Emerging business technologies can help solve both operational and strategic problems. These technologies represent a growing toolbox of opportunities to help solve problems, but there might not always be an obvious match between the problem and an emerging technology. Steve Andriole, the Thomas G. Labrecque Professor of Business Technology in the Villanova School of Business at Villanova University, laid out the executive’s guide to emerging business technologies in an article he wrote in Forbes. His guide laid out what executives need to know and five steps to help them find the answers to their questions.

Drop Zones are one of the latest tools added to PeopleSoft to help users configure their content to meet business needs. PeopleSoft delivers several tools that let you change the system to meet your needs without making it difficult to apply maintenance and adopt new features. Other tools like Event Mapping, Page & Field Configurator, Forms and Approval Builder let you configure and extend your PeopleSoft system.

In this episode of the PeopleSoft Spotlight Series, you’ll learn drivers behind developing PeopleSoft Fluid UI, what Fluid UI is and what it can do, and how to develop a strategic plan to roll out Fluid UI. Fluid User Interface represents PeopleSoft’s strategic direction for delivering a robust and intuitive, yet familiar experience for application users. Application usability is something that PeopleSoft has been working on for a long time. Each of the last few releases of PeopleTools has included enhancements to the user interface. PeopleSoft has been paying attention to the overall experience that users have as they work with applications. The goal has been to make systems more intuitive and easier to use.

Greg Kelly, part of Oracle’s PeopleTools team, presented to Quest users about how to develop best practices to help harden and protect their PeopleSoft applications. Some of the latest PeopleTools security features can help users protect PeopleSoft against both internal and external threats to their system and data. The presentation walked through recent threat scenarios and how they could have been avoided, or at least considerably reduced in scope. Greg also covered monitoring tools and how they can be used as part of behavioral analysis to detect and respond to threats.

Peter High, president and founder of Metis Strategy—a business and IT strategy firm, wrote an article in Forbes about his meeting with Gamiel Gran, of the venture capital firm Mayfield Fund, and a dozen other leading CIOs in the New York area.

Joe McKendrick, author, independent researcher and speaker, wrote an article in Forbes about the best qualities that today’s digital leaders should have. It requires a little something borrowed and a little something new. Not only do digital leaders need to be able to embrace cutting-edge technology, but they also need to maintain some of the same tried-and-true management principles that have been around for the last 25, 50, or 100 years. Skills like communication are still just as important as understanding AI, Internet of Things, and Blockchain. McKendrick explained that “digital leaders must blend legacy skills with those of the digital era.”