Almost every day, it seems, there's news of another ransomware attack on a prominent organization. In fact, according to one study, almost 40 percent of all businesses experienced an attack from the summer of 2015 to the summer of 2016. To protect our companies against ransomware and its potentially disastrous technological and financial consequences, we have to understand what's needed to shield information technology systems from the initial infection and how to recover as quickly as possible.

The internet of things (IoT) may present the biggest opportunity to enterprises since the dawn of the internet age, and perhaps it will be bigger. Research firm Gartner predicts there will be nearly 20 billion devices on the IoT by 2020, and IoT product and service suppliers will generate more than $300bn in revenue.

Deutsche Post DHL Group and Chinese technology conglomerate Huawei Technologies are collaborating on a range of supply chain services for customers using "industrial-grade internet-of-things hardware and infrastructure."

Supply chain operating network E2open has announced its merger with Steelwedge, a software company focused on sales and operations planning (S&OP) and integrated business planning (IBP). The combination will deliver a collaborative sales and operations planning tool that integrates information across multi-enterprise business networks, E2open says.

Finance chiefs are responsible for minimizing the risks that their organizations face in all facets of business - from supply chain operations and fixed-asset investment to payment processing and cybersecurity.