Alignment, staffing and culture are often more critical than software and apps
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My first thought after speaking with Toby Richards, general manager of Community & Online Support at Microsoft, about the role of online communities in Microsoft's support strategy was, "What a... More >
Yesterday I sung the praises of looking for simple ways to cut IT costs and offered the example of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay switching the default font on its e-mail system from Arial t... More >
Earlier this month I interviewed Forrester Research's Connie Moore and Craig Le Clair, who did an admirable job of explaining to this business process management rookie the concept of case managemen... More >
Yesterday I wrote about lengthening CIO tenures. One of the sources I cited, Forrester Research analyst Sharyn Leaver, thinks the improving economic outlook may prompt CIOs who are being asked to d... More >
One of the most commonly cited metrics for any executive position is average tenure. As I wrote in December, citing numbers from CIO.com , SearchCIO.com and the Society for Information Management,... More >
Much of IT Business Edge's content on achieving IT cost savings involves large, likely multi-year projects such as virtualizing data centers, switching to a service-oriented architecture to promote r... More >
Earlier this month I addressed the question of whether a CIO should be a generalist or a specialist. Though not all of the attendees at the IT Business Edge-sponsored Midmarket CIO Forum agreed wit... More >
Wouldn't it be great if CIOs and CFOs played together like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? The CIO feeds lots of great ideas to his or her teammate, who funds them and hits a slam dunk for the... More >
Hot on the heels of my post yesterday on failure being a necessary part of the innovation process, I discovered an event that, while not exactly celebrating failure, encourages companies not to shy... More >
Because today is Ada Lovelace Day , a day to celebrate the achievements of women in science and technology, I'm writing my second post this week on the dearth of women in STEM (science, technology, ... More >
Part of my discussion with Jim Gallo, manager of BI Partner Channels for Information Control Corp., a Columbus, Ohio-based provider of IT services that has developed a program called the Information ... More >
Earlier this month I wrote about for legislation that would modify the existing EB-5 visa to make it easier for foreign-born entrepreneurs with financial patrons to immigrate to the United States, sa... More >
I found a business magazine called Success. I couldn't find one called Failure. That's no surprise, considering how much business leaders like to talk about success. But maybe they should spend mor... More >
In January I shared my New Year resolve to begin using our wiki more. Sadly, I haven't managed to stick with that resolution. Or many of my others, for that matter. I still don't have an organized ho... More >
Why aren't more women pursuing technology careers? I met a smattering of female CIOs at the recent IT Business Edge-sponsored Midmarket CIO Forum in Orlando, but they are the exception rather than th... More >
I've always thought of process and innovation as the yin and yang of the enterprise. From Wikipedia: "Yin and yang is used to describe how polar or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and... More >
In October when I wrote about the problems experienced by the state of Virginia with its 10-year, $2 billion deal with Northrop Grumman , I mentioned a governance structure I called "convoluted." Th... More >
Last month I wrote about IT's need to shift from a production-centric culture to a service-centric one . IT organizations that don't make the switch risk losing the support of business units, which ... More >
Earlier this month I wrote about an approach to training business intelligence specialists used by Information Control Corp., a Columbus, Ohio-based provider of IT services, including software deve... More >
Remember in the movie "Jerry Maguire" when the Tom Cruise sports agent character begs Cuba Gooding Jr.'s athlete character to " Help me help you ." I imagine that's the way many contact center agents... More >
One of the first things I read this morning was what Rob Enderle learned from the ITBE Midmarket CIO Forum in Orlando, which wrapped up last night. I also attended the event and, like Rob, was impr... More >
I've got a boss who always has the same comment after reading a blog post, article or other piece of content I've written: "It's fine, but where are the numbers?" Hey, it's not like I haven't tried. ... More >
I think there may be a new hot dialogue brewing around the CIO role, one along the lines of whether the actual CIO title needs to change to better reflect the role's responsibilities or whether the... More >
The emphasis was squarely on the "business" in business technology in a wide-ranging panel discussion last night at the inaugural Midmarket CIO Forum in Orlando, sponsored by IT Business Edge. Panel ... More >
