NetApp, the original intelligent data infrastructure company, today announced new capabilities that support VMware Cloud Foundation deployments. Mutual customers will be able to leverage NetApp solutions to right size their IT environments to run VMware workloads at scale efficiently.

For more than a decade, NetApp and VMware, recently acquired by Broadcom Inc., have collaborated to ensure the success of their joint customers and help them unlock the full value of their VMware investments. During that time, NetApp has been a key engineering design partner with VMware and is continuing to drive innovation in highly available, scalable and performant storage as a design partner for its Next-Generation vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols). Now, NetApp is announcing new capabilities that will enable joint customers to run their VMware deployments more efficiently.

“NetApp and Broadcom are working together to take the uncertainty out of hybrid cloud environments,” said Jonsi Stefansson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at NetApp. “More than 20,000 customers rely on NetApp to support their VMware workloads. NetApp's continued close collaboration with Broadcom following the acquisition of VMware ensures our solutions seamlessly interoperate so our mutual customers can leverage a single intelligent data infrastructure to operate their VMware workloads more efficiently.”

NetApp is helping optimise costs, simplify operations, and increase flexibility for customers running VMware environments by offering:      

• Expanded Support for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF): NetApp and Broadcom customers will now be able to simplify their VCF hybrid cloud environments by using NetApp ONTAP^® software for all storage requirements, including standard and consolidated architectures. The latest release of ONTAP Tools for VMware (OTV) will support SnapMirror® active sync to provide symmetric active-active data replication capabilities for NetApp storage systems running VMware workloads. SnapMirror active sync allows customers to operate more efficiently by offloading data protection from their virtualised compute and improving data availability.
• New Capabilities for Azure VMware Solution (AVS): To support customers that are extending or migrating their vSphere workloads to the cloud, customers can now leverage Spot Eco by NetApp with AVS reserved instances to get the most value out of their deployments. Using Spot Eco to manage AVS reserved instances while also using Azure NetApp Files to offload data storage can reduce compute costs significantly.
• Enhanced VM Optimisation Features for NetApp Cloud Insights: NetApp is introducing Cloud Insights VM Optimisation, expanding its comprehensive solution for optimising virtual environments, including VMware. Cloud Insights VM Optimisation will give customers tools to reduce costs by increasing VM density, run storage at the best price-to-performance ratio for their environment, and monitor their entire environment to ensure availability, performance, and adherence to configuration best practices across the entire stack. To help customers optimise the compute, memory and storage resources of their VMware environments, NetApp is also offering customers a free 30-day trial of Cloud Insights to most cost-effectively migrate to the new VMware software subscriptions.

These offerings follow last month’s release of enhancements to NetApp BlueXP™ disaster recovery service, which provides guided workflows to design and execute automated disaster recovery plans for VMware workloads across hybrid cloud environments with newly added support for VMFS datastores.

“As organisations modernise infrastructure with VMware Cloud Foundation, they want to know that the services upon which they rely from industry-leaders such as NetApp will continue to work seamlessly and deliver the value they have come to expect,” said Paul Turner, Vice President of Products, VCF Division at Broadcom. “Having NetApp as a close collaborator helps our mutual customers deploy innovative data and storage services on top of their private cloud platform, and ensure they are getting the most value out of their VMware environments.”

“We have made Microsoft Azure the cloud of choice for VMware environments and offer fast and cost-effective solutions enabling many customers to move their VMware workloads to the cloud.” said Brett Tanzer, Vice President of Product Management at Microsoft. “As VMware customers navigate changes to operating virtualised environments, we have given our customers a way to lock in secure and predictable pricing over multiple years. NetApp's data management and cloud observability capabilities help our customers ensure those deployments are delivering the return on investment they need.”

“In an ever more complicated world of cloud, data, and infrastructure operations, IT teams are increasingly looking for holistic platforms over point solutions,” said Scott Sinclair, Practice Director, Enterprise Strategy Group. “These joint updates from NetApp and Broadcom enable customers to use NetApp’s intelligent data infrastructure to consolidate multiple data operations onto a single platform with industry-leading data management and CloudOps capabilities. That will help customers drive greater operational and infrastructure efficiencies that reduce the total cost of ownership for their VMware investments.”

