Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI is slowly inviting selected users to test a whole new set of reasoning models named o3 and o3 mini, successors to the o1 and o1-mini models that just entered full release earlier this month. OpenAI o3, so named to avoid copyright issues with the telephone company O2 and because CEO Sam Altman says the company “has a tradition of being truly bad at names,” was announced during the final day of “12 Days of OpenAI” livestreams today. Altman said the two new models would be initially released to selected third-party researchers for safety testing, with o3-mini expected by the end of January 2025 and o3 “shortly after that.” “We view this as the beginning of the next phase of AI, where you can use these models to do increasingly complex tasks that require a lot of reasoning,” Altman said. “For the last day of this event we thought it would be fun to go from one frontier model to the next frontier model.” The announcement comes just a day after Google unveiled and allowed the public to use its new Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking model, another rival “reasoning” model that, unlike the OpenAI o1 series, allows users to see the steps in its “thinking” process documented in text bullet points. The release of Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking and now the announcement of o3 shows that the competition between OpenAI and Google, and the wider field of AI model providers, is entering a new and intense phase as they offer not just LLMs or multimodal models, but advanced reasoning models as well. These can be more applicable to harder problems in science, mathematics, technology, physics and more. The best performance on third-party benchmarks yet Altman also said the o3 model was “incredible at coding,” and the benchmarks shared by OpenAI support that, showing the model exceeding even o1’s performance on programming tasks. • Exceptional Coding Performance: o3 surpasses o1 by 22.8 percentage points on SWE-Bench Verified and achieves a Codeforces rating of 2727, outperforming OpenAI’s Chief Scientist’s score of 2665. • Math and Science Mastery: o3 scores 96.7% on the AIME 2024 exam, missing only one question, and achieves 87.7% on GPQA Diamond, far exceeding human expert performance. • Frontier Benchmarks: The model sets new records on challenging tests like EpochAI’s Frontier Math, solving 25.2% of problems where no other model exceeds 2%. On the ARC-AGI test, o3 triples o1’s score and surpasses 85% (as verified live by the ARC Prize team), representing a milestone in conceptual reasoning. Deliberative alignment Alongside these advancements, OpenAI reinforced its commitment to safety and alignment. The company introduced new research on deliberative alignment, a technique instrumental in making o1 its most robust and aligned model to date. This technique embeds human-written safety specifications into the models, enabling them to explicitly reason about these policies before generating responses. The strategy seeks to solve common safety challenges in LLMs, such as vulnerability to jailbreak attacks and over-refusal of benign prompts, by equipping the models with chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning. This process allows the models to recall and apply safety specifications dynamically during inference. Deliberative alignment improves upon previous methods like reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) and constitutional AI, which rely on safety specifications only for label generation rather than embedding the policies directly into the models. By fine-tuning LLMs on safety-related prompts and their associated specifications, this approach creates models capable of policy-driven reasoning without relying heavily on human-labeled data. Results shared by OpenAI researchers in a new, non peer-reviewed paper indicate that this method enhances performance on safety benchmarks, reduces harmful outputs, and ensures better adherence to content and style guidelines. Key findings highlight the o1 model’s advancements over predecessors like GPT-4o and other state-of-the-art models. Deliberative alignment enables the o1 series to excel at resisting jailbreaks and providing safe completions while minimizing over-refusals on benign prompts. Additionally, the method facilitates out-of-distribution generalization, showcasing robustness in multilingual and encoded jailbreak scenarios. These improvements align with OpenAI’s goal of making AI systems safer and more interpretable as their capabilities grow. This research will also play a key role in aligning o3 and o3-mini, ensuring their capabilities are both powerful and responsible. How to apply for access to test o3 and o3-mini Applications for early access are now open on the OpenAI website and will close on January 10, 2025. Applicants have to fill out an online form that asks them for a variety of information, including research focus, past experience, and links to prior published papers and their repositories of code on Github, and select which of the models — o3 or o3-mini — they wish to test, as well as what they plan to use them for. Selected researchers will be granted access to o3 and o3-mini to explore their capabilities and contribute to safety evaluations, though OpenAI’s form cautions that o3 will not be available for several weeks. Researchers are encouraged to develop robust evaluations, create controlled demonstrations of high-risk capabilities, and