TechFinitive

AI-native SaaS insurance provider Sapiens has announced two new appointments to its executive team as the company looks to grow its overall branding in the market and expand its autonomous enterprise footprint.

The company has appointed Nazir E. as its first Chief Autonomous Enterprise Officer and Maggie Fox as Chief Marketing Officer.

“As we continue to advance the possible, getting the right leadership in place accelerates everything else we’re trying to do,” Sapiens CEO designate and board member Paul Wheeler said.

“Nazir and Maggie bring exactly the experience and calibre we need as we accelerate our strategy. Strong leadership is what turns ambition into results, and I’m confident these appointments will strengthen us for the road ahead.”

Story here: https://www.techfinitive.com/sapiens-expands-leadership-team-with-two-new-appointments/

Sapiens expands leadership team with two new appointments Insurance provider Sapiens expands its executive team, appointing Nazir Esmail as Chief Autonomous Enterprise Officer and Maggie Fox as CMO

Too many organisations still think of forensic watermarking as an enforcement tool. That’s a mistake.

Enforcement is only one outcome. The larger opportunity is using watermarking data to understand where operational risk is building across an increasingly complex content ecosystem. If forensic watermarking is only helping identify yesterday’s leak, organisations are leaving much of its strategic value untapped.

For years, the industry has focused on a single question: Who leaked this? That question still matters. Attribution remains fundamental to protecting premium content and supporting enforcement. But today’s media landscape demands a broader perspective. As AI reshapes both piracy and content protection, and as distribution networks become increasingly fragmented, forensic watermarking is evolving into something much more valuable than an investigative tool. It is becoming a source of operational intelligence.

Read Peter Oggel's latest Opinion piece here: https://www.techfinitive.com/opinions/were-asking-the-wrong-question-about-forensic-watermarking/

We're asking the wrong question about forensic watermarking Forensic watermarking is evolving beyond leak attribution, helping organisations use incident data to identify recurring risks across content.

For years, the circular economy was treated as environmental idealism. It was a nice-to-have initiative to bolster the word count of corporate ESG reports. Today, it’s a hard-nosed business strategy. As tech budgets tighten and Scope 3 emissions targets loom, technology leaders finally realise that repairing, refurbishing and extending the life of hardware isn’t just about reducing electronic waste; it’s about protecting the bottom line.

Nobody understands this shift better than James Pennington. Having developed sustainable models at the World Economic Forum and Deloitte, James now drives progress as Lenovo’s Global Sustainability Services Director. In an industry built on rapid hardware cycles, he is proving that global scale and circularity can successfully coexist.

We sat down with James to discuss how Lenovo is de-risking refurbished tech for enterprise procurement. We also spoke about tackling the logistical puzzles of international asset recovery and why Lenovo’s infrastructure goal is maximising compute power per watt.

Interview here: https://www.techfinitive.com/interviews/james-pennington-global-sustainability-services-director-at-lenovo-we-sell-fully-re-manufactured-enterprise-grade-solutions-that-cut-costs-and-carbon-without-sacrificing-performance/

James Pennington, Global Sustainability Services Director at Lenovo: “We sell fully re-manufactured, enterprise-grade solutions that cut costs and carbon without sacrificing performance” We interview James Pennington, Global Sustainability Services Director at Lenovo, to discuss how it's de-risking refurbished tech

Imagine renovating a building while people are still working on living inside it. Even a small alteration requires planning, skilled labour and checks to ensure residents are not disrupted. Changing an ERP system has traditionally been like that - customisations have normally taken time to design, build and test. But AI is now speeding this up.

Epicor Software says Prism Developer can reduce the time required to build and test Application Studio customisations by an average of 60%. Faster development sounds like an obvious win for manufacturers and distributors waiting on workflow changes.

But coding was never the only bottleneck... for more, read the full analysis here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/ai-can-build-erp-customisations-60-faster-can-change-control-keep-up/

AI can build ERP customisations 60% faster. Can change control keep up? As AI speeds up ERP customisations by 60%, faster development risks outpacing crucial change control and governance.

Fast responses to attacks have remained elusive for most security teams due to the sheer nature of the dynamic threat landscape. But there appears to be some good news. Zscaler’s new Agentic SOC promises exactly that: AI agents that investigate threats and automate containment using zero-trust telemetry, a decoy network and third-party security controls. Zscaler says its platform processes 750 billion zero-trust transactions daily.

While that scale creates opportunity, one must also ask the inevitable question: what happens when an automated response is wrong?

