The UK government’s ‘digital by default’ agenda is here to stay. It is a long-term proposition aimed at providing easy to use, accessible public services. As the dependencies on ICT continue to increase, government departments have major IT changes planned.

Fraud is a malicious activity that if you don’t look for, you won’t easily find. And, when you do discover its detrimental effects, it might be much too late in the day when the damage has already been done. Fraud is especially rampant in the financial services sector where it is an on-going threat, both internally and externally. The LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) interest rate fixing where banks falsely inflated or deflated their rates to profit from trades or to improve creditworthiness is one example. The more recent Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) outrage involving banks and other lenders wrongly selling PPI to customers is yet another scandal.

“I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information,”

Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes once famously said. This is a situation that most IT users will identify with as they try to make sense out of the reams of data they have to sift through on a daily basis whilst adding updates to the system.

Getting closer to the customer no matter the channel they use to shop is a major thrust for retailers. It is expected to shape retail offerings in 2015 and in the years ahead. This theme also echoed in the retail technology applications and solutions showcased at two recently concluded retail events, the NRF retail show in New York and closer home, the Retail Business Technology Exposition in London.

Legal Practice Technologies (LPT) Limited is a joint venture between Mastek and The Law Society (TLS), an independent professional body representing solicitors in England and Wales. Through Mastek, LPT will deliver IT solutions for TLS’ services.

Cricket fever seems to have swept over a quarter of the world’s population. The fourth-largest sporting event in the world, the ICC Cricket World Cup is fast drawing to its final round in Australia. Equally at Mastek, we’ve had a truly exciting start to 2015. To begin with, our International Customer Meet in Jaipur achieved a record high in terms of attendance from US and UK customers. We were both humbled and proud at the joy experienced by two of our public sector clients at the uneventful ‘go-live’ of their major systems.