Generative AI and, more specifically, ChatGPT captivated the corporate world in 2023, with board directors, CEOs, and other executives fawning (and sometimes fearing) the technology.

Their enthusiasm is justified, with multiple studies finding that AI is delivering strong value and returns on investment. IBM, for one, found that the average ROI on enterprise-wide AI initiatives at 5.9% with best-in-class companies reaping an enviable 13% ROI.

No wonder that theyre all talking about it.

But with all due respect, AI is hardly the only critical tech in town. Yes, recent advancements in AI have been groundbreaking, and those advancements have revolutionary potential, but artificial intelligence like all hyped-up tech is built on the shoulders of numerous other technologies that dont seem to get any glory at all.

Isnt it time some of those overlooked and underappreciated technologies get their due?

We think so.

With that in mind, we asked a group of IT leaders and tech analysts to list what they think are some underhyped technologies, why they get overlooked, and why they shouldnt. Here are the technologies they find to be among the most underappreciated in IT today.

CIOs and their teams can hardly do their jobs nor build and manage the extensive tech stack required to support AI and any other newfangled technology coming to market today if they dont have a handle on their IT environment.

IT management software helps them accomplish that task and accomplish it to a practically perfect degree of stability and reliability.

Anything that falls into the category of IT management tools is often cast aside, but these are the workhorses of IT, says John Buccola, CTO of E78 Partners, which provides consulting and managed services in finance technology and other professional areas.

Tools that Buccola puts into this class of unsung heroes include Active Directory and access and identity management solutions. (They really simplify environments that are heterogeneous, notes Buccola, who is also an officer with the Southern California chapter of the Society for Information Management.)

You dont think about them. They all just work, and thats what people want from IT, he adds.

Other tools worth calling out are IT service management (ITSM) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) solutions which Buccola says are particularly critical for helping to keep IT expenses in check.

Just think how the cost of cloud computing services could explode if no one had an eye on it. As Buccola says: Something has to sit on top of that to make sure the costs associated with those assets arent spinning out of control.

Indeed, it would be nearly impossible to find a CIO who doesnt have to be diligent about managing IT costs something they would be hard-pressed to do without the management tools to help them.

This stuff doesnt get a lot of press, but theyre such essentials for IT teams, Buccola adds.

Go back 15 years when cloud was the tech generating all the buzz, and analysts were trying to separate reality from the hype.

Today the model doesnt seem like such a marvel, but when you think about it, cloud still deserves a lot of praise.

It has been one of the most enabling technology shifts weve ever had, and because of the move to cloud, it enables us to do everything else were doing now. But it has gone completely to the background, because AI has sucked up all the air, says Mark Taylor, CEO of the Society for Information Management (SIM).

Even though many still recognize clouds formidable transformational power, research suggests why clouds significance gets downplayed. Some clues are found in the 2023 Cloud Business Survey from professional services firm PwC. The survey showed that 78% of responding executives had adopted cloud in most or all parts of the business, yet more than half said they had not realized expected outcomes such as cost reductions, improved resiliency, and new revenue channels.

PwC suggests, however, that fault doesnt lie with cloud computing but with how organizations use it: Moving to the cloud or running parts of your business in the cloud is not the same as being cloud-powered. What does that really mean and what does it take?

About 10% of those surveyed apparently know the answer: They have reinvented their businesses through cloud, they report fewer barriers to realizing value and theyre doing so at a rate twice that of other companies. And even in the current business environment, they expect to see continued revenue growth of 15% or greater.

Cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) is another behind-the-scenes technology that often gets overlooked in favor of newer, glossier tech, says Jeff Stovall, CIO of Abt Associates, who adds that cloud-based ERPs are rarely credited for how critical they are for digital transformation.

Weve done ERPs for so many years, weve been doing these ERP projects for decades, but with cloud ERPs, theres a shift in how business can innovate, says Stovall, who is also former City of Charlotte CIO and a SIM board member.

By moving from on-prem to the cloud, organizations can reimagine their business processes and transform how core facets of their work gets done, Stovall says. Its a catalyst for transformation, but its an overlooked catalyst, because weve become so comfortable with the concept of ERP that we dont think about its transformational capabilities, he adds.

In fact, Stovall sees some organizations stick with on-premises ERP even as they seek to transform other pieces of their IT environment and business processes not realizing how much more they could accomplish if they would modernize this fundamental enterprise core and the processes it supports.

Yugal Joshi, a partner at research and advisory firm Everest Group, lists cloud assessment tools as another tech thats underhyped and underused.

