It’s time to put up or shut up in cloud software.

Starbucks plans to accelerate its expansion in China, shrugging off concerns about a slowdown in the coffee chain’s second-largest market behind the US and a potential further depreciation of the yuan.

As the mid-year earnings season accelerates, here are four tailwinds driving European profit growth past the US.

Profits at the firm that operates jobs.ie last year rose 19% to €2.54m. The Dublin-based jobs portal is a subsidiary of Saongroup. New accounts show the business paid a dividend of €10m to its parent on August 31 last.

German business software maker SAP SE became the latest European company to say it is benefitting more than anticipated from the euro’s slide.

Smartwatches for kids that serve as electronic tagging devices with panic buttons were among the hi-tech gadgets showcased at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Global management consulting and technology services company Accenture is to create 250 jobs here by the end of August while a sales firm is to create 100 jobs in Dundalk.

Accenture is set to hire around 250 people into its workforce in Ireland by September this year.

As it prepares for an assault on the US market, Dublin company Smart Wall Paint has this month re-branded as Smarter Surfaces.

Technology scientists claim they have created world-first software that can measure how people express a wide range of emotions online.

I read The Circle this week, Dave Eggers’ novel about an internet company that has taken over Google, Facebook, Twitter and the rest.

Almost 500 new jobs in the technology sphere were announced yesterday.

A total of 380 new jobs have been announced for Galway, Athlone and Dublin.

SAP has agreed to acquire Fieldglass, a US software supplier that specialises in managing contract workforces, furthering the German company’s push into internet-based applications.

Businesses and individuals developing and selling smartphone and computer apps in the EU earned €17.5bn last year, a figure that could rise to €63bn in just five years.

Smartphone maker BlackBerry has abandoned its bid to sell itself and is replacing its chief executive.

BlackBerry Ltd, coping with the collapse of a $4.7bn buyout by Fairfax Financial Holdings, will raise $1bn in convertible bonds and seek a new chief executive officer for the struggling company.

Opportunities in the global market exist not just for firms that are developing the technology that is changing our world but also for the companies that can explain these new technologies to those who are using them.

THE first quarter of 2013 has provided a major boost for fledgling start-up, SMART Visibility — mainly on the back of winning the SAP Innovation Challenge in Las Vegas last month.

The Irish-Swiss baked food group Aryzta has moved to substantially transform its European manufacturing business with the €280m acquisition of German bakery company Klemme.

Based in West Cork, Global Shares provides international companies with employee share schemes, and after a bumper 2012, it is now looking to hire additional staff for its Clonakilty headquarters, writes Trish Dromey

The number of employees within the contact centre sector has grown by approximately 14% over the last year, according to new research.

CPL, the publicly quoted hirer of IT, professional, and healthcare staff, has seen profits reach €10m. Though it pales in comparison to boomtime figures it’s a positive sign, reports Kyran Fitzgerald

IDA Ireland has reported its best job-creation numbers in 10 years — with 6,000 net jobs added during 2011 — and expects a repeat performance this year.

The IDA has said there will be more technology jobs announced here by multinationals in the coming months.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that the announcement of more than 300 new jobs today is another expression of confidence in the country.

Business software company SAP are to announce 250 jobs later today.

One of the leading experts in the field of technical writing says Ireland could be a world leader in the discipline, which employs thousands of people globally.

SuperValu is to create approximately 400 jobs in the next year, with 200 being generated through two store openings in Kildare and Clare.

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish arm of German-owned technology firm SAP increased by 3% to €2.2m last year.

THE IDA is arguably the greatest unsung hero in the Irish economy.

Allergan Pharmaceuticals Ireland has announced a $350m (€275m) investment at its Mayo plant which will create 200 new jobs over the next four years as well as 250 construction jobs.

Management consultancy group Accenture is to create 100 high-skilled jobs in Ireland over the next 12 months.

DATA storage service provider Cork Internet eXchange (CIX) has just launched CloudCIX, a new communications infrastructure geared towards SMEs in the Munster region.

German business software firm SAP AG has reported a jump in net profit to €1.25bn in the third quarter as the company slashed the amount of money it had set aside for possible legal costs in its court battle with the Oracle corporation.

JOB availability improved to its best level for two years last month, with the number of vacancies rising by 40% year on year and by 26% on August’s level.

Around 75 jobs are to be created by one of the world’s top business software providers, enterprise chiefs said today.