Story here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/when-the-soc-acts-at-machine-speed-one-bad-decision-can-travel-just-as-fast/

When the SOC acts at machine speed, one bad decision can travel just as fast As AI-driven SOCs automate threat containment at machine speed, experts question the risks of mistaken actions and the urgent need for robust boundaries.

Small and mid-sized businesses face a myriad of security threats running the gamut from ransomware and phishing to identity attacks and data breaches. And all this often happens without the specialist teams available to larger organisations. The same human resource managing access permissions may also be tasked with fixing laptops and keeping the accounts system running.

For zero trust to work here, simplicity is the imperative.

Zscaler and Carahsoft recognise that gap.

Their expanded partnership aims to bring the Zero Trust Exchange to US SMBs and mid-market organisations through standardised bundles, predictable pricing and partner support. As we recently reported, the proposition is enterprise security that smaller teams can buy, deploy and operate.

The test is whether that simplicity holds up in deployment.

Story here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/zero-trust-for-smbs-only-works-when-complexity-disappears/

Zero trust for SMBs only works when complexity disappears Zero trust offers enterprise security to SMBs, but implementation succeeds only when complexity disappears for small IT teams

SumUp made its name by helping small businesses take card payments. What began as a simple card reader for small merchants in 2012 has grown into a broader payments and business-tools platform serving more than 4 million merchants across 38 markets by September 2026. Its latest move targets the financial records and tax workflows behind every transaction. Its latest move puts that platform on one of football’s most visible stages.

SumUp became Manchester United’s official sleeve partner in September, according to a report by the BBC. This was weeks after agreeing to a training kit partnership with Newcastle United. The United deal also includes plans for a co-branded payment card offering fan rewards at club outlets and participating UK businesses. This is brand-building, certainly. But the card gives SumUp a chance to connect fans, merchants and payments in ways a shirt logo cannot.

Story here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/sumups-manchester-united-deal-is-bigger-than-a-logo/

SumUp’s Manchester United deal is bigger than a logo SumUp’s Manchester United deal elevates their brand by connecting payments with football fans and merchants.

For decades, Backup has been sold as an insurance policy: store the data and hope never to need it. After a ransomware incident, the urgent question is always whether the business can get back to work and within what time period.

For managed service providers, that scenario creates an opportunity to sell recovery confidence alongside backup capacity. The value lies in demonstrating what can be restored, how quickly, and with what limitations.

A successful backup job does not prove that the copy is clean, complete, accessible, or capable of restoring the applications that keep a business running. After a cyberattack, an organisation may discover that its backup credentials were compromised, or that critical systems depend on configurations and integrations missing from the recovery plan.

Veeam Software recognises this challenge. Read our analysis of why that matters, here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/why-recovery-testing-may-become-the-most-valuable-service-an-msp-sells/

Why recovery testing may become the most valuable service an MSP sells Why recovery testing, not just backup, is becoming the most valuable service managed service providers (MSPs) can offer to clients

Industry clouds make an attractive promise: faster ERP transformation, fewer customisations and a platform already shaped around the realities of a specific sector.

From the point of view of a manufacturer, distributor or service organisation tired of lengthy ERP projects, that proposition is difficult to ignore. But when an industry cloud arrives with pre-built workflows, data models and compliance controls, you must ask yourself whose best practice is being adopted?

Story here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/industry-clouds-promise-faster-erp-transformation-but-whose-best-practice-are-you-buying/

Industry clouds promise faster ERP transformation - but whose best practice are you buying? Industry clouds promise faster ERP transformation, but carry operational risks. Here is why leaders must scrutinize vendor best practices

Only two years ago, Shadow AI simply meant an employee pasting a spreadsheet into an unapproved chatbot to try to simplify a task and get things done faster. That was concerning enough. Today, autonomous AI agents have raised the stakes because they can retrieve data, transform it, and trigger actions across connected systems with little human intervention.

Veeam Software’s EMEA research puts numbers to the problem. Of 1,000 IT, data, and security decision-makers surveyed, 70% said automated AI workflows interact with sensitive corporate data without full oversight. Another 67% reported employee-created autonomous workflows that IT cannot fully track.

The issue is not merely shadow AI. It is shadow agency. Story here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/shadow-ai-was-only-the-warning-autonomous-agents-turn-data-leakage-into-boardroom-liability/

Shadow AI was only the warning - autonomous agents turn data leakage into boardroom liability Autonomous AI agents escalate shadow AI risks into boardroom liability as untracked workflows handle sensitive corporate data