Featured Bloggers
CIO Executive Briefing
U.S. Economy Fights Back: Where is IT?
by Mel Duvall
The U.S. economy roared back to life in the third quarter, with the nation’s gross domestic product rising 3.5% on an annual rate through the July-to-September period. This is certainly good news, but already skeptics have been raising questions about whether the possible end to the recession is real.
Mel is a Contributing Editor to CIOZone. He is a veteran journalist, having written and edited for daily newspapers, magazines and trade publications for more than 20 years. He is a former senior editor of Baseline magazine and was a senior editor for Inter@ctive Week. Mel has won several awards at the national level, including a Jesse H. Neal journalism award and American Society of Business Publication Editors awards.
Gartner to CIOs: Embrace Social Media
by Laton McCartney
Has someone been putting strange substances in the drinking water at Gartner’s
Greenwich, CT. headquarters? Some of their analysts are beginning to sound like
New Age gurus on a mission to bring peace, love and harmony to the corporate world.
The reasons for this are varied, and probably go back to the
Sarbanes-Oxley push. By necessity this needed to be a team effort with
participants from compliance, IT, governance, finance and risk.
Laton is a former editor-in-chief of InformationWeek. He has also been a top editor at several Ziff Davis publications, including Smart Partner. Laton has written for The Washington Post, Fortune and other national publications. He also the author of a number of books, including the best-seller "Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story." His latest, "The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country", will be published in February by Random House. (photo by Jeff Vanuga)
Security Blog
Where are the DBAs?
Michael S. Menefee
What I really want to know is this: Where are the Database Admins (DBAs) these days?
I cant tell you how many times in the past 18 months that I’ve found real enterprises running vulnerable databases with default passwords, weak passwords and no real permissions management.
Michael is the Co-Founder and Principal Consultant for WireHead Security, an Information Security services company located in Raleigh, North Carolina. His professional career has spanned the past 14 years focused on IT Security problems and solutions with a focus on web, browser and mobile-based security threats.
The majority of Michael's time has been spent assessing client environments in multiple market verticles and assisting with the development of in-house security strategies that work. A huge believer in self-remediation and security awareness, Michael also spends time educating his clients on gaining control over their own security infrastructures and implementing Open Source technologies to help lower the cost of containment.
Michael is the North Carolina OWASP Chapter President.
WorkWise Blog
Does the Consumer Model Work for the Enterprise?
by Ellen Pearlman
We’re all familiar with the way that new technology often enters the Enterprise. Employees become enamored with some new hardware or software application at home and start using it for work. This was the path of the personal computer in the early 1980s and later the PDA or Web-based software like instant messaging or Web-based services like Skype. Most often this type of technology adoption isn’t sanctioned by corporate IT, but workers generally find a way around these restrictions.
Ellen is known for her ability to launch and run award-winning publications and web sites: she launched four award-winning publications (CIO Insight, HomePC, Managed Healthcare News and VARBusiness), three online sites (cioinsight.com, miaviata.com, homepc.com) and is the co-author of Fast Forward, a book about the impact of the Internet published in 2000 by William Morrow. Through her media experiences at Institutional Investor, CMP Media, Miavita.com and Ziff Davis Media, Ellen gained expertise in finance, business technology, consumer technology, the Internet and health and wellness. In September 2005, Ellen received the distinguished Albert Einstein Award for achievements in the high-tech industry. She was inducted into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers in November 1997 and was named to Marketing Computers’ list of Most Influential Computer Journalists in the Consumer category in 1996.
CIO Awareness Blog
ewaste
by Atefeh Riazi
It turns out we are still dumping a great deal of our e-waste from computers and electronic appliances in China, India, and Africa. In my recent trip to China and India, I saw how kids dismantle these stuff using their hand and chisels. In India they were burning them and young men and women breathing the dioxins generated from the electronics.
Atefeh (Atti) Riazi Senior Partner and Chief Information Officer of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide, a leading global Marketing and Communications agency with 497 offices in 125 countries supporting more than 2,300 clients. With over 17,000 employees worldwide working in over fifty languages Ogilvy and Mather's client list includes a roster of blue chip brands that include; American Express, BP, DuPont, Ford, SAP, Cisco, IBM, Kodak, Kraft, Motorola and many others.
