In a surprising turn of events for enterprise resource planning (ERP) customers globally, as part of its Q3 2024 financial results, ServiceNow announced a new expanded partnership with one of the most popular third-party software support providers, Rimini Street. Both companies are creating a new enterprise software model that will allow existing on-premises ERP systems and other enterprise applications to add new AI innovations using ServiceNow’s AI platform. The new offering will leverage the single architecture, single data model of ServiceNow with Rimini Street’s proven independent third-party software support capabilities to add and enhance customer innovation across several key pillars such as procurement, finance, supply chain, HR, customer service, and IT. This is welcome news to many on-premises ERP and other large enterprise application customers worldwide who have stalled their move to SaaS or vendor-hosted cloud offerings for ERP, SCM, HCM, CRM, and more, as they tend to be multiyear, multimillion-dollar upgrades or transformation programs. Often, not upgrading means no access to new vendor AI innovations. Many such customers are also facing rising support costs from software vendors like SAP and Oracle to their old on-premises footprint. This, along with end-of-support software deadlines, has triggered a move to third-party software support providers such as Rimini Street to significantly save on software support and maintenance costs and prolong the life of their on-premises applications for which they own perpetual licenses. Lack of modernization and an inability to add new AI innovations were often cited as the biggest industry critiques of moving and staying with third-party software support, but Rimini Street has just squashed that concern by partnering with ServiceNow, which is well known for its modern platform enabling workflows, automation, AI, and service management capabilities. Legacy or on-premises customers using Rimini Street can now add a complex layer of AI and automation innovation over these existing systems without having the need to undergo costly and complex upgrades and painstakingly expensive transformation programs. Customers need not wait several years to complete upgrades to access AI innovations offered by software vendors. On-premises customers can access innovation now when it is most needed in these economically uncertain and inflationary conditions. SAP S/4HANA on-premises and ECC on-premises customers will rejoice knowing that they don’t have to wait to complete (or even start, for that matter) their RISE with SAP S/4HANA cloud programs (often considered very expensive in the industry) to leverage Business AI innovations from SAP. Many existing SAP customers have been using Rimini Street for third-party software support due to the rising cost of SAP support over the last two years and to extend the life of their ECC systems and on-premises S/4HANA systems. These customers will now have the ability to innovate right where they are, which puts the power back into the hands of the SAP customers to be able to transform without disruptions. The industry has seen SAP change its RISE with SAP offering over the years, and 2025 and beyond will see further expansion on what is traditionally considered RISE with SAP and Cloud ERP. Both SAP and ServiceNow reported great Q3 2024 financial results. Industry competition is getting stiff between the five enterprise mega vendors — SAP, Oracle, Workday, Salesforce, and ServiceNow — to gain market share and positioning in ERP, HCM, SCM, CRM, ITSM, and more, with only two of them successfully positioning as an end-to-end platform company. The race to enterprise AI is heating up, with Workday and Salesforce announcing a federated data model partnership, Oracle announcing several groundbreaking multicloud partnerships, and SAP upping its game for Business AI. While most of these innovations are in SaaS or vendor-hosted cloud offerings, on-premises customers are often left in the dust! This is precisely why this ServiceNow and Rimini Street partnership offers some reprieve to customers worrying about having no access to AI innovation if they stalled their move to SaaS or cloud platforms. For more insights on the entire third-party software support market, Rimini Street, or this specific announcement, clients can book time with me (inquiry or guidance session). source

By Lauren Berg ( October 25, 2024, 9:42 PM EDT) — The Ninth Circuit on Friday upheld the seven-year prison sentence imposed on a former University of California, Los Angeles, electrical engineering professor convicted of illegally exporting high-powered semiconductor chips to China, saying the district court did not err in holding that the conduct amounted to an evasion of national security controls…. 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

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

By Christopher Cole ( October 28, 2024, 6:42 PM EDT) — The Federal Communications Commission will help tribal libraries link up with funding through the E-Rate subsidy program for schools and libraries on a permanent basis…. 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

