Increasing economic pressures affecting the retail industry means companies in Western Europe and North America will increasingly look to outsource technology and business processes in a bid to cut costs, and focus on core skills. This is according to a new report by independent market analyst firm, Datamonitor. The report, “Retailing in a Recession: The Opportunities for Outsourcing”, looks at the business processes retailers are outsourcing, and why.

As individuals around the world become more accustomed to using mobile computing devices in hands-busy, eyes-busy environments, the market for speech recognition technologies within these devices is expected to gain considerable traction within the next five years.

In today’s turbulent business environment driven by an unprecedented global recession, the operating landscape of many industries will change forever, forcing many businesses to alter operating models and portfolios not just for the sake of efficiency gains but also for survival. As such, IT organisations and their respective CIOs must play an essential role to enable critical change and business support through the various transitions, finds a new report by Booz & Company.

Enterprise wide environmental sustainability—going green—makes such good business sense that it is inevitable. The CIO and IT have important roles to play in helping the enterprise exploit the operational, commercial and branding opportunities that going green offers.

The global economy is expected to take years to rebound, so smart companies are investing now in new technologies, such as radio frequency identification, to become more profitable in the short term and more competitive in the long run.