The ITAM Roundup: 10/27/24

roundup Oct 27, 2024

📰 News

WEBINAR: Proven Salesforce Negotiation Strategies for Maximizing Value

Wednesday, October 30th, 11:00 AM ET

Salesforce customers often face aggressive sales tactics, steep renewal price increases, and challenges with underutilized products. Adam Mansfield and Erik Bullard from UpperEdge will share expert strategies to help clients maximize value and manage Salesforce’s complex pricing structures effectively.

Cherwell End of Life (EoL): What It Means And What to Do Next

Ivanti’s decision to end support for Cherwell IT Service Management by December 2026 means organizations relying on Cherwell must begin planning their migration to avoid disruptions. Many customers are urged toward Ivanti Neurons, although some users feel unsupported by the sudden change. InvGate offers a smooth migration option with fast deployment, robust integrations, and tailored training, supporting organizations transitioning from Cherwell to a modern ITSM platform aligned with ITIL standards.

Anthropic's latest Claude model can interact with computers – what could go wrong?

Anthropic's new Claude 3.5 Sonnet model can directly interact with computer systems, enabling tasks like clicking, typing, and running commands, which could greatly expand AI applications but also introduces significant security risks. The model's ability to execute commands from on-screen instructions or internet content makes it vulnerable to prompt injection attacks, potentially causing unintended actions. Cybersecurity experts warn that these capabilities could be exploited to automate malicious tasks, prompting Anthropic to advise strict safety measures for users testing this feature.

Google Cloud chief moves to ServiceNow as COO

Amit Zavery, former Google Cloud executive and longtime Oracle veteran, has been appointed as ServiceNow’s COO, president, and chief product officer, tasked with overseeing product and engineering operations. This comes after the controversial departure of ServiceNow's former COO, CJ Desai, and ex-Army CIO Raj Iyer, who both resigned amid government investigations into their hiring. ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott praised Zavery’s accomplishments at Google Cloud, noting that his engineering and commercialization expertise will be instrumental in enhancing ServiceNow’s competitive edge against Atlassian and Salesforce, particularly in Agile and developer-focused solutions.

IBM's mainframe bubble bursts and growth stalls

IBM reported a 19% drop in mainframe revenue in Q3, impacting overall growth, which reached only 1% (or 2% in constant currency), partly due to economic uncertainties. While mainframe sales are cyclical, CEO Arvind Krishna highlighted strong performance in IBM’s software division, especially Red Hat, which grew 14% year-over-year, and noted potential in AI and recent acquisitions. Despite this, IBM's stock took a hit as investors reacted to lower-than-expected revenue, though the company remains optimistic about profit growth due to productivity initiatives projected to save $3.5 billion.

📖 Tips

Deploying Windows — You’ve Got Choices: A Directions on Microsoft Brainstorm

With only one year remaining until Microsoft ends Windows 10 support, Directions analysts Michael Cherry, Jim Gaynor, and Wes Miller join Mary Jo Foley to discuss the best strategies for enterprises aiming to stay secure and current.

Cutting carbon in computing: Practical tips for sustainable IT

Mark Bradley outlines strategies for reducing carbon emissions and enhancing operational efficiency through sustainable IT practices. Key approaches include upgrading to energy-efficient hardware, leveraging virtualization, optimizing cloud usage, implementing power management, and managing e-waste responsibly. Sustainable IT not only supports environmental goals but also offers financial benefits, improves brand reputation, helps with regulatory compliance, and mitigates long-term risks, positioning companies for a greener future.

The Key to Getting Your Workday Negotiations Right

John Belden and Kylie Chisholm of UpperEdge, along with experts Erwann Couesbot and Jeff Lazarto, discuss strategies for optimizing Workday deals. Key points include accurately managing Full-Service Equivalent (FSE) counts for pricing, understanding line-item costs, negotiating favorable payment and renewal terms, and using leverage, such as competitive relationships, to improve outcomes.

🐛Bugs & Exploits

Broadcom Fixes Critical RCE in VMware vCenter Server

Broadcom has issued critical updates for VMware vCenter Server to address two vulnerabilities, one being a severe heap-overflow vulnerability (CVE-2024-38812) with a CVSS score of 9.8 that allows remote code execution via network packets. The patches also address a second vulnerability (CVE-2024-38813) related to privilege escalation, rated at 7.5, enabling network attackers to gain root access.