan Stanley says AWS will reach $24bn in sales by 07779 038528 [email protected] SOFTWARE REVIEW 2022, compared with an estimated $2bn now. Macquarie Capital, meanwhile, predicts AWS will hit Business applications editor: Brian McKenna 020 7186 1414 DOWNTIME $38bn revenue in five years, taking up 53% of all cloud [email protected] spending. Morgan Stanley warns that suppliers of server Editorial content assistant: Caroline Baldwin and storage technology are likely to suffer as a result. 020 7186 1425 [email protected] The only argument seems to be over just how big Production editor: Claire Cormack AWS will become, and how quickly. 020 7186 1417 It’s not just Amazon, of course – although the com- [email protected] pany has a head start on its rivals. Senior sub-editor: Jason Foster 020 7186 1420 Google is gaining growing credibility as an enterprise [email protected] supplier and while its corporate revenues are relatively Sub-editor: Philip Jones small today, there’s every chance they will go through a 020 7186 1416 similar boom in coming years. Google will be a threat in [email protected] many sectors of corporate IT. DISPLAY ADVERTISING The other difference between IT and a crime novel is Sales director: Brent Boswell that all this is entirely predictable, and you don’t need to 07584 311889 read the final page of the book to know what is going to [email protected] happen. We’ll find out “who hasn’t done it” when those Group events manager: Jonathan Palma 0207 186 1451 511161 suppliers fall off the cliff. n [email protected]

Bryan Glick Editor in chief

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 13 OPINION HOME The future of application development NEWS As cloud adoption increases throughout the enterprise, moving quickly is GOOGLE APPS important to gain a competitive advantage. David Mitchell Smith reports READY FOR THE ENTERPRISE ast year, cloud was one of the new While it is important to act swiftly to forge LEAN ANALYTICS TO trends to watch — creating new oppor- a competitive advantage from these trends, CHANGE BUSINESS tunities and risks through a service- it is also vital that choices made in applica- DECISION-MAKING L oriented architecture (SOA). tion architecture and development are right Cloud adoption continues to increase and — because they set an organisation on its INSURANCE most organisations are making important path for the future. Tomorrow’s success- FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY decisions in executing their cloud strategies. ful organisations will be defined by their Not all new applications are intended for a choices today. cloud deployment, but as organisations build DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS up their private cloud environments (adopt- Choosing the right solutions GOVERNMENT ing private platform-as-a-service in their In the era of the nexus, it is important that datacentres), they will look to migrate their AD leaders integrate the past into their applications to the cloud. plans; with the past comes much experi- EDITOR’S COMMENT Furthermore, deploying an application that ence, much value and also much baggage. is not cloud-enabled over a private or public To move forward, organisations must not PaaS (platform as a service) can defeat all only integrate legacy offerings and assets, OPINION the “cloudiness” implemented in the cloud but do so in a way that reduces complex- infrastructure below the application. ity and minimises their dependence on BUYER’S GUIDE Another hot issue is the explosion of the legacy thinking. TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT mobile device market, which brings with it At the same time, organisations must take the need to support mobile and social appli- advantage of new, disruptive innovations in cations together with rapid growth in the technology without creating chaos in existing RUNREV LIVECODE volume, variety and velocity of data. applications portfolios. With more functional- 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING ity and integration added to an organisation’s SOFTWARE REVIEW Internal capabilities needed major applications, it is vital that application Increasing demand for mobile and multi- governance is given the attention it deserves. DOWNTIME channel means that a rapidly increasing An application strategy that can adapt to the number of organisations need to develop necessary increase in the pace of change will an internal mobile application development be a core characteristic of successful busi- (AD) capability. But productivity challenges nesses in the years to come. will drive businesses towards partnering with Finally, with budget a concern, organisa- external organisations to deliver solutions in tions must use this period of change to mod- a timely and cost-effective manner. ernise their applications portfolios, review Gartner predicts that by 2015, mobile AD the real cost and business value of cloud, projects targeting smartphones and tablets SOA and agile, and take meaningful action on will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio choosing the right providers and negotiating of 4:1. However, while mobile AD becomes the best terms and conditions from them. n a large percentage of total AD work and CIO mobile application development platforms strategy rapidly mature, mobile development prac- for 2013 tices lack common agreement on best prac- tices and broad skills availability. Video Gartner categorises the combination of interview: Gartner chief information, cloud, social and mobile com- of research, puting as a “nexus of forces”, which CIOs David Mitchell Smith is a vice- Chris Howard should consider as part of their strategy. president and Gartner fellow