test models on scenarios not possible with widely adopted tools. This initiative builds on the company’s established practices, including rigorous internal safety testing, collaborations with organizations like the U.S. and UK AI Safety Institutes, and its Preparedness Framework. OpenAI will review applications on a rolling basis, with selections starting immediately. A new leap forward? The introduction of o3 and o3-mini signals a leap forward in AI performance, particularly in areas requiring advanced reasoning and problem-solving capabilities. With their exceptional results on coding, math, and conceptual benchmarks, these models highlight the rapid progress being made in AI research. By inviting the broader research community to collaborate on safety testing, OpenAI aims to ensure that these capabilities are deployed responsibly. Watch the stream below: source

Customer relationship management software is a sales and marketing tool that organizes imported data, manages lead pipelines, and optimizes business workflows. Build custom dashboards that reflect your sales process and track every client interaction, from lead generation to deal closing, in one hub. CRM software integrates with other tools, like calendars or email providers, and can automate mundane sales tasks while keeping the customer experience front of mind. Benefits of CRM Drawbacks of CRM Create effective processes and workflows. Monitor team and individual progress. Solidify data organization or segmentation. Can be expensive. The software might have a learning curve. Occasional technical difficulties. 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 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 3 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), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees) Micro, Small, Medium, Large What is a CRM? CRM software is a system or platform that tracks all lead and customer interactions and data. CRMs are meant to help identify and generate new leads and potential customers and then follow them through a business’s entire sales process from start to finish. This can include everything from marketing email campaigns and meeting notes to AI-generated content and sales rep performance analytics and business forecasting. CRM software can be completely customized to fit branding, user experience, collaboration needs, and customer workflows. They’re often desktop plugins or desktop applications with mobile app versions offered, allowing sales reps and users to access that same information on the go. Who is a CRM for? A CRM is software for salespeople, departments, or any client-facing business looking to manage customer relationships. While it is sales-forward software, I see CRM solutions as a great tool for closing the gap between marketing, sales, and customer support departments and teams. This is because a CRM acts as a one-stop-shop for all customer information so that there is a single source of truth for the team. A CRM can support any industry. The most popular CRM is typically generalized, meaning they’re made to fit core needs with a mix of basic and advanced features and functionalities. There are CRMs that cater to specific markets and industries, such as real estate, marketing firms, accounting firms, hospitality, technology, financial services, and so much more. Types of CRM Most CRM software scales to match the size, needs, and industry of the business implementing it. There are both general and industry-specific CRMs, all of which typically fall under four specific types of customer relationship management: analytical, operational, collaborative, and marketing. Analytical CRM Analytical CRMs take both internal and external data and turn it into actionable insights using advanced forecasting and AI features. Sales teams who want to better forecast future deals would benefit from this kind of CRM. Example sales analytics and productivity dashboard. Image: Creatio Operational CRM Operational CRMs support more administrative responsibilities, customer-facing tasks, and other back-office or day-to-day duties. They are best for businesses looking for a tool to monitor customer life cycles or who need more sales automation functionality. Create custom workflows with rules that trigger activities such as updating records, sending emails, and assigning duties. Sample lead sequence and custom workflow. Image: monday CRM Collaborative CRM Collaborative CRMs can facilitate company-wide collaboration between sales, marketing, and service departments by collecting and sharing customer data, such as touch points, all from one hub. These CRMs offer more advanced team management and permission features, making them great for customer support and sales teams generating and sharing leads. Example validation and advanced permission settings for CRM users. Image: Insightly Marketing CRM Marketing-focused CRMs assist with generating and nurturing online leads through social media, email, and other channels. In addition to basic email marketing, these CRMs can create drip campaigns, run social media campaigns, or help with landing pages and website creation. Sample email marketing campaign. Image: Zoho CRM How does CRM work? CRM software manages client contact data, supports entire sales pipelines, and coordinates marketing campaigns for both B2B and B2C businesses. CRM software collects data that matches an ideal customer profile and then generates detailed reports and leads profiles. These profiles and