Alignment, staffing and culture are often more critical than software and apps
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Every time Microsoft makes any kind of a product announcement, it's news, but especially when it involves anything that takes the company out of its client computing comfort zone. So not surprisingly... More >
Vietnam is a rising star in outsourcing , as I wrote in April, citing an investment by Russia's Luxoft and Bill Gates' interest in the country as signs of its ascendance. IBM last month also announc... More >
The first thought that struck me after reading this article on the Data Warehousing Institute 's Web site about avoiding common problems in business intelligence implementations was that most of t... More >
I've written several times about the trend of local and state government agencies employing outsourcing in an effort to cut costs and supplement their staffs. In fact, some agencies even work with o... More >
Creating IT budgets with business priorities in mind is a best practice IT managers should follow all the time. And yet many don't -- until the economy falters. It's kind of like wearing a seatbelt. ... More >
OK, so I was skeptical when a round of funding for LinkedIn earlier this year established a valuation of $1 billion for the social networking site. But maybe that's because I didn't truly gr... More >
Earlier this month I wrote about the longstanding rift between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists, which resulted in a contentious seven-week walkout. One of the union's key dem... More >
IT Business Edge blogger Loraine Lawson wrote an interesting post yesterday in which she wonders whether better business intelligence might have helped avoid -- or at least lessen the impact of -- t... More >
Back in July of 2007, I wrote about how North American PC manufacturers would migrate more high-level operations such as R&D to Asian countries to keep up with the growing numbers of PC buyers ... More >
Just last week I highlighted an article in which several Booz & Company analysts pointed out that backshoring is part of an overall maturation of the outsourcing industry, in which companies now ... More >
I wrote a post earlier this year about how, despite a round of intense consolidation in the business intelligence market, there were still plenty of pureplays out there. What's more, the independents... More >
How significant is U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's pledge to appoint the nation's first chief technology officer if he is elected? It's hard to say, particularly since fe... More >
Solar power may not just help us save the environment. It also may help the U.S. save manufacturing jobs , or generate new ones. As MercuryNews.com reports, global companies in attendance a... More >
Earlier this week in my post about using software-as-a-service for CRM , I made the point that companies must not neglect such important non-technical tasks as defining their CRM processes and train... More >
There is no question that interest in backshoring, companies moving some or all of their overseas operations back to the U.S., is growing, driven at least partly by shifting economics that make it ... More >
Just yesterday I wrote about how a growing number of companies, especially startups, are having to consider laying off employees simply to stay in business. With no one certain how long the ... More >
One of the mantras of IT managers is to prove IT's value to the business -- in ways that really matter, preferably with a direct impact to the bottom line, and in terms the business can understand. &... More >
When I wrote about the dimming outlook for jobs earlier this month, I quoted John Challenger, CEO of recruiting company Challenger, Gray & Christmas, as saying that companies were intent on cut... More >
Last month, in a post about a new spending report from Forrester Research, I noted that 70 percent of companies surveyed by Forrester intended to wring further value from their relationships with s... More >
Ease-of-use is a primary selling point of software-as-a-service. Despite some niggling concerns over integration , SaaS vendors tell prospects that installation may amount to little more than a coup... More >
A demand from the International Association of Machinists that Boeing agree to limits on future outsourcing is a central part of the union's strike against the company, as I wrote earlier this mont... More >
Earlier this month I wrote about lists of the world's top global outsourcing cities , produced by Tholons Advisory and Global Services magazine. While Indian cities dominated a list of more mature l... More >
When I wrote about the winners of Nielsen Norman Group's Ten Best Designed Intranets competition back in February, I noted that Web 2.0 features were popular among the honorees. And I made the poin... More >
A topic I revisit again and again on this blog is the increasingly autonomous user of technology, and how such users may chafe at IT's efforts to control their tech environments. Mike Schaffn... More >
As I wrote in August, videoconferencing is winning fans among business executives , thanks to the ability to cut down on costly travel. Even pricey telepresence systems made by Cisco and HP, among o... More >
eBay is certainly not alone in its dismal near-term financial outlook . It's doing what it can to improve its numbers, including cutting staff and buying companies that might help it boost revenues. ... More >
OK, we get it. IT spending is off. But although IT executives responding to recent surveys say they are cutting back , neither Gartner nor Forrester Research expect to see significant budget impacts... More >
I've written before about the difficulty many organizations have in defining the role of the CIO . Yet doing so may be a relative walk in the park as compared to describing what a business analyst d... More >
Last week, Citigroup announced it would sell its captive operations in India to Tata Consultancy Services for $505 million in cash. This followed nearly a year-and-a-half of rumors that such a sale ... More >
Hot on the heels of a federal government report documenting fraud and other problems in the H-1B visa program, Sen Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and longtime critic of the program, wants som... More >
Just last week, I wrote about a flock of financial analysts downgrading their ratings on software-as-a-service darling Salesforce.com, citing concerns about sales slowdowns among both traditional o... More >
It's been slightly less than a month since I last wrote about Indian outsourcing companies' heavy exposure to U.S. financial institutions and how it could impact the service providers' business . Se... More >
Ah, Microsoft Excel, the spreadsheet program so loved by users, so vilified by plenty of other folks. When I wrote in August about how a real estate company used unspecified business intelli... More >
H-1B visa opponents say the system is so broken that it should be fixed before legislators seriously entertain the idea of easing visa limits, a move being promoted by tech companies like Microsoft a... More >
One of the things that troubles me about my job here at IT Business Edge is my non-techie background. I've always been a journalist. I've never written a budget, overseen a software implementation or... More >
Just yesterday I wrote about a stalemate between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists, which wants the aerospace giant to commit to limits on outsourcing. The union contends that ... More >
The last time I wrote about Boeing , in August, relations between the aerospace giant and a union representing workers who help build its planes had soured, with the International Association of Mac... More >
A number of IT industry observers have suggested that software-as-a-service companies will weather the economic downturn better than traditional on-premise software vendors, one of the predictions I ... More >
As I've written before, there is no lack of offshore alternatives to giants such as China and India. And new options are emerging all the time. Yet India still remains the primary locale for... More >
I recently wrote about a survey that shows that more than half of companies do not designate a specific group to lead business process management (BPM) initiatives, instead spreading the responsibi... More >
Not long ago, some tech companies seemed almost smug in their assumptions that they might not take a hard financial hit , even as the U.S. credit crunch worsened. But now, with the economy turning i... More >
Just last week I wrote about a convergence of CRM and business process management , based on the idea that even the latest and greatest CRM technology won't amount to much without the right processe... More >
The outlook on IT jobs, while certainly brighter than many other sectors in these troubled economic times, does seem to be fading. Back in August, I wrote about the jobs outlook, citing severa... More >
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