News

Reduce Information Technology Complexity, Costs with Consolidation

Unnecessary IT complexity adds costs, reduces effectiveness and stalls innovation. According to Forrester research, the answer lies in strategic and ongoing consolidation.

CIOs Want a Single-Vendor Supply Chain

But does one actually exist? A Forrester Research report wades through the players (Manhattan Associates, RedPrairie, Oracle, SAP) and offers a surprising answer.

Great Leaders Build Off Great Relationships

How to improve your leadership abilities by using relationship building and collaboration

Operational Business Intelligence: Spot Problems Sooner

Nancy Drew's got nothing on operational business intelligence (BI). This valuable sleuthing tool helps business teams identify and fix problems earlier in manufacturing and business processes.

Survey: Most Companies Clueless About Costs of Unsecured Data

Risk, regulations drive content security initiatives: But 69 percent of companies have "no appreciation" for the costs of lost data.

Outsourcing Continues to Rise, “State of the CIO” Data Show

Nine of out 10 corporate heads of IT outsource some functions, up from 85 percent a year ago, yet very few outsource the majority of their IT operations.

Corporate IT Systems Unprepared for Product Recalls

Companies need to revamp supply chain processes, technology to respond better to recalls of defective products, a survey by software vendor RedPrairie finds.

Study: Mobile Workforce Represents Security Threat in ’08 Due to Lack of Training, Awareness

Nearly 80 percent of study participants allow their mobile workers remote access to data, but less than one-third have implemented any security awareness training for those staffers.

IT Fails To Communicate Business Value of Core Software

Businesses need to manage core software assets such as ERP systems for value creation, not cost containment, new research says. But 60 percent of CIOs and CFOs don't even understand the size of those assets. n

Study: RIM BlackBerry Users Are Most Satisfied Business Smartphone Customers

Ranking of business-handheld-user satisfaction is based on factors like ease of use, form factor and battery life.

Selling Yourself Without Selling Out

Advice for IT professionals on how to promote their accomplishments without crossing the smarmy line.

Information Technology Budgets: Which Industry Spends the Most?

The 2008 "State of the CIO" study shows that financial services companies spend big on IT as a percentage of revenue, and have the lowest IT staffer-to-user ratio. Who has the highest ratio? Non-profits.

IT Workers’ Job Satisfaction Declines

Weaker sense of job security contributes to decline

Data Center Staffing Problems Grow: Virtualization Skills Scarce

86 percent of data center managers say they're fighting to find virtualization experts and other specialists, new research shows. And 60 percent call their current staff skill set too narrow.

Business Process Management: It Ain’t All About the Technology

Aberdeen advises CIOs on how to minimize islands of application functionality and manual workflow integration points to lead to more flexible business processes, fewer integration headaches and achievable ROI goals.

What Does It Mean to Have Market Knowledge?

IT leaders who excel at understanding their company's market can make strategic decisions about technology and business trends, say consultants from Egon Zehnder Internationaln

How to Become a Market-Savvy CIO

The CIO of Quest Diagnostics studies technology trends, customer needs and market drivers to develop IT-enabled products and services that create competitive advantage.n

How to Set IT Policies the Right Way

Your rules for running IT should derive from the people who have to live with them.

Total Cost of Ownership: Comparison of Outsourced Versus Captive Solutions for Capturing Outsourcing Value

With companies like Citigroup putting their wholly owned offshore service centers up for sale, there's been much discussion about whether the captive model makes financial sense. A recent study from the Everest Research Institute confirms that g

Employers Change Corporate HR Policies to Cater to Generation Y, Survey Finds

The younger generation's entitled attitude (think pay and benefits) is clashing with older workers' values. Ultimately, however, Generation Y's presence is improving workplace policies for everyone.

The Storm Worm Dresses Up as a Dancing Skeleton

Hackers using virulent malware worm dressed as Halloween fun to target victims. Warning: Do not click if you see the image in this story in your e-mail.

Data Centers: Where Does the Power Go?

It may come as a surprise that more than half of data center power actually isn't used by the servers.

Technology Profession Discriminatory Toward Gay Men?

New study finds employers in some fields discriminate against gays when it comes to pay

Why you should create a vendor management office

Combining information technology savvy with legal and procurement expertise in a vendor management office can yield both better deals from vendors and strong relationships with them.