pipelines build out custom dashboards that continuously track individual or entire company sales progress. SEE: How to Create Effective CRM Strategy CRMs prioritize automating as much of the sales process as possible. This can include data entry tasks, sales forecasting, and even directly engaging with clients on a business’s behalf. They’re meant to house all client interactions in one place and consolidate communication such as form fills, emails, calls, and meetings. They can also store important documents, notes, and purchase history, allowing entire teams, departments, and businesses access to the same up-to-date data. CRMs are meant to take the burden of repetitive tasks from sales reps, such as miscellaneous calendar scheduling tasks or meeting follow-up, so they can generate and nurture leads and close deals quickly with great service. A CRM will scale its services to meet current needs while also spotting opportunities for growth and adjustments to get the business where it wants to be. More about CRM Benefits of CRM Even small businesses who start out using simple sales tools, spreadsheets and calendars will eventually need to adopt a CRM to help monitor growth and maintain clientele. Generally, CRMs are worth the investment for their help with automating and streamlining a sales process. For any industry and any size business, having one main tracking and pipeline management software that can integrate with your existing tech stack can be game changing. Some standout benefits of implementing a CRM are: Create effective workflows: Automate a variety of tasks through third-party integrations, like sending emails, calendar

The flurry of commerce, travel, and other business that escalates with the winter holidays might make for tempting targets for hackers — or perhaps not in a world already wracked with cyberattacks. Enterprises defend against ransomware and other digital threats throughout the year. Bad actors might choose to focus their attention more on targets of opportunity that are unrelated to the holiday season, though the temptation might be too great for Cyber Gremlins and Grinches. This episode of DOS Won’t Hunt saw a panel comprised of David Richardson, vice president of endpoint and threat intelligence for Lookout; Kris Lovejoy, senior vice president for security with Kyndryl; Jake King, head of threat and security intelligence with Elastic; Mikhail Ishkhanov, senior director, product strategy and sales enablement with SOTI; Stephanie ”Snow” Carruthers, IBM’s global head of cyber range and chief people hacker with IBM X-Force; and John Paul Cunningham, CISO for Silverfort. They discussed what is at stake during the holidays, security risks that can arise with undertrained seasonal staff, and why it is not a good idea to have someone caught up in holiday festivities tasked with cyber forensic audits. Mind the champagne. Listen to the full podcast here. Related:Forrester Panel: Government Cybersecurity Leaders Discuss Next Steps for Zero Trust source

Enterprise implications: Navigating AI in a changing landscape The appointment of a tech-savvy leader like Krishnan reflects the Trump administration’s recognition of AI as a critical element for global competitiveness. For enterprises, this could bring regulatory clarity or, conversely, added scrutiny in areas such as data sharing, intellectual property, and the ethical use of AI. Krishnan’s emphasis on platforms forming “content alliances” and exploring legal or technical solutions for data-sharing disputes highlights the growing complexity of operating in an AI-driven economy. Businesses across industries must adapt to policies that will likely incentivize innovation while introducing stringent accountability measures. Krishnan’s appointment as a senior AI advisor signals a transformative shift in US tech policy under Trump’s administration. With his focus on AI ethics, decentralization, and user rights, Krishnan’s influence could shape not just governmental frameworks but also how enterprises evolve their AI strategies in a competitive, rapidly changing market. source

By Yian Huang, Daniel Laguardia and Christopher Forrester ( December 19, 2024, 3:48 PM EST) — On Dec. 2, the Delaware Court of Chancery denied a motion in Tornetta v. Musk to revise its decision ordering rescission of Elon Musk’s nearly $56 billion compensation package…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

This time of year is perfect for reflection — looking back at the challenges and successes of 2024 while anticipating the opportunities and changes that 2025 will bring. As we prepare to enjoy the holidays with family and friends, celebrating with cozy gatherings, delicious food, and cheerful toasts to the new year, we’d like to take a moment to share our reflections on what shaped European cybersecurity, risk, and privacy markets over the past year. A Year Of Legislative Transformation 2024 was marked by a flurry of legislative activity in the European Union, particularly in cybersecurity, risk, privacy, and artificial intelligence. Key highlights include: Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA): These regulations took effect aiming to create balanced digital ecosystems that foster innovation while protecting consumer rights. NIS2 Directive: By October 17, 2024, EU member states were required to transpose this directive into national law to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure. Unfortunately, delays remain in most countries. Currently, only Belgium, Crotia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, and Lithuania have transposed the Directive into national laws. Cyber Resilience Act: Adopted by the Council, this Act will start applying 36 months after its entry into force, with select provisions taking effect earlier. While obligations regarding reporting for vulnerabilities don’t kick in until 2026, organizations should start investigating the impact of the Act in 2025. ePrivacy Regulation: Still in draft form, this legislation is intended to complement the GDPR, providing specific rules for electronic communications. EU AI Act: Formally adopted in May, this regulation paves the way for the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence. Read in our predictions what we expect when it comes to 2025. Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA): The financial sector focused heavily on preparing for compliance with DORA, which takes effect in January 2025. 2024 was a significant year for European cybersecurity regulations. Going into 2025, the focus will be on implementation of this avalanche of regulation. We also expect to see this regulation play a role in shaping the global agenda for cyber regulation and what the outline of AI regulation should look like. Many will see the European regulation as strangling innovation and miring European enterprises in red tape — others will see it as a model for how to regulate cyber and AI. Geopolitical Tensions And Cyber Warfare Geopolitical tensions escalated in 2024, amplifying cyber threats: State-sponsored attacks: Energy grids, healthcare systems, and transportation networks faced growing risks from nation-state attackers. Examples in 2024 included a cyberattack on Germany’s main opposition party in June shortly before the European Parliament elections and a major ransomware attack in Romania that took down 25 hospitals. Suspicions coalesce around the typical state-sponsored threat actors associated with China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, and other malign nonstate threat actors. Hybrid warfare: Cyberattacks were integrated into misinformation campaigns and other hybrid tactics, such as the recent interference in elections in Romania and Moldova attributed to Russian hybrid warfare tactics. Also, expect further curious “accidents” impacting undersea cables in sensitive areas such as the Baltic Sea to continue in 2025. EU cyber defence initiatives: The EU reinforced its Joint Cyber Unit and expanded collaborative efforts, including cyber rapid response teams, to combat these threats. With a more uncertain commitment to European defence from the incoming US administration, expect more to be spent bolstering EU cyber defences in 2025 and beyond. The Evolving Role Of The CISO Over the past few years, we have seen changes in the role of the CISO across Europe.CISOs are shifting from purely technical experts to strategic leaders, with boards expecting them to show value for security investment and translate technical risks into business risks. European CISOs are also expected to make industry contributions, via sharing best practices, participating in public policy discussions, or speaking at conferences. CISOs need to make sure that they balance higher levels of external contributions with spending enough time focused on the job at hand and with their own security teams, a balance that not all get right. Want to know our predictions for 2025? Forrester clients can read Forrester’s full Predictions reports for Europe and cybersecurity, risk, and privacy. Happy holidays! source

00:00 Welcome to CIO Leadership Live. I’m Lee Rennick, executive director of CIO communities for CIO.com, and I’m very excited and honored to welcome Paul Hlivko, EVP, Chief Information and Digital officer at Wellmark, Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Welcome to the show, first of all, and would you mind introducing yourself and maybe telling us a little bit about your current role?00:00:25:07 – 00:00:50:06Speaker 2Yeah, sure. I appreciate the opportunity to be here with you today and, look forward to the conversation. As CIO, as you mentioned, there’s really three aspects of the role at this organization. I’m at Wellmark, Blue Cross and Blue Shield. it’s which is one of the blues that serves, members and clients and providing health, affordable health care service services and solutions, in the market, ultimately trying to improve our members health outcomes.00:00:50:06 – 00:01:11:09Speaker 2But my role, along with a number of my peers is really to ensure that our market position and the needs of our members are actively met. So as CIO, one of the things I focus a lot on is information security, making sure the assets of our members are protected. Focus on the resiliency and durability of our organization.00:01:11:12 – 00:01:30:26Speaker 2as the landscape of both health care as well as, threat actors evolve, but also that, focus on the effectiveness of the organization that we’re constantly trying to find opportunities to be more cost effective and efficient to serve our members and clients needs. So that’s that’s first and foremost. second, and I’m the enterprise technology leader.00:01:30:27 – 00:01:50:24Speaker 2So the CIO role tends to fill that. And we’re constantly looking at what opportunities do we have to build new capabilities in an organization, build new muscles. so that we can continually compete in an ever evolving and changing, healthcare landscape