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 14 BUYER’S GUIDE

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BUYER’S GUIDE TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT BUYER’Smobile device management GUIDE part 3 of 3

RUNREV LIVECODE 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE REVIEW Care home operator manages DOWNTIME Apple estate with Absolute Software firm offers the right MDM solutions for LNT Group to manage a fleet of iPhones without needing individual iTunes accounts. Cliff Saran reports

Integrated NT Group, which operates Ideal Care Homes, has deployed a mobile device manage- business ment (MDM) system from Absolute Software to manage a fleet of iPhones. services As Computer Weekly has previously reported, LNT Group, decided to migrate from address BlackBerry and develop an Apple-only estate. enterprise LLeigh Ellis, development team manager, says: “We were seeing a large increase in people MDM, who wanted to use their own iPhone and Android smartphones. The chairman wanted to give analytics everyone a phone, which would enable staff who work at the care homes to have a two-way communication with head office”. Multiple In December 2011, the company decided the best approach would be to standardise with operating systems iPhones. These were rolled out to 1,700 staff in June 2012. complicate In terms of security, Ellis says LNT Group wanted to ensure everyone could access email BYOD policies, and certain documents securely. “We needed to set guides to determine what people could but MDM helps access,” Ellis explains.

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 15 BUYER’S GUIDE

HOME Some documents were time and location specific. For instance, document access was restricted at weekends. NEWS “We started thinking about the constraints such as what we wanted to block and the potential problems that would arise with these security measures,” Ellis says. Most lapses in GOOGLE APPS security occur when someone needs to access something that was not considered when the READY FOR security strategy was drawn up. To accommodate this request, security becomes relaxed. THE ENTERPRISE Finding the right provider LEAN ANALYTICS TO With the roll-out of iPhones, Ellis looked at what could be done to restrict access. He CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING admits that in this respect, iOS was quite limited. “There was an API but it was not easy for an end-user to configure,” he says. Luckily, a search on the internet revealed there were quite a lot of MDM solutions, upwards of INSURANCE 37 providers. He says: “We narrowed this FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY down to a small number that did exactly what we needed.” In terms of feature set, the company “It did not take very DRIVING DIGITAL wanted a dynamic live inventory. Previously SERVICES ACROSS long to enrol GOVERNMENT LNT attempted to manage 100 devices on 1,700 a spreadsheet, which needed to change phones compared with manually, and it was not accurate. EDITOR’S COMMENT Each device required individual hands-on other products. With attention from IT for typical maintenance requirements such as updates. This was 10 people, we got all OPINION time consuming and left the deployment the phones setup in a vulnerable to human error and other poten- BUYER’S GUIDE tial inconsistencies. TO MOBILE DEVICE day and we didn’t have MANAGEMENT Ellis says LNT Group wanted MDM soft- ware that could maintain a live connection to plug the iPhone into with the phone to improve manageability. RUNREV LIVECODE “We also wanted automatic email configu- a computer” 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING ration to push email down to the phone and SOFTWARE REVIEW we wanted to push down apps without the need to set up an iTunes account for every DOWNTIME user, which would have been time consuming,” he says. Another requirement concerned data loss prevention: the MDM software needed to lock stolen and lost phones and enforce pass- codes to provide stricter access controls. Ellis narrowed down the 37 to a shortlist of four. He then looked at the benefits of each product and selected Absolute Manage from Absolute Software.