Additional Resources 

• Optimise your VMware Environment with New Capabilities
• NetApp and VMware

Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of the global leading technology company Tencent, and Anti-Cheat Expert (ACE), the professional security solutions from Tencent Games, announced the partnership with Cathedral Studios at Gamescom 2024 in Cologne. Renowned for integrating cutting-edge technologies into their projects, Cathedral Studios aims to enhance the user experience of their first PC action-horror FPS (First-Person Shooter) game, The Bornless.

 

The Bornless is set to open for playtests in 2024. The Bornless has attracted over 200,000 wishlists on Steam and more than 100,000 playtest requests, demonstrating its appeal among gamers. For game developers, the dynamic gaming market has prompted the need to ensure that security measures are implemented to safeguard the experience of gamers. In Europe, North America, and Asia, in-game cheating has always been a significant concern, especially in determining the lifespan of a game. With FPS games particularly vulnerable to such issues, Cathedral Studios has partnered with Tencent Cloud and ACE to address these security challenges.

ACE offers a comprehensive range of game security services, safeguarding players across various scenarios throughout the lifecycle of both PC and mobile games. It provides multi-dimensional protection and detection capabilities. Leveraging nearly 20 years of anti-cheat experience and a vast database of cheat samples, ACE employs AI and big data technologies to develop industry-leading solutions. These solutions effectively detect various types of threats and cheating, including emerging cheats such as DMA (Direct Memory Access) and AI-based cheats. This robust suite of tools is essential for game developers to address diverse security challenges and ensure a fair, competitive gaming environment for players. Currently, ACE provides reliable services to millions of players across hundreds of games, significantly reducing the occurrence of cheats in both Tencent and non-Tencent games.

Fred Sun, General Manager of Europe, Tencent Cloud International, said, “Tencent Cloud and Anti-Cheat Expert are excited to support Cathedral Studios to maintain a fair gaming environment for The Bornless’ players with Leveraging Tencent Cloud’s extensive experience in supporting gaming companies, we aim to detect the latest types of cheats in the fastest and most effective way to prevent malicious players from causing trouble in the game. In the future, we look forward to extending our services overseas and exploring more cooperation with international companies.”

Josh Palumbo, Head of Product, Cathedral Studios, said, “Our goal is to collaborate with Anti-Cheat Expert and Tencent Cloud to develop and share best practices in cultivating healthy gaming communities and positive player interactions. We aim to create a gaming environment where players can enjoy and engage with each other safely. Thanks to our partnership, we have taken a significant step toward achieving this goal. We hope to enhance our user experience further and ensure a fair gaming environment for all players.”

Find and wishlist The Bornless on Steam: The Bornless on Steam

 

 

Audacity Australia (Audacity), a premier distributor of audio-visual solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Soundtrack Your Brand (Soundtrack), a global provider of music for business solutions, to enhance the offering for audio-visual integrators and their clients in Australia.

This collaboration will combine Audacity's extensive network and expertise in the audio-visual industry with Soundtrack's industry leading music streaming platform, designed specifically for commercial environments. The partnership will provide integrators with a seamless solution for delivering high-quality, licensed music alongside cutting-edge audio-visual installations.

The partnership will focus on delivering comprehensive music and audio-visual solutions to a wide range of commercial sectors, including hospitality, retail, health, and fitness, corporate, and healthcare. By partnering with Soundtrack, Audacity is confident to revolutionize the way businesses create immersive and engaging environments for their customers.

“By incorporating Soundtrack’s market leading service and music catalog into our offering, we are providing our clients with a complete audio solution that enhances customer experiences and drives business results. We are excited about adding another great service to our existing offering which renumerates our integrators.", said Andrew McGregor, Partner Manager at Audacity Australia.

Audacity Australia will work with AV integration partners to deliver complete solutions through Soundtrack’s extensive integrations with leading hardware apps and players such as Sonos, WiiM, Audac, Axis, Q-Sys, and others. The solution also gives integrators and businesses a licensed music service for commercial use, with great features such as scheduling tools and an explicit filter. Audacity are running partner onboarding sessions for AV integrators, contact Audacity to become a reseller partner for Soundtrack your brand.

Soundtrack Your Brand (formerly Spotify for Business) is the world's leading provider of licensed background music for businesses, offering a catalog of music with over 100 million tracks. Its platform empowers businesses to curate their sonic identity through a vast selection of on-demand music, their AI playlist generator and over 1500 ready-made playlists for different business types, settings, and moods to ensure the right atmosphere for their brand and customers. With its easy-to-use interface and personalized recommendations, Soundtrack Your Brand makes it simple for any business to find and play the perfect music, enhancing customer experiences and fostering a unique brand atmosphere.

