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The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into the partnership between Google’s parent company Alphabet and artificial intelligence firm Anthropic. Google agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Anthropic last year and also received a 10% stake in return for a $300 million injection from late 2022. The AI safety and research startup, co-founded by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, also hosts its Claude models on Google Cloud Vertex AI. Anthropic, Google react to investigation The CMA first made its interest in the partnership known in July, when it invited those with information to comment on whether it represents a “relevant merger situation” that will “result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.” This week, the CMA said it had gathered enough information to warrant a phase 1 investigation, an initial review into whether there is a realistic prospect of the merger substantially lessening competition. In doing so, it will be able to decide whether a more in-depth phase 2 investigation is necessary, and a result will be given before Dec. 19. An Anthropic spokesperson told TechRepublic in an email: “We continue to cooperate with the CMA and provide them with the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration. “We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others. Anthropic’s independence is a core attribute – integral both to our public benefit mission and to serving our customers wherever and however they prefer to access Claude.” A Google spokesperson told TechRepublic in an email: “Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world. Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.” SEE: Google Abusing Dominant Position in Ad Tech Sector, Says U.K. Government More must-read AI coverage CMA’s distinctive approach to Alphabet-Anthropic and Amazon-Anthropic Partnerships In September, the CMA cleared the partnership between Amazon and Anthropic of competition concerns in part because Anthropic’s turnover was below the threshold for a relevant merger situation. The two companies together also do not control 25% or more of any market in the country, and therefore do not pose a significant threat to competition. While Amazon and Alphabet have similar market capitalization, the latter’s is bigger by about $40 billion, as of this month, which could tip the scales. CMA’s investigation into the Alphabet-Anthropic partnership indicates key differences from Amazon’s investments and suggests a unique impact competition. The hiring of senior employees from Anthropic competitor Inflection by Microsoft was deemed a relevant merger by the CMA in September, but it did not pose a significant threat to competition. Inflection’s proprietary chatbot, Pi, was not a dominant player in the market, and the company was not sufficiently innovative. However, the CMA may view Anthropic’s deal differently. Microsoft paid Inflection $650 million as part of their partnership, about a third of what Anthropic has accepted from Alphabet. The CMA is also still looking into whether the connections between Microsoft and OpenAI open up the possibility of a merger, which could impact competition. Why is the CMA investigating Big Tech firms? Big Tech firms are rapidly investing in young AI startups to gain early control and capitalise on the AI boom. Notably, this can be seen through partnerships such as Microsoft and OpenAI, NVIDIA and Inflection AI, and, of course, Google and Anthropic. However, such collaborations can lead to market dominance, making it more difficult for other independent companies to get funding, attract talent, or compete with the advanced technology and reach of the big players. Complete mergers and acquisitions often trigger extensive regulatory scrutiny and potential antitrust actions for this reason, which can delay or block proceedings. To avoid this situation, big tech players instead make strategic investments in the most promising startups and hire their top talent, allowing them to gain influence and access to innovative technologies unchecked. Indeed, according to the CMA, the AI industry currently contains “an interconnected web of over 90 partnerships and strategic investments involving the same firms.” In an April report on how the CMA is looking into AI foundational models, the authority said, “Without fair, open, and effective competition and strong consumer protection, underpinned by these principles, we see a real risk that the full potential of organisations or individuals to use AI to innovate and disrupt will not be realised, nor its benefits shared widely across society. “That is why we have set out the underlying principles that we consider critical to safeguard those conditions. It is essential for competition agencies to work with market participants and other interested stakeholders to shape these positive outcomes.” SEE: Delaying AI’s Rollout in the U.K. by Five Years Could Cost the Economy £150+ Billion, Microsoft Report Finds The CMA is looking to identify relevant merger situations that allow large tech companies to “shield themselves from competition” in the U.K. It says that “a range of different kinds of transactions and arrangements” could represent a relevant merger with the provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002. The Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Bill that was passed in May also “anticipates new powers for the CMA.” According to the April report, the CMA can “enforce consumer protection law against infringing firms” and apply non-compliance penalties of up to 10% of a firm’s worldwide turnover. “We are ready to use these new powers to raise standards in the market and, if necessary, to tackle firms that do not play by the rules through enforcement action,” it said. Furthermore, in July, the CMA released a joint statement with the European Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, and U.S. Federal Trade Commission, where they committed to studying whether the AI industry allows for sufficient competition. source

