Latest on Enterprise IT: News, Features, Opinions and More  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) eBay's CIO Succeeds by Innovating and 'Connecting the Dots'
eBay CIO Scott Seese says he and his team are using technology and innovation to drive the company's mission of connected commerce. He explains how the ecommerce giant taps into the power of social and mobile to help customers find and purchase exactly what they seek from among millions of sellers. Seese also discusses his strategy for success and why it's important to connect the dots. SAP builds out HANA platform and ecosystem
Anyone remotely within the orbit of SAP lately knows that its number-one focus is the HANA in-memory database and development platform. At this week's Sapphire conference in Orlando, the vendor sought to show the progress it is making in both building out HANA's capabilities as well as attracting developers and partners to HANA. 11 Tips for Deploying ERP Applications
In a global mobile environment, organizations are looking for ERP systems that do more than integrate with a legacy system. But with so many solutions available, how do you choose the software that's right for your enterprise? IT executives and ERP experts offer 11 tips to get a return on your software investment. ESB Persists As Application Integration Tool
The tried-and-true enterprise service bus--long the foundation of now-dated service oriented architecture deployments--is back in style thanks to the increasing need to integrate disparate applications. The secret to ESB's future success, some say, is a close tie to API management tools. 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. NetSuite to increase focus on ERP for manufacturers
Capitalizing on apparent demand from customers, NetSuite is adding new capabilities aimed at manufacturers to its cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. 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 Cloud Computing Changes Enterprise IT Economics
The rapid rise of cloud computing means corporate IT may no longer be the cheapest purveyor of application hosting, infrastructure, storage and other services. The sooner IT leaders come to terms with this, the better. SAP unveils HANA Enterprise Cloud service
SAP is set to offer customers the option of running their applications on top of a cloud-based version of its HANA in-memory database technology. 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. 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. IBM launches appliance for the 'Internet of things'
Preparing its customers to join the emerging 'Internet of things', IBM has released a new appliance built to manage and route a voluminous amount of machine-to-machine small data messages The Internet of Things gets a protocol -- it's called MQTT
Setting the foundation for what may be a multitrillion-dollar marketplace, OASIS (the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) has declared MQTT (the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) as its messaging protocol of choice for the emerging Internet of Things. Why developers are turning to API services
As application development increasingly hooks into outside services, tools to manage all those APIs are sprouting up 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) Give enterprise software a social makeover to attract users
When it comes to developing enterprise applications, organizations are increasingly realizing that user experience is as important as functionality. In response, vendors are taking a more agile approach to building those apps in order to better meet users' needs. 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. 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 overhaul for Portland police, fire, 3 years behind schedule, $10M over-budget
A sweeping overhaul of systems used by Portland, Ore.'s fire and police departments is three years behind schedule and about $10 million over budget, in part because city officials failed to "effectively use lessons learned" from past technology projects, including a troubled SAP software implementation, according to a new audit report. Social Media Certifications Prepare Students, Employees for Social Business
Using social media to market your business or collaborate internally means more than having a presence on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook. To teach college students that lesson, Syracuse University adopted HootSuite University's certification program. Syracuse isn't alone: Social media certifications are a growing trend, but is a training course right for you? Enterprise apps get social
Combining the ad-hoc nature of social media with the more structured world of enterprise apps such as CRM is often the best of both worlds, implementers say. Social Networking Drives Business Processes at Pandora and Rosetta Stone
Pandora and Rosetta Stone have embraced social business tools and the cloud to cut costs, increase productivity and improve collaboration. Learn how these two companies overcame security concerns, gained executive buy-in and more. 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. U.S. bills would require police to get warrants for mobile phone location
A group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced legislation that would require law enforcement agencies to get court-ordered search warrants before obtaining a suspect's mobile phone location or GPS data, instead of using prosecution-issued subpoenas. Oracle's new software, cloud revenue dropped 2 percent in Q3
Oracle's total revenue dipped 1 percent and profits remained almost flat in its most recent quarter, as revenue from new software licenses and cloud services dropped by 2 percent. FAQ: Inside Microsoft's cloud ERP strategy
Microsoft has announced some key details of how it will introduce Dynamics ERP (enterprise resource planning) software products to the cloud computing model, from initial release dates to the precise role of partners. 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. Microsoft targets enterprise with Dynamics AX ERP
Microsoft hoped recent updates to its Dynamics AX 2012 ERP software would help it grab enterprise-level deals that would ordinarily be won by the likes of Oracle and SAP. To some degree, the strategy appears to be clicking. Microsoft set to roll out new mobile Dynamics ERP, CRM apps
Microsoft's AX ERP application will be receiving a set of mobile applications that mix connectivity to back-end systems and processes with a social milieu. Microsoft boosts Dynamics CRM with marketing, social media analysis
Microsoft is hoping to shove aside rivals such as Salesforce.com and Oracle in the CRM software market by linking its own Dynamics CRM application with new capabilities for marketing automation and social media analysis. 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. Red Hat rolls FuseSource middleware into JBoss stack
Expanding its stack of enterprise ready open source middleware, Red Hat has integrated key software from its acquisition of FuseSource last September. Oracle, Montclair State University settle lawsuit over PeopleSoft software project
A nearly two-year-long, ugly legal battle between Oracle and Montclair State University over a troubled PeopleSoft ERP (enterprise resource planning) project has ended in a settlement both sides are calling amicable. Infor says push into middleware is clicking