Playing music in a business is a little different from listening to music at home. Since you're playing for an audience with a business and commercial purpose, you need to ensure the correct licenses and royalties are addressed. Australian businesses need three different rights to legally play music in their physical venue.

Recording Rights - This covers the right to use a specific recording of a song.

Publishing Rights - This covers the right to use the original composition.

Public Performance Rights - This allows you to play the song in a public environment.

Soundtrack Your Brand covers the first two licenses, and in Australia, the public performance licenses are obtained through OneMusic which is a collaboration between APRA AMCOS and PPCA.

Soundtrack design their service to suit the vast range of today’s small, medium, and large businesses across all kinds of industries worldwide. From salons and spas to Supermarkets, retail stores, cafes and coffee shops, Soundtrack’s approach enhances your environment, benefiting your guests, clients, customers, and staff.

100 million songs licensed for business.

Whether you have one location or many, it's easy to see and control everything that's playing, and limit unsupervised streaming from employees' devices.

Soundtrack playlists

Pick from over 1,000 playlists for business types, seasons and situations, or search for your favourite artists to find related playlists.

Spotify playlists

Drag in any Spotify playlist and make it legal for your business or create a station that adds similar music to some of those songs.

AI Playlist Generator

Instantly generate playlists to match any business setting or event. Enter a short description of the scenario and within seconds our AI will generate a custom playlist based on your input.

Explicit filter and song block

Keep things family-friendly with an explicit lyrics filter that you activate with a click. Hear a song you don't like? Block it and it never plays again.

Central control

Whether you have one location or many, it's easy to see and control everything that's playing, and limit unsupervised streaming from employees' devices.

Easy Scheduling

Schedule in advance to make sure that the music plays when and where it should. Drag and drop playlists into the calendar to meet business hours, expected rush times, and holidays.

Learn more at https://www.soundtrackyourbrand.com/how-it-works/

Kurt Hansen, CEO of Tesserent, says the achievement is significant as Tesserent has achieved partner designation in all three key areas simultaneously.

“Microsoft Solution Partner designation is a mark of excellence recognised worldwide. Tesserent has met and exceeded the stringent Microsoft standards, providing our clients with confidence in the team’s proficiency in Microsoft technologies, including advanced security measures, robust Azure infrastructure, and modern workplace solutions," he says.

Microsoft’s rigorous evaluation and assessment process covers performance in acquiring new business, training and certifications in key areas, and customer success.

Tesserent is now focused on achieving Microsoft certification in Data and AI, and App and Innovation.

The recent Microsoft certifications bolster Tesserent’s capability with existing Certifications in Crest – Penetration Testing, ISO 27001 Process Certification, DINZ Digital Identity New Zealand Member and GIAC Global Information Assurance Certification.

About Tesserent

Tesserent a Thales Australia company is the leading cyber security provider of choice for the protection of Australia and New Zealand's digital and information assets. Tesserent has the capability to support organisations to defend their digital assets against increasing risks and cyber-attacks.

We are a full-service cybersecurity and cloud provider, partnering with clients across all industries and levels of government. Tesserent strengthened by the combined force, depth and scale of Thales, has a deep imprint on all tiers of government and commercial business in Australia and New Zealand.

Our strong, agile and multi-capability team under the combined Tesserent and Thales brands, has more than 500 of the nation's highly regarded cyber security experts.

Learn more at www.tesserent.com  

This agreement enables Bluechip to resell Neat products to enterprise and public sector customers across Australia.

This agreement will also give Bluechip access to Neat’s video portfolio covering all small, medium and large room solutions in Australia.

“Bluechip complements our services by providing the expertise, market presence and knowledgeable team to ensure first-class support for all our joint partners. This further deepens our vertical focus within key sectors in the government, education and finance space,” comments Neat ANZ regional director Jason MacBride on the partnership.

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“Bluechip is excited about this partnership with Neat. Video technology is a high priority requirement today to support blended and mobile workplaces.

“Our agreement with Neat fills a gap for us and enables us to deliver the best video experiences for our Zoom and Microsoft Teams partners,” says Bluechip director marketing and alliances Willy Harsono.

According to a recent report by Mordor Intelligence cited by Neat, the Unified Communications and Collaboration market is expected to reach nearly US$500 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 27.8%.