in this case. and that’s a that’s a full time job in and of itself, as you can imagine.00:01:50:26 – 00:02:10:19Speaker 2Yeah. And third, I think the most exciting part, CIOs tend to be a change catalyst, like we are often tasked with the innovation agenda. and if I just reflect on kind of where a lot of the growth in, the GDP in the US comes from the last ten years, 35% of it’s in the in the tech field.00:02:10:22 – 00:02:32:03Speaker 2so for us, it’s understanding what that growth trajectory is, what the innovation cycles look like. doing the sensing and the sense making and ensuring that we’re bringing the best of that world imported into our organization, our industry. so we can ultimately serve our clients and our members and their health needs in a more effective manner.00:02:32:08 – 00:03:00:04Speaker 1Well, really large remit. And I love that piece around innovation. As you mentioned, you know, 35 of businesses are technology based companies, but you know, really everyone I talked to in your role, every company is technology based, and you’ve got clients who are at different of areas, probably in their journey with technology as well too. Right? So to be responsive to those end users and those clients, but also make sure you’re innovating and growing your technology portfolio as a leader, which you have to do is is a huge remit.00:03:00:04 – 00:03:21:17Speaker 1So I really appreciate your time today. Paul. Thank you so much for joining me here today. we’ve developed this series really to support the tech leader in their leadership and tech journey. So the first question and I ask everyone this question, could you please tell me a little bit about your own career path, and leadership journey to, to date, you know, are there any lessons learned along the way that you could share?00:03:21:19 – 00:03:52:21Speaker 2Yeah, sure. I mean, I think I’ve always identified somewhat as a geek. but I never really fit. I never really felt home strictly in a tech geek, type role and capacity and, I read a book recently by Andrew McAfee, and he termed, you created the term, business geek. And I think it was the first time I felt like it, it connected like I had part of, like, the geek in me from, early days in my career and then, more so in the last, probably 15 to 20 years.00:03:52:21 – 00:04:13:08Speaker 2Like, I really love solving, business problems. And to me, that intersection is tech, the financial markets, economy, and the social sciences too, that come into play. So like, business geek is what really resonates with me. And in the mid 90s, started out, if you could sling code and build websites, you could start a business.00:04:13:10 – 00:04:13:23Speaker 1Yeah.00:04:13:24 – 00:04:40:02Speaker 2So I started out just as a sole proprietor, building websites for local and regional regional companies and really understanding not just the the tech and how it meets the market need, but also how to operate all aspects of a small business. that pivoted me into my next entrepreneurial effort, which was creating immersive virtual tours of residential real estate in the late 90s, early 2000.00:04:40:05 – 00:05:01:03Speaker 2we were one of the companies that were first in the market. so I really got a taste of what being early on, the innovation curve felt like and trying to sell tech into, kind of sleepy real estate industry at the time. and right during the.com bubble. But like reflecting back on that, it was a three sided platform and we didn’t even know what that was back then.00:05:01:06 – 00:05:20:10Speaker 2Right. So it brokers on one side, distribution channel on another side. And we had photographers doing the actual image capture on the other. So it’s just that reoccurring revenue model and platform businesses like we experiment to back in the day, but we didn’t really have the words for it. Ultimately, the scale was, less interesting. that that small business scale for me.00:05:20:10 – 00:05:44:27Speaker 2So I found myself in financial services for the next 13 years. wealth management in particular,

Many security breaches can be avoided by applying software patches to known vulnerabilities as soon as they’re released by the vendor. Patch management software provides a centralized place for IT administrators to identify known vulnerabilities and deploy patches across most or all of the computer systems and applications in use across the organization. The best patch management software offers an intuitive interface, affordable pricing, and automation to improve efficiency while mitigating risk. In this guide, I compare my top choices for business patch management to help you make the right choice for your organization. 