Cloud assessment and cloud migration tools, or cloud-enablement platforms, all help IT teams analyze and understand applications and cloud infrastructure so they have the information required for a solid cloud-deployment roadmap.

Sure, other technologies, such as IT audit software, can help here, as can manual assessments, but Joshi says cloud assessment tools have proven to boost the chances of successful cloud initiatives.

CIOs sometimes think they dont need this tool because moving to cloud has become so pervasive. They think migration is easy, but its complex and the choices of cloud vendors and offerings have increased, [adding to that complexity], Joshi explains.

Similarly, Kumud Kokal, CIO of Farmers Business Network, lists as undervalued the fundamental technologies within the IT environment that were once marvels but no one ever pauses to value anymore. Specific technologies he names include payroll systems (that seamlessly deliver to workers the money theyre owed) and the WiFi networks (that deliver everywhere connectivity).

Theres a downside to that underappreciation, he says: CIOs often face challenges when asking for enough money to maintain those out-of-sight, out-of-mind technologies.

Nobody thinks about the plumbing behind the scenes anymore, but its all critical, he adds.

Although AI gets all the attention, the key components that make it work often do not, including data. Yet as organizations eagerly embrace AI in all its forms, many have neglected parts of their data management needs, says Laura Hemenway, president, founder, and principle of Paradigm Solutions, which supports large enterprise-wide transformations.

Even those who are on top of data management often downplay the powerful work their data management tools do. As such, Hemenway thinks data management software deserves more recognition for the important job it does, even as the work involved is often considered a tedious task that doesnt have the pizzazz of making the most of ChatGPT.

Still, sound data management is a linchpin for AI and other analytics work, which underpins a whole host of processes deemed critical in modern business from automated processes to personalized customer support. So its essential to get it right.

There was plenty of buzz around the coming metaverse several years ago, excitement over which peaked in 2021 when Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta a nod to what the social media giant sees for the future of computing, many concluded.

But with no big breakthroughs, interest fizzled and the metaverse found itself on some overhyped tech lists. But dont be so quick to write it off, warns Taylor, who thinks this category of tech has been unfairly downgraded, which lands it on his list of underhyped technologies.

Taylor, who prefers the terms spatial computing and virtual presence to metaverse, notes that all the technologies in this category enable immersive virtual world experiences regardless of their differences. Inflated expectations from vendors that have not been able to fully deliver the seamless virtual experiences they have promised are a key reason why the hype quickly cooled off, Taylor says.

But when they figure it out, like AI, it will change everything. It will just take the limits off so many things. And because its underhyped, people may be unprepared for when it has its breakthrough moment, he says.

Read this article:
6 most underhyped technologies in IT plus one thats not dead yet - CIO

INTRODUCTION

Cloud computing is the ability to acquire and use computing services- servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, intelligence, and more over the internet. By providing computing resources on demand, cloud computing lets you avoid the need to install your own physical servers, run your own software, and manage your own databases. You can access data, applications, and computing resources from anywhere in the world, rather than needing to be connected to a computer in an office. As a result,the cloudoffers faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically only pay for the cloud services you use, helping you lower operating costs, run infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.

Cloud computing is the provision of standardised, configurable, on-demand, online computer services, which can include computing, storage, software, and data management, using shared physical and virtual resources (including networks, servers, and applications). Since the services are provided online using the providers hardware, users can typically access the service using various types of devices wherever they are located, provided they have a suitable Internet connection.

There are three major models of delivering clouding computing services to businesses and they are as follows:

Taxability under the Income Tax Act

Income would be chargeable to tax in India if the same falls within the scope of section 4 read with section 5 of the Income Tax Act. Section 4 is the charging provision under the Act. The charge is in respect of the total income for any year. The scope of total income chargeable to tax in India is outlined by Section 5 of the Income Tax Act. This scope of total income depends upon whether the assessee concerned is a resident or non-resident in India. Place of accrual assumes importance especially for non-resident taxation, since a non-resident is liable to pay tax only on income, which accrues or arises in India.

Payment for Cloud Services whether Royalty:

Section 9(1)(vi) of the Income Tax Act deals with taxation of Royalty. Section 9(1)(vi)(b) of the Income Tax Act provides that any royalty payable by a person resident in India would deem to accrue or arise in India, except where the royalty is payable in respect of any right, property or information used or utilised for the purpose of business or profession carried on by such person outside India or for the purposes of making or earning any income from any source outside India. If the payment made for Cloud Computing Services is regarded as in the nature of Royalty then it would be covered under section 9(1)(vi) of the Income Tax Act and hence would be taxable in India.