The market will change how remote and hybrid work is done.

Neat also cited in an Ecosystem research that shows almost two-thirds of workers “want the work-from-anywhere models retained and half want the right to choose their work location, suggesting that hybrid work is the new normal in business.”

These rapidly evolving workplaces demand technology that delivers true meeting equity with simplicity and reliability critical to hybrid working success.

Neat will showcase its portfolio at Integrate 2024 from 21-23 August among them Neat Center, a companion video device that extends the capabilities of Neat devices and Neat Symmetry.

Neat Center leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver even more human connectivity with its 360° meeting experience that ensures remote-based participants remain at the centre of every conversation.

Neat’s Authorised Distribution Partners programme extends support for Neat solutions to even more partners in the Zoom and Microsoft partner communities and helping more Australian customers across all verticals enjoy remarkable video collaboration experiences.

“Neat makes it easier than ever for customers to purchase and deploy Neat devices to support their hybrid workplaces,” says Neat vice president of global distribution and partner programs Wayne Mason.

“We do this by bringing additional partners into the Neat ecosystem, while making it beneficial for them to work with Neat to address the increasing demand for exceptional video capabilities for the hybrid workforce of the future.

Neat’s Global Partner Program currently includes over 100 select partners worldwide, including Dicker Data and now Bluechip in Australia.

The program includes three tiers of participation:
• Neat Pro Partners include Zoom and Microsoft Certified Integrators, Resellers & Referral Partners. Neat Pro Partners register new customer opportunities to Neat and their preferred Neat Authorised Distribution Partner and all transactions are completed through Neat Authorised Distribution Partners.
• Neat Advanced Pro Partners include carefully selected existing Zoom or Microsoft Certified Integrators and Resellers who work directly with customers to sell and support Neat Devices.
• Neat Mastery Partners include a select number of partners who have worked closely with Neat and as part of the highest level of the Global Partner Program.

As the number of client devices continues to increase across all network environments, customers need improved visibility into device activity as well as a simplified way to manage devices from the data centre to the network edge. Extreme’s partnership with Intel will deliver increased visibility into both network and client devices and will drive additional development of genAI tools that enable customers to optimise the design, deployment and management of enterprise networking and security. These new features help to optimise network performance, dynamically adjust bandwidth to prioritise critical devices and improve security threat detection and issue resolution.

GenAI to lower operational costs, improve user experiences
Introduced as a tech preview at Extreme Connect 2024, Extreme AI Expert combines documentation from Extreme’s knowledge bases with data from applications and devices across customer networks to provide insights and proactive recommendations around the design, deployment and management of networks. The partnership with Intel will incorporate Intel-connected device data to improve recommendations for customers and further extend Extreme AI Expert’s knowledge. Extreme expects to start integrating Extreme AI Expert into Extreme solutions later this year.

Executive perspectives
“The network is the hub of operations, innovation and experiences. By partnering with Extreme Networks, we’re collectively making the network smarter, faster, more secure and more scalable. By leveraging the riches of AI-centric insights available through the millions of Intel-connected devices across the world and combining that with rich data from the network, we’ll help organisations reduce operational costs and provide best-in-class end-user experiences,” says Intel vice president and general manager wireless solutions client computing group Eric McLaughlin.

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“We’re focused on advancing the network to improve human experiences. Partnering with Intel provides our customers with a more secure, more streamlined way to gain visibility of their network and client devices within a single platform. By augmenting our Extreme AI Expert solution with Intel Connectivity Analytics, we’ll provide richer, more intuitive AI-driven insights and automation which results in smarter, more responsive experiences that enhance everything from network optimisation to swift security threat detection and resolution,” says Extreme Networks chief technology and product officer and general manager of subscription business Nabil Bukhari.

About Extreme Networks
Extreme Networks is a leader in cloud networking focused on delivering services that connect devices, applications, and people in new ways. We push the boundaries of technology leveraging the powers of machine learning, artificial intelligence, analytics, and automation. 50,000 customers globally trust our end-to-end, cloud-driven networking solutions, and rely on our top-rated services and support to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and deliver progress like never before. For more information, visit Extreme's website at https://www.extremenetworks.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, X/Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

The study conducted by Incisiv evaluated 29 retailers across Australia over four specialty segments, exploring 290+ unique attributes of unified commerce. Findings are based on data from actual purchases, returns and customer journeys across digital and physical channels.

