Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
Several little known but fantastic tax incentives have been in place all year but there are only a few days left to take advantage of these breaks. First and foremost on the list of big bucks benefits with a short expiration date is the Bonus Depreciation tax allowance, a.k.a. the “100% Special Depreciation Allowance.” This…
by Max Staines of Compass Management Consulting Rural sourcing, where U.S.-based service providers establish delivery centers in low-cost regions outside of major metropolitan areas, is gaining increasing interest and attention in the marketplace. Potential benefits of rural sourcing can include competitive pricing, fewer time-zone and cultural constraints, and, in many cases, lower transition costs. Moreover,…
Statistics show that it took nearly 15 years for businesses to shift from mainframes to client/server. cloud Computing is arguably the next paradigm shift we will see, but the jury is still out as we are only about halfway through the 15-year period. While isolated cloud services have existed for five years or so, the…
Face facts: CEOs do not trust CIOs. To them, a call from the CIO is like a call from their auto mechanic. Before he hangs up, the CEO knows he will be pressured to spend money on something he doesn’t understand but probably needs. He’s just not sure why. What’s a “valve job”? What’s a…
Technology executives forecast continued IT hiring in the second quarter of 2011, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. In the latest quarterly survey, 9 percent of CIOs said they plan to expand their IT departments, and just 2 percent expect cutbacks, for a net 7 percent increase in…
State and local agencies are under constant pressure to provide high-quality services to citizens while managing budget reductions. While some economic indicators are improving, agency budgets are not forecasted to recover in the short term. According to an August survey by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), The 2010 State CIO Survey:…
The convergence of economics and technical advances increasingly make telework a necessity instead of a wish-list item for businesses today. It’s my belief that those organizations not using available technology to enable and expand their own virtual work force are leaving a windfall unclaimed. I came to Logicalis from an organization where nearly everyone worked…
The first article in this series about safeguarding IT budgets shared an approach to protecting IT budgets by reallocating non-value creating IT spend to efforts creating tangible business value. While that approach can protect or even expand IT budgets, it may not be enough. A second approach — recapturing non-value creating IT spend — can…
Depending upon who you talk to and what segment of the market they work in, you’re likely to get very different views on the economic recovery and what it means to their organization. Some have indicated signs of recovery, while others are still talking about continued weakness and decline. Given this, “conventional wisdom” would suggest…
Offshoring appeared to make sense in pre-recession days when customers were viewed as commodities and local job preservation as little more than a quaint notion. Then along came a global recession that made cost-savings a grim necessity and offshoring neatly fit the bill. Post recession, consumer behaviors and opinions are shifting radically and offshoring is…