monday.com has announced various upcoming features planned for release in 2025, promising users enhanced capabilities and expanded functionality. During its Elevate 2024 stop in Australia, the project management firm previewed a roadmap outlining its plans for artificial intelligence integration and upgrades to its products and platform. Despite its implementation of AI, Dean Swan, monday.com’s vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific and Japan, emphasised a key point in his presentation: AI should elevate rather than replace humans. “If we get out of the mundane, it can take us into a place where we’re doing the more strategic work, the more creative work, the work designed for human beings to do,” he said. monday.com plans to add simple, no-code AI tools Steve Pearce, monday.com’s vice president of product design, said the tech firm’s approach had always been about “giving the power of technology to everyone, whether you’re tech-savvy or not.” With AI having the potential to “dramatically change how we work,” Pearce said monday.com was following a similar approach. SEE: Our 2024 review of monday.com, including pricing, ease of use, pros and cons “We want to do the same with AI,” he told Australian customers. “We’re focusing on making this technology accessible, easier to adopt, and seamlessly integrated into the workflows already built.” Pearce said the company is making AI accessible with just a few simple clicks via no-code “AI building blocks” in boards and automations. The packaged AI blocks contain various packaged AI capabilities, such as sentiment analysis of lengthy transcripts and smart extraction information extraction with a single click. “It’s not only that,” he explained. “We’re also going to supercharge our entire product suite with AI, focusing on the biggest challenges in every domain, from smart analysis of risks across hundreds of projects and portfolios in work management, all the way to auto-resolving IT tickets in our monday Service product.” More project management coverage Products will support more complex use cases as organisations scale Pearce said monday.com would deepen products with capabilities for managing core aspects of work. Work and project management monday.com will improve its portfolio project management tool to increase the scale of portfolios it can manage. Resource management tools will be upgraded with new tools for managing talent, including utilisation levels, talent recommendations based on suitability or availability, and avoidance of conflicts. SEE: Top 10 project management software systems in 2024 Customer relationship management monday’s CRM will continue developing tools and integrations for sales teams, providing a centralised location for resources, including a new tool for creating and tracking quotes and invoices. The company will also expand beyond the sales pipeline for the first time with a new email marketing campaign builder. monday.com for development monday.com’s development-focused product will aim to provide more data-driven insights to track, report, and help enhance cross-functional collaboration. It will be connected to external tools for tasks, such as GitHub, that will help teams understand performance better and how it can be improved. IT service management monday’s first product built with an AI-first mindset, “monday Service,” is still in beta. The product aims to leverage AI to improve IT service team efficiency. For example, through AI efficiencies, it is designed to reduce time to value and automate service operations, such as the automatic resolution of tickets without human intervention. monday.com’s platform is gearing up to handle businesses at scale In 2025, monday.com executives highlighted plans to provide more standardisation tools to help organisations bring greater control to work management across teams, improve reporting and analytics for enhanced visualisations, and enable the creation of more advanced business workflows. The new capabilities come after the company made improvements to its data infrastructure, via mondayDB, which has shifted from a focus on speed to a focus on scale. The “2.0” version allows users 10-times more items on individual project boards as well as 25-times more items in overview dashboards. An upcoming “3.0” version will support thousands of projects across multiple portfolios. Structure and standardisation monday.com will allow the creation of standardised structures to support higher-level oversight and control. The capabilities will not force change in how teams at a lower level manage projects. Instead, they can aggregate information, or push requirements or set rules for different teams and projects. Reporting and analytics monday.com will build on existing dashboards and visualisation capabilities, which Pearce said would assist “faster, more informed decision making.” It will soon enable historical-based reporting for trends over time, and the ability to see data from different products and teams in a single dashboard. The firm plans to enable the ability to export and share reports in multiple formats or tools, from PDFs, to emails, Slack updates, or presentations. It will also allow organisations to plug monday into external data sources — an improvement on existing limitations that only allow internal connections. Advanced business workflows With users finding a “tipping point in complexity rather quickly” with its existing no-code workflow builder, Swan explained that monday.com will soon enable users to visually build full, complex business workflows. These workflows can span different products, departments, and teams. They will also emphasise management and optimisation. monday.com aims to help firms navigate the future of work Swan said that organisations were experiencing a fundamental change in the way work is getting done. As he noted, the last few years have seen a rise of hybrid work and distributed talent, the integration of AI and automation into daily work, and the growing prioritisation of employee wellbeing and experience. As Swan explained: “We’re committed to providing you with a way to navigate this ever-changing and this complex world, but also hopefully have an inspired, bright outlook around what is possible.” source