Infor, the software industry's third-largest ERP vendor after SAP and Oracle, has been building out its own underlying technology platform in a bid to gain more revenue as well as provide customers with easier integration and system management. The company maintains that strategy is clicking as its ION middleware has become the fastest-growing product in the vendor's history. 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. Huawei leans on SAP to give enterprise push a boost
Huawei enterprise division's effort to ramp up its European presence is bolstered by SAP's certification of its servers to run the SAP HANA in-memory platform. Yahoo's Telecommuting Problem Is Management, Not Collaboration
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's controversial decision to ban employees from working from home led some to question the value of social business tools. Two executives from social business providers say Yahoo's problem isn't about collaborating. It just needs to manage better. SAP pins future hopes on growth of Ariba business network
After 12 successive quarters of double-digit growth at SAP, co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe is now pinning his future hopes on the company's recently acquired Ariba e-commerce network. Four enterprise software products you might not need anymore
No two businesses are exactly alike. Therefore, not all companies will be equally effective with the same software products. 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. Premier 100 IT Leader: Lincoln Wallen
This IT leader is overseeing a move to digital movie distribution, which is driving both efficiencies and quality improvements. Premier 100 IT Leader: Nancy Wolk
This IT leader is helping to advance a five-year program to capitalize on mobility, security, cloud computing and data analytics. Premier 100 IT Leader: Henry J. Sienkiewicz
This IT leader ensures the country's systems are cyber-ready through his work at the Defense Information Systems Agency. Premier 100 IT Leader: Denise L. Stephens
This IT leader implemented Google Apps for Government, opening the gates to the use of cloud-based systems throughout the federal government. Premier 100 IT Leader: Kathleen Scheirman
This IT leader helped replace myriad accounting and supply chain management systems with a standard, integrated platform. Premier 100 IT Leader: Monique Shivanandan
This IT leader created an innovation lab, where team members partner to develop ideas at breakneck speed. Premier 100 IT Leader: Mark Reilley
This IT leader helped develop a Web-based data warehouse that tracks patient testing and treatment and compares it to past data. Premier 100 IT Leader: Tamara Payne
This IT leader helped steer FedEx's Decoupled Testing Tools initiative, which cuts software-testing time by as much as 52%. Premier 100 IT Leaders: Lucille Mayer and Ramaswamy Nagappan
These co-CIOs help their financial services clients find IT efficiencies and functions to gain competitive advantage. Premier 100 IT Leader: Malcolm Jackson
This IT leader uses his background in marketing to help sell business partners on new IT projects, such as shared services. Premier 100 IT Leader: Garry Lyons
This IT leader succeeded with an unconventional approach -- recruiting talented people who didn't know anything about his business. Premier 100 IT Leader: Kris Herrin
This IT leader helmed a multimillion-dollar project to consolidate data centers and modernize legacy platforms. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Joseph Eckroth
This IT leader championed a self-service kiosk that has enabled the business to provide extra virtual staff during busy times at airports. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: JR Gamez
This IT leader employed online videoconferencing to make his police department more efficient and responsive to citizens. 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. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Kevin Chase
This IT leader strives to tie business units' top priorities to its IT systems while driving for operational excellence. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Marlo Donate
This IT leader showed a traditionally conservative company the benefits of agility and flexibility with fast delivery of new mobile apps. Premier 100 IT Leader: Judith L. Batenburg
This IT leader developed a new position that gets IT out into the business, connecting the broadcast and technology teams. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: George M. Brenckle
This IT leader overhauled a chronically underfunded information infrastructure, adding EHR technology and replacing a core billing system. Premier 100 IT Leader profile: Vince Campisi
This IT leader created a cloud-based software service that now monitors 5,800 physical assets at customer sites. Why Samsung Won't Beat Blackberry in the Mobile Enterprise
Samsung Safe aims to make Android phones better for the enterprise, but using the least secure mobile OS out there and ignoring the IT-ready BlackBerry might not be a good move. 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. ERP software project woes continue to mount, survey says
ERP (enterprise resource planning) software project schedule overruns got even worse in 2012, according to newly released data from Panorama Consulting. 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. Auditor: U.S. Army's ERP software projects at risk
Massive ERP (enterprise resource planning) software projects under way at the U.S. Army are in danger of missing crucial deadlines due to inadequate planning and management on the part of officials, according to a new auditor's report. Senior Living Communities Connect With Social Networking
IT leaders can't always measure a project's success by revenue or cost-saving metrics. Brookdale Senior Living's CIO achieved a greater objective by bringing social networking to its communities' residents: It improved their lives. 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. California ends contract with SAP over troubled IT project
California has terminated its contract with SAP in connection with a $371 million software system that was supposed to overhaul the state's payroll system but instead ended up mired in major delays and cost overruns. Ex-partner charges Oracle with waging 'systematic attack' against third-party support
Former Oracle partner CedarCrestone is alleging the vendor has engaged in an "unlawful and systematic attack" against the third-party support market and has a monopoly on support revenue. 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. Survey: State of the enterprise, 2013
Investments in new technology areas such as collaboration and mobility are important to companies' long-term competitiveness -- and the pressure is on IT to deliver. SAP payroll software woes plague electric utility for months
Electric utility National Grid is still trying to resolve problems with its recently implemented SAP payroll system that cropped up after Hurricane Sandy, the major storm that caused widespread damage on the U.S. East Coast and the Caribeean in late October. 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.