Forrester's CIO Success Imperatives: A guide for CIO success during the recession
Five Tactics For Riding Out A Recession
by Alex Cullen
Last week, Forrester's resident economist, Andy Bartels, and I engaged in a healthy discussion about the current economic climate and how IT can ride out the current recession.
Driving SOA In A Down Economy
by Randy Heffner
Forrester has a spent considerable time over the past six years digging into what it takes for organizations to achieve real value by building a strong program for service-oriented architecture (SOA). We have analyzed trends in SOA adoption, looked at how organizations can build a successful SOA platform, and defined SOA policy management. We’ve even published a starter kit for SOA. What have we concluded? Many get hung up on the technology and try to justify big investments in SOA itself, but the best strategies for moving to SOA are business-focused, portfolio-based, governed, and incremental.
Scenarios For IT Success In The Downturn
by Bobby Cameron
Recently, Forrester spent some time interacting with IT executives regarding their 2009 budgeting and how the recession is impacting their planning. We'll present the results of these in a complimentary webinar on December 11, but here’s a quick summary of what we heard—and our analysis.
Optimizing Applications and Projects in Volatile Times
by Phil Murphy
The current global economic instability is forcing organizations to make tough decisions: some will cut costs; some will proceed with business-as-usual; while still others will take a predatory stance to gain market share from weakened competitors. However the economic crisis affects your organization, Forrester offers this four-step process to optimize your application and project resources in 2009.
Key IT Roles for Cost Reduction
by Marc Cecere
It seems like every CIO I talk with has or is creating a plan to reduce costs. Whether they’re shooting for a svelte, wiry, emaciated or lean organization, there are a number of common roles that senior IT people say are critical to this goal.
How To Maintain Your Learning Program In A Down Economy
by Claire Schooley
There may be a silver lining to the current state of the global economy after all. The world's economic woes present new opportunities for innovative forms of learning using technology like informal learning, eLearning, and blended learning.
With less money in the budget to work with, learning through technology has become very attractive because strong employee knowledge and skills remain key factors in enhancing a company's ability to compete. If organizations can get people faster to competency without travel costs and losses in productivity, it's a win/win situation.
IT Management Blog
RISK Management - Gartner Says it is Broken and handled poorly in many organizations
by John Stevenson
Gartner - recently published a short update on the status of IT and overall Corporate Risk Management. Bottomline - Risk Management in Companies is receiving increased visibility in these turbulent times. Both natural and man-made issues affecting corporate stability are happening with more frequency and are being publicized. Question for CIOZONE Execs: Do you think Risk Management (either just in IT or across the corporation in general) is broken ? Yes or No If Yes, what should be done to fix it ? If No, what is going right ?
John is a seasoned Chief Information Officer with over 25 years of senior Information Technology executive experience. His broad experience includes key executive assignments in large corporations spanning high technology, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing industries.
Social Networking Dinosaur Syndrome
by Robert Lewis
What if the Cloud really is a disruptive technology?
I just finished Leonard Susskind’s The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics. If you enjoy having your mind explode, you need to read it, because your mind will detonate at least three times while you do. Probably more./p>
Robert Lewis is president of IT Catalysts, a consultancy specializing in IT organizational effectiveness and strategic business integration. He is an award winning author, having written seven books on IT management topics including Keep the Joint Running: A Manifesto for 21st Century Information Technology.
The Retail IT Blog
Gartner Says Social Networks Are Attracting Too Much Traffic for Retailers to Ignore
by Brian Flagg
A very well written and comprehensive article from Gartner on Social Networking and retailers. Many of the points are valid, if retailers are not utilizing the latest Web 2.0 tools (I really like the Digg.com lab Slack tool), then they will quickly find themselves out of touch with what is being written and read relative to their Brand, and certainly risk losing brand control.
Brian Flagg is a Senior Group Manager at Target Corp. where he leads the Client Support Center. Brian has been a technology leader for 28 years, including 25 years with IBM. He has held many leadership positions including Chair of IBM's Interdivisional Technical Liaison Committee on Database technologies, a member of the IBM Academy of Technology, Program Manager for IBM's Global Help Desk, and his current role of Client Support Center Senior Manager. Brian's contributions in the many blogs in which he participates represent his own views and opinions, based on his many years of experience, and not those of Target Corp.
