Get Better / IT Strategy — Comments Off on CIO Insight – The CIO’s Secret Weapon: Stakeholder Pressure
13
Dec 13

CIO Insight – The CIO’s Secret Weapon: Stakeholder Pressure

The roles of the CIO, and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), have changed considerably over the past decade. Chief amongst these changes are that the security-based demands from company stakeholders have increased substantially as a result of major technological and cyber advancements.

Cyberspace is constantly evolving; its potential and real threats, vulnerabilities, complexity, and interconnectivity are always changing. The threat is asymmetric as activists, cybercriminals and nation-states disproportionately increase traditional information risks. In many organizations, cyber-security opportunities and risks have become a board-level issue, so the CIO, like the CISO, must engage at the boardroom level, where information strategy and risk should sit comfortably with other types of strategy and risk that the board oversees.

Information Security Under Pressure
Highly publicized breaches, and more stringent regulations, have put the spotlight on information security in most organizations around the world.

In a recent report, “Estimating the Cost of Cybercrime and Cyber Espionage,” conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and sponsored by McAfee, it is estimated that cybercrime and cyber-spying are costing the U.S. economy $100 billion each year and the global economy perhaps $300 billion annually. Malicious cybercrimes are estimated to cost as many as 508,000 jobs in the U.S. alone. This has put unprecedented pressure on C-level executives to assure stakeholders that sensitive information is secure. And as information security moves up senior management and the board’s agenda, pressure will continue to mount. Like CISOs, CIOs must be able to shape the message and relay their successes to the board to sustain high-level support for security initiatives. A recent CEO survey, conducted by PwC in its Annual Global CEO Survey 2013, cited cyber-security as having the third highest possible impact on organizations—even ahead of a natural disaster disrupting a major trading and manufacturing hub or military tensions affecting access to natural resources.

More of the CIO Insight article

Get Better — Comments Off on ZDNet – 8 habits of high-performing IT teams
12
Dec 13

ZDNet – 8 habits of high-performing IT teams

Summary: Accenture says higher-performing IT teams are more open to new projects, cloud and virtualization.

What separates the high performers in IT from the average blokes? They are more open to new ideas and approaches, as well as working closer with customers.

Those are two conclusions coming out of Accenture’s latest research report on the habits and tendencies of high-performing IT teams. The consultancy says it interviewed IT executives in more than 200 global companies across a range of industries.

Here are some of the key areas that Accenture identified as separating “high performers” against average IT teams:

1. High performers invest more in new initiatives, versus maintenance projects. Accenture finds high performers allocate seven percent more of their IT budget to new projects than do other organizations. Although their day-to-day IT operating expenses are expected to stay flat this year, 54% of high performers will spend significantly more on new projects.

2. High performers are further along in their transition to private and public clouds. Regarding current and future initiatives for cloud computing, more advanced IT teams report greater proportions of their infrastructure, application development, and applications will be transitioning to cloud. High performers are transitioning 43% of their infrastructure to cloud, versus 20% of average IT teams. High performers also are moving 27% of application development to cloud, versus 14% of average IT departments.

More of the ZDNet article by Joe McKendrick

IT Strategy — Comments Off on Network World – The worst IT project disasters of 2013
11
Dec 13

Network World – The worst IT project disasters of 2013

IDG News Service – Trends come and go in the technology industry but some things, such as IT system failures, bloom eternal.

“Nothing has changed,” said analyst Michael Krigsman of consulting firm Asuret, an expert on why IT projects go off the rails. “Not a damn thing.”

“These are hard problems,” he added. “People mistakenly believe that IT failures are due to a technical problem or a software problem, and in fact it has its roots into the culture, how people work together, how they share knowledge, the politics of an organization. The worse the politics, the more likely the failure.”

Here’s a look at some of this year’s highest-profile IT disasters.

Healthcare.gov: By now everyone knows about the health insurance shopping website’s problems upon the Oct. 1 go-live, when many users couldn’t access the system and only about 30 percent were actually able to sign up for health care.

More of the Network World article by Chris Kanaracus

IT Strategy — Comments Off on CCJ – Cloud hurts: Server sales continue to slump
10
Dec 13

CCJ – Cloud hurts: Server sales continue to slump

The latest server sales tally indicates that higher end systems are increasingly looking like glorified PCs that will experience the same slowing growth picture in the future.

And the cloud is increasingly getting the blame. Cloud computing is to server sales what tablets are to the PC market.

IDC said that server sales fell 3.7 percent in the third quarter to $12.1 billion. Gartner pegged server sales at $12.34 billion, down 2.1 percent from a year ago. Both research firms indicated that HP was the market share leader. HP and Cisco were the only server vendors to show growth in the third quarter.

The reasons for the server slump officially go like this:

Integrated systems are selling well and the market is consolidating.
Unix server sales are in a downward spiral.
And economic conditions are dicey in multiple regions.

More of the Cloud Computing Journal article by Larry Dignan

IT Strategy — Comments Off on CIO Insight – The IT Rich Get Richer
09
Dec 13

CIO Insight – The IT Rich Get Richer

The gap is widening between those organizations that know how to get the most business value of IT and those that don’t view IT as a strategic imperative. The latest version of the annual High Performance IT survey of 202 CIOs conducted by Accenture finds that of the organizations that are high performers, when it comes to using IT to drive the business suggest, most of them are focusing their IT investments on improving customer interactions. In its “High Performers in IT: Defined by Digitial” report, Accenture defines a high performer IT organization using 67 indicators, of which only 13 of the 202 CIOs surveyed were able to meet. By and large, those 13 high performer CIOs are more successful when it comes to employing emerging technologies to create material business advantages.