Best for merchandise planning: Creatio Best for customer segmentation: Pipedrive Best for omnichannel communication: Bitrix24 Best for task management: HubSpot Best for inventory management: Zoho CRM Best for managing customer support: Zendesk Retail CRM solutions can be generalized or industry-specific CRM software that help businesses manage retail sales operations, both online and in person. These tools are meant to streamline the buyer’s experience by simplifying the ordering process, storing customer information, automating tasks, and tracking individual and team performance. A retail CRM is different from a POS system. A POS is the hardware and software that completes transactions and stores inventory information. A CRM for retail can deploy marketing and lead generation campaigns, track purchase history, and all internal and external communication. A POS tool may come with some CRM features, but most retail businesses have both a CRM and POS that can integrate together. 1 monday CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Calendar, Collaboration Tools, Contact Management, and more 2 HubSpot CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees) Micro, Medium, Large, Small 3 Zoho CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Calendar, Collaboration Tools, Contact Management, and more Top retail CRM software comparison The main features and functionalities to look for in a retail CRM should focus on store operations and customer service. Retail CRM software should offer robust integrations, individual, team, or location performance tracking, and a series of automations for inventory alerts and marketing. And since retail generally has a high customer retention rate, these providers would also ideally offer targeted marketing. Star rating Free plan Starting paid price Automations Integrations Performance tracking Creatio N/A No $15 per user per month* Yes 400+ Yes Pipedrive 4.4 No $14 per user per month* Yes 350+ Limited Bitrix24 4.1 Yes Free starting price Yes 500+ Limited HubSpot 4 Yes Free starting price Yes 1,500+ Yes Zoho CRM 4.3 Yes Free starting price Yes 900+ Yes Zendesk N/A No $19 per agent per month* Yes 2,000+ Limited *Price when billed annually, not including tax. Creatio: Best for merchandise planning Image: Creatio Creatio offers a variety of merchandise management features for retail businesses to track suppliers, planning, price optimization, product launch campaigns, and merchandise performance monitoring. With the merchandise planning tools, businesses can use data to formulate plans across all channels, regions, and stores. It also generates predictions about future market positions by using historical data and AI tools. Why I chose Creatio Creatio is a generalized CRM but can be adapted into a number of different industries like retail, banking, media and advertising, credit unions, and more. Creatio helps businesses create processes that manage end-to-end sales operations. Creatio users can customize automations and workflows without any coding knowledge or technical expertise. While Creatio is a powerful CRM thanks to its automations and process-building capabilities, if you want a similar tool with more advanced AI-powered features, I recommend HubSpot or Zoho CRM. If you’re interested in more, read the full Creatio review. Pricing Sales Product: $15 per user per month. It offers a sales management platform. Marketing Product: $15 per user per month. It offers a multichannel marketing platform. Service Product: $15 per user per month. It includes an intelligent and full cycle service management platform. Growth Platform: $25 per user per month. It includes basic automations for small to midsize businesses. Enterprise Platform: $55 per user per month. It offers a full sales automation platform for corporate or enterprise needs. Unlimited Platform: $85 per user per month. It allows users to deliver unlimited automations for advanced enterprise organizations. Features Procurement tracking: Build custom procurement processes that automate requisitions, supplier onboarding, and invoice processing. Sales forecasting: View reporting dashboards that show projected wins and performance to help with strategizing, predictions, or inspections. Sales monitoring: Monitor orders and customer metrics to identify best-selling products or categories plus the store’s financial KPIs. Sample Creatio product and sales report. Image: Creatio Pros and cons Pros Cons 14-day free trial. Offers integrations through API connections. Allows for advanced customizations. Users report a platform learning curve. Atypical CRM pricing structure. Users report a limited functioning mobile app. Pipedrive: Best for customer segmentation Image: Pipedrive Identifying a target audience is essential for the success of a retail business, which is why Pipedrive enables users to segment customers using custom variables. After a lead is identified either online or in person, Pipedrive’s workflow and marketing automation feature simplifies repetitive tasks like prospecting and lead qualification. Pipedrive can remind users to schedule personalized messages and follow up with buyers who have triggered automations. Why I chose Pipedrive Pipedrive is an operational CRM that prioritizes helping businesses create workflows catered to their unique operations. Users can easily automate routine work, collect and relay important data to the CRM, and keep customers engaged with automatic follow-ups. Additionally, Pipedrive can be integrated with tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Mailchimp. Sales information can be synced from the CRM to a POS and then to accounting software to launch email marketing campaigns. Pipedrive’s paid plans are competitively priced, but if you’re more interested in a free plan first, I recommend HubSpot or Zoho CRM for their forever free tier plus additional AI functionality. Check out our full Pipedrive review for more details. Pricing Essential: $14 per user per month, billed annually, or $24 per user when billed monthly. Advanced: $34 per user per month, billed annually, or $44 per user when billed monthly. Professional: $49 per user per month, billed annually, or $64 per user when billed monthly. Power: $64 per user per month, billed annually, or $79 per user when billed monthly. Enterprise: $99 per user per month, billed annually, or $129 per user when billed monthly. Features Goal tracking:

