Digital Transformation

BOSTON – October 29, 2026 -- IANS has made its Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server for Microsoft Copilot generally available, giving security teams access to peer decision data, vendor assessments and practitioner insight inside Copilot Chat and Copilot Cowork.

IANS Agent delivers cited answers across three Copilot entry points

In Copilot Chat, users can select IANS as a source for a prompt and receive answers with citations linking to the underlying IANS material. In Copilot Cowork, IANS runs as a plugin for multi-step tasks. The IANS Agent offers a dedicated conversation powered solely by IANS intelligence.

A Microsoft 365 administrator enables IANS in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Each user's access follows the organization's IANS subscription.

Greenville, S.C. – October 29, 2026 -- Fort Hill LogiX, a patent-pending construction payment application review platform, now operates as a separate company from Fort Hill Associates. It is open to capital-project owners and the advisory firms that serve them, including competitors of its parent.

LogiX isolates customer data from Fort Hill Associates

The separation addresses a data-custody question that other firms raised when they saw the platform: whether submitting pay apps meant handing documents to a competitor. LogiX runs with separate staff access controls and tenant-level data isolation. Fort Hill Associates has no visibility into or access to other customers' data, and LogiX does not use owner data to train AI models.

Eschenburg – October 29, 2026 -- Software Partners Group (SPG) has rebranded as Emerion, a platform that combines companies with more than 330 employees and roughly 10,000 customers across the DACH region's mid-market.

Emerion bundles four software and services disciplines under one brand

The group covers ERP, ECM, HCM & Payroll and Managed IT, with AI as a cross-cutting technology. It operates from 22 locations and is headquartered in Eschenburg. Its stated aim is to become a leading platform for business-critical software, services and AI among DACH mid-sized companies.

The name draws on the concept of emergence: combining entrepreneurial strength, specialist expertise and technology to create more than the sum of the individual parts.

CHICAGO – October 29, 2026 -- Keeper Security released version 18.1 of its iOS app, rebuilding the vault interface on Apple's Liquid Glass design system and adding support for Apple's dual-screen iPhone Duo.

The company calls the update one of the most significant UI overhauls in its history. "Friction is the enemy of enterprise security," said Craig Lurey, CTO and co-founder, who added that the redesign keeps zero-knowledge encryption intact.

iPhone Duo support opens the vault into a side-by-side view

When the device is open, the vault expands so users can navigate folders and view detailed record entries at the same time. The app returns to a single-screen layout when the device is closed.

Liquid Glass redesign moves search, Security Audit and two-factor codes to a bottom toolbar

Account settings now sit in a central avatar menu. A new floating action button and a swipeable product tour are also included.

Raleigh – October 29, 2026 -- Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ: BAND) reported record third-quarter revenue of $234 million, up 22% year-over-year, while Adjusted EBITDA rose 43% to $35 million, an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 22%.

The cloud communications provider also guided to double-digit Cloud Communications revenue growth in 2027, driven by rising demand for voice usage. The figures cover the quarter ended September 30, 2026.

Usage growth and four $1M+ deals drive record results

CFO Daryl Raiford said growth came from customers expanding their use of the platform. The sales team added four new customer wins and expansions worth $1 million or more, which will layer into results over the next twelve months. He also cited record free cash flow, though the release gives no figure for it.

CHICAGO – October 29, 2026 -- RedMane Technology LLC has launched the Child Care Assistance Program statewide on South Dakota's Benefits Eligibility and Enrollment System (BEES), adding a second major benefit program to the platform operated by the state Department of Social Services (DSS).

Phased rollout ends with full public launch

The implementation was delivered in phases and ended with the public launch of the full Child Care Assistance functionality. The new capabilities are fully integrated into the cloud-based BEES platform, which lets DSS consolidate eligibility and benefit administration in a single system.

WASHINGTON – October 29, 2026 -- Seven Letter, a bipartisan strategic communications firm, launched Engine, an "Answer Intelligence" service that audits how seven AI platforms describe a brand, executive or issue and then builds a plan to change that portrayal.

Engine audits ChatGPT, Claude and five other AI platforms

Each Engine report draws on custom prompts run through ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, DeepSeek, Perplexity, Copilot and Claude. It quantifies brand visibility, mentions, sentiment, top sources cited, top journalists cited and frequent prompts. A separate score measures narrative favorability, mention and citation rates, frequency and intensity, and prominence and placement.

The audit also benchmarks clients against competitors and flags AI-generated answers that contain negative themes or possible inaccuracies.

IRVINE – October 29, 2026 -- Seventy percent of K-12 parents worry their children are not learning future-ready skills, up 17 points from 2023-24 and 63% higher than in 2020, according to the 23rd Annual Speak Up Report from education nonprofit Project Tomorrow.

The 2026 Speak Up Research Project gathered input from more than 95,000 students, educators, administrators and families in rural, urban and suburban schools.

85% of parents tie their child's future success to effective classroom technology

The report, titled What's Tech Got To Do With It?, finds that classroom infrastructure is largely in place. The main opportunity now is helping teachers use technology to build the skills families want. Project Tomorrow CEO Dr. Julie Evans said students and families want classrooms that prepare them for 2027 "and not for 1977."

MILWAUKEE – October 29, 2026 -- Food and beverage manufacturers effectively use only about 45% of the data they collect, even though nearly 90% already use AI and machine learning or plan to do so soon, according to Rockwell Automation's 2026 State of Smart Manufacturing Report.

Data gaps stall AI projects at the pilot stage

Rockwell (NYSE: ROK) says the 45% data-utilization rate is a significant barrier to scaling AI beyond isolated pilots. Many manufacturers lack connected data, standardized processes and integrated systems, which limits enterprise-wide results.

Greg Schmidt, Vice President, CPG Global Industry at Rockwell, said the question is no longer whether AI delivers value but "how to scale successful pilots across the enterprise."

Global – October 29, 2026 -- Only 5% of enterprises say their data is ready to support AI, although 97% are running active AI initiatives, according to figures cited in Snowflake's new ebook "Break the Sequence."

The ebook targets what Snowflake calls the biggest brake on enterprise AI: the belief that data transformation must be complete before AI work can begin. Snowflake argues that "finished" is an impossible standard, because new applications, regulatory changes, acquisitions and evolving AI models continually reshape the data estate.