Fees for Technical Services

Section 9(1)(vii) of the Income Tax Act deals with taxability of Fee for Technical Services (FTS for brevity). This provision is in line with section 9(1)(vi) dealing with taxation of Royalty and provides that payment made by Indian resident to non-resident would be taxable in India if the services are in nature of technical, managerial or consultancy services and services are utilised for the purpose of business in India. The definition of FTS in the USA tax treaty is narrower wherein make available test is prescribed.

The question that needs to be answered is whether the Cloud Service Provider are rendering any technical services or making available standard facility to their customers. If the payment is towards standard facility, then the same would not be classified as FTS under section 9(1)(vii). The judicial precedents in this context are discussed below.

The Delhi Tribunal in the case ofBharti Airtel Ltd v ITO [2016] 67 taxmann.com 223 (Delhi Trib.)has held that inter-connect usage charges to foreign telecom operators in connection with its International Long Distance telecom service business, was neither FTS nor royalty as there was no manual or human intervention during the process of transportation of calls between two networks.

Read more: Case Digest: Fee for Technical Service (FTS) and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAAs)

CONCLUSION

In todays technology world, businesses require access to high end technology equipment like servers in order to host various services online. Due to this, requirement for these kinds of servers have increased tremendously, especially for e-commerce businesses. Owning/maintaining such servers and upkeep requires skilled manpower, which is a costly affair. So many e-commerce start-up companies are availing cloud computing services from Amazon, Google, etc.

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Income Tax Implications on Cloud Computing Services - taxscan.in

An active exploitation of a critical Apache ActiveMQ vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) was observed looking to download and infect Linux systems with theKinsingmalware and cryptocurrency miner.

In a Nov. 20 blog post, Trend Micro researchers said when exploited, the CVE-2023-46604flaw in the open source ActiveMQ protocol leads to remote code execution (RCE), which Kinsing uses to download and install malware.

The researchers said Kinsing malware is a critical threat that primarily targets Linux-based systems, and can infiltrate servers and spread rapidly across a network. It gains entry by exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications or misconfigured container environments.

This was not the first time Kingsing has been in the news. Earlier this month, SC Media reported that the threat actors behind Kinsing exploited high-profile vulnerabilities such asCVE-2023-4911, known as Looney Tunables. The Trend Micro researchers said once Kinsing infects a system, it deploys a cryptocurrency-mining script that exploits the host's resources to mine Bitcoin, resulting in significant damage to the infrastructure and a negative impact on system performance.

Ken Dunham, director of cyber threat at Qualys, pointed out that Kinsing has successfully preyed upon poorly authenticated and configured cloud Docker containers dating back to 2020, then performing lateral movement attempts leveraging brute force attacks. Dunham said widespread abuse ofCVE-2023-46604is currently underway because of the availability of exploit code in the wild and ongoing attacks by Kinsing and others.

Kinsing is adept at attacks that land and expand, making this a dangerous enabler for any misconfigured cloud environment, ripe for exploitation, said Dunham. Organizations should prioritize patching and remediation, especially for all external-facing exposure and those with higher-value assets. Additionally, precautions such as extensive monitoring and logging reviews with work-arounds where they apply are recommended, to counter known TTPs for brute-force and known attacks, until the risk of exploitation gets fully remediated.

John Gallagher, vice president of Viakoo Labs, said the danger with this CVE is that Apache ActiveMQ is widely used and it can communicate across multiple protocols. Its also widely used in non-IT environments to interface to IoT/OT/ICS devices.

Gallagher said many organizations struggle to keep IoT devices patched, so Kinsing chose well in using this exploit for longer-term processing such as cryptomining.

Many IoT devices have powerful processing capabilities and lack patching policies, making mining an ideal activity for them, said Gallagher.To put it another way, Kinsing likely chose to use this CVE for cryptomining because they expect it to be a long-lived vulnerability; it wouldnt any make sense if it was a vulnerability Kinsing was expecting to get patched quickly.

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Kinsing malware exploits critical Apache ActiveMQ flaw to mine crypto - SC Media

As Federal government agencies are fast-tracking their secure multi-cloud journeys, experts this week urged agencies to take a trust, but verify approach to cloud security, which may require a cultural change across organizations.

At the OutFront: Continuous Agility forum hosted by SAIC and MeriTalk in Arlington, Va., on Nov. 2, one government official said that verifying the contracts between Federal agencies and their cloud providers otherwise known as service-level agreements (SLAs) is crucial to a secure cloud strategy.

Jamie Holcombe, chief information officer (CIO) for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), explained that agencies must ensure their SLAs can be met, and the best way is to take a trust, but verify approach.