Organizations collect and process numerous types of data with varying levels of sensitivity. All employees must understand the nature of the data they come into contact with and how it should be classified and protected. A guide to understanding data handling Every organization collects and processes data as part of normal operations, and all data has the potential to contain sensitive information. This may include personally identifiable information, such as names, addresses, social security numbers, and banking account numbers, which could be used by a malicious third-party to identify consumers or employees. Other types of sensitive data include confidential internal company information like sales figures, client lists, or intellectual property. The privacy of this data must be protected to maintain regulatory compliance and prevent harm. Anyone who comes into contact with sensitive data must understand how to properly handle and secure it to prevent exposure or unauthorized access. Key elements of a robust data handling policy With a data handling policy, businesses can ensure the safe and effective processing of sensitive information. Such a policy is essential for maintaining data integrity and supporting the overall success and sustainability of the organization. A company’s data handling policy must include guidelines on data collection, storage, use, and disposal while protecting against breaches and unauthorized access. For example, a policy needs to outline measures for access limitation. Access to sensitive data must be limited to employees who need it to perform a specific job function. Access should be terminated as soon as that need expires. To aid in incident response, sensitive data access must be logged to keep track of who has access to sensitive data and why, when data was accessed and by whom, and any changes that were made. It is also necessary to have guidelines on security measures. Sensitive data must be stored properly in locations secured with adequate access controls and encryption. Data storage systems must be protected from unauthorized access and tampering with physical security measures such as locked doors and security cameras, as well as technological security controls like firewalls and antivirus software. All employees are responsible for using strong passwords to prevent unauthorized users from compromising their accounts to access confidential data. Employees must also apply recommended security updates and software patches to any systems used to access data and must protect systems with company-issued or approved antivirus software. In addition, the policy should account for the secure disposal of data. Sensitive data must be disposed of according to all applicable laws and standards. Before disposing of physical media containing sensitive data, it must be altered or destroyed to ensure data recovery is impossible. Enhance your organization’s data handling measures with this seven-page policy, available for download at TechRepublic Premium for only $9. source

Best overall CRM with project management: HubSpot Best for activity and performance tracking: monday CRM Best for project templates: Pipedrive Best for portfolio management: ClickUp Best for team collaboration: Bitrix24 When a CRM solution is described as having project management functionality, that means the software can monitor all ongoing communication, campaigns, client-based operations, and task assignments—in addition to client relationship management and data collection. These CRM manage both client and project management features in order to help foster collaboration and transparency between sales, marketing, and operational departments. 1 monday CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Calendar, Collaboration Tools, Contact Management, and more 2 HubSpot CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees) Micro, Medium, Large, Small 3 Zoho CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Calendar, Collaboration Tools, Contact Management, and more Top CRM with project management comparison The best CRM providers can host a multitude of tracking and management features for marketing campaigns, sales analytics, and projects. The top CRM for project management typically offer activity tracking, task management, and robust reporting capabilities. Below we show you how our top five CRM for project management, including HubSpot, monday CRM, and others, compare at a glance. Star rating (out of 5) Starting price* Activity tracking Task management Real time reporting HubSpot 4 Free Yes Yes High monday CRM 3.6 $14 per user, per month Yes Yes High Pipedrive 4.3 $12 per user per month Yes Yes Medium ClickUp 4.1 Free Yes Yes High Bitrix24 4.1 Free Yes Yes Medium *Price when billed annually, not including tax. HubSpot: Best overall CRM with project management Image: HubSpot HubSpot can support global clients with lead generation and engagement, deal management, and automations—all available to use for overall project management initiatives. Users have access to a library of project management tools like task queues, deal pipelines, meeting scheduler, and detailed reporting capabilities that track marketing and sales projects. This helps businesses monitor their entire project management lifecycle from initiation and planning to execution, monitoring and evaluation, and finally closing. SEE: What is project management? Why I chose HubSpot HubSpot is a customer platform that can connect marketing, sales, service, operations, and data teams within one AI-powered hub. As an extremely scalable solution, it can cater to the needs of larger businesses with multiple locations or teams. Its free CRM is also extremely feature-rich with advanced tools available even in the more basic version of the tool. HubSpot’s higher paid tiers can be expensive. If you’re seeking an alternative to HubSpot that has similar marketing and ongoing project management capabilities, I suggest ClickUp or Bitrix24. For more details, read my HubSpot review. Pricing Free CRM: Free for five users with contact management, quotes, live chat and more. Sales Hub Starter: $15 per seat per month, billed annually, or $20 when billed monthly. Sales Hub Professional: $90 per seat per month, billed annually, or $100 when billed monthly, plus a one-time $1,500 onboarding fee. Sales Hub Enterprise: $150 per seat per month, with an annual commitment and one-time $3,500 onboarding fee. Features Dashboard and reporting: Customize reports for all marketing, sales, and service data and keep private data