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Accenture CIO: No Cuts In IT
Economic uncertainty is something of a mixed blessing when it comes to IT, says Frank Modruson, the CIO of consulting firm Accenture. It can be a challenge, and it can be an opportunity.
Suddenly SaaS Is A CIO's Best Friend
As recession looms, fingers are pointing to software as a service as a viable, fiscally responsible option for upgrading application portfolios. Is recession-driven SaaS another notable turning point for technology?
Starbucks Takes Coffee Break, Makes Customer Satisfaction Gaffe
Starbucks can send me an e-mail when they reload my card -- yeah, I know I'm a sap for giving them an interest-free loan, but it's convenient -- and they can pepper me with communications when they've got a sale to promote. So how come they can't bother to clue me in when they're planning to shut their doors for three hours? Not very Web 1.0 of them, huh?
If We're Headed Into A Recession, What Will Happen To IT?
IT budgets and tech staffs were clobbered during the recession of the early 2000s. But how would they survive this time around? Hasn't most of the "fat" already been slashed, or has much of it returned?
The Politics Of IT
How heavy-handed can a new CIO be? Just because an IT organization is in need of change, that doesn't mean those changes can happen easily -- or at all.
Video: Is Microsoft Open Source's Friend?
Microsoft made its most significant move since the 1992 release of Windows 3.1 on Feb. 21, when it pledged to make "strategic changes in technology and business practices to expand interoperability." What does this mean in plain English? It's Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's corporate-speak way of telling the open-source community that he can't beat 'em, so he plans to try to outflank them.
Report From India: U.S. Could Learn From Offshorer's Training Obsession
Many companies in the United States complain about an IT talent shortage. Indian IT companies face brutal competition for talent, and one big part of their answer is huge hire-and-train efforts. There's something for U.S. companies to learn here.
Last CIO Standing: Joke Contest Results
How many CIOs does it take to screw in a light bulb? That age-old philosophical question's not as easy to answer as you might think. Here are several responses to our CIO Joke contest.
Ask Not What Google Can Do For You …
"Don't be evil" is the search giant's mantra, but its operative phrase is "Get r' done." CIOs should take a lesson from the tech chief at the Cleveland Clinic and look for ways to work with innovative companies like Google to drive their organizations' agendas.
Obama Would Put A CTO In The Cabinet
Barack Obama plans to unveil his IT strategy, which will include making the job of federal chief technology officer a Cabinet-level position. He also wants to mandate open government meetings streamed over broadband and favors net neutrality.
Report From India: Wipro's U.S. Hiring Plans
Here's an update to Wipro's U.S. hiring plans, which we first reported last August when the Indian IT services company was acquiring U.S.-based data center operator Infocrossing. It has at least two new U.S. operations open and two on the drawing boards that, while far from a hiring flood, suggest a subtle strategic difference from other Indian IT services companies.
Video: How To Build An Intel QX9770 Quad-Core PC
Intel's newest top-of-the-line quad-core processor, the QX9770, won't officially ship until 2Q, but we've got a review unit. It's the most interesting device to come out of Intel in a while, since it pushes desktop performance ahead on several serious fronts: It's fabricated at 45-nm (OK, the QX6850 is, too), supports ultra-fast DDR3 memory, and has a 1600-MHz front-side bus -- Intel's speediest yet. I'v
Report From India: Look For More Pay-For-Performance Offshoring
Indian outsourcers are inking some deals that tie their pay to performance -- usually to some operations yardstick such as uptime, but in the more innovative cases, to some business measurement. One CIO talks of tying outsourcer pay to the same measurement that his bonus is. Here are a few examples I've picked up the last two weeks here in India.
"The CIO Is Dead"
Hey, it's not my pronouncement. It comes from Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research, who is quick to call it what it is: hyperbole, which is defined as exaggeration to make a point. But that doesn't make it not true -- at least to a certain extent.