1 ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus 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 Access Controls / Permissions, Activity Tracking, Alerts / Notifications, and more 2 NinjaOne Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees) Small, Medium, Large, Enterprise Features Monitoring, Patch Management Top patch management software comparison Every patch manager on my list provides centralized management for at least one administrator to scan, approve, and deploy updates for multiple machines at once. The main differentiating factors, feature-wise, are their cost, supported platforms, and automation capabilities. Our rating (out of 5) Starting price Supported platforms Centralized management Automation ESET project 5 $287 per year for 5 devices Windows, Linux, macOS Yes Scanning and deployments NinjaOne 4.8 Custom quote Windows, Linux, macOS Yes Scanning, approval, deployments, reboots, alerts, and notifications ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus 4.6 Free Windows, Linux, macOS Yes Scanning, testing, approval, deployments, and reboots SolarWinds Patch Manager 4.4 $2,274 per year Windows Yes Scanning and deployments Avast Business Patch Management 4.2 $16.42 per device per year Windows Yes Scanning Heimdal Patch & Asset Management 4.0 Custom quote Windows, macOS, Linux, routers, and more Yes Scanning, deployments, and compliance management ESET Protect: Best overall Our rating: 5 out of 5 Image: ESET ESET includes patch management capabilities as part of several ESET Protect security software bundles. Its patch management features include automatic scanning and prioritization of vulnerabilities and automatic deployment of Windows, macOS, Linux, and third-party software updates. Other security functionality depends on the plan package you select, but at a minimum, all patch management bundles include endpoint protection for workstations, servers, mobile devices, and cloud applications, as well as full disk encryption. You can also upgrade to an extended detection and response or managed detection and response plan for comprehensive security management. SEE: Patch Management Best Practices for IT Professionals (TechRepublic) Why I chose ESET Protect ESET provides a complete endpoint protection platform for businesses at a highly affordable cost. While I found the initial configuration to be a bit challenging, the Protect dashboard makes it easy to manage updates across operating systems and software applications. It provides comprehensive, instant reporting on your patch compliance and security posture. Pricing ESET’s patch manager comes bundled with three of the ESET Protect plans: ESET Protect Complete: Includes endpoint protection, server security, mobile device security, full-disk encryption, advanced threat defense, mail server security, and cloud app protection for $287.72 per year for 5 devices (promotional price). ESET Protect Elite: Adds extended detection, response, and multi-factor authentication; requires a custom quote. ESET Protect MDR: Adds managed detection, response, and premium support; requires a custom quote. Features Automated scanning with instant reporting. Severity-based prioritization of vulnerabilities. Automated and manual patching. Centralized visibility of endpoints and vulnerabilities. Additional business security features depending on chosen package. ESET PROTECT’s full disk encryption utility. Image: ESET Pros and cons Pros Cons Up-to-date CVE management. Initial configuration has a steep learning curve. Ease of use. Additional security features. NinjaOne: Best for beginners Our rating: 4.8 out of 5 Image: NinjaOne NinjaOne Patch Management is a standalone product that automatically identifies and deploys software updates for Windows, Linux, Mac, and third-party apps. It also automatically reboots systems to finish applying updates and generates automatic alerts and notifications when vulnerabilities are detected, or the vendor releases new updates. I appreciated that the NinjaOne dashboard includes remote remediation tools to help teams troubleshoot and fix patch installation problems or system hangs without needing anyone on-site. The only reason I didn’t give it a perfect 5 out of 5 is that I found some of the automation features a little buggy, which could be frustrating for beginners. SEE: Patch Management Policy (TechRepublic Premium) Why I chose NinjaOne Patch Management NinjaOne Patch Management is a beginner-friendly solution that provides many automation capabilities and remediation tools to streamline patch management for small, busy IT teams. NinjaOne also offers other endpoint security and device management products for those who need a more complete solution. Pricing NinjaOne does not publicly provide pricing information, requiring potential customers to request a custom quote. According to a Reddit user, the minimum spend is $180 per month. Features Automated patch identification, approval, and deployment. Remediation tools including remote terminal, registry editor, and remote access. Pre-emptive patch approval. Automated reboots. Visibility into endpoint security with per-patch data. Automated alerts and notifications. Patch activity logs and reporting. NinjaOne Patch Management’s automatic reboot options. Image: NinjaOne Pros and cons Pros Cons Easy to use for beginners. Some features can be buggy. Includes additional remediation tools. Pricing isn’t transparent. Provides lots of automation. ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus: Best free patch management Our rating: 4.6 out of 5 Image: ManageEngine ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus is a fully-featured patch management solution that businesses can use for free for up to 20 workstations and five servers. While all the other options on my list are cloud-only, ManageEngine’s software can also be deployed on-premises for businesses that want to keep everything in-house. Its paid options are affordable, and the Enterprise plan adds updates for antivirus definitions, device drivers, and BIOS, as well as automatic patch testing, approval, and bandwidth optimization. ManageEngine agents are easy to deploy, but the management dashboard is challenging to configure, and I found its error codes less than helpful. On