secure with advanced permissions . Sales automation: Create and use workflows that automate lead distributions, create and assign tasks and streamline sales sequences. Document management: Share, track, and manage all documents within permission-based libraries for constant visibility and collaboration. HubSpot document tracker. Image: HubSpot Pros and cons Pros Cons Can integrate with over 1,500 applications. Limited A/B split testing on lower tier plans. Offers 24/7 customer support. Higher paid tiers can be pricey, especially for small to midsize businesses. Offers a detailed free demo of the software. Requires an onboarding fee for Professional and Enterprise tiers. monday CRM: Best for activity and performance tracking Image: monday CRM With monday CRM, users can monitor all pipelines, targets, and team performance from custom dashboards. Managers can access all their team’s activities, like calls and meetings scheduled or completed. This helps track performance, understand individual or team capacity, and test new strategies. Individual users can also log all contact-related activity like calls, meetings, and notes from the desktop or mobile version. Why I chose monday CRM Monday CRM also offers monday work management which is another tool in the monday.com suite. Monday CRM is a very customizable platform with automations, workflows, and dashboards. Users can build out project views that can be shared, viewed, and updated by different teams all at once. Monday CRM only offers a free version of its tool in specific cases, and use of the free version requires an extensive approval process. If your business wants to try a CRM with project management through a basic free tier before fully committing a paid subscription, I recommend HubSpot, ClickUp, or Bitrix24. Head over to my monday CRM review for more information. Pricing Free version: Basic CRM offerings are only available for students and nonprofit organizations after submitting an application. Basic CRM: $12 per user per month when billed annually, or $15 when billed monthly. Standard CRM: $17 per user per month when billed annually, or $20 when billed monthly. Pro CRM: $28 per user per month when billed annually, or $33 when billed monthly. Enterprise CRM: Contact monday.com for a quote. Features Sales forecasting: Generate reports that track forecasted sales vs. actual sales by month, sales rep, or project. Team goals: Manage team quota progress and attainment with win trackers. Custom dashboards: Gain visibility into all project statuses, progress, sales figures, and performance with custom dashboards. Sample monday CRM Image: monday CRM Pros and cons Pros Cons 14-day free trial. Tailored onboarding only available in the Enterprise plan. Offers unlimited contacts. Free CRM only available for qualified

Public boards are bullish on artificial intelligence and generative AI as new key levers for growth and are taking measures to seize opportunities while mitigating mounting risks, a new survey finds. Directors realize “the full potential of technology deployment requires enhanced risk management, security, and compliance measures to safeguard their organizations and stakeholders,” according to the 2024 BDO Board Survey of nearly 250 public company directors. Risk and innovation: a symbiotic relationship At the same time, they are exercising caution, noting that innovation presents both a significant opportunity and risk. Some 17% of directors indicated that “advancing the use of emerging technology is a top strategic priority, while lagging implementation of emerging technology (27%) is a top-cited risk,’’ according to the report. “Risk and innovation have a symbiotic relationship for directors, for whom the need to move quickly to keep pace with customer demand, competition, and stakeholder expectations must be finely balanced with robust risk management and oversight.” The report notes that failing to adequately invest in either of these areas can potentially harm the other. This may explain why emerging technology (51%) and cybersecurity (41%) are among the top areas directors said will see increased investment in the year ahead, the BDO report said. SEE: Will Power Availability Derail the AI Revolution? (TechRepublic Premium) Progress on emerging technology implementation As boards and management teams consider opportunities for incorporating generative AI into their businesses, the workforce may be ahead of them, the report noted, citing a global study by Microsoft, which found that 75% of knowledge workers already use AI at work. The BDO survey reveals that: 23% of respondents are exploring what emerging technology can do and learning more about its risks and limitations. 16% reported actively training employees on emerging technology within their day-to-day work. 6% said they are not currently exploring emerging technology and have no immediate plans to do so. Directors appear mixed on which business function may present the greatest opportunity for GenAI use cases. However, 31% of directors cited customer experience (16%) and product/service development (15%), indicating that the technology is viewed as a value-adding, top-line tool that organizations can use to capture growth and customer loyalty, according to the report. “Research indicates early adopters have seen benefits from faster and deeper data analysis, which can support personalization and custom content in market outreach and aid in product improvement,’’ the report said. “Boards also see potential in leveraging generative AI to gain efficiency across back-office processes and key operations.” More about Innovation Attention also focused on GenAI risks Boards are also approaching GenAI with their eyes wide open, noting that they “have seen ample evidence that generative AI brings new risks.” Among them are widely reported hallucination incidents, where an AI output is incorrect or “entirely fictitious.” While some are relatively harmless, the report observed, others are potentially serious and can expose companies to fines, litigation, and reputational damage. Among the greatest GenAI risks respondents cited were: Generation of and/or action upon incorrect information (19%). Inaccurate/biased inputs and/or output (16%). Data privacy violations (16%). Fear of job loss and damage to employee morale/loyalty (15%). The BDO report