Specialising in iphone management Absolute Software specialises in firmware-embedded endpoint security and manage- ment for computers and ultra-portable devices. Its Computrace persistence technology is embedded in the firmware of computers, netbooks and tablets from manufactures includ- ing Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba. Absolute Manage allows organisations to remotely manage and secure endpoint devices from a single console, including PC, Mac, iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. One of the main reasons for going with Absolute Manage was because of how the product manages iPhone apps. Absolute Software offered app enrolment without the need for iTunes and it also gave LNT group the ability to enrol employee-owned devices, which would enable the company to offer staff the ability to use their own smartphones. Ellis says: “It did not take very long to enrol 1,700 phones compared with other products. With 10 people, we got all the phones setup in a day and we didn’t have to plug the iPhone into a computer. All configuration was achieved over Wi-Fi.”

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 16 BUYER’S GUIDE

HOME In terms of the back-end, Ellis says it was unnecessary to make changes to the firm’s IPHONE APP NEWS Active Directory to build policies for access. DEVELOPMENT Absolute Manage integrates seamlessly with GOOGLE APPS the Windows Active Directory so that exist- Ellis started with no experience of pro- READY FOR ing employee details could be imported to gramming the iPhone but ended up devel- THE ENTERPRISE Absolute Manage for consistency across the oping the iLNT app after only five months. organisation so there was no need for IT to He says: “I did a computing degree. I had LEAN ANALYTICS TO perform manual data entry. Java experience, but I had not used the CHANGE BUSINESS Objective C programming language that DECISION-MAKING Absolute Manage allows LNT to wirelessly configure, query and wipe or lock managed Apple uses for the iPhone.” He took a devices. For example, it provides policy- one-week course on iPhone programming INSURANCE locked configuration profiles so that noncom- and taught himself how to develop apps FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY pliant devices (jailbroken, blacklisted apps for the iPhone. The software he ended up installed) are blocked from accessing the developing needed to integrate with the corporate networks and email. company’s back-end HR system, which DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS Ellis adds: “We used Absolute Safe to involved building a back-end web server. GOVERNMENT define policies based on documents.” To support applications on the iPhone, Absolute Software provides its own app store EDITOR’S COMMENT which Ellis rebranded as the LNT Appstore. Ellis says the company uses this to distribute its own iLNT employee portal app, as well as suggest apps staff may like to use. One of these is the Facebook Page Manager app which care home managers can use to access the Facebook OPINION page of care homes.

BUYER’S GUIDE The advantages of the app TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT The iLNT employee self-service app enables staff to see their clock-in hours and request holidays. Since staff are also shareholders, employees can also use iLNT to access their share certificate. The iLNT app additionally serves as a communications tool, allowing head RUNREV LIVECODE office to send news updates to staff. 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING Following the iPhone roll-out, Ellis says the LNT group is now looking at rolling out iPads to SOFTWARE REVIEW each care home to provide access to Skype. He is also planning to develop a care home app which will be used to provide training videos. DOWNTIME The LNT Group’s roll-out of iPhones represents the way IT would traditionally provide IT equipment to employees. Some businesses may be tempted to avoid the cost of the device totally, where employees use their own devices. MDM products such as Absolute Manage can secure these devices but the business needs permission to install software on the employee’s device. Then there is the reimbursement minefield. According to research from Nucleus Research that looked at US communications charges, in a well- managed corporate environment the monthly telco bill per › MDM is no BYOD silver bullet employee would be no more than $65. However, staff using › Microsoft’s push on MDM, cloud and BYOD › How to manage mobility beyond using MDM their own devices would have their own mobile contracts. Nucleus Research estimates that employee reimbursement on telco costs would be $75 or more. From a financial perspective, the big winner in BYOD (bring your own device) is the network operators. Instead of dealing with the might of corporate procurement, bargaining power is diluted back to the individual employee who lacks the time, knowledge and buying power to drive a hard bargain. By driving support back to the carriers, enterprises also lose control of their technology and data and gain additional dependence on the supplier, the report stated. By issuing devices to staff, LNT Group has avoided this hidden cost. It also means the company gets around the tax implications that would occur if a business subsidised device purchases. n

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 17 REVIEW: RUNREV LIVECODE 6.0

