Latest from Techday NZ
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Forterro expands industrial software with TARGIT acquisition
Forterro has entered a binding agreement to acquire Danish business intelligence company TARGIT, bringing more than 1,000 SME customers and new analytics expertise into its portfolio. The move marks Forterro's first business intelligence acquisition and is expected to deepen its focus on the industrial and manufacturing midmarket by integrating analytics and data intelligence with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. Expanding product offering Dean Forbes, Chief Executive Officer of Forterro, said the acquisition represents a key development in the company's business strategy. Speaking on the deal, Forbes commented: "This is a significant strategic step for Forterro. TARGIT is a well-established, highly scalable, BI solution with deep domain knowledge, trusted by SMEs around the world to transform data into actionable insight. With TARGIT, we can help customers unlock even greater value from their ERP data, enabling smarter decision making and driving better business outcomes. "This integration not only strengthens our BI capabilities, but also broadens our strategic focus beyond core ERP, creating new opportunities to deliver value and growth." Forterro, headquartered in London, provides software for over 25,000 midmarket manufacturing businesses across the UK and Europe. This acquisition follows the company's previous deals in 2025 and aims to strengthen its capabilities with a specialised focus on data-driven decision support for customers in the industrial sector. Details of the acquisition TARGIT, founded in 1986 and based in Aalborg, Denmark, is recognised for its TARGIT Decision Suite, an end-to-end BI platform available both on cloud and on-premises. The platform is designed to automate reporting and promote data-driven decision making, and has established a strong foothold in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, dealership, and various public services. Jakob H. Kraglund, Chief Executive Officer of TARGIT, welcomed the acquisition, stating: "We're very excited to be joining Forterro as it's an organisation which we believe can help us to significantly accelerate growth and expand the reach of our comprehensive BI platform and verticalised solutions. We also share a strong commitment to customer value and success, and core values such as agility, innovation and integrity. "With Forterro's support, we can boost development and advance far beyond what was previously possible while staying true to the strengths and values that have brought us success so far." Kraglund will remain as CEO of TARGIT for the duration of the transition to Forterro, after which he is scheduled to leave the company. The transaction involves Forterro acquiring TARGIT from GRO Capital, a private equity firm focused on B2B software organisations in Northern Europe. Completion of the deal is expected on 08 July 2025. Integration and customer base The acquisition brings more than 1,000 SME customers of TARGIT's analytics platform into the Forterro ecosystem. This is expected to offer additional capability for manufacturing and industrial clients seeking to extract actionable insight from operational data held within their ERP systems. Both companies emphasised shared values such as a focus on customer outcomes and a commitment to integrity and flexible business solutions. According to Forterro, the integration of TARGIT's platform will enable it to offer a wider set of services, supporting midmarket customers in automating processes and making data-led decisions. TARGIT's platform has received industry recognition, including awards for vendor credibility and leadership in multiple business intelligence categories by analyst firms such as Dresner and BARC. Its solutions are developed to be configurable according to user needs and integrate with existing business systems. The acquisition follows Forterro's growth strategy to broaden its market reach and product portfolio in industrial software solutions. It now positions the combined entity to offer both ERP and BI functionality tailored to midmarket manufacturers, with support provided through more than 40 office locations and a workforce exceeding 2,500 employees. Completion of the transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions. The companies intend for existing customers to see continued support with the potential for enhanced product development following the acquisition.