Last March I wrote about what some folks called IBM's "stealth layoffs ." Labor experts cited IBM's actions as an illustration of the need for an overhaul of the federal WARN (Worker Adjustment and ... More >
There's lots of bitter wrangling over the H-1B visa. Tech companies say they need more of them and many IT workers see them as a way for companies to drive down their labor costs while harming Amerio... More >
I've been writing about outsourcing the past few years, and if I had to offer one key insight it'd be this: The biggest predictor of success is closely examining your processes before shifting them t... More >
A few weeks ago I wrote about the increasing popularity of the application store model , especially for mobile apps. A majority of silicon.com 's CIO Jury are considering development of mobile apps ... More >
Even when high-tech alternatives are available, low-tech approaches sometimes work best. And a combination of the two may be the most effective option of all. Witness the internal social netwo... More >
As someone who watched way too much TV in her formative years, I tend to draw parallels between sitcoms and real life. The more I learn about Zappos, the more I think of the online retailer as Marcia... More >
Nothing (except maybe the theme from "Green Acres") sticks in my head quite like frequently aired TV commercials. I can't remember my daily schedule without a calendar, but I can unerringly match 20-... More >
Nuance often gets lost in short-form journalism like blogs and especially in headlines. It's no secret that online publications like ours try to capture the interest of both readers and search engine... More >
Back in December I wrote a post wondering whether the automated software updates widely pitched as a benefit by software-as-a-service providers were always a good thing. While a Google Apps product... More >
In my household, neither my husband nor I like to make big decisions, so we spend an inordinate amount of time talking things over. And at least it keeps us from blaming each other for poor decisions... More >
We've been hearing for a while now that folks are using e-mail and instant messaging less in favor of communicating on social channels such as Twitter and Facebook. Maybe. But I agree with GigaOm'... More >
A few months ago IT Business Edge's Mike Vizard wrote it was time for an overdue review of government IT. As evidence that government hasn't kept up with private-sector IT, he pointed to the Securi... More >
I can't wait to see the Zappos ads featured in this New York Times piece. What's cooler than a company who hires someone to create puppets modeled on its employees ? And then features them in ads ... More >
The good news: Not many consumers complain about contact centers. The bad news: Agents have a tough time helping them with their complaints about everything else. I suspect my experiences with... More >
Last month I wrote about how IT often takes the lead in business-driven tech initiatives such as business intelligence, with IT generally providing business users with a short, pre-vetted list of "... More >
Last January I wrote about industry concern over the viability of vendors selling software-as-a-service solutions . And the year did see some notable SaaS failures , including that of business inte... More >
Last month in a post about the importance of staff training , I cited IT Business Edge contributor Don Tennant's recollection of an interview with Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian. The chief told Tennant he... More >
I've written recently about the trend of vendors adding collaborative elements to their business process management software . So I guess it's not surprising that we are seeing the introduction of s... More >
When I interviewed Google Apps product manager Rishi Chandra, Burton Group analyst Guy Creese and several happy users of Google Apps for a story I did last January, they all touted Apps' collaborati... More >
Business intelligence as a service will be a major trend this year, at least according to the companies selling it. (Granted, they're not exactly what I'd call unbiased, but analysts like Gartner bel... More >
It's been a little over two weeks since I wrote about Computer Engineer Barbie , a new version of the iconic doll sporting a pink laptop and Bluetooth earpiece that's designed to increase girls' awa... More >
A friend of mine who works for a large insurer recently told me her employer (company name withheld) is going to outsource large chunks of its phone-based customer service to India to cut costs. I'm ... More >
A reader named Gregor Petri ( @LeanITmanager ) left what I thought was a great comment on my recent post about service catalogs and a project portfolio management approach. I share it here: Catalog... More >
On Friday I wrote about the economy's impact on software-as-a-service adoption, noting that cost consciousness may have accelerated the use of SaaS for many companies. Without the push to cut costs... More >
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