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BUYER’S GUIDE TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT Does RunRev LiveCode really RUNREV LIVECODE 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING make programming easy? SOFTWARE REVIEW LiveCode’s drag and drop programming GUI offers an interesting introduction DOWNTIME to the world of software application development. Adrian Bridgwater reports

cottish cross-platform programming specialist RunRev released its LiveCode 6.0 software recently, with a promise of drag and drop programming that anyone can use. Now available in a free of charge, open source community edition, the software is presented to the user through a Sgraphical user interface (GUI) with an English-style programming language. LiveCode apps can be deployed across all popular In creating platforms for mobile, desktop and server on Windows, LiveCode, Mac OS, Linux, iOS and Android. Its maker cites exam- ples of apps already developed, from ebooks to games RunRev has and onward to apps for business automation, entertain- ment, medical, health, sports and nature. engineered a Three Developed via a successful Kickstarter campaign questions to new feature which raised £500,000 in funding, LiveCode is said to ask before developing draw inspiration from the HyperTalk programming lan- called Open mobile apps for guage that used to ship with Apple’s line of computers business way back when they were known as the Macintosh. Language

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 18 REVIEW: RUNREV LIVECODE 6.0

HOME Free under the under the GPL3 licence, the LiveCode ive ode puts 6.0 Community Edition’s liberty comes with the stipu- L C NEWS lation that users must also release their app source programming code for public access. The high-level language used by GOOGLE APPS LiveCode is purposely abstracted to present an English- in the hands READY FOR like syntax for programming. THE ENTERPRISE Application functions can be built with support for of students, scrolling, use of graphics and tablet-centric capabili- business LEAN ANALYTICS TO ties, such as accelerometers, multi-touch gestures CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING and motion detection. Users create applications based professionals around “stacks” of cards and then select which UI elements to add to each card, such as forms, buttons, and novice INSURANCE menus, text boxes and media items. FIRM ROLLS OUT developers, BYOD STRATEGY LiveCode maker RunRev says LiveCode puts program- ming in the hands of students, business professionals regardless and novice developers, regardless of their familiarity DRIVING DIGITAL of their SERVICES ACROSS with programming. The visual development environ- GOVERNMENT ment is easy enough to learn and is intended to let users write software as they learn the basic techniques behind familiarity with computer programming teaching and logical thinking. EDITOR’S programming COMMENT To make the open source version of LiveCode pos- sible, RunRev has reorganised some 500,000 lines of C++ code running on the six supported platforms of Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and OPINION Windows Server. In doing so, it has also engineered a new feature called Open Language that allows anyone to create a new command or function without having to touch the core. The BUYER’S GUIDE firm claims this is a first for an open source programming language. TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT Getting started The 43.5MB file should take just a few minutes to download via a reasonable internet con- RUNREV LIVECODE nection. After you enter your name and email address, you will need to get past the secu- 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING rity Captcha code to progress to the community edition download. At this point you will SOFTWARE REVIEW also have the option to download the paid-for commercial edition, which is charged at $500, but let’s assume that you are going to download the free and open source release. DOWNTIME Once downloaded, you can exit your browser and check your downloads folder to identify the “LiveCodeCommunityInstaller-6_0_0-Windows.exe” file which should be waiting for you.

Mobile app development trends to The 43.5MB file should take just a few minutes to watch download via a reasonable internet connection

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 19 REVIEW: RUNREV LIVECODE 6.0

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Create New Mainstack Adding a field to the stack DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS GOVERNMENT

EDITOR’S COMMENT Creating an application A user starts off by creating a New Mainstack from the top of the File menu. From this point onward actions can be added to the object from the Tools menu displayed on the OPINION left-hand side of the screen. LiveCode is a drag and drop programming GUI which serves as a very interesting introduc- BUYER’S GUIDE tion to the world of software application development TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT for anyone, but it would be unfair to suggest that an initial basis in programming would not help you at this It would be point. Buttons, checkboxes, labels, shapes and other RUNREV LIVECODE items can be placed on the workspace and the user can unfair to 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING then start to ascribe functions to these graphical items suggest that SOFTWARE REVIEW using the Code function on the top menu. a little DOWNTIME Learning tools Also included from the top menu is a Resource Centre programming and a Dictionary, which provide a fairly comprehensive (if not particularly simplified) route to getting skilled knowledge up in LiveCode. would not help There is just about enough screen real estate (even on a 15in laptop screen) to run LiveCode with a YouTube you use LiveCode