supports the approach public boards are taking, noting that they “are right to simultaneously invest in emerging technology development and enhancements to risk management practices. Both of these should be in alignment with the organization’s strategy and in support of executable goals and objectives.” The ability to successfully implement technology is the most in-demand skill or experience (31%) for directors to prioritize in 2025, as boards seek members whose expertise reflects their organizational goals, the report said. Additional investments made in cybersecurity, data privacy, and governance Over a third (37%) of director respondents indicated that they are changing the treatment of and approach to cyber risk from an “IT responsibility” to a “company-wide responsibility,” the survey found. “To remain agile, companies need strong oversight, real-time understanding of and mechanisms for identifying and protecting against emerging threats, and continual monitoring programs to reduce the risk of a cyber crisis and mitigate damage and disruption should a breach occur,’’ the report advised. Respondents indicated they are investing in additional protections and valuable expertise to safeguard their organizations, with 25% of directors pointing to cyber threats and incidents as the most significant risk to their business over the next year. Additionally, 27% said cybersecurity is one of the most in-demand board skill sets, and 41% of directors plan to increase investment in cybersecurity, data privacy, and governance over the next year. The regulatory environment is also top of mind, with 45% of directors saying they are pursuing an external assessment, such as a systems and organization control (SOC) for cybersecurity report or a maturity/gap assessment to further aid in organizational preparedness and program maturity. Further, 41% cited creating internal processes and improved communication channels to report on cyber risk management and cyber incidents as their focus. Boards must remain proactive In addition to the survey findings, BDO said their ongoing discussions with directors show that boards are continuing to invest in education and training on the evolving threat landscape — both at the leadership and company-wide levels. Specifically, they are engaging in company-specific scenario planning and conducting comprehensive vulnerability testing to keep risk awareness high. The good news is that boards are “dialed in to the type and frequency of cyber information they receive from leadership, particularly the Chief Information Security Officer,’’ BDO said. “They want to know how to improve practices for monitoring the effectiveness of prevention and detection efforts along with responding and mitigating alleged or confirmed breaches.” However, BDO recommends that companies continue to sharpen their activities regarding management and oversight disclosures, document actions undertaken, and further enhance stakeholder communication. The firm advised members to seek resources such as CISA’s “Shields Up” guidance for Organizations. source

The 2024 presidential election will surely have far-reaching consequences in many areas — and artificial intelligence is no exception. EY’s latest technology pulse poll, published in October, revealed that 74% of 503 tech leaders expect the election to impact AI regulation and global competitiveness. Although tech leaders said they plan to significantly increase AI investments in the next year, future growth of AI may hinge on the outcome of the election. Respondents believe the outcome of the election will mostly impact regulation related to cybersecurity/data protections, AI and machine learning, and user data and content oversight. “Of course, all of these are closely tied to innovation, growth and global competitiveness,’’ James Brundage, EY global & Americas technology sector leader, told TechRepublic. “The U.S. is the world’s tech innovation leader, so future tech policy should strike a balance that supports U.S. innovation while establishing guardrails where they are needed,” such as in data privacy, children’s online safety, and national security. SEE: Year-round IT budget template (TechRepublic Premium) Greater investments in AI Notably, tech companies will continue to make significant investments in AI regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, according to the survey. However, the result may impact the direction of fiscal, tax, tariff, antitrust, and regulatory policies as well as interest rates, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and AI regulations, the survey said. “We were surprised that trade/tariffs were not higher up on the minds of these executives,’’ Brundage observed. On the heels of a sluggish tech market in 2024, he said that “the 2025 trajectory is bullish, as companies focus on raising capital to invest in growth and emerging technologies like AI.” The majority of tech leaders (82%) said their company plans to increase AI investments by 50% or more in the next year. In the next year, AI investments will focus on key areas including AI-specific talent (60%), cybersecurity (49%), and back-office functions (45%). With an eye on innovation, most tech industry leaders surveyed also plan to allocate resources toward AI investments in the next six to 12 months, with 78% of tech leaders reporting their company is considering divesting non-core assets or businesses as part of their growth strategy during that time. More must-read AI coverage Big organizations struggling with AI initiatives Brundage also finds it surprising that 63% of tech leaders report their organization’s AI initiatives have successfully moved to the implementation phase. “That number seems high, but several factors could explain it,’’ he noted. “First, companies may be focusing on short-term, low-hanging fruit AI projects, which are easier to implement, have higher success rates, but may not be the opportunities with maximum impact.” Further, use of “quick-buy solutions like ChatGPT or Copilot, which are relatively simple to deploy and drive productivity, may inflate this percentage.” Also, successful implementation “likely means moving from proof of concept (POC) to implementation,” Brundage said, adding that “real challenges such as data quality, scaling, governance, and infrastructure still lie