Tech News Roundup: September 2018

Isolated hands holding tablet

Technology advances at breakneck speed, which makes it difficult to keep up with all the latest news and analysis. To make it easier for you, we’ve combed the media for this month’s top technology news:

Techcrunch.com – Microsoft Azure bets big on IoT

Microsoft made several announcements regarding Azure and the Internet of Things (IoT) at its Ignite conference. Most interestingly, the tech giant will be launching new services like Azure Digital Twins, which will allow businesses to build their own digital models of any physical environment where IoT devices are deployed. Developers will be able to dynamically view all the device locations, create test scenarios, and review advanced analytics, all without having to alter the actual physical deployment. The service is slated to debut in October.

Forbes.com – ServiceNow Dreams of $10 Billion as Digital Transformation Spikes Revenue 45%

ServiceNow, an ESM giant and AIM Consulting Partner, has been having a good year, largely due to the “insatiable demand for digital transformations”. So much so, that the company has started planning for how to reach $10 billion in annual revenue. ServiceNow is currently sitting at $2.8 billion for 2018, but CEO John Donahoe expects things to accelerate as more companies begin to find real value in optimizing and automating IT, HR, customer service, security, and more.

Techcrunch.com – Microsoft, SAP and Adobe take on Salesforce with their new Open Data Initiative for customer data

Microsoft, SAP, and Adobe recently announced their new Open Data Initiative partnership. This effort will create a single data model for consumer data that will be portable between platforms, which should provide more transparency and privacy for consumers, while also making it easier for businesses to migrate customer data. The three companies could become serious challengers to Salesforce in the CRM market once they combine their efforts.

CleanTechnica.com – Tesla Has Applied Agile Software Development to Automotive Manufacturing

This case study provides a very interesting overview of how agile methodologies can be used in industries and business areas outside of software. The example in this particular piece is Tesla, which used agile to go from 20% to 80% Model 3 production capacity in just three months.