Businesses are already being radically transformed by artificial intelligence (AI). Tools now exist that offer instantaneous, high-quality results in improving certain operations without the burden of high costs or delays. In fact, generative AI could completely upend the traditional ways that we measure success in business. Generative AI refers to programs that produce high-quality text, images, ideas and even complex software code in response to prompts (questions or instructions) from a user. Applications powered by data-driven algorithms enable users to quickly create high-quality content, redefining traditional measures of success. A small café can generate aesthetically pleasing menus in a few clicks through apps like Jasper.AI. Online retailers can use generative AI chatbots such as botco.ai to provide 24/7 support, answering queries and offering advice. Businesses with an online presence can use generative AI to analyse social media posts in order to understand customer sentiment. AI empowers businesses by automating tasks like writing marketing copy, crafting social media posts and generating blog articles. Additionally, AI can handle routine customer inquiries, data entry and scheduling, freeing up valuable time for strategic initiatives. Platforms such as GPT-4, GeminiAI and Co-Pilot are either free or affordable, making it easier for even small firms to benefit from high-end capabilities once reserved only for bigger firms with bigger budgets. Generative AI tools can produce content in close to real time, and deliver results without forcing firms to compromise on quality. In fact, the AI tools get better at what they do as they’re exposed to more data. Businesses operating a family of models known as “as a service” models, can make particular use of generative AI. In one of these, known as content-as-a-service (CAAS), firms provide other organisations with quick access to quality written content and visuals. Once exclusively the domain of humans, these tasks can now be done by AI. Firms operating a software-as-a-service (SAAS) model can also leverage AI given that some programs now generate complex computer code. Old measures of success Historically, project management and business success was largely defined through a simple formula: Cost x Time = Quality. Often touted as the “iron triangle” from the perspective of operational efficiency, this equation implies that, in order to attain a degree of quality, firms must balance cost with the time spent to achieve that level of quality. For example, requesting that something be both delivered quickly and at a high quality typically incurs higher costs. Proper planning and scheduling help ensure competitive pricing and reliable quality. Delivering results faster often translates to investing more resources, such as labour or specialised equipment, adding to overall costs. Conversely, delivering lower cost solutions would often come at the expense of quality. Generative AI can analyse social media posts in order to understand customer sentiment. Kaspars Grinvalds A related trade off is that of speed versus accuracy. If something needs to be done quickly, accuracy is often compromised. AI has upended this thinking, as firms can now achieve both speed and accuracy at the same time by leveraging AI. This can enhance productivity and drive innovation without losing out on quality. Likewise, through generative AI, smaller companies with fewer resources are able to rub shoulders and compete with larger firms using AI-powered tools. They can do this by streamlining operations, creating cost-effective marketing content and delivering personalised customer experiences. This can make existing businesses more efficient, competitive and creative. It can also lower the barriers to entry into markets for prospective small and medium-sized business owners. Prospects for survival Many generative AI tools are cloud-based, reducing the need for significant infrastructure costs. They are also user friendly, requiring no specialised expertise. This means that organisations no longer require specialised talent to drive competitiveness within their organisations. The UK government’s recent autumn budget included a number of tax rises that will hit businesses, especially some small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that don’t have the financial buffers to weather severe economic challenges. Companies may either put recruitment budgets on hold, or scale them back. Against the background of such a challenging economic environment, SMEs are using generative AI to transform efficiency and productivity as well as improve accessibility and reduce costs. Generative AI has reconfigured the Cost x Time = Quality formula and has enabled firms to do things both quickly and accurately without a trade off. For SMEs, it has torn down competitive barriers and the prospects for survival during economic upheaval. As generative AI continues to develop, companies must be open to embracing change and rethinking how they perceive everything they once held true. Otherwise, they’ll have the wrong horse, for the wrong course. source

By Ryan Davis ( December 20, 2024, 10:13 PM EST) — The full Federal Circuit has refused to review a ruling that revived a software patent suit against Salesforce and sunk a $6.9 million attorney fee award it won, turning aside the company’s argument that the decision created a split within the court that will cause “recurring confusion.”… Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source