Artificial Intelligence

New York -- Doug McMillon, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, said the company plans to ramp up the company's pace of partnerships and acquisitions as part of a broader strategy to better compete with digital rivals, Bloomberg reported.  

“We’ve been more acquisitive lately, especially for talent,” McMillon said, according to the report. “And our pace of acquisitions, I think, is going to accelerate.”

Every May, the MIT Sloan School of Management hosts a one-day CIO Symposium where great academic minds mix with great business minds. The result is always an outpouring of IT and business thought leadership, and this year was no exception. A panel of CIOs, including Adriana Karaboutis of Dell and Roger Gurnani of Verizon, discussed what leading the digital enterprise means for today’s top IT executives, and why taking a leading digital enterprise role is so critical. Following are a few insights gleaned from the session:

While the reach of mobile devices has grown dramatically in recent years, we’ve failed to realize the promise of using this ubiquitous device as a mobile wallet.

There are many reason for this lack of adoption, and the following reviews the shortcomings of past and current attempts at mobile wallet implementations — and more importantly, highlights new technologies needed to unlock the promise of mobile payments.

New York -- Intuit has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Check, a mobile bill pay company with some 10 million registered users. The acquisition will help accelerate Intuit’s ability to offer bill pay across small business and personal finance products and create opportunities to retain, attract and serve additional customers.

Thorofare, N.J. - Checkpoint Systems, Inc. is launching its next generation of intelligent electronic article surveillance (EAS) solutions. The Evolve iRange comprises six different EAS antennas, a broad range of EAS labels designed for visible and source-tagging application to various types of merchandise, and the Counterpoint iD deactivation unit for faster and consistent deactivation at point-of-sale (POS).

Walldorf, Germany – SAP AG is releasing cloud-based Rapid Deployment solutions designed to simplify deployments and move existing SAP applications to the cloud with best practices in a predictable manner that helps minimize business disruption while new solutions are implemented. SAP Rapid Deployment solutions follow a universally applicable approach for customers deploying across the cloud, on premise or in hybrid landscapes.

Neptune, N.J -- Marathon Data Systems, which provides a cloud-based route management platform for companies with a mobile workforce, is launching its new delivery pick-up and drop-off feature. The new feature tracks load to ensure that all vehicles’ load capacity limits — like weight, volume and value — remain within required limits during the entire route, while planning the correct order of pickups and deliveries to best optimize routes.  

Chicago - Renewed consumer spending is in line with pre-recession trends and consumer optimism is higher than it's been in years. In 2013, Mintel estimates that personal consumption expenditures on consumer goods reached $10 trillion for the first time.