The Black Swan, Or You Can't Predict The Next Google
If you read one book this year, make sure it's Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable." Taleb's thesis is that everything the experts think they know about forecasting is wrong, and if you think you can predict the future performance of the stock market from a study of past trends, you're gonna be losing lots of money. And don't go looking for the next Google, either, because it's going to come out of l
Report From India: Infrastructure's The Latest Offshore Outsourcing Prime Target
The offshore outsourcing industry's looking at running data centers remotely as one of its hottest growth segments. One reason, a recent report concludes, is that as hardware prices fall, labor takes an ever-larger share of the costs. So to cut costs, CIOs will cut staff, the consulting firm McKinsey predicts. "Moore's Law's latest victim has become labor," Vivek Pandit, a McKinsey consultant, told attendees at the recent Nasscom conference here in India.
Report From India: Patent Battles Raging Here, Too
One serious concern about offshoring product development work to India, or anywhere, is whether there's sufficient intellectual property protection. Today's Sunday Economic Times here in Mumbia shows patents are a hot issue here, too. The lead story involves a motorcycle company whose managing director describes its strategy as B-to-B: bikes to get the babes.
My Open Letter To Dan Savage
Dear Dan: I never thought I'd be writing to you, a known sex columnist. Because I've never had one of those, you know, problems. But now I hear you've taken issue with my recent blog post, where I asked "Is Podcasting Dead?" I hear you even trashed me on your Savage Love Podcast, saying, "You're clearly dead from the waist down, that's why my podcast doesn't appeal to you."
Report From India: 5 Reasons To Outsource
Cost is No. 5 on the list for Robert Willett, CIO of Best Buy and CEO of its international operation. A partnership with an IT services company needs to save money, but "if you move cost to No. 1, you might as well not outsource." Here is his full list.
Report From India: Specialized Wave Of Global IT
At a presentation at the Nasscom conference for the Indian IT industry, Arjun Malhotra, CEO and chairman of the consulting firm Headstrong, offered this advice to small or midsized IT services company in India: "Focus on something, and be the best at it." Here are two examples of companies already trying to pursue that model, GlobalLogic and Photon Infotech.
Wanted: CIO
OK, CIOs are getting laid off. So, are there CIO jobs available? Here's one at a major university. Two cautionary notes: You'll have to move to Ohio. And it's obviously a very demanding position.
Report From India: Outsourcing For Innovation
A lot of companies do outsourcing for IT services. But can outsourcing deliver true tech-enabled innovation? British Petroleum CTO P.P. Darukhanavala thinks it can, but warns "sourcing for innovation" requires a much different approach, far more partners, and a hand-picked staff of people focused on the effort.
What Hath Roger Clemens Wrought?
Nothing hammers home how the Web has become the de facto national fireplace than today's congressional hearing on steroids. Both of New York's morning tabloids -- the News and the Post -- featured big ads from CNN, teasing readers to "Watch Roger Clemens' Testimony LIVE. At your desk." That collective giant mouse click you heard was employers everywhere getting ripped off.
My (Latest) Ugly American Moment
In traveling to 20-some countries, I suspect I've inadvertently offended someone in nearly every one. Anyone who does business internationally dreads the moment they'll make some cultural gaffe. It took me one day in India to put my foot into it, all too literally.
CIO Turnover: An Uptick Or A Trend?
Know of any openings for experienced, hard-working, forward-thinking CIOs? Because I know of a few who are looking for work.
What Exactly Does A CIO Do?
The reason I ask is because I'm seeing a lot of different job responsibilities connected to the CIO title lately. Is this because the position is changing, or because certain individuals are embracing -- even demanding -- a more critical role?
Lawyer For Murdered Stripper's Son Subpoenas SkyTel For Text Messages
Just when it seemed panic in Detroit had reached a fervent pitch, there is another bizarre twist in the text-message scandal. A lawyer is trying to force SkyTel to hand over any text messages sent from city employee pagers, and their GPS coordinates, the morning that a stripper named Strawberry was murdered in Detroit.
Business Mobility To Grow While The Rest Of IT Stays Flat?
Based on the sheer volume of press releases I have received so far from the Mobile World Congress, it seems as if they should have re-named the show Mobile World Advertising Congress. Despite the deluge of new mobile advertising networks and mobile search ad solutions, there is some business mobility news coming out of Barcelona.
Baby Boomer 'Brain Drain' Will Be A Slow Leak
Even before the first wave of baby boomers began reaching retirement age, predictions of an impending brain drain looked pretty dire. About 50% of the federal government's workforce was expected to retire over the next few years. Now, it looks like many of those people will be staying put longer.
Speculation About Oracle Acquisition Drives Up Salesforce.com Stock
There's a good deal of chatter in the blogosphere today about Salesforce.com supposedly shopping itself to Oracle. Time will tell if anything comes of it, but back in November I posted five reasons I think Oracle will eventually buy Salesforce.com.
TI Taps OMAP Processor To Power Google Phone
I hate to crow, but you read it here first. In my speculative article "Inside The GPhone: What To Expect From Google's Android Alliance" published last November, I predicted that Texas Instruments' wonderfully capable OMAP would emerge as a leading processor for Google phones of all stripes. Turns out TI is poised to demonstrate j
What's That Song In The Macbook Air Commercial?
You can't teach cool. Fortunately for Apple, Steve Jobs needs no instruction, as he's proved once again with his company's new TV ad for the DVD-less notebook I've taken to calling the MacBook (Hot) Air.
Life After CIO, Part 2
Not that the CIO role isn't the be-all-and-end-all, the sine qua non of executive positions. But sometimes CIOs must wonder: What's next? Where do I go from here? Studies show that the average tenure of a CIO. always alarmingly short, has increased ever so slightly. Cold comfort.
EBay's Feedback Changes Are Bad News For Buyers
Whatever happened to Web 2.0 openness at eBay? That's what many sellers are wondering, now that the online auction powerhouse is killing its longtime policy of letting sellers leave bad feedback about buyers. Sure, there are abusive sellers who vindictively post bad ratings, but warts-and-all feedback is eBay's one market-policing mechanism, Now, as Ars Technica correctly puts it, eBay wi
Saks CIO Retires
The high-end retailer says it will do without the position for the time being. No CIO? Say it ain't so!
With HTC Shift, Intel's UMPC Is Finally Real
I was going to call this post "Intel Finally Pushes Past The PC Processor," in recognition of the fact that this is the first time I can remember when a blue sky concept for a new-fangled computing device has moved beyond the bloviating stage and into the real world. But that's sure the case with Intel's Ultramobile PC. Hot little items like the HTC Shift are making their way to market, and lots more are on the way. Hey, I want one!
The CIO Skill Set: Is IT A Horizontal Expertise?
Do the skills of a CIO translate over various industries? Or should technology people look to specialize in certain vertical areas to increase their effectiveness?
Here's What The Google Phone Could Look Like
Speculation about how the GPhone is shaping up has taken a temporary back seat to the chatter about Google's efforts to throw a monkey wrench into Microsoft's bid for Yahoo. But what developers are doing with the Android SDK, released last fall to inspire the flowering of a thousand independent Google Phones, is actually much more interesting. Now there's some stuff to look at, too.
Rating The Super Bowl Commercials
As always, the real contest at the Super Bowl was among the commercials. (Admittedly, the game, in which the Giant upset the Patriots 17 - 14, was exciting, too.) On Fox, there were some 50 ads, which went for upwards of $2.7 million for each 30-second spot. Based on the preponderance of beer ads, it must be an American truism that you can never be too rich or have too much Bud Light.
The Burden Of Expectations
Gartner's latest survey of CIOs and their priorities has good news and bad news, and they're both the same news: Expectations for IT as a business innovator are up. It reminds me of that old adage: Be careful what you wish for.
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The State of Cloud Computing - Fall 2020
Download this report to compare how cloud usage and spending patterns have changed in 2020, and how respondents think they'll evolve over the next two years.
2021 Top Enterprise IT TrendsWe've identified the key trends that are poised to impact the IT landscape in 2021. Find out why they're important and how they will affect you.
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