When the Apple Watch was released a couple of years ago, it signalled a further step Apple was taking to ingratiate themselves into every aspect of our increasingly digital lifestyle and workplace. The closest parallel I can think of is the iPad. When it was released many, including me, questioned Apple's strategy as it looked a lot like a solution looking for a problem to solve. But it spawned a massive market that was followed by Android devices and, ultimately, the Microsoft Surface and a new way to think about mobile computing. The Apple Watch seemed to be a similar play but it's not working out the same way.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Microsoft is working on a competitor for work messenger app Slack. There are now reports that Facebook At Work, a subscription-based social media platform for businesses that combines collaboration and communication tools, will officially launch next month. Here's what we know so far.

These days, it's difficult to avoid interacting with a mobile app, be it at work or at home. Which is why it's surprising to learn that organisations have actually scaled back their total spending on developing mobile applications, according to analyst firm Gartner. The enthusiasm and demand for mobile apps is there but organisations are still scratching their heads on how to do mobile apps right. We take a closer look at this issue.

Optus has announced a new service called Retail Assist, a POS capability that will allow retailers to carry out tasks such as processing sales, checking stock and accessing customer information, all from a mobile device within the store.

Cloud-based apps are becoming increasingly prevalent in businesses. Identify management software vendor Okta recently took a closer look at the enterprise cloud apps landscape to find out just what types of apps businesses are deploying and how they are using them. Here are the results.

With office favourite Slack cornering the market in workplace messaging, Rapporr has some big boots to fill -- though they're planning to do so by appealing to a different type of workplace. Rapporr seeks to be flexible where Slack is more fixed, catering to teams who are on the go and can't always access emails -- from storefronts to restaurants and even tradies spread out across multiple worksites.