Tech News in Brief

Welcome to our Tech News in Brief column, where we digest the latest media releases for you in no more than five paragraphs. Below are snippets from the technology-related announcements we received from April 20 through to the end of the week. This article will be updated throughout the week.

Snowflake Upgrades Its AI Platform

Perth, April 22: Snowflake has announced major expansions to two of its AI products — Snowflake Intelligence and Cortex Code — positioning itself as the central hub for enterprise AI.
Snowflake Intelligence is evolving into a personalised work agent for business users, gaining the ability to learn individual preferences, connect to tools like Gmail, Slack, and Salesforce via MCP connectors, and conduct multi-step deep research. A new iOS mobile app is also on the way.
Cortex Code, the builder-focused layer, is adding support for external data systems including Databricks and Postgres, a VS Code extension, a Claude Code plugin, and a new Agent SDK for Python and TypeScript. More than half of Snowflake’s customers are already using it.
Enterprises such as United Rentals, Wolfspeed, and Telenav are among those already running the tools in production, citing faster decision-making and reduced reliance on data analysts.

Mercha Speeds Proposals

Perth, April 22: Mercha says it has cut the time needed to produce a custom sales proposal from hours to seconds after deploying Decidr OS into its sales workflow.
The Sydney-based branded merchandise company said it generates about $5.5 million to $6 million in annual revenue from a team of 12 and handles roughly 200 instant quote requests each month, with the previous manual proposal process taking two to three hours per response.
Mercha said further phases are planned, including replacing instant quote emails with fully generated proposals, adding natural-language quoting on its website, and automating a 167-step back-office workflow covering supplier coordination, artwork approvals and invoice management.

Trust Gap Widens

Kuala Lumpur, April 22: Only 5% of organisations fully trust their cybersecurity vendors, according to a Sophos-backed global study of 5,000 organisations across 17 countries.
The report found 95% of respondents lack full trust in vendors, while 79% struggle to assess new partners and 62% face similar challenges with existing providers, highlighting growing concerns around transparency and verification.
More than half of organisations said the lack of trust has increased anxiety about potential cyber incidents, with researchers noting that trust now plays a critical role in operational risk and board-level decision-making.

iPhone Payments Expand

Kuala Lumpur, April 22: NTT DATA Payment Services has launched Tap to Pay on iPhone in Malaysia, allowing merchants to accept contactless payments using only an iPhone and the ADAPTIS Tap to Pay iOS app, without additional hardware.
The company said the service supports contactless credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and other digital wallets, with payments completed through NFC technology on iPhone.
NTT DATA Payment Services said the offering is designed to help merchants accept payments more flexibly at the counter, on the shop floor, at pop-up locations or on the go, while using Apple’s built-in security and privacy features.
Enoch Chhabra, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia (Payment Services & e-Commerce Solutions), NTT DATA Payment Services, said: “Small and growing businesses today need simple and flexible ways to accept payments, especially as many serve customers beyond the traditional checkout counter. Tap to Pay on iPhone makes it easy for merchants to accept contactless payments using only an iPhone and the ADAPTIS Tap to Pay iOS app — no additional hardware required. This enables businesses to get started quickly and accept payments wherever they engage with customers, while delivering a secure and seamless checkout experience.”

Dell Flags AI Shift

Perth, April 22: Dell Technologies says enterprise AI adoption across Asia Pacific is moving from experimentation to implementation, with 48% of organisations with more than 500 employees already deploying AI PCs and 95% expecting workstations to play a critical or important role in AI initiatives over the next two years.
The company said the shift points to a more distributed AI environment, with AI PCs supporting everyday productivity and workstations handling more advanced, compute-intensive workloads such as AI model development, simulation and data preparation.
Dell said 89% of Asia Pacific organisations now view AI capabilities as a very important factor in future PC purchasing decisions, while organisations with more than half their fleet made up of AI PCs report saving 2.17 hours per employee per day. In Australia, 65% of organisations have already deployed AI PCs, above the regional average.

Adobe AI Sneaks

Perth, April 23: Adobe has unveiled a series of experimental AI projects aimed at helping marketing teams create, test and personalise campaigns faster across web, email, video and design. The concepts were previewed during the Sneaks session at Adobe Summit 2026.
Among the standout projects was Project Face Off, which simulates A/B testing before a campaign goes live, and Project Page Turner, which builds personalised web pages in real time based on what a visitor is looking for. Adobe also showed Project Concurrent, which turns static visuals into live assets linked to changing data.
Other concepts included tools for turning creative assets into personalised email workflows, generating campaign variations for different platforms, and helping teams explore visual directions faster with AI-assisted image generation and editing.
Together, the projects point to a future where AI does more than generate content, taking on a bigger role in how campaigns are built, adapted and optimised before they reach audiences.

Dell Flags AI Shift

Perth, April 23: Dell Technologies says enterprise AI adoption across Asia Pacific is shifting from experimentation to implementation, with 48% of organisations with more than 500 employees already deploying AI PCs and 95% expecting workstations to play a critical or important role in AI initiatives over the next two years.
The company said the trend points to a more distributed AI environment, with AI PCs supporting everyday productivity and workstations handling more compute-intensive tasks such as model development, simulation and data preparation.
Dell also said 89% of Asia Pacific organisations now see AI capabilities as a very important factor in future PC purchasing decisions. Organisations with more than half their fleet made up of AI PCs reported saving 2.17 hours per employee per day.
In Australia, 65% of organisations have already deployed AI PCs, placing the country above the regional average.