From the outside, it looks like a clean, modern social housing block. You can tell it’s new — there are 84 shiny solar panels on the roof and the fresh paint has barely dried on the walls. But it’s how this 56-dwelling building in Barcelona, complete with ground floor nursery, was designed and built that really matters.  “Our software is our superpower,” says Lucas Carné, co-founder of 011h, a construction tech firm, as he describes how his company has designed digital tools to help architects plan buildings like this one. “We use a lot of prefab,” he adds. “That reduces the need for on-site labour.” Prefabricated construction relies on factory-made parts or components of buildings that are joined together on-site. It is far from a new concept but 011h has tried to make it much easier for architects to use this approach. The firm offers architectural software plugins containing libraries full of these prefab components. It makes the process of designing a building a bit like playing with digital Lego.  Improving productivity to solve housing shortage So far, 011h has collaborated with architectural and construction firms on several Spanish apartment blocks of differing designs — roughly completing one such block per year. The company is now planning to scale up to multiple projects annually, encompassing a total of around 200 dwellings per year. The firm has raised more than 35 million euros to date and has 90 employees.  This push to streamline design and construction is sorely needed, suggests Carné. As in many European countries, demand for housing in Spain is currently outpacing supply. Across the continent, the picture varies but a lack of housing, and a shortage of construction workers, are common themes. Materials costs also rocketed during the worst years of the pandemic. Now, various European startups are coming up with a raft of ideas to try and mitigate these problems. “Our goal is to improve productivity,” says Carné. “Probably the biggest problem this industry is facing is that productivity is stagnant.” Build with digital Lego Traditionally, construction is a woefully disjointed business. Roughly speaking, an architect will come up with a design and then hand it to a builder who, separately, will work out how to put that design together, for real. 011h takes a different stance. “We run a design and build process together with the suppliers and solutions we are going to use,” says Carné.  All the information about who will supply each building part, the costs involved, and the carbon footprint is collated from the very start in the company’s software. His team focuses on using sustainable materials — responsibly sourced timber rather than concrete, for instance, since the latter is high in embodied carbon. 011h’s buildings have achieved embodied carbon emissions lower than 400 kg of CO2 equivalent per square metre — significantly better than current averages. Plus, construction time is also shortened, by around 30% versus the average, claims Carné. Construction conservatism can hinder new technology adoption Revolutionising construction with digital technology has promise but it is difficult to do, says Sam O’Gorman at McKinsey’s Real Estate practice. There is often resistance to new ways of doing things in the construction sector, he notes. Plus, given the large amount of capital involved, there is significant risk if a project goes awry: “One mess-up could cost the business.” However, if firms entering this space can establish a good track record — perhaps through significant self-funding, at least initially — then they might be able to convince potential partners that they are worthy of collaboration or investment, adds O’Gorman. Another company that says technology can help us build homes smarter and faster is AUAR (Automated Architecture), in the UK. Gilles Retsin, co-founder and CTO, says his firm’s approach is to supply building firms with “micro-factories” — boxes with big robot arms inside. These arms work tirelessly to produce modular building units. Imagine a roughly 4×3 metre timber floor or wall panel, thick enough to be filled with insulation, which can be joined together with other panels to make a building.  A bot job “The robot will essentially grip raw materials, cut them, and put them on an assembly table where it nails them together,” explains Retsin. “Then they’re craned onto site by humans.” AUAR has 17 employees and has raised £2.6 million. The company is currently targeting the European and US markets, both of which are suffering from labour shortages in the construction sector. “We just built a two-storey building in Belgium,” says Retsin. In that case, the microfactory robot took about three days to make the building block units and human workers took a further three days to connect those units together and complete the building’s main structure. Initially, AUAR provided its microfactory robots at a cost of £250,000 each but Retsin says the firm is shifting to a hardware-as-a-service model in which builders can pay a smaller fee to have the microfactory delivered to site. They will then pay a further small charge per square metre of building produced. Although the firm is yet to scale, Retsin emphasises the huge potential of running the robot arms continuously — and perhaps using many of them in parallel. “The capacity of one robot is 200 homes per year, if you run it eight hours per day,” he says, adding that the next step for the firm is to tackle a 30-home project in the US next year. Robo brickie Finally, even in 2024, bricklaying remains a crucial skill required for housebuilding in Europe, as brick-based construction remains prized by European homebuyers. However, bricklayers are among the workers currently in very short supply. Monumental, based in Amsterdam, has an alternative.  “You tell me, ‘I want to build a façade for a house, it’s X square metres’,” says Salar al Khafaji, founder and CEO. “I will quote you a price and do it for you — but I will do it with robots.” The firm, which has raised $25 million to date and has 32

