Editors' Choice

Supply chain 2013: Stop playing whack-a-mole with security threats

As supply chain threats grow ever more sophisticated, companies are tapping new technologies -- in transit and in the cloud -- to protect their assets and deliver the goods.

IT's new concern: The personal cloud
As personal and professional clouds converge, IT's mission to improve productivity while protecting corporate apps and data is getting tougher.

The Grill: NFL CIO uses analytics to improve player safety
Michelle McKenna-Doyle, CIO for the National Football League, is driving innovation with analytics, using sensors to track players on the field and monitoring player health and safety with lab analysis of helmets.

How to prevent IT department overload
Managing the flow of an infinite supply of worthwhile projects through a finite IT operation takes finesse. Here's how to avoid the backlog and the chaos.

IT on the fly: The art of quickly building, then dismantling
The CIOs for the London Olympics, President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and other short-lived but intense operations know how to run successful IT shops in extraordinary situations -- and their insights can be applied in even the most ordinary of conditions. Insider (registration required)

Mobile management morphs
Customers are pushing the limits of the software -- asking it to manage and do many more things than it was originally created to do -- and vendors are happy to oblige.

Block rogue apps with Windows Server -- for free
It is a lot of work to set up policies; it takes trial and some error, too. But the payoffs are huge.

How to nab a data scientist job
How exactly do you make it to the data scientist big leagues? As it turns out, there is no one right path. Instead, it's largely a scramble out there on the big data field. Insider (registration required)

Free (with strings attached): Keeping track of open source code
Many IT organizations aren't applying good governance practices to open-source software. Experts say the software should be documented and tracked to ensure it always runs smoothly.

The Grill: James Turnbull driving change in healthcare IT
Jim Turnbull, CIO at University of Utah Health Care, says mobile technology as the next big opportunity for getting patients more involved in managing their healthcare.

Sizing up open source: Not so simple
Choosing open-source software is more complicated than picking traditional software. Is your IT department prepared to contribute code fixes to the community?

Data centers under water: What, me worry?
Even most of those hit hardest by Superstorm Sandy are hardening their facilities instead of moving them entirely. In the storm-prone South, however, it's a different story.

7 cool consumer technologies coming soon to a cubicle near you
Move over, tablets and smartphones. Here are seven user technologies that are heading into the office.

Supply chain 2013: Stop playing whack-a-mole with security threats
IT can never take all the risk out of a supply chain, but it can help organizations minimize their vulnerability in a world of new threats.

IT's new assignment: Generate revenue
As tech infiltrates every corner of the business, it's only natural that some IT departments are producing revenue-generating products and services.

Squeezing savings from the cloud
Calculating the real ROI of cloud apps requires the analysis of a lot of factors, and cutting corners on that process means you might not save money.

Wanted: IT staffers with vertical industry chops
Fast-changing business processes, tight deadlines, customization demands and ever-growing regulations are complicating day-to-day operations. What's needed now is 'IT-plus' -- a combination of technical skills and business knowledge, plus deep industry expertise.

The Grill: Laura Pettit Rusick
Working as an interim 'retained' CIO for multiple clients, Laura Pettit Rusick leads IT departments at various small and midsize companies, and that experience gives her insight into the technology challenges and opportunities that exist in a wide swath of U.S. businesses. Insider (registration required)

Open your data to the world
Not having an API is becoming like not having a website, but the interface has got to be easy for outside developers to work with.

Emergency! EN systems alert employees when disaster strikes
Today's emergency notification technology allows enterprises to send out, and employees to receive, real-time situational advisories.

The Grill: Chris Curran on 'The Year of the CIO'
PricewaterhouseCoopers principal Chris Curran says CIOs must be ready to harness the power of a slew of technologies if they want to say competitive. Here Curran offers insight into his vision for IT through 2013 and beyond.

Hot IT titles: Hybrids in high demand
A wave of new IT tech titles reflects a seriousness of purpose and a laser focus on serving the business.

Alice Hill: It's time to catch your own wave, people!
Instilling IT pros with the confidence to stir up the labor market by quitting their jobs and moving on in their careers will benefit both job hunters and employers, says IT career expert Alice Hill.

Debbie Madden: Hire slowly and hire well
IT hiring expert Debbie Madden offers three ways to ensure that you hire slowly and wisely but don't miss out on good candidates.

Tech careers: 3 ways to catch the wave
Optimism is up among IT professionals. Here's how to capture the industry's momentum and take your career to the next level.

IT gets its groove back
The 2013 Computerworld Salary Survey finds tech professionals feeling pretty good about their compensation and career prospects, though workloads remain high.

