Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
While the IT world has largely embraced the cloud as an enabler of innovation and an efficient ax for cost cutting, traditional software vendors are left reeling. For one thing, the switch to cloud means an end to front-end licensing and ongoing maintenance revenues and a steep increase in short-term costs associated with re-architecting. In…
This is the fifth and, I promise, last column on cloud (at least for a while). In this column, I’m going to pretend that you’re already dealing with some cloud initiatives — whether you had anything to do with them or not — and trying to take some control over chaos . As some of…
Much has been said and written about the gap between IT and business and the need for IT to understand business requirements. However, many IT executives try to bridge that gap by aligning IT’s capabilities with the direct, yet sometimes conflicting, requirements from various business functions across the organization. This is a narrow view of…
“Polar views about SharePoint ranging from being naturally integrated and easily adopted by users to horror stories of it growing out of control and swallowing whole IT departments are common,” said Dave Uhler, solution director in Research and Development at Slalom Consulting, a national business and technology consulting firm. “As with most polarized experiences, the…
Cloud computing is “buzz” concept of the year for 2009. It has its place, especially for high-risk/low-capital applications like startups or small business or websites, but for enterprise computing and―especially for improving existing core applications―I have a more jaundiced view. As a concept, Cloud computing is a pointer to the future, but there is much…
In addition to the infrastructure outsourcing we’ve been discussing in this series, there is now opportunity to outsource selected applications that are important to the company but not strategic. Let’s consider all the business functions that are common to many businesses, for example, your email server. Modern business relies on email to do business every…
So, you think your IT clients are demanding? Walk a day in Alan Cullop’s shoes and you will see the world from a whole new perspective. Cullop is the CIO of NetJets, a Warren Buffet-owned company that caters to the extremely rich and extremely demanding. First of all, if you’re part of Berkshire Hathaway (Buffet’s…
In the groundswell of economic pressures, companies big and small are looking to the Cloud for relief. The buzz is everywhere: Cloud computing can cut costs, speed implementations, and scale quickly. The buzz, however, may be slightly off-the mark … at least in product pitches. “Just like SOA hype was vendor fueled and thus became…
Editor’s Note: See the updated version of this article to get the latest on SSD in the enterprise. Solid state disks (SSD) made a splash in consumer technology, now the technology looks set to dominate the enterprise storage market. “Get ready for a disruption in the storage ecosystem,” said Burton Group Analyst Gene Ruth. Given…
CIOs are facing budgets so tight this year that many are simply unrealistic. Still, the show must go on. Universally, the charge is to “get the most value out of current technology offerings, without sacrificing the latest innovations,” said Stephen Yeo, worldwide strategic marketing director at IGEL. To this end, here are six tips to…