Overconfidence in cybersecurity is a serious and often overlooked risk. Too many companies believe that investing in the latest tools and hiring top talent guarantees safety. But it doesn’t. Without constantly adapting your strategy, even the best technology won’t protect you.   The greatest danger might not come from hackers, but from your own false sense of security.  It’s easy to think that spending millions on sophisticated tools will keep threats at bay. The more rigid your approach, the more exposed you become. Cyber threats evolve constantly — if you don’t keep up, you’re inviting risk.  Confidence Paradox: More Tools, More Blind Spots  I’ve seen this again and again: It’s what I call the “confidence paradox”. The more tools you add, the more confident you feel. But that confidence can quickly turn into dangerous blind spots.  In one of my engagements with a retail company, their cybersecurity infrastructure had grown significantly over time. They had all the bells and whistles: intrusion detection, endpoint protection. You name it, they had it. The problem was that their IT team was overwhelmed by alerts. Every day, they received so many notifications that they missed the critical ones, resulting in a breach.  This isn’t just a one-off situation. According to BlueKupros, companies with fragmented security solutions are 3.5 times more likely to experience significant security incidents. The more complex the system, the harder it is to manage, and the more likely you are to overlook crucial details.  Related:2024 Cyber Resilience Strategy Report: CISOs Battle Attacks, Disasters, AI … and Dust Case Study: Uber’s Alert Fatigue  Remember Uber’s 2022 data breach? Uber’s 2022 breach shows how alert fatigue and complexity can lead to serious security failures. In this case, the attacker used multi-factor authentication (MFA) fatigue, bombarding an Uber employee with repeated MFA requests until the employee eventually accepted one, allowing unauthorized access. Once inside, the hacker escalated privileges and moved laterally through Uber’s systems, accessing sensitive tools like their bug bounty program and Slack.  This breach shows how even with extensive security tools, teams remain vulnerable when overwhelmed by alerts and unable to prioritize critical threats. Uber’s case shows the risk of depending too heavily on complex systems without ensuring that the human elements — like alert management and training — are equally robust. I’ve seen this same pattern with other clients. The issue isn’t the lack of tools; it’s that their teams can’t handle the noise. When teams are focused on small fires, they tend to miss the bigger, more critical threats.  Related:Juliet Okafor Highlights Ways to Maintain Cyber Resiliency Practical Advice: Streamline, Prioritize, and Audit  So how do you avoid falling into this trap? The answer isn’t more technology: it’s smarter management of the technology you already have.   Here’s how:  Consolidate your tools: Take a close look at the tools you’re using.  Do they overlap? Are they really adding value? Often, less is more. Streamline your tools to reduce clutter and help your team focus on what matters.  Prioritize alerts: Stop trying to manage everything. Use systems that prioritize alerts by severity. You’ll free up your team to focus on the threats that matter, instead of drowning in low-level noise.  Regularly audit your security: Cybersecurity is never a “set it and forget it” task; it requires continuous monitoring and improvement. You need to audit both your tools and your processes regularly. Are they still effective? Are they aligned with the latest threats? And don’t forget to evaluate the human side of things. How is your team handling their workload?  Focus on training: Your people are just as important as your tech. Continuous training ensures that your team is prepared for evolving threats and can better manage their tools. A well-trained team won’t fall into the trap of alert fatigue.  Related:Beyond the Election: The Long Cybersecurity Fight vs Bad Actors Why This Matters Now  As threats grow to be more sophisticated, companies are doubling down on technology to defend themselves. The more you rely on tools without oversight, the more exposed you become. Don’t assume you’re safe just because you’ve invested heavily in security.  By streamlining, auditing, and focusing on the human element, you can avoid the pitfalls of overconfidence. In cybersecurity, confidence should come from having the right processes and people — not just the latest tools.  By following these steps and learning from cases like Uber, you’ll strengthen your defenses and avoid the dangers of overconfidence. It’s not about having more tech — it’s about using it effectively.  source

By Christopher Cole ( October 28, 2024, 7:36 PM EDT) — Credit unions should be included along with banks under Federal Communications Commission requirements to secure letters of credit in order to receive funding for broadband networks, a national trade group told the FCC…. 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

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

By Bryan Koenig ( October 25, 2024, 5:19 PM EDT) — United Kingdom antitrust authorities triggered a formal investigation Friday into Synopsys Inc.’s $35 billion acquisition of Ansys Inc., satisfied that the transaction has enough ties to the country to merit greater scrutiny…. 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