Don Tennant

Initiation Phase of a Large IT Program: Key Points to Keep in Mind According to a recent study, Microsoft SharePoint projects are stalling, with user resistance on the rise, and senior management buy-in flailing. My own observation is that another problem for Microsoft is that a lot more alternatives are available than there used to […]

Ten Hot Tech Skills Gaining Speed When I learned recently that a software engineering team in Israel has developed remote virtual workspace technology that’s addressing security concerns around the enterprise BYOD issue, I thought it would be interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at the operations of a team that has tackled such a high-profile […]

Eight Habits of Effective Critical Thinkers The vast majority of female IT pros I’ve spoken with over the years have indicated to one degree or another that they’ve had to work harder than their male counterparts to get ahead. That sentiment is typically conveyed not as a complaint, but as a simple statement of fact […]

The Latest on Online Consumer and E-Commerce Trends When you think about it, online product reviews can be a goldmine of information for companies whose products are reviewed on sites like Yelp. With the right data analytics in place, these reviews can yield valuable insights that companies can capitalize on to dramatically improve the customer […]

Top 25 Cybersecurity Companies to Watch in 2015 The widespread popularity of Facebook’s WhatsApp instant messaging application is shining a glaring spotlight on the need for IT departments to educate users about the security and privacy risks such apps raise, and on the importance of providing them with a secure, enterprise-ready alternative. One of the […]

Top Seven Priorities for IT in 2015 As CIOs and CMOs increasingly vie for budget dollars, leadership status, and the attention of their CEOs, CIOs would be well advised to get up to speed on the marketing function in order to stay relevant. That was my key takeaway from a recent conversation with Bonnie Crater, […]

Five Ways Contact Centers Use Analytics to Make Smarter Business Decisions If the value that data analytics has brought to businesses can be measured in the extent to which it enables those businesses to retain their customers, it makes sense to drill down on exactly what that enabler is. Most observers would argue that the […]

Five Ways Mobile and Cloud are Helping Build Better Bonds with Customers If there’s one thing a lot of SMBs have a hard time outsourcing, it’s their HR operation, simply because of its critical nature. Add the notion of allowing the management of that operation to reside in the cloud, and the reluctance, for some, […]

Considerations for Maintaining Critical Business Continuity The extreme weather that has hit much of the country this winter has been labeled “historic” in many quarters, including where I live in eastern North Carolina. While the Northeast has been battered with record-breaking snowfalls, much of the South has been experiencing ice storms and single-digit temperatures for […]

Overcoming Shortcomings During a Job Interview I met a former IT professional named Jerry yesterday. I don’t know what Jerry’s last name is, but it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Jerry is in his 60s, and he can’t find a job in IT. And it matters that there are way too many Jerrys. […]

Top 10 Tips for Educating Employees About Cybersecurity I wrote a post last week about a survey that had found that way too many organizations fail to enforce security and privacy protocols. According to the CEO of a company that deals with mitigating the risk of network security breaches, the answer to that problem lies […]

Considerations for Maintaining Critical Business Continuity As an IT professional, what would you say are the top three concerns that keep you awake at night? According to the results of a recent survey, your peers listed security, downtime (disaster recovery), and talent management, in that order. The survey was commissioned by Sungard Availability Services, a […]