Digital app developer skills take LiveCode running with a YouTube instructional video centre stage in window shrunk to fit the available space (above) and corporate IT LiveCode Dictionary feature (left)

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 20 HOME instructional video window shrunk to fit NEWS the available space as you learn your way GOOGLE APPS with the software – READY FOR and this is probably THE ENTERPRISE the most prudent way to start off. LEAN ANALYTICS TO While LiveCode CHANGE BUSINESS DECISION-MAKING will always be dis- tanced from official development tools in INSURANCE either the Windows, FIRM ROLLS OUT BYOD STRATEGY Apple or other camps, it could cer- tainly be argued DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS that it supports GOVERNMENT enough fea- tures of these platforms at any one single release to satisfy most users starting out in programming. EDITOR’S COMMENT Don’t be fooled though – you won’t be producing the next Angry Birds inside your first 24 hours with this tool. Even the most basic read and write commands will seem like rocket sci- ence to the complete novice to start with. Programmers with an existing basis of knowledge OPINION may find it nothing more than a distraction, and yet another language to learn despite its simplified presentation, so there are trade-offs here. BUYER’S GUIDE If you have a craving to keep learning, if you have the TO MOBILE DEVICE desire to break the mysticism associated with software MANAGEMENT esource application development controls shared by the non- A R technical community, and if you have the time to invest Centre and RUNREV LIVECODE in the product, then it could just turn you into the next 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING big thing in software. n Dictionary SOFTWARE REVIEW provide a fairly

DOWNTIME comprehensive route to learning skills in LiveCode

LiveCode is a drag and drop programming GUI. Buttons, checkboxes, labels, shapes and other items can be placed on the workspace What’s next for mobile and the user can ascribe application functions to these graphical development? items using the Code function

computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 21 DOWNTIME

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Tasty stakes shut down in Ohio “determined to end the exploitation.” DRIVING DIGITAL SERVICES ACROSS The days of the internet café seem a So, if you ever end up in Ohio, stick to GOVERNMENT distant memory as we all pile into the Starbucks and the casinos – there ain’t no nearest coffee chain with our own devices one-stop shop any more... and leech off of the Wi-Fi. At least we still EDITOR’S COMMENT have the choice... Finally, the gadget we’ve all been Residents in Ohio have been told by the waiting for... iSpoon local law enforcers there will be no more This is what every gadget-loving foodie OPINION internet cafés and a full-scale ban is set to needs in their kitchen - an iSpoon. be unleashed. Why? Because they believe Remember the last time you were using BUYER’S GUIDE the venues are a front for gambling! the Jamie Oliver app on your iPad and TO MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT Turns out when people stopped needing confused your stylus with your wooden the venues, owners looked into making spoon, consequently getting passata all their money in other ways. A gambling over the screen of your shiny device? RUNREV LIVECODE licence could prove costly, so instead Or have you ever tried to tap away at 6.0 OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMING they began offering free goes on games your iPhone with your wooden spoon? SOFTWARE REVIEW if you purchased airtime on their PCs, Well the iSpoon is now here to circumventing regulators and attracting solve those problems. No need to DOWNTIME a hip and happening – ok, elderly and get a fancy device with wave-on bored – crowd. functionality to save your sticky Now these secret dens are set to be shut fingers, double up and have a down by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor spoon AND your stylus do Timothy McGinty, who said he was the work. n

THATCHER FUNERAL OFFERS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Only the Olympics was a more in-demand live programme on iPlayer than the funeral of former PM Maggie Thatcher. There were 986,000 requests for the programme, with most people watching the day’s events on a live stream. Regardless of what anyone thinks of her there must be a reason for this popularity. Downtime thinks its appeal Read is down to it having something for everyone. A significant more on the portion of the audience were enthralled by a state funeral Downtime blog while the rest wanted to make sure she was really dead. WIKICOMMONS computerweekly.com 4-10 June 2013 22