Redefining The IT Value Proposition
Does your IT Strategy have Strong Fundamentals?
by Sumitro Sarkar
Cutting capital projects and reducing headcount are the most popular means to reduce IT costs. CIOs often fall into this trap and experience a creeping operating cost structure in subsequent years after the cost cut. In my previous blog entry, I had explained this phenomenon in detail. In this one, I will attempt to identify a few types of projects that create “value” in the enterprise i.e. increase the potential for a better operating cost model for the future.
Sumitro Sarkar has 20 years of experience in technology consulting and product strategy. He has served in management and leadership positions in big-five management consulting firms, financial information services and technology product companies. His areas of interest are redefining technology value propositions, resolving bleeding-edge technology myths, using technology to change the rules of business. He holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics (with honors) and an MBA from Delhi, India. He also holds an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. He also writes the "Is IT Worth It" blog.
Consultant's Corner
Effective Management Through Coaching and Counseling
by Alex Silberman
Coaching and counseling as management skills are often reserved for superb leaders, yet are traits that all managers must possess to effectively do their jobs.
Alex Silberman has been managing diverse, complex problems involving people, processes, technology and an ever changing landscape for 20 years. He has held C-level positions in a variety of fields and is the founder of Chief Information Solutions (www.chiefinfosolutions.com), a management consulting firm headquartered in Millburn, New Jersey.
Focus on Platforms and Programs
Disaster Recovery, Economics, and Virtualization
by David Carr
Symantec has just published the results of its 2009 Disaster Recovery survey, which the firm says it will use to guide its product plans (as well as promote its current products, of course).
Dave was most recently the technology editor at Baseline, where he was one of the founding editors. He is a veteran technology journalist recognized for his in-depth features on the systems architectures of such large Internet players as Google and MySpace. In addition to writing and editing, he develops Web sites using PHP, MySQL, and AJAX.
IT Career Coach
When to Be Aggressive
by Margaret Meloni
Is an aggressive communication style always bad? Sometimes it appears that much of the information about aggressive styles or dominant personalities is presented using fairly negative words. Or is it that I interpret these words as negative? Here is a list, what do you think?
Margaret Meloni heads Meloni Coaching Solutions, which helps Information Technology professionals create career strategies that bring them success and enhance their work experiences. Margaret has more than 18 years experience in Information Technology. During this time Margaret has performed in multiple roles including: senior manager; project management expert; business analyst and programmer analyst. She holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an M.B.A. from California State University, Long Beach. She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) through the Project Management Institute and an instructor at the University of California in Irvine and the University of California in Los Angeles. A dynamic speaker who combines inspiration, common sense and a dash of humor; Margaret has spoken at technology conferences and events hosted by the Association of Information Technology Professionals; The Project Management Institute and The International Institute of Business Analysis.
IT And The Law Blog
Electronic Discovery in 2008
by Daniel Garrie
January is always a time for reflecting back on the previous year, but picking the judicial top cases for electronic discovery is a complex and perhaps insurmountable task.
Daniel Garrie is a Managing Director for EMI Capital, investing in start-up companies that focus on legal business technologies and digital media assets. He also serves as an eDiscovery Special Master with Alternative Resolutions Centers.
IT Futures
Future Enterprise- Network Science- Next Management Paradigm
by David Hunter Tow
Major advances are already being made in applying the principles of network science to social, technological and business systems and it will be vital for the future enterprise to weave sophisticated network optimisation principles into all aspects of its operations.
David's professional activities include business consulting, science communications, enterprise forecasting, and green advocacy.
Business Consulting: Director and Principal Consultant of The Australian Software Research Centre- a consultancy with over 30 years experience working with business and Government—specializing in the areas of Knowledge and Decision Engineering. Also author of the Decision Engineering Methodology—providing techniques for measuring and optimizing organizational decision processes.
Science Communication: Science communicator and author- production and presentation of a weekly community television series covering big picture science topics—'Theories of Everything'—across Australia and author of a major popular science book on evolution.
Enterprise Forecasting: Producer of a Blog/Feed tracking the future impact of the major processes and technologies driving the evolution of the enterprise Green Advocacy: Development of a unique video Channel on social network- Facebook- providing access to green sustainable initiatives across the planet.
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