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Fiji central bank leads push for stronger national cyber resilience
Borderless CS engaged in a strategic discussion with the Reserve Bank of Fiji regarding the nation's cybersecurity readiness in an effort to address the risks posed by rapid digital transformation. The meeting involved Ariff Ali, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, along with Joel Abraham, a member of the Borderless CS Advisory Board, and Krishneel Kumar, Director of Cybersecurity Practices. National resilience The discussion centred on the importance of establishing robust digital resilience strategies within financial institutions and encouraging key decision-makers to prioritise the protection of Fiji's digital infrastructure. Governor Ariff Ali emphasised that, as the country's central financial authority, the Reserve Bank of Fiji must set the tone for cybersecurity preparedness. He underlined the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors to ensure effective risk management. He reiterated that cybersecurity must be embedded into economic planning, just like financial stability and inflation control. His remarks reflect a growing understanding among leaders that cybersecurity is a strategic pillar of national development. The conversation highlighted the shift towards recognising cybersecurity as central to national economic strategy, not solely a technical concern delegated to IT departments. Policies and investments in this area, according to Ali, should come from the highest levels of executive leadership. Fiji's digital landscape Fiji is advancing rapidly in its adoption of digital technology, from mobile banking services and fintech applications to digital government initiatives. This digital transformation, while beneficial, has also increased exposure to a variety of cyber threats. Attacks such as phishing and ransomware have become more common, targeting banks, customers, and public sector systems. There are also challenges linked to outdated infrastructure, weak data protection laws, and a shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals. Borderless CS highlighted the need for local solutions that draw upon international best practice while acknowledging Fiji's specific context. An effective response would require coordinated strategies, including better incident response planning and capacity-building initiatives to grow the nation's talent pool in cybersecurity. Strategic actions The discussion yielded several practical recommendations to raise Fiji's cyber maturity. These included the creation of a National Cyber Resilience Strategy to define roles, responsibilities, and long-term tactics for fortifying cybersecurity nationwide. Other suggestions included formal public-private partnerships for information sharing and resource pooling between regulators, financial organisations and cybersecurity service providers. Leadership engagement was identified as essential, with plans to run executive-level cybersecurity events to improve decision-makers' understanding of threats and resource allocation. Training and capacity building for local professionals, as well as national cyber drills and tabletop exercises, were also discussed to test and improve Fiji's response readiness to incidents. Leadership and regulation Joel Abraham addressed the influence of regulatory policy in driving better security standards, stating the need for oversight and governance frameworks that reinforce cybersecurity at every level of the organisation. Krishneel Kumar offered perspectives on how adaptable security models can be rolled out across both public and private sectors, bridging technical needs and governance objectives. This alignment between technical action and regulatory oversight was viewed as crucial to ensuring progress beyond discussions and towards actual improvement in cyber defence. Borderless CS's regional outlook Borderless CS reaffirmed its intent to support Fiji in bolstering cyber resilience, seeing its role as extending past compliance and into areas of digital trust, risk assessment, security advisory, and ongoing training. We believe cybersecurity should be inclusive, affordable, and accessible to all, especially in regions where resources are limited, but the risks are rising. Upcoming leadership event An outcome of the meeting was the initiation of a C-Suite Cybersecurity Leadership Event in Fiji, aiming to bring together bank executives, government officials and technology sector representatives. The event aims to share insights into threat landscapes, discuss board-level governance, and explore collaborative defence mechanisms, all with a view to making cybersecurity a core operational priority. Forward strategy Borderless CS said it is encouraged by the leadership demonstrated by the Reserve Bank of Fiji and restated its commitment to supporting efforts aimed at strengthening national and regional cyber resilience. The company maintains that a united approach is essential to safeguarding the digital landscape for individuals, organisations, and broader society.
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Open ecosystems are powering the future of intelligent observability
Observability has come a long way. What began as a smart way to keep systems and software performing well has evolved into AI-strengthened platforms that accelerate innovation, improve productivity, and streamline operations. Open source has been a driving force behind this shift for over two decades. However, as organisations transition to emerging software-led technologies, open source will be fundamental in what comes next for observability and how it supports modern organisations to achieve greater flexibility, scalability, and competitiveness. Growing complexity of modern applications Cloud-native technologies and DevOps have transformed software delivery, enabling faster innovation and better user experiences. But this shift has also increased complexity, with teams managing more tools, systems, and manual processes. The result? Wasted time, a higher risk of errors, and slower decision-making. According to New Relic's 2024 Observability Forecast report, 56% of respondents in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) were