I started the journey with a multi, hybrid cloud strategy, Holcombe said, reflecting on his five years at the USPTO. And as we walked through that, it was hard as heck to get everyone culturally thinking about how to move forward, because theyre worried about security.

I always had the attitude [of] buyer beware. Its all about the SLAs. So, youre as secure as your SLAs are, because the cloud providers are providing services that are best effort, he added. Yes, it will have the security that they say it will, but you have to test. And thats a big thing trust, but verify.

The CIO said that while these may seem like simple concepts, procurement and operations are often at odds.

You have to get those two units together to ensure your SLAs can be met and dont accept the base contract, he said. Buyer beware, whatever your services are, make sure they fit your requirements.

Sharon Woods, director for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) J-9 Hosting and Compute Center, noted that part of embracing a trust-but-verify approach involves a mindset shift.

However, she noted that while many SLAs are becoming more routine, one area where SLAs are becoming more challenging for her agency is with edge devices.

For instance, Woods said there are a lot of basic questions that can be tough to answer such as what does shipping out devices look like, what happens when something goes wrong, or what is the cloud provider expecting for patching because the devices are disconnected.

Thats something were still unpacking, Woods said. JWCC [the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability] has been around for less than a year. So, were still working through that. But I think that thats one of the emergent areas where were encountering some challenges with SLAs.

Nevertheless, embracing these challenges and building trust with a provider is critical to a more secure cloud, according to Alan Halachmi, director of solutions architecture for Worldwide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

A lot of conversations that we have still today start with, Why should I trust the cloud provider? Halachmi said. So, this time that is inevitably spent just to secure the environment itself from us, giving you the confidence that you have the ability to secure your workloads in a way where you have control of who has access to what the content is and so forth, is I think material.

That peace of mind and sense of security allows Federal agencies to more quickly meet their mission outcomes, added SAIC Chief Technology Officer Bob Ritchie.

One of the things that Ive observed is the inheritable cloud security model the ability to go fast as a result of that cloud inheritance, Ritchie said. And so, you mentioned the timely trivia question on how much is FedRAMP and how much is approved by CC SRG [Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide] at the different impact levels. That very much helps us go fast and really get the mission outcomes.

Visit link:
SAIC OutFront: 'Trust, but Verify' Cloud SLAs, Experts Say - MeriTalk

Signs a multi-year agreement for intelligent and intuitive digital solutions

SINGAPORE and MUMBAI, India, Nov. 7, 2023 /CNW/ -- Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enablerand Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA), the national carrier of Singapore, announced a multi-year agreement to transform the airlines communications and collaboration tools to enhance employee productivity and boost user experience.

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SIA and Tata Communications have a successful, long-standing association that has been strengthened over several years. This new transformative initiative delivered on Tata Communications GlobalRapide platform enables SIA users to be connected and collaborative anytime and anywhere globally.

"We take great pride in our long-standing relationship with Singapore Airlines. As a global CommTech player, we are privileged to be chosen as their partner in progress as they emerge stronger than ever and strive to create new benchmarks in customer experiences," said Amitabh Sarkar, Vice President & Head of Asia Pacific and Japan Enterprise, Tata Communications.

Tata Communications has been working with SIA for the last five years and in addition to the above solutions, Tata Communications IZOTM SDWAN also enables SIA with intelligent customer call routing to their global customer service centres, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Additionally, SIA pilot and cabin crew collaboration platforms are also powered by Tata Communications MOVE enabling global and always connected experience to the crew. MOVE global intelligent cellular connectivity facilitates a swift and secure exchange of critical flight and passenger data on pilots and crew tablets, leading to expedited flight turn-round and enhanced on-time performance while achieving significant cost savings compared to traditional data roaming solution.

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About Tata Communications

A part of the Tata Group, Tata Communications (NSE: TATACOMM; BSE: 500483) is a global digital ecosystem enabler powering today's fast-growing digital economy in more than 190 countries and territories. Leading with trust, it enables digital transformation of enterprises globally with collaboration and connected solutions, core and next gen connectivity, cloud hosting and security solutions and media services. 300 of the Fortune 500 companies are its customers and the company connects businesses to 80% of the world's cloud giants. For more information, please visit http://www.tatacommunications.com

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Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications' expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications' operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications' network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company's communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications' industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications' control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications Limited's Annual Reports.

The Annual Reports of Tata Communications Limited are available at http://www.tatacommunications.com.Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements.

2023 Tata Communications Ltd. All rights reserved.

TATA COMMUNICATIONS and TATA are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tata Sons Private Limited in India and certain countries.

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Singapore Airlines partners with Tata Communications to enhance customer experience for their discerning customers - Yahoo Finance