| Our bloggers on Enterprise IT Post-PC Microsoft signs its death warrant -- with an iPad
A leaked report claims Microsoft intends bringing Office to Apple iPads (and Android slates) -- but not until 2014. Meanwhile IDC informs us that PC sales have slumped to a 20-year low. In the Post-PC environment, Microsoft's refusal to follow trend means it has signed its own death warrant:
Windows Phone's presence in the enterprise: Dead in the water, says a new report
As bad as Windows Phone's market share is among consumers, it's even worse in what you would expect to be Microsoft's strength -- the enterprise. A new report finds that in the fourth quarter of 2012, only 0.5% of all mobile devices activated in enterprises were Windows Phones. And because of the study's methodology, that might even be an overstatement of its share.
3 CIO considerations from IDC’s 3rd platform
Here are three areas I believe the 3rd platform, and hence the combination of cloud, mobile, social and big data, will be critical for CIOs in 2013
5 steps for evaluating your IT infrastructure
In the pursuit of optimized IT models, chief information officers (CIOs) need to carefully evaluate their existing IT infrastructures and make choices that cut costs and streamline processes.
Microsoft earnings report show the future of the company: Enterprises first, consumers last
If you want to see Microsoft's future, take a look at its just-released earnings report. It shows a company increasingly reliant on selling to enterprises, and less tied to more fickle consumers.
Big data intelligence: New opportunities for collaboration
In a previous post – “Big data deluge: new challenges for collaboration" – I discussed the vital importance of managing explosive volumes of data to ensure effective collaboration. In reality, that’s only half the story. The other side of big data is the opportunity to leverage a large body of intelligence from multiple sources for effective collaboration.
Optimizing IT for 2013
A major push for chief information officers (CIOs) in 2013 will be the development or refinement of a new end-state vision for IT that anticipates the challenges of the rapid growth of data and identifies how new applications can leverage big data assets.
Embrace comprehensive security, not just the 'Top 10'
Instead of focusing on the Top 10 vulnerabilities, let's chant the mantra of necessary security controls.
Averting SaaS-astrophe with a dose of reality
Balancing this risk-reward equation is a tricky operation, but eminently achievable if vendors and enterprise IT leaders collectively embrace the new realities of doing business in today's mobile, borderless world and adapt their mandates accordingly.
Complexity: How solutions end up as problems
Last time out I wrote about how snapshots have a visibility problem, meaning it’s difficult if not impossible to tell what’s inside them without having to look into each one. Yet snapshots are a very effective way of capturing data quickly and often, especially for large data sets, so the use of snapshots continues to expand even while lack of visibility limits their effectiveness.
5 top resolutions for IT in 2013
What would a new year be without the inevitable list of resolutions? Here's a quick five that any IT person should consider when thinking about their work related new year's resolutions.
Clear skies or stormy weather? What's in the clouds for 2013.
Here is where I see the cloud headed in 2013.
Putting the C in CIO: Calm, cool and connected
The role of the IT department and the CIO is undergoing a dramatic shift.
The world's most innovative companies: Ranking the best of the best innovators
Every year, we see a number of publications issue their Top 50 lists of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. In recent years, there have been rankings issued by Forbes.com, Fast Company, and MIT Technology Review to name just a few. Looking back across 2012, I wanted to find out which companies ranked “Best of the Best Innovators” across all these Top 50 lists by combining them to gain a broader perspective that leverages the unique evaluation criteria of each individual study.
Snapshots have a visibility problem
There's a fantastic bakery in my neighborhood where everything is terrific. Whether you're getting bread or cakes or cookies, they are the best in town. Unfortunately, there's one problem. Nothing is labeled. Insider (registration required)
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