There have been a variety of novel changes to our society in the 21^st century, as the Internet and other technologies have become more prevalent throughout the world. Technology has been a significant driving force in changing our world and has altered a myriad of different facets of our world in recent years. One of the most imperative changes that technology has made in recent years has been revolutionizing businesses. Companies around the globe have adopted new technologies in order to create the best systems possible for their enterprises and their clients. As technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous in 2020, we will continue to see how tech companies continue to grow and utilize networking systems to build better businesses. 

ServiceNow Custom Apps for Business

Having a consistently well-performing company in 2020 requires the usage of top-tier networking software. IT interface programs are a necessity in modern offices and streamlining your company’s workflow and building a greater IT experience for your business is essential. Investing in a top-tier IT management program for your company will help to grow your business and will ensure that your networking needs are satisfied. There is a multitude of IT management programs on the market today, but utilizing one of the top systems, ServiceNow, will ensure that your company can thrive. ServiceNow is used for enterprise clients all around the world and because of that, it is a vast program that has a myriad of facets. Because of its vastness, it is a necessity to hire a ServiceNow partner service, as this will enable your company to more quickly implement the system. When hiring the right partner service for your business, it is critical that you find a company that can create ServiceNow custom applications, as these will prove to be extremely beneficial for you and your clients. 

Understanding the Importance of ServiceNow Custom Apps

After choosing your ServiceNow partner service, you want to learn about their process for implementing custom applications. ServiceNow custom applications can be used for a variety of purposes, such as consolidating, building new procedures, and upgrading past systems. The partner service that you choose needs to be certified to create custom apps, in order to truly get the most of their services. The most important certification that you need to ensure that they have is a certified ServiceNow technology partner, because this creates legitimacy for their custom application creation. There are numerous available ServiceNow custom application types, from customer experience center, franchise tracking, QMS systems, certificate of insurance, and many more. Depending on the type of company you run as well as what type of clients your company has, you will need to select the types of custom apps best suited for you. Learning about custom apps for your ServiceNow experience will prove to be critical to your firm.

Final Thoughts

When creating a top-tier IT system with ServiceNow, you need to ensure the ability to create custom applications. Understanding the importance of ServiceNow custom apps and recognizing how to implement them into your enterprise will prove to be crucial as you grow your business.

An investigation by an anti-fraud firm Secure- D, owned by UpStream, has revealed that Africa’s largest phone manufacturer, Tecno is shipping phones into the continent with “Click Ad Fraud” malware that is pre-installed into Tecno handsets.

According to Secure – D, malicious code known as xHelper/Triada comes pre-installed in Tecno phones with code that is said to find subscription based services in the phones and then submits fraudulent requests on behalf of the users without their knowledge and in the process robbing them of their money by taking pre-paid airtime.

The malware also downloads subscription-based apps and then users are signed up for the services without their consent. It is reported that the transaction requests might be coming from a family of applications called com.mufc as its source in the phones remains unknown and cannot be downloaded from Android app store.

Over 19.2 million suspicious transactions were discovered from over 200,000 Tecno devices that were used in the investigation that started in March 2019 and ended in August 2020. Phones from Ethiopia, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana and South Africa and 14 other countries were reviewed for malicious code.

Sometime in July this year, Guru8 published a story where an NGO the Unwanted Witness accused rider hailing app, Safe Boda of personal data breaches under the Ugandan data protection laws, especially the recently passed Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019 (DPPA). The allegations included that the company was and is sharing user data with third parties in violation of the above laws.

Guru8 has this week received a letter dated 24^th August 2020 revealing that the government has been petitioned about the allegations.

In the letter titled “Petition Against Guiness Transporters Limited Trading as Safe Boda Sharing Uganda’s Personal Data With Big American Tech Companies”, the speaker of parliament of Uganda Rebecca Kadaga, is forwarding a complaint that was raised by Obedgui Sammy about the violations to the National Information Technology Authority (NITA – U), that she says is the relevant Authority to handle the complaint.

“I received a complaint… alleges that Guiness Transporters Limited Trading as Safe Boda was implicated for sharing its application users’ personal data with third parties without the knowledge or consent of those users” reads the letter in part.

She adds that she believes that the complaint “falls under the purview of (NITA – U)” as it is the organ that is empowered to enforce adherence to the DPPA and has been asked to take action regarding the allegations and report to parliament within 3 weeks after receipt.

We are yet to see how the government responds to the accusations, however, under the Act, the Authority is required to conduct its own investigations and in its own discretion may direct the alleged violator to remedy any of its breaches or take any action as the Authority may determine.

MultiChoice, the parent company of DStv and GOtv satellite TV brands yesterday, the 19^th August 2020, held a majorly virtual #DSTVShowcase wherein the company announced several products (hard and soft -ware) that are yet to be made commercially available to the public.

Some of the products announced include two new decoders, DStv Explora Ultra, and the DStv Streama decoders that will allow for the customers to access third party streaming services. The streaming services will enable users to watch content that is available on the DStv bouquet without using a satellite connection to access the service.

It is said that the company even signed deals with Netflix and Amazon prime videos to enable access of these platforms on DStv packages to be available on the Explora Ultra decoders.

The DStv Streama set-top box allows subscribers to view DStv content and shows from other streaming services without a satellite dish. Customers will be able connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet cable and connects to your TV through HDMI. They will also be able to “seamlessly switch between applications like DStv, Showmax, and YouTube” where they will need to login.

Customers will need a DStv login to use a DStv Streama, but no active DStv subscription is required.

No dates for the commercial availability of the products has been confirmed, so the actual release dates and the prices for the same remain unknown.

The company also launched a standalone streaming service accessible only via DStv app to allow customers to sign up for DStv and be able to stream content exclusively though its platforms. The DStv app is available on PC, phone, gaming console, browser and on smart TV where users can access instant entertainment, sports, news and stream even on the go, with a maximum of four devices supported and two for concurrent streams.

The satellite TV giant will be partnering with Internet Service Providers (ISP)s and telecommunication companies to provided package bundles with uncapped internet for the DStv streaming packages.

In a blog post yesterday, Microsoft announced that Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) in favour of the revamped Microsoft Edge browser. IE 11 is the last update to the memorable browser from 2013 that windows introduced to us some 25 years ago. Microsoft 365 apps and services includes all windows apps.

“Today, we’re announcing that Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) by this time next year” reads the announcement which further reveals that beginning November 30, 2020, the Microsoft Teams web app will no longer support IE 11, and beginning August 17, 2021, the remaining Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support IE 11.

For the individuals or devices that will still have the application installed in their computers, the blog post assures that they will have what they have called a “degraded experience” where new features will not be available or existing features will not work. They will also not be able to connect to Microsoft 365 apps and services.

“While we know this change will be difficult for some customers, we believe that customers will get the most of Microsoft 365 when using the new Microsoft Edge” it reads.

According to the announcement, the decision to abandon IE 11 results from the fact that the internet is more sophisticated today, with open web standards and newer browsers that have “enabled better, more innovative online experiences.”