Top-paying industries for IT 2013
When it comes to IT pay, some industries fared much better than others. Find out who the winners and losers were in our 2013 Salary Survey.

Why some U.S. homes and businesses still don't have cellular service
While large portions of the U.S. are looking forward to faster wireless broadband, some regions don't have even simple cell phone service. What is being done to help?

The Grill: Emmile Brack helps deliver analytics to educators
Meet Emmile Brack, vice president of technology IT at Aspire Public Schools, a nonprofit organization that manages 34 public charter schools throughout California. She talks about the lessons learned from a recent analytics project.

Storage administrators demand simplicity
IT staffers at all levels are now tasked with managing data storage. They demand simplicity (but want power, too). Insider (registration required)

Straight talk on security gets employees to listen -- and comply
Sure, you want users to comply with security edicts, but would you phish your own employees or share your company's hack history? At least some CIOs say yes.

New storage technologies to deal with the data deluge
Enterprise storage demands are reaching a critical point, and vendors are scrambling to develop new products to deal with the data deluge. We look at how these technologies will help manage the major pain points for storage administrators.

Mobile app dev: Outsource or in-house?
Both approaches have their benefits and downsides; just make sure you know what you're getting into before you make a huge commitment either way.

Email addiction: Why the enterprise can't break free
The kids may have moved on, but business users love (and hate) their email. Here's why we can't dig out.

Xerox CEO to CIOs: We'll take your mess and make it beautiful
Top exec Ursula Burns outlines Xerox's widening portfolio of IT, business process and document outsourcing services. Insider (registration required)

Cloud services can save you money -- if you're careful
Calculating the real ROI of cloud apps requires the analysis of a lot of factors, and cutting corners on that process means you might not save money.

The Grill: Greg Taffet, CIO of U.S Gas & Electric
Meet Greg Taffet, CIO at U.S Gas & Electric. He contributes his time and skills to expanding access to technology in his Florida community.

UX specialists are hot commodities
Blame Apple's aesthetic: Even the stodgiest enterprise shops are engaging user experience experts who can design logical, beautiful interfaces for mobile computing's limited spaces.

Companies take bold steps into desktop virtualization
Five organizations that have experienced the benefits, challenges and ROI of desktop virtualization offer tips for successful implementations. Insider (registration required)

IT's rising stars: Next-gen leaders transform the enterprise
Tomorrow's CIOs are already transforming enterprise IT as we know it, bringing fresh, sometimes radical visions of how technology can enable business now and in the years ahead.

Feds take (baby) steps to fight fraud with analytics
ID'ing fraud is a good first step, but the power of analytics won't be tapped until agencies can share data more freely. Insider (registration required)

Analytics boost social marketing efforts
Big-name companies including General Electric and Best Western are maturing their social marketing programs and integrating social metrics with back-end systems.

Choosing an open-source CMS, part 3: Why we use WordPress
In the third part of a three-part series, we look at two organizations that have chosen WordPress as their content management system.

The 2013 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders: On the fast track
For today's IT executives, it's not enough to move the business forward with potent technology and ROI-rich projects. The new imperative is to capture the competitive lead with all due speed. These elite 100 men and women are up for the challenge. Here's how this year's honorees are generating revenue from IT and delivering business value.

Translating enterprise apps to mobile: Three companies' journeys
Some companies are going whole-hog with mobile apps, including for some core line-of-business functions.

Choosing an open-source CMS, part 2: Why we use Joomla
In the second part of a three-part series, we look at two companies that have chosen Joomla as their content management system.

IT workers to management: NOW can we telecommute?
IT is one of the last corporate functions to embrace telecommuting. It turns out the last remaining barriers are more cultural than technical.

Choosing an open-source CMS, part 1: Why we use Drupal
In the first part of a three-part series, we look at two companies that have chosen Drupal as their content management system.

ROI calculations done right can help IT projects
Building a solid business case for your IT projects means nailing the financial calculations and language. CIOs say making accurate ROI predictions can pay off. Insider (registration required)

Highly regulated companies tiptoe into social media
Some healthcare providers, financial services firms and other companies in highly regulated industries are taking full advantage of social media, even though they're awash in rules. Here's how they do it.

IT training gets an extreme makeover
From movie-like videos with comedy sketch warmups to hands-on freestyle hacker contests with big cash prizes, fresh approaches to training are helping a new generation of IT professionals get engaged in their training.