Global Survey Finds People Will Share Personal Info, But Want to Control It

Social networking and e-commerce are mainstream activities, but privacy preferences vary according to age, country, and type of websiten

The Mission-Critical Impact of Data Governance on Your Corporate Assets

How the Mars Orbiter failure can impact your business with elevated costs and other problems.

Enticing Return Customers is the Name of the Game at Harrah’s

Eighty percent of gaming at the $9.7 billion Harrah's casinos and other properties is tracked through its Total Rewards customer loyalty cards.

VMWare Offers Leopard Users Fusion Update

Macintoshes running the new "Leopard" version of OS X can gain new abilities with software virtualization features, both built into the new OS and from outside vendors. VMWare's Fusion upgrade works with BootCamp and Time Machine.

Leopard and Java: What’s Up with That?

While Macintosh users are enthusiastically putting the new version of OS X through its paces, one problem has cropped up early: problems with Java and Adobe Flash.

Public Expects Companies to Take More Social Responsibility Say CEOs

McKinsey & Co. survey of nearly 400 CEOs says the public is demanding more social accountability by corporations.

Leading Change With Every Move You Make

How to use simple but powerful actions to communicate your leadership agenda.

Sales Spread Across Online, Catalogs, and Brick-and-Mortar Shops

Retailers need multichannel approach to succeed.

Connected Executives Have to Prove Their Leadership Worth

New Blockbuster hires came prescreened by CEO.

Study: Retailers, Financial Companies Most Vulnerable to ID Theft

Data from the U.S. Secret Service shows individuals' information stolen most often from businesses

News Analysis: Citrix Seals XenSource Deal, Pressures VMware

Data Point: M&As in Enterprise IT Sector Will Continue

The 451 Group survey says CIOs should expect more consolidation and billion-dollar strategic acquisitions by the big IT vendors.

Three Weaknesses in Business Intelligence Today

Business intelligence systems are providing historic rather than timely data, according to a commissioned study by SeeWhy Software. That means BI systems are not yet yielding their potential: predictive value to the enterprise.

“State of the CIO 2008” Data Shows CIO Salaries, Influence Rising

Annual State of the CIO study shows increases in compensation, CEO reporting relationships across organizations of all sizes in research on 558 heads of IT.

How to Lock Up Laptop Security

Haven't encrypted your laptop fleet yet? There's no excuse for that choice anymore. Check out today's smart strategies for improving laptop securityu2014before the next machine disappears.

Study Finds Only 1 in 5 Global Workers “Engaged”; Senior Managers Key to Improvement

Nearly 40 percent of workers worldwide are partly to fully disengaged, according to professional services firm Towers Perrin.

Wal-Mart Buys SAP Financials

The packaged software spending spree continues at Wal-Mart

Time Zones Do Matter: Increasing Interest in Americas and Nearshore IT Services Delivery

Businesses that are frustrated with offshore outsourcing may find happiness by looking at new options in their own hemisphere, according to a new AMR Research report.

SAP ‘Ecosystem’ Is a Booming Economy Unto Itself

So says an IDC analyst who cites SAP's expansive list of partners (developers, resellers and integrators) and its huge market share. Is this a good thing for the rest of us?

U.S. Appetite for Outsourcing Deals Slowing Down

IT outsourcing deals are shrinking, with the strongest demand for technology services coming out of Europe and Asia, according to third-quarter industry analyses.

Audio Spam: The Latest Twist on a Never-Ending Security Threat

Researchers say that small MP3 attachments pitching penny stocks are the latest wave in the ocean of unsolicited e-mail.

Google Reveals Plans for Personal Health Record Platform

Top 10 North American Wireless Broadband Networks

Google's muni Wi-Fi network in Mountain View, Calif., topped the list, followed by Toronto's One Zone network.

Study: Data Centers Devour 5 to 15 Percent of IT Budget

Data center costs have skyrocketed to new highs, Uptime Institute says. To help, it is offering a downloadable TCO calculator. n

What It Means to Be an Industry Leader

Consultants' research on executive competencies finds top performers influence the direction of their companies and industries

How to Lead Your Industry

Most CIOs leverage their enterprisewide view of business operations. nThe CIO of Options Clearing Corp. must cultivate industrywide leadership nto succeed in a time of unprecedented growth.