most likely to use more than five tools, well ahead of their peers in Europe (43%) and the Americas (35%). Rather than accelerating innovation or improving metrics like mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to resolution (MTTR), the fragmented, piecemeal approach often introduces new challenges such as creating data silos, blind spots, poor data correlation, and added friction from licensing and costs, among other issues. In fact, 39% of organisations in ANZ identified the volume of monitoring tools and siloed data as the key barrier to achieving full stack observability. The stakes are higher than ever, too, with a US$2.2 million median hourly cost for high-business-impact outages. A unified ecosystem is the way forward Additionally, organisations are relying on observability to achieve greater operational efficiency. Over a third (31%) of ANZ respondents indicated that integrating business apps like enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) into workflows was a key driver for observability in their organisations. It is evident that the traditionally fragmented view of systems from using isolated tools for monitoring leads to significant effort and costs in troubleshooting and preventing poor performance. By consolidating various data sources into a single platform, IT teams gain critical, contextual visibility into system performance, allowing them to understand what's really happening and address problems before they escalate. An application-agnostic approach to observability enables all software engineers to instrument, create dashboards, and set alerts across the entire technology stack. Unlocking true intelligence for AI With AI adoption in full swing, IT teams need to address additional complexity as AI tools bring with them intricate data pipelines, model training and inference processes, and dynamic scaling based on real-time data. While observability practices of the past focused on gathering and analysing telemetry data to understand and resolve performance issues, the integration of AI technologies will require observability to evolve and expand its capacity to track the specific behaviours and performance of AI components in high volumes. To fully capitalise on AI, the future of observability will revolve around an open ecosystem of interconnected agents that communicate through natural language APIs. These agents will empower users to automate research and complete complex tasks, driving higher productivity. The system will also provide intelligence within the appropriate context, offering relevant, accurate insights, and recommendations to support better business decision-making. Predictive analytics fuelled by machine learning can analyse trends in telemetry data to foresee potential system failures or performance bottlenecks before they occur. By identifying these issues in advance, teams can take proactive steps to ensure continuous system performance and reliability, such as scaling resources or adjusting configuration. The next generation of open, intelligent observability will empower organisations to unlock deeper insights and greater value. An observability platform that integrates with best-in-class technologies will enable organisations to drive growth and accelerate developer productivity by seamlessly connecting workflows and delivering insights.
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Java Independence is now a board-level priority - Driving cost savings, cloud efficiency and strategic agility
Chances are every time you stream content, buy something online or check your bank balance, you're interacting with Java-based systems. Java powers mission-critical systems across industries. Netflix runs its entire streaming infrastructure on Java-based microservices, processing millions of concurrent viewers. Global payment networks validate credit card transactions in milliseconds across hundreds of countries using Java applications. While the Java community has expanded to over 10 million developers worldwide, enterprises face mounting cost pressures from multiple directions. For the enterprises powering these essential services, 2025 represents a critical decision point: continue paying escalating costs for Oracle Java, potentially impacting profit margins or customer pricing as well as the potential for future price hikes, or seek alternatives. Java independence gives businesses control, choice, and confidence in how they build and run Java applications. Azul's recent 2025 State of Java Survey & Report reveals an enterprise Java ecosystem in transition, driven by mounting cost concerns, market preference for open-source solutions, and ongoing uncertainty around Oracle's licensing policies. This watershed moment stems from Oracle's shift to employee-based pricing in January 2023, which fundamentally disrupted enterprise Java strategy. Oracle's licensing practices have significantly increased Java-related expenditures, with the company generating billions annually from Java licensing and support. This shift isn't just about cost savings, it's about mitigating risk and enhancing agility. Java independence has become a board-level priority in an era where digital transformation drives market leadership. The oracle Java challenge The new Oracle pricing model detaches Java costs from actual usage, creating an unsustainable scenario: a 10,000-employee company running a handful of Java applications pays the same as a similarly sized organisation running thousands of Java-based services. For global businesses, this represents both a financial challenge and a strategic imperative to maintain competitive advantage. Our research reveals that two-thirds of organisations found Oracle's licensing model more expensive than alternatives, and an overwhelming majority reported successful migrations away from Oracle Java. With 25% of companies citing audit risk as a key migration driver, the urgency to transition has become a business priority rather than just an IT concern. The OpenJDK success story The success of OpenJDK adoption has shattered Oracle Java migration concerns. The data tells a compelling story: 84% of companies found the transition easier than expected or as planned, with three-quarters completing migrations within 12 months. This