Amarjot Mokha, Chief Operating Officer at Incisiv commented, “In an evolving Australian retail market, retailers must continually innovate and adapt if they are to keep pace with shifting consumer trends. Success in Australian retail relies on understanding these differences and customising offerings, a cornerstone of effective Unified Commerce”.

Despite the need for retailers to provide a consistent and positive customer experience through the integration of their online and offline channels, unified commerce adoption remains low in Australia, with only 42% of local retailers taking this approach.

“It is surprising that the adoption of unified commerce remains so low in Australia, especially when it enables better inventory management, personalised marketing, and streamlining of operations and costs. The research shows that retailers who invest in becoming leaders in Unified Commerce have the potential to generate an additional $19m per billion in annual revenue,” said Raghav Sibal, Managing Director, Manhattan Associates Australia.

Research from the Unified Commerce Benchmark Report reveals that shoppers now expect near real-time updates at key points of purchase and returns process. Additionally, 85% of shoppers are likely to make repeat purchases from brands that provide a smooth and hassle-free returns experience. However, only a small number of retailers in Australia (27%) offer the ability to initiate and track returns online.

“Retailers that fail to meet customer communication expectations and have poor returns processes due to outdated reverse logistics systems are creating unnecessary business costs and risk losing repeat business and customer loyalty. Integrating returns management systems and ensuring seamless logistics and better shopper communication is imperative today,” added Sibal.

Nearly half of the consumers surveyed indicated that delivery and fulfilment are key factors in selecting where to purchase online. Despite this, the adoption of high-impact capabilities, such as expedited delivery options, split delivery, and the ability to modify or cancel orders post-confirmation, remains low amongst Australian retailers.

Only a quarter of leading retailers and just 4% of emerging retailers provided split delivery options (home delivery/in-store) for the same order in the same transaction allowing customers to pick up some of the items that are available in a store close to them and having the rest delivered to their homes at a later date.

“With low adoption of capabilities like expedited delivery, split delivery, and post-confirmation modifications, many Australian retailers may lose business, as consumers might choose retailers who offer more flexible and convenient options. Retailers that invest in enhancing these delivery capabilities can differentiate themselves and improve customer experience,” Sibal continued.

Sustainability is increasingly influencing shopper behaviour, with consumers willing to pay up to 30% more for products that are sustainable and ethically sourced. In fact, nearly 70% of consumers expect retailers to provide transparent information about their sustainable practices.

Despite this, Australian retailers are failing to keep up with consumer expectations, with only 25% of non-leading retailers publishing their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) metrics, highlighting a significant gap in transparency desired by consumers.

"The 2024 Unified Commerce Benchmark highlights the necessity for retailers to improve their integration of digital and physical platforms to meet the increasing consumer expectations for a unified shopping experience. Those who master this integration will not only enhance customer satisfaction but will also see marked improvements in operational efficiency,” said Sibal.

“Retailers embracing a Unified Commerce approach can go beyond simply selling products, to a place where they can craft experiences that resonate with their customers. This type of customer connection drives strong business growth, up to 3X higher revenue opportunities and creates the type of brand connection and customer loyalty every retailer covets,” Mokha concluded.

For more information and to view the full 2024 Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail in Australia, click HERE.

About Manhattan Associates:

Manhattan Associates is a global technology leader in supply chain and omnichannel commerce. We unite information across the enterprise, converging front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution. Our software, platform technology and unmatched experience help drive both top-line growth and bottom-line profitability for our customers. Manhattan Associates designs, builds, and delivers leading edge cloud and on-premises solutions so that across the store, through your network or from your fulfilment centre, you are ready to reap the rewards of the omnichannel marketplace. For more information, please visit www.manh.com.au

During the initiative, the bank:

• Reduced the development time required to migrate a core banking application off of a legacy relational database to MongoDB Atlas by up to 90%.
• Migrated onto MongoDB Atlas at one-tenth of the cost of a traditional legacy-to-cloud migration.
• Automated repetitive developer tasks with new AI tooling in order to accelerate developers’ pace of innovation. For example, AI-powered automations reduced time spent running application test cases from over 80 hours to just five minutes.