The Grill: Bill Murphy, Hilton's new CIO/CTO
For Hilton Worldwide's Bill Murphy, attaining the rank of CIO didn't mean his CTO duties disappeared. His slate of new projects includes standardization of the hotel chain's property management platform across 3,900 hotels, rollout of a wireless platform and implementation of an ERP platform.

Exchange Server 2013: Not quite ready for the data center
Thinking about upgrading? Hang back at least a year before implementing this release, our expert advises.

Security-as-a-service gaining popularity
Security delivered as a cloud service has several benefits, including costs and flexibility, but there are some cautions, too, adopters say.

10 Windows 8 tips, tricks and hacks
Starting to get comfortable with Windows 8? Don't stop now: From invoking 'God Mode' to hacking the lock screen, here are 10 ways to make Windows 8 act the way you want.

BaaS: It's a crowded (and young) market
Back-end as a service offers standard features to drop into your apps, so your developers can spend their time on the most strategic pieces.

Speed up mobile app-dev with back-end as a service
Vendors offer code drop-ins that standardize common mobile features, including messaging and payment, so your in-house developers can focus on the functions that are most important to your business.

How to manage big data overload
The nuts and bolts of systems designed storing petabytes (and more) of data that can be easily accessed and analyzed are more complex than the inner workings of your average storage platform. Here's how to handle the data deluge. Insider (registration required)

Online video a must-have for these four businesses
Adding video to the company website can set retailers and other businesses apart from the competition -- and ultimately boost the bottom line.

Tech hotshots: The rise of the UX expert
Blame Apple's aesthetic: Even the stodgiest of enterprise shops are engaging user experience experts who can design logical, beautiful interfaces for mobile computing's limited spaces.

New task for CIOs: Make money
As tech infiltrates every corner of the business, it's only natural that some IT departments are producing revenue-generating products and services. Insider (registration required)

The Grill: Maridan Harris, VP of IT at Philips North America
Maridan Harris, vice president of IT at Philips North America, shares her ideas on how to build teams that enjoy work as much as she does.

Big data means big IT job opportunities -- for the right people
As companies embrace big data, they're in the market for high-level strategists and communicators. Do you have the chops to snag a big data job?

Disaster recovery: Don't forget mobile
As the mobile workforce continues to grow, IT execs must remember the importance of including mobile technology in their disaster recovery plans. Insider (registration required)

Ready, set, compete: The benefits of IT innovation
Welcome to 2013. As IT budgets loosen up and new projects get queued up, IT is learning to quickly tap into creative ideas for competitive advantage in a cutthroat marketplace.

City living: There's an app for that
Inspired by the release of ever larger and more detailed sets of municipal data, citizen-developers are writing apps to ease every aspect of city living, from preschools to parking meters.

How to talk security so people will listen (and comply!)
Sure you want users to comply with security edicts, but would you phish your own employees or share your company's hack history? At least some CIOs say yes.

From build to buy: American Airlines changes modernization course midflight
A multi-year effort to re-architect 47-year-old mainframe-based legacy software around a service-oriented architecture moved from build to buy. Here's why.

IT manager's revitalization guide 2013
Before diving into what's sure to be another rollercoaster year in IT, take a moment to retool your personal and professional priorities with some of our most insightful tech management articles.

Tech luminaries we lost in 2012
A look back at the lives and contributions of 13 technology pioneers, including Ray Bradbury, Sally Ride and David L. Waltz, who passed away in 2012. See some of the luminaries featured in video interviews; others in photographs.

What SharePoint 2013 means for the data center
Migrating from SharePoint 2010 is doable, but that's not true, unfortunately, from the 2007 version.

A short history of NFC
To understand where the technology is going, it's helpful to understand where it's been. And a bit about how it works, too.

Despite Apple, NFC is catching on -- just not for payments quite yet
Near Field Communication will become widespread at some point, most observers agree, especially if Apple eventually puts NFC in an iPhone.

Paul Glen: Build relationships, and career opportunities will follow
Your competitive advantage in the labor market will come from your interest in, and aptitude for, creating good experiences for the people you work with, says columnist Paul Glen.

Spotlight hot skills on your resume
IT workers know that soft skills are key to career advancement, but such skills are difficult to quantify. Here's how to revamp your resume to make your talents shine.

Land an IT job: Tips from recent hires
Four IT workers who recently found new jobs describe their hard-won success and offer a view from the street. Insider (registration required)

Thornton A. May: Why the word 'career' has become obsolete
The iconic 'gold watch' career path, in which people stay with the same employers for their entire working lives, has become anachronistic, says Thornton A. May. Today, the most important skill is the ability to acquire new skills. Insider (registration required)

How to take control of your own IT career
Tech staffers are migrating into new roles -- frequently with non-IT job titles -- throughout the enterprise, working on an array of projects that require tech savvy in addition to business and process knowledge, management skills and more. Where you land all depends on your proficiency with one of today's most indispensable career navigation tools -- your own customized career strategy.