More of the CIO Insight article and slideshow by Michael Vizard

IT Strategy — Comments Off on CIO Insight – The Fallacy of IT Consumerization
06
Dec 13

CIO Insight – The Fallacy of IT Consumerization

A global survey of 1,600 business and IT decision-makers conducted by Loudhouse Consultancy on behalf of Alfresco, a provider of open source enterprise content management (ECM) software, finds that when it comes to collaboration, internal IT may still know best. Despite all the hype surrounding the consumerization of IT in the age of cloud computing, the Alfresco research indicates that both business decision-makers and the internal IT organization would rather see internal IT delivering these services. But the survey also finds that the main challenge facing IT, in terms of delivering these capabilities, is where anything that pertains to collaboration ranks in the overall list of IT priorities – See more at: http://www.cioinsight.com/it-strategy/messaging-collaboration/slideshows/the-fallacy-of-it-consumerization.html/#sthash.jymlOVIj.dpuf

More of the CIO Insight article and slideshow by Michael Vizard

IT Strategy — Comments Off on SearchDataCenter – IT priorities in 2014 move beyond virtualization to cloud, automation
05
Dec 13

SearchDataCenter – IT priorities in 2014 move beyond virtualization to cloud, automation

Knowing which technologies are on the way out and where you should ramp up IT efforts in 2014 could mean the difference between profit and loss.

But navigating the ever-changing IT space is a daunting challenge — with your business hanging in the balance. TechTarget recently surveyed over 4,100 IT professionals to learn about their IT priorities and to gauge changes on the horizon for 2014. Here’s what we found:
IT goals for 2014

Any adjustment to IT — and its role in everyday business operations — must start by reviewing and establishing a new set of goals. More than 4,100 IT professionals shared their thoughts on the changing focus for their departments, and 37% plan to expand IT to support business growth. Organizations depend on computing as a critical business resource; as the scope of employees, partners and users grows to global proportions, IT must have appropriate computing levels in place to handle the load.

Even when growth is not the top priority, there are always opportunities to enhance the business with key IT projects, and 23% of IT professionals reported selective spending in some technological areas. This may include initiatives like data protection, strategic upgrades to network infrastructure, deploying a virtualization or consolidation project, or some other targeted technology that offers a measurable business benefit.

More of the SearchDataCenter article by Stephen J Bigelow

Get Better / IT Strategy — Comments Off on ZDNet – 8 habits of high-performing IT teams
04
Dec 13

ZDNet – 8 habits of high-performing IT teams

What separates the high performers in IT from the average blokes? They are more open to new ideas and approaches, as well as working closer with customers.

Those are two conclusions coming out of Accenture’s latest research report on the habits and tendencies of high-performing IT teams. The consultancy says it interviewed IT executives in more than 200 global companies across a range of industries.

Here are some of the key areas that Accenture identified as separating “high performers” against average IT teams:

1. High performers invest more in new initiatives, versus maintenance projects. Accenture finds high performers allocate seven percent more of their IT budget to new projects than do other organizations. Although their day-to-day IT operating expenses are expected to stay flat this year, 54% of high performers will spend significantly more on new projects.

2. High performers are further along in their transition to private and public clouds. Regarding current and future initiatives for cloud computing, more advanced IT teams report greater proportions of their infrastructure, application development, and applications will be transitioning to cloud. High performers are transitioning 43% of their infrastructure to cloud, versus 20% of average IT teams. High performers also are moving 27% of application development to cloud, versus 14% of average IT departments.

More of the ZDNet article by Joe McKendrick

IT Strategy — Comments Off on ZDNet – PC shipments to decline further than expected; no significant recovery expected
03
Dec 13

ZDNet – PC shipments to decline further than expected; no significant recovery expected

Summary: IDC reckons the number of PCs shipped will decline even further to double-digits. The research firm describes it as the most severe yearly contraction on record.

Based on latest figures from research firm IDC, the PC market will decline even further as this year’s shipments will plummet by 10.1 percent, down from the previous projection of 9.7 percent.

IDC said in a release published Monday it is by far the “most severe yearly contraction on record.”

Because interest in PCs remain limited, the firm explained, as the world increasingly takes up tablets and post-PC devices, there’s little chance of the traditional desktop and notebook market showing positive growth beyond device replacement.

Total shipments are expected to decline by an additional 3.8 percent in 2014, but may show some signs of positive growth in the longer term. Even in emerging markets, which have previously seen increased growth, developing countries are losing interest in PCs with shipments expected to decline in 2014.

More of the ZDNet article by Zack Whittaker

Get Better / IT Strategy — Comments Off on CIOInsight Slideshow – Data Governance Efforts Continue to Lag
02
Dec 13

CIOInsight Slideshow – Data Governance Efforts Continue to Lag

While there’s always been a lot of concern about how data is governed, a new survey suggests a significant gap exists between the level of concern and organizations’ actual plans to implement data governance as part of a larger compliance strategy. A new survey of 454 IT executives conducted by Rand Secure Archive finds that while organizations are facing more compliance regulations, their investments in backup, archiving and e-Discovery technologies continues to lag behind. One reason for this, of course, is the popularity of applications, which are also competing for a slice of the IT budget.

More of the CIO Insight article and slideshow

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