ahead.” Additionally, size matters — the report observed that organizations with more employees are finding less success moving AI initiatives to the implementation phase. Data quality issues (40%) and talent/skills shortages (34%) are the most common reasons for AI initiatives failing to progress to the next stage, according to those who indicated that fewer than half of their AI initiatives have been implemented successfully. How the election’s impact on AI could be felt Regardless of who takes office in 2025, there could be a continuation of current regulatory and enforcement trends related to AI given that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice have been very active and may remain so, Brundage said. Given that “some legislative proposals are bipartisan … we expect that they will advance in 2025 or 2026,” such as children’s online safety. But he pointed out that state legislatures and attorneys general also impact policy, “so it’s a nuanced playing field. We expect these changes to be measured in years, not months.” Tech leaders must realize that the U.S. is experiencing a new geopolitical environment compared with five to 10 years ago, Brundage said. “New government industrial policy in the U.S. and around the globe is driving business action — both in the tech sector and in the industries and supply chains that it relies upon. These global tech businesses are particularly at the forefront of geopolitics as countries seek to de-risk from one another.” AI capabilities have also become highly competitive and geopolitically significant across the globe, he said. “There is a dual race to innovate and regulate here in the U.S. and elsewhere. We see a need to have business models that account for the different regulatory approaches like sovereign frontier models.” Wanted: AI tech talent search intensifies As organizations continue to integrate more AI functionality into their businesses, the need to hire AI-specific talent will increase, as well as the need to restructure or reduce headcount from legacy job functions, according to the survey. Eighty percent of tech leader respondents foresee reducing or restructuring headcount from legacy functions to other in-demand functions, and 77% anticipate an increase in hiring for AI-specific talent, according to the survey. Additionally, 40% of technology leaders said human capital efforts such as training will be the focus of their company’s AI investments next year. AI’s impact on national security and foreign policy Meanwhile, the Biden administration on Thursday released the first-ever AI-focused national security memorandum (NSM) to ensure that the U.S. continues to lead in the development and deployment of AI technologies. The memorandum also prioritizes how the country adopts and uses AI while preserving privacy, human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties so the technology can be trusted. The NSM also calls for the creation of a governance and risk management framework for how agencies implement AI and requiring them to monitor, assess, and mitigate AI risks related to those issues. source

Threat actors accessed the private health information of more than 100 million people in the February breach of Change Healthcare — the largest-ever health care data breach reported to federal regulators — the U.S. Office for Civil Rights revealed on Oct. 22. The hack, information about which was revealed in June, could affect up to one-third of Americans. It has proven to be one of the most significant cyberattacks of the year and shows how ransomed data can lead to physical harms such as belated delivery of essential medication. SEE: Nation-state attackers may search for “target-rich, cyber-poor” organizations like public infrastructure or health care, said CISA advisor Nicole Perlroth. What was the Change Healthcare cyberattack? In February, UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Change Healthcare, found out that an attacker had introduced ransomware into Change Healthcare’s systems. The group ALPHV, sometimes called BlackCat, claimed responsibility for the breach. By March, Change Healthcare had determined attackers accessed their systems from Feb. 17 to 20. The company brought in “leading cybersecurity and data analysis experts,” Mandiant personnel among them, and obtained a copy of the stolen records, analyzing the dataset. United Healthcare released a more thorough accounting of the incident in April. In a Senate hearing on the matter in May, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said the company had paid a ransom of $22 million in Bitcoin to release the stolen data. Cybersecurity experts don’t recommend paying ransoms because it rewards threat actors, can cause significant financial harm to the business, and does not guarantee the return of the data. The U.S. government has considered the controversial idea of banning ransom payments. Change Healthcare said it can’t specify what data has been affected for each individual. In general, the stolen data included: First and last name, address, date of birth, phone number, and email. Health information such as diagnoses, medical record numbers, images, and test results. Billing, claims, and payment information Other personal information that may be associated with medical records, such as Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses or state ID numbers, or passport numbers. Full medical histories or doctors’ charts have not been found among the stolen data. The attack delayed prescription deliveries and led to a business disruption impact of $705 million. Overall, Change Healthcare’s financial outlook for next year is lower than expected. Must-read security coverage Change Healthcare offers resources for affected customers United Healthcare says their investigation of the attack is still ongoing but in its final stages. The company is still sending notifications to those affected. Change Healthcare offers two years of complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection services from IDX to eligible customers. They provided “trained clinicians to provide emotional support services” through a dedicated call center. The call center cannot provide information about what specific data may have been exposed from individual accounts. United Healthcare recommends impacted patients monitor their bank accounts and medical insurance statements. Unusual activity should be reported to their financial institution or health care provider as appropriate. Ransomware attacks on health care have far-reaching consequences Cyberattacks on health care data are a perfect storm of potentially lucrative random opportunities for threat actors and heightened mistrust among affected customers. Patients can lose access to necessary medications and care can be delayed if operations are disrupted. In May, a ransomware attack at hospital system Ascension slowed down care. Around the same time, the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health announced its intention to invest more than $50 million in tools for information technology professionals in hospital settings to improve their cybersecurity. source