The Grill: James T. Wilkes finds connections between beekeeping and IT
James T. Wilkes, chair of the Appalachian State University computer science department, mixes what he's learned about IT with his other professions: farming and beekeeping. For example, he created a Web application that helps beekeepers manage their hives. Insider (registration required)

Making HTML5 work now for mobile app development
HTML5 has been dissed, dismissed and disrespected of late, but defenders say the evolving standard is still the best choice for platform-independent mobile app development. Insider (registration required)

5 tips for working with SharePoint 2010
Techniques for using SharePoint 2010 to its maximum benefit.

SharePoint 2010 cheat sheet
SharePoint 2010 can be a great collaboration tool. Here's what you need to know to find your way around.

Computerworld's 2012 holiday gift guide
Need some help choosing holiday presents for the technology fans on your gift list? We've rounded up this year's best tech gifts, from tablets and HDTVs to smartphones, laptops and an array of other gadgets and accessories.

Legal concerns curb corporate cloud adoption
Inside the enterprise, the biggest obstacle to cloud computing is often the company's own corporate counsel. Here's how IT is getting to yes with legal.

How to recruit the best executive sponsor for an IT project
Every big project needs a high-ranking exec with a stake in the game and solid connections within the organization. Here's how to find and train the right one for the job.

The Grill: Enterprise Business Partners CIO Pradip Sitaram
Pradip Sitaram, CIO at Enterprise Business Partners, led a project to modernize the nonprofit housing developer's IT infrastructure, introducing agile development and cloud-based computing along the way.

Why voice recognition will finally conquer the office
While spoken input is spreading on mobile devices, it barely has a toehold in the office. But artificial intelligence that operates in the cloud will help drive speech technology beyond smartphones to computers and into other areas of the workplace, say experts.

Securing the keys to the cloud
Cloud service providers claim they can secure your data, but as the technology model is put to the test by more and more organizations, security holes, malware and other vulnerabilities are coming to light.

Creating a view to the cloud
How well can you see into the cloud? For many IT professionals, the view into the cloud isn't very clear, but new techniques and tools make visibility across multiple cloud systems clearer.

Best BYOD management: Work zones for smartphones
New containerization technologies can help BYOD initiatives succeed by creating separate spaces on smartphones for work and personal use.

Career mapping helps IT employees and employers alike
Specially designed holistic development plans help tech workers and their employers navigate the choppy waters of IT employment.

Women in IT: How deep is the bench?
Superstar women lead IT at some of the biggest global corporations, yet the path to the top isn't clear for the next generation.

The Grill: Healthcare CIO Catherine Bruno
Catherine Bruno, vice president and CIO of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, is also executive sponsor of the Bangor Beacon Community grant program, which brings together a dozen local healthcare organizations focused on improving healthcare while reducing costs through the use of IT.

Diary of a disaster: Living off the grid after Superstorm Sandy
Tech writer Brian Nadel lasted 10 days without municipal power in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Here's how he kept heat, lights and computers going and what he'll do differently next time.

The cloud as data-center extension
Many large enterprises gravitate to the cloud as an escape hatch for overworked and out-of-room data centers -- and then come to love it.

IT jobs on the other side of the cloud
As more and more companies migrate to the cloud, corporate IT staffers wonder if they'd have better opportunities working for a service provider. IT veterans who've made the jump discuss the pros and cons of working for a cloud service provider.

Stop working and start innovating:
It can pay off
Savvy IT departments that set aside time for employee creativity say the payoffs include happier workers, increased productivity and sometimes even revenue.

Passwords are the weak link in IT security
Three decades into the digital revolution, passwords are still complicated, ineffective and a drain on IT's resources. What gives?

The Grill: State Street CIO Christopher Perretta
State Street's executive vice president and CIO, Christopher Perretta, says he aspires to be a change agent while leading a team of more than 5,000 employees and contractors who support operations in 27 countries.

After Stuxnet: The new rules of cyberwar
Critical infrastructure providers face off against a rising tide of increasingly sophisticated and potentially destructive attacks emanating from hacktivists, spies and militarized malware.

Past is prototype: The evolution of the computer keyboard
Here's how ergonomics, electronics and economics have contributed to the look and feel of the computer keyboard over the years. What will our fingertips type on next?