70 per cent of European business leaders believe that digitising hard copy documents would save between five and 20 per cent of their annual turnover. New research commissioned by Ricoh Europe illustrates the benefits to European businesses of tackling the ‘bigger data’ opportunity – the digitisation of business critical, hard copy documents for business decision-making. Leaders […]
Agent 0.00, Draghi Neither Shaken Nor Stirred
Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, yesterday explained the ECB’s rationale for lowering interest rates. Speaking in Frankfurt, Draghi said: “… the economic analysis indicates that we may experience a prolonged period of low inflation, to be followed by a gradual upward movement towards inflation rates below, but close to, 2% later on. […]
The ECB Preview, Going In Circles
Last week’s data has given rise to renewed speculation about further ECB action. Headline inflation below 1% and unemployment above 12% have fueled market speculation that the ECB could cut rates at this week’s meeting. In our view, this speculation is premature for two main reasons: (1) the ECB simply does not have a reputation […]
Jose Montesquieu Barroso Wants Business Friendly Public Sector – “Useless laws weaken the necessary ones”
Attending, what the Commission termed a ‘business-friendly’ conference on Public Administration, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: “Given the size of the total [EU] procurement market… each 5% saved could return around €100 billion to the public purse.” Barroso added: “…just four days ago, the European Council highlighted once again the importance of the […]
Locatel Launches Hotel Mobile Innovations
Complementing its fixed-mobile convergent solutions which enable hotel guests to switch from viewing content from their hotel TV screen to their own mobile device and back – Locatel has released a new suite of mobile solutions and applications for hotels. The new mobility suite from Locatel includes mobile apps that hotels can brand and build […]
World Bank Confirms Global Shift Favours Entrepreneurs – 114 Countries Improved Conditions
Governments around the world significantly stepped up their pace of improving business regulations in 114 economies last year – an 18 percent jump from the previous year – laying the groundwork for local entrepreneurs to expand their work, according to the new World Bank Group publication Doing Business released today. It is the 11th in […]
Digital Dialogue At EU Summit. GSMA Seeks Economic Growth From Telecoms Investment
Europe’s lagging investment in communications infrastructure was loudly, though timidly addressed at today’s European Summit in Brussels. Political leaders put the digital economy firmly at the top of their agenda and pointed to its central importance in driving growth, innovation and competitiveness. Increasing the NSA’s angst, and to no one’s surprise, it was the United States’ […]
Keep A Spy On The Economy – German Ifo Drops, But Outlook ‘Stable’
Shocked by the slowdown? Germany’s most prominent leading indicator, the Ifo index, dropped in October to107.4 from 107.7. While the current assessment component fell 103.6, from 104.2, expectations remained almost stable. The German economy remains in good shape. The solid labour market and recovering industrial activity bode well for stable growth in the coming quarters. […]
Cloudera Partners Capgemini To Unlock Big Data Value
Capgemini, a leading consulting and technology firm is partnering Cloudera, market leader in enterprise analytic data management powered by Apache Hadoop. The partnership brings to market the combination of Cloudera’s comprehensive platform for big data management and analytics with Capgemini’s global capabilities and expertise in Business Information Management, to ensure enterprises worldwide can unlock the […]
Stronger Social Protection Urged For EU Workers. Too Late?
With glacial speed action will surely follow. EU leaders have met with trade unions and employers’ organisations (social partners) for talks on how to strengthen the social dimension of the EU and the euro area, including by better monitoring employment and social trends in future. The social partners joined European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, […]