It’s frustrating when a fax won’t go through — the good news is, there are plenty of simple troubleshooting steps you can try to get things working. These tips can help you solve some of the most common transmission issues with fax machines, online fax services, or trying to send a fax from your computer. Why is my fax not going through? It could be a lot of things — that’s what someone who knows this stuff will tell you. There is going to be one set of problems if you are using a traditional fax machine that transmits documents across the Public Switched Telephone Network, and another completely different set of potential issues if you are trying to send a fax over the internet using an online fax service or business phone system. The good news is that some of the most common reasons a fax won’t go through are easy to solve. These fixes require near-zero technical ability, and if you do end up asking someone for help, they will be proud that you tried all these steps first. 7 simple tricks to get a fax to send Tip 1: Check the number Before you start trying to clean the machine or diagnose a network issue, take one last look at the number of the recipient for your fax. There’s a chance you misheard it or copied the wrong number. There’s a chance that the organization you are trying has a new fax number and they have yet to update their website information. That happens. And if this turns out to be the reason that your fax won’t send, count yourself lucky. Usually, when you enter the wrong number, the fax is just going to go to that number. Whatever information you were trying to fax would then be with a complete stranger. A fax won’t send if a number is not in service, so double-check that the number is correct, and reach out to the organization for clarification if it still doesn’t work. Tip 2: Check the settings This is applicable to both online fax services and analog fax machines, as configuration issues are very common reasons for faxes of all kinds not to go through. If you’re not getting a confirmation page after a fax looks to be sent, or if the fax machine or service won’t initiate sending in the first place, this is likely the issue. If you’re using an online fax service, make sure you’ve configured the service properly. Most services walk you through the setup process, but you can always go back and restart. With an analog fax machine, make sure it’s set up according to the manual for your particular model. If you don’t have the manual, look for one online, as most manufacturers publish PDFs for easy reference. Tip 3: Clean the fax machine If you’re working with an analog fax machine, this is far and away the most common reason that faxes don’t send right. Fax machines are complex pieces of equipment with dozens of moving parts. If something goes wrong with any of them, it could cause an issue. Using a fax machine that has accumulated dust and grime can interfere with its operation, so if you’re hearing clicks or grinding sounds — or if you’re experiencing frequent paper jams — you’ve probably got a cleanliness issue. Start by checking the Automatic Document Feeder (ADF), which is the roller that feeds paper through the machine. Also inspect the corona wire, which draws the ink toner off the drum and onto the paper. Both of these parts need cleaning and routine maintenance to keep your fax machine functioning properly. If the ADF, corona wire, or other mechanical parts appear dirty or broken upon inspection, turn off the fax machine and disconnect the power cord from the power supply before cleaning or fixing, if possible. You may need to replace these parts, or have a specialist out to service the machine. Tip 4: Check your internet connection A fax won’t send if the connection is unstable or unusable, so if it seems like everything is working fine, but the fax just won’t send, check your phone or internet connection. If you’re using an analog fax machine, check all the cables and make sure they’re plugged in properly. If you don’t hear a dial tone when you pick up the phone on the fax machine, chances are something’s wrong with the phone cord or your phone service. If you’re using an online fax service or an analog fax machine with an ATA, double-check your network. If you’re having issues with your internet, the fax won’t be able to send, so make sure your router is set up and your internet is working properly. It doesn’t have to be super fast to send a fax; it just has to be showing up with a reliable signal. Tip 5: Make sure the other side doesn’t have voicemail on If the person you’re trying to send a fax to has their voicemail turned on, your fax might not go through. This is especially common if you’re trying to send a fax machine to a person or business that uses the same phone line for phone calls and for faxes, so if the fax is not showing up even though it seems to be going through fine on your side, have them check this out. Common culprits are voicemail settings, answering machines, and sometimes modems. Basically, if anything can get to the phone before the fax machine does, the fax can’t send — and this includes humans answering the phone, so make sure the other side knows you’re sending a fax and knows not to pick up the phone. If you’re using an analog fax machine, make sure the person on the other end doesn’t have call waiting or anonymous call screening set up on their end. Extra services like this can cause the fax to be rejected on their end, mostly in cases

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