rapid timeline reflects both the maturity of available solutions and the robust support ecosystem around OpenJDK migrations. OpenJDK distributions have emerged as preferred alternatives to Oracle Java. These enterprise-ready solutions match Oracle Java SE's core capabilities while offering enhanced support and performance options. Successful migration hinges on three key components: Organisational momentum - Technical expertise, discovery & inventory tools and project planning assistance from a commercial OpenJDK provider can significantly help secure and maintain executive support, ultimately impacting a successful transition. Comprehensive Java mapping - Identifying all Java deployments across an organisation is essential. With 83% of organisations requiring commercially supported Java in production, this mapping phase is critical. Governance and compliance - Maintaining independence from Oracle Java licensing requires robust governance. Success means partnering with OpenJDK providers offering comprehensive protection, from IP safeguards to indemnification. The immediate financial benefits are substantial — most organisations report a 50-70% reduction in Oracle Java-related costs. Perhaps even more compelling, additional value lies in regaining control over Java technology strategy. Cloud cost optimisation Organisations are grappling with rapidly escalating cloud infrastructure costs, as annual global cloud spending is nearing a trillion dollars and continues to grow at double-digit rates. Our research reveals that 71% of organisations overpay for cloud compute capacity, highlighting an opportunity to reduce costs while improving application performance. Companies that select non-Oracle optimised Java platforms can save 20%+ on cloud computing costs. This is because high-performance Java runtimes deliver more stable Java applications and infrastructure while consuming fewer computing resources, creating compelling advantages beyond just licensing considerations. Powering AI innovation with Java Emerging technology demands amplify the need for change, particularly in AI and cloud computing. Half of the surveyed companies from our State of Java report already build AI functionality using Java — from financial institutions developing fraud detection systems to retailers leveraging machine learning for customer personalisation and inventory management. As computational demands grow, organisations require Java platforms that can deliver both performance and efficiency. These advanced workloads highlight the need for solutions that provide more scalable and stable applications while consuming fewer computing resources, enabling AI initiatives to be deployed successfully without excessive infrastructure investments. Oracle Java independence is not just a technical evolution — it's a strategic imperative that gives organisations the freedom to innovate, control costs, and build their technology future on their own terms.
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Milestone expands South Pacific channel with new partner focus
Milestone Systems has outlined plans to expand its partner network and strengthen distribution operations across the South Pacific region. The firm has promoted Matt Veenstra to the position of Distribution Channel Manager, South Pacific, entrusting him with responsibility for leading new partner engagement and expansion efforts in the region. Leadership change The appointment of Veenstra is designed to deepen Milestone's existing partner relationships while broadening opportunities for new collaborators, particularly systems integrators. The company has indicated a willingness to work with a diverse range of partners, regardless of their areas of technical expertise. "Milestone has always thrived on strong partnerships, and the South Pacific represents a key growth area where we see incredible opportunity to scale," said Veenstra. "Our goal is to make it easier for partners to grow with us, by providing the tools, support and recognition they need to succeed." Veenstra brings a sales and business development background to his new role, having experience in client base expansion and revenue growth, underpinned by a focus on customer relationships. His professional experience covers business development, account management and marketing functions. Partner programme updates Milestone has updated its regional Partner Program alongside the leadership changes. The revised programme includes a wider suite of accessible benefits and a more concentrated emphasis on professional certifications. Enhanced rewards are now available to partners based on the number and level of certifications attained within Milestone's ecosystem. "Our revised program is about rewarding commitment," Veenstra added. "The more our partners invest in building their expertise around Milestone's open platform, the more they'll get in return, whether that's exclusive support, marketing resources or co-selling opportunities. More education and certification basically unlocks more potential." The company's renewed focus on its partner programme takes place amid rising demand for intelligent video solutions across multiple sectors, not limited to security and safety but extending into operational domains. Milestone regards its expanded channel as crucial in delivering these solutions with local knowledge and established relationships. "We're excited to work with both long-standing and new partners who share our vision of going beyond security to deliver real business value," said Veenstra. Operational realignment The expansion efforts follow a recent organisational change where Milestone transferred greater operational control to its South Pacific regional unit. This shift aims to improve service speed for customers and optimise the use of local resources. Jordan Cullis, Regional Director for South Pacific at Milestone Systems, said: "Matt's new role reflects two things – the outstanding work he is doing with our partners across the region, and our ambition to energise our channel operations by providing a more focused and efficient service to our partners. We want them to grow along with us, as we diversify our portfolio and encourage people to innovate with our open platform model." Follow us on: Share on:
