Profile of Bob Evans
News & Commentary Posts: 1070
Bob Evans is senior VP, communications, for Oracle Corp. He is a former InformationWeek editor.
Articles by Bob Evans
posted in November 2008
11/26/2008
"Although CIOs are an emerging presence in the executive suite, few IT executives have the business qualifications or capitalist's killer instinct for making money," says executive search firm Egon Zehnder. So what about you: Are you an animal-spirits capitalist or a pay-me-whatever-you-want Milquetoast?
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11/25/2008
In essential physical therapy, short-term pain might be unpleasant but it's also an indispensable prerequisite for long-term health. So yesterday when SAP's new CEO said that offering the company's core ERP products in a SaaS model will end up "hurting our margin, and hurting our stock," I hope he wasn't saying SAP will try to wait out -- or worse yet, try to ignore -- the inexorable forces of
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11/25/2008
The following is a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal published on Nov. 22, 2000. "In 1864, a coal miner, Elias Williams, lit the fuse to a blasting cap and was hoisted to the top of the shaft. Just as he reached light, the bucket he was in broke. He fell back to the bottom of the shaft hard, breaking bones and knocking away his breath. With just enough presence of mind remaining, he grasped a handful of dust to smother the sputtering fuse, inches from the
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11/24/2008
Our excellent sister site Dark Reading has summarized three reports about a group representing the latest in in-house IT security threats: they don't know or don't care about IT security policies, they're heavy users of cutting-edge technologies, and they care more about securing their home PC than their work PC. They're your Gen Y employees, and they're your future.
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11/21/2008
Most CIOs are generally reluctant to publicly endorse specific technology vendors, and with good reason. So it was a bit surprising this week to see the CIO of Gap Inc. and the former CIO of Yahoo not only endorse a low-profile tech vendor but also join its board of directors.
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11/20/2008
One approach is to compile an "IT Annual Report," an approach being taken by a growing number of CIOs. At this week's CA World, a panel discussion with three business-technology leaders revealed a wide range of ideas and approaches for creating an IT Annual Report that can articulate business value, foster a sense of teamwork, and underscore the need for key metrics.
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11/17/2008
My recent post calling for overthrowing the old bromide "align IT with the business" and replacing it with "align IT with your customers" has sparked a lively debate. One commenter, signing is as "Insulted CIO Guest," takes me to the woodshed and feels a pretty good thrashing is in order. Since it's my tail on the line, I'm hard
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11/14/2008
Recently uncovered fossil records indicate that the tattered cliché of "CIOs must align IT with the business" was first uttered shortly after the discovery of fire. And while that bromide made sense for a few thousand years, it no longer applies here in the early 21st century because today's mandate for CIOs must be to align IT with their *customers*, not with their business. Because one points to the future, while the other merely reflects the recent past.
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11/12/2008
My fellow blogger Kevin Ferguson, who's doing excellent work on our Green Technology beat, recently ended a post with this jaw-dropper: "And perhaps that's what is needed to save the environment." Now, while I'm as fully committed as the next guy to the need for businesses to do a better job with more-sustainable sourcing, recycling, and energy conservation, w
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How Enterprises Are Attacking the IT Security Enterprise
To learn more about what organizations are doing to tackle attacks and threats we surveyed a group of 300 IT and infosec professionals to find out what their biggest IT security challenges are and what they're doing to defend against today's threats. Download the report to see what they're saying.
Digital Transformation Myths & TruthsTransformation is on every IT organization's to-do list, but effectively transforming IT means a major shift in technology as well as business models and culture. In this IT Trend Report, we examine some of the misconceptions of digital transformation and look at steps you can take to succeed technically and culturally.
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