In less than three months, the bank modernised its Agent Delivery System, a legacy retail banking application, on MongoDB Atlas with the help of MongoDB Relational Migrator and generative AI-assisted modernization tools,” notes MongoDB. The Agent Delivery System is a retail teller application for the bank’s agent branches, and is used in communities where digital banking functionality is made available from non-bank businesses, like newsagents or pharmacies. Prior to partnering with MongoDB, the bank ran the system on a legacy relational database that lacked the flexibility to easily evolve to reflect the complex data mapping requirements that today’s modern applications demand. Because of these database-related challenges, the bank’s analysts and developers were committing significant effort to complex database management tasks in order to keep the application running.

As a technological leader in the Australian financial services market, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank was eager to enable its developers to focus on more meaningful innovation so the bank could remain agile in a fast-moving market. To do so, the bank decided to modernise its Agent Delivery System to make it easier for its developers to work with data and create innovative, accessible banking services.

Specifically, the bank sought to adopt a new microservices architecture to help integrate its data and a robust API ecosystem—a series of connective mechanisms that enable easy data exchange—to facilitate fast, easy data flow between the bank’s applications, third parties, and consumers.

The bank chose MongoDB Atlas as the underlying platform for its tech stack because of the high levels of security and reliability offered by MongoDB Atlas, its ability to manage the bank’s real-time, operational data on a unified platform, and because of the intuitive developer experience offered by MongoDB’s document model, which maps to how developers think and code, enabling them to build applications faster.”

To migrate the Agent Delivery System to MongoDB Atlas, the bank deployed MongoDB Relational Migrator —a tool that helps customers eliminate barriers like time, cost, and risk frequently associated with cloud migrations—to expedite codebase analysis, service decomposition, and application refactoring, ensuring a secure and efficient migration. MongoDB Professional Services worked with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to create customisable generative AI tooling, including scripts and prompts tailored for the bank’s unique tech stack, which accelerated the modernization process by automating integration testing and code generation for seamless deployment of the new Agent Delivery System’s microservices architecture. Legacy migrations can otherwise be long, expensive processes, but these solutions enabled Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to complete the migration with 90 percent less human effort and at one-tenth of the cost of a traditional legacy migration.

With this migration, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has eliminated volumes of routine code writing and programming work with automated generative AI tooling, which has empowered the bank’s developers to innovate with increased agility and more quickly deploy highly-available and performant application features that enhance end-user experiences.

“This migration was an enormous step forward in our transformation journey and a perfect marriage of people smarts and tech smarts. It’s an investment in our customers,” said Andrew Cresp, Chief Information Officer at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. “Now, our lean, highly skilled team can ask MongoDB Atlas and the generative AI tooling MongoDB’s Professional Services team built for us to do really smart things, leaving our developers free to focus on other ways they can deliver great outcomes for our customers. We’ve started by modernizing our most critical applications, and next, we intend to tackle a number of other outdated legacy applications across the bank, putting us on track to meet our target of 50 percent of our critical workloads in the cloud by the end of the year.”

“It’s important that MongoDB empowers its customers to modernize with applications that are not just future ready, but future-defining. This is paramount for financial institutions, who need to transform quickly and take advantage of advancements like generative AI to best serve their customers,” said Simon Eid, Senior Vice President, APAC at MongoDB. “Applying the power of AI to Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s migration process was game-changing. MongoDB looks forward to helping more customers quickly and easily ditch the rigid legacy technology that is slowing them down to achieve all the benefits a modern technology stack can bring to their businesses.”

About MongoDB Atlas
MongoDB Atlas is the leading multi-cloud developer data platform that accelerates and simplifies building modern applications with a highly flexible, performant, and globally distributed operational database at its core. By providing an integrated set of data and application services in a unified environment, MongoDB Atlas enables development teams to quickly build with the security, performance, and scale modern applications require. Millions of developers and tens of thousands of customers across industries—including Cisco, GE Healthcare, Intuit, Toyota Financial Services, and Verizon—rely on MongoDB Atlas every day to innovate more quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively for virtually every use case across the enterprise. To get started with MongoDB Atlas, visit mongodb.com/atlas.

About MongoDB
Headquartered in New York, MongoDB's mission is to empower innovators to create, transform, and disrupt industries by unleashing the power of software and data. Built by developers, for developers, MongoDB’s developer data platform is a database with an integrated set of related services that allow development teams to address the growing requirements for today's wide variety of modern applications, all in a unified and consistent user experience. MongoDB has tens of thousands of customers in over 100 countries. The MongoDB database platform has been downloaded hundreds of millions of times since 2007, and there have been millions of builders trained through MongoDB University courses. To learn more, visit mongodb.com.

About Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is Australia’s better big bank, with more than 7,000 staff helping our 2.5 million customers to achieve their financial goals. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s vision is to be Australia’s bank of choice, by feeding into the prosperity of customers and their communities.

BT says the multi-year agreement will extend ServiceNow service management capabilities to all BT Group units to drive savings, efficiency, and improved customer experiences.

BT Group will also use ServiceNow Service Bridge for a “seamless, automated connection between BT and their customers, and plans to pilot ServiceNow’s Now Assist for Telecom Service Management (TSM) to power generative AI capabilities for internal and customer-facing teams”. 

“Having successfully consolidated legacy service management platforms for BT Group’s Digital unit onto the single ServiceNow platform in 2022, the company is rolling out ServiceNow’s service management solutions across its organisation.

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“A key application within the service management platform is ServiceNow Service Bridge, which seamlessly connects BT Group and their enterprise customers, making it easy to automate and complete tasks like orders, support, and service. Service Bridge will connect previously isolated processes into a single digital workflow, allowing customers to pass requests onto BT’s service team directly from within their own ServiceNow environments.

“BT is also one of the first customers to pilot Now Assist for TSM and benefit from ServiceNow’s generative AI capabilities. In the initial roll out to 300 agents, Now Assist demonstrated meaningful results by improving agent responsiveness and driving better experiences for BT Group’s agents and customers.

“For example, case summarization reduces the time it takes agents to generate case activity summaries by 55% and creates a better agent handoff experience by reducing the time it takes to review complex case notes, also by 55%. By reducing overall handling time, Now Assist is helping BT Group improve its mean time to resolve by a third.”  

Hena Jalil, Managing Director, Business CIO at BT Group, said: “Reimagining how we deliver service management requires a platform first approach, building stronger foundations for us to do things faster and smarter. Our approach, powered by ServiceNow and enhanced with AI, will transform customer experience at BT Group, unlocking value at every stage of the journey. In short, it is further evidence to customers that we’ve got their back.”

Paul Smith, Chief Commercial Officer, ServiceNow, said: "We're excited to partner with BT Group to accelerate their ambitions around business transformation. In this new era of intelligent automation, ServiceNow puts AI to work for our customers – with speed, trust, and security. By leveraging the speed and scale of the Now Platform, we're creating a competitive advantage for BT, driving enterprise-wide transformation, and helping them achieve new levels of productivity, innovation, and business impact."

AP+ developed ConnectID to enable people to securely verify their identity to businesses without having to repeatedly share unnecessary data about themselves.

The partnership further strengthens security for ANZ Plus customers by helping reduce data sharing and protecting customers against identity theft and fraud.

Instead of providing proof of identity documents, ANZ Plus customers can now ask a participating business to verify them using the information they already trust ANZ Plus to look after.

Importantly, ConnectID does not see or store personal information. Rather, it acts as a bridge between an organisation that wants to verify someone’s identity and the organisation providing that verification, and only when the customer authorises it. This means ConnectID combines the convenience of real time identity verification with enhanced security and customer consent.

In September 2021, ConnectID became the first non-government operator of a digital identity exchange to be accredited under the Australian Government’s Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF) which sets standards, rules and guidelines based on international best practice. In March this year, AP+ welcomed the passage by the Senate of the Digital ID Bills as a step forward for the digital economy.

ConnectID Managing Director Andrew Black said: “We are delighted to have ANZ Plus go live with ConnectID. Its customers will enjoy greater control over what personal data is shared with and used by a business. ConnectID also ensures consumer and business convenience and confidence, with fast and secure identity verification.

“AP+ is excited to welcome ANZ Plus on this journey, leveraging the benefits of ConnectID to deliver greater functionality and security for customers and businesses in Australia.”

ANZ General Manager, Customer & Identity Services, Gabriel Steele said: “We’re pleased to help ANZ Plus customers keep control of their identity and minimise the sharing of data for services where this is not necessary. Not only do we see this better protecting our customers from the evolving threat of cybercrime, but we believe there’s an equally significant opportunity to reduce the risk our business customers face in holding more data than required.”

“In partnership with ConnectID, we are excited to provide ANZ Plus customers with the choice to use a secure, convenient method to verify their identity with a growing list of approved merchants. We look forward to shaping the network to provide even greater customer value.”

For more information on how AP+ is modernising how Australians can securely share less of their identity information, please visit https://www.auspayplus.com.au/brands/connectid.